#more than scripted the correct word is piloted

[taehyungfirst]

Hi I was wondering what’s your opinion on the in the soop talk between Taekook bc you’re a Taehyung blog so I’d like to get your thoughts on it

Hi! This is an old ask lol sorry for the late reply

I think the ITS talk it’s something that got greatly greatly misunderstood, I think most of people focused on just one thing said by Jungkook (we became awkward) and completely dismissed what it was really about. This is mostly my point of view on it but to this day I think it’s safe to assume people just forgot to give context to the talk.

Taehyung wasn’t feeling well in 2020, he wrote Blue and Grey in that year (I really really need everyone to pay attention to the lyrics), he was having a hard time and all the members asked him to please reach out, to talk if anything was bothering him, and I think that’s what was the premises of the talk. It wasn’t to mend a bond, because there was nothing to mend, if you look from an objective point Taekook’s bond in that year (or even in that season tbh) you would notice there was literally nothing that would agree with the subs bh editors wrote such as “awkward duo”. I think Taehyung just wanted to have a drink with Jungkook, open up a little about his state (“I go on weverse to get assured I’m still loved”). Which is okay.

The not okay things were the subs put by bh editors, the twisting of the narratives (making the talk about something else), the fact that the talk was recreated by other groups. People thinking Jimin had to use an excuse to make Jungkook talk to Taehyung. I think narratives cloud people’s visions most of the time but the its talk must be the most misunderstood thing I’ve ever seen.

[iloveminjiu]

AAAAAA : dreamcatcher x 8th member!reader

(unfinished reject scraps)

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 1

“good morning, afternoon, or night, i am dreamcatcher’s ln yn, and i would like to say that it is a pleasure to have each and everyone of you as our audience tonight.”

“good morning, afternoon, or night…” one of the radio hosts – hongjoon, if you remembered correctly – repeated, an eyebrow raised as he looked up from his script to look at you. “you say this greeting almost everytime you introduce yourself. is there a reason why?”

“…there is a reason for it,” you say after a moment of silence before turning to hongjoon with an apologetic smile. “unfortunately, it is a bit of a long story though, and i’d rather not waste time telling it when it isn’t the slightest bit interesting...”

“as long as it’s you who's telling it, yn-ah, i’m sure all of our insomnia’s will be interested.” minji said, placing a hand in yours and squeezing it comfortingly. “of course, if you don’t want to talk about it, then you don’t have to.”

“yes, please don’t feel pressured to tell us, yn-ssi.” yunho said hastily, hongjoon nodding his head vigorously beside him. “it is up to you whether or not you want to tell us your story.”

“in that case…” you pause, leaning away from the mic and clearing your throat. “

this one just felt wrong. dunno how else i’m supposed to explain it.

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 2

“good morning, afternoon, and night.” you greet quietly, waving at the camera with a soft smile. “this is dreamcatcher’s ln yn, and it is a pleasure to have each and every one of you as our audience for today’s show.”

“…is it just me, or does she sound like one of those airplane pilots before they take off?” yoohyeon muttered

started off good but it didn’t flow that well.

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 3

“–out of the maknae line, yn-unnie and dami-unnie are the only ones who speak formally.”

“no, dami-unnie speaks formally.” gahyeon corrected, not even bothering to deny the fact that she spoke informally to you and the rest of your members. “yn-unnie speaks politely. there’s a difference.”

yoohyeon blinks, tilting her head to the side like a puppy – or just a dog in general – would when they were confused. “there is?”

“there is.” gahyeon said firmly, an all too serious look on her face. “yn-unnie is polite but speaks informally most of the time and dami-unnie just speaks formally whenever she talks to one of the unnies.”

“so yn-ssi is polite while dami-ssi is more formal.” the radio host summarized, prompting gahyeon to nod, and, after a moment of silence, he then laughs, a look of embarrassment on his face. “i’m sorry, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. how can someone be polite but informal?”

“let’s say they were asking me if i wanted to go out and eat.” minji cuts in. “if it was yn-ah, she would ask, ‘do you want to go out and eat somewhere?’”

you hum, nodding your head ever so slightly in agreement with the older girl’s words. “that is what i would say should i ask one of the unnies if they wanted to eat.”

“dami-ya, on the other hand,” minji continued, gesturing to the rapper with her hand. “would ask me, ‘unnie, would you like to go out and eat?’”

“and if it was yoohyeon or gahyeon, they would just ask, ‘wanna go out and eat somewhere?’” handong adds, smiling teasingly at the two girls, the former frowning and playfully shoving her while the latter giggled.

“ah, i see now.” the host says, a thoughtful look on his face. “yn-ssi is more casual than dami-ssi but is more polite compared to yoohyeon-ssi and gahyeon-ssi.”

“that’s not-”

“that’s pretty much it.” bora interrupted. “dami is the standard, yn is right below her, and yoohyeon and gahyeon are all the way at the bottom.”

this, one, has a different into but has a very similar concept. unfortunately, i didn’t like it at all so… to the scrap pile it goes.

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 4

“ynnie speaks like she comes from nobility.”

“do i really?”

“see, like that!” siyeon pointed at you, looking back and forth between the you and the radio host. “none of us would have said, ‘do i really?’. we would just say, ‘really?’ or whine or complain or something.”

”it makes it really confusing speaking to yn-ah sometimes,” sua said, prompting you to raise a brow. “i’m a pretty conservative person so whenever someone younger than me speaks informally, it sort of irks me?”

“that’s true.” gahyeon nodded, sighing. “i can’t tell you the amount of times she’s scolded me for not calling her unnie…”

it just didn’t feel right whatsoever. it started out okay, but fell off quickly :I

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 5

“dream of me~ good morning, afternoon, or night, i am dreamcatcher’s ln yn. i hope those of you who are listening right now are having a wonderful day today.”

“…” the radio host blinked, staring at you with wide eyes as your members cheered and clapped quietly. “oh, yes, yn-ssi… uh…”

“ah, she got affected by it.” bora murmured, laughing at the flustered look on the woman’s face. “looks like your fan club just got a new member, ynnie~”

you roll your eyes playfully, shoving the dancer on the shoulder playfully as she cackles. the woman, having snapped out of her stupor, chuckled, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “sorry about that, i don’t know what happened there…”

“don’t worry about it.” yoohyeon said, dismissing her apology with a wave of her hand. “most people get like that whenever they meet our ynnie for the first time.”

“is that so?” the woman asked, leaning forward with an curious look on her face. “how come?”

“honestly, we’re not too sure ourselves.” minji smiled, turning to you with a gummy smile on her lips as she wiggled her eyebrows. “maybe it’s because yn-ah is so pretty that they can’t help but gawk at her beauty?”

you frown, your eyebrows furrowing as you glared at the older girl. “unnie, please stop saying nonsense.”

“it’s the truth though.” gahyeon muttered, seemingly unimpressed by your denial. “when i first met you, i thought you were a goddess.”

did not fit yn’s personality whatsoever, imo

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

VAR. 6

you liked the attention and affection your members’ often offered to give you. you just weren’t very great at vocalizing your wants – needs, more like – which leads to the situation at hand.

“yah, don’t just push me like that, it hurts!”

you huff, crossing your arms and shuffling away from the older girl. “then maybe you shouldn’t have just launched at me like that.” you mutter, frowning. “if you hadn’t said – very loudly, might i add – that you were going to do that before hand, i would’ve hit you.”

“that’s enough.” sua interrupted, stepping in between you and the puppy-like girl with an unimpressed look on her face. “we have a schedule to get to and we’re already running late as it is. get into the car so we can go.”

yoohyeon pouts but does what the older girl says, shooting you a stink eye as she climbed into the car, where the rest of your members were watching with either wide eyes – gahyeon – an unimpressed look that was not unlike sua’s – handong – or a frown – jiu, siyeon, and dami.

sighing, you turn to follow yoohyeon into the car, only to be stopped by sua, who had somehow grabbed your wrist when you hadn’t been looking. “hold on.”

“unnie?”

sua glanced at jiu, sharing a look with the leader before the latter shook her head with a sigh of her own before pulling the door closed, leaving both you and bora standing outside.

idk it just felt off.

━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━

TBC. (because i am really struggling with this lol)

[treesofgreen]

Ooh ooh time for one of my favorite poems:

THE CHAOS

GEORGE NOLST TRENITÉ (1870–1946)

Dearest creature in creation

Studying English pronunciation,

I will teach you in my verse

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

I will keep you, Susy, busy,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy;

Tear in eye, your dress you’ll tear;

Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

Pray, console your loving poet,

Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!

Just compare heart, hear and heard,

Dies and diet, lord and word.

Sword and sward, retain and Britain

(Mind the latter how it’s written).

Made has not the sound of bade,

Say—said, pay—paid, laid but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you

With such words as vague and ague,

But be careful how you speak,

Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak,

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,

Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;

Woven, oven, how and low,

Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Say, expecting fraud and trickery:

Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,

Branch, ranch, measles, topsails, aisles,

Missiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing,

Same, examining, but mining,

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,

Solar, mica, war and far.

From ‘desire’: desirable—admirable from ‘admire’,

Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,

Topsham, brougham, renown, but known,

Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,

One, anemone, Balmoral,

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel.

Gertrude, German, wind and wind,

Beau, kind, kindred, queue, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,

Reading, Reading, heathen, heather.

This phonetic labyrinth

Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Have you ever yet endeavoured

To pronounce revered and severed,

Demon, lemon, ghoul, foul, soul,

Peter, petrol and patrol?

Billet does not end like ballet;

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.

Blood and flood are not like food,

Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,

Which exactly rhymes with khaki.

Discount, viscount, load and broad,

Toward, to forward, to reward,

Ricocheted and crocheting, croquet?

Right! Your pronunciation’s OK.

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,

Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Is your R correct in higher?

Keats asserts it rhymes Thalia.

Hugh, but hug, and hood, but hoot,

Buoyant, minute, but minute.

Say abscission with precision,

Now: position and transition;

Would it tally with my rhyme

If I mentioned paradigm?

Twopence, threepence, tease are easy,

But cease, crease, grease and greasy?

Cornice, nice, valise, revise,

Rabies, but lullabies.

Of such puzzling words as nauseous,

Rhyming well with cautious, tortious,

You’ll envelop lists, I hope,

In a linen envelope.

Would you like some more? You’ll have it!

Affidavit, David, davit.

To abjure, to perjure. Sheik

Does not sound like Czech but ache.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,

Rachel, loch, moustache, eleven.

We say hallowed, but allowed,

People, leopard, towed but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,

Between mover, plover, Dover.

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,

Chalice, but police and lice,

Camel, constable, unstable,

Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, penal, and canal,

Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal,

Suit, suite, ruin. Circuit, conduit

Rhyme with ‘shirk it’ and ‘beyond it’,

But it is not hard to tell

Why it’s pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,

Timber, climber, bullion, lion,

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,

Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour

Has the A of drachm and hammer.

Pussy, hussy and possess,

Desert, but desert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants

Hoist in lieu of flags left pennants.

Courier, courtier, tomb, bomb, comb,

Cow, but Cowper, some and home.

‘Solder, soldier! Blood is thicker’,

Quoth he, ‘than liqueur or liquor’,

Making, it is sad but true,

In bravado, much ado.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,

Neither does devour with clangour.

Pilot, pivot, gaunt, but aunt,

Font, front, wont, want, grand and grant.

Arsenic, specific, scenic,

Relic, rhetoric, hygienic.

Gooseberry, goose, and close, but close,

Paradise, rise, rose, and dose.

Say inveigh, neigh, but inveigle,

Make the latter rhyme with eagle.

Mind! Meandering but mean,

Valentine and magazine.

And I bet you, dear, a penny,

You say mani-(fold) like many,

Which is wrong. Say rapier, pier,

Tier (one who ties), but tier.

Arch, archangel; pray, does erring

Rhyme with herring or with stirring?

Prison, bison, treasure trove,

Treason, hover, cover, cove,

Perseverance, severance. Ribald

Rhymes (but piebald doesn’t) with nibbled.

Phaeton, paean, gnat, ghat, gnaw,

Lien, psychic, shone, bone, pshaw.

Don’t be down, my own, but rough it,

And distinguish buffet, buffet;

Brood, stood, roof, rook, school, wool, boon,

Worcester, Boleyn, to impugn.

Say in sounds correct and sterling

Hearse, hear, hearken, year and yearling.

Evil, devil, mezzotint,

Mind the Z! (A gentle hint.)

Now you need not pay attention

To such sounds as I don’t mention,

Sounds like pores, pause, pours and paws,

Rhyming with the pronoun yours;

Nor are proper names included,

Though I often heard, as you did,

Funny rhymes to unicorn,

Yes, you know them, Vaughan and Strachan.

No, my maiden, coy and comely,

I don’t want to speak of Cholmondeley.

No. Yet Froude compared with proud

Is no better than McLeod.

But mind trivial and vial,

Tripod, menial, denial,

Troll and trolley, realm and ream,

Schedule, mischief, schism, and scheme.

Argil, gill, Argyll, gill. Surely

May be made to rhyme with Raleigh,

But you’re not supposed to say

Piquet rhymes with sobriquet.

Had this invalid invalid

Worthless documents? How pallid,

How uncouth he, couchant, looked,

When for Portsmouth I had booked!

Zeus, Thebes, Thales, Aphrodite,

Paramour, enamoured, flighty,

Episodes, antipodes,

Acquiesce, and obsequies.

Please don’t monkey with the geyser,

Don’t peel ’taters with my razor,

Rather say in accents pure:

Nature, stature and mature.

Pious, impious, limb, climb, glumly,

Worsted, worsted, crumbly, dumbly,

Conquer, conquest, vase, phase, fan,

Wan, sedan and artisan.

The TH will surely trouble you

More than R, CH or W.

Say then these phonetic gems:

Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.

Thompson, Chatham, Waltham, Streatham,

There are more but I forget ’em—

Wait! I’ve got it: Anthony,

Lighten your anxiety.

The archaic word albeit

Does not rhyme with eight—you see it;

With and forthwith, one has voice,

One has not, you make your choice.

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger;

Then say: singer, ginger, linger.

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,

Marriage, foliage, mirage, age,

Hero, heron, query, very,

Parry, tarry, fury, bury,

Dost, lost, post, and doth, cloth, loth,

Job, Job, blossom, bosom, oath.

Faugh, oppugnant, keen oppugners,

Bowing, bowing, banjo-tuners

Holm you know, but noes, canoes,

Puisne, truism, use, to use?

Though the difference seems little,

We say actual, but victual,

Seat, sweat, chaste, caste, Leigh, eight, height,

Put, nut, granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rhyme with deafer,

Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,

Hint, pint, senate, but sedate.

Gaelic, Arabic, pacific,

Science, conscience, scientific;

Tour, but our, dour, succour, four,

Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Say manoeuvre, yacht and vomit,

Next omit, which differs from it

Bona fide, alibi

Gyrate, dowry and awry.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,

Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,

Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,

Dandelion with battalion,

Rally with ally; yea, ye,

Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay!

Say aver, but ever, fever,

Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.

Never guess—it is not safe,

We say calves, valves, half, but Ralf.

Starry, granary, canary,

Crevice, but device, and eyrie,

Face, but preface, then grimace,

Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Bass, large, target, gin, give, verging,

Ought, oust, joust, and scour, but scourging;

Ear, but earn; and ere and tear

Do not rhyme with here but heir.

Mind the O of off and often

Which may be pronounced as orphan,

With the sound of saw and sauce;

Also soft, lost, cloth and cross.

Pudding, puddle, putting. Putting?

Yes: at golf it rhymes with shutting.

Respite, spite, consent, resent.

Liable, but Parliament.

Seven is right, but so is even,

Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,

Asp, grasp, wasp, demesne, cork, work.

A of valour, vapid vapour,

S of news (compare newspaper),

G of gibbet, gibbon, gist,

I of antichrist and grist,

Differ like diverse and divers,

Rivers, strivers, shivers, fivers.

Once, but nonce, toll, doll, but roll,

Polish, Polish, poll and poll.

Pronunciation—think of Psyche!—

Is a paling, stout and spiky.

Won’t it make you lose your wits

Writing groats and saying ‘grits’?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel

Strewn with stones like rowlock, gunwale,

Islington, and Isle of Wight,

Housewife, verdict and indict.

Don’t you think so, reader, rather,

Saying lather, bather, father?

Finally, which rhymes with enough,

Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough?

Hiccough has the sound of sup.

My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

[bixisarusher]

Bix Reviews: Call Me Kat (Season 1, FOX 2021)

I thought a lot about how I feel about this show, and there are lots of words, so it’s gonna go under the cut.

In summary: I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I hoped to, and i discuss why I think that was. BUT there are great things in this remake, and I want to name them as well!

There are two ways to look at Call Me Kat: As it’s own thing, and as a Miranda remake. As a Miranda Hart stan, I’ll have a lot more to say about the latter, so let’s start with the show itself.

On It’s Own

That felt appropriate, nvm me

It’s a cute show. It’s not a groundbreaking concept, and it’s not re-inventing the genre, but it has some really good things going for it:

Kat is happy and confident in her quirks, but doesn’t have it all together - so she has room to grow and is very sympathetic, all the while encouraging the viewer to celebrate their own quirks. Lovely! Also Mayim is a treasure and it’s great to watch her perform.

The show openly discusses “taboo” topics, like using anti-depressants and their side-effects, freezing your eggs, comparing yourself to a hallucinated version of your crush’s ex...  The show isn’t a trailblazer, (partly because there have been many great shows in the last couple years) but I thinks it’s awesome to see them further treading out the ground and normalizing these topics.

It has a nice set of characters that go through their indepent stories, I found myself excited for any new episode and enjoying the varying storylines. (Most of them Randi.)

And, although the last episode dragged it right back into the romantic territory, Kat has a genuine friendship with Max and I value that a lot. Neither of them harbours secret feelings, instead they are open and honest about it. The only thing they overdid here was to have an exchange of “Do you remember, when we were in college together and [blank] happened?” in at least every other episode.

Another thing on the down side: Neither the writers nor Mayim seem to fully know what to do with the fourth wall breaks. I don’t mind the thing, it just doesn’t feel fully rounded out - like how much they want to use it, what purpose it really has, ...

I think it’s due to the circumstances of the filming (pandemic restrictions and all), but more on that later. So much for the show itself.

As a remake

First of all: Do I love Jim Parsons for looking at this absurd british gem of a TV show and deciding “the world needs more stuff like this”? Absolutely! Because I agree! There were two or three moments that leaned on Miranda a little too much for their own good, but overall: it is content inspired by Miranda, but neither correcting, it nor copying it. More power to this concept.

More power to celebrating the silly joys in this live, to celebrate not being normal, more power to amazing friendships and women who find their own path. Call Me Kat does all of these things.

However, it doesn’t quite live up to it’s Mothership. Let me elaborate.

There is a myriad of reasons why Miranda works and I will not attempt to list them. However there’s one thing that does stand out to me in the original, and that I really miss in the adaptation: Miranda didn’t just write “a plot” and salt it with “a few jokes”. She carefully built tensions and different storylines to culminate together. Sometimes it’s a funny word that the character hears in the first act, and later nervously blurts out in the wrong moment. Sometimes it’s a parade of characters she met through the episode that all meet in one spot at the end. Or there is a throw away comment in the beginning of an episode that sets up a revelation toward the end.

I could swarm you with examples, a good one is in 1x03 Job: trying to impress Tilly, trying to deny waitressing, and then: the multiple “You weed in a ball pool?” and Gary in uniform walking in right on time to sell the lie about being an undercover commander. Another one of my personal favorites is in 2x04 A New Low, when Miranda in the end tells Gary that he lost her trust, and he’ll “never get to see her naked sweep” - and then he find’s the portrait Tamara did of Miranda’s “naked sweep”. Just hit’s right.

That is a testament to how well crafted the episodes are. In Call Me Kat? All Nighter and Gym had moments like that, and Double Date very early on set up Kat’s dream to use the sound system, but it just never reached that same level of mastermind.

But, in defense of CMK: Miranda was crafted over ten years with a full of 20 episodes airing (21 if you count the radio series) and the cast worked together a good year before they filmed the first series of 6 episodes. Compared to that, work on Call me Kat started around 2018, the cast was assembled in the first half of 2020 and started shooting in late October. They then shot 13 episodes in their first season. (which is more than half of the total episodes of Miranda, just saying) Sources: english wikipedia articles for Miranda and Call Me Kat, as well as Mayim’s Youtube. (Jep I did research for this.)

Also the CMK episodes were written and directed by a variety of people, while the Miranda episodes have all been at least co-written by Miranda Hart and all except for the last two were directed by Juliet May.

These are - as much as I as a humble consumer with a bit of wikipedia knowledge know - basic differences about how shows are made in the UK vs. in the US, and neither formula is any way of guarantee for the quality of the final product. However I think somewhere in those facts is the reason why the Miranda ship feels a lot more in shape and ... coherent. The pilot that we know and love is the fourth time they recorded the script, and I don’t even want to know how many times the script had been edited in between. The cast knew each other well, the material had been tested in front of multiple audiences. Call Me Kat had neither of these luxuries. On the contrary, CMK has been put together under restrictions due to the pandemic.

So on the one hand, I am majorly grateful that this show even got to see the light of day! That means that a full cast and crew had jobs in these trying times, and it means that we were provided with good entertainement.

On the other hand, the circumstances are showing in the final product. The cast had an awkward chemistry with each other, and the comedic timing, though not horrible, could have been a lot better.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think studio audiences can be a blessing. There is something about the actors having a genuine connection to real time observers that helps me as a screen audience connect to it. And for this staged multicam show that includes glances at the camera? I think a real audience would have grounded the concept. And it would have given the team a direct feedback as to which moments were working comedically and which weren’t.

What I’m trying to say is: they had big shoes to fill, and the odds were not really in their favor, and so it doesn’t really hold up in comparison.

That’s sad. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a horrible show. As I said in the beginning, I love that this show is done in the spirit of Miranda, even if it’s not just as good.

I have no idea how the show’s chances are to get a second season. If they do get renewed - I’ll keep watching.

-----

Now, let me finish with a few gifs that I feel like they can be applied to the whole “they remade Miranda and it went both ok and less then ok but at least the word is being spread, right?”-situation.

because Kat/Max is good but could anything ever be Miranda/Gary?

Not really...

ok that one’s a bit rude. but you thought it, too.

Jim turning in bed at night overthinking if Mayim was the right choice. But she was. Much like Stevie was for Miranda.

Honestly a very good part of the remake is Mayim and Cheyenne performing together! I personally think this moment above is responsible.

Trying to match the CMK characters to the Miranda characters like: I thought Phil is supposed to be the Customer but turns out Phil originally was supposed to a Phillys? So Phil is Stevie, but then who is Randi? Tilly? So many questions.

And with that, dear Caller, back to you.

[brandyllyn]

In our own image... (epilogue)

Epilogue

(Poe Dameron x OFC)

Other chapters... My Masterlist

Word count: 1900. Read it on AO3.

Rating: Teen & Up (PG) language.

Poe blinked at the sunlight streaming across the high ceiling, one hand coming up to scratch at his beard. It had more grey than black to it these days, something he griped about constantly. But his wife loved it, loved petting him and calling it distinguished.

Speaking of which, he caught movement from the corner of his eye - the bedroom door cracking open. He opened his mouth to call out to her but instead he caught sight of an unruly mop of dark curls about halfway down. Grinning he waited, closing his eyes most of the way. When the small body flew onto the bed he was ready, hands coming out to catch his son, fingers finding the spots that made the young boy squirm and giggle.

