#obi-wan is also a mermaid mind you

[galactic-rhea]

Hear me out, fluffy Rexwalker AU with Fisherman Rex and Mermaid(man¿) Anakin.

Padmé can be the local marine biologist advocating for better healthy environmental practices.

Palpatine is the local towns' mayor that always gets in between marine biologists, always giving way in pro- of invasive and extensive fishing,

Padmé probably is already aware of merfolk, and probably already knows Anakin, since they both were smol! But keeps it secret for obvious reasons.

Also, if Anakin is ever trapped (it can be kinda Rex's fault or not, your choice if you want it more angsty) Palpatine intends to use him for turism, or then to allow shady scientists to practice awfully horrible turturous experiments, yayyyyyy

Rex, Padmé and other characters if your choice team together and rescue him!

(Palpatine dies by drowning, to fit the Aesthetic.)

[thenookspace]

Adding on to this bc the au lives rent free and is brushing narrative crumbs onto my couch: LONG POST AHOY

mentioned in the tags of the last post that the jedi in this au are a sorta organised community of sirens but it's still undecided on how the jedi transform from taily scaley hypercarnivorous fishy horrors but for now it's a spell/potion or other ocean magic bs which - for Plot Reasons - has a distinct 12 hour time limit and reset period

meaning that all jedi have a day/night to break it down human style before they have to haul their fishy asses back to the sea before they turn into sea foam or get fish-outed and put everyone in danger

that being said, the jedi that do go to shore absolutely get up to the most wacky not-possible-in-the-sea human bullshit ever

for instance: Mace Windu uses Surface Time to become an underground musical theatre star

Plo Koon somehow has a fully legitimate pilot's licence despite not knowing shit about everything that comes before the certificate-of-flying-deathcraft (he takes his buddies up for joyrides and nobody questions how he flies the aircraft or even if he actually owns the damn thing)

Kit Fisto doesn't like being on land (something something "public" something something "indecency") but he's friends with the local cave diving team

Yoda surfaces out of the Midnight Zone mostly to beat the shit out of seabirds

Anakin "secretly" visits Padme whenever Leg Day rolls around bc the doofus assumed that human-siren relationships were forbidden (not if your human can keep their mouth shut!)

he usually vents to his ol' friend Palpatine who "accidentally" saw him transforming one night but has just been so supportive ever since! absolutely no bad intentions! not even a whiff of "bulldoze the town to build a research facility filled with kidnapped sirens who he'll find by promising Anakin that the Horrible Vivisections will find a way for him to be with Padme forever" on him!! just a trustworthy old town mayor doing town mayor things!

(forewarning: nothing too awful happens in this au due to Fox&Padme lawyer shenanigans and my own inability to make sad endings)

meanwhile, for those who have legs

couldn't decide whether the mandatory Fett Family Business is a music shop - think vinyls, strings, guitars and One Lone Piano in the corner that Nobody is allowed to play (it was Jaster's) - or a myriad of various Ocean Things and decided to fuck it all and do both bc when you have that many brothers/half-brothers/cousins/family friends/family friend's kids/people you aren't sure about but are probably related to/people who definitely aren't related to you but just won't fuck off, you have options

eg, Monnk is def on the aforementioned cave diving team (he's 500% Kit's supplier for Weird Human Shit)

Wolffe and the Pack are in maritime search&rescue (they taught Plo how to fly thinking it would be funny until he fuckin adopted them)

Alpha 17 is the local lighthouse keeper who just wants the bloody sea raccoons (Very Curious sirens that he gives Very Few Shits about) to get out of his trash

and Fox is underpaid overworked mayor's aide who would've fucked off to the lighthouse already if he didn't know that Palpatine would flatten everyone if Fox wasn't there to 'forget' the contact details of every major land developer in the area

@cosmic-j0ke speculated that Jango might already know about the sirens bc of a tragic accident years ago and due to that being a fucking fantastic point it's 100% canon to the au now everybody give them a round of applause

the incident in question involved the disappearance/deaths of Jaster and the crew of Jaster's fishing vessel off the coast of Galidraan that left Jango obsessed with hunting "sirens" that everybody assumes were figments of a traumatised child's imagination

Dooku swore up and down he had acted in self-defense but was still banished from any jedi territories after he rescued and returned the deliriously dehydrated human boy he had found in the hold

was also kinda conflicted about whether Jango should still be obsessed with sirens to the detriment of Everyone but then I remembered that this is a literary cotton ball so Jango gets to mellow out on the mer-murdering after a while due to the stress of raising a metric assload of kids

+ all the niblings/little cousins/people you hired to help you hunt sirens who stuck around/their kids/ etc

but not before getting really into music engineering in an attempt to reverse engineer siren song

which becomes a surprisingly handy party trick when starting a music shop

fast forward to present day Cody mostly runs the music shop due to being the only one actually interested in dealing with People on Land all day long

he occasionally sprinkles in some lifeguarding because it's easy money to babysit a town of people who were all swimming before they could walk

but he has a Problem

the younger Fett & co kids have been kicking up a storm lately about learning the piano and getting curious about Jaster's Piano (dun dun dun) that Cody and the others never learned to play over the course of their Very Different childhoods (that will definitely never become an emotional plot point ahaha)

(not sure where tf any ''younger members" of the Fett extended family network would come from or even which characters they are - Boba and Omega are easy options, Omega is Hunter's kid no muss no fuss but Boba is a difficult one considering that Jango is theoretically too old for young kids in this au if Cody, Rex, Wolffe, Fox and co are all adults, will need some help here)

mystery child origins aside the kids are too young to be at sea so they're stuck with Cody and his soft heart in the shop when they start getting big piano-based ideas

ofc after folding like a house of cards and cursing out the kids' new preference for keys instead of string instruments like Good and Reasonable Fetts, Cody goes looking for a piano tutor and bargain deals on cheap eBay keyboards (he won't touch Jaster's piano bc that hurt is more a family heirloom than the instrument itself)

the keyboards are easy to get a hold of aside from exorbitant shipping prices (the irony), but a tutor willing to brave Jango??? might as well mail a craigslist ad to the bottom of the fucking ocean

so Cody's seriously considering pulling an Alpha 17 and fucking off to the lighthouse or sucking it up and learning piano (Alexa play Surface Pressure)

until he's lifeguarding (read: stress napping) one day and wakes to the most ~enchanting~ song from a nearby busker (he's dressed like a forlorn english professor who forgot the memo about pants but oh boy is he Beautiful), who's playing the most decrepit, water-damaged nasty looking keyboard Cody's ever seen

(Obi-wan found it in the Human Waste Box and he's incredibly proud of all the magic/non-magic modifications, he put those barnacles there himself!)

half an hour and one job offer later the tourist (???) is following Cody back to the shop and lessons are going swimmingly (HA)

obv Obi-wan has no idea how to actually play the keyboard, much less teach anyone anything but Seabed Radio's 40 Hottest Whale Songs but the kids are having enough fun to stop them snitching and Cody has conked out from post-Task adrenaline crash and could not care less about the gorgeous man in his shop teaching his little siblings piano (but he will!)

Jango, however, immediately clocks Obi-Wan as a Fish and spends the entire time seething at Obi-wan's very obvious siren-ness, Cody's obliviousness to Obi-wan's very obvious siren-nessand everyone else's wilful ignorance to Obi-wan's very obvious siren-ness bc he makes Cody happy and Jango's conniptions are funny

this is the end for now bc tumblr text limit hates me but next on the agenda: the actual fucking Plot!

God fucking damnit I misread sith Obi-wan as siren Obi-wan ONCE and now I have THOUGHTS about small town siren Obi-wan disguising himself as an eccentric music tutor/boardwalk busker to explore the ~human world~

[scribble-dribble-writes]

heyho,

i sae ur taking requests and since I absolutely love ur writing I want to request a moderAU!Obi-Wan x wife!reader (married for 10 years). Just them walking through an old little english or scottish town. Thats it. Do what ever u want with it I just wish for toothrotting fluff.

Lots of love and have fun.

Just finished watching Sanditon so this is a perfect ask. Also I've set it in Sanditon when they are in their courtship if that's ok, if it's not let me know, I will rewrite it or write a part two with a time jump 💖

---

Seaside hope

He walked beside you, the twilight sky perfect enough for an evening stroll to get a bit of sea air. Sanditon was put on the map for it’s vibrancy and new cultural scene that you travelled from London to see what it was all about. This change was welcomed, your life had hit a bit of stale end in the city. Your season wasn’t successful, all the men only wanted was to know if your father was well capable to satisfy their financial needs or if by being with you could propel them within the ranks of society. You had nothing to offer, except your love for your pianoforte and writing poems.

But as he trailed by your side, letting you set the pace, allowing you to sink back into moments of quiet contemplation, he was quiet like the soft waves that treaded the shore. This felt different. It lacked the city bustle or comparison to the monarchy, this felt unique and wild, like the woods by your farm.

“I’m afraid I’m haven’t been exciting company.”, you smiled feeling a little sheepish sure that he was bored.

“You’ve mistaken me then. I like our walks.”, he responded politely throwing you a sideward glance.

“Its just that, I miss this when I go back to London. The crisp air is replaced with smoke and endless crowds of suffocating conversation.”, you stopped to pick up a shell and he stopped too.

You looked up at him expecting a reply but instead caught him admiring you, the edges of his eyes crinkled with a bemused smile. You looked away, your cheeks began to grow warm.

He cleared his throat as you resumed your walk,

“Polite society is often disappointing.”, he agreed with you and it gave you a false sense of hope. That he liked you as you were.

“Then it’s decided. We shall run away to the woods to live like elves.”, you smile feeling comfortable around him to share your fantasies.

“Or we could be mermaids.”, he looked at the sea and it filled your mind with an image of him walking up the shore from a swim and your heart began to beat faster.

“I did not think you to be one to sit back and fantasize about mysteries.”, you furrow your brows.

“I fantasize often these days.”, he held your gaze as his eyes slipped to your lips before he diverted his gaze and the hope in your chest was beginning to take root stronger.

You wanted to have a portrait of him or a miniature that you could keep within the pages of your book because he looked magnificent, that even if he were an elf or a mermaid it would make sense. His hair, a glorious bronze and his skin held the magic of being sun kissed. His coat was of exquisite quality and he always dressed himself to an impeccable standard, that it sunk deeper knowing yet again you would have nothing to offer him.

The city was beginning to grow quite and your time had come, to return to your lodgings when he offered he would walk you home to which you agreed, it would give you more time to linger in his presence before you let him go.

But as the winding streets and the shadows gave you the privacy, you felt his fingers reach for yours and there it was. A spark, like a warm fire in winter, or a cup of tea in your hands. The soothing comfort of his hidden smile or the blue shine of his eyes. You allowed yourself to hold his hand, just buying time before you tell him the truth. That your father was a small merchant and you weren’t the diamond of the season. The steps to your door appeared and your time was up, he began to say something but you stepped away softly pulling your hand out of his hold. His brows furrowed in confusion as you hovered by the gate.

“I have nothing to offer you, Mr. Kenobi.”, you said quietly as much as it wrenched your heart. This had been nice when it had lasted but what you had with him belonged in books, not here, not in London.

“That’s not true. I thought we were past formalities.”, his smile was steady as he stepped closer but it looked as though he hung on your every word.

“What do your mean?”, you asked and the colour rushed back to his cheeks.

“Your promise still hold true does it not?”, he asked with a sense of mischief to it.

“What promise?”, you ask confused, tracing back to your conversations to know what he could mean.

“Your offer to runaway to the woods with you.”, he said confidently drawing closer his warm gloved hand taking yours.

“Oh.”, you respond feeling flustered knowing he had remembered your ramblings.

“That was merely a jest.”, you laugh trying to convince him but it didn’t seem to deter him.

“Oh no that will not do.”, He pursed his lips as though he was disappointed.

“My only need in a suitor was to know she believed in elves.”, he smiled as he spoke with a dramatic flair to which you couldn’t help but mirror his smile.

“So it’s a shame,”, he leaned in, the smell of his cologne making you giddy.

“you were perfect.”, he whispered and it was as though you had plunged your hand into cold water, all this exciting and wild.

“But if you ever reconsider then I wish to call on you again.”, he said slowly, the sparkle in his eyes were evident.

“There’s a lovely pianoforte but no one to play in my Manor. And a library if you wish to read.”, he elaborated as though spending time with him was not enough of a reason to say yes.

“A pianoforte, then I have to say yes.”, you widened your eyes with a cheeky grin to watch him concede.

“But any time spent with you is a splendid evening.”, you said sweetly as you kissed his cheek and now watched his face turn red. He fumbled for words as he stood there, his eyes enchanted with the sight you.

“Till tomorrow.”, you bid him goodbye the last sight of him standing outside your door, his hand touching his cheek and a soft smile.

Perhaps, Sanditon was were all there magic happened.

[codythecheshirecat]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

20!

2.) What's your ao3 word count?  

My word count is 224,994 words... which is insane now that I think about it

3.) What fandoms do you write for? 

According to my AO3, I've written for Star Wars, Marble Hornets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Marvel, and DCTV. I've written a few for other fandoms, like RT and FNAF, but they aren't published. I've also written Jurassic Park and Breakfast Club AUs.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Binary Sunset-- Obi-Wan of the prequels era finds himself in the future, tagging along with The Mandalorian, Din Djarin. The first in a series, it has 823 kudos.

The Cassandra Problem-- Another time travel fic featuring Obi-Wan, but instead of the future Obi-Wan finds himself in the past, literally during the Battle of Theed. At 8 chapters updated, I currently have 11 more written and plenty more to go after that, and it currently sits at 624 kudos.

Is This The Start, Midpoint, or Finale?-- A modern mermaid au for Codywan that I started over 2 years ago. It's still being updated, but has taken a bit of a break for a while while I focused on other projects. It currently has 492 kudos :)

Come Alive-- I wrote this fic in 2017, when I was in my senior year of high school. The ending was rushed (I lost track of where I was going halfway through and fudged my way through the rest, only to remember the original, better, plotline only once it was complete) and I'm not super proud of it anymore, but I do appreciate it for what it was to me at the time. It has 252 kudos!

Duel of the Fates-- The second in the series after Binary Sunset. It's currently the last published in the series, as other projects have taken precedent, but I do plan to get back to it sooner or later. It has 203 kudos.

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Sometimes. I usually mean to respond to all of them, but I never know what to say and so I push it off until I completely forget or feel like too much time has passed and get awkward about it.

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably one of the fics in my Second Chance series, a Bad Batch series where I'm making everything better by making everything worse, first.

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably When My Walls Start Burning Down, a Cody-centric post-war fic. There's still plenty of angst before the happy ending, but I'd definitely consider the ending a happy one!

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I can think of, but honestly if I did I probably deleted it and then promptly forgot it existed.

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I have written smut before, Codywan, but it's not something I delve into a whole lot. Not a lot of experience in that department, being aroace and all.

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I do! Of my published crossovers, my Agent Carter/Pirates of the Caribbean crossover series Skyfall is probably the craziest, but I frequently entertain myself daydreaming about wild crossover ideas.

Some, like Stranger Things/Star wars, aren't quite weird, but I've also had a grand time imagining what a Marble Hornets/Star Wars crossover would look like, and I've definitely thought of others that aren't coming to mind right now.

One of my favorite things to do used to be thinking about the weirdest crossover possible and trying to figure out how it would happen, Fallout Equestria style.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be honored if anyone ever wanted to do so.

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

@tired-bshocked and I worked together on a fic series, Red Eye, for the 2023 Codywan Reverse Bang, if that counts. We each wrote our own fic in the series, but we of course worked together to make the fics mesh.

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

See, this is hard because my 'favorite thing' is whatever I'm currently hyperfixating on. I'd say either Codywan or Jay Merrick/Tim Wright (Marble Hornets), because they're my two big fandoms at the moment.

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Hmm... my PotC fic, Perdition, only has a few chapters to go, but it's been a while since I updated and I think finishing it at this point will be a luck of the draw. It sucks, though, because I really enjoyed writing the fic and I'm always a sucker for PotC.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

I'm... not actually sure. I've been told a few times that I have a particular writing style, but it's mostly just the way I talk/think so I'm blaming it on the Neurodivergence. I think I'm pretty good with grammar and stuff? That said I still couldn't tell you what an adjective or adverb are (alas, I've never been good at mad libs for this reason) so who even knows at this point!

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I've never been able to understand the difference between active and passive voice. I also am apparently incapable of understanding Iambic Pentameter. All-around I have more to learn, but nothing sticks out to me as a particular 'yep focus on this'.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I may have done it once or twice, but I don't remember what I did? Honestly when reading I don't mind how it's done, though I do prefer a way to easily figure out what was said in the other language. Unless, of course, the point is not to know.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Honestly, Warriors over on Fanfiction.net. I definitely still have my account over there but I'm not sharing it at all because those fics are from when I was like 12.

Also, when I started writing fanfiction it was before I discovered fanfic was a thing, so I just. Thought I completely invented the concept for a while. I was thrilled when I realized fanfic existed.

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

Probably the Cassandra Problem! I recently realized the word count is higher than the entirety of the book Animal Farm, and I'm only about a quarter through it (and there may end up being more than one fic in the series by the end of it) and said realization fucked me up a bit. In a good way. Mostly. Also realized that since I'm updating it a chapter a month, the last chapter I wrote won't be published for another year at this rate.

But I'm having so much fun writing it! Time travel stories are so fun in every iteration to me-- what to change, what not to change, why change one thing and not another, how to react when you're back in your childhood bedroom or when you find out that a future version of you has done something so entirely out of character to you that you can only wonder what's happened...

There's so much potential, and I've had a lot of fun crafting the way that the time travel works in the fic :)

Not sure who's done this already, who's been tagged and who hasn't, but I'm gonna tag some people anyway @tired-bshocked, @twackycat, @sunflowersinheaven, @foreverchangingfandomsao3

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Still waiting to find a TLM!Anidala fanfic one of these days...

[average-entropy]

Dear @glimmerglanger,

I can’t properly express the joy that your writing gives me, it’s beautiful and painful and it makes me FEEL things, and it’s wonderful. So, since it’s your birthday I thought that I should do my best to give the same in turn. I have some writing in the by the sea verse that I did after those fics snatched my soul from my chest and merrily danced away with it that I’ve dug out from the WIP pile on my computer and copy pasted under the cut below. It’s all very rough and outlined and unfinished, but if you enjoy gift fic, in honor of your birthday please have this loose pile of strings I had in my pocket.

Best wishes for your day and the year ahead!

(Also p.s. I apologize for any formatting errors. I have lurked on this hellsite for many years, but am but a humble posting novice).

Story One – Fives Lives because (sobs) reasons

//One year after his marriage to Cody, Obi-wan finds Fives, in this fic he’s only “dead” and has been instead captured by sociopathic rich men (led by the one, the only, Sheev palpatine) who want to make him into an exhibit but first must figure out how to not have him look dead all the damn time >:( #millionare problems.

 //How did Fives get captured? If he’s Eyeyah’s twin then canonically he’s too young to be in battle, and in canon curiosity is (literally :_(  fff) his fatal flaw. So maybe Fives was the little mermaid of his family, just really curious about the surface and ships and humans and basically everything that anyone ever told him to stay away from. And then one day he ended up beaching himself/straying too close to a fishing net or boat and ending up captured.

 //Did his family just assume that he went out exploring and the shark riders got him? For maximum hurt, did he get hurt on Rex’s watch? Maybe Fives and Eyeyah begged to shadow Rex on the front, and Rex was like, fine, but you have to stay with the healers, promise me. and they were like, I’m not gonna leave the caaave, and then Fives fucking left the cave.

 //So, either immediately or eventually he ends up in the clutches of rich man asshole sheev palpatine and his rich man asshole friends. If he was captured by a local fisherman, and sold, then sheev like for sure had tarkin shoot them to protect the secrecy of his investment or whatever, which would make Obi-wan’s eventual rescue of Fives all the dicey in Fives’ mind, like he sees money changing hands (or trying to) before Sheev and his cronies get merked by Obi-wan and he’s like oh look, the girls are fighting again, guess this guy owns me now

 Linebreak***

 Cody is visiting, when the letter comes in. It’s on thick, expensive paper, and back dated about a month or so. It’s addressed to him, but has apparently taken a rather circuitous route to get here; it was sent originally to the offices of one of the journals he publishes for, and from there to the post office box he retains for business, in a city down the coast, and then in the monthly forward to his post office box in town, where he goes weekly to collect his mail and pick up various foods and delicacies for his new in-laws.

