#neutral feelings on that so far except that it really lends itself to my general thought of

[vvelegrin]

You know, one thing about pathologic 2 is that it straight up punishes you. And then mark immortell shows up and is like, yeah we are punishing you. We are making the game harder because you messed up. Sorry. And then the game gets harder because, yeah, it is punishing you. Yeah, just like they said.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #472

Top Ten Suggestions for Future Star Wars Games

Concluding an accidental trilogy of Top Ten lists that feature the word “Star”, here we journey back to a galaxy far, far away. This is also one of those lists that’s been bubbling under for quite a while, since the announcement (feels like ages ago now) that Disney have shopped the Star Wars licence around to a number of developers, and we’ll get future games from companies other than EA. But really it goes back even further, because for me Star Wars and gaming are inexorably linked. I associate my teenage PC gaming phase very closely with Star Wars, because it occurred in the mid-nineties, when Star Wars games were truly ascendent. In a run that I would argue stretched from the release of X-Wing in 1993, right through to Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, it felt like just about every genre was getting a nod from the House of Skywalker, and generally speaking the games were excellent. This time also saw the resurgence of Star Wars as a multimedia powerhouse, with the films getting reissued on video (and in Widescreen!) before the 1997 release of the Special Editions, the subsequent DVD releases, and then in 1999, the beginnings of the Prequel Trilogy with The Phantom Menace. You could argue that that’s when the wheels fell off, because even with the “Han Shot First” controversy and mixed reaction to some of the new effects shots, the late-nineties releases had been warmly received, Star Wars felt cool and exciting all the time, and anticipation was building to fever pitch at the thought of new movies. Amidst the Jar Jar hatred there was, I think, a bit more antipathy towards stories set in the Clone Wars, and although there were still some very good games being released (the first LEGO Star Wars came out in 2005!), the spark of the Golden Age was mostly absent.

Could we be entering a new Golden Age, or at least a Silver Age? Maybe; hopefully! I really, really enjoyed Jedi: Fallen Order and Squadrons, even though neither are perfect and both have plenty of rough edges. Now that the Skywalker Saga is out of the way and the franchise as a whole is spreading out into new areas (check out the number of Disney+ shows on the way), perhaps we’ll see all different facets of the galaxy explored in games too. And that’s what this list is: ten possible games, set in the Star Wars universe, that I think would be cool.

For the most part I’m not trying to invent a whole game; rather, it’s “Star Wars in this genre” or “Star Wars with this hook”. There’s probably an exception or two here and there, but you’ll get the drift. Some of these have been in my mental wishlist for years, from right back to when I first played X-Wing on my mate’s Mac, or when I installed a friend’s copy of Dark Forces from floppy disk (we, er, did that in those days). One of the best things about Star Wars is that it contains multitudes; George Lucas really did create a whole galaxy full of weird side characters, intriguing backstory, and funky-looking locations (aided and abetted, of course, by a bevy of talented collaborators). What corner of the universe couldn’t support a game of some kind?

So here’s to the future, to the newly-rechristened Lucasfilm Games, and to ten titles that could all benefit from beginning with those classic blue words on a black background.

Jedi Padawan RPG: I’ve wanted a game like this for about twenty years: a third-person action-RPG where you play a Padawan. You create your character and build your lightsaber, and then follow your master on missions around the Republic, learning the ways of the Force and developing your character. In a way, Fallen Order has adopted some of these ideas; the fact you only use a lightsaber and Force powers, for instance. But in my mind this is more similar to something like the first Fable, or maybe Mass Effect, where you’d have a hub to return to (the Jedi Temple) and then go off on missions that you could choose. All the while there’d be a plot bubbling up, and an arc to follow, and all sorts of quasi-open-world Jedi shenanigans. It’d be cool if they could make lightsabers feel like the really dangerous one-hit-kill weapons they are in the films, or if you could use them to, y’know, open doors and stuff. Maybe this could be set in the “High Republic” era we’re starting to explore.

Deus Ex-style first-person RPG: I suppose this one could be reductively called “Cyberpunk on Coruscant”, but the idea is you’d play someone – not a Jedi, in my mind – going on quests or solving some kind of mystery, shooting people in first person whilst also upgrading your body and abilities in typical RPG style. I wouldn’t want it to be too dark; I don’t like it when people try to make Star Wars “edgy”. But that Mandalorian or Rogue One tone of seriousness interspersed with Star Wars’ typical melodrama and weirdness would be good. I see your character as a small-time crook or maybe a minor mercenary who by circumstance is forced to take missions for either the Rebels or the Empire (or maybe First Order and Resistance); perhaps mirroring Poe Dameron’s journey from spice smuggler to X-Wing superstar. It’d be cool if there was Fallout-style hit-modelling on characters, and if your arm or whatever got damaged, you could have it replaced with a robot one.