"Dad, dad stop," Temmin gasped and Poe let the boy go, stacking his hands behind his head as the child sat up next to him breathless.

"What are you doing waking me up? Where’s your mom?"

Temmin rolled his eyes, a habit he had definitely not picked up from his father. "She’s making breakfast."

"Mmhmm, and your sister?"

His son blanched, scowling. Even at only five, the kid had an impressive scowl. "She’s singing to the birds again."

Poe grinned, reaching over and pulling one of the pillows over so he could push it behind him and sit up straighter. "And this bothers you because…?"

"The birds eat all of our plants!"

"Well, can’t you sing them to stay away?"

Temmin rolled his eyes again. They were really going to have to put a stop to that soon. "That’s not how it works, dad."

Poe reached over and grabbed his son by the waist, twisting and setting the kid on his feet next to the bed. He stretched and swung his legs over the side, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees. "Explain it to me."

Temmin went off on a rant, talking about songs and melodies and tempos. Poe listened with half an ear while he found a shirt that maybe matched his sleep pants and pulled it on, following his son from the room and down the stairs where he could hear the sounds of breakfast being made. The smell hit him as they turned the corner, baked goods and sizzling meat. The sight hit him next. Kina in a soft shirt and pants similar to his, standing at the refrigeration unit and whistling down to BB-8.

Poe pressed a finger to his lips when he saw BB-8, padding on soft feet until he was right behind his wife. He snaked his arms around her waist, rubbing his face into her neck with a "Good morning."

She made a loud whistle, arching and twisting her body away from him. "Poe! Stop it!"

"I thought you liked my beard," he mumbled, scraping it along her skin even more. His lips stretched into a grin when he felt the laughter in her body, the way her hands covered his and held him close even as she tried to get away from him.

"I love your beard," she corrected. "On you."

"Mmhmm," Poe hummed, kissing just behind her ear. "Liar."

She shivered and Poe considered lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder - carrying her back into the bedroom and starting the morning off right. Two things stopped him. One, his son was watching them with a look of disgust that only children could dredge up for their parents. Second, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure his back could take it.

He let her go instead, patting her hip and pouring himself a cup of caf. "I hear our daughter is seducing the birds again."

She rolled her eyes, a perfect replication of her son. "It’s not seduction. Don’t be gross."

"Whatever it is, Temmin says they’re eating our garden."

"Your garden," Kina griped, swatting at his hand when he tried to steal a roll from the countertop. "I wanted to use that space as a workshop but noooo."

"You have a workshop," Poe pointed out, snagging a roll and tossing it to his son before meeting Kina’s eyes with an innocent expression.

"I could have had a bigger workshop," Kina whistled on a sigh.

Poe hid his smile in his caf, wandering out onto the back deck of their house and tilting his face up to the sunlight. In the distance he could see Theed, the capitol building glinting faintly. The large windows of his office faced this direction - his home always in his sight even on the busiest of days.

His estate - Maker he had an estate - stretched over a few acres and down the hillside. The house open and with as few walls as possible to take advantage of the near perfect weather on Naboo year-round. He had balked at it at first, there was no need for them to have so much room for just the two of them. There were apartments in the city set aside for him - they could live there as easily as anything.

But Kina had smiled at him softly and pulled his hand to lay low on her stomach. "We’re going to need the room."

He had proposed to her on the spot.

Of course, they’d already been married a year but that was beside the point. He wanted to marry her again and she had smiled into his kiss when he told her so. Since then the estate had become a home, filled with love and laughter and even a hangar on the far side for his X-wing.

It was just about perfect.

Poe looked down the hillside at the orchard and garden he had started years ago. A whim at first. It had been decades since he had lived somewhere long enough to keep a plant alive. But he found he had a knack for it. And when his son decided he liked it too, the garden had flourished between Poe’s attentiveness and the soft Songs of Growing that his son sang. At the moment, it was covered in small brightly colored birds. Occasionally they would take off as one, flying around a point in the center before landing again.

Poe huffed and made his way down the path, wading into the cloud of feathered bodies and listening with one ear at the Song his daughter was singing. "Riyaldi? You in there?"

"Hey dad."

He sighed at her over the lip of his mug. She was nine, just starting to think he wasn’t the coolest person in the galaxy. It hurt a little but he also kind of admired her for it. For the way she knew what she wanted, who she wanted to be. Kina said she reminded her of her sister, lost years ago during the war. It made sense, their daughter was named for her.  

"Is there a reason you’re doing this in the garden and not somewhere else?"

Riyaldi raised an eyebrow. He could blame Temmin’s eyerolls on Kina, but the eyebrow thing was one hundred percent him. "They like it here."

"And it has nothing to do with annoying me and your brother?"

Her eyes slid away from him and he nodded. "That’s what I thought. Well, you keep doing what you’re doing but just know you’re going to spend today cleaning up and fixing everything they mess up. And anything we have to replant comes from your allowance."

"Dad…" she whined but he ignored her, picking his way around the birds and back to the house.

"Every seed!" He called over his shoulder. He passed Temmin as he went into the kitchen, saw his son make a rude gesture at his sister but ignored it.

One kid a gardener, the other set on doing something with animals that changed day to day. He grumbled to himself as he slid into his seat at the table, tilting his face up to the kiss Kina dropped on his forehead as she passed behind him. "Two kids and no one wants to be a pilot. I can’t help but think this is your fault in some way."

"My fault?" Kina slid into the seat next to him, thanking the droid that dropped their plates. "How is it my fault?"

"You used your," he gestured at her, "while they were inside you."

Kina glanced at the door and then gave him a smirk. "You’re inside me all the time, don’t see it affecting you."

He grinned as he leaned closer to her, pressing a kiss to her nose. "Oh it affects me alright."

Kina pursed her lips to say more but was interrupted by a voice, "Mom, where’s the blakenberries?"

His wife winked at him and turned to their son. "You ate them all yesterday. We haven’t gotten any more yet."

Temmin grumbled and stuffed a roll into his mouth, rolling his eyes. Poe saw Kina’s eyes narrow and she opened her mouth but he covered her hand with his. "He gets it from you," he whispered to her and smothered a laugh at her affronted look.

"The birds are gone," Riyaldi announced, sitting across from her brother and making a face at him. "Your precious garden is safe."

"Good," Poe looked at his family, felt warmth seep into his chest and reached out to lay his hand over Kina’s. She met his gaze and smiled at him, turning her palm up into his and squeezing.

"I’m going flying later," Poe announced, looking at his kids hopefully. Both ignored him, Riyaldi gathering up BB-8 and Temmin motioning for K-0 to follow him down to the garden. Poe sighed after them and then smiled when he felt his wife slip onto his lap, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"Poor Poe Dameron. Best Pilot in the Resistance and no one to share it with."

Poe made an exaggerated face, pouting up at her. "I tried to live a good life. I don’t know where I went wrong."

She smiled softly at him, covering his wrist with one of her hands and pressing it into her hip. "Well, you’re going to get a third chance."

Poe froze, staring at their hands and then looking up at her. "A third… are you serious?"

She bit her lip and nodded and Poe caught her up in a hug, pressing his lips to hers and breathing his joy into her. "But what… how…"

Kina snorted. "Considering how often we try it’s a wonder we don’t have more."

Poe couldn’t stop grinning. "Another kid. Boy or girl? No wait, I don’t want to know this time."

Kina winked at him, knowing full well he’d hold to that resolution for about a month before breaking. Out in her shop, tucked away into a drawer he would never think to look in, sat a small sign for the nursery, a name welded in script across it.

Captain Leia Dameron.

She would show it to him later, when he found out that they were having another little girl. With her father’s bright eyes and her mother’s golden marked skin. But right now they kissed in the morning sunlight, the sounds of their children playing in the background and the wind in the trees providing a melody that wrapped them together.

They had found their Song in each other. Each carrying their own part of the tune. And every person in their lives brought something to it. Their children of course. But also Rose and Finn and their children. Rey and her adopted little green frog. Chewbacca and his family, together longer than any of them had been alive. Countless others they had met along the way.

Every person brought another chord into their lives. Into their Song.

It was harmony.

[hatboyproject]

Synth Anthropomorphisation

I've been generating audio all day for this romance scene script & Jeff's synth is behaving unusually well for his lines, so far. Suspiciously well. Sometimes, I swear it's as if he has a mind of his own & today, he just decided to cooperate with me for some reason.

Sometimes, I have to fight with him to get a decent read out of a line. At his worst, I have to sit there for upwards of an hour, tweaking the same three or four seconds' worth of speech, trying to coax him to read it with the inflection that I need. Sometimes I have to adjust the script's wording to make him "like it" better, or splice together multiple takes to get a word said in the way I like. Occasionally, I have to do even further pitch correction post-generation, and even after all that, I can still end up with a line read that I know isn't working all that well. It can sometimes be a really, really, really mentally draining task. I swear he's more temperamental on some days than others. On different days, I've generated the same line and got a slightly different read.

But today, he seems to like me, a little bit. I'm most of the way through the script now, and I've had to do relatively few corrections on most of them. In fact, he's come out with a few pretty acceptable reads with no corrections at all, and I've just tweaked them as if giving a director's suggestion rather than pushing an instrument around.

I'm aware that I sound like a raving lunatic at the moment and if the weather's decent tomorrow, I swear I'll go outside and touch some grass, but it's hard sometimes not to feel like the goddamned machine hasn't only learned how to enunciate speech like this actor, but has also learned me.

Of course, the logical explanation is that I'm just better at using it and predicting what words he has trouble with, but sometimes, I swear.

Now, FemShep, on the other hand... She's a tricky beast. She likes to get one half of a two sentence line absolutely perfect and crystalline, complete with little breathy flairs and smooth tonal transitions, and then mumble the other half like some kind of stumbling drunk. For almost every FemShep line with more than one sentence, no matter how short, I have to split the lines into multiple takes. The problem is that to keep tone and pitch natural, it's best to include as much of the whole phrase as possible so that it flows. But no, not on Shepard's watch. She loves nothing more than to make me chop everything she says up and stick it together. I swear.

Synth Personalities, as I Understand Them:

Jeff is ornery, but is essentially committed, and if you catch him at the right time, almost affectionate in his willingness to cooperate. Despite sounding dry by default most of the time, it's easy to direct him towards sounding surprisingly tender. Needs larger words spelled phonetically. He is a pilot who can't say the word "fly" without creative assistance and refuses to say his own surname under any circumstances whatsoever. Extremely responsive to punctuation and will alter his reads accordingly.

Shepard is a highly skilled loose cannon that does whatever the hell she wants on her own terms, and occasionally it's miraculous, but it's also always confusing. Can't pronounce "evacuate," no matter how you break it down phonetically. She likes it when you draw out her R, S and H sounds, particularly at the ends of words so she can do this breathy thing. I don't know, but it works. Doesn't give a damn about punctuation unless it's commas or full stops, and even then, only if she feels like it.

EDI does pretty much anything you ask of her, flawlessly, the first time. Any corrections are minimal, and she can handle multiple sentences without sounding awkward. She can handle complicated words like "xenopsychology" with minimal assistance. Always pronounces "Shepard" with good inflection wherever it is in the sentence. Naturally produces deadpan lines with perfect comedic timing. What the fuck.

Garrus is a rambling speaker and is very accepting of unusual words, such as people's names. He takes direction well for the most part, and is excellent when it comes to split clauses. His tone is easy to moderate, but has trouble not joining separate sentences together too quickly. Always needs the "y" in "you" to be lengthened. Easily sounds affectionate or dictatorial. Can even be made to sound as though he is smiling when speaking. Often needs vowels shortening on the ends of words or he will draw them out unreasonably until they disintegrate into nonsense.

Kaidan has perfect tonal variation and terrible artefacting. He sounds like he's reading you the most beautiful, heartfelt thing you're ever gonna hear... From five thousand light-years away on a bad transceiver. He does his best, and his best is surprisingly good at core, but he is tragically limited in overall clarity by quality problems. It's a snap to make him sound caring and romantic, but again... Get a better phone. Usually says "Shepard" too enthusiastically and has to have the letters pitch-altered to fit the rest of the sentence.

Thane sounds confused a lot. Often sounds like he isn't sure about what he's saying, his tone on un-adjusted sentences is usually slightly absent sounding in a way that's difficult to describe. Surprisingly versatile where it comes to trying to copy the weird "Baby Siha" meme. If you don't know what that is, go ahead and look it up, but only if there's a shower nearby, because hearing it will make you feel slimy and uncomfortable in ways you didn't think was possible. Chuckles pretty convincingly.

Male Shepard wants to know what's going on, but first, he will try to explain what's going on as best he understands it being under the effects of god knows what. He often sounds declarative, but in that drunken frat boy kind of way that makes you want to back away slowly and not make eye contact. If he feels like saying your line, though, he'll do it with an impressive capability for mimicking Meer's sometimes unusual style of delivery.

Can't wait to test Jack and Miranda. I bet Jack can swear with incredibly life-like inflection.

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

Limitless Podcast Transcript [S2E1]

TW: Mentions of a Character Death, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Mentions of Paralyzing

Notes: Please I love writing these sjdhakhds

Word Count: 3.1K

[Previous] | [Next]

[Main Masterlist] | [Without a Trace Masterlist]

Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Release Date: July X 2021 Episode Title: The Four Aces turned Spades Run Time: 25 Minutes

Intro Song: Old Friends - Sineg

Johnny: Hey, hey, hey! Good day, everyone and wow was I not expecting the turn out.

Mark: Agreed! We have like triple viewership, er, listenership than our first season, it’s crazy! Like, hi, I guess. How are you guys doing?

Johnny: Honestly, I didn’t think people would be so interested. But, seriously, thanks, we really appreciate it. And maybe we’re a little surprised by it? Especially after how much support the anti-vigilante bill got, so it’s interesting to see the support for Limitless. But anyway! Let’s talk vigilantes! We saw your comments and quote tweets about who you wanted to hear about first and our local favorite [TN: Said with sarcasm] Spades won by a landslide.

Mark: Right! That’s insane, geez, must be because Spades was on the news, right? No one cared about Spades until then, or at least I thought so.

Johnny: You’ll have to forgive him, he’s a bit of a fan.

Mark: But not as much as a fan as our special guest, drum roll please, Nakamoto Yuta!

Yuta: Hi, everyone.

Mark: When was the last time you were on the show?

Yuta: Hm, probably last season when we were talking about, what was their name again? Vendetta, right?

Johnny: Yup, they’re retired now though... allegedly.

Mark: Allegedly.

Yuta: Right, you’ll never know with vigilantes.

Johnny: Yeah, so why don’t you introduce yourself since it’s your first time on the new season?

Yuta: Gotcha. I’m Nakamoto Yuta and I’m a journalist for the local paper, I have about six or seven years in the business, give or take. I’ve been following the movements of Spades since the beginning with Four Aces and such I know quite a bit about them... maybe too much.

Mark: Maybe a little.

Johnny: He’s also Mark’s roommate.

Yuta: That I am. But still qualified to speak on the lovely Ace of Spades.

Mark: Yup, so let’s dive into the episode and start with some history, what do you think?

Johnny: Sounds good but first, a little thing from our sponsors.

Mark: What? We already have sponsors?

Johnny: Yeah, they DMed me right after the pilot aired. So with that said... Vigilantes can solve a lot of things, they can catch criminals and hinder crimes, they can save cats from trees and walk senior citizens across sidewalks, but do you know what vigilantes can’t do? Mark, take a guess.

Mark: Haha, what?

Johnny: Yuta?

Yuta: Do tell, I am very interested.

Johnny: Your homework. [TN: Not important but Mark started cracking up to the point that he had to cover his mic] That’s right. But do you know who can? That’s right! Syntaxly is here to help with your essay and thesis needs. For free they can check your paper and see if things are grammatically correct and maybe make a few changes here and there and, hey, I’ve got to admit it, they really helped out in writing the basic script for this episode. But if you decide to go with Syntaxly Plus you’ll get access to plagiarism checkers and live time feedback, crazy, right? If you use the promo code “Back 2 U” and yes that is the word “Back” the number “2″ and the letter “U,” you can get your first three months free. So do us a favor and go get some free essay help. It really helps us out on our end too so we can keep giving you some nifty episodes, what do you think? Give it a shot and tell us how it goes!

Mark: I dunno dude, I’m more of a Grammarly kind of guy.

Johnny: Ew. Grammarly is basically just a capitalist version of basic grammar and spelling check.

Mark: Syntaxly is literally the same premise? Don’t hate on Grammarly like that. Yuta, back me up.

Yuta: I use neither. If I have wordy and hard to follow sentences so be it, it’s the reader’s fault for not being able to pick up on my artistic intellect.

Johnny: Dude, what?

Mark: Just go with it.

Johnny: Okay then, anyway, back to the episode. Yuta, what can you tell us about Spades’ history?

Yuta: What can’t I tell? Basically, Spades was originally in a group of four, you can probably guess their names. Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs were the other three. The group was definitely a force to be reckoned with, you can pull up some of the old articles from when they were active, it was insane. They were like real celebrities, you know?

Mark: Well, Clubs later became a celebrity.

Yuta: Right, but that’s besides the point. Either way, they worked as a great unit, any person observing can see the great camaraderie between them. According to popular rumors it’s said that the group were originally school friends turned vigilantes when they’re fifth person in the friend group was murdered. The murder was brushed off as a suicide, however, but they knew their friend better than that. 

Mark: Friend that was murdered? You wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Eric Son case, would you? 

Yuta: Yup. You have to admit that the whole thing was sketchy. The autopsy came out months later, there were signs of a struggle, even the suicide note was sketchy, his partner at the time said that it looked nothing like his handwriting. And then came the gun, it was right next to Son’s hand but his prints on it were smudged. If this was a murderer who tried to hide their tracks, they did a seriously messy job with it. Either way, it was this ruling of the case that marked the beginning of the Aces, we don’t know if they ever found the original killer though. Their leader, Hearts, always refused to comment on it. But that team, damn, the way they worked was insane. They each had their own specializations too, it’s a shame what happened to Hearts.

Johnny: Right, the accident.

Yuta: Yeah, we only knew it was Hearts because her mask was in the back seat. That was just the beginning of the end for the Aces. With Hearts decommissioned for good, the remaining three fell into disarray. Hearts is bedridden now, no one knows where she is though, which is probably a good thing given that the Aces made more enemies than friends. Then there’s Clubs, who would later leave and reveal his identity to the public right before the Vigilante Ban came out.

Mark: You mean the absolute heart throb Han Jisung who would later become a hit actor with the series All In on HBO Max that you can watch ahead of time before it airs on HBO with a basic membership that only costs $14.99 a month and you get premier access to new movies included in that?

Johnny: Did HBO Max DM you?

Mark: Yup. I saw a chance and took it, go give it a shot and tell us what you think about All In, the series started about two weeks ago and follows a mob gang that doubles as the police force for a cover, it’s got an interesting narrative. But back to the episode. Han Jisung, damn, he like commands presence.

Yuta: Hell yeah, his movies are great. Can you imagine? Going from vigilante to a fucking movie star? You’d think someone would be out for his head, but I guess when you’re that jacked no one would want to mess with you.

Johnny: Oh, definitely, what the hell? I swear, I think he can crush skulls with his fist alone.

Yuta: Oh, without a doubt. I think the only thing that saved him was the fact that the Aces had a mutual agreement to never actually kill anyone.

Johnny: Right, the court case for Han was crazy enough, I can’t believe he won. Turning everything into self defense? God damn. I really thought that they were going to lock him up.

Mark: Same, but what happened to Diamonds?

Yuta: Diamonds fought with Spades a little bit until the Christmas day incident. I think you’re all familiar.

Mark: Yeah, but for the viewers who don’t know about it, basically there was a show down in Central Park between Diamonds, Spades, and the then villain Absolute Zero. Things were looking pretty bad, lots of property damage and civilian casualties everywhere, and while Spades was on civilian duty, Diamonds focused on Absolute Zero. Near the end of the fight, Timekeeper was able to intervene, but details from there are muddled. All we know is that Diamonds was dead.

Yuta: Yeah, it was a really dark Christmas that year. Spades even went inactive for a long while after that. We thought that that was the end of the Aces.

Mark: We all thought so! One Ace was dead, another one paraplegic, one who wanted nothing to do with it, and another just completely disappeared.

Johnny: Man, what I would pay to see Twitter again that day, I never knew they were so divided on the Aces.

Yuta: It was kind of disheartening, the Aces had really only done more good than bad, it was just that Christmas day that screwed everything over. Do you remember how the media absolutely harassed Han about it? It was ridiculous, and all he said was that anything the Aces did was none of his concern. Talk about cold, makes me wonder what happened between the four for them to have grown so distant. In their earlier days people would talk about how they would just have basic mundane conversations with each other while fighting criminals. Hell, remember when Spades loudly proclaimed that Clubs left the stove on? And how Hearts was worrying about rent? It’s crazy, I think a lot of people forget that these vigilantes were actual people under the masks. Then they just... fell apart.

Mark: Yeah, it was just... batshit crazy. Then, out of nowhere, like maybe half a year later, Spades was spotted in the red-light district beating the hell out of a serial sexual assaulter.

Johnny: Good for Spades.

Yuta: Yeah, fuck sexual assaulters.

Mark: I will never forget the video because the person who took it was like “Yaaas beat the shit out of him” like five times.

Johnny: Oh god, the memes on that.

Mark: Gold!! No, but seriously, that was like a pivot point for Spades.

Yuta: No, because it really is. Up until that day Spades was known to be the people’s favorite, always focusing on how the Aces were perceived by the media and the public and always knowing when to hold back but, fucking hell, what Spades did to that guy was horrific. Granted, he deserved it, but many people who saw the video said that they had to go to therapy after because they couldn’t get the guy’s screams out of his head.

Johnny: They had to get therapy? Please, he had to get therapy. I heard that the guy’s constantly afraid that Spades will come finish the job one day.

Mark: Yeah, but that’s super unlikely. One thing that Spades has stuck to was the Aces’ original “No Kill” rule and thank god for that. If only we knew the Christmas say incident was the beginning of a whole new vigilante I think this ban would’ve come much sooner.

Johnny: I’m talking about the aftermath, guys, Spades literally took this half-beaten-to-death man and dropped him off at the fucking Police Station and dipped. That’s fucking ballsy. Imagine if Spades pulled that now with the Vigilante Ban? I’d be going insane!

Yuta: Seriously! Spades got ten times more brutal than when the other Aces were around. Then the ban happened and it got so much worse.

Johnny: Yeah, vigilantes now can’t leave any closed ends, they do that and they get caught, but shit, still some of the scenes that Spades leaves behind is downright horrific.

Mark: Honestly, I can’t believe they’re still alive after that. Do you remember the Rich Avenue incident? On Halloween? Shit, I can’t believe those people were still alive. There was blood everywhere. 

Johnny: I know, damn, Spades must have been fucking pissed. What Spades left behind in that house was downright terrifying. Must have found out about the Vigilante Ban, remember what was written on that card?

Yuta: Fuck Senator Keeves, I do what I want and will keep doing it?

Mark: Yup. Damn, talk about power move. Now Spades is a fucking hurricane, since then, I swear, something changed in Spades, from fighting styles to the criminals targeted, it’s insane. I just want to know what goes on in Spades’ head, you know? I feel like Spades has a lot of interesting opinions. But, seriously, I’m glad to know that Spades stuck with that part of the code even after the Aces just fell apart. Do you know if Spades still talks to Clubs?