 “What is this?” Cody asks, enunciating each word carefully. Now that Obi-wan is learning more and more Mando, there’s really no need for him to speak English, but he insists. He wants to learn Obi-wan’s language, he says, just as Obi-wan is learning his. Cody pauses, a teasing look crossing his face. “Love letter?”

 Obi-wan snorts, curling his hand over Cody’s shoulder where he’s leaning on the little dock built out directly out from Obi-wan’s home. “Hardly. Business letter. Let’s see …”

 He reads over it and finds himself tsking in annoyance. More rich men gotten in over their heads, trying to keep some poor aquatic creature in a tiny tank for exhibit and wondering why it doesn’t thrive there as it does in the ocean. He hates these jobs, but he’s worked before, discretely, with the authorities to get some of the men arrested on charges of poaching and the animals released, so it’s worth it to go. To try.

 “More fish in cages?” Cody asks, reading Obi-wan’s expression. He’s gotten frightfully good at it, better than anyone Obi-wan ever knew besides Anakin, and though it frightens him a little, it warms him inside; fills him, with a kind of quiet wonder.

 “Yes, I fear so.” Obi-wan sighs. “Quite far away, this time … I can tell them no.”

 “Why?” Cody asks, frowning. He switches over to Mando’a. “Why would you tell them no?”

 “Because you just got here, and I’d be gone for a few weeks, at the least-”

 Cody makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “I leave for my work. I do it all the time.”

 “Oh, but that’s,” Obi-wan waves his hand back and forth, the letter rustling as he does. “That’s different, your work is important-”

 “So is yours,” Cody says, tugging at both of Obi-wan’s hands until Obi-wan relents and meets his eyes. “And even if it weren’t, it’s important to you. I don’t expect you to just … wait around here for me. You’ve made yourself a life; it’s … you have the right to live it.”

 “Oh,” Obi-wan says dumbly, and Cody’s eyes go sad and wounded.

 “I don’t want you trapped here,” he says, more softly, brushing his thumbs over the back of Obi-wan’s hands. “I’m sorry if I made you feel as though I did.”

 “No, no,” Obi-wan says softly, in Mando’a, before switching back to English, where his thoughts are easier to articulate. “It was nothing that you did. I just … I want to make you happy.”

 “You already make me happy,” Cody says fervently, pressing closer to Obi-wan and nuzzling against his stomach. Obi-wan blushes, can’t not, and Cody makes a pleased click. “So happy. You’re my heart – it doesn’t matter where you go. We’re always together.”

 “Alright,” Obi-wan agrees. “I’ll go.”

 Linebreak***

 Cody, Wolv and even Kix are adamantly in favor of sending at least a guard or two with him, but it’s much farther north than Obi-wan usually goes and he’s worried that this time of year especially the water will be too cold for merfolk. Or at least, a Mandalorian or a Togrutan. It’s possible that so far away there are different Mermaid societies, perfectly adapted to the cold. And if there are other Mermaid kingdoms there, what if Obi-wan bringing in a foreigner sparks some kind of war? That’s the last thing that they need. It’s not worth it, for something that’s so low risk.

 None of his new family agree. It seems that Obi-wan is the only human they trust, and that in particular there are no humans they are willing to trust specifically with Obi-wan. Apparently the spot of charred land where Obi-wan’s cabin used to stand still looms freshly in everyone’s minds. But at the end of the day, unless they want to have him tailed – which Obi-wan honestly wouldn’t put past Wolv, but which he knows Cody would never allow – there’s nothing they can really do. He agrees to an escort across the ocean, but holds firm on going up the coast alone, and so it’s near the site of his old cabin that Obi-wan parts from Cody and the guard and continues north with only Boga and his sidearm to accompany him.

 Linebreak***

 //When Obi-wan gets to Palpatine’s offices the sheer volume of shady vibes they have going on is enough to make him certain that these guys are poachers. And since Palpatine is Too Rich ™ to remember names (of plebes) he’s like, to Ameda and Tarkin, “oh yes, this is the marine biologist, Dr…?”

 //And Obi-wan’s like … vibe check failed, my name is … Ben Sky.

 //And they’re like nice to meet you Dr. Sky, thank you so much for coming, let’s go upstairs, this is a private matter.  And they lead him up to Palpatine’s private office, Tarkin, Palpatine and Amedda all supremely amused for some reason, in a very discomforting way. Obi-wan’s like, ew, lets just get this over with, so the second the door is closed he’s like, alright so what kind of shark do you have and how big is it.

 //And palpatine’s like (evil smile) oh, my dear doctor, it’s no shark at all. It would be easiest if you just … took a look. And so he goes over to the safe to get a key out – and Obi-wan sees the gun inside and is like, great, gut feeling confirmed – and uses it to open the steel door to his closet.

 //Inside which is a person sized tank. With a merman in it. A Mandalorian merman. And Obi-wan freezes.

 //The others obviously see his shock and they’re laughing about it, like oh ho isn’t it so funny, look at his face, while meanwhile Obi-wan’s categorizing all the damage that’s been done to this person by keeping them in the tank, oh god, but if he knows how to do one thing it’s how to compartmentalize, so he’s like, okay, get a grip, how are we going to play this.

 //So he very carefully gathers himself up and pretends that he’s never seen a merman before in his goddamn life, makes them convince them this is actually real and not some sort of freakish embalmed corpse sewn onto a fishtail type thing. And so then Palpatine’s like great, it’s clearly dying and we can’t exhibit it like this, how do we fix it. And Obi-wan’s like, how should I know, it shouldn’t even exist, and Palpatine’s like, humor me (and I’ll pay you like a million dollars)

 //And Obi-wan’s like, fine, if I had to guess the tank is too small. The most common reason sharks die in captivity is because they don’t have big enough tanks. I’d recommend just building it an enclosure in the ocean, to be honest, rather than trying to haul that much salt water in in a day. And do it fast, too, it looks like it’s on it’s last legs.

 //And Palpatine and Amedda and Tarkin are like mmm yes I see, fascinating, and Ammeda’s like, we have that boathouse, and Palpatine’s like yes, that would be perfect, how soon can you have it ready, Tarkin, and Tarkin’s like – tomorrow night if you can pay well enough.

 //And Palpatine’s like, wonderful, and he writes down the address for Obi-wan and is like, we’ll meet you there tomorrow night, so you can make sure what we’ve built is sufficient, and then we’ll give you your fee. Thanks for doing business. Let me shake your hand and threaten with my eyes that if you tell anyone we’ll kill you, oh truly this was a pleasure

 //And Obi-wan’s like great. See you then. And then he does some shopping. Beginning with snagging Palpatine’s gun, out of his safe.

 Linebreak***

 Obi-wan doesn't allow himself to think of what he's doing as he's doing it. He learned, in the army, how not to acknowledge that you were killing someone as you killed them. How to push it down, and lock it away, as long as you could, until eventually later it overtook you…

 Obi-Wan shoots Amedda and Tarkin quick as a blink. Good shots, clean shots. The bullet Tarkin tried to fire goes wide, shattering a window, and Palpatine jerks in his grip.

 Obi-wan keeps him still until he's sure the other two are down and then moves around to his front. His hands are steady as he keeps the barrel of his gun leveled at Palpatine's heart.

 "Dr. Sky," the man says, hands up. Even with his two compatriots lying dead on the floor, bleeding out over the scattered bills - his tone is still smooth and composed, still so sickly sweet. Monster, Obi-wan can’t help but think. "Ben. You don't have to do this. Whoever it is, that you're working for, I'm sure you and I can come to a better arrangement. Money is not the only thing I can offer you-"

 Obi-wan plucks Tarkin's dropped gun up off the floor and shoots. Once, twice, three times, the first one through Palpatine's heart and the other two wild, to make it look as though Tarkin was firing as he went down. Palpatine falls, with a gurgling gasp, the same kind as Obi-wan's heard so many times before...

 No. No. He doesn't have time for one of his fits. if the police come, while the merman is still here, then the consequences will be catastrophic. He sets Tarkin's gun back down exactly where it had originally landed and curls the one he swiped from the safe in the offices into Palpatine’s hand. And then he goes, to crouch down by the pool.

 The merman is watching him with narrowed, dark eyes. He hasn't flashed any color,  but his spikes are halfway out, and really, if Obi-wan just saw someone murder three people in cold blood, he'd be wary too.

 He strips off his gloves and shoves them into his pockets. His hands are numb and shaky, but he un-buttons his shirt as fast as he can and peels it aside to display the mark that sits large and prominent over his heart. The merman jerks, eyes going wide, and Obi-wan holds them steadily as he says, “I am here for helping you. Swear by Sho’cye. Please let me helping you. Please.”

 “You speak,” the man says, voice raw and rough with emotion. “You are … you are a Mandalorian’s heart?”

 “Yes,” Obi-wan agrees. “And he is my heart. Not hurting him, ever. Not hurting you either. But other humans will come soon, because of … weapon noise. Need to leaving, quickly. Before they see you.”

 “Yes,” the man says, shaking himself as if coming out of a daze. “Yes, we need to – do you know how to … how to get this cage away?”

 “I do but … coming into water for that. Cutting through.” Obi-wan holds up the shears he’s brought for that purpose. “Is this okay?”

 The man hesitates for a moment, but then he nods. Obi-wan nods back, and slips into the water. He weakens enough of the wires as he can, and then heaves, until the metal rends and he’s able to pull back a segment of the fencing. And then there’s nothing too it, but for him and the man to swim through.

 He leads the man out into the bay, to where he’s anchored the Memory, glad to see that by the look of things no one has bothered it. Boga is still lounging on the deck, and the light is still shining in the cabin.

 “Your boat?” The man asks, eying it warily as Obi-wan swims up to it, and Obi-wan nods.

 “I’ll be leaving you here, if you prefer. Or you can swimming beside boat as we go back. But I can be also giving you ride; taking care of you. You’re being very injured, I think. I am worrying that … the better it would be if you were gotten back fast. To your people, and the healers. I’m not knowing well how to help you.”

 He knows, certainly, much better that he did when he found Cody. But he’s not a doctor, for either of their species, and he knows that there are treatments specifically for merfolk that he can’t offer.

 The man – the young man, really, older than Eyeyah but not by much – wavers. And Obi-wan can’t blame him. He can guess how the others captured him. It likely involved a boat, much like this. But the man’s eyes flicker back down to Obi-wan’s open shirt, to the mark on his chest. And he nods.

 Obi-wan dives down and shows him the hatch under the boat, how to get in and out, and that seems to ease him further. He’s waiting, in the pool inside the cabin when Obi-wan and Boga come in. Boga wags her tail, but Obi-wan forces her to sit by the door, where she collapses with a whine, laying her head on her paws and making cow eyes at him. But the poor man’s been through enough without having to submit to the eager sniffs and licks of an unfamiliar creature.

 “What is that,” the man asks, eying her warily.

 “A dog – a pet, like an octopus. But very friendly – not hurting. And I keeping her away.” Obi-wan draws a little closer, and sets the bucket and bowl he’s brought down by the edge of the pool. “Here. For eating. I bring more, but, looks like they not feeding you well. So many small meals are being better. Keep you from sick.”

 The man glances, at Obi-wan’s chest, where his tattoo is still visible under the sopping fabric of his shirt. He reaches into the bucket, selects a fish, and dives a little further into the pool to eat. But he thanks Obi-wan as he goes, and that’s progress.

 Linebreak***

 Before now, Obi-wan has only ever committed one type of crime in his life, but though he is new to … murder, at least the illegal kind, he knows how bad it would be for him to flee town immediately. So he remains at the docks for the night, enquires at Palpatine’s offices in the morning, and then goes back to the boat to wait.

 He’s tried his best to explain to the merman why they would not be heading underway immediately, and though he didn’t look exactly pleased with the news, he doesn’t immediately flee out the hatch. He spends most of his time alternating between sleeping and eating; which, Obi-wan can only hope, will at least put him in a position to better survive if he does ultimately decide to strike out on his own. Obi-wan tries to give him his space, and spends most of his time out on the deck with Boga, reading or working on his most recent manuscript.

 On the third day, the police finally come. There are only two of them. Hopefully they would have brought more, if they were come to arrest a man who’d murdered three people.

 He walks himself down to the lower deck, Boga trotting happily by his side, as they clearly pause in front of his slip. “Hello, can I help you?”

 “We’re looking for a marine biologist?” the older of the two asks – the younger one seems preoccupied with patting Boga, who’s jumping up and wagging her tail with glee.

 “That would be me – well, I didn’t go to school for it, so perhaps it’s a bit presumptuous to claim as such. But I have published, in scientific journals and the like.”

 The officer nods politely, but doesn’t look all that interested in the specificities of Obi-wan’s professional qualifications. “And what do you know of a man called Sheev Palpatine?”

 Obi-wan’s mouth turns down with a displeasure that he does not try to hide. “That I suspected him of poaching; though if you’re here asking me about him, I suppose you already know that.”

 The younger one opens his mouth, no doubt to try to correct Obi-wan as to why they’re actually here, but the older one gestures him to be quiet. “And why did you suspect that.”

 “Well, he’d written to me, asking me to come out and see some large aquatic creature that he caught, that was not adjusting well to life in captivity. I have the letter somewhere, here amongst my papers, if you’d like …”

 The older officer nods, and Obi-wan goes up to the top deck to fetch it. The older passes it off to the younger to review, and gestures for Obi-wan to continue.

 “It’s not uncommon for me to receive such letters, and they’re usually from men who’ve managed somehow to get their hands on sharks, either to keep as pets or to exhibit. For all the wealthy seem to be enthralled with them, sharks do not do well in captivity – they die quickly. So their owners panic, and rush to me to try to protect their investment. I suspected this was the situation Mr. Palpatine had gotten himself in, and so I agreed to come, to see what manner of creature it was. And suspecting that if it was indeed a shark, it was almost certain that …”  

 “He’d poached it,” the older officer fills in, lips turning down, and Obi-wan nods.

 “Some smaller species of shark are legal to own – but most are either captured illegally, or bought and sold on the black market. When I went to his offices, to meet with him, he was incredibly cagey. I asked outright what the animal was that he had, but he’d only describe it in broad terms … approximate size, what kind of tank it was kept it, the like. I told him time and time again that it would be difficult to help him if he wouldn’t tell me what it was, let alone whether or not I could see the creature, but he was reluctant. I finally just recommend that he secure a much larger area for it to swim, since that never hurts, and suggested that perhaps once it was relocated, I could see it in person. He said he would contact me in a day or two, but he never did.”

 “Was anyone else in this meeting with him?”

 “Yes. A friend of his – another fop to be frank – called Amedda, who was investing in the project, and another man, Tarkin … he honestly seemed a rather unsavory character, and he never really said what his exact role in all of it was.”

 The officers exchange a look, and the older one nods.

 “It’s … nothing we’ve ever been able to prove, but it’s common knowledge that he’s – was – mobbed up,” the younger one nods. “Based on what you’re telling us, I’d guess that he one that obtained the animal in question. His crime family is well connected to the blank market.”

 “Was,” Obi-wan says, and the older officer shuffles around, pulling some pictures out of a briefcase.

 “He was killed, a couple days ago, in what seems to have been a violent altercation between him, Mr. Palpatine and Mr. Amedda. It seems as though they took your advice. They were in a boathouse, down by the warf, recently purchased, and they’d fenced off an area of the water. We also found a dried out tank in their offices, so presumably this was was where they’d moved whatever it was that they had.”

 “Presumably? You mean, you didn’t find it there.”

 The man shuffles through his pictures to find the one he wants, and passes it over to Obi-wan. It’s of the section of the wire, that he cut. He studies over it, before passing his back.

 “Looking that, I’m almost positive that it was a shark, and just as large as they’d claimed, too, to have been strong enough to rend the wire like that.”

 “You really think a shark would be that smart?” The younger one asks, a bit doubtfully, and Obi-wan shrugs.

 “Smart, perhaps not, but very practiced. The great whites are drawn to the lobster traps, especially when they’re young and inexperienced and looking for an easy meal. Eventually some of them figure out how to get into them, through trial and error. Talk to any trapper, and they can show you a dozen of their larger boxes ripped up just like this.”

 “You’re making me glad it was gone before we’d gotten there,” the younger officers says, grimacing.

 “We’d thought that one of them had let it go, or tried to steal it, and that’s what set off the argument.” The older officer says, a questioning tilt to his tone.

 “It’s possible, but I think unlikely, if only because I’d imagine that whoever attempted such a thing would have ended up … somewhat perforated. It’s a myth, that sharks attack people, at least the wild ones. They mostly only attack when provoked, like all large animals. But they’re not necessarily picky eaters, if they’re truly hungry enough, and those in captivity, that have been cooped up and underfed – will bite first and ask questions later, if given the chance.”

 “Now I’m really glad it was gone before we got there,” the younger officer mutters, eyes wide. “Guess if it got out on its own they still could have suspected eachother, anyway.”

 “Either that, or tempers started running hot when they realized their cash cow’d escaped,” the older officer says tiredly, tucking his photos away. “You tie up a lot of money in something and then that thing’s gone? That’s when the guns usually come out, especially with the mob involved. The only thing we gotta worry about now is a pissed shark out in the harbor. You think this thing’s going to stick around, head for the beaches?”

 “I’d doubt it; it will naturally be drawn back to deeper waters on it’s own. And I think it’s had quite enough of people for a lifetime,” Obi-wan says, and none of that is even a lie.

The older officer snorts. “Haven’t we all. Well, we appreciate you talking to us, helping us tie up some loose ends. This is all pretty open and shut, we’ll probably have it closed out by the end of the week. You mind we take down your address, of that letter, just in case we need it later?”

 Obi-wan gives them the number of his city PO Box, says he’s frequently on the water but he sees everything usually in a month or two. They seem unbothered by this, and with one last pat to Boga, amble off the way they came.

 It was all so very easy, in the end, except for the chill, still lingering in his chest.

 They set out the next morning, after Obi-wan’s done a night’s worth of fishing, and stocked up in the city on whatever else they might need. The man is still asleep, as they get underway, and so Obi-wan leaves him his plate of food and dives down to secure the bottom hatch himself, sealing it off against the water of the sea. He’ll leave it open at night, so his guest can leave, if he wants, but not while they’re moving. It won’t do either of them any good if he gets sucked right out into the ocean.

 He makes good time, managing to get a third of the way down the coast before pulling into a bay for the night and casting out the lines and diving down to open the hatch. Then, there’s nothing else for it to check on his guest.

 Linebreak***

 Reyshe’ase wakes to the feeling of vibrations, through the water, and for a second he thinks they’re the drums of home. But he quickly comes to his senses, and remembers where he is. He’s on the boat, of the impossible human, the one who has a Mandalorian heart. The human who said that they’d start moving, come morning, which would account for the vibrations. He’d warned Rayshe’ase that he’d be sealing the hatch, at the bottom, otherwise the current created by the movement would just suck Rayshe’ase out; and a quick dive refers that he’s done so. But even if this was all a trick, even if the human never opens that hatch again … it’s still better than where he was. More space, better food, and someone that can actually speak, properly speak, words that Rayshe’ase hasn’t heard in so long…

 The human has left him a lot more food than usual, and a … a note, whose characters he recognizes, heart leaping, even if they’re on a weird dry white thing, that crumples when touched. Mine guest, I must staying out to steering while we move, but please shouting need me. Am hoping I leave to you enough food for the day, but there is being more. If all are being well, I will coming back once we stop for the night, for checking on you.

 It's not signed with anything. Do the humans not have names, to call eachother by? Reyshe’ase has spent … too long, around them, but he’s tried his best to learn as little as he can of them. What more was there to learn, than that they were exactly as monstrous as they’d always been taught? His energies were better focused to remembering, on dreaming of home, of giving himself over to the stale, awful water of his prison and hoping that he’s just … fall asleep, and not wake up.

 Perhaps he’s gotten his wish, and this is all a dream. It seems fantastical enough.