Star Wars meets Elite: I even have a title for this one: “Scoundrel”. Basically, like I say, it’s Elite but in the Star Wars universe; you have a ship, you fly from planet to planet, you trade goods or offer passage, you spend your money on upgrading your ship or buying a new one. You’re Han Solo, basically; hence “Scoundrel”. In my mind it’s set at the dawn of the Rebellion, so you can choose where your allegiances – and your ethics – lie. Take on official Imperial assignments? Help their war effort? Stay neutral but legal? Stay out of the politics, but, y’know, smuggle a little bit? Run a bit of spice? Or do you go all-in and work for the Rebellion – even take part in military action? Maybe it could even run all the way up to Return of the Jedi and give you the chance to fight in the Battle of Endor! C’mon, this one has “hit” written all over it.

Clone Troopers turn-based “Tactics” game: by “Tactics” I mean like X-COM or, well, Gears Tactics; turn-based team combat games. I think of all the groups of military characters most suited to this style, it would be the Clone Troopers; they’re a well-organised military force that functions as part of a team. We know there are loads of types of Troopers, with different uniforms for different jobs, so there’s lots of room for customising your team, as well as experimenting with different classes. Plus if they die there’s more to come, they’re just in vats! Get Temuera Morrison to voice them all for added authenticity.

A point-and-click adventure: this was the first ever idea I had for a Star Wars game, because at the time I was really, really into adventures. This could be anything; I’m not too fussed on the plot. Some kind of mystery obviously lends itself to the format. Whether you play as the same character all the way through or switch protagonists (a common genre trope), I don’t mind. But I want it to be a fairly straightforward, old-fashioned point-and-click game, with no action or QTEs. Make it look like Thimbleweed Park, make it look like Clone Wars or Rebels, make it look as real as possible, it’s all fine; just give me a slow-burn narrative adventure story in the Star Wars universe please.

Lemmings, but with porgs: yeah, there’s nothing more to add to this. Maybe you play one of the Space Nuns, or even Chewbacca, and you have to help out all these crazy porgs? They’re just wandering around, getting into mischief, chewing on the Falcon or playing with a lightsaber, and they’ll kill themselves if you don’t help. That’s it. That’s the game. Lemmings, but with porgs.

Rebel base construction/management game: my template here would be stuff like Evil Genius or Two Point Hospital: real-time games where you build different rooms or services in a given play space. So, the Rebels are constantly darting all over the galaxy, setting up shop temporarily and then evacuating when the Empire comes a-calling; here, you have to kit out the different bases, often to service different aims (a recon base, an aerial support base, a training centre, etc), and in different planetary conditions (think Hoth, Yavin, or Crait). Obviously there are essentials: communication, power, accommodation. Then you can build starship docks, weapons arrays, bacta tanks, astromech services, even Jedi training rooms. Instead of attracting “customers” the idea is to be recruiting new Rebels, so the bigger and better your base, the more troops you have. Maybe there can even be some kind of meta-game where the progress of the war is smoother if your bases are better? But there’d be virtually no combat, apart from maybe shooting probe droids or scaring away wampas. Anyway, I think it sounds cool.

Rebel Commandos cover-shooter: I guess this could also be a Clone Trooper game, but we’ve already had a Clone FPS, and I just invented Clone Tactics up the page a bit, so let’s spread the love. It’s basically Gears of War but with the Rebel Alliance. Think about the Battle of Endor or the Battle of Scarif; teams of well-trained and battle-hardened troopers up against superior odds but still kickin’ ass. Unlike the rent-a-clone nature of the Tactics game, this would be more story-driven, with a small team (four, maybe, as it’s a good number for co-op) who have to infiltrate and/or assault heavily-fortified enemy positions. I think this could be good with a nice narrative behind it, fleshing out the Star Wars universe, and maybe offering a bit of those Rogue One-style shades of grey.

Fallout Shelter-style Jawa Sandcrawler management game: utini! Jawas are great aren’t they? Whether it’s electrocuting Artoo, cheering at podracers, or just eating the shit out of a great big egg, everyone loves a good Jawa. How can you make a game about Jawas? Well, what about if you’re this tribe or group or whatever of Jawas, and you’ve got your own knackered sandcrawler. And as part of the game you have to develop it, tart it up a bit, recruit new bands of Jawas, and then, y’know, rob droids and flog ‘em. Like Fallout Shelter, you have to build and maintain different rooms in the sandcrawler to grow your people and earn more cash from droids, but you’re constrained a little by size. The sandcrawler can’t be expanded too much, and although you could upgrade to bigger ones, you have to make strategic decisions about where to allocate precious space. I see this as being quite low-fi and stylised (bring back Yoda Stories!), and working as a kind of chilled-out time-wasting game on Switch or something.

Homeworld, but in the Clone Wars: and we’re back to the Clone Wars again! But here, we kind of have to, as it’s the only war in the Star Wars wars that features two huge and evenly-matched armadas (Rebels vs Empire and Resistance vs First Order are both very much “scrappy underdogs up against vast organised militaries”). Playing as the Republic or the Separatists, you have to maintain huge fleets of capital ships, support craft, fighters and bombers, and go on missions to attack, defend, or escort. It’s probably the best way to recreate the feeling of that absolutely vast battles we see in the opening minutes of Revenge of the Sith. Maybe an add-on could even give us ground battles too, recreating scenes such as the Battle of Geonosis. Anyway, sounds cool don’t you think?