Johnny: If they do talk we’d never know. Spades is the only identity still kept a secret from the public and, if anything, I’m sure Spades is kissing up to Clubs right now so he doesn’t reveal it.

Yuta: Or it could be the other way around, I feel like the two have perfect leverage against each other and I don’t know how else they’d keep one another in check. As for Hearts no one knows either, if they do talk, that would be interesting considering the fall out they all had. But I would like to know what they thing of Spades now.

Johnny: Spades became kind of a dark horse, no? Out of nowhere and suddenly one of the most active vigilantes. 

Mark: Dude, people were in such disbelief that they actually thought the person who orchestrated the Rich Avenue incident was just a copy cat, remember? Then the police released that it couldn’t have been because they kept a certain detail out of the records so they could tell if attacks were done by Spades or if they were just copy cats.

Yuta: Well, yeah, but it really just reeks of “Source: OOMF said,” you know what I mean? The styles are just so drastically different from one another that it was hard to believe.

Mark: I don’t know, maybe Spades was just pissed. The Aces were no more, the Vigilante Ban, and just... who knows, maybe Spades was just tired. Tired of things not going the way they were supposed to.

Johnny: It’s kind of scary, but in somewhat of an admirable kind of way? But then again, and even scarier, apparently some people have spotted Spades talking to Blackguard.

Yuta: Oh, fuck, if those two team up I can only imagine the chaos.

Mark: Right, they’re both on the top ten most wanted too, have you seen the rewards on their heads? Spades is at $500,000 right now and Blackguard twice that just because of the people he’s killed.

Johnny: Damn, vigilantes, I get that the people they get rid of had it coming for them but, god, they come and go so fast. Spades, at the moment, is just targeting petty crime right now just because there’s nothing going on locally, and if there was then Blackguard takes care of it.

Mark: Yeah, it’s like there’s a system, or something. Or maybe just mutual respect. I wonder what Spades is going to do now with that one unknown person going out to kill Vigilantes now. Does that make them a vigilante too? Because they’re exercising power outside of government authority, but at the same time it’s to, like, aid the government. I don’t know.

Yuta: Yeah, Mark, take it easy before you get a headache. All we know is that Spades chose to stay active and now the government’s doing everything they can to figure out who they are.

Johnny: Right, right. But Spades, what a character. Remember when we’d see the Mastermind, Huntsman, and Spades team up? It was crazy. First team up we’ve seen since the Aces basically disbanded and fucking hell that was a trio. Mastermind is a genius.

Mark: Yeah! Have you seen his traps? Very Jigsaw esque, you know? I wonder if he’s a fan. If one of his targets falls in them that’s it. But it’s kind of interesting to see how he works, you know? Those traps are equally as genius, and combined with Spades’ technique and Huntsman’s aim it really makes the whole thing pop, you know?

Johnny: Yeah, it’s just insane how these vigilantes work and think, I want to sit down with one and have a deep conversation with them, I think they’d have so much interesting things to say.

Yuta: Agreed. Who know what Spades is going to do next, one of the interesting things about most vigilantes is that it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it is that they’re trying to achieve or trying to do. Who knows, maybe some of them are just bored adults who have nothing better to do, or maybe they’re like the Aces who noticed that there was just something horribly wrong with the system and wanted to fix it.

Johnny: Or maybe even both.

Yuta: Maybe. It’s definitely interesting, though.

Mark: Yeah, but, with that said, we’re going to have to wrap up the episode here now. Thanks for listening, you guys, and as usual we’ll be active on Twitter to answer your questions on CuriousCat and, also as usual, we’ll be answering the first 100 questions that come in. We’ll leave a poll pinned for what vigilante you want us to talk about next and maybe we’ll even throw in something extra. If you check out Patreon right now you’ll see a nifty poll for a secret thing that I think you’ll all enjoy. Oh, and buy us a Kofi! Link’s in our bio on Twitter.

Johnny: We should really get an Instagram.

Mark: We should, but we’ll deal with that later. But, speaking of, follow us on Twitter! We appreciate it.

Johnny: Oh and thanks to Crys, as always, for transcribing [TN: You’re welcome]! Make sure to follow her on @stayarmytinyzenmoa-l​ and buy her a Kofi so she can keep transcribing more of your favorite podcasts. Like our friends over at Kick Back, Ten and Yangyang. Kick Back’s a podcast about TV Show reviews and how there are subliminal plot points that relate to issues today, check them out!

Mark: And follow Yuta on Instagram!

Yuta: The @’s yuu_taa_1026 if you’re interested. I try to keep things cool.

Mark: Right on, that’s all we have for this evening’s episode so we’ll catch you in the next one! Good night, everyone!

Johnny: See you later!

Outro Song: Balmy - High John, Flitz&Suppe

General Tag List: @vickylamore​ @yeongwvnhi​ @mizzdivagirl7-blog​ @sehunnies-hunnie96​ @yangsrose​ @bat-shark-repellant​ @cloudreads​ @raeincitizen​ @here-aeth​ @lofied​ @lune1897​

Without a Trace: @thatnelsy​

If you want to be added to either tag list just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: Chapter 33: Island of the Gods

The sound of seagulls cawing and cold water lapping against her legs was what roused Nonette into consciousness. Blinking as the sun hit her eyes, she saw about a dozen of the birds circling above her.

With a gasp, she sat up. Looking around, she saw that she was alone, but there was no sign of Britannian troops or Knightmares anywhere. It was clear she was still on one of the islands if the sandy beach and glistening ocean was any clue, but it didn't seem to be Shikine Island. Otherwise, she was sure that she would have been picked up by now.

"How did I get here?" she muttered. All she remembered was fighting Zero in the Black Lion and then…

"It's no use," she growled, "I can't remember anything!"

Nonette knew that without any Knightmares, it was unlikely that she could call for help or request a rescue party. The best she could do would be to get to higher ground. She was sure that her unit was looking for her, and if what she remembered was correct and her other colleagues were here...

Prince Schneizel had some explaining to do.

Until then, though, she would have to simply survive, and the first thing to do in that case was to find some freshwater.

Hiking up along the mountain trail, the faint sound of rushing water caught her ear. Likely a waterfall. At least she knew there was a good water source here.

Turning around a bend, Nonette nearly leaped out of her skin as she came face to face with a large green lion head.

Under normal circumstances, she would have at least drawn her gun to defend herself, but the only weapon she had was her sword. She instinctively gripped the handle but not drawing it just yet, merely staring the lion down.

After about a minute of tense silence, Nonette slowly moved, realizing the lion wasn't moving. That likely meant whoever was piloting the lion wasn't inside.

That meant whoever was piloting it was somewhere in the area too.

Now on her guard, Nonette cautiously snuck towards the sound of the waterfall. She had no way of knowing if the pilot was armed or not. However, even if she didn't have a gun, all of the Knights of the Round were proficient with swords, or knives in Bradley's case. She would just have to make sure that she got in close to fight properly.

Sneaking as silently as she could through the foliage, she finally found the source of the sound, and as she expected, it was a waterfall.

What she wasn't expecting, though, was to see someone already occupying the pool beneath it, and she couldn't help but gasp.

It was a young man with platinum blonde hair. His bareback was towards her, so she didn't see his face, but what she could see was… horrifying.

Whip-lashes, bullet wounds, other crisscrossing scars (likely from knives)  covered the teen's back. There were also fainter, more straight lines. Surgical cuts. She could barely make out any clear, smooth skin. But most horrifying of all was right in the middle of his spine.

A brand. The symbol wasn't anything she recognized. If she had to pick a word to describe it, though, it looked like some sort of mutated, three-pointed claw.

This man had been tortured. Brutally. As well as experimented on and labeled as property. Of all of the cruel things she'd heard the Empire doing to the Numbers, she was at least glad that branding had been outlawed. Wounds and injuries could heal, but brands, they weren't easy to get rid of. Most were impossible to remove, and from where that one was located, it was unlikely it could be done safely for him.

She must have made more noise than she thought, as a moment later, the teen turned from where he had been bathing. His eyes widened when he saw her.

Her eyes widened in shock too when she saw his face.

"Prince Zephyr?!"

The Knight of the Round was in too much shock that she overlooked the blond reach for something behind him and fired it at her. Next thing she knew, she felt a cord wrap tightly around her, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground. Moments later, she cried out in pain as electricity ran through her body.

Then she blacked out.

On another area of the island, with a bit more of a rocky shore, Zero stood by, calmly observing the new location that he and Zen had somehow ended up. When he had come to, he had been unable to rouse his Lion. He knew she'd wake up on her own eventually, but what concerned him was that he was unable to contact the castle or the other Paladins. Something on this island was jamming the signal. The best thing to do for now would be to wait until Zen woke up to leave and regroup with the rest of the team manually.

"As I thought," he muttered, "This is another island… though the vegetation and climate are the same as Shikine Island. We can't be that far from it. I can't contact the castle right now. And with my face all over the news, I can't pass myself off as an ordinary person asking for help either. This is annoying."

His train of thought was cut off when he heard a noise to his right. Looking over, the person he spotted made him gasp.

'Euphie!'

The princess herself, soaking wet, also gasped as she came face to face with the mysterious masked revolutionary.

Nonette groaned as she regained consciousness for the second time that day. As she tried to move her hands, she realized that they were bound in what felt like hand-cuffs.

"Have a nice nap?"

Nonette gasped and looked up in surprise, the sun blinding her vision partially as her captor stood in front of her, now fully dressed in a black bodysuit and white and green armor. She noticed that they were by the Green Lion again, and the teen was perched on top of its nose.

Getting a better look at the teen now, there was no mistaking it.

"Prince Zephyr, is that really you?" she gasped hopefully.

The teen frowned and narrowed his eyes and pushed off the Lion's muzzle, landing on the ground.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, lady," he said severely, "My name's Rai."

"What? No, that's not…" she protested before pausing, "Don't you recognize me?!"

"Yeah, your name's Nonette Enneagram, Knight of Nine. A member of that bastard Emperor's personal watchdogs. It's hard not to figure it out considering how famous you are," he said, eyes still narrowed.

"That's not what I…" Nonette cut herself off and seemed to think for a moment, before looking at Rai again, "I see. If you don't remember… amnesia, maybe?"

Rai stared at the woman critically. It was evident that she knew him, but he had no recollection of her. Not from before or during his Galra captivity. She did call him Zephyr, though, which is what the other alien prisoners called him as well. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"Zephyr… what happened to you…?" Nonette whispered. Rai was surprised to see tears falling from her eyes. "Those scars… who did that to you?"

Rai gasped, his hand instinctively reaching around to the small of his back where the cursed brand rested. So she'd seen all of that? He hadn't even shown it to the other Paladins. The only person on the castle that had seen it was Coran, which he only saw due to performing a mandatory physical on each of them shortly after they arrived.

The Altean had been horrified, but not surprised that Rai had gone through such treatment. At the time, Rai had asked if Coran recognized the writing branded underneath the symbol. When the Altean confirmed he did, he asked to know what it said. Coran had hesitated at first, but Rai insisted.

According to the Altean, the script roughly translated to: 'Property of the Galra Empire.'

The Green Paladin begged the older Altean not to tell the others, and Coran agreed, knowing that these things were personal and sensitive to prisoners of war.

Now knowing that someone other than Coran knew about the brand made Rai unusually uncomfortable. Like he was exposed. Naked even.

As the Green Paladin's mind raced, all Nonette could do was bow her head as tears of joy and sorrow flowed down her cheeks. She'd found her prince, but what was the cost of it?

Zero's hand gripped the knife he had attached to his side as Euphemia continued to stare at him. He seemed to be her sole focus.

His mask hid the conflicted look upon his face. What on Earth was he supposed to say to her? Besides the hotel-jacking, this was the first time he was seeing his sister face to face. He remembered before their exile how he, Nunnally, and Euphie used to be. She was the first girl he had ever truly loved, besides his mother and sister. But now what did he do? He could use his Geass on her to make her forget she'd seen him, but that thought didn't seem too appealing right now.

"Lelouch," she addressed, taking him by surprise, "Lelouch, it's you, isn't it? I haven't told anyone about you, I swear! Please… let me see your face."

There was about a minute of silence before the Black Paladin moved. It wasn't to attack, though. Slowly and calmly, he let go of the knife and reached up to remove his helmet and mask, allowing the princess to see her half-brother's face.

Tears gathered in Euphemia's eyes as she cried tears of joy. Not wasting any more time, the princess ran forward and embraced her sibling.

Lelouch stood frozen for a moment, too stunned to move. Soon, his own emotions overpowered him, and two sank to the sandy ground, hugging each other close.

"I've missed you so much!" Euphemia gasped between tears.

"I've missed you too, Euphie," Lelouch whispered back.

Ocean and sand. That was all Kallen could see with her Geass as her vision swept around the area.

The second the Hadron cannon's attack had ceased, the rest of Team Voltron was shocked to see that not only Lelouch but Rai and both of their Lions had vanished! So had Nonette Enneagram and Princess Euphemia. And Kallen was getting increasingly irritated the longer her Geass couldn't locate them.

From what she  could  gather, the Britannian forces looked just as agitated. Several soldiers were scanning the area, likely looking for the princess and the knight.

She and the rest of the team still couldn't believe that someone would throw away and endanger their own men like that. True, in war it was inevitable that people would die, but it was a completely different story when soldiers were willing sacrificed like that! And the fact that the attack wasn't stopped by Princess Euphemia's interference!

"I can't find them!" she reported into the comm, "Not even my Geass is picking anything up!"

"Keep looking!"  Suzaku practically barked,  "They've got to be somewhere!"

"Hey, first of all, don't use that tone with me, Suzaku!" Kallen snapped back, "Second, I doubt looking in the exact same place for the fourth time, and yes, I counted, will bring different results! It's a little something called insanity, you know!"

"Plus, it's kind of hard to do a bigger search with all of the troops down there,"  Milly pointed out,  "They were clearly after the Lions, so they could try and ambush us again if we aren't careful!"

"Allura, has the castle picked up the Lions' location yet?" Shirley asked.

"No, nothing!"  Allura replied,  "Wherever the Lions landed, the castle isn't picking up their signal!"

"Maybe they both got knocked out?" Rivalz suggested.

"No, the castle would still be able to find the Lions if that were the case,"  Coran answered this time,  "Wherever they are, they're in an area that is completely blocking out their signal, in or out!"

"If it helps at all, I do sense that Lelouch and Rai are both alive. It's most likely that Zerith and Zen are with them wherever they went,"  C.C. spoke up, "Come back to the castle for now. It won't help anyone if you exhaust yourselves searching like this. The Knights of Round could still be in the area."

Kallen growled before spitting out, "Fine!"

With that declaration, the five remaining Lions turned tail and flew straight back to the castle.

Meanwhile, back on Shikine Island, the  Le Fay continued to float over the beach, overseeing the cleanup and search party down below. The Gawain had been recovered, but unfortunately, both the Black and Green Lions appeared to have vanished, much to everyone's bewilderment.

Inside the ship's main hanger, Cecile was busy typing on a laptop by the recovered Gawain. Next to it was also the Tristian, Mordred, and Galahad. She was going over the data the Gawain managed to obtain during the fight, but she still felt shaken over what had happened.

"So Nonette really just vanished?" the voice of Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three, echoed through the hangar, and Cecile looked up in surprise.

"Without a trace," Anya Alstreim stated plainly, staring at her personal electronic diary.

"And the two lions that were in the area are gone too. The Prince won't be pleased with this," the Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein addressed gravely, "Are you positive you've looked through all the data?"

"No, Lord Bismark," Cecile addressed, "it's all just static in the Gawain's systems. No trace of what happened to Lady Enneagram or Princess Euphemia either."

"Hey, Mark, no offense," Gino suddenly said, eyeing the Knight of One suspiciously, "You didn't tell us that sacrificing Nonette like that was part of the plan!"

"Are you questioning the intentions of the Second Prince and Viceroy?" Bismarck challenged with a deadly gaze.

"But you also didn't intervene when you saw Princess Euphemia was there either!" Cecile couldn't help but point out in a rare burst of anger.

"If it wasn't clear for you to see, Miss Croomy, the three of us were also occupied with the other lions!" Bismark snapped. Cecile cringed back in fear of the Knight of One's wrath.

Before she could apologize, another voice entered the conversation.

"In all situations, priorities must not be forgotten either," Prince Schneizel acknowledged, walking into the room.

Cecile gasped, "Prince Schneizel! Y-You're here!"

"You impudent little…! How dare you look down upon the Second Prince of the Empire!" General Bartley exclaimed as he appeared as well.

"General Bartley…?!" Cecile lost her footing and slid down the stairs to land on her rear on the ground.

"Nice one," he commented.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Schneizel asked gently as he helped Cecile to her feet.

"Uh, thank you," she gasped as the prince helped her to her feet.

"Gah…! She's unworthy!" Bartley growled.

"You're quite the devoted subject, aren't you, General?" Lloyd observed.

"Primarily because the prince is the one who commuted my sentence and saved me from being chained up deep beneath Temple Tower!" General Bartley barked.

"I wish you'd stop thinking of me so formally," Schneizel told the General matter-of-factly, "You've been a great help to me in this current matter, as you were to my brother, Clovis. It is I who am grateful to you."

"M-my Lord!" Bartley gasped.

"Please, Bartley. Now my Lady Cecile, if you'll excuse me. Bismarck, Alstreim, Weinberg, please follow me. We'll discuss the events that transpired. In the meantime, Lord Asplund, you and Lady Cecile will use the Le Fay to locate Euphemia," the prince ordered before turning to leave the hanger.

"As you wish, Your Highness," Bismarck bowed curtly before he and his colleagues turned to follow the prince out.

Right as Lloyd turned to follow as well, Cecile spoke up, "Please wait! Were those orders yesterday issued by the prince?!"

"Silence! You don't want to be in contempt of royalty, do you?!" Bartley exclaimed.

"To be honest, I've been wondering about that too," Gino admitted awkwardly.

Despite the accusations, Schneizel responded anyway, "Those orders were mine, yes. I also fired the Hadron. Even in a situation like that, priorities mustn't be forgotten. The Empire is facing what is likely its most dangerous adversary. I saw an opportunity to eliminate the leadership, and I took it. I certainly didn't expect Euphie to rush out like that, but if something anomalous happened, we would have still been able to rescue both her and Lady Enneagram. That's what I gambled on."

"Okay… if you say so," Gino shrugged, but he still looked reasonably uncertain

"Yes, My Lord," Cecile nodded as well, "I understand now, and I sorely regret my rudeness. I accept any punishment you decree."

"Nonsense," Schneizel dismissed, "It's my fault for not protecting my subordinates. Can you ever forgive me?"

These were the last words Schneizel said as he left the hanger, but the Second Prince's mind was extremely troubled. While it was true that he ordered to have the experimental weapon inserted into the Gawain in an attempt to capture the Black Lion, somehow the machine had vanished, along with Zero, the Green Lion and its pilot, and Lady Enneagram. The Gawain didn't disappear, so it was a mystery as to why the two Lions vanished.

Something else was at play, and he hoped that he could somehow still talk the matter out with his brother before the situation became too dire to be reversed.

"How did you figure it out? Did Suzaku tell you?" Lelouch asked as he leaned back against a large stone. Euphemia was sitting on the other side, Lelouch's cape draped over her bare body as she had stripped out of her dress so that it could dry off.

"No. Well," Euphie stopped to think about her words, "he never specified you were Zero. He  did  say you were with Voltron, though. But I figured it out during the hotel-jacking."

She didn't see, but her brother nodded, "At the time, I said too much without thinking."

"Of course, I was never one hundred percent certain until now," Euphemia added.

"I see… I'm naive, as well. Even so, why didn't you discuss your suspicions with Cornelia or Schneizel?" he asked.

"I didn't because my sister never listened to me. And it never felt right to talk about it with Schneizel. Besides that… I think things are depressing enough as they are… Oh, Nunnally — how is she? Is she really all right? Suzaku said so."

"Yes," Lelouch answered, "She's better than she's been in a while, actually."

"I see… Can I assume that she knows everything? About Zero… and Voltron?"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded, "She knows everything, and why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"Lelouch I… I'm so sorry…" Euphemia stuttered, her voice cracking slightly.

"For what?" he asked, glancing back in confusion.

"For… for everything!" she gasped, holding back tears, "The hatred you must feel for us. The hatred towards the Emperor… towards us."

"No…" Lelouch answered, cutting Euphemia off, "Euphie, even after we were exiled, I never hated you. Of course, when I saw what Clovis and Cornelia became, I was scared at first that you changed too. But when I spoke with you at the hotel, I was relieved to see that I was wrong. You're still the same girl that would play with Nunnally and me at Aries Villa. You're still our sister."

"Lelouch…" Euphie murmured.

"I know you and Cornelia had nothing to do with my mother's murder. From what she told me, she investigated it extensively," he added as an afterthought.

Euphemia nodded, though, on the inside, she was relieved to hear that Lelouch and Cornelia talked. That meant her sister was still alive after all.

"Cornelia did think a lot of Lady Marianne and looked up to her," Euphemia said, "It frustrated her that she couldn't find who did it."

"Yes, I know…" Lelouch nodded again.

Suddenly, Euphemia's stomach gave a slight groan, and the princess looked down with a blush, "I believe feeling relieved has made me hungry."

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle a little as he stood up, "Well, we're in luck. Somehow Zen was transferred here along with me. We should be able to find some provisions with her."

"Zen?" Euphie asked, confused as Lelouch went to gather her clothes.

"You'll see," was all he said with a light smile.

"Gotcha!" Rai shouted as he snatched another fish from the stream. Of course, it wasn't necessary to go hunting for food since Zerith had several packs of food goo stored inside her, but Rai wasn't going to let this opportunity slide. It had been ages since he'd had some decent Earth food.

"You know I can help you with that!" Nonette said. She was sitting by the shore, her hands still bound behind her, but she hadn't made any moves to get free. Rai's outer Paladin armor lay in a neat row beside her.

"Not a chance!" Rai couldn't help but snap a little back. He didn't care if the Knight of Nine claimed to know him; he wasn't going to take any chances while he was temporarily unarmed.

"Sheesh, were you always this stubborn before?" Nonette grumbled a little, but there was no malice in her tone. Instead, there was fondness and admiration as well.

"Oh my!" a now fully clothed Euphemia gasped as the two approached the still powered-down Black Lion in the forest.

"This is Zenobia," Lelouch introduced, "But I call her Zen for short."

"Well, hello, Zen," Euphemia greeted with a small smile.

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle a little. He had yet to explain to Euphie how the Lions were sort of alive in a way, but he figured it would be easier to explain when Zen regained consciousness.

"I'll get inside and gather some provisions…" Lelouch trailed off, frowning a little. Sure the food goo would keep them alive for a while, but it wasn't exactly the best-tasting thing in the universe. But he wasn't in the mood to try and set any complicated traps right now. His physique may have improved over the last few months, but it was best to conserve as much energy as possible too, just in case he had to fight.

So he turned back to his sister, "Euphie, why don't you look around and see if you can find some berries or something? They would help improve flavor at the very least."

Euphemia blinked in surprise, "Does it really taste that bad?"

"No…" Lelouch shook his head, "It's just an acquired taste, let's just say that."

