#replicant sabine

[spookyhati-wren]

Blade Runner AU

[idledearest]

THE DAYCARE TWINS!! FUN TIMES WITH SUN AND QUIET TIMES WITH MOON!!

wanted to replicate sabine belofsky’s concept art for them bc theyre so cute and expressive!! only want the best for my favorite boys of all time 😭☀️🌙🧡💙!!

i hope the lettering doesnt look too jarring bc my calligraphy skills are nonexistent 🥹👍

here’s a version w/o the text!!

enjoy

(NOW AVAILABLE AS A PRINT ON MY INPRNT STORE)

- idle ☀️🌙

[omaano]

SW Hades AU September Update

Links and previous updates: May - June - July - August - everything else in this AU

For the month of September I have for you a finished character illustration for not only one but two characters for the Hades AU! One boon giver in the form of Shaak Ti,

and Obi-wan, this grumpy old desert hermit who is still missing shading from his dusty surroundings.

AND below the cut I will show you the designs for all the keepsakes I sketched out for the characters this month :3

But - before I go into some ramblings - let's have another poll:

(I know it's a lot like the last poll, but I'm really trying to work on drawings of the boon giver characters while I still remember all the layer settings I need for their glow and radiant spikes ^^;)

And now on for the ramblings and thoughts behind the process of the art I've created this month:

One last rant about me and replicating the Hades art style

I have touched on my struggles with how I translate the Hades art style into my project in the previous update, and unfortunately the perfectionist in me refuses to let it go... so I'll muse on that a bit more in this one as well. Last time, I promise. I've come to the necessary conclusions that I'll let the topic go once I typed these out.

I found this very interesting video that I wish I'd seen before I started this project.

It is a very interesting breakdown of the Hades art style. Now I have to admit that I am very very bad at observation. Therefore I heavily rely on others pointing out patterns and defining characteristics before I can consciously start building on those on my own. For example: when I started more seriously working on this Hades AU project my main objective was to get better at lineart. The way I saw it Hades artworks had very clean and solid linearts with lots of black (thanks to another video that pointed that out as one of the 3 major definig features of the style) but if I look at it more closely the lines and shading are a lot looser, and more confident than what I ended up using.

I quite enjoy doing it, don't get me wrong, but there is an up- and downside to hunting down single pixels that are out of order (b it for lineart or shading) and 100% zoom in... which is silly and unnecessary, since I have to scale down my art quite a bit before posting anyway, so who would see anyway?

Also at this point I'm very much facing the dilemma of how much I can change in my approach to this style to still keep this entire project coherent. I'm more in favour of coherency at this point, so I'm just trying to soak up these lessons for future references.

One of these lessons was another point that was very fascinating in this video (aside from how this video picks a multiply layer approach to shading... which I had abandoned after Boba and Cobb for whatever reason?) was to point out the one dominant, more saturated colour in a character art, and how all the rest are desaturated to support that dominating character.

Shaak Ti and my babies

And I actually was very consciously trying to apply that with Shaak Ti! (I'm so proud of myself, finally incorporating a lesson into my work, look at me go!) It didn't exactly go as I'd planned, in a great deal because initially I wanted the red of her skin to be the more dominant and defining colour. But as I went about colouring in the baby clones as well I realized that the blue of her montrals and lekku would be a much better choice, and have the other redish and warmer tones of her robe and clothes, and the skin tone of the cadets to play the supporting colour role. Yet again, half my screens keep eating away the hue and saturation of my reds, but I think that this approach worked out just fine in the end. The blue-purple of her stripes, her eyes and lips look nice and pretty, and the blue in the cadet uniforms tie the entire composition of all these characters nicely together.

I'd also switched up the gem sparkle highlight colours for this one (and Obi-wan too, since they worked so well with Shaak Ti) from the very limiting base 6 fully saturated colours on others (that don't really show up in print anyways...).

And lastly why they are little ghosties in the alternate version:

Ahead of that however a brief introduction is in order. From left to right they are Ray (depicted here the last time he was biggest of the bunch), Slider (my anxious little field medic), and Goldie (my silly little goldfish who claimed the name before it could stick to Slider). For the record they all grow up just fine to join the war effort.