Incidentally – and speaking of the Star Wars of it all – this is the first week that we’re not watching a War for our family movie night. We’ve done ‘em all! All the episodes of the Skywalker Saga, the two live-action spin-off movies, and even (well, me an’ the eldest) the animated Clone Wars movie. I might do another Top Ten ranking them, based on the kids’ opinions; that’d be interesting. Although – of course – we’ve only got a couple of weeks to wait until the two Ewok movies hit Disney+. What a time to be alive!

Now, the Ewoks – there’s a good idea for a game there…

[retiredtayo]

Why did you decide to leave the church??

Short(ish) answer: after 8 years (all through high school, 2 years of college and a mission) of studying the scriptures and praying and begging god for confirmation of the truthfulness of the church I decided to take the silence as an answer. I’ve since come to learn for myself that the church isn’t true. The moment I decided to leave, I felt something exactly like what I’ve called the spirit, except far stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before.

Leaving is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s negatively impacted my relationship with my family. It has straight up destroyed many friendships. I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t really believe it was right for me.

Long answer:

The version of Mormonism I’ve been living and loving for years is a bizarre brand of liberal mormomism where service was the most important thing you could ever do, and all of the controversial things about the church were the errors of men, not actually of god because I cannot ever believe in a god that makes some of the decisions the church has made that hurt people.

Then I realized that’s standard Christianity (minus the trinity) not Mormonism.

General authorities rarely talk about actual service, Just temple work. Since it’s taught that all the left over temple work will be done during the millennium, I refuse to put that as a higher priority than helping people who need my help now and may not be around to be helped later. My ancestors can wait a little longer. People who are starving to death or who are in other harmful situations can’t.

The church is a multi billion dollar organization and yet very little of that goes into humanitarian efforts. You have to jump through hoops to get financial assistance, and even the poorest members who cannot afford to feed their children as it is have to pay tithing. The church refuses to do background checks or spend money on training bishops and primary workers to project against sexual abuse, but will spend thousands of dollars paying people off so they don’t talk about the abuse that happened. Missionaries can’t ever spend mission funds on something deemed non-essential, and are discouraged from seeking medical treatment and all but forbidden from seeking proper mental health care (beyond 3 visits with a mission therapist who rarely provides real mental health care, mostly tells you to read your scriptures more) BUT mission presidents have all expenses paid for including non essentials like presents for their family’s birthdays etc and pay no tithing on that income. Btw this is what tithing used to be-after all your expenses, what was left you paid tithing on. So if you’re living pay check to pay check you didn’t pay tithing.

The church refuses to ever apologize for mistakes they have made and has gone out of its way to leave clear that the November 2015 policy was revelation from god. Sounds fake but ok.

The church has seriously whitewashed their history and the idea that any non-church source is inherently antimormon is laughable. If reading neutral sources stating historical facts destroys people’s testimonies, that doesn’t lend itself to the church’s truthfulness. There is evidence to show that Sidney rigdon knew Joseph well before the publication of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Fielding Smith hid the 1832 account of the first vision (which doesn’t mention 2 beings appearing, only one). The real reason the early saints were driven out of their homes was polygamy. Joseph didn’t tell people about the first vision until years after the formation of the church. Same with the “restoration” of the priesthood by Peter/James/John. Many of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon said they only saw it with “spiritual eyes” and there’s reason to suspect drinking or other substances were involved in many spiritual experiences/visions.

The “most correct book on earth” has been edited many times, not just for punctuation errors but content as well, but they never admit to doing so, so we don’t really notice. Many changes were made from the original manuscript.

There are tons of things in the Book of Mormon that shouldn’t be there. DNA evidence says native Americans come from Asia, not the Middle East. An enormous civilization would leave traces. Steel didn’t exist yet. Cows and horses and half the animals listed didn’t either. The Book of Isaiah wasn’t written until after Lehi left Jerusalem.

They gaslight us all the time when it comes to gender equality. “Separate but equal” they say, and yet when I go to the temple I have to cover my face. I have to give myself to/promise to obey my husband as he obeys the lord. Polygamy totally still exists in the after life, and female general leaders are nothing but a puppethead. They cannot make any decisions for their designated organizations and are often left out of important decisions.

The idea of marrying a man low key makes me want to die. My sexual orientation seems to be a moving target, but it’s always moving between straight up aroace and gay. If one day I settle down with someone, I’m fairly certain it’ll be a woman. There’s no place in this church for single people, and there’s no place for me if I pursue a relationship because I do not like men.

If you want to know more about the historical issues, check out CESletter.org.

For more about the ways in which the Mormon church behaves a lot like a cult, do a quick read of the BITE model on freedomofmind.com (not a Mormon centric source) or listen to No Man Knows My Herstory’s episodes on the BITE model applied to the church.