 He spends the day just as he has the previous ones, swimming up to eat when his stomach wakes him, and then sinking down into the soft embrace of the water to sleep. This fresh lovely water, that makes it easy to rest, easy to reach for the pleasant memories of home in his dreams. They were at war, when he was taken, he knows. But in his dreams, he can return to his childhood, memories of him and all his brothers racing through the water at the edges of the cove, of going to the surface and daring eachother to poke their heads above water. Of sleeping, at night, curled up in bed with Eyeyah, their Mom’s soft singing coming close from the next room.

 He's woken for the first time not by his stomach, but by a noise down below, and his heart pounds in alarm until he realizes what it is; the human, unsealing the hatch at the bottom, so that Rayshe’ase can unhook the metal door and leave, if he wanted. Just like the human promised.

 He uses his dwindled strength to swim up so that his head, at least, is above the water. And waits.

 The human comes in with more buckets, the creature, and with … much less clothes. He only wears some small cloth around his waist, concealing where his body splits to form his legs, and nothing else. His skin is odd, and pale, and it only makes the ink on him stand out more sharply. The scars, too, so many; as many as Rayshe’ase’s father ever had. A warrior. And a long, beautiful string of pearls, strung around one of his legs in the same pattern a Mandalorian would string about their tail. Proof of marriage, proof that whosever heart he makes beat must love him dearly, to give such a lavish gift.

 The human tells the creature – who he calls useless, for some reason – to sit, as he always does, and it makes the same noise as it always does as it complies. He gives Rayshe’ase a tentative smile, and sets the buckets down by the edge of the pool.

 “We are stopping for the night. Brining you this, if you wanted for bathing.” He dips his hand into the bucket, and lifts it up, showing Rayshe’ase the … the sand, merciful Sho’cye, the sand, and he hears himself make a pained, desperate sound in the back of his throat, but it’s been so long since he’s been clean that the rot has sunk into his scales …

 He scrambles forward for it, sloshing water against the sides of the pool and out over the floor, but he doesn’t care, he seizes a handful of sand and scrubs, hard and fast against his tail. but he’s weak, so weak, and the sand drifts out of his hand as his arm falls away, he can’t even bathe himself …

 “Is okay,” the human is murmuring, soft and low. “Shh, shh, Is okay. I are helping, yes? I are helping you. Don’t worrying.”

 The human unlocks some sort of latch, and one of the walls that keeps water from splashing up out of the pool swings away. The human unrolls some sort of lumpy fabric thing on the floor, and then … and then he’s lifting Rayshe’ase up and out of it, so that his top half is spread out on the fabric thing, with his tail still in the water. The fabric thing, it’s soft, almost like a bed of kelp, and the whole arrangement becomes even more comfortable when the human slips carefully into the water and raises up some sort of platform that supports most of the weight of Rayshe’ase’s tail, so that he’s lying completely prone. He hasn’t been able to lie down in what feels like so long, he’s almost forgotten the feeling of it.  It’s glorious.

 “Okay?” The human asks, and Rayshea nods. The human swings another one of the walls away and sits so that his legs are left dangling in the water, the weird bend of them brushing against Rayshe’ase’s tail. He reaches over for the bucket, and lifts out a handful of sand. He meets Rayshe’ase’s eyes, and asks, carefully, “I helping you?”

 Rayshe’ase can’t say that he wants the human touching him, wants anyone touching him, but by Sho’cye he so wants to be clean. So he nods, and the human carefully starts sprinkling sand over his tail, and gently rubbing it through the dead scales and filth layering Rayshe’ase’s fin.

 The human goes slow, and careful, and stops whenever Rayshea’se makes pained noise, to slather on ointment that smells as though it could have come straight from Kix’s shelves. It didn’t – it must have been given to the human by his heart – but it still makes him flash with sorrow, still makes him shake, and the human hushes him gently, and starts to sing.

 Linebreak***

//After Rayshe’ase’s bath, Obi-wan asks if he wants to go down through the hatch and swim around a little, and when it becomes apparent that Fives can’t really swim at all, since he’s been trapped in a tank, Obi-wan’s like, okay, here’s what we’ll do, and makes a loose loop around Rayshe’ase’s chest, under his arms, and ties the other end of the rope around his waist, and swims around, dragging Rayshea’se through the water behind him.

 //And even though he’s not swimming it feels like he’s swimming and it’s a very emotional and comforting experience for him.

 //They repeat this process when they stop every night, having Rayshe’ase swim when he can and Obi-wan drag him when he can’t, to build his muscles back up, and this dispels any lingering doubts that Rayshea’se has that Obi-wan isn’t on the up and up, because he’s basically strengthening Rayshea’se up and giving him the means to escape, and Obi-wan leaves the hatch unlocked every night when they’re done, just like he promised.

 Linebreak***

 //Reyshea’se assumes that since Obi-wan has Mandalorian tattoos that his heart must be a Mandalorian inker, which makes sense to him because the inkers are the ones that go up to the surface the most often, to get materials for their dyes, so that’s probably how they met. And another Mandalorian wouldn’t have asked an inker to come and mark a human, that would be a literal death wish.

 //So when they introduce themselves, once Rayshea’se is feeling more up to talking, Rayshea’se doesn’t tell Obi-wan his real name, because every Mandalorian knows who he is, and if Obi-wan were to tell his heart that he met another Mandalorian named Rayshea’se Obi-wan’s heart would freak out that the  royal guard was coming to kill them and then Obi-wan. So he tells Obi-wan that his name is Shea.

 //So Obi-wan has no idea that it’s Cody’s brother. There is a strong resemblance, but he’s already met all of Cody’s family. So he’s like, must be a funny coincidence. Nice to meet you,  Shea.

 //Rayshe’ase’s also figured out that Obi-wan’s inker hasn’t told Obi-wan that their relationship isn’t illegal from a Mandalorian perspective, and Obi-wan has no idea the danger his heart’s put him in. And the more time they spend together the more they get to know eachother and Obi-wan always talks about his  husband so loviningly and so wonderingly, like yes, my husband is kind and strong and talented and he’s so good to me, better than I deserve, really, and I was so alone and sad before I met him, and now I’m so happy, it’s so wonderful that we found eachother. And Rayshe’ase kind of resents this mystery husband for deceiving such a sweet person like Obi-wan, for kind of … taking advantage of him, a little, but he recognizes that in this case it would be more cruel to tell Obi-wan the truth.

  Linebreak***

 "Are you being sure you will not coming home with me?" Obi-wan asks. He's wringing his hands, a little fretfully, and Rayshe'ase is helpless against the fondness that blooms in his chest. "My riddur can be helping you, can be calling your family, the healers. No need for swimming by yourself."

 There's every need. Obi-wan's done so much, for him, and Rayshe’ase will not put him in any more danger than he already is in. And nor will he reveal the danger that Obi-wan's husband has put him in - he'd rather cut out his own heart than ruin the bond Obi-wan has in his, than reveal just what the man Obi-Wan loves and trusts so much has really done.

 "No, we're very close. I'll be fine, I promise." He darts forward and enfolds Obi-war into a hug. May your heart take good care of you for the rest of your life, he prays. "Thank you. Thank you for all you've done for me."

 “No thanking. It was being the right thing." Obi-wan squeezes back, before pulling away to earnestly meet Rayshe'ase's eyes. "Shea, may Sho'cye ever bless your path."

 "And yours," Rayshe'ase chokes, pulling Obi-wan close again and pressing their foreheads together.

 Obi-wan softens, hushing and holding him, until the worst of Rayshe'ase's trembling stops, until Rayshe'ase pulls back again, full to brimming with so many things he's not sure how to say.

 "Is okay." Obi-wan tells him. Still smiling. "Can be going. Being sure your family is so excited to see you. Not needing to keep them waiting any longer."

 Rayshe'ase nods, throat tight, and holds the memory of Obi-wan's bright smile in his head as he dives.

 Even with all Obi-wan has done for him, all their swims together with the rope, Rayshe'ase is still so weak. It takes him hours and many breaks to even reach the halfway point down to Sundari. And he doesn't know if he'll find family, excited to see him. They were at war, when he was taken. What if they lost, and Obi-wan's inker is able to take refuge in a human because he’s one of the only Mandadorians left?

 Luckily, he’s not tortured too long with what-ifs. There's a phalanx of the royal guard swimming up towards the surface. He has no idea why in the name of Sho'cye they would be doing such a thing, but he's too grateful to care. He calls a song to them, voice rusty with disuse, and they pivot, flashing shock all down their bodies.

 "Prince Rayshea’se! How-!"

 "It is a long story and one I wish to tell only once. Please, just," Rayshease's voice cracks.

"Please just bring me home. I'm... too weak, to swim fast on my own."

 They do as he asks, of course, spinning into motion with a flurry of activity. Their fastest surges off to bring the news to the capitol, and the rest gather around him; two press close to his sides, ducking under his arms, and do his swimming for him, speeding him down quickly to Sundari. They tell him that the war is over. That his family is all well, so it's with only joy and anticipation in his heart that he looks down over the city.

 There's already music, celebrating his return, moving through his bones, and it only adds to the dreamlike quality of seeing his family waiting for him on the ridge overlooking Sundari. His mother, and Rex, and Kix and Boba, and he breaks free clumsily and surges toward them with all his strength.

 They meet him halfway, enveloping him, shining with happiness and laying praise on Sho'cye for his return, and it's everything he's dreamed about for the last two years, except...

 "Where's Eyeyah? And Kote, and Wolv? The guard said that they were alright, that they lived..."

 “They do, they do," his mother soothes. "They were away, but not far, and we sent word to them. They'll be back any minute, I promise."

 "We can wait for them at the palace," Kix says, a little pointedly, throwing an arm around Rayshe’ase's shoulder, and bracing him up against his side. “In the healing halls."

 Rayshe'ase's been notorious for avoiding the healing halls ever since he was a minnow, but right now he can think of nothing better than to be ensconced safely in them, looked after by his own brother. "Okay. Just this once."

 Kix flashes in amusement and snorts for good measure. But he bears Rayshe’ase forward with utmost gentleness.

 His family catches him up on the end of the war, once he comments on the ink over Rex’s heart. Apparently, they won by allying themselves with the Togruta, and Rex is now married to the one of the Empress’ daughters. Ahsoka, he says, proudly and happily, and he’s sure Reyshe’ase will like her. He tells her the story of how they met, her sneaking away to join the delegation, them fighting together, and fondness and love are clear in his every word. Reyshe’ase can’t be anything but happy for him, and tells him so, and Rex beams.

 They tell him also, about Wolv and his capture, faces sobering, so that Rayshe’ase won’t be surprised when he sees him. He’s doing so much better than he was, Kix promises, healing well in both mind and body. But he did lose an eye, and much of his mobility, so he’s moved from the army proper to the royal guard now.

 Rayshe’ase just thanks Sho’cye that he’s alive. It seems impossible that anyone could get taken by the shark-riders and live, but then again, most would say it’s impossible to get taken by the humans and live, and yet here Reyshe’ase is now. Sho’cye must be smiling on them, for two miracles in so short a time.

 True to his mother’s word, Eyeyah, Kote, Wolv and a Togruta that must be Ahsoka are all waiting for them in Kix’s treatment room in the halls. Rayshe’ase keens as Eyeyah slams into him. They’re practically crushing eachother with the force of their greeting but Rayshe’ase hardly cares, even when Kix tsks at Eyeyah and orders him to be gentle. They stay clinging to eachother even as Kote and Wolv come forward to greet him with brushes of their temples to his, and careful embraces from behind. And it’s Eyeyah who finally asks, voice cracking with emotion, what happened to him.

 “I was taken, by humans,” Rayshe’ase says, and he can see flashes of shock and horror light up the room. “They kept me in a … clear rock cage, very small, for so long. It was … but then they got careless, and made an enclosure for me, in the ocean. So I escaped.”

 “They’re dead now,” he adds, lifting his face from Eyeyah’s shoulder to look at Kote. As Mand’alor, he needs to know that their people – all Merfolk – are safe. That they’re not in danger of discovery. As he does so, he notices for the first time that Kote’s heart circle has also been filled with ink. He blinks, but it’s still there. He supposes that it was inevitable; as Mand’alor Kote would sooner or later have to wed. But he still didn’t expect … “You found your heart, too. Congratulations, Kote.”

 “Thank you,” Rayshe’ase,” Kote says, but he looks … shifty, almost. Everyone in the room does, all of a sudden. “But there’s, um, something you need to know about him.”

 “What, is he not one of the nobles? You know I don’t care about that.”

 “Not, it’s …” Kote exchanges a glance with Wolv, and Wolv shrugs. “He’s um … well, he’s a human. But he’s nothing like the ones that took you, I swear, he’s … he’s kind and good and he would never hurt any of us.”

 A human. Kote’s heart is a human. Suddenly, a million things starts clicking into place all at once. He holds up his hand, cutting silent Kote’s almost panicked reassurances, and says, “this human, describe him to me.”

 Kote tilts his head, brow furrowed, but does. His heart is very pale, skin lovely and white like a pearl, with eyes as blue as the sky and hair that shines red like the rising sun.

 Oh, of course he is, Rayshe’ase thinks, and he can see his own colors bloom with amusement, as he shakes his head back and forth, as he clicks happily, and the whole family draws closer, alarmed, but he manages to calm them, and himself, and re-tells the story, all of it, from the beginning. Everything that happened, and all that Obi-wan did for him.

 “I’m sorry I didn’t tell all of it,” he says, once he’s done. “I just … I didn’t know the laws had changed. And I’m sorry for thinking so poorly of you, that you’d somehow, endangered him, deceived him…”

 “You were keeping him safe,” Kote says, squeezing Rayshe’ase’s arm and pulling him into a hug, as best he can with Eyeyah still in the way. “Never apologize for that. And  I did endanger him, in the beginning.”

 Mom clicks in disagreement, and Kote pulls a face back at her. It’s clearly a disagreement they’ve had many times, and they drop it quickly, turning their attention back to him.

 “It seems I have him to thank for the life of another of my sons, whom he’s brought back from the dead,” she says, passing her hand through Rayshe’ase’s hair. It’s gotten so long, the humans who had him never bothered to cut it.

 “I want to go see him,” Rayshe’ase says. Now that he knows that it’s alright, that he won’t be putting Obi-wan in any danger… “I need to let him know that I made it back safely. He was so worried, when I left. I need to let him know.”

 “Hush, Reyshe’ase, we’ll tell him,” Kote says. “We’ll send a messenger, right away.”

 “No, I want to go,” Rayshe’ase insists. It’s important, that it’s him. Obi-wan deserves no less. “He didn’t know, who I was. I want to be the one to tell him.”

 They all turn to Kix. Kix sighs. “Fine. But tomorrow. For now, you rest.”

 Linebreak***

 Even home, it’s a disappointment to find that he still doesn’t sleep well. He wakes from nightmares time and time again, jarred each time that he finds his family there instead of the humans that had him, or Obi-wan.

 “Is there anything we can do?” Mom asks, rubbing at his arm, the third time he’s jerked awake.

 “Could you … sing?” Rayshe’ase asks, feeling stupid. “Obi-wan would sing for me, when I – it … it helps me fall back a sleep. He’s got a pretty nice voice, for a human.”

 “Of course,” Mom says, smiling and relieved, before she shoots a teasing look Kote way. “You’re lucky that you got to him first, Kote, or it sounds like perhaps Rayshea’se might have beat you to it.”

 There are clicks of amusement throughout the room, and Rayshea’se never thought he’d get to have this again, just the simple pleasure, of joking with his family.

 But he doesn’t want to worry them, by being maudlin, so he shrugs, and says, “Obi-wan’s great and all, but the legs don’t really do it for me.”

 Kote flashes with lust and then very quickly thereafter with embarrassment, and the clicking gets louder, but Kote holds his chin up high and declares, “You don’t know what you’re missing. The legs are the best part.”

 Rex makes a disgusted noise, low in the back of his throat. “Ugh, stop it, Kote, that’s more than I ever needed to know.”

 “Oh, please,” Wolv scoffs. “You think that’s bad? You don’t have to hear them, they’re so loud with eachother that it carries through the water-”

 “Alright,” Kote snaps, flashing embarrassment again. “What song would you like us to sing, Rayshea’se.”

 “Nar’uur,” Rayshea’se asks, a pleading edge to his tone that he can’t control. “That’s what … he sang that one a lot. Said that you always sing it to him, so its one of his favorites.”

 “Oh,” Kote says, and he has a soft, tender, poleaxed look on his face. But no one clicks their amusement this time. “Of course, Shea, anything.”

 “Lie back down,” Eyeyah suggests softly, and settles with him down on the bed. Mom starts and everyone else picks up the song, note by note, letting it build in the water, and Rayshea’se lets himself fall down into sleep, and doesn’t wake from a dream again.

Story 2 – Wolv gets a prosthetic

 “It’s hard,” Wolv says, one night. Obi-wan’s stretched out on the dock, and Wolv is stretched out in the water beside him; they’re both looking up at the stars. All the merfolk that he’s met, that have come to visit Obi-wan, find them both fascinating and very comforting. Cody says they remind him of the way that the plankton glow, especially at night, points of light against inky blackness, familiar and anchoring despite the way that they shift. Not so different as the stars, in the end.

 Obi-wan doesn’t ask ‘what is,’ knows that it’s better to stay quiet and give Wolv the space and time that he needs to finish his thought.

 “The emptiness,” he says haltingly, and gestures to the side of his face, where the leather patch lays. “Feeling it, always. Even now that the pain is gone.”

 “I’m sorry.” Obi-wan says softly. He’s so, so sorry, for the wounds that war gouges into them all, the deep scars that they need. “I’ve known many men, who lost limbs in the war, and a lot of them say the same. Not all of them can afford prosthetics, but even the ones that can-”

 He stops, struck dumb with inspiration, at the same time that Wolv frowns, and repeats, “prosthetics,” rolling the unfamiliar English word around in his mouth.

 “They’re a … an artificial replacement, for a part of the body that’s been lost. Not just limbs, they have them for teeth too, and eyes,” Obi-wan explains, heart caught in his throat. “They make them out of glass … remember the marbles I showed you? They’re like that, I think, but bigger. We could … we could get you one, if you wanted. If you thought it might help.”

 He holds his breath a Wolv stills, completely and utterly in the water.

 “Yes,” Wolv says, after a moment, voice rough. “Yes. I think … if you can really … I think it would.”

 Linebreak***

 Obi-wan does a little research, makes some inquiries. The general consensus seems to be that while optical prosthesis can be ordered through the mail, if one can afford it the best thing to do is to send for an occulist to come in person. Affordability isn’t the real barrier here, thanks to Eyeyah’s explorations, and Cody’s insistence on giving Obi-wan all the gold in Mandalore’s vaults. More the tail and fins that Wolv sports.

 But Wolv has said he doesn’t want any the merfolk to know what they’re doing until it’s done, and has gently but firmly shut down Obi-wan’s plea to at least involve Kix. So Obi-wan does what he always does, when he’s at the beginning of hatching a plan. He goes to Kita.

 It’s really not that difficult, in the end. On the path to successfully finding a way for Obi-wan and Cody to sleep close to eachother without getting Obi-wan to wet or Cody too dry, there were many failures, and it’s one of these that they drag back in from the shed. A labor of love on Obi-wan’s part, the frame all basically one big box with a hole in both the top the box and the mattress both, so that Cody would lie with his torso on the mattress and his tail in the box. And a little opening, on the side, where the box could be filled with fresh sea water every night, and Cody could sleep in perfect comfort. And it would have worked a treat, really, if the bloody thing hadn’t leaked and leaked and leaked no matter what Obi-wan tried to plug it up. After the fifth time they’d woken up to a flooded floor and the smell of wet dog Obi-wan had conceded defeat; he’d gone back  to the drawing board, and the bed was banished to the shed.

 All the effort is more than worth it now. Wolv fits right into it and with a couple of pillows to prop him up and some creative arranging of blankets, Wolv makes a very convincing picture of a bedridden amputee. Once he’s settled, Kita and Obi-wan leave him in Boga’s care, and head into town to pick up the occulist.

 Dr. Che is a no-nonsense woman in her fifties. She has an absolutely massive trunk with her in addition to a small suitcase, and Obi-Wan wonders with a little flash of humor exactly how many eyes she’s got in there.