In this case they are more of a stand-in for all the clone cadets on Kamino, especially those who didn't get to grow up, the training of whom Shaak Ti ended up overseeing. (I don't remember if canonically there had been any of them on Kamino when the Empire destroyed their facilities.... but I'd bet that there must have been.) They deserve someone to look after them too, after all.

Also I wanted to see if I can make the Hades shade design work for me. The answer is.... eh, jury's still out, but no, not really. Luckily however, before I have to figure out if I stubbornly would want to change that, it seems like I'm done with my semi-transparent or shade clones. Wolffe is gonna be just fine, solid and grumpy as you can imagine.

Obi-wan

I don't have much to say about the grouchy old man, except that he was surprisingly easy to finish once I got over worrying about the pressure I'd put on myself because of this character illustration.

I fear to say this, but I'm pretty sure I should draw another version of him... like how Patroclus stands up from his hunched over pose and stands tall and strong and matching Achilles with his own spear once you reunite them in the game. And call on them for assistance. So I guess it would be cool if he could stand back-to-back with Cody, with his lightsaber back in his hand, and looking like someone who (allegedly) has his life together XD

Oh! There is one thing. It was a last minute change but I'm so pleased with the stained glass pieces of his teacup! It's his keepsake as well :))

Keepsakes

These speak for themselves, I believe. Special thanks to Quatre for brainstorming a few of these with me <3 Funnily enough Cody's snapped of antennae is the one I feel least sure about now that I have the whole lineup. They feel very in character for Cody (and how he gets his entertainment out of trolling Din in this AU) but it feels a little silly, you know? Especially with how little they look like antennae X"D

Cody - antenna from his armor, Rex - one of his DC-17 blasters, Wolffe - a tooth with "Plo's bros" carved into it, Bo-Katan - a medal/locket with the pattern of the throne of Mandalore, Cobb - his scarf, Boba - a black melon surrounded by stained glass and a fistful of sand, Echo and Fives - a domino

Omega - a clone trooper doll, Kit - a shell and pearl, Paz - a nesting doll with a Pantoran on the inside and a Mandalorian on the outside, Shaak Ti - akul teeth, Satine - a calla lily brooch like she wears in her hair, Ahsoka - a glowing feather from Morai, Leia - Lola

Obi-wan - a fancy teacup, Quinlan - whatever is the Star Wars equivalent of a pendrive, Fennec - a handful of bullets, Sabine - airbrush, Ezra - a tooka brooch made of pebbles and snail shell, Maul - Talisman of finding (the one Savege used to find him)

Anakin - multitools, Mythosaur - a mythosaur pendant, Aphra - Spice Dice used for a variant of Sabacc, Luke - toy ship, The Armorer - her hammer

It's a bit wild to see all of them laid out like this i'm not gonna lie :D

So that's it for now. As for the next month I'm hoping to surprise-finish Aphra (like I did with Obi-wan), maybe do something about the surpirse I can maybe do for Fives and Echo and why they haven't gotten their character interaction yet, sketch out a new character and maybe start lining Bo-Katan and her gang. It should be doable, right? XD Also I promise that this was my last rant about my relationship to how I've given up replicating the game's style as close as possible. Cross my heart and all that.

Taglist of anyone who wants to be pinged once a month for these updates <3 If you want to be added to the list send me a message, or just reply to this post (a 👀 would do, nothing fancy required ;))

@elwinged @yeehawgeek @velsayshi @lionsaint

If you want to be taken off the list just message me and I'll take you off, no hard feelings :)

[potassiumprincess]

adrien falling in love with cooking is something that is so personal to me

like. i think he starts out somewhat insecure, not knowing a single thing about it. wanting to learn but being afraid to ask silly questions. following every single step in every single recipe to a T, and trying to shake off the disappointment when things STILL don't turn out the way they should. because cooking really isn't about being exact, it's about instinct

marinette and alya gently tease him about how oh-so-carrfully trying to measure the perfect teaspoon of some spice instead of just tipping some into his hand and tossing it into the pot, and adrien struggles not to let that sting. he knows he doesn't have that sort of sixth sense. he doesn't think he ever will