To anyone who reads this and feels the same way or has doubts or is feeling the soul crushing anxiety and depression that I felt as a part of my rapid crisis of faith, I’m here for you. I’m still working through things myself, but we can work it out together ❤️

[so-make-the-moon]

Buckle up, kiddos - here are my thoughts on the new GMM format! FIRSTLY. I loved it. There’s not going to be a tonne of criticism here, so if that’s what you’re looking for, please don’t go any further. I will pick at a few things, but in general I liked it and want more of it. I do go in depth, though, so if you want to hear that then please jump right in! This gets long, y’all.

So we’ll start with the few criticisms I do have. But with each negative, I tried to make sure I had a positive attitude towards it. I do think it felt a bit too scripted. The Will It? actually felt quite natural and very, very similar to the rest of the recent Will It?s, and the Instagram segment felt fairly non-structured as well (again, compared to recent, similar episodes - certainly far more structured/scripted than a couple years ago, but more along the lines of their recent quiz episodes). However, I also realise that this is the first episode of a new format, a big change for them, and a show that likely has more pull from Youtube. They’re going to be careful. Everything is going to be planned, with a few spaces for genuine, spontaneous jokes, especially for the first few episodes before they figure it all out. Go look back at the first GMMore episodes - they were pretty horrible. They were like 3 minutes long and awkward as hell. They didn’t know what to talk about and they ended awkwardly. The wheel itself is awkward (I’ve always had trouble watching the wheel endings, even the super Rhinky ones), and trying to add onto the end of them was nearly unbearable for me to watch. Lighting/camera angles//sound/etc - I noticed the things that people are pointing out as negatives, and some of it was a little bit distracting (except the lighting, that never bothered me at all) but so easily fixed. I’m sure they can tell what looks awkward or unnatural, and they’re experimenting. It’s going to flow differently, but technical “issues” are easily addressed. However, they’re also easy to get used to. So either they’re not going to change it and in a few weeks none of us are even going to notice/remember it, or they’ll see the feedback and think “oh yeah, that does look a bit weird, let’s try something new.” Either way, I think that issue will be solved within the month. It makes me so. sad to see such horrible negativity. Criticism is fine! Constructive criticism makes the world go ‘round. We need that, and we need people who can take it for what it is and improve upon the thing. What we don’t need are people bashing new things as soon as they start - give it a freaking chance! I said this a few weeks ago when I saw so many people who were nervous (I was too!) that I hope Rhett and Link and Mythical Co just let it settle. Just - don’t do anything rash and change things as soon as people start criticizing it. They need to give the audience (us!) the chance to get used to it before changing anything. If we still hate certain aspects of it after a month or two or three, then maybe slowly implement those changes. They have worked so hard on this, they’ve run themselves ragged, they’re exhausted because they want to make this a good thing for US to watch and enjoy. The absolute least we can do is give it and them a fucking chance. Things I LOVED about the new format: The close sitting at the desk. We’re not losing their closeness or their friendship. We’re all here because of them and what they started 30+ years ago, so I know some of us were worried that they would seem like just 2 co-hosts sitting behind a desk. I actually think they were more genuinely touchy-feely-lovey-dovey than they have been for a while. Maybe that’s just a manifestation of their nerves on their first new episode, maybe they realised they needed each other’s proximity and comfort more that day than other days, but they really do seem like they’re getting closer by the day. How that’s possible after so many years, I have no idea. More content! Sure, some of it was a bit awkward today, and I didn’t watch the whole jingle segment because I’ve never been into that personally (I was so uncomfortable watching the Miranda Sings Christmas song episode, and the Songs for When episodes), but there’s more of it, and that’s what I’ve always wanted. More Rhett and Link being ridiculous and happy and silly. Rhett must have been nervous because he seemed even softer than normal, if that’s possible. He’s always fairly soft-spoken unless he’s mad at Link about something and fake-yelling at him, but it felt like in the More he was a bit quiet. When he did talk, he was speaking softly, gently, and with a younger sounding voice, always accompanied by a very sweet smile. It was him, but he seemed even more introverted and nervous. (I guess this isn’t something I love about the new format, it’s something else for me to love about Rhett <3 He’s just so freaking sweet.) Not GMM specific but WOOD n BERRIES? REALLY BOYS? Jeez, they’re not really being subtle with the innuendo these days and I am HERE FOR IT. New wheel endings! As I said, I’ve always had a bit of trouble with the improv’d wheel endings. I get quite embarrassed for other people, and the wheel often ended up with a lot of dead air, or one of them not knowing where the other was going with it, or was shipbait-y (listen, I know I just did a whole two posts on how much I actually love shipbaiting, but I KNOW that it can be tiresome for the people involved. It gets old, fast, and that’s easy to see on their faces). However, I won’t lie and say I don’t miss it a little bit. I love gifticality the most, but the others always seemed so hands off - they were just trying to get us to do things, but they had nothing to do with it. They don’t even google the Do Not Googles anymore! So I do hope this brings back some improv (like the Sudden Secret and Mini Duels. It’s improv hopefully without being too awkward for us or too shipbait-y for them). I did NOT think the gags/air vomits were fake. Just FYI. I don’t have anything else to say about this. BIG DADDY. AND. BIGGER DADDY. Get’em, Link. MORE CHARACTERS! Yas. I am all about more characters - I imagine we’ll be seeing more of Rabbit Lightning and Mythical Moms. I also hope we’ll get a couple new ones! I also think we’re going to get a lot more songs! And while the jingles and improvs make me uncomfortable, I love when they actually come up with a new, full song, like in Buddy System. I hope that we get some segments with full songs/music videos like they would have posted on their Rhett and Link channel. I still can’t wait for cuddles. I’m interested in the guests - will it be interview style, challenge style (I hope it’s challenges, I love seeing them work together against another team. Actually, I even love seeing them on opposite teams because they usually end up helping each other and that’s just so perfect), hanging out chatting style?? One other thing I will say (this is neutral, I think, so I didn’t know where to put it) is that I kind of hope they take the crew out of the More and put them into the regular episodes. To me, now, the larger episodes have more space for the crew and the more structured system lends itself to crew participation, whereas the contrast of the very casual More lends itself more to Rhett and Link just sitting and talking, which we all want more of. More of like a story-time element. I have no idea if they would go for this (probably not), but I think it would make me like it that much more. Everyone can’t like everything. Some people are going to like some episodes but not others, and even some segments but not others (like me - I skipped almost an entire segment today and still came away from it feeling like it was a good experience). They’re adults, I know that they know all this, but the sheer amount of negativity and bashing is making me incredibly sad. It upsets me to know that they’re reading that, even if I know they can handle it and I know they know how to parse through it to find the genuine, helpful comments. So far I think there’s a lot to like and a lot to look forward to, and a few small things that could be improved upon. Now, I’m off to write a positive youtube comment (and very carefully not read any of the ones that are already there) and tweet a nice comment as well.