 Linebreak***

 //There are actually two parts to ocular prosthetics, a circular filler which goes into the socket and is then sewn over with muscle, and then the actual glass eye which sits over that and can be removed as needed. So glass eyes aren’t actually round! The more you know (star and rainbow).

 //So Dr. Che needs to come twice, first to put in the filler and then a month later, once it’s healed, fit Wolv for his prosthetic.

 Linebreak***

 Wolv does exceptionally better, almost immediately, even with just the filler in his socket.

 “It feels good,” Wolv confesses, a week after the surgery, when he and Obi-wan asks him. “The socket is still damaged, the nerves, but … it doesn’t feel hollow anymore. It feels more like I’m just closing my eye. It’s … so much better.”

 “Being most glad,” Obi-wan says, and the last of his doubts about doing this fall away.

 Cody and the rest of the family notice the change too, and though there are many grateful looks thrown Obi-wan’s way, none of them remark upon it. Probably too afraid that if they try to mention it, it will go away. But their joy and relief also works to ease – though not entirely dissipate – the fear that they’ll be angry at him or helping Wolv conceal the whole thing.

 The month passes quickly, all told, and then Dr. Che’s returning. He sees her note the changes in Wolv’s demeanor too, and the quiet pride that rises in her eyes at it. She declares that his socket has healed perfectly from the surgery, and that if Wolv is ready, she’ll got ahead and make the cast.

 Wolv is more than ready, and he doesn’t even flinch as Dr. Che presses the soft putty in.

 She hardens the cast, and then spends some time comparing it to various trays of eyes from her trunk before she’s satisfied. She holds her chosen tray out to Wolv and explains that he can pick any one of these to use, and then she’ll mail along his two others that she makes custom from his mold. Obi-wan has ordered many spares to be made, knowing full well how objects can get easily lost in the ocean.

 “This one will probably be the closet match to your color,” Dr. Che says, pointing to the dark brown one at the bottom of the tray.

 Wolv’s eye skates over the offerings before he brightens, and shakes his head. ‘I’d like the one at the top. That blue one.’

 It is indeed quite blue, almost a perfect match for Obi-wan’s own. Obi-wan swallows, and translates for Dr. Che, before adding. “Wolv, are you sure? You can pick any of the colors that you want, it doesn’t have to be …”

 ‘That’s the one I want,’ Wolv says firmly, as Kita takes up the mantle of translating. ‘I don’t want to try to make it the same as it was, because it won’t be. And this way, I’ll have the same colored eyes as all my brothers.’

 Obi-wan reaches out and squeezes Wolv’s hand, touched beyond words. Wolv’s face softens, before he smirks, and adds, ‘someone has to put a stop to you hogging the color.’

 Obi-wan lets out a full, delighted laugh, can’t help it really.

 Dr. Che nods, lifts the blue eye up from the case, and gently, gently sets it in place. She’s already warned Wolv that it will feel very odd at first, but tht in less than five minutes the feeling will fade. Wolv clenches both eyes shut, but Obi-wan can see the tension fade from his face as he does adjust. And then he opens them again.

 ‘How do I look,’ Wolv asks, and the smile – simple and happy – playing around his lips makes Obi-wan’s breath catches in his throat. It’s like he said. He doesn’t look like nothing ever happened to him. But his pleasure, his happiness … he looks like he’s come out the other side of it.

 ‘You look perfect,’ Obi-wan says, in Mando’a, and Wolv beams.

 Thanks to Wolv’s choice, it’s Obi-wan, in the end, who ends up sitting for what Dr. Che calls a color matching portrait, where she shines a light on his face and draws a very large and very detailed imaged of his iris. And then, with that, she’s done. She packs everything up in her trunk, and it’s time for them to say their goodbyes.

 She allows Wolv to touch her arm, gently, and thank her, excitement radiating out of every part of him, and Obi-wan to gratefully shake her hand. Kita leaves with her, to escort her back to town. And Obi-wan helps Wolv back into the water. He also sens one of the ever-present royal staff back to Sundari, with a request for the family to gather. Wolv passes the time waiting for them swimming around energetically, testing how his new eye fares in the water, and declaring it a success every time he surfaces.

 Obi-wan keeps (hah) an eye on him, but ducks away periodically to help the cooks put together a large spread, ever conscious of the fact that he’s hosting his in-laws and wanting everything to be nice for them. Plus, it merits a celebration, this milestone in Wolv’s recovery. By the time the evening rolls around, everything is perfect; a feast is laid out along the edges of the deck and the lanterns that Obi-wan strung up around the lagoon are lit to supplement the glow of the moon.

 Obi-wan slips into the water the second that Boyal comes to tell them that the royal family’s arrived, so that Cody can pull him down under the water for their typical enthusiastic greeting. But he encourages them to surface much sooner than he usually would. This is Wolv’s night.

 “What’s the occasion?” Cody asks, still holding Obi-wan close even though he’s pulled back from nuzzling along Obi-wan’s throat.

 “Wolv has something he’s like to share with you all.”

 “Is this whatever surprise you guys have been planning for the last month, that you thought we didn’t know about,” Eyeyah demands. “The one you had to call that human woman for?”

 “Dr. Che,” Wolv says. “And yes.”

 “A doctor? You’re not sick are you,” Kix demands, looking between Obi-wan and Kita with narrowed eyes, like he expects one of them to keel over at any moment.

 “No, they’re fine,” Wolv says, rolling his eye. Obi-wan smiles, because he knows that under the patch that Wolv’s put back on the prosthetic eyes is rolling too. “She came for me. We disguised me as a paralyzed human, so that she could do this.”

 Wolv lifts his patch and Vah’yen gasps, her hands flying to her mouth. Kix swears, and Cody lets Obi-wan go to race over to Wolv and take Wolv’s face into his hands.

 “What-” he stutters, looking between Obi-wan and Kita. “How?”

 “Is that another human’s eye?” Eyeyah demands, with sort of excited and fascinated horror. “Did you steal another human’s eye?”

 “No, of course not, it’s … glass. I’ll- look.” Wolv has filed down a few of his nails, as soon as Dr. Che left, and Obi-wan had helped him practice taking the eye in and out until he could do it comfortably on his own. He takes it out now, holding it out in his palm so they can all see. Kix plucks it out of his hand and drops it into Rex’s palm so that he can haul Wolv towards him and look into the socket.

 He makes a surprised noise, as he peers in. “Oh, it’s…”

 “It’s part of the process. There’s a little ball, that they put in to fill the socket, and then they sew it shut. She said it would help keep me from getting all those infections. And then the … prosthetic goes in the remaining space.” He accepts his prosthetic back from Cody, now that everyone’s had a chance to look, and slips it back into place. “It’s something the humans invented, for when they loose eyes, and Obi-wan and Kita helped me to do it. I … still can’t see, out of it, but it helps me to feel more normal. More … whole. I kept having nightmares where I’d wake up and the eye would be gone and it felt … but now when I wake up, there’s something there, and it’s … a lot better.”

 There’s a moment of stunned silence before Vah’yen sobs, pulling both Wolv and Obi-wan close to her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you-”

 “No is needing for thanking,” Obi-wan tries to protest, but Vah’yen makes a hushing noise and Obi-wan complies. There’s a splash of water behind him, and it’s Cody, coming to plaster himself along the back of Obi-wan’s back and brush their temples together.

 “There’s every need,” Cody murmurs, and presses a kiss to Obi-wan’s cheek.

 “Yes,” Vah’yen says. “You keep helping all my children. I am indebted to the both of you.”

 “It was Obi-wan’s idea,” Kita says, smiling. She’s stayed safe and dry on the dock, out of hugging range. “I just helped him carry that terrible bed he made in.”

   Linebreak***

 //Kita is an OC that served with Obi-wan on Melidadaan (in my personal quest to add more lesbians to SW), headcanon that in this verse she left her family in India to serve as a code breaker for the British after all her older brothers were drafted and killed, and then from there was recruited into the MI6 by Cerasi. And she ended up attached with Obi-wan’s unit in between her covert missions, so they fought together and got to be good friends. After the war ended, she went back to make sure her family in India was okay, but she and Obi-wan still wrote letters. Until Obi-wan’s letters stopped coming, and so she went to his address and found it burned down, and so she’s like, okay, and tracked  him all the way to his remote island home on Hawaii. So she just like shows up in a sailboat, and is like, oh good, you didn’t kill yourself.

 //And she stays for a little while because she’s got her own ish from the war, and because she’s a spy she’s like, hmm, what’s different about you, oh, you’re in love. And Obi-wan’s like, yes, I found someone here, we’re in a relationship but I can’t introduce you, and Kita’s like, I get it, you know I do. I’m happy for you, just be careful.

 (Kita and Cerasi were lovers, until Cerasi died in the war. ☹ So Kita totally gets the supreme shittyness of period-queerphobia)

 //And Kote’s like, once Kita’s asleep at nights, is like, who is this, oh, she’s like your sister, I see. Well, if you trust her, you should tell her. I want to meet your family.

 //And so Kita meets mermaids and is like, mmm, I’ve lost it, but once Obi-wan gets her over the existential hurtle enjoys meeting Obi-wan’s new husband and family and they’re all totally vibing.

 //And Kita keeps getting letters from home being like – when are you coming home (and marrying a man) and Kote’s like, I have a great idea! Why don’t you marry eachother!

 //And Obi-wan’s like … I am married to you?

 //And Kote’s like, yes, we exchanged our vows before Sho’cye. But humans have … fake marriages, don’t they? Where you just report it to the government? You can do that, and then both of you would be safe

 //And Kita and Obi-wan are like, what the hell, and Obi-wan’s proposal is like Kita Lastname, will you do me the honor of entering a loveless sham paper marriage with me, so that you can have a career and be a lesbian?

 //And Kita’s like yes, a thousand times yes. And so Obi-wan and Kita marry and become the best beards to eachother.

 //And if Obi-wan were to someday happen to find his long lost “sister” who just had to come live with them… and if Kita and she happened to just be really close friends … well that’s just a good wife welcoming her sister in law, of course… ie. Kita falls in love and has a wonderful marriage of the heart with idk, Siri Tachi and Obi-wan is like, we’ll just say you’re my sister! And they all live queerly ever after.

 //And many of the townspeople are a tad sus that Obi-wan is so well off and still lets his wife AND his sister work, but they’re like, well, if that’s what he wants … *50s man shrug*

 //In this verse, Dr. Che is a Chinese American doctor who got into ocular prosthetics after the war because there was a lot of need and not a lot of practitioners. She is, as always, a total bamf.

[tennessoui]

I love your fairy tale aus so much (I have such a soft spot for your sleeping beauty one~ every time I read cody kissing anakin I lose my mind ) I was wondering if you have any other planned at all and if not if you know any other fairytale obikin fics to rec?

i have a few!!! not necessarily directly fairytale translations, but definitely like. fairytale tropes i see a lot/want to try my hand at like say, love potion (the next one)

but as far as specific fairytales made obikin made (perhaps) gffa, i would love to do a little mermaid fic like where master obi-wan and padawan ahsoka are on a mostly ocean planet and young anakin spots them and absolute falls in love with ahsoka and some sea/force witch grants him human legs after he saves obi-wan's life and they take him back with him to coruscant which is like. so much more stimuli than anakin's ever had in his life and he doesn't even know how to walk always and sometimes obi-wan gives him this gentle look that makes him go weak in his knees

(also he cannot speak because little mermaid you know)

but finally eventually anakin conveys that he saw them on that planet and saved them and then was given legs as a....gift....but he needs to kiss the one he loves in order to stay like this

and obi-wans like 'kiss ahsoka? ok....i can go get her i guess but i don't think she'll--' and anakin just throws up his hands and grabs obi-wan's collar and kisses him

and obi-wan pulls back and he's like :0 oh

and anakin's like 'hello there'

[ragnarlothcat]

Hey Ragnarlothcat how are you? I hope your having a good day ☺️. These meant be super late but I find it interesting seeing what people to expects/speculate what's going to happen in movies like it the Kenobi show, like we've seen Obi wan get burned and was dragged away, everyone was wondering what was going to happen next, if you know what I mean.

And mermaid related jsjsjsjs everyone really went would they be fishy business in your mermaid fic exploring loneliness (wink, wink nudge nudge 👀👀👀) like I can understand why but I didn't expect how fast the gutter everyone mind with too 🤣. Any ideas for any future mermaid Obikin? Mermaid storied are really my bread and butter I don't know how many I read, due i haven't actually read some about two mermaids falling in love due it's mostly mermaid/human which is okay but it's rather under used.

Like imagine deep sea Anakin and open water Obi Wan with courting misunderstandings where Anakin keeps bringing Obi Wan gifts like a shark or a tentacle from a gaint squid which to Anakin seem like normal gifts to prove he can take care of Obi Wan, but to Obi Wan these could be seen as death threats or "if you reject me you'll regret it" and since Anakin a deep sea mermaid his eyes are sensitive to light so he wear a clock (seaweed clock??) which unintentionally makes him intimating. Of course these could also be used with human Obi and mer Ani which is still funny.

Ah sorry these is getting long have a good day!

Haha well, usually when I write Obi-Wan or Anakin as some sort of creature there is sex involved so I understand where people were coming from (as it were) with the mer smut.

I hadn't had any follow up thoughts! I like the idea of two mermen though, that is fun. I've read one other fic like that (which I think I mentioned last time?) and it's a little different than my usual fare of one human guy and one non-human guy have slightly weird sex.

Deep sea merman/open water merman is cool. I was also thinking about those fish that can live in both freshwater and saltwater, so maybe one of them only comes back to the river to spawn once a year and the other one is waiting for them? It's like Hades and Persephone but with fish people!

I think I'd wait before trying my hand at any merman smut though because I do have preexisting supernatural creature fics on the go. Don't get me wrong, I love neglecting my stories for like 10 months (I hate it, why am I like this???) but I think I need to revisit some of them first, you know?

[tragedy-for-sale]

Ya'll might attack me for this one-

But like, this scene made me realize a few things. Also, I say "Ahsoka woke Rex up" when referring to her taking his chip out-

The first thing I wanna elaborate on is Rex saying "Maul got loose," then Ahsoka tells him she let him out. Rex is clearly not okay in that moment. Maul is killing his brothers and he wouldn't be if Ahsoka hadn't let him out. Rex thought Maul just got out because of chance but no, it was Ahsoka. Ahsoka, who considers Rex a friend and who woke him up to help her escape.

Now, Rex is helping her because he is very loyal to her, not just as a commander but as her friend. So when he heard it was her that let Maul out, he needs a moment, he needs her to explain but she doesn't, in fact, she hardly acknowledges his obvious shock. The reason is simple though, Ahsoka did not want to kill the clones, and with Maul's distraction, she reduces the chance that she'll have to kill them. Because Maul sure as hell will.

But this is much more personal to Rex. He's killed his brothers before and he's lost so many of his brothers in a war he didn't choose to fight in. As much as he shoves his dead brothers out of his mind, he remembers all of them. He's fighting his brothers, who love him. Rex knows that this isn't them, but while Rex fights alongside Ahsoka, that is him. He is choosing to stay alongside Ahsoka. He had an out, Ahsoka trusted him and he could have betrayed her, but he couldn't do that, Rex couldn't hurt her. But by doing that, by remaining loyal to her, he is betraying his brothers, by choosing Ahsoka he gives up everything else. When we see Rex in Rebels he's with his brothers, not Ahsoka. Now I don't know why they aren't together at this point in time but I'm almost positive one of the reasons is "I chose you over hundreds of my brothers, this time, I'm choosing my brothers."

Back to this day; Rex is hurting the entire damn time and when they're over looking Jesse and the rest of the men, when Rex cries, that's when Ahsoka realizes how really not okay he is. It takes Rex crying for her to realize that maybe she shouldn't have woken him up. That he wouldn't be suffering if she had. But then she'd be alone, and she already spent so many days alone and was about to spend even more all alone, she was unable to trust. But she could trust Rex, she wanted a friend because she wouldn't be able to do this alone.

But all the same. Ahsoka is loyal to Rex, he'd never let her down, when Anakin, Obi-Wan and the Jedi had, Rex never did. She knew if Rex knew what he was doing he would never hurt her, so she woke him up. Because when this moment passes and all that is left of now is the memories, Rex would be in pain. Regretting the actions he had no control in making. But by waking him up, Ahsoka was making a choice for him that he had no control in.

Now let's be real here, there is no other ending than Rex and Ahsoka choosing to fight alongside each other. In every reality and every timeline, Rex wakes up and chooses Ahsoka. But Jesse and all his brothers died that day in turn, and Rex will remember that pain for the rest of his life. He will remember pulling out the cold, smashed bodies of his dead brothers until he dies, he will remember everything. Ahsoka saved him to help her and to save him, but if Rex had died with Jesse and the rest of the brothers he'd betrayed, if Captain Rex had died with the Republic, oh, what a mercy that would have been.

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[morganas-pendragons]

Epiphany | Commander Cody

another clone fic before i take my leave of tcw writing at least temporarily because my idea bank is dead (update: kidding i have another now, it’s coming this week) / this will probably not be happy because this song is not happy and most of you know better from me of all people lol 

this is actually more hurt/comfort but i hope ya’ll like it! :D 

based off of epiphany from taylor swift’s album folklore 

ft. phantom because i haven’t written enough for her 

@cherieboba​ // @libradusk​ / @obiorbenkenobi​ / @captainrexstan​ / @kamino-mermaid​ / @shitpost-kaley​ / @kryptonian-sith​ / @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol​ / @lady-tano​ / @colorfulloverbatturkey​ / @djarinsdni​ / @sithmando​ /  @skyguysaga​ / @starflyer-104​ / @painkiller80​ / @ct7567329​ / @spaghetti-666​ / @kaikai1324​ / @cxptain-rex​ / @jellyfishpoptart​ 

*** 

keep your helmet, keep your life son.. just a flesh wound, here’s your rifle 

There’s a certain numbness that comes with being exposed to trauma so many times. Phantom knows in her heart of hearts that this - being on the front lines of a battlefield since the beginning of her padawanship to Obi-Wan Kenobi - was not what The Force meant for her. Jedi were not soldiers. They were peacekeepers. 

And now it seems she is among the best of them. 

Standing on the shorelines of Felucia, the eldest padawan of her class peers upward at the massive Separatist droid foundry they’ve been sent to eliminate. She knows the familiar signatures for the members of Ghost Company who have come to stand at attention around her as they await the General to begin their debriefing. 

Needless to say, the debriefing doesn’t go well. 

  “You want to do what?” Cody is skeptical, to say the least, but her Master seems rather okay with the idea. It’s probably because of how he’s grown used to Anakin’s antics and this is so very something that Anakin would do.

  “I want you to send me into the heart of the base, by myself.” 

  “Absolutely not. Not unless you have vode covering your exit.” 

A side note to consider: Until this point, Phantom had been going by her given name both by the clones and their Jedi. This was the mission that earned her the nickname Phantom. She slipped away unseen, returned unseen.. but it didn’t mean that Cody didn’t worry any less even after she agreed to take a small squad of his best men. 

That is now where he stands - in the eye of a hurricane that is his mind - on the beaches of Felucia that are crawling with clankers and vod. He’s barely able to hear the call of his Jedi through the comms or see the brothers who beg for his aid as he steps over their bodies and continues on in his task. 

Crawling up the beaches now

Sir, I think he’s bleeding out

A bloodied hand print settles against his boot. It’s a deep scarlet that bleeds past the plastoid and into the skin as he recognizes his inability to save yet another brother who died for a war that just didn't end. 

  “I’m sorry.” 

But in spite of his aching heart and the deaths he will have to catalog later, Commander Cody presses on. He has no other choice. He will go back to The Negotiator. He will come back to it with you - because Cody refuses to acknowledge a world where you are not present with him in it - and once Cody is safely ensconced within your embrace, he will weep for those he was unable to save. For those he failed. 

Such is life. 

*** 

With you, I serve

With you I fall down 

You’ve made it this far without being seen by the magna-guards that Dooku strategically placed to protect the droid foundry, or the B1 legion that remains on the first floor to keep the 212th from entering the front door. They are the distraction, and you are the executor. 

The bombs in your satchel tink as they bounce against your side. 