After a few seconds, Euphie shrugged, "All right, if you say so. I'll be right back."

"Be careful!" Lelouch shouted after her as she hurried off. As he lost sight of her, he sighed, looked at the head of his downed Lion, and then up at the sky.

"I just hope we're found soon…"

The atmosphere on the Castle of Lions was tense. For most of the night prior, the Alteans and Black Knights alike had been working non-stop to try and locate the Lions from above while the Paladins continued to scan on Earth's surface. Eventually, Coran made an executive order for the Black Knights and the princess to turn in for the evening, and they all did so reluctantly. They wouldn't be able to help Zero and Rai at all if everyone on the ship was acting like a gang of bumbling, sleep-deprived karjekals (whatever those were) by the time they  were  located Coran had said.

Now that the five remaining Paladins had come back, Coran had ordered them immediately to bed themselves, even if it was technically still mid-day down below. They protested, of course, which forced the older Altean to amend his statement and ordered at least a nap, which he promised to wake them from within a few varga.

Ohgi sighed as he picked at the food goo on his plate. He reminded himself that they wouldn't have to live off of this alone for much longer, as several of the seeds now in the new greenhouse had at last started to sprout.

He didn't want to offend the Alteans for their ways with food, but would it kill them to add at least a little seasoning to this from time to time?

He and almost everyone else in the dining hall looked up as Coran himself walked in.

"Still no sign of them?" Ohgi asked anxiously.

"Unfortunately no," Coran informed them, shaking his head, "The princess is continuously scanning the island and the area around it, but she still has yet to locate either the Green or Black Lions, which is deeply concerning."

"And you still don't know what happened to them?" Tohdoh asked who was seated next to Ohgi.

"No, it's like they vanished into thin space," Coran said solemnly.

"Um, you mean 'thin air' right?" Minami corrected.

"Ah-yes that!" the Altean corrected sheepishly.

"And it's isn't the result of a special ability on the Lions' part?" Tohdoh pressed further.

"Well… I wouldn't say one of the Lions doesn't have an ability like that, but it's highly unlikely that they used it given the situation."

"Do you think they could have wound up on one of the islands nearby?" Inoue suggested.

"We haven't picked up any signals from the surrounding islands yet. But once the Paladins are rested enough, I'm sure they'll start searching the other islands next."

"I beg your pardon Coran, but would that be wise?" Tohdoh asked. This statement drew the attention everyone in earshot, "Britannia will likely start to do the same, and the Green Lion is the only one equipped with stealth capabilities. Should the remaining Lions be too reckless and get spotted by enemy forces again, considering that several Knights of the Round are now present..."

"Colonel?" a small voice gasped from the entrance. Looking towards the door, Nunnally sat in her hoverchair, her eyes wide, "You're not suggesting that we stop looking for Lelouch, are you?"

Tohdoh blinked, and his gaze softened, "Of course not, Nunnally. I'm simply stating that we must exercise caution doing so. We can't afford to lose any more men, especially not another Paladin."

"Quite right," Coran nodded, "Rest assured, Nunnally, until we get solid confirmation that Rai and Lelouch have either been capture or, dare I say this, killed, we will not cease our search."

"Hell yeah!" Tamaki exclaimed, "There's no way those two kicked the bucket  that  easily!"

Biting her lip, Nunnally nodded, her heart hammering in her chest. She had just got her brother back not too long ago. If she were to lose him again so soon…

The princess's thoughts were cut off by a small hand on her shoulder. Looking up at the source, C.C. came strolling in.

"Well, for once you're correct about one thing, Tamaki," C.C. said, "those two are very much still alive. I can sense that they are."

"Thanks to that Geass thing they have, right?" Asahina asked.

"Yes," C.C. nodded, "So if the two are still alive, we can assume that the two Lions are fine as well. If Britannia had managed to capture either one of them, they likely would have made a statement by now."

"Even so, the fact that neither are responding on the comms is concerning nonetheless," Allura's regal voice said, calling everyone's attention to her as she walked in herself. Despite getting some rest herself, the princess looked a bit worse for wear with slight bags under her eyes. Her skin looked a little paler as well. "Coran, if memory serves correct, some of the shuttle pods are still equipped with the prototype stealth systems. If Lelouch nor Rai don't respond with the next twenty-four Earth hours, I suggest we use those to take to Earth and look for them ourselves."

"Very well, Princess. Does anyone object to this course of action?" the advisor asked the group as a whole.

No one spoke up, so Coran nodded, "Now Princess, please do sit down, you look like you're about to pass out!"

"I'm fine, Coran. Just… stressed," Allura protested.

"Well… aren't we all?" Coran sighed, several murmurs of agreement rippling through the group.

While this was going on, Nunnally couldn't help but bite her lip nervously. She was positive her brother was all right; she was sure she would feel it if he wasn't, but that didn't stop her mind from wandering to the worst-case scenarios.

  'Lelouch… where did you go?'

"Lelouch… what exactly is this?" Euphemia asked as she eyed the green goo curiously. It looked like mashed potatoes drenched in green food coloring, but she had a feeling that it wasn't anything like that. She managed to find a decent amount of edible fruit on the island, much to Lelouch's relief. Hopefully, this can help with the taste.

"This is… uh…" Lelouch hesitated. Come to think of it, Allura and Coran never mentioned what the goo was officially called, did they? Everyone on the ship simply called it 'food goo.' The name probably just stuck. "We eat this a lot when we're on the Castleship. It was our only food source for a while. Now that we're back on Earth, we've managed to sneak some trips to markets and grocery stores, and Coran has been working with Milly and Rivalz to set up a greenhouse too."

"I see," Euphie nodded, "That's quite resourceful."

"Thanks. In a pinch, though, this stuff will at least keep us alive. It's not five-star quality by a long shot, but it'll sustain us until help arrives. Fruit only lasts so long, and hunting can be unpredictable without the right tools, which we, unfortunately, don't have."

Euphie nodded as Lelouch handed her a plate with a small amount of the goo on it, along with a spork. The fruit was situated between the two in easy reaching distance, and after pouring his own portion of the goo, the Black Paladin dug in. He was more than used to the texture and taste of the strange space food that he could eat it without too much incident, but he was fairly curious about how Euphemia would respond to it.

According to Kallen, Cornelia had refused to even touch the goo the first few times it was brought down to her in her cell. She only starting begrudgingly choking it down when she couldn't take the hunger anymore. Euphemia wasn't necessarily a picky eater, so he really didn't know what to expect from his sister.

Euphie tentatively scooped up a small amount onto the spork, eying it cautiously. She slowly brought it to her mouth and almost immediately gagged. She brought a hand to her mouth to keep from spitting it out and forced herself to swallow.

"It's... delicious," she tried to say politely.

Lelouch chuckled in sympathy, seeing right through her, "It IS still pretty bad, though. I think Alteans focus more on the nutrition value rather than taste most of the time."

"I see."

"This is what they make you eat?!" Nonette asked in shock and disgust after speed shoveling the food goo into her mouth. At least the faster she ate it, the less she tasted it. The fish had been tasty, though.

Just like Lelouch, Rai raided Zerith's emergency supplies, which included several bags of pre-packed food goo. He managed to catch a fair amount of fish, but he also wanted to preserve the supply as much as possible.

Biting into the first fish he could grab from the fire when he finished, he forgot how delicious Earth food was. That greenhouse and possible… oh, maybe they could give aquaculture a try too.

The Green Paladin shrugged, unbothered as he took another bite, "Everyone eats it, even the Alteans. Most of the time, this is all there is."

...Okay, that last part was a bit of a lie, but C.C. guarded her pizza stash like a dragon guarded treasure. After Tamaki tried to sneak one out of her hiding spot his first week on the ship, the immortal nearly sent him to the cryopods in a fit of rage.

Rai chuckled at the memory. He would never have thought the cocky, loud-mouthed rebel would have such a squeally scream.

After that, no one dared touch, much less question where the stash was hidden.

"It's honestly not that bad once you get used to it," Rai continued, "There's way weirder food out there in space. One of the other Paladins had a space bug stew one time."

Nonette rose an eyebrow but shook her head, deciding not to think about it.

Rai then jumped when the Knight of the Round let out a large belch.

"...Did you just burp?" he gasped.

"What? It's a normal bodily function. A Knight of the Round can't do that?" Nonette jabbed with a smirked.

"Well, besides the family itself, you guys are practically royalty, making yourselves look good," Rai commented before frowning, "All the while hiding just how rotten you are underneath."

Nonette's smile faded. "You really hate Britannia? Can't say I blame you given what happened…"

"It's kinda hard not to hate Britannia considering it's mostly filled with narcissistic warmongers who'll do anything for victory!" Rai began. 'You're just like the Galra' went unsaid at the last moment.

Nonette sighed, "I'll admit, some of the Empire's actions have been anything but honorable."

Rai scoffed, "If you're so hung up about honor, then why do you still do it?"

"It's not my choice, not my call," Nonette quickly explained, "The Emperor's orders…"

"Of course!" Rai threw his arms out in exasperation. "It's always 'the Emperor this' or 'the Emperor that'! I swear if I ever see that bastard, I'm gonna kill him myself if Zero doesn't get the chance to!"

Nonette looked toward Rai in minor surprise, "You… you really don't remember, do you?"

This snapped Rai out of his rant, "Earlier, you called me a different name. What was it?" the Green Paladin asked.

"Yes, Zephyr. That's your name," Nonette answered.

Rai flinched back. So he wasn't mistaken. The same name that associated him as Champion…

"My name is Rai," he denied.

"No!" Nonette exclaimed, sounding almost desperate, "Your name, your  real  name, is Zephyr zar Britannia."

At this declaration, Rai stumbled back in shock. No… this couldn't be true! But if that  was  his name…

"Then, that means…"

Nonette nodded, "Your father… is Charles zi Britannia.

"The stars haven't changed, have they?" Euphemia said softly as she layed down on Lelouch's cape on the sand, gazing up into the sky with her brother, "They were the same back then. We all used to gaze up at the stars together. Remember that? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live like that again? I'd be so happy then!"

The princess turned over to look at her brother better, "What are the stars like up there? Are they still like this from above?"

It took a few moments for Lelouch to answer, but he smiled slightly when he did, "Yes. If anything, I think they're even  more beautiful. You feel closer to them."

Euphemia smiled in wonder, "What else have you seen? Will you tell me?"

"I can try," Lelouch answered with an amused smile, "But you know I wasn't much of a storyteller. I'm still not."

Euphemia giggled as she listened silently to the story of Voltron.

Rai felt his hands shaking as he fully processed the words that came out of Nonette's mouth. ""No… that-that's not true…" Rai stuttered, "I can't… you're lying… you're lying!"

"I'm not!" Nonette exclaimed before her face became somber, "I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

Rai couldn't take it as he fell to his knees. The world seemed to be closing in around him as he clutched his head, a loud ringing in his ears.

"Zeph!" he barely heard Nonette shout along with a shuffling. Was she trying to get out of her bounds? And do what?

All further panic was lost as a loud roar echoed through the trees. The ground shook beneath Rai's form as a large shadow draped over him.

"What the hell?!" he heard Nonette scream as the Green Lion stood protectively over her Paladin, his distress calling her into action.

Another weight fell on top of the Green Paladin, but unlike before, where it felt suffocating, this one felt warm. The feeling of safe, safe, safe sang like musical notes in his mind, harmonizing with a gentle but powerful purr.

It took several minutes before Rai finally calmed down. Zerith didn't move that entire time, pressed her quintessence gently but firmly against his, almost like when Arthur rubbed his head against their knee.

"Thanks, Zerith," he whispered, getting to his feet.

The Green Lion chuffed before slowing sitting down on her haunches like she did in her hangar in the castle. The second he was out of her shadow, her particle barrier shot up, shielding the Lion from any other outside threats.

Nonette stared up in shock. She was positive that no one else was inside that Knightmare. So how did it…?

"Surprised?" Rai asked, cutting her thoughts off, "Though it's probably obvious by now, the Lions aren't any ordinary machines."

The loud roar made Euphie and Lelouch jump and looked towards where it seemed to come from. Lelouch recognized it as one of the Lions and frantically looked up at the sky. Had they been found? It certainly hadn't been Zen roaring; he would have felt her waking up.

"What was that?" he heard Euphemia ask.

"...It'll be dangerous to investigate in the dark. We'll check it out in the morning. If I'm correct on what it was, we may have found our way off the island," Lelouch answered before glancing at Zen. Whatever had been in that Gawain Knightmare must have really injured her for her to still be out of it. He only hoped she woke up soon, or the castle had some way of getting her back on board as well.

Rai took a few more minutes to calm down. Now that Zerith was back online, her presence certainly helped slow his heart rate.

Nonette still stared at the Lion, looking ready to bolt if she had to.

Rai sighed, "Calm down, she won't attack you unless she thinks I'm in trouble… but you already saw that, so…"

Nonette visibly swallowed, honestly not sure what the best course of action would be. She wouldn't do anything to hurt her prince, but it would be suicide to fight the Lion, especially not without a Knightmare.

"Hold on…" Rai muttered, before glaring at the knight again, "Something doesn't add up. If it's true that I'm supposedly a Britannian prince, how come there aren't any records of a 'Zephyr zar Britannia' in the royal archives?"

Along with Lelouch's own knowledge, Rai had been using as much spare time as he could to research the Royal Family, trying to see how many of them could become potential allies to the Coalition. So far, Euphemia was the best option, but other possibilities included Odysseus eu Britannia (official crown prince of the Empire) and Marrybell mel Britannia (current Viceroy of Area 24, formerly Spain). Of course, now that they had Cornelia in their custody, there was always the chance for her to have a change of heart and join their side. According to Nunnally, she was willing to fight with them, but several Black Knights were still doubtful.

But like he said, throughout his sweep of the family, not once was there any mention of anyone named 'zar Britannia.'

"That's because there officially isn't one," Nonette revealed, "The Emperor wanted to keep your existence a secret, along with your sister-Oh right, Sophie! If you're alive, then is she?"

Rai grimaced, but still answered, "I don't know. The last time I saw her, she was supposed to be sent off to a work camp. I haven't seen her since."

"Work camp? Where?!" Nonette growled, looking infuriated.

Rai scoffed, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. And I honestly don't know myself. Like I said, that's the last time I heard about her. Her current status is unknown to me too."

Nonette deflated at that, but Rai could still see the fiery anger in her eyes. It was clear that Nonette  did seem to know him and his family. She knew Sophronia's name, and he never mentioned it in front of her. Was it possible that she really was telling the truth? He wished his Geass functioned the same way Lelouch's did; that way, he could know for sure.

"...I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered to himself as he sat back down. Nonette looked up at him as he leveled her with a stare, "Look, I honestly have no clue if you're telling the truth or not, but… I need some answers, and an untrustworthy source is better than no source at all."

"I would never lie to you, Zephyr," Nonette insisted.

Rai didn't completely believe her, but he took a deep breath. He decided to start with something else he already knew, "What's my mom's name?"

Nonette answered immediately, "Erina Kurugui."

The world seemed to stop for the millionth time that day as he processed this information.

"K-Kururugi?" he stuttered.

"Yes," Nonette nodded, "Your mother was a member of the Kururugi family. The younger sister of the late Genbu Kururugi, in fact."

"What?!" he gasped, "Wait… so that means that Suzaku and I… are cousins?"

Nonette paused for a moment, then chuckled a little, "Huh, that thought never crossed my mind, but yeah, I guess you are."

Rai to take a breath as he processed this new information. So, in the span of less than an hour, he learned that not only was he Lelouch and Nunnally's half-sibling through that disgusting man, Charles zi Britannia, but now he and Suzaku were  cousins.

He wondered if Suzaku knew about this or not.

He quickly wiped that suspicion from his mind. Sure, maybe Suzaku knew about his aunt, but he never mentioned having a cousin named Zephyr. And he was sure Suzaku would have said something if he  had.  Unless… he had been sworn to secrecy. He had proven that he  was  good at keeping secrets, at least.

Rai groaned. He felt like his head was about to explode, but he had to keep going.

"So, let me make sure I've got this right so far. The Emperor of the Britannia is not only my father but he, a man who actively encourages racism and war, married a Japanese woman?"

"No," Nonette shook her head, "They never got married. Erina and His Majesty had an affair that was kept secret from both families."

"Okay… why?" Rai had to ask. It made no sense. If it were for political purposes he'd understand, but this sounded more like a one-night-stand sort of thing. Were they drunk or high when this happened?

"I don't know," Nonette honestly shrugged, "As far as I know, I'm the only one who knew about this."

"Okay, so why did you get to know about us?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was assigned by the Emperor to be your knight to protect you," she answered simply.

So that explained a few things too. Why she was so protective of him and so desperate to rescue him from Zero and how furious she became when he told her about where Sophie may be.

"Okay, so where did we live? Before we disappeared anyway?"

"It was on an island known as Fiji," Nonette explained, "It's in the Pacific, east of Australia."

"Fiji?" Rai asked, "I don't remember that island being part of the Empire."

"It isn't," Nonette shook her head, "Officially it's considered an independent nation even now. The fact that it's not in Britannia's territory is likely the reason you and your family were hidden there."

"Okay… so happened to us then? How did we disappear?" Rai almost demanded.

At this, Nonette looked down sadly, "I can't answer that because not even I know. Before you vanished, I had been called away on another mission to quell some riots in Area Sixteen, the nation once called the Philippine Islands. When I got back… you were gone. It's like you were never there to begin with."

Rai nodded. He felt a small tickling in the back of his skull. Something was fighting in his memories to come to the surface, but it felt like a thick pane of glass was keeping it back.

"I'm guessing you searched for us?" he guessed.

"Yes," she nodded fervently, "I talked to practically every local I could get my hands on but none of them seemed to know who I was talking about. Then I pulled some strings in the higher ranks of the Empire to find out if you had been moved unexpectedly, I tried every trick in the book. I found nothing…"

Rai stared at the knight as tears gathered in her eyes, but remained silent. He could tell she wasn't finished.

"When nothing turned up from my own investigation, I confronted the Emperor himself and demanded to know what happened to you all. I got nothing out him, and as punishment, he demoted me."

"And yet now you're a Knight of the Round, one of his elite," said obviously.

To her credit, Nonette didn't take offense and just shrugged, "I practically started over after that. I rose in the ranks of the military, and eventually, the Emperor offered it to me. I saw it as an opportunity to use the position to expose the Emperor's darker side. I figured if the people saw it, they would remove him from power. Maybe even by force."

Rai stared wide-eyed. He hadn't expected  that. She wasn't doing this out of loyalty at all! At least not to the Emperor.

"It's revenge," he realized, "You did all this to avenge my mom, my sister, and I?"

Nonette looked up from where she had been staring at the ground and looked Rai straight in the eye, "Yes. I'd avoid war if necessary, but if there were no other option, I would. I...I was your knight, assigned to keep you safe. And I turned my back for what felt like a moment, and you were gone. I failed you."

Rai remained silent, unsure of what to say. Here was a Knight of the  freaking  Round blatantly telling him that she will betray the Emperor she had swore to protect just for his sake?! Maybe… maybe he  should tell her about the Galra. Voltron had questioned whether it was possible to recruit any of the Knights. If they did, that would be huge!

But something still stubbornly stopped him. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth yet.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, much less believe me, and I understand if you don't, but that's the truth," she finished.

Rai bent down, his hands covering his face, fighting back a surge of bile rising in his throat.

"Are you all right?" Nonette asked with concern.

"I...I need a moment," he said quickly before practically sprinting towards Zerith. The barrier opened just enough to let him in, and the Lion bowed to let her Paladin enter her mouth.

He collapsed before he could make it to the pilot seat, breaths coming in heavy and quick. It was only Zerith's strong purr that prevented him from fainting. If she was flesh and blood, he had no doubt she would have been curled up on his chest and vibrating like a phone.

So many thoughts were racing through his head. He had finally learned his history, but at the same time, he wished he hadn't heard any of it. Despite learning all of this, more questions were still swirling in his head. The ones that Lelouch had brought up before the dual sprouted up again. How did he and his family end up with the Galra? Was the Emperor involved somehow? How was that possible, though? From what he could tell, once the Galra set their eyes on a planet, there were no negotiations. The planet either surrendered and became slaves, or the inhabitants fought to the very last man, and then the Galra took the planet anyway.

Like Coran had said, "You would know if the Galra had been there."

He was sure that the key was in his lost memories. If only he could  remember-!

Suddenly, Zerith growled urgently. It was enough to shake the Green Paladin out of what was likely the beginning of a panic attack. Looking up at the window, he saw through Zerith's eyes to see lights shining from another area of the island up.

"We couldn't find Lady Enneagram washed ashore on the other islands, so it's obvious we should look here," Schneizel reasoned as he directed the search party from the Le Fay's throne room.

We'll send a search party out in the morning," General Bartley replied next to him.

"Hmm… And this must be what you mentioned?" Schneizel questioned, looking at the structure down below.

"Yes! We uncovered it when the Shinjuku incident occurred," Bartley explained.

Ah… Yes, I can see why this would've attracted Clovis' interest," Schneizel realized with a nod.

As the morning sun peaked over the ocean's horizon, Rai silently lead a still bound Nonette up the mountain. The Knight of Nine still made no attempts to escape.

"Are you sure you really saw a light?" Nonette asked.

"Yeah, definitely," he answered.

Leaving Zerith behind in the jungle foliage for now, Rai figured if they were Britannian forces that he could just drop Nonette off and sneak back to look for Lelouch and join back up at the castle.

"It must be a search party," Lelouch reasoned as he and Euphie trekked up the mountain on the other side. Zen still hadn't woken up, much to Lelouch's disappointment. Maybe this the problem was something only Allura and Coran could fix.

"Once we learn who it is, we'll know how to deal with them."

"'Deal with them'?" Euphie questioned anxiously.

Lelouch grimaced at the wrong word choice, "I mean that we can decide what to do once we realize who it is. If it's part of Voltron, nothing bad should happen to you, Euphie. And if it's Britannia…"

"I may be able to help. I can approach them while you sneak back to your Lion," Euphie suggested.

Lelouch nodded. That sounded like the best possibility.

"A Thought Elevator, you say?" Lloyd asked as he, Prince Schneizel, General Bartley, and several other soldiers stood inside the cave. On the massive stone doors in front of them appeared to be very ancient hieroglyphics, but they weren't ones that they could identify.

"I'm afraid archeology isn't my strong suit, especially this paranormal stuff," the Earl confessed quite casually.

"Why, you… Show some respect!" Bartley barked in irritation.

"As I was saying, this is way outside of my field," Lloyd continued to complain, "I wish you could've asked Cécile about this instead."

"Please don't complain so much," Schneizel said sternly, "My father is fascinated with this as well. Isn't that right, Bartley?"

"Yes," General acknowledged when the Prince looked at him, "We've found artifacts similar to these in a number of places around the world. Except for this one that I discovered, all the other sites are directly under imperial control. This is mere speculation on my part, but I think the  real reason we're invading other countries is to obtain these objects!"

"And so, in order to analyze this ancient occult data, you're going to use the Gawain's Druid System, untuned prototype that it is?" Lloyd questioned before gesturing to the obtained and newly repaired Knightmare next to them.

"That's why we called you in," Schneizel answered.

"AH-HAH!" Lloyd exclaimed in understanding.

Unbeknownst to the men, one soldier eyed the monument critically, their yellow eyes narrowing in suspicion.