[charity-angel]

On Buns and Ovens (16/?)

[Part 1]   [Part 15]

[Read on AO3]

The med droid had provided Clovis with a comm unit, Ahsoka revealed over drinks, which had put him into direct contact with Dooku. The files that solidified the evidence against the heads of the Banking Clan had come directly from him.

Clovis submitted them to the Senate, and promptly got himself the sanctions he needed in order to become the new head of the Banking Clan.

“Which means I get a temporary change in employment,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve got a skillset that lends itself to being a freelance bodyguard, and Clovis has had bounty hunters after him for days now. We all know it was because they wanted to get him here with his evidence, but they don’t know that. Now he’s the head of the Banking Clan, he can play the ‘important person’ card and claim a bodyguard that he trusts. And I’ve technically got no ties to the GAR, the Jedi, or the Senate.”

“Except that you keep hanging around with vod’e, jetiise, and senators,” Jesse pointed out, snickering.

“Except all that, yeah. I’m off to Scipio tomorrow, with the 104th lurking nearby as backup.” She knocked back a mouthful of her drink before adding: “I’m pretty sure that Palpatine would notice Anakin’s absence at the moment, otherwise I’d love to have you along instead. The creepy little fuck couldn’t resist turning the screws a little tighter as soon as the session was over, asking him to keep watch on Clovis because neither of them trust him. At least Skyguy knows about all the messing now.”

She didn’t sound altogether confident on that count, and Kix had to agree with her. After all, Skywalker had said it himself: knowing that there were things wrong in his head and being able to do something about it were two completely different things. The second took a lot of hard work, and generally required outside assistance.

Not something Skywalker would be lacking, but he had to accept it first…

“We know too,” Rex assured her. “We’ll keep an eye on him.”

“And,” Jesse added darkly, “if things go wrong, we’ve got experience of mutinying against crazy Jedi.”

Kix smacked him around the back of the head. Rex looked relieved, probably because his gut response was more likely to be along the lines of punching Jesse in the face.

Umbara wasn’t not talked about, because that way lay madness. But they had lost far too much for anyone to joke about it. Even Jesse.

Not when Rex or their jetiise were around anyway: they all blamed themselves. Skywalker and Ahsoka blamed themselves because they weren’t there and they had trusted Krell to look after their men; Kenobi because he felt he should have noticed that something was wrong with the 501st (despite being busy trying to direct his own forces in a communications blackout); Rex blamed himself most of all because he knew something was wrong but didn’t see the full picture until it was too late. And because Dogma had taken the shot.

Ahsoka surprised them all by chuckling, although it was very much gallows humour. “I guess you do. Be nicer with him, though? He’s still my ori’vod, and he’s not being a di’kut on purpose.”

  .oOo.

  As it turned out, Ahsoka was wrong on one count. While they clearly couldn’t overtly take a whole battalion to Scipio, Senator Amidala was permitted an escort. And, while Palpatine insisted that she take at least one member of the Senate Guard with her, she was allowed three members from the 501st – clones she was familiar with – to accompany her.

Skywalker immediately assigned Rex, Jesse, and Kix. And, somehow…

“CT-7560 reporting for duty, ma’am.”