Viper, Killshot, and Abel are all covering your escape. The three clones, two of which were only just recently promoted to ARC Troopers, are three of Cody’s best men and people he would trust with his own life. Now he’s trusted them with yours and you with theirs. 

Your heart crawls into your throat when Abel starts screaming through the comms. He’s been overrun. 

Watch you breathe in 

Watch you breathing out, out 

“You have to keep going, Padawan!” Abel yells, and the ferocity of his voice makes you wince as you stop in the duct you’ve been crawling through for the last mile. You’re almost to the heart of the facility. “For The 212th!” 

For the 212th. 

You make a mental note to add Abel to the mural of fallen that had begun construction in the gardens of the Jedi Temple several months before. You will remember his sacrifice. You will remember him when the war is over, and the clones are freed. 

You and Cody will remember him together when the world won't. 

Something’s you just can’t speak about 

The vent drops down ten feet into a small but open control room. Once you plant the bombs, you have ten minutes to follow the marked path back to the ground floor of the foundry before you’re supposed to meet Obi-Wan and Cody on the beach. 

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Your hand slams against your wrist.

Detonation Initiated

TIME: 9:59

  “Killshot! Viper!” You yell, saber ignited as you sprint down the hall and to the adjacent staircase that will lead you to the floor beneath you. The B1 droids on duty yelp at the sudden presence of a Jedi and snap to attention in a futile attempt to stop you with their blasters, but to no avail. “Meet me at the rendezvous!” 

  “Yes Commander!” 

only twenty minutes to sleep, but you dream of some epiphany

You can hear screaming over your comm. Viper and Killshot are ARC Troopers, two of the best in the 212th.. there’s nothing to take them down. That’s what you’d also told yourself in regards to Abel. 

  “Shavit.” 

just one single glimpse of relief to make some sense of what you’ve seen

This floor is alot less crowded then the others. Viper and Killshot are at the point where they agreed to meet you at the debriefing, rifle and blasters out and firing rapidly to eliminate the threat of any droids that dare come near you. 

They had made a promise to their Marshal Commander to get his girl home to him. Cody might not like bearing his heart, but his vode see it every time he looks at you.. and they’re not about to deprive him a bit of happiness when the war has given them so little of it. 

  “Boys, on me!” 

  “Yes Commander!” They shout. 

with you i serve, with you i fall down 

A bolt grazes your shoulder. You yelp at the searing pain across your shoulder blade and whip around to give the hardest Force shove you can muster as you descend to the final floor. 

Your breath catches in your throat. There’s quite a bit of droids left. 

TIME: 5:10

  “There she is!” 

There had been no human guards in this foundry. You’d gotten in, attached the explosives, and had somehow gotten to the main floor without any kind of resistance from those within. Dooku hadn’t even left his best droids here to guard their foundry. 

  “BEHIND YOU!” 

The dread that’s settled in your stomach blossoms when you realize that you are overrun. 

  “PHANTOM!” 

watch you breathe in, watch you breathing out 

Tears burn your eyes as your arms move on their own accord. You are desperately trying to keep your men safe. You are tired and grieving the loss of all the vode who lay outside on that beach, and the natural climate of the planet does nothing when you’re wearing plastoid armor that feels like a second skin. 

with you i serve, with you i fall down 

  “Commander-” Viper starts, and before he can continue, a fatal shot is delivered to his chest that knocks him off his feet. Despite your exhaustion and the fact that your eyes are beginning to blur, you gently place the ARC trooper on the floor outside the door as Killshot continues to take out the activated commando droids. “Phantom-” 

  “You-” You grit your teeth and use The Force to lift him, oblivious to the trickle of blood that trails down your nose and drips into the sand. “Are not dying on me today, soldier! STAY ALIVE!” 

Time: 1:51

  “Look out!” Crys yells. Five or so of the remaining vode snap to attention - including Cody, who has been anxiously following the count down of the timer as he awaits your arrival with his men back on the beach - but he’s now distracted by the body that collapses just in front of the medics. “We need a medic over here! Viper has been hit!” 

The air smells of blood and smoke. 

59.. 58... 

  “Phantom!” That’s Boil - and Cody has no idea where the name came from, but he doesn’t exactly hate it either - yelling into his commlink from beside his Commander as Obi-Wan paces the sand. “The bombs are going to go off in 50 seconds!” 

  “Don’t you think I know that?!” 

  “GET OUT HERE! Kenobi is waiting for you!” 

Mustering all the energy you have left, you raise your hands in the air and throw hundreds of droids backward into the far wall at the other end of the ground floor before you and Killshot are sprinting out into the open and down the sandbar to where Obi-Wan and Cody are waiting for you. 

It hits you square in the face when you see how terrified he looks. You are still too far away for comfort, too close to the blast area, too close to danger... and seeing how many fallen vode are on that beach must make Cody believe he’s about to lose you too. 

Not today. 

  “Are you ready, General?” Cody asks. Obi-Wan nods and braces himself against the sand, digging his toes into his boots as he relaxes his body and concentrates the best that he is able. 

just one single glimpse of relief

to make some sense of what you’ve seen

10..9...8...7....

Cody holds his breath and screws his eyes shut. Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. 

You hold your breath and allow yourself to fall limp in the Force grip that your Master uses to haul you and Viper down the beach. 

  “Cody.” 

Soot covered hands collide with hard white and gold plastoid. You are far enough away from the foundry not to get caught in the blast, and the minute you are safely ensconced in the arms of the Marshal Commander, Obi-Wan slams his hand against his wrist and detonates the bombs. 

The world explodes in a flurry of amber against a sapphire sky. The sun is descending. 

Time to go home. 

*** 

He finds you in the quiet of his quarters. After being released from medical to ensure nothing had happened to you and checking in on Viper, you’d immediately retreated to the sanctity of Cody’s quarters that he very rarely used on The Negotiator. 

The minute the door hisses shut, the weight falls on his shoulders and he shudders. It’s almost as if the world wanted to keep him feeling as light as possible before the weight of reality came back onto his shoulders.

You’d mentioned this before in a novel you’d read. Atlas. 

Yeah. Marshal Commander Cody is Atlas. 

  “Kote,” Your voice echoes through the quarters as you stand in the thresh hold between the kitchen and the bedroom, eyes softening at his state of exhaustion as you beckon him forward. “My love, are you alright?” 

He releases a shuddering breath and falls into the crook of your neck. “No,” Cody rasps, desperation creeping into his voice as he fists the material of your tunic with shaking fingers as he pulls you deeper into the curve of your body. “No. I almost lost you today.” 

Capable fingers swiftly work at removing his armor. Cody doesn’t know it yet, but you have the bath running, and you intend on taking care of him. Someone has to do it. 

Might as well be the person who’s in love with him. 

  “We destroyed the foundry.” 

  “Yeah? But at what cost?” He asks, and you don’t answer. You’d seen the defeat on the clones face as you and Obi-Wan had built them a pyre - a common occurrence after difficult campaigns to give the clones closure - and bid the fallen vode farewell. “We lost so many.” 

  “You didn’t lose me, Cody.” You whisper. “You never will.” 

He shakes his head. Once, twice, three times, he doesn’t believe you-

  “Phantom-” 

Standing in nothing but his blacks, you use the Force to place the pieces of his armor on the sofa before you turn back to him and grip his face in your hands. Your eyes are piercing, certain in your words, your fingers gentle as you cradle him in your grasps. 

  “Never.” You repeat. “You will never lose me.” 

It’s a declaration. One that Cody feels in the depths of his heart as he allows you to lead him into the ‘fresher. “Phantom,” His breath feels hollow in his throat as you turn to peer at him over your shoulder. “I-” The words are poised on the tip of his tongue and he has no problem saying it to the rest of his brothers.. but to you? It feels like he’s teetering on the edge of a boundary he dare not approach. 

  “Cody.” You breathe, taking him into your arms and guiding his hands to rest against your hips. “Look at me.” Dark eyes flutter open to meet your own as you lean in and just barely ghost his mouth with your own. Your fingers flex around the nape of his neck as you stand on the tips of your toes and open your mouth to him, sighing in relief as he blooms like the petals of a flower and opens beneath your touch. 

He hears the thought ring clearly in his mind. 

I love you. 

And the confession makes him want to weep. You’ve known, something tells him you’ve always known, but the fact that he doesn’t have to say it yet makes relief burst in his chest. Oh... there’s just something about the certainty in knowing the person you love also loves you just as fiercely. 

Cody looks at you, and he sees everything he has ever wanted since being brought into the cold sterile home of Kamino. 

You. He sees you. 

  “Just for one night, Cody.” You ask, gently guiding him into the bathtub and reaching for the shampoo on the side of the tub. Cody subconsciously leans into your touch as you begin to lather shampoo into his hair and quietly hum as you do so. “For once.. let someone take care of you. Can you do that?” 

He grips the side of the tub with lax fingers.

  “Of course I can,” He hums. “I’m home.” 

*** 

The Jedi Gardens are the most peaceful part of The Temple outside of the Room of a Thousand Fountains. You have spent much of your time there since before you were taken on as the padawan to High General Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even then, your previous Master had spent much of their time in here. It was the only place in the Temple you could find peace. 

Today, you’re spending your time engrossed in the mural of The Fallen that the Council had given you permission to paint. While you spent the majority of your time nowadays on the front lines with Obi-Wan and the 212th, your hobby during R&R was painting. This mural, this memory, was to test your ability. 

This was month six of working on it. 

Cody is wearing his civilian clothes - a gift from you nearly a year beforehand - and has his hands tucked into his pockets upon entering the temple Gardens. The two of you had agreed to meet for dinner ala picnic style in the Temple later that day despite his reluctance to meet you there for fear of.. people. There were only two jetti he trusted.

One of them he was looking at. 

Splattered in paint, hair messily tied on top of your head, he watches in awe as you finish Abel’s helmet and the blend of gold and white paint across the top before stepping back to admire the work. There’s nearly two dozen helmets painted across the rock face near the little waterfall on this side of the Temple Gardens, and Cody takes that into consideration because it’s truly a beautiful place for an eventual proposal. 

Not that he’s thought about it. 

  “Phantom, love-” He calls out softly, lips quirking upward in the ghost of a smile as you whip around at his presence and beam. He loves that smile. “That’s coming along really well. How long have you been here?” 

  “Just a couple hours.” Your eyes widen in embarrassment as you realize why he’s here. “Oh no, oh no-”

He runs a palm across your hip and pulls you against his body. “You forgot,” Cody muses. “It’s okay. You usually do whenever we come home from the front, but I’m not worried about it.” He bends his head down to ghost his lips over your pulse point, nuzzling your shoulder with his neck and peppering the bare skin there with kisses. Cody’s not sure there’s a sound more beautiful then your laughter. “Not when I’ve got everything I need right here.” 

He wouldn’t dare do this with his General or the vode around. This is a side of Cody only you get to see. 

And little Gods.. do you adore him. 

  “You’re a sap.” 

  “One of us has to be.” 

You link your fingers with his own and lead him to the beginning of the mural. “I wanted to show you this,” You murmur, taking his hand and reaching upward to graze the first word written in white calligraphy across the top of the collected helmets. “For you, my love.” 

Across the top of the rock face reads, 

With you I serve, with you I fall down

A memorial to our fallen vode 

We will remember you 

Even when the world won’t 

[t0th3-ark]

Introduction Page!

Hello ladies, gents, and everyone in between, I'm Aster! Welcome to my fanfiction and brain rot page (mostly Mobius content). Some fun facts about me are *drumroll*:

18 yo. (my birthday is in May)

Non-binary, Bisexual here! (they/them or sometimes he/him is preferred.)

I'm going into my first year of college in the fall (oh lord).

My favorite color is either black or pink. It's a tie. (I know two different ends of the spectrum)

I graduated high-school this year (2021)

I work at cRAckEr BArrEL in the little shop they have at the front. (it's quite fun ngl. I get payed $10 an hour sometimes thats not enough to deal with ppl's shit and sustain how much I spend.)

I've only had one other job and it was at Kohl's (good lord that place gives me bad dreams).

I have like 4 friends and they all live at least 45 min+ from me same with online friends. (I'm lonely give me attention.)

I live in Texas were it's as hot as the Devil's anus iykyk. It's usually around 90 degrees on a regular basis. They all of a sudden it will be 2 degrees in the middle of spring. (Don't move here -1/10 do not recommend.)

It took my three ½ years to get my official driver's license and when I did it expired without me knowing and I drove with an expired license for a month. (BUT, I didn't get pulled over!)

I'm a SSB™  (simp since birth). I simp for a number of fictional characters such as, Mobius (that's obvious), Geralt of Rivia, Will Graham, Loki, Obi-Wan Kenobi (that one's slightly embarrassing), and others I don't remeber atm.

I have only started to gain confidence to post what I write on here. I will be making a request page for you guys to make requests on.

I've been writing fanfiction since I was a wee little 12 year old. Yes, I know, gross. I was really into Doctor Who fanfiction at that time. I wrote everything on paper cuz I didnt have a phone. (My parents found it recently. I almost "yeeted" myself out a window.)

I love frogs, rats, mice, and turtles (basically any goblincore-ish animal).

The energy I give off is bascially chaotic mentally-ill simp™.

I honestly would write for a living but nobody gets paid enough to write fanfiction .

So instead I'm a visual arts major but that's to be determined.

All of my tiktoks are cringy, change my mind.

I was obsessed with mermaids as a kid, as all children 2015 were. I even made potions and a fake mermaid tail. I was committed, okay?

I'm a 2003 baby in case anyone was wondering.

I have a few hobbies including: art (drawing, learning digital art and painting), music (listening and singing), being in nature, collecting random things in the woods (bonez), watching TV, social media (?), driving around, shopping (rETAIL THERAPY), fashion/makeup/hair, reading (occasionally), and of course writing.

Gator Loki is superior (I love u gator loki 😤)

Single since 2003 🤞🏻(someone PLZ end my suffering (jk)).

I'm the bitch that barks at people who make me 🌌uncomfy🌌.

I will be your partner in crime if asked. (Also will be your bestie)

My sense of humor is horrifyingly unfunny.

Wanna lie under the stars and watch marvel movies on a projector screen 🌟outside🌟?

I'm horribly shy and introverted in person.

Don't worry, I'll get on your nerves by asking if I'm annoying and saying sorry every five seconds.

People say I give good advice 🤷🏻?

So I think that's all. I may add more. Can you tell I'm a chaotic writer?

If you want to follow me on other platforms here are my usernames:

tiktok: aster2305

instagram: aster.leee

(those are the only two I use frequently but if you don't feel comfy adding me on either, you can always pm me here and I'll be glad to talk!)

I love all of you dudes that support my writing and I hope you're day is fantastic! 🤍

[mollymorgansshovel]

@alienfuckeronmain tagged me to do this, thanks! I’m trying to think of myself as a writer again after a four-month hiatus. @shark-myths @happy-princess @got2gh0st @shadow13dickpistons if you all want to too, I’d love to know :)

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 117

2) What's your total AO3 word count? 435,561

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? AO3 says over 30. The top ones are Tolkien, music RPF, and Merlin

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?   I don’t like the answer so I’ll pass :)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I used to respond to them all just because it bothered me to have them sitting there highlighted, but joining the Merlin fandom threw me off because the commenting culture there is weird and I never knew what to say. So they cured me of my compulsion! I’ve gotten awesome comments there obviously and had good conversations, but there are plenty I don’t feel the need to reply to. I’m also trying to figure out a way to write for me and not for any audience.

6) What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Of the ones that exist now, probably my Anakin/Obi Wan punk AU

7) What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? I don’t know. Maybe A Winter’s Tale, my Davey/Harry fairy tale

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you've written? I write crossovers in the sense of moving one work’s characters into another work’s universe or premise, but not usually the kind where characters from different works are interacting. My Xena Merlin crossover AU is my favorite thing I’ve written lately.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic? Not really

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind? I won the award for “Steamiest Writer” on AFIslash.com in 2010. I’ve gotten shyer in my old age

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge…

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, it’s a nice honor to know someone thinks it’s worth the time and effort.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? With my wife!

14) What's your all time favorite ship? What a horrible question! I have to say that I’ve probably read more Merthur fic than I’ve read anything else and I have very strong feelings about them. But I also only watched the show in the last year, so it seems crazy to say that when I’ve been reading and writing for so long.

15) What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? So many! My HanLuke Anastasia AU where Han’s a con artist and Obi Wan’s an old drunk and they work together to pass off Tatooine farm hick Luke as the long lost sibling of Princess Leia or Alderaan for a reward… I want to write Dinluke so bad so I don’t feel like I’ll come back to HanLuke for a long time, and this story will probably be gone from me by then.

16) What are your writing strengths? Humor, in-character dialogue. Kink, maybe? That doesn’t feel like it’s pulled from a kink grab bag?

17) What are your writing weaknesses? Committing to harnessing the emotional power of a well-done predictable trope

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Not really a fan, and I only like it in print media if there are footnotes on the page it appears in and I don’t have to flip to a new page. I don’t love having to scroll to the bottom of a webpage to decode dwarvish. But I don’t mind too much if it serves a distinct purpose in the work!

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for? One (1) Equilibrium story and then dozens of AFI fic

20) What's your favorite fic you've written? My Xena Merlin crossover :) It was the most fun to write and I like the finished product too. Second place goes to my Seven/Janeway mermaid AU.

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 9. Detective Mode – Let's Talk Future Disney Properties

Disney Investor Day was a lot! We break down the biggest announcements from the event, focusing on our two favourite franchises, Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What are we most excited about from Disney's upcoming slate? What aren't we completely sold about? Which properties have us concerned? Find out more during this episode!

There will be spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2, so keep an ear out.

Listen to the episode on Anchor. 

Read Mon's round-up of all the Star Wars news on Bam Smack Pow.

Read Ron's round-up of all the Marvel film and TV news on GIQUE Media.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Hello and welcome to the first Stereo Geeks Detective Mode of 2021.

I’m Ron, and today we'll be discussing Disney Investor Day.

There will be some spoilers here for The Mandalorian Season 2, so keep an ear out.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Mon: What did you think about the Disney Investor Day format?

Ron: Well, four hours is a long time for anybody to be invested in Disney Investor Day. But, for the most part, I think it worked. I liked how they divided the different studios; I didn't feel like anybody spoke for too long. It flowed quite well.

But it definitely felt like there were certain sections which were more interesting for certain audiences whereas others, not so much. It felt very DC FanDome to me, as well, because of the blue. I'm not sure why everything is blue.

But for the most part, it went off without a hitch, so that was good. I mean I guess it had to, because this wasn't really for us, it was actually for Disney investors.

It did feel a bit like an overload of information.

Mon: I also found it a little bit corporate, especially in the beginning when they were talking about all their mergers and their new initiatives and stuff. As a fan you sort of think that ‘oh, what exactly is Disney doing?’. They really feel like a giant, don’t they, when they're coming at you with ‘we've got this going on in this country, in that country, and basically they’re encompassing it all.

I was a bit frustrated by the fact that they'd be like, ‘here's this exclusive preview or a sizzle reel’, and then suddenly you're looking at two minutes of blank screen. They got clever after a while by trying to include quizzes, though we weren't really invested by that point. So, I found that a little bit frustrating because at the end of the day it’s the press, it’s the fans who are bringing you all the street cred. So, why leave us out?

Ron: Yeah, I found that very frustrating as well. In fact, I was actually wondering whether it was just us that was having a problem with that. And then I went on the internet and pretty much everybody realized that the general public weren't getting a lot of the exclusive sneak previews. I understand, in a way, maybe these aren't finished products. I mean, we know that things like Obi-Wan Kenobi are not even in production so whatever they had ready for that was not ready for public consumption. But it still felt a little bit frustrating to look at a timer or listen to a song, when you were actually expecting to see something.

I mean, for Cassian Andor they added some concept art because they don't really have any production footage to share with us. But with the big stuff you really felt like, oh my god, we’re missing out on stuff. Thankfully, there was a lot of information sent out soon after. I don't think we got the whole picture, but we got a good enough picture.

Ron: Actually, there was a lot of information going out and for the average person, keeping track of all that, it's a lot.

Mon: And if you're only invested in part of Disney, parsing through all that information is mind boggling.

Ron: Yeah, you and I had to write separate news pieces on particular Disney properties and just putting those together, it took a lot of time. But all in all, I thought it was an interesting event.