and maybe he starts to feel embarassed that he's not getting it, so he starts seeking out answers on his own. there's a world of recipes and youtube tutorials he never knew about. there are a thousand different ways to make the same dish, and a dozen different approaches to the same cooking skill he swore he'd never master. there are secret ways to mimic flavours with different ingredients--hey. it's a little like science

and then there are the blogs. spaces where people pour out their life stories between carefully crafted photographs, sharing their struggles and triumphs. or those family-oriented food blogs with pictures of little hands reaching for cookies, tiny faces blurred for anonymity but somehow the pictures still capture their joy

he starts to learn that maybe, just maybe, perfection isn't the point

so he starts throwing things together...just because. and many of those first few attempts are disasterous--even marinette struggles to find something positive to say. but finally he's having fun with it, through experimentation

marinette comes home one day and their tiny kitchen is covered in baking sheets from a dozen different attempts at chocolate chip cookies; he tweaked one ingredient in each recipe, just to see the evolution of the results. and sure, he could have just googled one of those guides that show the effects of adding more baking soda vs. baking powder vs. butter vs. sugar vs. flour, etc... except he wanted to learn for himself

and then he starts to get it. the food starts turning out well no matter what he does. most times he knows with a taste what to add more of--and if he doesn't, he just has to try a few options before landing on the right balance. his friends are starting to ask for his recipes but he doesn't know what he did. he's not sure if he can replicate it

i think, after that, he prefers to do his own thing mostly. he'll seek inspiration from recipes but give it his own twist. and the only things he continues to memorize perfectly, step by step, are some of marinette's favourite recipes from childhood, things he asked sabine to teach him in case marinette has a bad day and he needs to cheer her up

but i think she prefers when he simply follows his whims

[teabeexo]

𝚃𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚊

☘︎ ↳ ❝ I had a dream that the sun in the sky

Was feelin' so lonely, he started to cry

The rain on our window kept us inside

All of the morning, and into the night... ❞

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

❝ Alone in my dream room, I want to love you... ❞ - "Man on the Moon" By Zella Day

𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍

☘︎ The Basics ☘︎

Age(s): Step 1 - 10, Step 2 - 14, Step 3 - 18, Step 4 - 22

Birthday: December 17

Gender: Female (she/her)

Nationality: French

Height: 5'4"

Significant Other: Dante Rhodes (belonging to @captian-insecure)

Role: Side character in my OL:NF universe.

☘︎ Lore (past) ☘︎

Sonia Linwood was born in Nice, France on December 17th to her parents Baptiste and Sabine Linwood. She has four elder brothers: Jude, Beau, Raoul, and Quincy. She grew up primarily speaking French among her family and peers, but would catch some English from the occasional tourist in her mother's bakery. She spent most of her early childhood snoozing in the warmth of a patterned hammock or listening to her brothers' prattle about their school adventures.

This monotonous comfort would change whenever her family, alongside her extended relatives (including her aunts, cousins, and grandparents), moved to Oregon. Namely, the beloved Golden Grove. However, unlike her cousins Mina and Maël, she didn't live in a small cul-de-sac. Her house ended up on a hill about ten minutes away from them. Like all the houses in the town, her abode was hugged by blushing leaves and whispering briars.

She completed fifth grade at the same school as her cousins but wasn't in Mrs. Murray's class -- not that it made much of a difference to her. After the move, Sonia and her cousins drifted slightly. They lived farther apart now, had different classes, and new social groups. Sonia could already see how close the two were with their new friends. She wasn't going to try to wedge herself between that.

Instead, she made new friends, too. Despite lacking some significant English vocabulary, Sonia was very easy to talk to. She attracted friends as easily as she deflected them. Her mother liked to call Sonia a social butterfly. But she preferred the term 'a social paper bag'. Butterflies choose where they fly, purposefully picking the most beautiful of flowers. They select their meals with careful consideration. But that was not Sonia. She went where she was beckoned, by whatever beckoned her. She followed the current of socialization like a paper bag that flies away in the ripples of the wind. Sometimes they got stuck in nooks and crannies, but they usually found their ways out. That was Sonia.