There was no doubt now. This was the source of that blockage. Now… how to remove it?

"I think it was around here," Lelouch muttered and he, and Euphemia approached a clearly at the top of the hill.

"Lelouch, if it is a search party, then will our time be over here?" his sister asked sadly.

Lelouch sighed, "Yes, it will. Only for now, though. I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again very soon."

"I sure hope so," Euphemia answered with a smile. Lelouch smiled back, but the moment was ruined when they heard rustling in the woods on the other side of the clearing. Lelouch quickly put his helmet back on and braced himself for a confrontation when the people appeared.

'Rai!' he thought in surprise as the Green Paladin emerge from the foliage along with Nonete Enneagram, who seemed to have her hands bound.

"Nonette!" Euphemia exclaimed happily, jumping up.

Nonette and Rai both gasped, "Princess Euphemia!"

"Don't move!" Zero exclaimed, grabbing Euphemia's arm and drawing his knife, "This girl is my prisoner!"

"Le-Zero!" Rai exclaimed.

"Just play along," Lelouch whispered as his sister looked at him frightened. He then turned to address the pair in front of him, "Back away from my subordinate Lady Enneagram. Do that, and no one gets hurt here."

"Zero, you!" Nonette exclaimed angrily about to charge the terrorist. She had just found her prince; she wasn't about to lose him again. She was stopped in her tracks as she felt Rai grab her arm and hold his Bayard against her back.

"Nonette, wait! Please!" Euphie shouted, escaped Zero's grasp, and running towards the knight.

"Euphie, wait!" Lelouch shouted, but the moment he stepped into the clearing, a massive glowing red Geass sigil formed on the ground, much to everyone's shock.

'A Geass?!' both Lelouch and Rai thought. Suddenly, both Paladins felt their own Geasses burning in their eyes, them having activated all on their own.

Rai suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his head as he fell on his knees, clutching his head as he yelled in pain. The Geass sigil was no longer in just one eye, but both!

"Zephyr!" Nonette shouted, her bonds suddenly breaking, freeing her hands. Before she could kneel to Rai's level, though, the ground underneath the group shook violently, and the floor began to descend.

In an unknown location, a young boy smirked victoriously as his two targets fell right into the trap that he had set up for them.

The Thought Elevator began to glow a bright red, much to the shock of the Britannians as the entire cave shook viciously.

"Oh, not good…" Lloyd muttered as the readings on the Gawain skyrocketed to off-the-chart levels.

Simultaneously, on the beach Lelouch and Euphemia were that same morning, Zenobia's eyes flashed awake, and she leaped to her feet.

With a deafening roar of both anger and fear, the Black Lion shot into the air and beelined towards the Thought Elevator's location, the Green Lion right behind.

"Princess! The Green and Black Lions!" Coran exclaimed, "we've finally managed to obtain their signal. And they're closing in on one of the islands!"

"Aw, and just when I was about to try my new feature out!" Milly groaned with a pout, her hand having barely left C.C.'s when the signal alarms blared.

"Paladins, to your Lions now!" Allura ordered.

"Yes!"

"Got it!"

"On our way!"

As the Paladins all scrambled to their elevators, Nunnally let out a sigh of relief, leaning on a pair of crutches this time. If they found Zenobia and Zerith, that means they could finally find Rai and her brother.

"Hang on you two," Allura said, "We're coming to get you!"

"My Lord, please save yourself!" Bartley exclaimed in a panic as debris continued to rain down everywhere. He attempted to pull the Prince away as a large platform slowly dropped down from above, carrying with it Zero, another figure in green armor, Princess Euphemia, and Nonette Enneagram.

"Lady Enneagram!" Lloyd gasped, shielding his face, "And is that Zero?!"

Seeing the terrorist and one of his subordinates, the soldiers quickly raised their weapons to shoot them, only to be stopped by General Bartley, "Don't you fools! Princess Euphemia's with them! Capture them! Capture them!"

Rai struggled to his feet, his eyes wide, but he managed to grip his Bayard unsteadily.

Scanning the crowd, Zero cursed.

"Quiznack, we're in trouble!"

Then suddenly, something else caught Zero's eye. One of the soldiers that had his weapon pointed at him. But one look into his eyes told Lelouch that that was no soldier.

Instinctively, Lelouch shot at the soldier with lightning, and just as expected, the soldier vanished.

"Wha-what?!" Bartley exclaimed, having witnessed this too. An annoyed growl drew the group's attention to the center of the cave, and the Paladins' blood ran cold.

"What?!" Zero gasped at the sight of Haggar's hunched form. Her gold eyes glared back at him.

"No…" Rai muttered, taking a step back, pure terror freezing his spine, "What are you doing here?!"

Haggar shouted in fury and fired a beam of quintessence directly at Lelouch. The Black Paladin barely raised his arms in time to try and block when another crash echoed through the cave. Two large paws landed on either side of Zero, followed by a ferocious roar, which seemed to make the entire mountain tremble.

Lelouch didn't waste one more second, instinctively grabbing Euphemia around the waist, and with a yelp, Euphemia and Lelouch were snatched into Zen's mouth.

"Princess Euphemia!" both Lloyd and Bartley exclaimed as they watched as the princess was seemingly swallowed whole along with Zero.

Just as Zerith was about to scoop up Rai, the Green Paladin felt something grab him around his waist. He didn't have time to register who or what it was before he found himself and Nonette sprawled across the floor in Zerith's mouth.

The Lions didn't waste any more time as the duo shot out of the cave entrance, sending rocks, stone, and Knightmare Frames flying. Then Zen pivoted in the air, facing the cave entrance and her mouth lit up with blue light.

Lloyd gasped.

"HIT THE DIRT!"

A couple of soldiers fell on top of Schneizel to shield the Prince while everyone else immediately hit the cave floor and covered their heads just as Zenobia's blast of quintessence energy hit the Thought Elevator point-blank. The structure exploded and collapsed into rubble, leaving nothing salvageable.

The little boy gasped when he felt it, the feeling of the Thought Elevator collapsing. He fell to his knees, and he clutched his head, his eyes shaking with shock and rage as he took multiple rabid breaths.

"No… no…" He stuttered. "They… they destroyed the Thought Elevator!" V.V. ranted like a spoiled brat, "No! How dare you…! Voltron… you dare! You'll pay for this! You'll pay!"

C.C. blinked as she felt the exact same thing happen as well. At first, she was shocked, as destroying a Thought Elevator was no easy feat, but her expression quickly morphed into a smirk. She could only imagine the faces V.V., Charles, and Marianne were making right now.

"I did warn them, didn't I?" she stated with a satisfied smile, smothering a giggle.

"Viceroy, are you all right?" one of the soldiers gasped as everyone got to their feet.

"Yes, I'm fine," he muttered, dusting himself off, "So… that was Zero?"

"Halt! Stop where you are!" another soldier suddenly shouted.

Looking towards the entrance, the Second Prince spotted the cloaked woman that seemed to spook Zero. She was staring out at the sky with a scowl, likely watching the Lions fly off.

"Identify yourself!" Bartley shouted as soldiers surrounded the woman.

She simply growled, annoyed, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Wha-what?!" Bartley exclaimed in shock, eyes wide, staring at where she once stood. Most of the other soldiers had similar reactions.

"Well… you don't see that every day," Lloyd commented.

Schneizel, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes, gaze calculating. Despite the loss of the Thought Elevator, he had learned two important things.

First, Zero was scared of that woman. Who she was, Schneizel didn't know, but it was rare that his brother showed actual fear to anyone. The last person to bring this emotion out of his brother was their own father.

And second… Those Lions had not had pilots in them when they had come to collect Zero and the green pilot. His logical mind kept saying that it was impossible, but he had seen it just now for himself!

Which allowed Schneizel to draw another conclusion he thought he never would in his life.

Those Lions weren't just advanced machines. They were  alive.

Schneizel's thoughtful expression soon shifted into an intrigued smirk.

"Well, well, this game just got  much  more interesting…"

Lelouch quickly scrambled to the cockpit and pushed Zen to fly faster. They had to warn the others, fast!

"Hailing Castle of Lions, this is Lelouch!" he exclaimed urgently.

"Lelouch! Are you and Rai all right?" Allura's voice carried over the speaker.

"Yes, we're both fine!" Lelouch nodded, "We're heading back as we speak."

"Heads up then!"   a voice inside his head exclaimed,  "We're coming to intercept you!"

"Wha-! Milly, is that you?" Lelouch stuttered.

  "Yep! Say hello to my new Geass, Lulu. I call it Absolute Telepathy."

"You made a contract with C.C.?" he asked.

"I knew I wouldn't have control over what the power would be, but I figured it was worth a try to see if it could be used to find you two," the Yellow Paladin explained over the radio this time.

"Wait, use what to find us?"  Rai questioned from inside Zerith.

"...Huh, there's a drawback already. I guess I can only talk to one person at a time,"  she deduced.

"We'll explore it's practical uses later," Lelouch said, "We'll meet you outside the castle. And Princess, inform the rest of the crew to expect some guests."

"Guests or prisoners?"  Allura asked for clarification.

"...One is for sure a guest, the other… I'm not sure. Rai?" Lelouch questioned.

"...We can decide when we're back on the ship,"  the Green Paladin said.

"Very well,"  Allura acknowledged,  "We'll see you a couple dobashes… I'm glad you're both all right."

With that, the intercom switched off, and Lelouch spotted several colorful figures heading towards him and Rai.

"Lelouch…" Euphie asked, noticing the frightened look still on her brother's face, "...Who was that? Down there?"

"Someone… very bad."

[cheryls-blossomed]

Take with a grain of salt, but it's more than likely true. The new word is that Ron Troup was whitewashed in S&L. The original script had Troup as the last name, but at the last minute, Whit was added as the last name on the audio of what aired Tuesday because the actor playing him was white. His character was fired, so I don't know if he'll return for other scenes. But I can't believe Todd thought no one would notice. That's worse than the few seconds we saw of him in live action on Smallville at The Daily Planet when Clark bumps into him.

If this is true, which I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, this really highlights Helbing’s approach to this show, which shows such an overt carelessness towards Black characters and their stories. The pilot would have been filmed last spring, as pilots usually are (I think they shut down production while the pilot was filming, if I’m remembering correctly), and then after the summer and the CW and Warner Bros. putting out their performative statements about supposedly standing against racism, I have no doubt that TPTB then figured that white-washing a character who was Black in the comics is very clearly racist and that they ought to course correct by dubbing this other last name over the last name Troup. If this is true, the fact that they actually white-washed a Black character from the comics and cast a white actor in the role in 2020 is just... so, so ugly, but also sadly unsurprising.

[thewayofthetrashcompactor]

November 2019 Empire Magazine The Rise of Skywalker Article Transcription

IT ALL STARTED with a Jane Campion retrospective. The Lincoln Center in New York was entering night two of an in-depth celebration of the Kiwi filmmaker’s work when, during a sold-out screening of The Piano, one member of the audience received a text message. He then received another. And another. Hunched down in his seat towards the middle of the auditorium, screenwriter Chris Terrio glanced furtively at his mobile as yet another text pinged to life on his screen. It was from J.J. Abrams. Just like the last. And the dozen or so before that.

It was 10 September 2017, and several hours earlier Terrio had received the first in what would become a torrent of communication. “I’ve just signed on to Episode IX,” it read. “We’re gonna write a new script. Would you consider writing it with me?”

“He didn’t even say the words ‘Star’ and ‘Wars’,” recalls Terrio, with a laugh. “He didn’t have to. I’d been about to go off and direct a small movie, but when you hear Star Wars, everything else goes away.”

Terrio agreed on the spot, planning to join Abrams in California as soon as his schedule would allow. But the texts kept coming. Throughout the afternoon, thoughts, ideas and questions popped up one after the other; Abrams’ frantic thumbs tapping out the first seeds of story and flinging them across the country to his newfound partner. And so, with Michael Nyman’s haunting score swelling around him and a still-buzzing handset in his grasp, Terrio stood up, shuffled apologetically along a row of seats, and walked out of the cinema, leaving Campion’s Oscar darling behind.

[Above image caption: “Director J.J. Abrams, cast and crew confront Klaud, the Resistance’s newest addition, at Pinewood studios”]

“J.J. is constantly brimming with ideas and, in the very best way, he’s very impatient about them! So we just started getting into it then and there. I got on a plane to LA the next day.”

Less than a week earlier, however, Episode IX’s future hadn’t looked nearly as certain. In development for the past two years under the auspices of Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the film had abruptly flown off the rails on 5 September, when it was announced that Trevorrow was off the project. Rumours of script disagreements circled, but regardless of the reason, Lucasfilm had a serious problem: arguably the most important film in Star Wars’ history suddenly had no director, no story and a release date drawing nearer by the day. So Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy sent up a flare to the one man she knew without any doubt could safely take Star Wars over the finish line. 

“Getting involved in IX came as a bit of a shock,” recalls J.J. Abrams. “I had completed VII, Rian [Johnson] was doing VIII, and I was not meant to do IX at all. But the opportunity to not just finish the trilogy, but to finish the story that George began -- this trilogy of trilogies -- was too compelling and too tempting to reject.”

After delivering The Force Awakens, then the third-biggest movie in history, Abrams had taken a bow and walked away, returning to Bad Robot and a pair of TV pilots he’d been meaning to write. It was here, in his self-imposed exile, that Kennedy sought him out. Sure, it was an office just over a mile from Santa Monica pier rather than the grassy bluffs of Ahch-To, and Kennedy hadn’t so much climbed 500 hand-carved steps as punched ten digits into her phone but, like a vision of Episode VII’s final moments, there she was. Unexpected. Holding out something Abrams had thought lost and daring him to take it back. 

“It’s exponentially the most daunting thing I’ve ever been involved with,” Abrams admits, eyebrows raised as if he still can’t quite believe the magnitude of the task. “But it was more exciting than it was anything.”

The director sits across from us in his suite at Beverly Hills’ Montage hotel, not far from where we last met, six years previously, when he’d just started work on a treatment for what would eventually become The Force Awakens. Abrams’ return as Star Wars’ Supreme Commander was announced just one day after Trevorrow’s departure, allaying the fears of both fans and shareholders alike: voices just a day before crying out in terror, now suddenly silenced. But with only two years to end a saga that had been four decades in the telling it was clear from the outset he was going to need some help. And so he composed a text (then several more) and sent them flying towards a movie theatre 3,000 miles away, where the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Argo was attempting to watch a film.

“I’ve admired Chris Terrio’s writing for a long time. I called on him because I knew it would be a challenge. But I didn’t know it would be quite as challenging as it was.”

[Above image caption: “Top: Martial art experts put Daisy Ridley through her paces. Above: Abrams with Oscar Isaac in Jordan”]

In a time when vast, interconnected stories have become commonplace, and breadcrumbs to the payoffs in Avengers: Endgame can be traced back ten or even 20 films, it’s hard to believe that the Star Wars sequel trilogy didn’t have its course firmly locked in before Episode VII ever left the spaceport. But, just as Abrams himself left neither chart nor compass for Rian Johnson to navigate with, so he began work on The Rise of Skywalker with nothing to guide him but his wits. It is, by Abrams’ own admission, his preferred method of working. An instinctive storyteller by nature, his impulse is to do what feels right in the moment, rather than slavishly adhere to some pre-ordained master plan. Very appropriately for a franchise so rooted in this exact philosophy, Abrams’ inclination has always been, as Alec Guinness once safely advised, to stretch out with his feelings.

“You can’t plan everything in advance -- which my ‘Revenge Of The Jedi’ poster proves,” he says. “You have a better idea and then you implement it. When I was working on VII, I’d be lying if I said I knew everything that was gonna happen in VIII and IX. I had some ideas, but we had a release date the required us to work on  VII!”

So Abrams and Terrio started from scratch. They spitballed ideas during the day, swapped rapid-fire texts at night and, piece-by-piece, set about exploring the fundamental questions this movie had to address. Not least of all the aftermath of The Last Jedi, in which Rian Johnson, continuing Abrams’ story, had made some rather significant changes.

[Death Star section break]

[Above image caption: “Really big space dog just out of shot”]

THERE’S A WELL-WORN dramatic principle most commonly ascribed to Anton Chekhov that insists if you see a gun in the first act of a play, it must go off by act three or you’re simply wasting the audience’s time. The same, it appears, is true of dark side degenerates as, despite being sidelined in The Last Jedi, Chekhov’s Knights Of Ren will finally go off in The Rise Of Skywalker.

The Knights -- from which Kylo draws the latter part of his name -- are a nightmarish squad of enforcers who do the bidding of the former Ben Solo. A rag-tag band of thugs and killers decked in black just like their leader, though far more battleworn. Armoured in disparate styles -- one sports a cowl, one an angry welders mask, another a checkered draughtboard faceplate -- they pack a similarly eclectic arsenal, from multi-barrelled assault cannon to oversized, anime-style sword, poleaxe and a wicked-looking mace. 

Referenced so portentously in The Force Awakens and glimpsed so very briefly during Rey’s vision on Takodana, the Knights and their role in Kylo’s fall from grace were set up as a major piece of the Star Wars puzzle. That is until Johnson, who clearly didn’t share Abrams’ interest, dropped the idea, sweeping them briskly under the rug next to the mystery of Rey’s parentage and the bisected corpse of Supreme Leader Snoke. “Let the past die,” instructed Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. “Kill it, if you have to.” A sentiment, one could argue, that cut to the very heart of Johnson’s film.

“We thought about that line a lot,” says Terrio. “Rian did something that any good second act will do, which is create the antithesis. In The Force Awakens Luke Skywalker is a myth Rey’s obsessed with and there’s a warm embrace of the past. What Rian suggested is the past is a mixed bag and you can’t rely upon it to tell you where to go in the future. What we’re doing with Episode IX is trying to create a synthesis between those two points of view.”

And so, just as the investigation into Rey’s lineage looks set to be reopened, so too are the Knights back with a vengeance (not to mention Abrams talisman Greg Grunberg as pilot Snap Wexley). With Johnson’s tenure over, we’re playing in Abrams’ yard once more, although our suggestion that he might somehow be trying to course-correct is given short shrift.

“I never found myself trying to repair anything,” Abrams interjects. “If I had done VIII, I would have done things differently, just as Rian would have done things differently if he had done VII. But having worked on television series, I was accustomed to creating stories and characters that then were run by other people. If you’re willing to walk away from the thing that you created an you believe it’s in trustworthy hands, you have to accept that some of the decisions being made are not gonna be the same that you would make. And if you come back into it, you have to honour what’s been done.”

And what has been done is significant. Luke Skywalker is dead, passing on his knowledge and the mantle of last Jedi to Rey; The Resistance has been all but wiped out; Snoke is gone; and Kylo Ren -- now Supreme Leader Ren -- is more broken than ever, riven by conflict through the unlikely bond he forged with Rey. Bold and decisive, Johnson’s directions changed the board entirely, his sharp turns and gear shifts delighting some while earning the ire of others.

“Any time you are telling a story that people deeply care about, there is bound to be discussion and debate,” says Kathleen Kennedy. “That is something that has always been fundamental to the fabric of Star Wars.”

For Abrams and Terrio, meanwhile, the new landscape also brought with it new possibilities. 

“Some of the most interesting scenes in The Last Jedi are the conversations between Rey and Ren,” says Terrio. “We’ve tried to pick up that complicated relationship that really has been present ever since the interrogation in Episode VII. When Ren takes off his mask, there’s a nakedness about him with Rey that he doesn’t express to anyone else. Rian developed that in fascinating ways and we’ve been able to develop it even further.”

Ren, left pointedly bare-faced by Johnson throughout VIII, now hides his face once more. It’s a development that, while not a rebuke to The Last Jedi, demonstrates the different touchstones that resonate with each director. Although, Abrams expands, reuniting Kylo with his mask is about more than just sinister aesthetics. 

“Having him be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing. Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself. As fractured as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There’s something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn’t ultimately hide him, and his behaviour is revealed.”

Ren’s temptation by the light, like Rey’s temptation by the dark, forms the spine of a moral ambiguity that Johnson build on in VIII and very much carries over to IX, bringing with is a sense that George Lucas’ more clearly defined duality might be a relic of a simpler time. Neither light nor dark, The Rise of Skywalker and its characters exist more within what could be considered the grey side of the Force -- something underscored by the tantalising footage of ‘Darth Rey’ (complete with cowl, hangover pallor and double-bladed red lightsaber) that closed Abrams’ D23 Expo footage presentation in Anaheim in August. 

“I’d rather let that one lie,” he deflects, when pressed on the subject. “But I will say that the movie has a number of things that you wouldn’t expect to have happen and you wouldn’t expect certain characters to do. There are surprises along the way.” He smiles, mischievously. “And that’s one of them.”

[Death Star section break]

[Image captions: “Top to bottom: Rey (Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and BB-8 listen intently to C-3PO (Anthony Daniels); Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando Calrissian; Joonas Suotamo, in Chewbacca’s threads, plays with his son on set.”]

THE VALLEY OF The Moon in Southern Jordan has seen its share of action. Cut into the red sandstone cliffs near Aqaba, the striking lowlands known in Arabic as Wadi Rum have been visited by both real and fictional Lawrences of Arabia, stood in for the face of Mars, been the birth place of the Alien in Prometheus, and will next year double as the eponymous desert planet in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. It’s no stranger to stormtroopers, either, having played host to the ill-fated Jedha outpost in Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One. Today, though, Wadi Rum is a different part of the galaxy entirely, standing in for Pasaana: a new locale in the canon, and home to the bedouin-like Aki-Aki: a nomadic race of walrus-lie aliens with twin tentacles dangling from their maws in place of tusks. 

Pasaana, along with the nippier climes of snow planet Kijimi, is one of several new worlds visited by The Rise of Skywalker. But most importantly, it’s a place where the heroes we’ve become acquainted with over the past two films will come together at last. 

“The heart of Star Wars for me is the group of unlikely bedfellows on a breakneck adventure,” says Abrams. “And in Rise Of Skywalker it’s the biggest and most dastardly threat the galaxy has seen. The opportunity here was to have this group that has now become a surrogate family have to deal with this massive horror: the war to end all wars. Not just on the outside, but one the inside, which is to say it’s meant to be as much of a challenge personally as it is physically.”

Abrams’ war of wars has been well equipped: The First Order is stacked with new brass in the form of Richard E. Grant’s Allegiant General Pryde, neo-fascist ranks swollen by triangular-winged TIE Daggers and blood-red garrisons of newly commissioned Sith troopers, their angular crimson armour giving a fresh twist on the faceless squaddies -- much to Hasbro’s delight. The Resistance, too, will see its share of reinforcements, including Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian -- reprising the role after 36 years. Even General Leia Organa will return: the late Carrie Fisher making an appearance thanks to the discovery of unused footage that somehow fit the narrative perfectly. 

The action itself has been teased in the barest glimpses: Rey and Kylo duelling on the wreckage of a Death Star; Rebel X-Wings and blockade runners fleeing destruction; a sky bristling with Imperial Star Destroyers, their numbers great enough to block out the star.

The presence of Old Empire firepower, easily overlooked, points to The Rise Of Skywalker’s biggest curveball to date. Back in April, when Abrams showed the first trailer at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, the reveal of the film’s title was almost eclipsed by the familiar cackle of the original Emperor echoing over those final frames. When Ian McDiarmid himself walked out to demand, in full Palpatine rasp, that the projector “roll it again”, all present lost their shit in unison. How could this be? Is he a clone? A Force projection? Did he survive that fateful plummet down the Death Star shaft” Could Palpatine have been telling Anakin the truth when he spoke of Darth Plagueis The Wise’s cure for death? Irrespective of the fine print, Star Wars’ biggest of bads is officially back in business.