Amidala’s eyes flickered from the newcomer and his perfect salute to Rex. Some time ago, she had asked about fraternal relationships between clones, and they had explained the concept of birth-squads to her. And it looked like she had not only remembered that, but Rex’s ID number too, because she had clearly noticed the similarity and realised that this trooper would be known to Rex.

Kix knew there was a reason they all liked her so much.

“What’s your name, trooper?” she asked kindly. “And please feel free to remove your bucket.”

He was grinning as the helmet came off. “Thank you, ma’am. My name is Lingo and, if I may, it’s nice to see you looking well again. I was worried for a while.”

She gasped. “You’re the one! Kix mentioned that you contacted him.” She shook her head. “You’re the one to blame for the fact I’ve had him hovering over me for weeks.”

Lingo looked completely unrepentant. “I’d much rather have you in good health, ma’am, and there are much worse prices to pay for that than Kix’s bedside manner.”

Kix made a mental note that next time he ever had the opportunity to be responsible for Lingo’s care, he would really experience what Kix could offer in terms of bedside manners.

Amidala merely raised her eyebrows. “Indeed? Kix, it appears your vod’e do not bring out the best in you. Perhaps you need some better patients?”

He kind of wanted to kiss her for that, not only because she was defending him, but because it completely broke any ice with Lingo and brought him firmly into the fold of their little expedition.

“Perhaps I do,” he settled on instead, keeping his expression neutral, thoughtful. “Oh, to have patients who follow my advice instead of avoiding me, or trying to sneak out before they’re fit, or interpreting ‘light duties’ and ‘light exercise’ creatively.”

Jesse rolled his eyes. “Oh, to have a medic who looks after himself as well as his patients and doesn’t need sitting on so that he rests. Come on, let’s get going.”

Lingo was left blinking at that as he stowed his kit and they all took their seats for take-off. “I can’t decide,” he said softly to Rex, “whether the innuendo was intentional or not.”

Rex shook his head. “Normally with Jesse it would be, but on this occasion, no.”

Jesse, because of course he overheard, turned and grinned from the pilot’s seat. “Don’t be so sure, Rex – sometime the whim takes us that way.”

Kix groaned. “I’m so sorry, Senator. I swear he’s not all this crass all the time – he does know how to behave.”

She smiled. “I would honestly be more concerned if Jesse was. At least by being himself, I know that Lingo is aliit to you and will probably be a good fit for this mission.”

Lingo inclined his head by way of acknowledgement. “Thank you, ma’am. And it’s nice to be with vod’e who are a little less tightly wound than the Senate Guard for a change. I swear, being on Coruscant permanently does funny things to some brothers.”

Amidala, Force bless her, didn’t react in any way other than a slight frown. “Really?”

Lingo’s mouth did a funny little twitch as he nodded. “The best thing I can come up with is that it’s because we were raised for combat and we don’t really see any of that here. But…” He hesitated, looked at his hands as if they could give him the answers (once upon a time they would have held a datapad that probably could have, if not to this particular question). “I don’t know, ma’am. That’s how I rationalise it to myself, but something tells me that’s not right.”

“That’s troubling – I certainly wouldn’t want to think that by ensuring our safety, your brothers are being caused mental anguish. Can you tell me more?”

  .oOo.

  As Republic soldiers, none of them were allowed into the banking facility, but they were met on the landing pad by Clovis and Ahsoka, so at least there was one reliable set of eyes on their senator. Rex occupied them by making sure the arsenal they had packed into the shuttle was accessible and functional, and had them all on the alert for anything that might be even a whiff of Seppie activity.

The arrival of Senator Lawise caused a little consternation, but Senator Amidala had warned them to expect him. Just as she was representing the interests and approval of the Republic senate, Lawise would be there for the Confederacy.

The broadcast that interest on the Republic’s loans would be increased was unexpected, but not necessarily surprising – Rex quickly reasoned that this would be Clovis playing along with Dooku, each trying to reel in his catch. Kix felt that was a horribly public thing to announce for something that should have been a clandestine operation.

It was Lingo who spotted it on the sensors first:

“Here come our uninvited guests.”

Jesse barely had time to key the coded comm broadcasts to Amidala, Tano, and the 104th before the droids were on them, coming in hot. Rex grabbed Lingo and pulled him into cover behind Lawise’s ship while Kix went the opposite direction, behind a set of cargo containers. He prayed they didn’t contain fuel, otherwise he could be toast. Literally.

Jesse, on the other hand, got the ship into the air to meet them head on.

The landing pad was becoming littered with droid parts as the three of them took out the first few waves with a combination of sheer firepower and droid poppers. It left Kix glad they had planned for this, because anyone else probably would have been caught unawares.

“Hey, Lingo,” Jesse said cheerfully as he chased down an airborne vulture droid, “you still missing active combat?”

“I didn’t miss it!” Lingo protested, without losing his sight on the droid he promptly took out. “I was never cut out for all this crap!” He rolled a droid popper and disabled six more. “This is for insane people like you!”

“Looks to me like you’re doing just fine, vod,” Rex said, chuckling as he made headshot after headshot at a rate that their progenitor would have been proud of. “We’ll make an ARC of you yet.”