She didn't really develop a consistent social group until she was fourteen, whenever she and Mina reconnected. Through Mina, she met Tamarack -- whom she had only previously known as Mina's good friend. Sonia also established strong bonds with Mina's other friends: Diana, Maxine, and Rex.

Though, at times it was hard to really say they were her 'friend group'. Sonia still sat and chatted with whoever she pleased, though most often she chose them. The paper bag couldn't be tied down. Not yet.

Whenever she was roughly fifteen, Sonia was officially diagnosed with Narcolepsy. From that point, she started taking the necessary measures to make sure it didn't impede her daily life too much. She doesn't often bring it up but is open about the diagnosis if asked.

During her later teenage years, Sonia began learning how to embrace her own style, and opened herself up to the world of romance. During her adolescent years, the concept hadn't interested her much, despite a handful of individuals expressing their interest in her. She'd seen the emotional turmoil of those around her. She wasn't keen on replicating it for herself.

She dated around a bit, but nothing ever stuck. Nothing seemed to click. Flings were boring while they lasted, and though the physical intimacy was moderately satisfying, she didn't feel as though anyone was truly seeing her.

Not until she met Dante, anyhow. They'd briefly glimpsed each other in passing before, but nothing was pursued until a link-up between mutual friends. The relationship moved faster than anything Sonia had experienced before -- much to her delight. She was certainly enraptured by his love of music, but it was his demeanor and empathy that ultimately stole her heart.

'Spiny on the outside, mushy on the inside'. That's how she first described him to her brothers and parents.

And upon meeting him, they didn't need much more convincing.

☘︎ Lore (present/ongoing) ☘︎

Following the solidification of their relationship, the two got a small apartment together -- where they live in present. Dante is still pursuing his music, waiting in anticipation for his girlfriend to come home from another of her late-night shifts at the hospital she does part-time work for. Time together is sporadic, but they treasure what they do have of it.

Sonia has been affectionately dubbed 'Sleepy' by Dante, which she wholeheartedly lives up to by dozing off whenever they're even slightly comfortable.

Her social presence narrows as well, as she become more devoted to certain friendships rather than floating between cliques. She maintains strong contact with her cousins, often trying to arrange times to meet up. Even with Vérène, who lives all the way in California, is among her closest confidants. She doesn't see Rex, Diana, or Maxine, as often -- but chats over phone aren't uncommon.

On her days alone, Sonia likes to use watercolor sometimes, often depicting the fields of landscape of France or a saturated scene from one of her dreams. She has also found herself collecting quite the abundance of unique, noisy windchimes to decorate her porch with (much to Dante's chagrin). But of course, the most common usage of her time is simply curling up on a sunlit armchair and sleeping the minutes away.

As she always has, Sonia takes life one thing at time. But now that she's an adult, things are a bit different. For once, being the paper bag stuck in a nook for a while doesn't seem so bad.

☘︎ Relationships ☘︎

Parents: Baptiste and Sabine Linwood

Siblings: Jude (M), Beau (M), Raoul (M), and Quincy (M)

Aunts: Opal and Sophie

Cousins: Vérène (F; child of Sophie), Mina (F; child of Opal), and Maël (M; child of Opal).

S/O: Dante Rhodes

Notable Friends: Tamarack Baumann, Rex (my OC), Diana (my OC), and Maxine (my OC), Dex and Christin (OCs of a friend, neither of them are mentioned above)

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙲��𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

As you may have deduced, this is Sonia and Dante together!

Sonia headshot art. <33 (both art pieces were done by me)

☘︎ Epilogue (Artist/Author's notes) ☘︎

Hello, everyone! If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading! I hope that this was relatively satisfactory in answering any questions you had regarding Sonia. As always, if there's anything that I left unanswered, feel free to ask!

If I remember correctly, Sonia was first conceptualized in February of this year, in which I was actually building on a pre-existing character. She first only existed to be a counterpart to Dante, but I quickly got extremely attached to her design and she kept popping up over and over in my sketchbook. Ultimately, I made the choice to make Vérène and Sonia related -- which is what generally solidified her as an important character. Of course, that also branched out to include being related to Mina and Maël, to whom she lives more closely to and can interact more directly with.

Sonia herself is very much one of my comfort characters. Her design is extremely fun for me to draw and replicate. I also enjoy playing around with her because she's very flexible to fit in a multitude of scenarios.