I'm actually fascinated by the fact that Disney is able to open up a corporate event like this to the general public. They must be in a really comfortable place to let the average person who would generally be buying a ticket or buying a subscription to Disney Plus, attend something like this.

Mon: Well, I'm glad because after the year that we've had where there's been so many production delays, so many shows and movies have had to be pushed back, it's good to have that kind of excitement among the press and among the fans.

They have so many projects in the pipeline, some of them which were rumored, some of them which we knew about, and others which really have blindsided us, in the best way possible.

Ron: I think, one thing that I would have liked was a little bit more interactivity. I think that's something that they can possibly bring in, in the future. This was obviously not planned. So, the way it worked, I think it went off quite well. But for future events, I see them bringing in more interactivity for the general public.

Mon: We have to remember this wasn't a convention. This was an investor meeting. So, the format is going to be different. But if they are planning to open up this event, then maybe don't have it as an Investor Day. Have that as a separate section on that particular day which you invite only the investors for, and they had that section at the end where there was an investor Q&A. Most of us had dropped off by then—we had news to cover.

But the beginning parts, for sure, they can have more interactivity, more fun.

Considering how much has gone digital, I think a lot of people may have realized how much is achievable by going online.

Ron: I would really love to know the viewership numbers for Disney Investor Day, because a lot of people tuned in.

Mon: Despite it not being that heavily promoted among the average person.

Ron: So anyway, it's good that we all got to participate in some way or the other. And I'm hoping that other corporations also take a leaf out of Disney's book because it's really good to find out what is happening behind the scenes, because just looking at the initial Disney announcements during that event. My gosh, Disney owns a lot. It's actually a little bit creepy how much of a monopoly they're becoming, but at least we know about it.

Mon: So, let's talk about the announcements, because at the end of the day, it was still really, really exciting time to be a fan.

Ron: If you're a fan of Disney live-action, Disney Animation, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, Hulu, ESPN, HotStar, Star, there's just so much stuff, and it's all connected to Disney. There was going to be some announcement or the other that got you excited.

For us it was definitely the Star Wars and Marvel news that was most interesting, but there are other things as well that piqued our interest.

There wasn't much live-action news from Disney. There were a few films as I mentioned—we already knew about some things like The Little Mermaid, Cruella. A bit disappointed at the lack of Aladdin 2, not sure why we've been holding out hope for that. We love the first Aladdin live-action film, and we would love to see them again. So sad, but let's wait for that.

Aside from that, there was some interesting Pixar news as well. Lightyear, which will be about Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story films but going to be voiced by Chris Evans.

Mon: Yes, that's because Chris Evans is playing the actor who the Buzz Lightyear toy is based on. Yes, it's confusing.

Ron: We were very confused. I had to check with a lot of people about it, and then that's how we finally figured out who Chris Evans was going to be actually voicing. So yeah, who knew Buzz Lightyear had that backstory? Definitely not me.

There were also interesting animation films and TV shows that were announced. I was actually quite excited by how many characters of color we’re going to be seeing. We’ve got, Raya, Tianna, Iwájú, Encanto, they all have characters of color in the lead. And that's really cool, because Disney’s slate has usually been quite white. Still no Indians. Mon: Someday! Ron: We need South Asian representation. I'm hoping, with Disney having bought up Star Plus, there was a lot of talk about locally-made Indian content. I'm hoping that some of that comes this side so that we can actually see that.

Mon: And that it's good and representative of more of India than just Bollywood.

Ron: Yeah, that's an important point, because there's a lot in India than just Bollywood or Mumbai. So, when they say local content, we need to see pan-Indian local content. And not just with high production values, with good stories and more representation from diverse communities in India. But nothing's been confirmed yet, so we're going to have to wait a long time.

On the live-action side, though, I don't feel like there were that many people of color on screen.

Mon: I was disappointed. I mean, you were pointing out a very important fact that it seems like the live-action does tend to veer towards safer casting and safer stories, whereas the animation is much more diverse, much more varied. I'm not sure why it can't be the reverse. Why can't we have live action Moana, for example—I'm not saying you need to have a live-action Moana, I'm just saying—or, you know, Encanto can't be live-action or Iwájú, but I guess one step at a time?

Ron: It's a start. We didn't have anything much before, so it's something to be excited about. But yeah, it does seem like they're still taking baby steps and seeing the lineup of people who were speaking at Disney Investor Day, that's actually not surprising.

Mon: Yeah, I am impressed by the fact that the animated series and films that have been announced, also have diverse creative teams behind the scenes. That can really lend itself well to the quality of storytelling that we see on the screen.

Ron: Yeah, definitely. So I guess we can move on to talking about Star Wars.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: So Lucasfilm had a ton of announcements, and they started off by saying they had 10 Star Wars series in the pipeline for Disney Plus. Considering, till now, we've had just two seasons of The Mandalorian, that's a huge task.

So, quick rundown of what shows they've announced we've got Rangers of the New Republic, Ahsoka, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Visions, Lando, The Acolyte and A Droid Story. If you're counting properly, that's nine, because the 10th one was a surprise that we only found out after The Mandalorian Season 2 was done and dusted.

If you stayed for the after credits scene, you would have found out that the 10th series was The Book of Boba Fett. We got to say, we're excited.

Mon: Definitely.

Ron: So, thoughts on that extensive lineup?

Mon: I'm so excited. Ron: There’s so much Star Wars. Mon: I know, it such a great thing!

Ron: I'm excited, but I'm also full of trepidation. And I’m annoyed that I feel that.

Mon: Oh, why?

Ron: Well, as much as I enjoyed The Mandalorian Season 1, there were issues with it. The lack of female characters—Cara Dune was pretty much the only female character and she came in a few episodes into the first season. We don’t see as many people of color, not that we want to see that many people of color on a show that's really about bad guys. So that was kind of confusing as well—whose side are we on?

Season 2 was much better in terms of storytelling, we got to see people of color, we got to see some badass action scenes with ladies. Awesome.

But, it's the discourse. Let's face it, it's the Star Wars discourse. It just makes you want to not be a fan.

Mon: Maybe Disney's plan is that they will bombard fans with so much Star Wars, that people will not have time to discuss it.

Here's the thing, you’ll have some good shows, you’ll have some bad shows. There'll be some good episodes, there'll be some bad episodes. We can just hope that the end product is as good as they can make it, and that we enjoy it. That it’s relevant, it is topical. Star Wars has never only been about entertaining us, it's always had a message—doesn't have to be in your face, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't—but each show should make us go away with some kind of feeling and some kind of change in perspective. In a good way.

Ron: When we think about The Mandalorian Season 2, it really felt very Star Wars. It felt like it went back to the original series; the aesthetics, the action scenes, the way we met characters, how we got to spend time with them, it felt very much like the originals, while still diving into all these other Star Wars properties. We got stuff from the books, the movies, the games, the animated shows, it was pretty exciting. And I realize that for casual fans, it was way too much and they did feel like they were just being bombarded with stuff that they had to research, but for fans who have watched and played all these things and read these books and comic books, this was great.

Mon: It really feels like it's part of a larger universe, and I appreciate the fact that they tried really hard to do that, they pulled it in.

And I think that nowadays it's easier to find out a bit of information about properties that you haven't been engaged with, so that makes sense.

Ron: So, I guess it makes sense that we're getting all these shows and that some of them are tied into The Mandalorian.

Mon: And perhaps even the Extended Universe.

Ron: It definitely feels like some of these are going to be Extended Universe stories, we just don't know how close.

The Rangers of the New Republic, I don't know what this is about.

Mon: Yeah, I agree. The assumption is that it's going to be about Cara Dune and the other Marshals, but they’re called marshals not rangers, so I'm a little bit confused. Ron: Yeah.

Mon: It does sound like a cop story or something, but at the same time what is it? I mean, it make sense, it is the New Republic, and they need somebody to…

Ron: Keep an eye on the Galaxy. We're gonna have to find out more about this when they make more announcements.

Ahsoka, I guess we have a pretty good idea of what her show is going to be about. When we met her in The Mandalorian she was very obviously looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn, presumably that's going to be her mission in her show. Will we see Sabine Wren, will we see Ezra Bridger? Will we see Hera Syndulla? I don't know, I would really love to see that.

Mon: Only if they cast them well.

Ron: Yes. Good point. Mon: I’m excited for that show. It's a limited series as far as I could tell, but you never know, a limited series could turn into several seasons if something is popular. But I'm excited for this, because we like this character—I'm still not sure about the live-action version—but I'm excited. Even more so if they can bring in the Rebels cast.

Ron: Yes.

With Andor,we got a sneak peek of the concept art, and it feels like the supporting costs seem to be very white, once again.

Mon: Yeah I'm not entirely sure about it. It sounded very exciting when they first mentioned it. Now I feel like maybe it's already feeling a little bit over-bloated with so many people thrown into the cast. Well, let's see. I mean Diego Luna is so excited to be back in the Star Wars universe and I'm hoping that his enthusiasm and excitement just screams off the screen, and pulls us all in.

Ron: Yeah, because Rogue One is probably my favorite Star Wars film. I love those characters; I would love to spend more time with those characters. I'm really hoping that they make Andor well, that it’s well received, that the fans really enjoy it, and that it gives them impetus to create a solo series for the other characters. I would love to spend more time with Jyn Erso, and Bodhi Rook and Chirrut and Baze.

Mon: I agree with you.

Ron: The Obi-Wan Kenobi series, we didn't get to see anything from that because…

Mon: We got to see the logo!

Ron: Yeah, we got to see the logo. Yay.

But they did make the surprising announcement that Hayden Christensen would be back as Darth Vader.

Mon: Yeah, I'm really confused about that because they specified Darth Vader, and not Anakin Skywalker.

It doesn't make sense to me, because Hayden Christensen is Anakin, Darth Vader is some guy in a suit voiced by James Earl Jones.

Ron: Yeah, that's definitely got me confused as well, because James Earl Jones's voice as Darth Vader, there is no other version. And putting him in the suit doesn't make much sense—he was in the suit in the final act of Revenge of the Sith, but what's the point then?

Mon: Yeah, not sure. I feel like they have a plan. They wouldn't be telling us that it's specifically Hayden, specifically playing Darth if there wasn't a reason for it. Ron: Yes.

There is some speculation that it might be part of Obi-Wan's quest to become one with the Force, and he sees Anakin. We don't know. From what we understand of the process, it's mostly Obi-Wan communing with Qui-Gonn Jinn and maybe Master Yoda, but Anakin isn’t really even mentioned in this part of the process. But he could be.

Mon: Kathleen Kennedy mentioned that it's going to be the rematch of the century, between Obi-Wan and Darth. So, let's see. I'm excited for the show. I think it might be one of the more pensive, cerebral shows in the Star Wars universe. Ron: Yeah I'm definitely excited for that.

The Bad Batch, what are your thoughts?

Mon: I was excited mainly by the confirmation that Fennec Shand will be showing up, and she’ll be voiced by Ming-Na Wen, that the actual Bad Batch themselves.

Ron: When we met with in The Clone Wars Season 7, like they’re interesting, but I didn't quite take to them enough for me to want to watch an entire series about them.

Mon: There was something about the trailer that really threw me off, which was that the Bad Batch appear to be working with the Empire and the Imperials. They're definitely in cahoots with Tarkin. So, are we watching the series about the bad guys? Ron: The Imperials are interesting in their own way because whenever we meet them they seem to be cowardly, they seem to be a bit stupid, so that's quite fascinating. But an entire series of superpowered clones helping them out? I'm not sure about that. The reason why The Clone Wars worked for me was that they made me really care about those clones. Like, 99, I mean, come on. We wept. We wept at that episode. It was so sad. But everybody else, like Rex and Fives and that entire contingent, you really cared about them.

And despite the fact that most of them looked alike, they had these little personality traits, they did things that were different so that they could stand out from each other. I think the Bad Batch is too far away from the clones that we're used to seeing. And the time that we got to spend with them, it wasn't very meaningful. And the other thing is that we watched The Clones Wars Season 7 after the announcement that The Bad Batch is going to get a spin-off. And I remember being like, ‘okay, we have to see what these guys are all about’. And they weren't very interesting. So yeah, I'm a bit unsure about this. Mon: My biggest worry is that they won't have a good enough foil for us to be invested in these characters. With The Clone Wars series, you had these armies of clone troopers, and you'd be like, ‘oh, they're all these guys’, but they had the foil of Ahsoka, of Padmé and the other Jedi, so you felt like yeah, there was some balance in there. I don't know if just Fennec Shand can do that. She's just one character.

Ron: Yeah. Mon: Look, you know, if they've got a supporting cast of diverse and varied characters, we could be in for a really fascinating show which shows us the darker side of the Star Wars universe, which we always like, but we don't get as much. Or, it could be the Bad Batch, if they don't have the same chip which makes them go Order 66 on people, maybe they’re double agents.

Rob: Oh, that’s interesting. Let's see.

Mon: I'm still excited because the production values on that animation, wow! There's no doubt about the kind of quality that we're going to get, it's the quality of storytelling that we’re worried about.

Ron: Yeah.

So, we also have the Lando series. There's so little information about this.

Mon: Is it live-action? Is it animated? Which Lando are we going to be following?

Ron: For some reason, when I heard the announcement my first thought was, ‘oh this is totally about Donald Glover's Lando’. But then when I was reading up about it later on, everybody was like is this about Billy Dee Williams, is this about Donald Glover? And I was like, oh okay so we're not sure about that.

We need a Lando series, in all honesty. He was the best part of Solo, that film was a disaster, and we need more Lando—that movie needed more Lando. So yeah, a series is a great idea, but I don't know what we're gonna get.

Mon: I hope that whatever they do, they make him fun and outlandish, but also a really complex character because we know that Billy Dee Williams’ Lando he's always been like that. He's so layered. So, let's hope that the series itself does justice to that character and his legacy.

Ron: Yeah. So, we also have a couple of other series that were mentioned. Star Wars: Visions, The Acolyte, A Droid’s Story, there's not much information about these and they don't seem to be tied in directly with the properties that we've already seen.

Mon: Yeah, so A Droid’s Story seems to be like a family-friendly animated show. It's gonna follow C-3Po and R2-D2, and they're going to be guiding a new hero in the Star Wars universe. Not sure what that means but I'm sure it'll be family-friendly fare.

Ron: It’s definitely going to be made to sell another new little droid toy. Mon: Oh, god not another D-O. [laughs]

Star Wars: Visions, that's a really interesting one. It’s going to be anime creators creating their own versions or visions of Star Wars characters and worlds. I'm really interested to see what they do this, Star Wars has always borrowed heavily from Asian cultures, Japanese culture especially, so this is a nice way to give back. I'd like to see their take on it.

Ron: Yeah, I don't quite understand the concept, but it seems like something that might be interesting to watch. So, let's see where that goes.

And The Acolyte is the only show that's really set outside of the time period that we're used to watching in the live-action and animated series and films. I don't mind getting to know a little bit more of the universe, before and after the periods that we’ve seen. The Mandalorian is set shortly after the Battle of Endor. so that shows you how well that concept can work. The Acolyte is going to be a little bit more about the Sith, which should be interesting.

I quite like the Sith, they’re quite fascinating. But I don't want to feel like I like the Sith, if you get what I mean.

The 10th series in the lineup, which was not mentioned was The Book of Boba Fett. Boba Fett appeared during the second season of The Mandalorian. Temuera Morrison is back as the character, and I think it's awesome. He's awesome in it. He looks like he's having a gala time playing the character. I can't wait to see more of him and Fennec Shand taking over the Hutt Empire.

Mon: I foresee them doing good in the galaxy far far away.

Ron: We also got a hint of some of the Star Wars movies that we can expect in the next few years. We know the Taika Waititi is going to be working on a Star Wars film, but there are no details available on that.

And the surprise announcement was Patty Jenkins is making a Rogue Squadron film. I love the video announcement that came out just after the Disney Investor Day. It's just Patty Jenkins talking about her father who was a fighter pilot and how she wanted to make a movie about pilots, and she also loves Star Wars. And now she gets to bring both her two loves together, and it was just great.

I'm really excited to watch a Rogue Squadron movie. I used to love the Rogue Squadron books in the Star Wars Alternate Universe. So yeah, a film would be great.

Mon: And I can imagine that she’ll bring all that unique depth and diversity that she's brought to Wonder Woman. Let's just hope that Star Wars and Disney really let her spread her wings. Ron: Yes, absolutely.

So that was a lot of the Star Wars announcements, but another studio that we're really excited about, of course, is Marvel. The Marvel announcement was massive.

Mon: We have to ask ourselves, at this point, what isn't happening in the Marvel Universe?

Ron: Oh my gosh, it's all happening, dude. It’s all happening. Now, Marvel was supposed to debut a few series this year on Disney Plus, but of course the pandemic came in the way, so that did not happen.

We're actually going to get our first Marvel Disney Plus series on January 15, 2021 with WandaVision. I am really excited about that. We got to see another brand new trailer for the show on Disney Investor Day. It looks very kooky, and kind of fun, but also seems to be a little bit dark. At least the latest trailer definitely shows that it's a bit darker than we thought. And you know what, it's been a long time since he saw Vision, I miss him.

Mon: Yeah, I'm intrigued by this series. It seems to be a combination of the multiverse and time travel. We've not seen a lot of that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Any chance to give Wanda some extra screen time and to really grow into her powers and her character is awesome.

Ron: Wanda is one of my favorite Marvel characters in the MCU. I think she is great. She is so powerful and she's… she's really cool. She's just really cool. She and Quicksilver are twins so, of course, you and I are going to like that. But, yeah, Wanda is amazing and I can't wait to see more of her.

Mon: Yeah, and that's tied into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Ron: Yeah, I'm totally excited about this. I know a lot of people didn't take to the Doctor Strange movie—I kind of liked it. I have seen it a couple of times after that, but I haven't seen it in a couple of years. But, I think Doctor Strange is really cool and his aesthetic is awesome.

Like, in Infinity War, every time Doctor Strange did anything, I was just like, ‘that is so cool’. And a friend told us that the golden things he makes in the air, they’re called Mandalas. So yeah, those are awesome. I totally want some more of that.

Mon: Yeah, I think it's nice that the Marvel Universe is really expanding on its own mythos. Like in Avengers: Endgame, they totally went into time travel. Now, we're gonna actually have some multiverse and not the fakey stuff that Mysterio talked about. So, let's see, I'm excited.

Ron: I think that's gonna be so fun. But I also think the MCU needs it. Avengers: Endgame kind of messed everything up. We've been tearing our hair out for two years now trying to figure out what state the Marvel Universe is actually in, because the Avengers made a mess of the 2012 timeline. We need these movies to fix them.

And if WandaVision ties into Doctor Strange 2, and fixes that, that's awesome. One of the interesting things is that WandaVision is also going to be tied into Spidey 3.

Mon: Considering Spidey 3 has basically turned into Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but live action and with Peter Parker, yeah sure, that makes sense.

Ron: I don't know how I feel about all these announcements. Spidey 3 really wasn't mentioned much during Disney Investor Day.

Mon: Yeah, that's because most of those are unconfirmed rumors. We don't actually know what is going to happen, who's gonna be in there. People are just conjecturing left, right and center. I don't want it to be over bloated. I don't want them to forget about Peter Parker, and the rest of the crew, because they want something big, but we do have to remember that Marvel is playing ball with Sony once again, so we may have a change in temperament and quality and storytelling.

Ron: But I also don't want a live action Into the Spider-Verse when we have an animated Into the Spider-Verse which is really good!

Mon: Which is awesome and hello, it won an Oscar.

Ron: Exactly. And it had Miles Morales as the protagonist. Peter Parker has already stolen like a lot of Miles’ comics stuff for the live-action series in the MCU. We don't need him to steal this. As much as I love the MCU Peter Parker, that still stands.

Mon: Yeah, he needs to be unique in his own way and I'm really worried that they're just jumping on the more popular bandwagon—which is really funny to say that. But anyway, so be it.

But it was interesting to note that there was no Spidey information or confirmation at Disney Investor Day. So we'll have to see.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: So, moving away from those guys, we have The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Now this series is what half the universe is excited about because everybody loves Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

We got our first proper look at this show. It looks dark and grim. And lots of action. And then there’s some banter shoehorned in because they have to. Man, that trailer was not good.