“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” Abrams concedes. “But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

The sheet scale of the task he’s undertaken cannot be overstated. Star Wars has been, by far, the most enduring and influential story of the modern era. Having to put the capstone on a saga that has shaped both childhoods and adult lives for several generations is something neither Abrams, nor producer Kathleen Kennedy, looking ahead to what the future holds for Star Wars, take at all lightly. 

[Above image description: “Is it time for now Supreme Leader Ren (Adam Driver) to fulfill his destiny?”]

“We don’t have a crystal ball,” says Kennedy. “We tried to look at Solo and see if we could do two movies a year, and we found, ‘Hmm, that’s not going to work.’ So we backed off of that a little. But that doesn’t mean we don’t think about lots of different stories. That's the exciting thing about this universe.

“It’s been an honor to inherit and continue this iconic saga that has touched audiences for so many years, and we feel the weight of that every time we set out to tell these stories.”

The wider universe will, of course, live on. Whether through The Mandalorian on TV, or all-new movie sagas currently in development by Johnson and Game of Thrones’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. But for the core story, what for so many people is Star Wars, the final destination is now in sight. 

“I’ve always loved the start of something,” says Abrams, “because of what it promises. Endings are hard. A great ending not only needs to honour everything that’s come before but, whether it’s a novel, a series or a film, you want to have it feel like it could end no other way.”

And so it comes back to feeling. In a world of meticulously planned franchises and strategic, multi-phased rollouts, Star Wars, as its core, has always trusted in The Force. Abrams had not expected to be here, had not expected to finish this tale. But now, as he places the final pieces of the puzzle, he feels like it was always meant to be. There’s a symmetry to him being the one to deliver The Rise Of Skywalker, just as there is in the fact that, faced with this near insurmountable challenge, his impulse was not to assemble story groups or worry about the top-down view, but to switch off his targeting computer, let go his conscious self and act on instinct. 

“This story is alive, and you have to listen to it,” he says. “When you land on something that gives you the chills, that’s the only way you know if it feels right. You can deconstruct it all you want and try and make sense of how you found it, but somehow it finds you.”

He pauses, reflecting for a moment. “I don’t know how to explain it. Just the way I can’t quite explain how we had this footage of Carrie that we’re using. You can say, ‘Oh well, it’s just luck, it just happened to be,’ but it feels like something else. And I neither can nor want to explain any of it.”

Just as every saga has a beginning, so too will this one find its end. Abrams and Terrio have taken Lucas’ vision to its conclusion, and the story that began on 25 May 1977 will end on 19 December 2019.

“It’s been a pretty crazy ride,” reflect Terrio. “When I was a kid watching Return Of The Jedi on loop, I felt like I was the only person Yoda was speaking to. And then there I was all these years later, sitting in a tent in Jordan doing this film. You have this highly personal relationship to Star Wars, and then, suddenly, you find yourself right in the middle of it. That feeling is sort of indescribable.”

It’s one that, at the very least, is almost certainly worth having a movie interrupted for.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER IS IN CINEMAS FROM 19 DECEMBER

((Thank you to users @arlath_ma and @chinchingin on twitter for their photos of the article))

Article images can be found here: https://twitter.com/arlath_ma/status/1178648719325093888?s=19

[fyrapartnersearch]

Get ready to form voltron!

Obligatory warning for a long post ahead: Whilst I know this post may be intimidating to some people. please do not let it put you off from reaching out to me :) “I say vol and you say tron! Vol…..” “Eh.... voltron?” “We’ll work on it.” Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve been able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic (and that the easing of some restrictions depending on where you are has not negatively affected you). After binge watching legendary defender on netflix I’ve had the undying and uncontrollable urge to do a voltron rp. Now I bet you’re all wondering what I want and if you’re going to get to do some shipping.......we’ll I guess you’re just going to have to read on and find out. I’m looking for literate rper’s only. That means people who write in third person past tense, can give me at the very least one well thought out and fleshed paragraph (as well as be willing to write more when the situation calls for it) and has a decent grasp on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will not yell at you for the occasional bout of typonese but one liners, one worders, poorly written responses and lazy writing in general will not keep me around. If I can’t read what you’ve written and you’re not willing to put some effort in or correct it then there’s no point in me sticking around. I also require rper’s who’ve actually watched voltron whether it be legendary defender, defender of the universe or voltron force. If you’re someone whose a stickler for canon accuracy then I’m probably not the rper for you. When I rp in a fandom setting I treat it a bit like a base as in there’s rules to follow but I don’t have to follow them as if I’m reading the show script. To put it simply I value creativity and ideas that allow a different take on the characters and what could’ve happened. I only rp male alien or alien hybrid characters and they’re premade but flexible in how they’re written. I do not have pictures nor do I desire to spend endless hours of time to find a face claim of a creature that isn’t the typical different coloured humanoids you see in voltron. I have descriptions and that’s it. I do not care if your character is made up on the spot or if you prefer to rp as a canon character. Shippers......I’m sorry but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. I do not rp them as mains so if you were looking for some sheith or klance I’m sorry to disappoint you. That being said you are free to play as any canon character you desire or an oc as I’m open to oc x oc pairings or oc x canon pairings (you being the canon character) and I do either MxM or FxM pairings. Romance and non fade to black smut will both occur in the rp but it must be slow burn. I do not do fast paced love at first sight as it’s just not something that holds my interest. No sub dom dynamics, switch dynamics only and please no characters whose entire personality is just one emotion or one trait they have. Guys.....please don’t call my aliens furries or whatever. I don’t rp generic spray painted humans and we’re rping in a world full of wacky and crazy aliens that have fur,scales,tails,multiple arms, etc so I find it Incredibly annoying to have a label forced on my character like it’s a bad thing. Alien means something not from earth, if a human was to be born on altea or daibazzal, it’d be considered an alien despite probably being a hundred percent human. If your view and comfort zone is restricted to aliens that look like an altean and nothing else then you needn’t not message me. I’m not going to make you rp with me if this is a dealbreaker so if you don’t heed this warning then you do not be rude after pulling a shocked pikachu. Be mature about it if you realise it’s a deal breaker rather than just blocking or suddenly deciding you no longer want to talk to me and that you’ll just ignore me till I unfriend you. DO NOT COME TO ME SAYING OR ASKING YOU WANNA DO A SHEITH RP/ DO YOU RP AS THESE CANON CHARACTERS! I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I do not do canon character mains nor do I do rp’s solely for the purpose of shipping said rp characters. As I’ve said before, if you wanna play a canon character go ahead but I will not rp a canon character as anything other than a side. My oc’s are my mains. You and your characters must be 18+. I’m in my twenties and will not rp with a minor, especially since I have mature and adult themes in my rp’s that I do not want to get into trouble for Rping them with someone whose underaged. Underaged characters are just........a big no for the sole fact that my characters are adults and that i do not feel uncomfortable playing against underaged characters. You must be able to give me one or more responses a day. If it’s been two weeks since the last response and you’ve mysteriously disappeared then I’m not going to stick around for the day you decide to answer me. I do not like having my time wasted for any reason. My time zone is the eastern Australian time zone but I’m available and awake at odd hours so time zones aren’t too big of an issue for me. Remember that I’m looking for a long term partner, someone to carry an rp with for more than just a few days or a week and someone to write multiple stories with. I have tonnes of ideas and head cannons for the rp but I’m open to brainstorming and ideas. We can mix and match ideas till we get something we both like. I want this to be a shared job, don’t expect me to be the one to carry everything just cause I’m the one supplying the idea. Down below I’ve decided to list a couple of ideas that I have: New school defenders: the paladins of voltron have been defending the universe for years. Many stories of their countless victories, battles and struggles are something that every parent who was alive during the war told their children. Once the main three were taken out (haggar, lotor and zarkon) the paladins settled down to teaching the garrisons new generation of cadets. The new change in curriculum was welcome for many as well as a new change in ship style. To make sure that peace could be maintained in every quadrant of every galaxy the paladins of voltron has trained the cadets to fly animal styled space ships like the lions. The animal ship a pilot was assigned depended on their personality, strengths, weaknesses, how well they worked in a team and their style of fighting and piloting skills. The importance of team bonding was something the paladins basically preached. When news of the return of an old foe forces the paladins to return to their jobs as voltrons warriors and they suddenly disappear many write them off as dead or perhaps in distress. None of the superiors are interested to find out..... so who will? Lotor’s reign: It was unbelievable. It couldn’t be true. It had to not be true. Voltron taken down by lotor, son of the mighty emperor zarkon himself, and the paladins were now working for him without question as his top generals?! When the news had first hit many people had panicked whilst countless others had been slain for daring to believe and protest that it was all just some lie made up by the half galran prince who was now an emperor like his father before him. Princess Allura herself was locked away in an unknown location after refusing the cruel man’s hand in marriage so she is no help for what is now a lost hope. Lotor’s reign had well and truly begun all those years ago and it was holding steady. People had forgotten long ago that even in complete and utter darkness….one can always find a speck of light that burns bright no anger how small. Mirror mirror: For many years people believed the galra were a race of cruel, vicious, animalistic thinking beings whose only goal was to destroy and conquer words. No one would’ve ever believed that it was the peacekeeping alteans that had been working to plot the galaxy’s downfall. Voltron, belonged to the galrans, they’d been the ones who’d built it after all despite letting alfor pilot voltron’s right arm. When the king had been turned down on his idea to share the mighty robotic war machine he simply built his own. Five dragons that formed dracotron were what the alteans used as their voltron and weapon to conquer the galaxies. Emperor zarkon, under the advice of Haggar the witch, was one of the few world leaders who managed to get his people to safety. Ever since watching the great kingdoms that he’d known for almost ten thousand years fall under the alteans greed and obsession for power over peace, he prayed for miracle in whatever form he could get it in. When two young stragglers end up stranded on the galra’s second home world, the cards of fate are laid according to haggar, much to everyone else’s confusion. What could two lost souls possibly do to bring back what was lost to the alteans? Gamora’s guns: The guns of Gamora was a rebel group with the goal of foiling any plans of the altean empress allura. Led by the brave commander Sven and his somewhat neurotic sidekick Slav, the gun’s were spread far across the galaxy in little pockets of altean dominated space to keep tabs on the empires schemes and try their best to counteract them. The new recruits were aliens and humans from far and wide working together hand in hand to try and prevent a reign of terror from truly taking over. When plans for creating a super weapon fall on the ears of a trusted source, the newest batch of recruits are sent to locate, find and bring back the blueprints. Of course, such things are easier said than done. The chosen: Keith.lance.hunk.shiro (or Sven, depends on whether you want this to follow a legendary defender type story arc or one of the older series). Allura. Pidge. These were names that belonged to the universe's greatest heroes. Legends beyond all compare. They were champions of the universe and paladins of the mightiest robotic warrior to have ever been built: voltron. The great robot and the lions that formed it were well over ten thousand years old…..sadly for the paladins, they knew that they wouldn’t live to or beyond the great age their lions and oldest enemies had. The galaxy garrison had worked extra hard on ensuring that the next generation of pilots would be suitable candidates for the possibility of becoming voltron’s future paladins. Each paladin chose a student whom they felt like would be the most suitable to take their place and trained them with the knowledge that they were not the ones who had the final decision as to who flew who…..or even if they’d fly at all. What happens when one student fails and is rejected by not one but all the lions? What becomes of them and what is their place on team voltron? What happens to the rest of the team? Only time will tell, according to coran, such a thing has never happened before…...but what happens if it does? From all walks of life to the universe's greatest heroes: Shouldn’t have to explain this one too much. Forget the show paladins, bring your oc’s or next gens onto the table and let them take the stage! Before we reach the end of the post, here are some important reminders: 1: NO REACHING OUT TO ME ASKING FOR A CANON CHARACTER SHIPPING RP! I DO NOT DOUBLE SO DO NOT ASK! 2: DONT MESSAGE ME IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NOT VERY HUMANOID ALIENS! 3: NO GARY STU’S OR MARY SUES! GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A PERSONALITY THAT ISN’T JUST ONE EMOTION OR TRAIT ONLY! For those who’ve read this thoroughly thank you and congratulations! If you’re at all interested please send me a request via one of the contacts below that says who you wanna be, which lion or paladin you think you’d most likely to be if you were in voltron, which idea you liked (or one of your own) and the numbers 123 to confirm you’ve read everything. My discord: tiberionsunsconqourer#6187 My telegram: Tiberionwars My hangouts: lleo52560@gmail.com Hope to write some awesome stories! Will accept requests as long as this ad is up.

[bonsaiiiiiii]

Tales of John and Gordon - Space Water

So I recently updated Bro on the "Pool Party with the Tracys" post, since I told him I made a post about it. The first thing he looked at was the amount of likes and reblogs I received, then he passed on to read all the comments. When he saw @janetm74 's comment, saying that maybe a series could be born from it (your wish had been granted 😘🤠), his eyes immediately shined with excitement and, after putting on his swimming costume (and forcing me to do the same) he got in the pool (and forced me to do the same). Once he assured himself that I was in the pool and was listening to him, he began narrating his little story.

"Once upon a time (dramatically)..."

...there was Gordon, sitting near Alan in Thunderbird 3. And nothing strange happened here. Another day for the Tracys, another mission to accomplish. Only that this one was a bit...unusual.

"So? Ready for today’s big mission?" Alan asked with a sly smile.

"You just have to move a medium-sized meteorite, nothing at all. I just don’t understand why you had to bring Thunderbird 4 into the load."

"Ah why, is there Thunderbird 4 in the cargo?" asked Alan surprised. "I didn't know."

"Sure. You never know anything."

"What I want to know is why I had to come too." John asked annoyed, sitting behind Alan and holding his arms crossed around his chest.

"Because Scott asked, and because he says the mission could be too hard and stuff. Don’t worry, there’s Grandma to handle emergency calls from Tracy Island."

"Yeah, I know that, but Scott, or even Virgil, could very well show up! Why me?"

"Oh, for God's sake! Just stay here!"

After a little time spent arguing -discussing, according to John- the three brothers had finally arrived at their destination, namely a large asteroid in the shape of a basin. You heard right, in the shape of a basin, which had to be moved before it collided with the Earth’s atmosphere.

"Why does this asteroid have such a strange shape?" asked John, a little biased.

"I don’t know, but all I know is that I have to go." Alan said stretching.

"What do you mean you have to go?" Gordon asked looking at him sideways.

"It is written here." he answered, reaching for something that had fallen to the ground. "So, in the script, it says that I have to go home, while you have to take Thunderbird 4 and with that you have to get the asteroid away from Earth and back home."

"But I don-"

"Enough, shoo, bye!" Alan interrupted John’s speech attempt by waving paper sheets very close to the faces of his two older brothers, driving them away to the cargo bay of Thunderbird 3, where Thunderbird 4 was.

The two poor people did just in time to take their helmets and wear them that were forced out of the pilot compartment, the door that separated the two compartments closed in front of their faces. "That one really leaves us here! With this thing!" John screamed desperately.

"Excuse me, Thunderbird 4 is not a thing. It’s my baby- WHY THUNDERBIRD 4 HAS LEGS AND ARMS!?!?" Gordon found himself screaming when he finally laid eyes on his yellow submarine.

"For that you have to thank us!" Brains and the Mechanic entered the conversation, appearing through hologram. "As per script." they then added, waving the same papers that Alan had in his hand a moment ago.

"What is this script and why didn’t I know about it? Why don’t I have one? Why does it exist in the first place???" John continued to ask the most obvious questions there could be, starting to lose patience.

Gordon, on the other hand, remained motionless like a statue, with a facial expression that was a mixture of the amused and the desperate. "I’m about to cry."

"Womp womp! Are you already in Thunderbird 4? I’m about to leave!" Alan spoke through the speakers of the compartment.

"Now...we enter...at least I think..." Gordon responded, stroking his submarine and getting in. John followed shortly after. "I think we’re off to go..." whispered the blond, when he was sure he was ready, or at least in a manner of speaking.

"Well. Bye bye!" replied the youngest, opening their door to the asteroid. The two had not even noticed that Alan had docked to the asteroid. How was it possible?

Gordon shook his head slowly, starting Thunderbird 4, and somehow making it walk towards the asteroid. It was only when they were safely on the asteroid and when Alan left that John noticed something. "Hey, isn’t that...water?"

"On an asteroid? What are you sayin-hey, now I see it too! It looks like water! Hey, Thunderbird 3, are you already on Tracy Island? Hhm? Strange, communications don’t work... Tracy Island? Can anyone hear me?"

The two inside Thunderbird 4 exchanged a look of common understanding; they were both estranged.

"As per script?" John asked very sarcastically.

"Let’s at least go see what it is. Let’s go below." Gordon replied, and in a moment they were both in the pool of water, which was also quite large. Both he and John sighed surprised at the sight of water on a mere asteroid. "Wow..."

The two found themselves diving for quite a while, on the one hand to see how the 'pool' on which they were located was deep and wide, and on the other they were scanning the asteroid’s water, which turned out to be perfect non-potable, clean and clear water.

But John paid attention to something else. "I’ve never been on Thunderbird 4 before." In fact, the red whispered that, standing behind Gordon, first observed the interior of the submarine on which he was on, and finally the strange water around them, looking at it as if he was on another planet.

The blond was about to mumble something back when a strange thing happened. In other words, that the water on here was suddenly solidified, also changing colour. "Do you see what I see? Isn’t that gold?" Gordon did not have time to say anything else that the water had already returned as before, clear, clean, and liquid.

"Waaaa, I absolutely must take a sample of this water! Who knows when we will have a chance like this again!" Gordon exclaimed, and John could not stop him that the blond was already out.

Gordon swam through that strange mass for a while, and then pulled out a small flask and tried to get water. All his attempts were in vain, because the water seemed to be alive. In fact, it moved every time Gordon tried to take it, and if a drop fell inside the flask this got out immediately, mixing with the other mass around him.

"Come on...why won’t you- come in?" He stammered him carelessly, but just as he was about to make the last attempt the water around him began to solidify again, assuming a golden consistency. And he was immobilized in there! " Ngn." he groaned, trying to free himself from that invisible socket, but he felt like he was just a simple mold. Luckily he was wearing a helmet...

As he attempted to free himself he counted two seconds, then the gold around him returned to be water and to flow regularly. "2 seconds..." he whispered, and without adding anything else rushed back to Thunderbird 4.

"I tried to call you...will our suits be out of communication?"

"I hope in Jesus they’re not broken. The communications, I mean."

"We’d better get out of here and get this asteroid out of the Earth’s atmosphere before it causes any damage. Did you collect the sample you needed?"

"No. The water seems to be alive."

"As in?"

"As in not getting caught. It moves as soon as I approach the flask to take it. We should drop everything here, and hope to find it all when Alan is back."

"If the script allows it, Gordon." answered John in a bitterwseet tone.

"To tell you the truth, I don’t really get it either, but I’m hoping to clear this up when we get to Tracy Island. Now let’s get these legs going!"

They’ve been walking for a while now, and Gordon couldn’t stop thinking about something. "What if we could take this asteroid on Earth with us? If we can’t take the water we take the whole basin."

"It’s not that simple. First of all, do you realize that we are taking it away from Earth? And then we wouldn’t know where to take it...and do you know how many rules we would break?"

"And who cares!" exploded Gordon excited. "Do you realize that this could be the greatest discovery in history and the universe?! Water that is in space and that can turn into gold, isn’t it worth breaking the rules for that? I would do it..."

John stayed to think about it. "Fine. We’re taking this laver to earth with us, although I don’t know how yet. But if it turns out to be a disaster, don’t take it personally. So, what's the plan?"

"So, we wait for the asteroid to enter the atmosphere and do its work. We will protect ourselves with the water inside; it should also dampen everything. Once we’re in the atmosphere, let’s see where this thing lands, and if it’s a inhabited place we do our best to deflect it."

"What if we don’t succeed? Our communicators are broken, and we can’t communicate in any way with Earth. It would be a global disaster, otherwise it would be discovered!"

"Let’s just hope it sinks into the ocean. That’s all I’m content with."

And in fact, Gordon’s prediction was correct. Not only did the asteroid land on the ocean, but it also landed very close to Tracy Island. "We couldn’t be more fortunate than that." The blond commented, taking off his helmet and taking a breath of fresh air.

Brains had already made some pre-exam both on the asteroid which, to everyone’s surprise, floated in the ocean as a sailboat, and also on the water contained within it. The results were coming out, but all John and Gordon wanted to do was to enjoy a well-deserved bagel. "Nice experience, but I’ll never do it again. I prefer the calm and quiet of Thunderbird 5 so much..."

"And I think I’ll stay in bed and rot for quite a while..."

"It’s going to explode!" Brains hurried into the living room, where he kept shouting this phrase agitated.

"Calm down Brains, and explain yourself better. What’s going to explode?"

"The asteroid! I-I don’t know why, but tests have revealed that this asteroid is m-made of a substance that in contact with oxygen becomes highly explosive!"

"Shit! Do we have to take it back to space?"

"A-and now! The substance is strangely familiar to me, and explodes after 24 hours of exposure. It’s been 20 hours since your return."

"I’d rather not take that shower...and sleep..." stuttered John. "I’ll go with you, Gordon, so once the mission is over I can go back to Thunderbird 5 and stay there forever."

"Whatever you say. I hope Alan will take us and not leave us there like last time."

"I’ll take you this time." Virgil appeared out of nowhere with a sly smile.

"Thunderbird 2 in space? And why?"

"... I’m up for it." answered the second with a grimace.

"There’s no time for that. Let’s get ready, and hurry."

The three quickly prepared, and in an instant they were in space, the asteroid behind them and returned properly into space. Thunderbird 2 began to fail, and so Virgil released Thunderbird 4 near the asteroid, to then return to Earth safely. After 5 minutes, Gordon was able to push the asteroid away so that it would never happen again near the solar system, and after a strange farewell he began to return to Earth. But, strangely enough, the asteroid exploded just as Thunderbird 4 had turned towards Earth.

(My brother is really into whump lately...)

"But what-" Gordon did not have time to replicate, that both bumped their heads, losing consciousness instantly. The last thing Gordon saw just before he lost consciousness was his ocean that welcomed him into its deep depths.

(Up to here I got tired of editing and I don't remember correctly what my brother had said, so in short terms the Hood, along with the Chaos Crew, kidnapped fainted John and took him God knows where, because Bro hadn't told me [his original plan was to make John die, so,,,]. Then Gordon awakens and decided to eat something instead of searching for his brother, because that's how you do it. The celery crunch bars he eats, tho, got poisoned by the Hood a moment while the 'Baldy Head' {necessary citation} was on TB4 to capture John; so Gordon's 'tummy hurts real bad' {necessary citation} but he eventually gets better because some sort of ghost finds John and takes Gordon back to Tracy Island. He was unclear on that part. Maybe I'll edit this 2nd part too and make a continuation of this. So, TBC?)

[son-of-alderaan]

J.J. Abrams is racing.

The director has been tasked with bringing four decades of the most popular and longest-running sci-fi franchise of all time to an epic conclusion. And nowadays he’s feeling a bit like Luke Skywalker flying his X-wing down the Death Star trench in A New Hope as TIE fighters closed in — under a bit of pressure, in other words, with the fate of the entire Star Wars universe depending on him.