As always, I encourage questions. I recognize that the format of this post doesn't really touch on her personality itself very much, so if you all would find a separate post about that interesting, I'll consider making something about that too.

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜

Spotify playlist: coming soon! (wip)

Moodboard: coming soon! (as soon as I figure out how to make one)

Pinterest Board: coming soon! (wip)

[supersaiyanjedi14]

SABEZRA DAY 2024

Prompt: Speaking Love Language/Free

@sabezraweek

*My AU; Ezra looks to communicate his feelings in a way Sabine will instantly understand.  If only his sources of guidance weren’t butting heads.*

“This right?”

“Almost.  It needs a bit more of a curve around…here.”

“That’s exactly where you pointed last time.”

“And it’s not right yet.”

“Why didn’t you say so before?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“I’m seriously starting to wonder if I do!”

Throwing up his hands, Ezra marched away from the work bench, resisting the urge to smack the other man in the mouth.  He had been working on this for the past week, every second of his precious little spare time dedicated to making it perfect.  When preparing a gift for the woman you love, you naturally feel compelled to make sure it is just that.  On paper, consulting someone familiar with the designs you are tying to replicate would be an ideal situation.

In practice, the fact that the only one available is the brother of the object of your affection, a brother who seems to relish in being as annoying as possible, makes the situation a bit more complicated.

Tristan laughed at Ezra’s dramatic distress.  “If it makes you feel any better, it’s a lot closer than it was when you started.”

“Yeah?” Ezra replied sharply, “Well maybe, next time, get the big details right on correction #1, not #17.”

“I didn’t correct it that many times.”  Tristan protested.

Ezra rolled his eyes.  “Wanna bet?  I’ve been keeping track.”

“What’s all the commotion?”

Turning to the new voice, Ezra saw three men walking into the rec room.  One of them, garbed in a pilot’s fighter jacket, was only familiar to Ezra by reputation.  The other two, a second Mandalorian in blue armor and an officer with a dashing cape across his shoulders, were far better known.

“Hey, Lando, Rau.” Ezra greeted his friends.  He turned to the other two.  “Lt. Janson, right?”

“That’s me, sir.” The pilot responded with a light salute.

“At ease, at ease.”  He turned back to Lando.  “Not much.  Tristan’s just being difficult.”

“For the love of-“

“Relax, Tristan,” Fenn Rau reprimanded the younger Mandalorian.  “You should know better than to be baited by his teasing by now.”  Rau turned to the bench.  “Ah,” he realized, “still working on this little pet project for Sabine?”

“If I meet Master Wren’s exceptional standards,” Ezra flamboyantly gestured to a pouting Tristan, “it should be done soon.”  He held up his work for the others to see.  “What do you guys think?” he asked.

Lando nodded.  “Not bad.  Though I think working on it out here in the open might be risky.  In my experience, the best gifts come with an element of surprise.”

Rau groaned.  “Really, Calrissian?”

“Just giving him some pointers.”

Janson snorted loudly.  “From you?  That’s rich.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Tristan shot back.  “Wasn’t it that Mirialan on Onderon that you scared off by eight parsecs?”

Janson’s face went red.  “it was one time, Wren, one-“

“Okay, enough.”  Ezra cut in before an argument about Wes Janson’s love life could break out.  “And to answer your question, Lando, don’t worry.  Everyone in this room is sworn to secrecy.”  He turned to the far side to the man in commando fatigues watching a holodrama.  “Isn’t that right, Dameron?”

Dameron paused his show and raised a hand.  “Silent as the grave, Commander!”

Sadly, Ezra’s attempt to avert conflagration were futile.  Janson regained a measure of his flair and turned to the commando.  “Oh,” he said in a slow, sarcastic tone.  “So he rejects our sage advise, but turns to you?”

Dameron got up at the challenge.  “He doesn’t ask anything.  If he did, though, I’d happily offer him tips.”

“Oh, so you’re an expert on romance?”

“Well, considering I’m the only one in this room who’s married, yeah, I’d say I am.”

“So what?  I’d actually be able to-“

“He didn’t want Calrissian’s schmoozing tips,” Rau cut in, “why would he want yours?”