Ron: I was hoping you would say that because I didn't feel like it did anything either. This trailer does not make me feel excited.

Mon: I'm really hoping that they just slapped something together because production was delayed, and they had a deadline to meet. So, you know, we all feel you Marvel trailer people. But yeah, I was not sure, I just didn't feel that kind of chemistry that we are so used to seeing from Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie from the MCU films. Ron: Yeah, the chemistry did not come across; the banter that we saw was very forced. It just looked like it was not well made. Mon: Yeah, the production values look amazing.

Ron: Always

Mon: like Falcon flying—looks so good! It takes you back to when you first saw Falcon flying.

Together: So good, so good.

Ron: The rest of it, not so much.

Together: Yeah.

Ron: Why’s Bucky so grumpy?

Mon: Yeah, what’s his problem? Like, smile a little bit! Well, his friend, kind of… it doesn't matter.

Ron: Steve was both of their friend. So, yeah.

Mon: I don't want them to be like Falcon’s got this huge weight on his shoulders—quite literally because the shield is probably heavy—and like that's why he can't smile anymore. Sam is funny, he is such a sweetheart…

Ron: Yes!

Mon: And Bucky, he has this really snarky sense of humor. And I didn't feel that.

Ron: It didn’t like it was them.

Mon: We’re gonna give them the benefit of the doubt, because I really do feel like they had to put in whatever footage they had to give some character and action, you know, they just follow the notes. I think that the show is going to be better than what the trailer showed us. Ron: It had better be. Mon: Also, what was up with that weird, long joke about Bucky’s positronic brain. Bucky’s human!

Ron: His brain doesn't have any machinery in it.

Mon: Yeah, I mean, unless in Wakanda he became an Android.

Ron: I don't know. Man, I hope this stuff gets explained.

Mon: This is like six episodes of a Marvel film—basically that's how they said it—but it better have the quality of the writing too, not just the look.

Mon: Yes. Okay, so, Loki. This is the other half of the universe who's excited for the show.

Ron: Yeah, people are losing their minds over this Loki trailer.

Mon: Were you underwhelmed?

Ron: I loved it.

Mon: No way! I was so not into it!

Ron: Okay, so when I first saw it, I was like, what is going on? Then I did some research and I found out more about the timey-wimey stuff. And then I was like, okay, you know, this is kind of exciting. But yes, I did need to do some research.

Mon: Okay, because like Kevin Feige introduced the Loki trailer by saying, if you're confused watching it, don't worry, Loki feels the same way. And I was like, I am more confused than Loki watching this. It didn't make any sense to me and I'm like, who are these people, what are they doing? And I'm like, I don't understand Loki either. Loki is an understandable kind of guy, but I didn't feel him. So, I don’t understand.

Ron: I was surprisingly excited to see Loki again. I thought I had said my goodbyes in Infinity War. And then when I saw him again in Avengers: Endgame, I was like, awww, Loki. And then I was like okay, now I’ve said my goodbyes again. When I saw this trailer. Oh, Loki, you’re back.

Mon: We have to, as fans, sort of change gears, about which Loki this is. This is because the Loki who was killed in Infinity War, he was the kind of guy, like we're bleeding hearts for him. But this one? This one's the meanie.

Ron: Yeah, this is a different version. So, I'm interested to see how that goes. It's got time travel in it and so I'm excited.

Mon: Look, time travel is your boo! So, they do it right, this could be something spectacular.

Ron: Yeah, and I really hope that this is also a kind of a way for Loki to be reintroduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I don't know, but that's my hope. It'll be good, you know, Thor and Loki together again. That'd be great. He misses his brother.

Mon: Yeah, Thor’s kind of had a bad time. He really deserves to have his brother back.

Ron: Now, a series that I am excited about is What If…?

Mon: Oh my god, I couldn't believe it. When they first announced it I was like, no way, they’re actually going to do this? And then we saw the trailer. This was a good trailer.

Ron: This was a good trailer. This got me excited. We got to see little bits. I feel that there's definitely more to this particular show than they're letting on. That's definitely exciting. Whatever we got to see, we are certainly looking forward to seeing more. So, what did we get to see in the trailer? We see a different Starlord. Not exactly Peter Quill. Now, it's T’Challa, and is voiced by Chadwick Boseman in one of his last roles. We also get to see Peggy Carter as Captain America. We get to see Bucky facing off against a kind of zombie Captain America. And we see Stephen Strange facing off against a dark version of himself. Looks exciting.

Mon: It does. Because the What If… stories in the comics really allowed the creators to investigate and examine alternative points of view, and alternate decisions by the different characters. We always used to love reading the What If… stories, and I'm glad that Marvel Studios is really using their resources to create as many stories as they can. I mean, they’re milking it, we understand, but we get a little more entertainment, we get to see different perspectives. Peggy as Captain America is such a novel concept and I love that idea.

Ron: I mean, it makes you wonder why Peggy wasn’t Captain America in the first place.

Mon: Exactly! And the animation was so different from the other Disney animations that we'd seen throughout the day, but it's beautiful.

Ron: Yeah, I like that style. It looks good.

Mon: It does. It looks like a comic book come to life and, of course, that's the point. But if they're able to execute it as brilliantly as they did in the trailer, we are in for a good show.

Ron: Yeah, I'm really excited about this one. I love alternate stories, as well, so this is definitely up my alley.

Mon: Yeah, and I hear that the late Chadwick Boseman actually contributed his voice for several episodes. I'm not sure how often T’Challa appears but he does voice T’Challa, so that’ll be great. I hope they’re nice stories.

Ron: We also got a glimpse of the Ms Marvel show. We got news about the casting of Iman Vellani just a few months ago, so they must be shooting during the pandemic. That's exciting. We also got to see some of the supporting cast. There's a lot of controversy around this. And it just makes my head hurt. I don't understand why a company as big as Marvel and DC can’t do a little bit of background research when they cast people. Regular people on the internet can find out information and Marvel and Disney didn't find it out?

Mon: Or did they choose to ignore it? But the thing is that in today's internet age, you really need to be careful about who you're choosing, who you’re giving opportunities to. Especially in a show like Ms Marvel, which you make such a big deal about because she is so important to demographics in the US and around the world. And yet you keep making misstep after misstep. You need to be careful.

I will say that they seemed to try very hard during the Investor Day announcement to veer away from the rest of the cast and talk only about Iman Vellani. It could be because this was all shot and prepared well before the controversies began and the rest of the cast were chosen. But at the same, time I do wonder if they're trying to rethink. I need to give them the benefit of the doubt because I'm hoping that they rethink and recast. It might be too late, and we’re stuck with what we've got.

Ron: Yeah, but sometimes it takes something as simple as just putting out a statement acknowledging what people are concerned about. Like, Rosario Dawson, she does know about what people are saying about the allegations against her, and she did mention it in that interview with Variety. It does make me feel a lot better. I know a lot of people still don't really take her word for it, and that's completely an understandable reaction, but at least she's saying something. The thing is, I wish she had said something earlier. But I understand that she couldn't have because, despite rumors circulating from what, the beginning of the year, that Rosario Dawson was going to be playing Ahsoka, the lead up to the actual episode was all hush-hush, and it was only when we got to ‘The Jedi’, that we met Ahsoka Tano. It did make me feel better though.

Mon: Okay. But there are other problems.

Ron: There are. There's Gina Carano and her wildly insensitive and dangerous tweets about the pandemic and mask wearing and what she put as her pronouns. The thing is that these aren't things that happen in a vacuum. People are very vocal about it, a whole bunch of us, because of Gina Carano’s nonsense, ended up putting our pronouns in our bios, because we were like, okay, this is definitive, this is what we feel. And maybe we’re not very comfortable with our pronouns at this moment, but that's the one we're going with for now.

Mon: I just think that if you're a celebrity in the 21st century, you know how influential you are. You also know how far and wide every tweet goes. You need to be more careful about who you're hiring. And for Marvel, Disney, and DC to be so blinkered about it is quite shocking. Now we don't know how far the controversy around Miss Marvel and the casting goes, we can only hope that by the time the show actually does reach our screens that it does right by the fans who are so eager to watch it.

Ron: If you want more information about the controversies around the Ms Marvel casting, you can check out the Twitter hashtag #FixMsMarvel.

Mon: All right, let's be a little bit more positive here. We've got a few more announcements for the other shows, for example, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Hawkeye has got Kate Bishop and yes, she's being played by Hailee Steinfeld. Everybody knew it. Somehow Disney did not think to surprise us. Or maybe people just have too many cameras nowadays, because we have the images and everything.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Lots of people are excited. I am underwhelmed by this show. I don't know why. I like Hawkeye in the movies, but Jeremy Renner is a problem.

Ron: And the thing is, the Renner problems happened after he was in the MCU. Literally, in the last year, since Avengers: Endgame, these issues with him have come to light. How is he still here?

Mon: I know. You could have moved completely away from Hawkeye and just concentrated on Kate Bishop, but no, Hawkeye is still there.

Ron: Maybe he’ll die in this show.

Mon: He should have died in Endgame! Having talked about Hawkeye, Black Widow is still not coming to Disney Plus. We do not know if Disney is actually going to change their mind about this. I understand why. I understand that they want it to hit theaters. Because, let's be honest, in a couple of years when the gurus of film sit down and talk about how Wonder Woman and Black Widow and Mulan didn’t actually hit the theaters, they’ll come up with some hogwash about why these women-led films didn't make it to the theaters, ignoring the fact that we were in a pandemic.

Ron: I still think this is a terrible decision. You know why? Vaccine or no vaccine, how comfortable are we really going to be going to a theater to watch a movie, sitting next to a person, you don't know it they’ve washed their hands?

Mon: Can you imagine if somebody coughs?

Ron: Oh gosh, the entire theater will evacuate. This has been nine months of paranoia. This is a pandemic. It's unprecedented, the kind of situation that we're living in right now. It's scary. There are some people who willingly go out there thinking, for some reason, that they are immune to COVID-19. But most of us with brains know that we have to stay home. We're not gonna run into a theater. If you put it on Disney Plus, the chances of more people seeing it are huge. You're not going to make that much money if you put it in theaters. That's what I think.

Mon: Unless they’re going around actually sabotaging this film. Wow, I’m negative. I'm hoping for the best. I hope Disney sees the light if this situation continues. And listen, with the new regime taking over in the US, it's still going to take time. Because people need to be making a difference in their daily lives. Till a substantial amount of change happens globally and in the US, trying to insist on having a theater release seems premature.

Ron: And also, let's not forget, the Disney higher-ups may be getting the vaccine first, but people who actually go to theaters, it's going to be months before we get it. Yeah, I really don't understand. Maybe they're holding out hope, but I feel like they're going to have to change their decision eventually.

Mon: Yeah, I think a year of languishing in theater-hell will make them change their mind eventually.

Ron: Yeah

Mon: And also, maybe the anticipation is built up. It’s anyway been built up for a year. Then, once we get into the groove of the MCU once again with the TV shows, maybe they'll think, okay we've got enough eyes and subscribers, people will start coming and it’ll be worth putting it on the channel.

Ron: Well, hopefully, because I'm actually beginning to forget the Black Widow movie exists.

Mon: Yeah, they have to keep reminding us.

Ron: Seriously. They need to do something. Speaking of the movies, we’ve got confirmation that Captain Marvel 2 is going to be happening. And Nia DaCosta is going to be directing it, which is great. Also exciting, Ms Marvel from the TV show is going to be appearing in that, and so is a grown up Monica Rambeau, who we are going to be meeting in WandaVision. This pretty much tracks with the timeframe. Because Captain Marvel, the first one, took place in the 90s. Monica was still a young girl then. Presumably, Captain Marvel 2 is going to be set after Avengers: Endgame. So, Monica should be grown up by then.

Mon: Yeah, I'm excited to see what this film can be. We really liked the first film. It may have been a little bit safe storytelling-wise, it was a bit formulaic, but it's definitely different from the usual so we’re hardly going to complain. I feel like a brand new voice in Nia DaCosta? Can't wait to see what she can bring to the plate.

Ron: Yeah, absolutely.

Mon: And that's what I really liked about the announcements from Marvel. It's that we get to see diversity on the screen, but there's also diversity behind the scenes.

Ron: Absolutely. Like the Ms Marvel TV show is being directed, and the showrunners are all people of colour. So that's really exciting.

Mon: Yeah. And we even have Moon Knight, for example, has an Egyptian showrunner.

Ron: Yeah, no confirmation about who will be playing Moon Knight. There's a lot of talk about Oscar Isaac taking on the role but then Moon Knight is supposed to have Egyptian roots. Feige even mentioned that there's going to be a lot of Egyptian iconography in the show, so maybe they are holding out for an Egyptian actor. I really hope so, because there's no point having somebody who's not Egyptian in a TV show that is full of Egyptian aesthetics.

Mon: Let's be honest. Oscar Isaac does not make a good Egyptian, as we saw with X-Men: Apocalypse.

Ron: He tried, poor man.

Mon: That was such a terrible film! How do you take Oscar Isaac and apocalypse and make a disaster? But anyway, moving on. She-Hulk. Oh my god, what's happening with this show? First of all, we got confirmation that Tatiana Maslany was going to play She-Hulk. But then she rescinded? And now they’ve confirmed that she is She-Hulk.

Ron: There were so many rumours this year before Disney Investor Day, and they’ve all pretty much got confirmed at the event. Is Disney even trying to hide any of this stuff or what?

Mon: I'm just trying to figure out what is going on. Why are all these rumors reaching people, whereas Disney is still waiting to make the announcements?

Ron: I don't know. It was kind of weird. Like there are certain things which I was just like, huh, yeah this is not a surprise. That was probably the one aspect of Disney Investor Day that didn't work for me because we were already writing these pieces up.

Mon: Yeah, I mean, I think that when they were making these presentations, they probably didn't know that this was going to be the reaction because people had already seen the rumors, or they'd been confirmed. I don't know how long ago they actually put this stuff together.

Ron: But Disney needs to look into their sources! Who is leaking all this information?

Mon: So, She-Hulk is also going to have Tim Roth, returning as the Abomination.

Ron: What? Why?

Mon: No idea. Mark Ruffalo will be back as the Hulk. I really hope he's just Bruce Banner, not Hulk, or worse, Professor Hulk.

Ron: I didn't take to Professor Hulk either.

Mon: Yeah, I know some people really like the character and I appreciate that, but oh no, I don’t like him. So, I read recently that it's actually going to be a half hour, law comedy. I am so intrigued and I want to watch this show.

Ron: Oh really? That sounds fun.

Mon: Yeah. I mean, Tatiana Maslany’s so talented. She can do anything so I'm really intrigued to see what they can do with it.

Ron: Yeah, Feige did mention that, since it's going to be about lawyers, we should probably expect other Marvel characters to appear on the show. So of course, everybody's got excited thinking Daredevil is going to be coming back.

Mon: Oh, I was thinking Jessica Jones. She's not a lawyer, but she's a PI, and that’s kind of connected.

Ron: Listen, just bring my Defenders back somehow. I want my Defenders!

Mon: So, a really fun, and really good, exciting announcement was Ironheart! I’m so happy that this legacy character is getting her own show. And it’s going to be live-action, which is even better.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Hopefully, it won't be all about, oh, I miss Tony, I miss Tony. Because, you know what, I love Spider-Man, and I love Peter Parker, but he is way too wrapped up in Tony. And I understand that when you're watching the movies, you're already very into it. But when you come away from it, then it's like, Peter needs his own characterization, which isn't attached to Tony.

Ron: He doesn't have a life outside of Tony. It's extremely frustrating.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: So, what do you think about Armor Wars?

Mon: I am all for seeing Don Cheadle back as War Machine. That character is so cool. Don Cheadle is just so effortless as a superhero.

Ron: He's awesome.

Mon: This story is based on a comic run, and of course, that has more to do with Tony. Here, from the synopsis, it appears that this is one of Tony's worst nightmares, but War Machine has to deal with it. So, my assumption is that, obviously, somehow Tony’s tech, his armor, has got into the wrong hands. Who could it be, we don't know. I’m assuming Sam Rockwell is coming back.

Ron: Oh really?

Mon: That is my assumption. People really like that guy so he might come back.

Ron: Isn’t he in jail?

Mon: Endgame happened. Lots of things have changed!

Ron: Okay, that's a good point.

Mon: This is just me speculating. So, I just feel like it will be interesting because if it’s Tony’s nightmare and War Machine’s got to deal with it, then that changes the whole perspective altogether. So, I’m intrigued, I’m intrigued. Also, more War Machine is a good thing.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Okay. What do you think about Secret Invasion.

Ron: Dude, I have no idea what to think about this.

Mon: Disney is really running with the chemistry between Talos and Fury. But you know, the premise is pretty interesting. Because if the Skrulls, who are shapeshifters, have taken over every layer of humanity, it's really fascinating to see the whole ‘who can you trust’ issue.

Ron: Yeah, that angle, definitely quite interesting. I'm actually quite surprised that Talos and Fury are getting their own run. I like Talos. I think he's cool. And Nick Fury, you know, we really haven't got to see as much of him as we would have expected. He was great in Captain Marvel.

Mon: Just so much fun to see him.

Ron: My only concern about Secret Invasion is I don't want them painting the Skrulls as bad guys.

Mon: Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with you. Because the whole point of Captain Marvel is that the film really turned on its head who we think the bad guys are. I'm really hoping that it's just a faction of Skrulls. Because you have bad guys in everything, right?

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: There's a faction of Skrulls who are sent on Earth and they just take it the wrong way.

Ron: Yeah, I'm hoping that it's something like that. Because the refugee storyline in Captain Marvel was really hard-hitting. I thought it was really lovely. I'm not sure how I feel about Secret Invasion. We have to see it.

Mon: Yeah, there's no other species, per se, in the main Marvel Universe that they can play with in this fashion. I hope that they’re still sensitive to the topic, that at the end of the day, the Skrulls who were saved by Mar-Vell are still refugees who require and deserve to get a peaceful life. But there's always some bad eggs. Fury and Talos are dealing with them.

Ron: Yeah, yeah. We also got some Guardians of the Galaxy news. There is going to be a Holiday Special before the third film comes out. I don't know how I feel about that.

Mon: Sometimes I feel like Marvel milks the wrong things.

Ron: Do we want more Guardians of the Galaxy?

Mon: I think that having a third part is bad enough. The second film was just underwhelming to me. I have not gone back and seen it.

Ron: You know what I would like to see? A movie about Gamora and Nebula. That's all I want to see. I don't care about the others, just those two. Oh, and throw Mantis in there! Yeah. Mantis, Gamora, and Nebula, all I want to see.

Mon: I hope Disney is listening.

Ron: We're also going to get an I Am Groot series.

Mon: This is definitely a reason to sell toys to kids and make a Seedling-Groot version which is cuter than baby Yoda, so we have more Christmas decorations.

Alright, so back to the films, because we forgot a few things, didn't we? So, Ant-Man and the Wasp is going to be called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Ron: I think that sounds fun!

Mon: I love the name so much! Paul Rudd is back. Evangeline Lilly is back. She’s apologized for her pandemic snafu, so that's great.

Ron: Oh, thank goodness.

Mon: Yeah. Michael Douglas is back, and so is Michelle Pfeiffer. So excited. I love those four, they are so good in the films. Can’t wait to see them again. I am upset that they recast Cassie!

Ron: Why do we have now an older Cassie, than the older version that we already saw in Endgame?

Mon: I have no idea. The actress who played Cassie is also upset. She found out the same day that the Disney Investor Day announcement happened.

Ron: Oh, that's so mean.

Mon: That is mean! I don't like people who do that. At least let her know that she's not coming back and she's been replaced.

Ron: That's a bit disappointing.

Mon: They are going ahead with Black Panther 2. They've mentioned that they're not going to recast T’Challa, which people had anyway surmised. I'm very glad for that. Ryan Coogler is hard at work, we were told, rewriting the script. So, let's see what they can do. Eternals, there’s no new news about that, but we’re finally going to see it in theaters. “Theaters” in quotes.

Ron: Shang-Chi is also expected to be in theaters. Looks like Marvel is just going with that tactic. Let's see. These films, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and Eternals, they are ready for release.