“We always knew we were going to have three fewer months to postproduction this film,” says Abrams, who took over co-writing and directing duties on the movie two years ago after successfully rebooting the franchise with 2015’s blockbuster The Force Awakens. “So much is still being worked on. It’s literally a practical race to get it finished.”

If that admission sounds worrisome, hold your fire on those tweets.

Despite a deadline crunch to make the film’s Dec. 20 worldwide launch (EW’s interview was conducted in late October), Abrams says he’s feeling “infinitely better” at this very late stage about The Rise of Skywalker than he was about The Force Awakens.

“We had more reshoots on Episode VII than this one,” Abrams says. “We had more story adjustments on VII than this one. We didn’t know if these characters would work, if the actors would be able to carry a Star Wars movie. There were a lot of things we didn’t know. On this, we knew who and what worked, and everyone is doing the best work I’ve ever seen anyone do. But the ambition of this movie is far greater than Force Awakens. What we set out to do was far more challenging. Everything is exponentially larger on this.” 

For example: Disney has released three trailers for The Rise of Skywalker. Some of the shots are stunning and seemingly revealing: desert scavenger–turned–Jedi apprentice Rey (Daisy Ridley) and First Order leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) clashing with lightsabers on the half-submerged wreckage of the second Death Star, which was blown up in Return of the Jedi; Rey facing off against a somehow resurrected Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid); the Millennium Falcon flying into a massive armada of Star Destroyers. Plus, those bewildering teases of Rey turning to the Dark Side and teaming up with Kylo.

Yet Abrams says fans still don’t really know anything. “The [trailers] that have come out are scratching the surface of what the movie is,” the famously spoiler-averse director says.

Asked if there are major action sequences we’ve yet to see any footage from, Abrams replies with a firm “Yes” and then, naturally, goes silent.

John Boyega, who plays stormtrooper–turned–Resistance fighter Finn, says his first reaction to the script penned by Abrams and Chris Terrio was he had to “read the script six more times because there was so much information in there.”

Here’s what we know about how Episode IX begins: It’s been more than a year since the events of 2017’s The Last Jedi. The First Order has decimated the Resistance. Rey has been training to use the Force. Finn and hotshot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) have been sent by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) to find allies throughout the galaxy, but so far haven’t had any luck. “They’re trying to put bandaids on this leaking ship of the Resistance,” Isaac says.

Their mission leads Finn, Poe, and Rey to work together, which has, oddly, never happened before in the trilogy. And since there’s a time jump, the characters have all grown and changed since we last saw them. “We’re not just a ragtag group of people who have been thrown together,” Isaac says. “We’ve actually had time to train. There are some really great sequences with the three of us in infiltrating spaces.”

Both Isaac and Boyega say they had their character wishes granted for the final film. Isaac wanted Poe to get “out the cockpit and into the group,” while Boyega wanted Finn to become a more capable solider (and not, as the actor candidly puts it, just a “comedic goofy dude who never gets stuff done”).

“I definitely wanted more after Episode VIII,” Boyega says. “[Rise of Skywalker] makes Finn’s Episode VIII arc make more sense. We got to bring out a side of Finn we haven’t seen.”

To help spark the trio’s on-screen chemistry, Abrams told his cast to feel free to improvise dialogue, and many scenes were shot using long, continuous takes to keep their flow going. “J.J. came back with a new energy and new vibe,” Boegya says. “He wanted dialogue to be messy and natural, and that got all of us really excited.”

“I think it really captures the spirit of the original trilogy,” Isaac adds. “On top of that there’s fact that Rey has…“

The actor stops, catching himself before revealing too much.

Rey has… what?

“Rey is driving her own thing,” Ridley says. “She’s not doing what other people are telling her to do.”

We last saw Rey mourning the death of her mentor Luke Skywalker (who returns in the film, presumably in Force ghost form, played once again by Mark Hamill) and shutting the door to Kylo’s power-mad seduction attempt. The heroine has since made progress in her Jedi training. “I have skills that have developed, but ‘confident’ isn’t a word I’d use to describe it,” Ridley says. “She’s definitely more in control of everything and can do new fun stuff, but she’s vulnerable and a little insecure about at all.”

Yet Rey will use more than her Force powers in the new film. As Abrams hints: “The scavenger who is desperate and haggling for portions and trying to survive [in Force Awakens] — those special skills and that special experience ends up being something that is essential to saving the galaxy.”

Ridley trained in kickboxing for the final chapter as well, but says the emotional toll of Rey’s journey was more difficult than any combat scenes. “It’s a heavy story for Rey,” Ridley says. “There were days where I was literally like, ‘I can’t do this, I’m so tired, I don’t know if I can like reach that emotion again.’”

Part of Rey’s journey involves solving the mystery of her identity. Well, again. Kylo revealed in The Last Jedi that Rey’s parents are deceased nobodies, “filthy junk traders [who] sold you off for drinking money.” The line embraced the idea that a hero doesn’t need to come from somebody special in order to be somebody special. Yet many fans called foul as the trilogy has teased Rey’s identity as being crucial information from the start (“Classified?” Rey echoed back to BB-8 during her debut sequence. “Me too. Big secret”).

“The parents thing is not satisfied — for her and for the audience,” Ridley says. “That’s something she’s still trying to figure out — where does she come from?”

It’s unclear if Abrams has made a course correction to Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson’s plan or there was always more to say about Rey’s parentage. Either way, wasn’t the Episode VIII scene supposed to be sincere?

“It’s not that she doesn’t believe it,” Ridley says carefully, “but she feels there’s more to the story. And she needs to figure out what’s come before so she can figure out what to do next…”

An even bigger cliffhanger is the resolution of Rey’s complex relationship with the First Order’s ruthless leader, who, okay, sure, also looks hot shirtless in high-waisted pants (but what if he didn’t?). Kylo has grown beyond being a “petulant teenager,” and Driver says Kylo’s killing of Supreme Leader Snoke was “kind of a birth moment for him.”

“He had all of these pseudo father figures that he had to either live up to or literally kill to become his own person for the first time,” the actor says.

Naturally, Kylo’s destiny will lead to at least one lightsaber clash with Rey. Abrams sees the duo as “two sides of the same coin,” noting, “even when they’re not together they still haunt each other in a way — they know they are each other’s unresolved business.”

For his part, Driver rejects any labels for the Rey-Kylo relationship. “I don’t think it’s all one thing,” he says. “Part of the fun of playing it is the boundaries of it keep changing. At times it’s more intimate, sometimes less intimate. Sometimes it’s codependent. And then it’s, obviously, adversarial.”

That Rey and Kylo end up battling on the wreckage of the second Death Star continues Abrams’ penchant for showcasing ruined relics of the original trilogy — like Rey spelunking in a wrecked Star Destroyer and living in an AT-AT walker on Jakku in Force Awakens. “It felt like going into the haunted house, the place that you have to go to,” Abrams says of bringing back the iconic space station. “This is a story of people having to grapple with the burden the prior generation dumps on those that follow. So literally returning to this wreck of the past and having to fight it out felt like an obvious metaphor, but also felt incredibly cinematic.”

Of course, there’s another original trilogy fallen icon in the film too. Fisher died after filming The Last Jedi. Figuring out how to utilize Fisher’s previously deleted scenes in the new movie was one of Abrams’ biggest challenges. “Saying Leia had passed away, or that she was off somewhere else, felt like a cheat,” Abrams says. “Then I remembered we had these scenes that we hadn’t used from Episode VII. It was like finding this impossible answer to this impossible question. Suddenly we had classic Carrie in these amazing moments. So when you see in the movie, it’s her, she’s there. It’s not like there’s some crazy digital trickery. She’s just in the movie.”

A couple of other original trilogy characters are likewise integral. Billy Dee Williams is back as that ol’ pirate Lando Calrissian for the first time in live action since Return of the Jedi. Williams says he’s excited to return to the character despite enduring fans coming up to him for decades accusing him of betraying Han Solo. “The whole Star Wars experience feels like it never goes away; It’s always there,” Williams says. “There are all of these things that have happened in Lando’s life that he’s got to resolve.”

There’s also paranoid android C-3PO, who in the latest Skywalker trailer ominously says he’s taking a “last look” at his friends. Threepio is essential to a movie’s plot for the first time since A New Hope (Ridley points out Rey might spend more time with Threepio than any character in the film).

“In previous recent movies Threepio has just been kind of window dressing, something on the mantlepiece, you polish it and dust it o when guests are coming,” says Anthony Daniels, who has played the golden droid’s body and voice in every Skywalker Saga movie. “J.J. and Chris came up with this aspect of Threepio we had not seen before that’s remarkably clever. They go down deep into ancient Star Wars and came up with something refreshingly new.”

Joining Threepio in the metal headgear club is newcomer to the saga Keri Russell. Despite having worked with Abrams for years on Felicity, the actress found herself escorted to a small room where she could only read the Skywalker script under watchful guard. Her character is Zorii Bliss, who’s “involved in some intimate, sketchy stuff” and wears a large brass-and-crimson Daft Punk-like helmet.

“For a shy person this is my ultimate dream job — I get to be in Star Wars and my face is covered,” Russell marvels. “I can see everyone and no one can see me. Though I now have giant throbbing neck muscles like Mr. T.”

There’s also newcomer Naomi Ackie portraying Jannah, a bow-and-arrow-wielding warrior who rides a horse-like creature called an Orbak. Real animals were used on set, and until you’ve ridden a horse dressed up like exotic alien across the surface of the Death Star you haven’t really lived. “I was just gobsmacked,” Ackie says of the experience. “Every day you’re grappling with the fact that every choice you make in a small moment is going to be broadcast to the entire world.”

While the film is introducing new characters, Abrams insists Rise of Skywalker won’t set up a future story. He’s not leaving loose threads for Disney to hang another trilogy directly onto the back of this one. Lucas’ original dream of an intergalactic tale about a farm boy from Tatooine is at last about to set — just like those dreamy twin suns collapsing into the desert. “It’s a very good ending, and a good ending feels right,” Daniels says simply.

And yet, in another way, the final Skywalker Saga film is very much about the future of the franchise. Star Wars will continue to exist in an omniscient Force-like fashion, in everything from toys to TV shows to videogames to theme parks, but new movies have always been the brand’s creative core. Since buying Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney’s movies in a galaxy far, far away peaked early at the box office with Force Awakens and sunk to their lowest level with the most recent entry, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.

At one point during our interview, Abrams declares, “the stakes are all or nothing with this film.” He was referring to its high-stakes story line, but the same could also be said about the franchise. Even if we never see Rey, Finn and Poe on screen again, Rise of Skywalker’s popularity will likely make an impact on Disney’s next studio moves — guiding like a fallen Jedi or Sith’s unseen hand.

Speaking of: There’s at least one key player we haven’t discussed. Palpatine’s return may be the most closely guarded story line in the film. How is the Emperor, who Vader tossed into the Death Star’s reactor core, back in a seemingly corporeal form?

“This has been a very long chess match that’s been played between the Jedi and the Sith — all the way back to the very beginning,” Issac teases. “It’s an amazing thing to see that really come to the forefront.”

The Rise of Skywalker might very well turn out to be a full-fledged reunion special of Force ghosts. And what are the rules that govern the Jedi and Sith spirit realm anyway? Obi-Wan Kenobi said in Empire Strikes Back that he “cannot interfere” with Luke’s fight with Vader. But in The Last Jedi, Yoda suddenly called down a lightning strike. What can Force ghosts do — and not do — in our world?

Abrams’ reply to that key question is pretty much what you’d expect.

“That’s probably best answered,” the director says, “by not answering it.”

[brandjchilds]

2020 👉🏾 2021

I spent the last two weeks doing some introspection and writing about my 2020 experience (I paid Justin Timberlake to say that.)

From the jump, I felt like the 2020 tagline “a year of clarity” was so corny, but I bet you’re a little more clear on some important things after this year. I had no choice but to be.

Loss figured out how to affect everyone this year, in abstract ways, and in very visceral, tangible, sobering ways.

Pain was available to all who were alive long enough to experience more than a month of 2020.

Most of us would say 2020 gave us that work.

Let’s not get it twisted though, 2019 wasn’t nothing to write home about, but this year made me feel like I wish I could go back to sleep to finish that dream.

The very nature of having to stay home, being stripped of so many distractions that created false senses of comfort and security showed me that there’s a lot of character that has been built up in me, and that there’s still a lot of building to do.

I was more in my head this year than any other year that I can remember. Which coincided pretty spectacularly with the uptick in my dating activity this year. Somehow, I was both more bold, and more in my own head.

I talked to some girls AND got dates with some girls that a previous version of me would’ve thought I had no business being looked at by. Truly intimidatingly attractive, extraordinarily brilliant and kindhearted women that pre-2020 me wouldn’t have even headfaked at (yeah, I’m patting myself on the back for that).

Something I noticed about one of the lovely young women that I talked to early this year is that she had this sense that she had grown to the place where she was putting the majority of the weight of her trust in God and leaving it there. Trusting the provider and not the provisions. And that seemed to cause this overwhelmingly serene self security to radiate out of her. I’m still figuring that out, for sure.

This was also another year where I struggled with hiding many of the most passionate parts of myself in public spaces, in an effort to move closer to appropriate transparency and away from codependent vulnerability. In some ways, I think this worked well to keep myself from getting hurt as much, along with creating healthier connections with people (the goal), but there’s still some attenuation to be done, because in some instances, I definitely over corrected and felt myself becoming less interesting, and less available for any kind of connection at all.

In my closest relationships, I felt myself leveling up my inquisitive nature, showing my love in bigger ways to the people I’ve stated my love for, and intentionally finding more ways to show up for my people.

In addition, I’ve had more “in-game” experience with the difference between hurt versus harm as it relates to boundaries and communication in relationships. Learning to love myself well by taking up space in that way.

I learned that I can actually tolerate conflict that feels even remotely productive.

Oh! Also, I’ve discovered something pretty major about myself: The greatest gift someone could give me is an environment of peace, joy and conversational fluidity. That’s all I want ever in all of life.

I was met with more of the realities of “both-and”, as opposed to objective extremism one way or another.

The relativity of words and time became that much more apparent to me. I was telling my sister that there were so many dope things I experienced in January and February of 2020 that somehow felt closer to the present than, say, George Floyd, or my first official relationship, Tiger King or my therapy breakthroughs. Speaking of...

Some breakthroughs in therapy and meditation have allowed me to put more space between external stimuli and the choice of my response. (And the role of distraction in this whole continuum, which is the enemy of mindfulness - part of why I’m taking this social media break.)

Closely related to the above thought, I heard this quote that said something like, “if you think of every thought as a package, the packages might come to your door, but if the package isn’t for you, don’t sign for it!” I’ve also chosen to apply this to thoughts that illicit even the strongest emotional responses. Very subversive, I know.

This time last year, I was with my family in Atlanta, talking about the things I wanted to achieve, character wise, in 2020, and now looking back at that list, I realize I can’t really check anything off. But I also realize that that was never the point. My sights were set on the wrong thing. The point of the journey is to keep becoming. Pay attention to how what you’re doing now is facilitating or detracting from what you hope to be. And then, if you find you’re on track, make peace with the process. This is one of many spiritual practices I want to reconnect with in 2021.

In addition to that, I’ve dropped the expectation for anyone, including myself, to fully be anything, really. However, I do need the people in my closest circle/prime seats of influence to be at least growing in their awareness as active participants in who they’re becoming. How they might be able to continue functionally evolving. Consistently considering what the desired outcome of their life might be.

Something else that learnt me: It is possible to apologize too much, and it is probable that I have lol. The reason, so I have discovered, is that it can cause you to behave apologetically for who you are, which has been quite the lifelong problem for your boy 😁.

By the way, I still have doubts in my faith (I guess that’s inherent in the word “faith”, right?), but they’re not (currently) overwhelming questions about God’s goodness or about why so many religious people have been allowed to make it their business to commandeer and distort the foundational ethic of love. Admittedly, the questions I have are much simpler, but I believe they’re valid, and worth inquisition.

I found a way to finish 3 pilots this past year, despite going through the biggest heartbreak of my life, seismic family turmoil and the existential stress of this pandemic. Idk how “good” those scripts are, but that’s really not the point. Shooters shoot and writers write.

I was recently reminded that, while living a creative life comes inherently with a level of fear, I don’t have to allow that fear to ever be the reason I don’t do or try things.

I pushed through my ADD, and reclaimed the discipline of sitting down and reading physical books.

I also listened to a bunch of audiobooks and even more podcasts. Favorite genres are pop-psychology/human behavior, dating, and of course, basketball.

I got help from some friends moving into a newly renovated, beautiful house in Glendale. No lie, I was a little shook to be in Simi Valley after Trump lost, and thankfully, we ended up moving like a week before the results came in (the first time).

I’ve been blessed to be bolstered by a new accountability group of Black men that are always available for support, and fully bought in on my progression in life, sometimes even more than I am.

I also witnessed just how truly down for me my circle of people are, on the heels of... some really tough stuff. So many people made it a point to show up for me, at the drop of a hat, with calls of encouragement, texts to reinstill confidence in me, and COVID-safe hangs to just physically be present with me through it all. I got some top shelf individuals in my life...

And at the end of a year like this, the most sobering things that have made their way back to front and center for me have been: how much relationships matter and the true brevity of life. Having faced that brevity fairly closely due to COVID’s effects on loved ones, and personally, with my own past health scare, I’m re-upping on the conscious decision to be an illuminative presence in my relationships. To be better about being consistently involved in my people’s lives, which as an introvert can sometimes cost me the very last morsels of my energy. To be more curious and open hearted when relating to people who think and believe differently than me. To continue to build myself up so that I can become someone who both healthily processes emotions and difficulty while safeguarding against rumination and wallowing, so I can be more emotionally available for the people in my life (my fellow Enneagram 4s know all about that struggle). Life’s much too brief for me to be any other way.

Anywho, there are some big things on the horizon, known and unknown, and I need space to be ready. So, social media homies, I’ll see you in 45 days (or, you know, hit me up if you want to see me before then).

#HappyNewYear

[uomo-accattivante]

The upcoming (November) online issue is still sold out, so below is a transcription of the Empire Star Wars article:

(NOVEMBER 2019)

IT ALL STARTED with a Jane Campion retrospective. The Lincoln Center in New York was entering night two of an in-depth celebration of the Kiwi filmmaker’s work when, during a sold-out screening of The Piano, one member of the audience received a text message. He then received another. And another. Hunched down in his seat towards the middle of the auditorium, screenwriter Chris Terri glanced furtively at his mobile as yet another text pinged to life on his screen. It was from J.J. Abrams. Just like the last. And the dozen or so before that.

It was 10 September 2017, and several hours earlier Terrio had received the first in what would become a torrent of communication: “I’ve just signed on to Episode IX,” it read. “We’re gonna write a new script. Would you consider writing it with me?”

“He didn’t even say the words ‘Star’ and ‘Wars,’” recalls Terrio with a laugh. “He didn’t have to. I’d been about to go off and direct a small movie, but when you hear Star Wars, everything else goes away.

Terrio agreed on the spot, planning to join Abrams in California as soon his schedule would allow. But the texts kept coming. Throughout the afternoon, thoughts, ideas and questions popped up one after the other; Abrams’ frantic thumbs tapping out the first seeds of story and flinging them across the country to his newfound partner. As so, with Michael Nyman’s haunting score swelling around him and a still-buzzing handset in his grasp, Terrio stood up, shuffled apologetically along a row of seats, and walked out of the cinema, leaving Campion’s Oscar darling behind.

“J.J. is constantly brimming with ideas and, in the very best way, he’s very impatient about them! So we just started getting into it then and there. I got on a plane to LA the next day.”

Less than a week earlier, however, Episode IX’s future hadn’t looked nearly as certain. In development fo the past two years under the auspices of Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the film had abruptly flown off the rails on 5 September, when it was announced that Trevorrow was off the project. Rumours of script disagreements circled, but regardless of the reason, Lucasfilm had a serious problem: arguably the most important film in Star Wars’ history suddenly had no director, no story and a release date drawing nearer by the day. So Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy sent up a flare to the one man she knew without any doubt could safely take Star Wars over the finish line.

“Getting involved in IX came as a bit of a shock,” recalls J.J. Abrams. “I had completed VII, Rian [Johnson] was doing VIII, and I was not meant to do IX at all. But the opportunity to not just finish the trilogy, but to finish the story that George began -  this trilogy of trilogies - was too compelling and too tempting to reject.”

After delivering The Force Awakens, then the third-biggest movie in history, Abrams had taken a bow and walked away, returning to Bad Robot and a pair of TV pilots he’d been meaning to write. It was here, in his self-imposed exile, that Kennedy sought him out. Sure, it was an office just over a mile from Santa Monica pier rather than the grassy bluffs of Ahch-To, and Kennedy hadn’t so much climbed 500 hand-carved steps as punched ten digits into her phone, but like a vision of Episode VII’s final moments, there she was. Unexpected. Holding out something Abrams had thought lost and daring him to take it back.

“It’s exponentially the most daunting thing I’ve ever been involved with,” Abrams admits, eyebrows raised as if he still can’t quite believer the magnitude of the task. “But it was more exciting than it was anything.”

The director sits across from us in his suite at Beverly Hills’ Montage hotel, not far from where we last met, six years previously, when he’d just started work on a treatment for what would eventually become The Force Awakens. Abrams’ return as Star Wars’ Supreme Commander was announced just one day after Trevorrow’s departure, allaying the fears of both fans and shareholders alike: voices just a day before crying out in terror, now suddenly silenced. But with only two years to end a saga that had been four decades in the telling, it was clear from the outset he was going to need some help. And so he composed a text (then several more) and sent them flying towards a movie theatre 3,000 miles away, where the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Argo was attempting to watch a film.

“I’ve admired Chris Terrio’s writing for a long time. I called on him because I knew it would be a challenge. But I didn’t know it would be quite as challenging as it was.”

In a time when vast, interconnected stories have become commonplace, and breadcrumbs to the payoffs in Avenger’s Endgame can be traced back ten or even 20 films, it’s hard to believe that the Star Wars sequel trilogy didn’t have its course firmly locked in before Episode VII ever left the spaceport. But, just as Abrams himself left neither chart nor compass for Rian Johnson to navigate with, so he began work on The Rise Of Skywalker with nothing to guide him but his wits. It is, by Abrams’ own admission, his preferred method of working. An instinctive storyteller by nature, his impulse is to do what feels right in the moment, rather than slavishly adhere to some pre-ordained master plan. Very appropriately for a franchise so rooted in this exact philosophy, Abrams’ inclination has always been, as Alec Guinness once sagely advised, to stretch out with his feelings.

“You can’t plan everything in advance - which my ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ poster proves,” he says. “You have a better idea and then you implement it. When I was working on VII, I’d be lying if I said I knew everything that was gonna happen in VIII and IX. I had some ideas, but we had a release date that required us to work on VII!”

So Abrams and Terrio started from scratch. They spitballed ideas during the day, swapped rapid-fire-texts at night and, piece-by-piece set about exploring the fundamental questions this final movie had to address. Not least of all the aftermath of The Last Jedi, in which Rian Johnson, continuing Abrams’ story, had made some rather significant changes.