“Schmoozing?” Lando blurted out in mild offense.  “I’ll have you know-“

“Oh, give it a rest.”

“I don’t see you adding anything, Wren.”

“Maybe because I don’t have anything to compensate for.”

“Why you little-!”

Whatever the conversation had turned to was thankfully muffled once Ezra slid the door to the rec room shut.  He considered putting the project on himself for a little extra filtering.

“Romantic advise isn’t that helpful tonight, is it?”

Turning around with a jolt, Ezra instinctively hid his gift behind his back, but relaxed when he saw the Twi’lek standing there.  He let out an exasperated breath.  “You have no idea.”

“You’d be surprised.” Hera grinned.  She turned to look at what Ezra was holding.  “So that’s what you’ve been slipping out to work on.”

Ezra nodded and looked down at it.  “I wanted to do something up her own alley, you know?  Show her how I feel in a way she can understand the best.”

Hera looked at the gift.  “I think it’s beautiful.”  She smiled warmly.  “Sabine’s going to love it.”

“You sure?”

Hera shook her head and placed a hand on his shoulder.  “Positive.  Besides,” she murmured as she walked off, “it’s not like she can’t already read you like a datapad.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll see.”

Ezra just shrugged.

XX

A few hours later, there was a knock on the door to Sabine’s cabin.  Setting her airbrush down, she walked over to answer.  She was greeted by the sight of her smiling boyfriend, who was holding a hastily wrapped mass in his hands.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she answered brightly.  She gestured to the package.  “What’s that?”

“Let me in and I’ll show you.”

“Hmmm,” Sabine mused, “I don’t know.  Strange men coming to my door bearing unexpected gifts.  I think my mother warned me about such things.”

Ezra’s face warmed a bit.  “Strange? Lady Wren, I must protest.”

Sabine let out a laugh.  “Come on, get in here.”

Regaining his composure, Ezra smiled and strode into Sabine’s quarters, the door closing behind him.  The two sat on her bunk and Ezra passed her the present.

“Go on,” he said.  “Open it.”

Normal, Sabine would have been happy to play hard to get.  Even all these years later, that light teasing they engaged in hadn’t faded away.  Experience often allowed one to see things others would not be able to perceive so easily, and the two of them had a knack for wrapping their earnest remarks in layers of sass, a little puzzle to piece through.  Now though, her curiosity got the better of her.  She quickly tore the flimsi off in one swipe.

Her eyes widened at the sight before her.  It was a shoretrooper helmet, but decidedly non-regulation.  The tan helm was now a vivid magenta, with blue markings along the jowels and orange stripes across the nose.  The forehead was adorned with a pair of purple arches, with a bright green spot right in the middle.  It took only a few seconds for her to recognize the markings.  The Nite-Owl, just as what her own helmet bore.  And looking closer at the blue markings, she saw them clearly.  The jaig eyes, the mark of honor for courage.  A little stylized and not in the traditional place, but jaig eyes all the same.

“Wow,” she said in genuine wonder.  Ezra wasn’t exactly the artist type, yet she could see dedication a parsec away.  He had clearly gone the extra mile to do something in her own style.  Not quite as complex as her own work, but the care he had placed into this was undeniable.  “This is…Ezra this is amazing!”

“Thanks,” he said as he placed a hand behind his head in a bashful look.  “The helmet came from that mission to Valo a couple months back.  I asked Tristan about how to do the symbols right, though the hard part was finding the right shades of paint.”

Sabine’s eyes snapped back to the helmet at that last word.  Paint.  Color.  Ezra wouldn’t have chosen just anything.  Taking a careful look at the gift, she began to unpack what she saw.

In Mandalorian tradition, certain colors held significant meaning.  Many warriors were known to paint their armor with specific colors to represent their chosen undertakings and causes.  While Sabine had never been picky enough to stick to one hue for a mission, she knew the significance of these shades by heart.  She checked off what she saw.

Blue jaig eyes on the sides.  A green center to the Nite Owl.  The orange nose stripes.  The pink and purple base.

Blue, for reliability.  Someone who you could always count on come hell or high water.