“But I like my job,” Lingo wailed as he continued shooting droids at a respectable rate. “I get to learn things, and I’m not completely insane.”

“Wish we’d introduced you to Echo,” Jesse commented, casually shooting down a bomber. “How many languages did he speak again?”

“Nine, I think,” Kix said. “And he was working on another two or three.”

The platform shook as something in flames collided with it, close by, and Rex cursed fluently for a few seconds.

“Lingo?” There was no point in asking Rex himself – he wouldn’t tell the truth.

“Right shoulder,” Lingo reported crisply. “Maybe a dislocation? He’s up and shooting tinnies with extreme prejudice, so he’ll probably be fine.”

Kix flicked a popper at a pair of Rollies before responding to that. “Remind me to tell you about the day he tried that with a sucking chest wound.”

“Which completely proves my point about ARCs being insane.”

“Yeah, but they make life more interesting,” a new voice cut in. Kix’s HUD identified it as CT-63-8521 of the 104th. “Speaking of interesting, care to share your fight?”

“Eris, I will blow you if you get some of these droids off my shebs,” Jesse promised unreservedly.

“Is that an open invitation to any pilot offering assistance?”

Kix was lucky he had battle instinct working in his favour, because otherwise that voice could have frozen him long enough for a droid to get an easy shot at him.

“Sir, as long as Kix agrees with me playing away from home, I am willing to try absolutely anything. I’ve heard dorin gas is pretty fun to play in.”

“TIME AND A PLACE, JESSE!” Rex roared, making Kix’s comm squeal in protest before dimming its audio output.

“Come on Rex, the general offered.”

“I know I said I’d let you try things out,” Kix said, “but I have to draw the line at autoerotic asphyxiation. But I wouldn’t say no to some assistance: these droids are relentless.”

A wing of grey-accented fighters, led by a blue-and-white striped Aethersprite, flew over his head shooting down enemy craft left, right and centre. Somewhat tragically, it was the Aethersprite that took on the two that were tailing Jesse’s craft.

  .oOo.

  Things settled pretty soon after that. The 104th didn’t put any men on the ground until the Scipian authorities gave them permission, but once that was granted they swept the surrounding areas for any surviving droids.

Kix confirmed Lingo’s initial diagnosis of a dislocated right shoulder for Rex, along with some significant bruising and reddening of the skin where his armour hadn’t quite stood up to the massive impact or the heat of the flames. He popped the shoulder back in slathered bacta over the minor burns, and tied it into a sling. (Rex glared, exasperated. Kix glared back. Kix won.) The armour wasn’t going back on, though – Rex needed a lot of new panels, and his bucket was significantly worse for wear.

Wolffe joined them and General Koon, and they were finally permitted to enter the bank. Apparently the Muuns wanted to take statements.

There wasn’t an awful lot to say: they had picked up the approach of the Seppies on their scanners only a scant few seconds before they had arrived, reported it to Senator Amidala, and the four of them had done their best to hold off the invading fleet.

Wolffe reported that Count Dooku’s flagship had turned tail once the battle was going badly. He sincerely looked like he had wanted to pursue and rip it to shreds.

The Muuns thanked them for their timely assistance, and for respecting their neutrality by not landing Republic forces without their consent.

Senator Lawise then informed them that the invasion had not been sanctioned by the Confederacy senate, and that Dooku was acting on no-one’s authority but his own. The Separatist Alliance respected the neutrality of the banks, and hoped that this incident by a rogue would not be held against them as a whole.

“As a gesture of our good faith,” he continued, his yellow eyes flickering around the assembled audience, “we will honour the promise Dooku made, and begin to repay the interest on our loans. It does not seem fair that we are being held to different terms than the Republic.”

Clovis inclined his head. “Thank you, Senator Lawise. I know you are a man of your word, and I would be very glad to return both loans to their original, fair terms.

“Senator Amidala, does that meet with your approval?”

She smiled graciously. “It does. Thank you, Director Clovis.”

  .oOo.

  Ahsoka was in the middle of explaining how Lawise had known about Dooku’s discussion with Clovis, and that Clovis had been open with the Muuns about the fact they were trying to flush out a conspiracy, when the news flashed through, announced by Chancellor Palpatine himself:

“The traitor ARC-5555, has been killed on Talchios IV.”

[signutai]