THERE’S A WELL-WORN dramatic principle most commonly ascribed to Anton Chekhov that insists if you see a gun in the first act of the play, it must go off by act three or you’re simply wasting the audience’s time. The same, it appears, is true of dark side degenerates as, despite being sidelined in The Last Jedi, Chekhov’s Knights Of Ren will finally go off in The Rise Of Skywalker.

The Knights - from which Kylo draws the latter part of his name - are a nightmarish squad of enforcers who do the bidding of the former Ben Solo. A rag-tag band of thugs and killers decked in black just like their leader, though far more battleworn. Armoured in disparate styles - one sports a cowl, one an angry welder’s mask, another a checkered draughtboard faceplate - they pack a similarly eclectic arsenal, from multi-barrelled assault cannon to oversized, anime-style sword poleaxe and a wicked-looking mace.

Referenced portentously in The Force Awakens and glimpsed so very briefly during Rey’s vision on Takodana, the Knights and their role in Kylo’s fall from grace were set up as a major piece of the Star Wars puzzle. That is until Johnson, who clearly didn’t share Abrams’ interest, dropped the idea, sweeping them briskly under the rug next to the mystery of Rey’s parentage and the bisected corpse of Supreme Leader Snoke. “Let the past die,” instructed Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. “Kill it, if you have to.” A sentiment, one could argue, that cut to the very heart of Johnson’s film.

“We thought about that line a lot,” says Terrio. “Rian did something that any good second act would do, which is create the antithesis. In The Force Awakens Luke Skywalker is a myth Rey’s obsessed with and there’s a warm embrace of the past. What Rian suggested is the past is a mixed bag and you can’t rely upon it to tell you where to go in the future. What we’re doing with Episode IX is trying to create a synthesis between those two points of view.”

And so, just as the investigation into Rey’s lineage looks set to be reopened, so too are the Knights back with a vengeance (not to mention Abrams talisman Greg Grunberg as pilot Snap Wexley). With Johnson’s tenure over, we’re playing in Abrams’ yard once more, although our suggestion that he might somehow be trying to course-correct is given short shrift.

“I never found myself trying to repair anything,” Abrams interjects. “If I had done VIII, I would have done things differently, just as Rian would have done things differently if he had done VII. But having worked on television series, I was accustomed to creating stories and characters that then were run by other people. If you’re willing to walk away from the thing that you created and you believe it’s in trustworthy hands, you have to accept that some of the decisions being made are not gonna be the same that you would make. And if you come back into it, you have to honour what’s been done.”

And what has been done is significant. Luke Skywalker is dead, passing on his knowledge and the mantle of last Jedi to Rey; The Resistance has been all but wiped out; Snoke is gone; and Kylo Ren - now Supreme Leader Ren - is more broken than ever, riven by conflict through the unlikely bond he forged with Rey. Bold and decisive, Johnson’s decisions changed the board entirely, his sharp turns and gear shifts delighting some while earning the ire of others.

“Any time you are telling a story that people deeply care about, there is bound to be discussion and debate,” says Kathleen Kennedy. “That is something that has always been fundamental to the fabric of Star Wars.”

For Abrams and Terrio, meanwhile, the new landscape also brought with it new possibilities.

“Some of the most interesting scenes in The Last Jedi are the conversations between Rey and Ren,” says Terrio. “We’ve tried to pick up that complicated relationship that really has been present ever since the interrogation in Episode VII. When Ren takes off his mask, there’s a nakedness about him with Rey that he doesn’t express to anyone else. Rian developed that in fascinating ways and we’ve been able to develop it even further.”

Ren, left pointedly bare-faced by Johnson throughout VIII, now hides his face once more. It’s a development that, while not a rebuke to The Last Jedi, demonstrates the difference touchstones that resonate with each director. Although, Abrams expands, reuniting Kylo with his mask is about more than just sinister aesthetics.

“Having him be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing. Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself. As fractured as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There’s something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn’t ultimately hide him and his behaviour is revealed.”

Ren’s temptation by the light, like Rey’s temptation by the dark, forms the spine of a moral ambiguity that Johnson built on in VIII and very much carries over to IX, bringing with it a sense that George Lucas’ more clearly defined duality might be a relic of a simpler time. Neither light nor dark, The Rise Of Skywalker and its characters exist more within what could be considered the grey side of the Force - something underscored by the tantalizing footage of ‘Darth Rey’ (complete with cowl, hangover pallor and double-bladed red lightsaber) that closed Abrams’ D23 Expo footage presentation in Anaheim in August.

“I’d rather let that one lie,” he deflects, when pressed on the subject. “But I will say that the movie has a number of things that you wouldn’t expect to have happen and that you wouldn’t expect certain characters to do. There are surprises along the way.” He smiles, mischievously. “And that’s one of them.”

THE VALLEY OF The Moon in Southern Jordan has seen its share of action. Cut into the red sandstone cliffs near Aqaba, the striking lowlands known in Arabic as Wadi Rum have been visited by both real and fictional Lawrences of Arabia, stood in for the face of Mars, been the birth place of the Alien in Prometheus, and will next year double as the eponymous desert planet in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. It’s no stranger to stormtroopers, either, having played host to the ill-fated Jedha outpost in Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One. Today, though, Wadi Rum is a different part of the galaxy entirely, standing in for Pasaana: a new locale in the canon, and home to the bedouin-like Aki-Aki: a nomadic race of walrus-like aliens with twin tentacles dangling from their maws in place of tusks.

Pasaana, along with the nippier climes of snow planet Kijimi, is one of several new worlds visited by The Rise Of Skywalker. But most importantly, it’s a place where the heroes we’ve become acquainted with over the past two films will come together at last.

“The heart of Star Wars for me is the group of unlikely bedfellows on a breakneck adventure,” says Abrams. “And in Rise Of Skywalker it’s the biggest and most dastardly threat the galaxy has seen. The opportunity here was to have this group that has now become a surrogate family have to deal with this massive horror: the war to end all wars. Not just on the outside, but on the inside, which is to say it’s meant to be as much of a challenge personally as it is physically.”

Abrams’ war of wars has been well equipped: “The First Order is stacked with new brass in the form of Richard E. Grant’s Allegiant General Pryde, neo-fascist ranks swollen by triangular-winged TIE Daggers and blood-red garrisons of newly commissioned Sith troopers, their angular crimson armor giving a fresh twist on the faceless squaddies - much to Hasbro’s delight. The Resistance, too, will see its share of reinforcements, including Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian - reprising the role after 36 years. Even General Leia Organa will return: the late Carrie Fisher making an appearance thanks to the discovery of unused footage that somehow fit the narrative perfectly.

The action itself has been teased in the barest of glimpses: Rey and Kylo duelling on the wreckage of a Death Star; Rebel X-Wings and blockade runners fleeing destruction; a sky bristling with Imperial Star Destroyers, their numbers great enough to block out the stars.

The presence of Old Empire firepower, easily overlooked, points to The Rise Of Skywalker’s biggest curveball to date. Back in April, when Abrams showed the first trailer at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago the real of the film’s title was almost eclipsed by the familiar cackle of the original Emperor echoing over those final frames. The Ian McDiarmid himself walked out to demand, in full Palpatine rasp, that the projector “roll it again”, all present lost their shit in unison. How could this be? Is he a clone? A Force projection? Did he survive that fateful plummet down the Death Star shaft? Could Palpatine have been telling Anakin the truth when he spoke of Darth Plagueis The Wise’s cure for death? Irrespective of the fine print, Star Wars’ biggest of bad is officially back in business.

“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” Abrams concedes. “But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

The sheer scale of the task he’s undertaken cannot be overstated. Star Wars has been, by far, the most enduring and influential story of the modern era. Having to put the capstone on a saga that has shaped both childhoods and adult lives for several generations is something neither Abrams, nor producer Kathleen Kennedy, looking ahead to what the future holds for Star Wars, take at all lightly.

“We don’t have a crystal ball” says Kennedy. “We tried to look at Solo and see if we could do two movies a year, and we found, ‘Hmm, that’s not going to work.’ So we backed off of that a little. But that doesn’t mean we don’t think about lots of different stories. That’s the exciting thing about this universe.

“It’s been an honour to inherit and continue this iconic saga that has touched audiences for so many years, and we feel the weight of that every time we set out to tell these stories.”

The wider universe will, of course, live on. Whether through The Mandalorian on TV, or all-new movie sagas currently in development by Johnson and Game Of Thrones’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. But for the core story, what for so many people is Star Wars, the final destination is now in sight.

“I’ve always loved the start of something,” says Abrams, “because of what it promises. Endings are hard. A great ending not only needs to honour everything that’s come before but, whether it’s a novel, a series or a film, you want to have it feel like it could end no other way.”

And so it comes back to feeling. In a world of meticulously planned franchises and strategic, multi-phased rollouts, Star Wars, at its core, has always trusted in The Force. Abrams had not expected to be here, had not expected to finish this tale. But now, as he places the final pieces of the puzzle, he feels like it was always meant to be. There’s a symmetry to him being the one to deliver The Rise Of Skywalker, just as there is in the fact that, faced with this near insurmountable challenge, his impulse was not to assemble story groups or worry about the top-down view, but to switch off his targeting computer, let go his conscious self and act on instinct.

“This story is alive, and you have to listen to it,” he says. “When you land on something that give you the chills, that’s the only way you know if it feels right. You can deconstruct it all you want and try and make sense of how you found it, but somehow it finds you.”

He pauses, reflecting for a moment. “I don’t know how to explain it. Just the way I can’t quite explain how we had this footage of Carrie that we’re using. You can say, ‘Oh well, it’s just luck, it just happened to be,’ but i feels like something else. And I neither can nor want to explain any of it.”

Just as every saga has a beginning, so too will this one find its end. Abrams and Terrio have taken Lucas’ vision to its conclusion, and the story that began on 25 May 1977 will end on 19 December 2019.

“It’s been a pretty crazy ride,” reflects Terrio. “When I was a kid watching Return  Of The Jedi on loop, I felt like I was the only person Yoda was speaking to. And then there I was all these years later, sitting in a tent in Jordan doing this film. You have this highly personal relationship to Star Wars, and then, suddenly, you find yourself right in the middle of it. That feeling is sort of indescribable.”

It’s one that, at the very least, is almost certainly worth having a movie interrupted for. 

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER IS IN CINEMAS FROM DECEMBER

###

Il materiale di origine: Empire Magazine via Imgur

[lokimostly]

Home from War (Ch.1/8)

James Conrad x Reader Word Count: 2,565 Warnings: so much angst (sorry not sorry) Fic Summary: One year after you lost the love of your life, a last-minute decision changes everything you thought you knew. Now only one question remains: how to make it out alive, and return home from war? 

If you haven’t read the prequel series, go HERE to read Rainy Days! Super important, you don’t want to miss it. 

Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight (Epilogue)

A/N: Tag list is open! Thanks for the overwhelming support for Rainy Days and this new series! I love you all so much and I hope you like this one. Also, since his fic follows the plot of the movie, I apologize in advance for any discrepancies between my writing style and the script itself. I’ve taken most of the dialogue verbatim. I’ll try to make all of the extra characters fit into the story as smoothly as possible (so we can focus on the romance, lol). Enjoy! <3

Captain James Conrad stood in the middle of the road, uniformed soldiers passing him by. The wind whipped at his clothes, pulling them from him, as he stood frozen and utterly hopeless.

Where had you gone?

His mind raced and his blue eyes darted around, looking for some sign of you, but there was nothing to be found. All he could feel were the heartstrings in his chest splitting, the unbidden tears in his eyes blurring his vision, the overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

He fell to his knees, and looked up to the sky, where the yellow clouds had turned dark and drowned out the sun.

It began to rain.

One Year Later

Rain came down from the night sky in droves as the two scientists, Randa and Brooks, made their away across the busy Saigon street, holding their black umbrellas upright. As usual, they were caught up in argumentative conversation, shouting above the noise.

“Why do we need a tracker? And why SAS?”

“Former SAS,” Randa, the older, bearded man, corrected. “No allegiance to anyone. And he rescued twelve downed pilots from Da Nang in ‘72!”

Brooks’s reply was lost in the commotion of traffic and the onslaught of rain coming down on their umbrellas. As the two of them ducked into the corner establishment, folding up their umbrellas, Brooks sighed noisily and pushed his glasses up.

“Okay, fine. So how much do we tell him?”

“Just enough to get him to say yes,” Randa replied.

The bar was bathed in red and blue neon light. It lit up the silhouettes of everyone inside, revealing the room to be overcrowded and dusty. The air was thick with the smell of perfume and alcohol. Slow music played from some hidden room, giving the entire bar a mellow, diluted atmosphere.

The two men made their way to the bar and stopped short at the sight of the man they were looking for: James Conrad.

The former captain was a shell of his previously clean-cut self. Wearing a blue button-up shirt rolled up to his elbows and unbuttoned at the neck, Conrad’s sharp features were diluted by an unshaven beard, unstyled hair, and a clouded veil over his blue-green eyes. Apart from the hardness of his physique, the rest of him was in obvious disrepair, for reasons Randa and Brooks could only guess.

Conrad shot the eight ball deftly into the center hole and reached for the pile of money on the pool table. As he did so, someone grabbed his wrist and objected, scolding him in Vietnamese.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Conrad stared at him, deadly and unblinking, before he snapped the pole upwards and hit the man in the face. Intuitively, he jabbed the pole backwards and slammed it into the body of another man with an open switchblade in his hand. The man threw a cue ball– he dodged. He threw another, and this time, he deflected it back into his face, knocking him to the ground.

Randa raised an eyebrow and turned to Brooks, giving him a look that screamed I told you so.

“Now there’s a man worth talking to.”

~

“...So we need someone like you, with unprecedented experience in navigating uncharted jungle terrain, to lead us on this expedition,” Brooks finished, watching Conrad nervously from across the table. Bathed in neon light, Conrad’s face was cold, calculating, and entirely unreadable.

Randa scoffed lightly. “We’re just scholars and scientists. We need someone with experience. In case things go sideways.” He held up his shot glass and paused, giving it a thoughtful look before his eyes flickered up to the rugged, bearded man sitting across the table.

“Men go to war in search of something, Mr. Conrad,” He pointed out. “If you’d found it, you’d be home by now.”

~

“Attention all soldiers and base personnel, final troop withdrawal will commence at 0600,” the loudspeakers above your head announced as you walked through the flight bay of the U.S. army’s Da Nang air base– your home for the past eleven months.  

You cupped your hands around your mouth. “Hey, Slivko, do you have my Steinbeck?” You shouted, striding over to where the small group of soldiers were lounging on folding chairs, playing cards on top of ammo crates. You came within earshot of them just as Mills finished a joke, and laughter erupted from the men. You couldn’t help but smile, too– they were a funny group, and unlike your past experiences with previous squads, these soldiers actually felt like family.

Slivko looked up at you, laughing, and muttered “oh, shit,” reaching in his back pocket for the dog-eared paperback. He tossed it to you. “Sorry!” He called apologetically, waving as you walked past.

You grinned and shook your head, taking the book with you as you headed back to your quarters: a small, plain room with a single bunk, your half-packed duffle bag sitting open on the bed.

You sighed, tossing it onto the pile of books and other miscellaneous items, and took a moment to glance out the window. Squads of men ran past in drills. Planes and helicopters moved in and out on the runway like clockwork.

You were going to miss it.

Da Nang was a stark contrast to the jungle camps where you’d spent most of your deployment, but the change was a welcome one. The resources and free time that the air base provided had allowed you to finish up your degree: you were a bona fide Field Nurse now, and finally used to the title.

The rest of your life, however, wasn’t lining up so nicely.

News of your parents’ fatal car crash reached you only days after you lost the man you loved. The two combined were enough heartbreak to send you spiraling. Suddenly, war became the only constant, dependable thing in your life.

You snapped out of your trance and shook your head, inhaling deeply. You still had things to pack.

Your fingers worked nimbly to stack your books in orderly fashion, next to folded civilian clothes. 

When was the last time I’ve worn jeans? You wondered amusedly, setting your other personal effects inside, reaching for the final items.

Your hands wrapped around something small– silver metal, cold and familiar.

“Nurse L/N,” Said a voice behind you.

You whirled around and snapped to, holding your hands at your sides and closing your fist around the item in your hand. “Sir?”

In the doorway stood Colonel Packard– an imposing, stern-faced man who’d seen too much war for his own good. Despite this, he was kind enough to you, and you’d been underneath his command during your time here.

The colonel glanced at your room, taking in the stages of preparation to leave laid out.

“Your orders for home have been processed, I see.”

“Yes, sir,” you nodded.

The Colonel leaned against the doorway and eyed you with scrutiny. “Any plans for when you get back to the world, L/N?”

You blinked. This was the question you’d been avoiding. “No, sir,” you admitted. “I don’t.”

“How do you feel about one last Op?” He asked.

You frowned, not understanding. “Sir?”

“My boys and I have been called in. It’s just a flight escort for some organization called Landsat.” He tapped his fingers on the doorway. “If it’s what you want, go home. But if not …” he trailed off, raised his eyebrows, and pushed himself off the wall. “Let me know. We could always use you.”

You saluted one more time before he left, the sound of his boots fading down the hallway.

You fingered the cold, metal square in your hand, looking down as you opened up your palm and flipping it over to read the letters. R.A.F.

Captain Conrad’s lighter.

A familiar pang in your chest made your eyes teary and you angrily wiped them away. An entire year ago, and you were still crying over it?

Pathetic, you thought miserably. He’s probably been dead for a year.

You inhaled deeply to calm your nerves and turned back to your bed, staring at the half-packed duffle bag lying open on your bed, like an open-ended sentence.

“What do I have to go home to, anyways?” You sighed aloud. You shoved the lighter back in your pocket.

One last Op, you thought, Packard’s words echoing in your mind as you set to packing – but for a different purpose.

~

The docks of Bangkok were damp from rain and crowded by both cargo and the people carrying it. Your duffle bag was slung over your shoulder as you walked with the troops. Slivko and Mills were less enthusiastic than usual, and you knew from their grumbling that they were upset at being deployed a day away from going home.

Needless to say, you didn’t share the same sentiment. There was nothing for you to miss that you could find at the end of a return journey. Right now, your job was everything you knew, and you weren’t about to leave it for the unknown.

You nodded to Colonel Packard, who was standing at the base of the gangplank, and he gave you a barely-discernible smile. He’d already expressed that he was glad you were coming. 

 It’s nice to be wanted, you thought, heading up the plank and onto the freight carrier Athena.

Stepping onto the ship gave you immediate nostalgia. The smell of seawater and rusted ship metal reminded you of your deployment to Vietnam from the states, and the weeks you spent at sea. You felt like you’d been so much younger then, even though it was a mere few years ago. 

Tossing your duffle bag onto the bunk without a second thought, you brushed your hands over your camo pants and headed down the narrow hallway towards the common rooms of the ship, where debriefing would take place in a few short minutes.

You yawned. The trip to Bangkok had taken a full day and then some– hopefully you wouldn’t fall asleep halfway through.

The room was decently sized and filled with folding chairs, where men in blue, collared shirts sat on one side and soldiers sat on the other. You took your place in the sea of green camo, finding a seat next to Mills.

You yawned again when you sat down and shook your head, trying to blink away the tiredness. He nudged you with his elbow. “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me, L/N. I don’t want your drool on my shoulder.”

You chuckled and nudged him back. “You can’t make me,” you threatened playfully, ignoring his comically hurt expression as the lights dimmed and the projector in the middle of the room whirred.

A dark, curly-haired man named Victor Nieves introduced himself as the chief LandSat field supervisor. The presentation began.

Almost as soon as he started talking, your eyes started to droop, and you felt yourself falling asleep despite your best efforts. You tried bouncing your knee, picking a spot on the floor to focus on, breathing deep through your nose, but nothing stuck. You swallowed and shook your head, looking up stubbornly at the bright projections of maps and geographical summaries. Your eyelids began to close again.

“...we’ll then land and make base camp for ground excursions led by Mr. Conrad–”

You jerked awake so fast that your chair skidded against the floor. The sudden, jarring noise made the LandSat supervisor pause before continuing his speech. He cleared his throat. “As I was saying…”

In another situation you would have been embarrassed, even mortified, but you were too startled even for that. With sudden and desperate urgency your head turned to look around the room, searching every face, anxiety growing in the pit of your stomach.

“What the hell, L/N?” Mills hissed at you, but you weren’t listening.

You only had eyes for Conrad.

You finally found him. Standing against the wall, his arms crossed over his broad chest, listening intently to the LandSat Field Supervisor with no sign that he knew you were there.

You stared at Conrad, mouth agape. You inhaled shakily and took a moment to really look– after all, you hadn’t seen him in a year.

He was leaner. Harder. Even more handsome than you remembered. But when he turned his head as he leaned against the wall, you could see an unfamiliar shadow in his eyes– one that hadn’t been there before. It cast a darkness over his countenance.

You watched his blue-green irises flicker over the projector screen, listening to Nieves talk. He sighed, and his gaze began to wander, and your heart rose in your throat.

He looked at you, and the world froze.

It was like time decided to take a day off. Suddenly you couldn’t remember the last time you’d drawn a breath, and the beat of your own heart was unfamiliar to you. Every atom in your body felt torn apart, every hair raised, your eyes sparkling with tears as you met the gaze of the man you loved– the man you lost.

In the painfully slow tick of time you saw his breath catch in the way that his chest shuddered, how the blood drained from his handsome face.

You wanted him to move to you, to make some sign. Damn the debriefing and the rows of soldiers and scientists between you– for all you cared, you and Conrad were the only two people in the vast expanse of the universe.

But he didn’t.

He looked away.

Time returned to its regular pace and suddenly you came back to your senses, just in time to hear the Field Supervisor finish the debriefing and dismiss you.

Without a word you shot out of your chair and ran back down the corridor that led to your bunk. It was all you could think to do– you shut the door behind you, and fell with your back against the metal as you slid down to sit on the floor.

And you cried.

He looked away, you thought, replaying the momentary interaction over and over in your head. He saw me, and he looked away.

A sudden, dreadful thought occurred to you, and you looked up at the wall. You whispered your fear to the empty room, voice thick with emotion.

“Did he forget about me?”

~

Conrad watched you bolt as soon as the meeting was dismissed. You were gone almost before anyone else was was out of their seats, lost in the crowd of military uniforms.

He sighed, reaching up and putting his hand on his chest. His heart was pounding out of his shirt.

It was really you, he thought, clenching his jaw. After all this time. All my searching.

As the room gradually emptied, he stood alone with his thoughts, staring at the empty seat where you had been so close.

He felt like someone had punched him in the gut and stolen the breath from his lungs. The urge to follow you was overpowering, but he stilled himself. After all, he didn’t know exactly where you’d gone. And there was another thing to consider– that you’d run from him, like you’d seen a ghost.

Men go to war in search of something, Mr. Conrad, Randa’s words echoed in his mind. Conrad tightened his jaw and sighed, speaking quietly to the empty room.

“If I’d found it, I’d be home by now.”

- - -

A/N: thanks so much for reading! Kicking things off with a bang and a ton of angst. There are two tag lists: people who asked to be tagged, and people who I assumed wanted to be based on their comments. If you’re on the second list and do not want to be tagged, just let me know and I’ll take you off. :) 

Tag List: @tarynkauai, @jessiejunebug, @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi, @fire-in-her-veinz, @daylight-swiftt 

Assumed Tag List: @damalseer, @un-consider-it, @uinen-ulmiel, @kinghiddlestonanddixon