Green, for duty.  For a person driven to uphold whatever they believed in and see it through to the end.

Orange, for a lust for life.  Someone who treasured every day, every experience, and everyone they shared it with.

Purple and pink had no explicit meaning to Mandalorians.  But they didn’t need one.  Those colors spoke of something more specific.  Someone more specific.  Someone who considered those colors her personal favorites.  Someone who exemplified all the other colors on the helmet, yet was something all her own.  Someone the creator of this masterpiece loved above all else.

Ezra had been babbling on about his ongoing work for the past minute, but the deep kiss she quickly pulled him into shut him up.  No other words were needed.  He could tell exactly what she was thinking.

[williamstrother]

Sabine is not Luke

It's quite frustrating how some people tend to think Ezra and Sabine hooking up is "incest", when they are not even related, so it's not. Hmm. I'm kinda confused, why some people tend to treat it that way. I've not nothing against Sabine being a Jedi, but the way Dave Filoni is portaying her relationship with Ezra dosen't make sense. He flirted with her in Rebels, yet she turned him off. Ironically in seasons 3 and 4, they got more interactions. It was never an idea we pushed on Dave, but judging from the epilogue and Ahsoka, Sabine did display some mannerisms that resembled romantic intent. In the OG trilogy, Luke didn't have that strong of an attachment to Leia. only had curosity of the events that surroned her involvment. He also didn't make an issue over her falling for Han, instead assuming the role of the casual obbeserver of an obvious relationship between the two and not wanting to get in the middle of it. Also the idea of Leia being his sister was a twist, which became the core of their dynmanic. Ezra and Sabine could never replicate that (due to having no blood relation), instead replicated Kanan and Hera. It's kinda impossible, actaully. If the idea of those being a platonic pair was something Dave wanted, he could've given each of them different love interests, selling the idea, but never did, hence why many fans shipped them. Ironiclly despite Ahsoka seemingly trying to bury the ship sorta backfired with Sabine displaying traits remsebling romantic intent. Even the reunion also seemed to echo a romantic scene. Despite Ezra's strange line of Sabine being like a "sister" (while scratching his head a bit), he still flirted with her and the two even acted very nervously with each other, leading some fans to questio if it was true he saw her that way (with his previous attempts to woo her also furthering that same question). Also Luke and Ezra are very similar, yet completeyl different characters, so trying to replicate a previous dynmanic wouldn't feel very unique. Thankfully, Sabine is not related to him, so the two hooking up would not be too much taboo, despite what a lot fans are saying. It's not as odd as they think. Still Dave's take on this is pretty questionable and conisdering all the parallels between Ezra/Sabine and Kanan/Hera, it only confuses the future of their realtionship going forward or what the point of it is. The future is pretty murkey about this.

[jessequinnfirstofhername]

One of my SokaBine headcannons is that Sabine never really drank tea, of any kind, until Ahsoka took her on. And Ahsoka is a huge tea nerd and very particular and careful making it

The first time Sabine made Ahsoka a cup of tea just the way she likes, Sabine was so proud of herself 🥰

And now whenever she drinks tea she thinks of 'soka.

(....also, that white ceramic tea set on the T-6? Ahsoka made it herself. And Sabine lovessssss to watch Ahsoka making pottery hehe)

If I may add to your (very good) headcanon: Maybe Ahsoka picked up the tea nerd attitude from Obi-Wan.

As a very particular tea-drinker myself, someone making me tea exactly the way I like it is very sexy. 10/10.

Ahsoka and Sabine replicating the pottery scene from Ghost would also be a whole mood 😹

[brujitaadinbo]

You know; I was discussing the series with my friends team Dinbo in our group chat and despite our differences on things about the series; We didn't have any problem about Osha and Quimir developing feelings, BUT….

We began to see and notice something that in particular makes me quite angry, which is the hypocrisy of the toxic SW fandom.

and here comes my not at all humble opinion and what I take into account from my friends. The fact that Osha and Qimir are enemies then lovers can be accepted and everything is fine. BUT let's be honest, Qimir's true intentions are other, intentions that are not good and can affect Osha; If in history they manage to develop Qimir for a redemption, well at least something like Kylo Rey would happen Although that does not mean that in both cases there is toxicity and manipulation, there is even aggression and that SHOULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED OR NORMALIZED. as has happened lately in SW material

nor deal with the premise of "we are trying to put dark romance in this content" because then that message becomes so repetitive that later it seems as if they were trying to tell us that it is something good, which it is not.