ATOMIC SAMURAI AND HIS DISCIPLES/CHILDREN PLS

YAAAAS! DAS WHAT I’M TALKIN ‘BOUTAtomic Samuraigeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: His aesthetic. His skills. The fact that he’s somewhat-subtly the biggest fucking dork.worst quality: Could tone down the arrogance a lot, though.ship them with: I generally don’t ship him with anyone bc I headcanon him as being aroace in most settings, but I’ve played around pairing him with Zanbai, and in one very specific AU I’m working on he and King have a thing. (This was an entire year before the latest webcomic chapter, by the way. You can just imagine how surprised I was to get canon interaction between them and it following pretty closely to how I wrote it in my AU.)brotp them with: The Council members, Bang, Bushidrillneeds to stay away from: Romantically? Iaian. Just…no. Ship it if you want, but don’t bring it anywhere near me. In general? Anything that has the capability to regenerate. He doesn’t have a phenomenal track record with those things.misc. thoughts: No lie, Kamikaze is my absolute favorite OPM character. Only Bushidrill gets close to that top spot. He was actually the only character, basically, besides the mains, that I remembered after first binging the anime at four in the morning. Something about him just stuck with me. I love him. He’s a good guy, at his heart, but he’s also kind of a dumbass and has an elitist streak a mile wide. Aside from that, though, he’s obviously a very good and very dedicated teacher who cares about his students deeply and teaches them according to their needs instead of trying to turn them into carbon-copies of himself. 10000/10 best dad.Iaiangeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hotcute | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: I adore the knight motif he’s got going on even as he wields a katana and his teacher is a samurai. Also, the fact that he keeps on truckin’ despite losing an arm.worst quality: His arrogance and god-awful attitude towards the other two.ship them with: No one, really. Occasionally with Blue Fire or Okamaitachi, but not really anything I’d put in a fic so far.brotp them with: Still no one. He seems like he keeps to himself and his little family and doesn’t have many friends.needs to stay away from: Garou. You can’t handle him, my sweet summer child. He’s going to step on your precious face.misc. thoughts: Look, I like Iaian. I really do. Cute guy. Good hero. But Chapter 69 shows he’s got a whole host of issues that he needs to work on–especially how he views his fellow disciples. “Subordinates”? Really? He is probably a little defensive, trying to prove that he can still be a hero–and his teacher’s disciple–after losing his arm, and having Atomic Samurai as a mentor isn’t going to inspire much humbleness, but I do hope he examines his behavior at some point and betters himself. That said, he’s an amusing, sweaty, perpetually-exhausted little ferret knight and still one of my faves.Okamaitachigeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: Her everything. All of it. She’s a near-flawless goddess.worst quality: I wish she had a different hero name. I feel bad for her, and it easily lends itself to being translated in disgustingly transphobic ways by Reddit fuckboys.ship them with: Bushidrill, normally! Sometimes with Iaian.brotp them with: Butterfly DX, Eyelashes, Tanktop Girl, Stingerneeds to stay away from: Hot monsters. Kama, dear, you’re going to get yourself killed one of these days flirting with something that wants you dead. Please think of me and of your family.misc. thoughts: Oh, goodness. Okamaitachi is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I love her dearly. She’s a canon trans character (as per the databook) and isn’t treated like a joke or made subject to transphobic remarks at all. She’s also a delightful spin on the trope of male characters being too distracted by sexy women to think straight–the guys almost never fall victim to that in this series, yet the trans woman goes nuts over the hot guys she sees, even if they’re monsters. It’s a refreshing change of pace. Also, she’s absolutely beautiful? Like she clearly puts a lot of effort into her look and pulls it off so well. I give props to ONE and Murata for treating her like a character who just happens to be trans instead of some kind of stereotype played for laughs, especially given that OPM is basically a parody. And she fights in boots with heels! BOOTS WITH HEELS! Just. Grace incarnate, really. I can’t wait to see her fight in the manga and the anime.Bushidrillgeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banglet him hold my ace ass in his big, strong arms foreverhogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: His look is on-point. I love his whole Sanjuro-with-a-drill aesthetic. He’s a delightful homage, but still has enough differences to be his own character.worst quality: Stop grumbling at Kama so much, geez.ship them with: Okamaitachi! Bushweasel ship is best ship.brotp them with: Atomic Samurai and Stinger; I headcanon him and his teacher having a brotherly sort of bond, as well as him as having been a mentor of sorts to Stinger in Stinger’s earlier hero days. Their weapons have some similarities and there is the whole “Gigantic Drill Stinger” thing, after all!needs to stay away from: The generally-questionable decisions of everyone around him. Let him rest.misc. thoughts: Bushidrill is just…I can’t explain why I love him so much, okay? I just kind of latched onto him–possibly because, out of the four, he gets the least amount of fanart and attention–and it went from there. I adore that he’s the shortest of the four (from the databook stats, anyway), but also the widest and most muscular. The other three are clean-cut and well-groomed, and he’s unshaven, furry everywhere, and has messy hair and an outfit that’s clearly seen better days. He doesn’t use a sword–even though if we go by the databook he’s proficient with them as well, having been a wandering swordsman before joining up with Atomic Samurai–he’s ranked last yet obviously respected by the others, and there’s no evidence so far (in the manga, at least) that he uses his right hand for much more than scratching his face. He’s an oddball among the other three, but still fits in nicely, and I imagine he helps keep order amid the others’ unruly impulsiveness. And the databook says that Atomic Samurai trusts him a lot! He’s definitely someone who’s easy to dismiss at first glance, but more than likely plays a vital role in this weird, hodgepodge family. And! His stats are identical to the other two’s, except that he has a higher score in endurance! He’s a tank! I love that! Big, grumbly, middle-aged, drill-wielding samurai tank!These guys hold the first four of my top five favorites slots, okay? I’m love them all.