Mon: Yeah, Shang-Chi finished late in the Fall.

Ron: Yeah, so they're probably gonna finish off their production and everything and be ready to go.

Mon: They’ve got a really good cast over there. So, yeah, can't wait to see how the movie turns out.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Thor 4: Love and Thunder, now has its villain. So Christian Bale is playing Gorr. Don't get excited. Gorr is a really weird-looking creature. I have no idea about this weird casting.

Ron: I just hope they let Christian Bale have fun and be funny. We need to see a funny Christian Bale. That's all I'm saying.

Mon: Is that something that exists?

Ron: It will when this movie comes out!

Mon: Amazing. All right. So, the big news which had fans actually going insane, is that Marvel is now going to make a Fantastic Four film.

Ron: Please just let them die.

Mon: Listen, Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel. We’ve gotta hold out hope that this is going to be something spectacular. I don't know who they're gonna get to write this film, and who they’re going to get to direct this film. I'm really worried about the cast, but I want them to do something really, really good. Because the cartoon series was a lot of fun, but it was also a cartoon. The Chris Evans movies were campy fun, there were really very silly. It was supposed to be the comic book ethos and they captured that.

Less said about Fan4stic is better. How you can take such a spectacular cast of Michael B Jordan, Jamie Bell, Katie Mara, and Toby Kebbell, and make that film is still beyond me. I'm so glad that Michael B Jordan got a second chance as Erik Killmonger. I'm hoping the others also get a second chance.

But yeah, let's see what they can do. I think that Marvel is going to do something spectacular with Fantastic Four, which we've never seen before. I say this with the confidence of somebody who knows that that's not gonna happen but I can hope.

Ron: Man, I don't know. I think some properties are just cursed.

Mon: No! Don’t say that.

Ron: Fantastic Four seems like it is. It's a mess.

Mon: I feel like there is so much expectation that comes with Fantastic Four. I mean, just think about it. Just because you and I aren't that attached to Fantastic Four, doesn't mean that we don't understand how people who are feel about this. If Marvel had announced that they were making X-Men, I don't know how we would react. The weight of expectation and the amount of history that is attached to these characters, it's huge. How do you take all of that and filter it down into one film, or one franchise? And at least, Fantastic Four is only four characters and one villain, for the most part, Galactus is also there.

If they were the X-Men, oh my god, it’ll just blow your mind. They’re clever not to have announced X-Men. Let them get through this roster because it's an extensive roster, we've been talking about it for a while now. It's a huge roster! And they’re smart to leave something which could potentially be a huge golden goose for them. But yeah, Fantastic Four, I feel good about it. And I feel good about it because I'm not attached to them.

Ron: I'm totally on the fence about Fantastic Four. I do not know what to expect. The problem is not just what has come before with Fantastic Four in the live-action universe. It’s with the characters themselves. Reed Richards is a dick!

Mon: No, but that's true. But listen, can you make somebody who is like that be a teachable moment for the character, for people who are watching him?

Ron: So, where I'm coming from is that I am now at the point where I can't stand watching or reading something about a character who's unlikable. I think they get too much time in the sun.

Mon: Okay. No, that's a good point.

Ron: Like, I just watched Mank. And I was like, why are you asking me to spend two and a half hours with this man who sucks? I don't want to. And it's not fair that I'm being asked to do that. I want to hang out with people I like.

Mon: Yeah, that's true. Maybe they should turn the tables and make Invisible Woman the dick, and Reed is the poor brow-beaten spouse in the relationship.

Ron: He will find a way to make even that annoying!

Mon: Let's be positive here. I really have a good feeling about Fantastic Four coming from the MCU. I'm telling you.

Ron: I don't know where your positivity is coming from because I have none.

Mon: Well, Marvel has had an extra year of thinking about this. Because they didn't actually do like actual work during this year because of the pandemic. So, I'm thinking that's just brewing a lot of good ideas for them.

And on that positive note, we want to know which of these Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Productions are you super excited about? Which ones do you really not want to be watching at all? What did you expect to actually be there which wasn't and you’re super-disappointed? Let us know. Send us a tweet, send us an email and happy watching!

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai, Mon, and Ron.

[commander-writergirl]

So I reached 800 Followers!! And so close to my Tumblr anniversary. So here is a lovely challenge for my followers who write, also others I follow who write. So here are the rules.

Rules:

1.     All submissions are due on July 1.

2.     Each user can make two requests.

3.     Can only be reader insert, but it can be male, female, or trans!reader. When you request make sure you have a certain character along with an AU and/or song. Soulmate AU will have three choices, but it must be for three different characters.

4.     Characters I read: Poe Dameron, Dyn Djaren, Cassian Andor, Rey Skywalker, Jyn Erso, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Frank Castle, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, Carol Danvers, Diana Prince, Merlin, John Kennex, Leonard McCoy, Rafael Barba, Jim Kirk, Javier Pena.

5.     It can be fluff, angst, smutty, whatever I’m not picky. Just make sure to put warnings.

6.     Over 300 words, please add a Keep Reading marker.

7.     Be sure to tag @commander-writergirl in all entries and do #800CelebrationChallenge in the tags

8.     Remember: Have Fun with it!

AUs:

Modern AU

Military AU

A/B/O Dynamics AU

Soulmate AU

Name Tattoo

First Words

Colorblind

Historical AU

Ancient Greece (900’s BC)

Viking era

Renaissance (14th – 17th Century)

Pirates (1800’s)

WW I (1910’s)

Roaring Twenties (1920’s)

WW II (1940’s)

Mirror!Verse

Arranged Marriage - @/imamotherfuckingstar-lord

Mystical Creatures AU-

Vampire

Werewolf

Mermaid

Witch

Angel

Greek God/Goddess

 Mafia/Mob

Songs:

1.     She’s Always a Woman – Billy Joel

2.     I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)- Hercules - @/onebatch-twobatch

3.     Part of Your World – Little Mermaid

4.     All That Matters – Finding Neverland

5.     Bad Idea – Waitress

6.     Circus of Your Mind – Finding Neverland

7.     Havana – Camila Cabello

8.     I Don’t Care – Ed Sheeran

9.     In a Crowd of Thousands – Anastasia

10.  A Million Dreams – The Greatest Showman

11.  Once Upon a December – Anastasia - @locke-writes​

12. Orpheus – Sara Bareilles -@love-a-lots​

13. Rewrite the Stars – The Greatest Showman

14.  Uptown Girl – Billy Joel @writefightandflightclub​

15.  Whole Lotta Woman – Kelly Clarkson

16. You Matter to Me – Waitress

17. Addicted – James Maslow

18.  Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – The Andrews Sisters

19.  Cool for the Summer – Demi Lovato

20.  Guys My Age – Hey Violet

21.  I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry

Tags: @onebatch--twobatch​ @propertyofpoeandbucky​ @niffleurs​ @poeticandors​ @girl-next-door-writes​ @medicatemedrmccoy​ @outside-the-government​ @carol-damn-vers​ @dolamrothianlady​ @ravenpuff-hc​ @spacedadheadcanons​ @tintinwrites​ @imamotherfuckingstar-lord​ 

[autisticmight]

how does someone who knows little-to-nothing about it get into sanders sides? i saw thomas' vines, and i've been sort of tangentially aware that the facets of his personality that he portrayed in the vines have since become characters, but there's a whole bunch of new ones??? what the fuck is a janus???? HELP. tldr where do i find The Lore? plz obi wan ur my only hope

it’s very simple!!! you hyperfixate on thomas sanders’s content in, like, 2016? and then he uploads a video called ‘my true identity’, which is a bit weird, but you love those vine characters. then he uploads more, and it becomes a trend. apparently people in the comments are shipping the prince guy and anxiety. you rewatch the new year’s video an embarrassing amount of times with your dog

i had a whole paragraph here about why i like the series, and why i dropped it and then picked it up again, but it was just a block of lowercase text and i guess it’s kind of hard to read

anyway, here’s the playlist of every episode, but i’m going to put a summary of the series and individual episodes under the readmore, while also ranking them, because i am Special Interesting and i like being useful. and i guess i’m gonna write using. like. actual grammar. if the readmore doesn’t work, then. have fun reading my infodump

here we go

Sanders Sides: A Summary

Fictional Version Of Thomas Sanders (known as Character!Thomas, and will be simply referred to as ‘Thomas’ henceforth) has ‘Sides’, which are parts of his personality that have been exaggerated and personified. It’s a nice little series set in some kind of semi-urban fantasy world, but mostly in Thomas’s living room. It mostly uses the idea of ‘Sides’ to represent the inner schemata of an individual. In simpler terms, you know when you’re conflicted, and you end up arguing with yourself? Yeah, it’s that.

Also, don’t read the comments, unless you want to disregard the care I’ve taken to not put spoilers in the Season 1 Summaries.

Season 1

I’d like to split this into parts, because there are a lot of things in earlier episodes that conflict with later characterisation. However, it’s also fun to watch them, and then rewatch them after some of the longer episodes, and feel your heart shatter!

This half of Season 1 was made solely by Thomas. It tends to be a bit more scattered, and can be watched out of chronological order, or completely skipped. Yes, I’m telling you that you can skip literally all of this section, if you want to. However, these are also the easiest videos to watch, and offer a taste of Silly Sanders Sides Hijinks without the emotional commitment.

My True Identity (6 min) - Thomas delves into the three aspects of his personality; his Logic (Teacher Guy), his Creativity (the Prince, also called Princey), and his Morality (Dad Guy who is Not Thomas’s Dad). At this point, the characters are far more similar to their Vine counterparts, and the characterisation clashes with later episodes. (3/5 - A nice way to see if you’ll enjoy the humour of this series)

Way Too Adult (5 min) - Thomas is asked by his family to help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Dad Guy pops up and discusses with Thomas how he can better learn to take care of himself. Features a talking stove, which is part of the reason why I classify this series as urban fantasy, and the start of a running joke. (2/5 - A fun, albeit rare, look into Dad Guy being responsible. I actually prefer this to My True Identity, but ranks lower due to conflicting with later S1 characterisation.)

Taking On Anxiety with Lilly Singh (6 min) - Thomas hopes and dreams to get rid of his Anxiety, who is a sassy, snide guy, sitting on the staircase. Princey, as the embodiment of Thomas’s hopes and dreams, is... Usurped by an imaginary version of Lilly Singh, who helps teach Thomas how to cope with feeling anxious. (3/5 - Introduces some secret tools that will help us later. The tools are Thomas being able to travel to various places in his head, and also Anxiety.)

A New Year of Lying to Myself... In Song!! (7 min) - The first video wherein you realise that this is A Thing. Thomas welcomes in the new year, hoping that 2017 will be better than 2016. Logic shows up to help him figure out some New Year’s Resolutions, accompanied by Dad Guy and Princey. Anxiety joins in to point out that Thomas has rarely, if ever, kept to his resolutions before. Through the first musical number of the series, the Core Sides and Thomas figure out simple, achievable resolutions that Thomas can use to improve his wellbeing. (4/5 - Unintentional foreshadowing in the form of a bop.)

The Dark Side of Disney (6 min) - Princey, not for the last time, enthuses about the wonders of Disney. However, Anxiety also appears, insisting that Disney is not as wholesome as it first appears. They argue and bond, despite the fact that Thomas still hasn’t redacted his statement regarding his hopes and dreams to get rid of his Anxiety. (2/5 - I have strong feelings on the meaning of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’, both of which are shrugged off in favour of the tryhard-edgy ‘blegh stockholm syndrome’ and ‘blegh change yourself to get your man’. Still, it’s a fan-favourite for a reason, and the endcard always makes me smile.)

I’m in a Disney Show!! (6 min) - Princey enthuses about the wonders of Disney, because Thomas is in a Disney show. He talks about what happened, while the Sides (mostly Logic) suggest clickbait titles in order to entice people to watch the video. (2/5 - L*gan P*ul is mentioned, as he was also in the episode.)

The Mind vs. The Heart (6 min) - Thomas finds himself split between following his mind, Logic, or his heart, Morality. Features onesies, and looks further into the characters of Logic and Dad Guy. (3/5 - Pretty calm and peaceful, to be honest. It’s nice.)

Then we move onto the second part of Season 1. This is when Thomas’s friend, Joan, began to offer their input into scriptwriting and directing. They’re most of the reason why Sanders Sides is an actual series, instead of being silly skit characters in short vlogs. From here on in, episodes become more complex, and work on an actual timeline.

Alone on Valentines Day (9 min) - Thomas is rather upset that he will be, as the title says, alone on Valentine’s Day. The Sides try to help him figure out how to get a date with an imaginary version of his friend Valerie, but each of them has a weirder way of going about it than the last. (4/5 - Far more cohesive than previous videos, but Thomas still wasn’t fully out as gay, so his hypothetical date is a woman. Yes, I took points off because of that. Yes, I’m about to erase the 3/5 to make it 4/5 because Valerie is a delight.)

Losing My Motivation (9 min) - When Thomas finds himself procrastinating, Logic takes it upon himself to find out which side is causing it. In order to get into a deductive mindset, Logic dresses up as Sherlock, while Dad Guy joins in as Watson. Once the case is solved, an important piece of information is revealed: the Sides have names. (Logic’s name is revealed) (3/5 - It’s just a fun little video, and I can’t keep giving every video from here on in 4/5, or that’ll ruin the whole thingy.)

Sanders Sides Q&A (9 min) - Exactly what it sounds like. There’s not much else to say. (2/5 - I love it, but it’s not really necessary to understand the whole series. It’s just extra characterisation.)

Am I Original? (12 min) - Thomas finds himself in a creative rut, trying to think of a completely original idea. Princey requests full creative control - “full-on Daydream Mode” - in order to rapidly consider and enact many different concepts, all while trying to make something that has never been seen before. (Princey’s name is revealed) (4/5 - Important characterisation for Princey. I originally rated it lower due to Thomas’s inability to rap, but upon rewatching, i found that the ending dialogue between Princey and Thomas was worth two points, rather than the single one I gave it previously.)

My Negative Thinking (13 min) - When Thomas messes up in an audition, his ego - Princey - is out of commission and being cared for by Dad Guy. Therefore, the only Sides available to aid him in this situation are Logic and Anxiety, neither of whom can help Thomas in the way he wants to. Anxiety is worsening Thomas’s mental state, so Logan proposes a debate in order to combat those cognitive distortions. (4/5 - A fan-favourite episode which offers a lot of insight into Logic and Anxiety as characters. It is useful as a tool for identifying cognitive distortions in real life, which may help with the individual’s mental health. Even though it introduces another running joke, it’s educational and fun, and it develops their relationship in a positive manner, I just don’t particularly enjoy it.)

Growing Up (15 min) - It’s Thomas’s birthday! He’s in his late twenties, and he’s still a kid at heart. He hasn’t done his laundry, he's silly and immature, and he feels like he isn’t at the point that he needs to be in his life. Therefore, all the Sides, except for Dad Guy, who ironically embodies Thomas’s inner child, work on trying to make him more mature. (Morality’s name is revealed) (3/5 - Features the concept of Voltron Shirt. I love this episode, but there is a noticeable change in audio quality at the end which affects how enjoyable it is.)

Making Some Changes (15 min) - Back in Thomas’s living room, and in opposition to his view from the last episode, Anxiety is worried about how life changes in unpredictable ways, and especially about losing contact with Thomas’s friends. Therefore, in order to keep Thomas’s friends permanently by his side, Princey gets them all to shapeshift. (3/5 - It might be skippable, but it’s just really, really fun.)

Becoming A Cartoon (10 min) - Adding to the whole urban fantasy thing, it turns out that animators can literally, physically turn people into cartoons. Thomas wants to be a cartoon. Princey catches Anxiety in his arms and says “everybody loves the villain,” and I think that’s all you need to know. (1/5 - Co-stars B*tch H*rtman, known for Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom, and Being A Bigot, who did the character designs for the Sides, if not the actual animation. And the designs are kind of. Eh. Just watch some fanmade animatics.)

Accepting Anxiety (23 min) - Part 1: Excepting Anxiety (10 min), and Part 2: Can Anxiety Be Good? (14 min) - HOO. If the musical number or the animation didn’t clue you in, this video confirms that Sanders Sides is A Thing. Remember how Thomas hoped and dreamt to get rid of his Anxiety? Remember how he never redacted that statement, or even expressed a bit of remorse? Well, here, his wishes come true, and he doesn’t feel bad about it at all! That’s because he has absolutely no shame, caution, or fear of death. Yeah, he’s a mess. Therefore, the Sides make him take them on a magical quest to Anxiety’s Room, in order to un-mess-ify Thomas. (Anxiety’s name is revealed) (5/5 - The team really went above and beyond with this one. Like. Hoo. That’s it. Just. Hoo. Hoo. I’m an owl.)

And that’s Season 1!!! I’m going to add Season 2 in a reblog, because this has taken roughly three hours and it’s been really difficult to not spoil their names!!! which i did anyway because their names are all easier to type from muscle memory!!!

[startrailed]

Headcanons based on the “This or That” muse edition dash game

Ok so I HAD that dash game on my blog, but today it’s been getting notes bc people are reblogging it and adding their versions instead of REPOSTING, so i had to delete the other one just to (hopefully) stop the notifications.  this itself is not a dash game btw it’s me taking info from when i did the dash game and posting it as headcanons/written out “this over that” answers.

Obi-Wan prefers tea, but he’ll drink coffee on occasion.

He definitely is up at dawn and grumbling when it gets too late.  But he’s also a workaholic who stays up all night anyway.

White chocolate is a blight on the universe, but he loves vanilla ice-cream.

He prefers spring over autumn because that’s when everything is growing and coming back to life, although it’s a close call because he loves the colors and the energy of autumn almost as much.

He probably looks better in gold but he likes the shine of silver better.

Pop is dead and alternative (or classical or jazz or hip-hop) is the only decent choice.

Obi-Wan finds freckles on someone much more endearing than dimples, especially if they’re faint enough that you have to be close enough to kiss the person to tell, all the better.  If they’re present enough to try to make out constellations in intimate settings, then he’s all for that too.  just.  freckles.

Snakes are slithery and freaky. Sharks are just misunderstood bitey goldfish.

There’s something about being up high on a mountain with the cold air stealing your breath away that prompts him to search them out.  Or just the height of it.  He loves heights.

If he had to have either the full thunderstorm or just the lightning, he’d rather the thunderstorm.  the combination of rolling winds, darkened skies, torrential rain, and having all that AND the lightning makes him happy.

He loves all mythology, but Greek has a slight edge over Egyptian purely for the sheer soap opera feel it has.

Scarlet is a sith color.  Ivory goes with everything.

Flutes are better than Lyres.  There’s no real explanation for it besides that I, the mun, played the flute and I like them better.

Opals are prettier than diamonds don’t change his mind.

Obi-Wan definitely has a “save the bees!” shirt in his modern  AU

Macrons look pretty and delightful, but eclairs actually deliver the flavor.  Obi-Wan finds them easier to make, too.

Obi-Wan wants to handwrite everything but he’ll take the typing route every. single. time.

Give Obi-Wan a library that only HE has access to and you’ll never get him out of it.

Obi-Wan loves heights, as said earlier.  He also likes the feeling of danger associated with heights without some form of a railing or barrier protecting him from falling.  find him on rooftops.

All manner of food, Master Obi-Wan likes.  Nothing’s too spicy, but sometimes a nice bowl of mashed potatoes with butter and salt and little else is delicious too.  Mmmm comfort food.

You go to the opera for Sith fairy tales.  You go to the ballet for REAL entertainment.

Look if Ben picks anywhere but London in the modern!AU he’ll have his English privileges revoked. if he picks PARIS instead he’ll be struck down by thunderstorm-less lightning.

Monet and Van Gogh are treasures to the universe, but Van Gogh is life.

Leather’s for punks and sith.  Denim is warm AND cotton.

potions are finite and take too long to brew.  Obi-Wan would rather a quick chant or spell word anyday.

While he has no qualms with sand, Obi-Wan love the ocean and water in general better.  If he ever had to go into exile, he’d rather it be on an island in the middle of the ocean ((*evil cackling*))

mermaids and sirens are both valid.  Sirens are cooler.

Masquerade balls?  You mean where you get to dress up in disguise?  YES.  cocktail parties? You mean where you get to look nice while getting PLASTERED?  YES.