Because Qimir has a much better developed gift of persuasion to convince Osha, more polished than Kylo.

And that's what we think is really screwed with that hypocritical SW fandom that hides behind "there must be variety in the universe, they must let a man and a woman be friends"

It's just that you only like that when the couple is not to your liking, just like Din and Bo katan.

They foamed at the mouth, because "they shouldn't always put a man and a woman together, it's an imposition" when from season 2 they show us that dynamic between them of "enemies then lovers"

but what they really didn't like is that this couple left that level of toxicity that could have escalated due to Bo Katan's small manipulative movements. In season 3 everything was a reboot and redemption, it is obvious that a couple must be healthy for it to prosper!!!

and that's what they don't like, this fandom always takes the worst and enjoys it, it likes morbidity and conflict. That is why they hide that "they are just friends" when season 3 is very evident and their entire relationship is documented as a deeper connection than simple battle companions.

Regardless of whether Din is inspired by Pedro Pascal, of course it is the essence but it is not his tastes or preferences. The fandom gets carried away by their own projections when it suits them.

It seems ridiculous to me that in “Osha Qimir” they like more that level of morbidity that they themselves can develop and well here it is a “man-woman”

so??' Where is the coherence in what they discuss with Din and Bo or even Ezra and Sabine?

It is simply that, their own projections and they believe that with that, the other part of the fandom will be discouraged by something that is very evident that they show us that they want to happen.

Now take Katee's statements, sorry but… she said many things before and the fandom does not forget. He started that game of "it could be, we still don't know" then he took control of this shipment and even talked about material that was eliminated, which did happen and after the actors' strike, everything was silence and retracting what was said, which even Carl himself contradicted…. so???

And Brendan Wayne himself replicated this game and at the end in a certain podcast interview he mentioned how he wanted to interpret Din's feelings towards Bo, as if it were him and his wife.

That even Screen Rant changed everything he said because from the beginning they don't like that Din and Bo are paired together, so they resort to playing dirty and doing ridiculous things like negative publicity for this shipment in their mediocre notes Internet.

The truth is that I find the hypocrisy of that toxic fandom pathetic and sad, especially on Twitter. They are not going to impose their preferences and projections on characters that do NOT belong to them. This is so simple and clear to understand because it is reality.

I just hope that just as they give "Qimir Osha" the opportunity Give it to other couples developing in SW.

Just as it is happening to Din and Bo Katan because they had a great positive change and are standard bearers of an unconventional family but that represents a healthy and strong bond.

I wish Qimir and Osha would allow it. May Qimir develop positive feelings towards her, take care of her and not let his own Sith interests win, may he and Osha not be consumed by the dark side and give us a better ending than Rey and Kylo, ​​because they weren't allowed to; being together.

This is the way.

[the-elisakou]

Glamrock Foxy! :D I had a blast doing a design for him!

You can see beneath, my art next to Sabine Belofsky's one, to show the artstyle I tried to replicate! It was a wonderful experience!

Hope you like it as much as I do :)

[kazoosandfannypacks]

Deep Blue (Sabezra Drabble)

requested by @notanodinarygirl

Every attempt to make the perfect shade of blue fell short. Steel blue felt too serious. Sky blue felt too free. Ocean blue never could do justice to his eyes- eyes lost in a space deeper than their hue.

It'd been years since Sabine needed a holo for reference when she painted Ezra- every lost contour and scar of his face lived in her mind- along with the eyes of a blue she could never replicate.

"I know you're counting on me, Ezra. I will find you."

She sighed as she added "close enough blue" eyes to the still-in-progress painting.

an/tags under cut

A/N: this one was so fun to write! I know I've said this kind of thing on quite a few drabbles, but I'd never written for sabezra, so that was a fun little experiment! For some of the fics I've done, it took a little figuring out to find out how to fit the ship and the song together without going over the word count, but this one practically wrote itself before I'd even finished my first listen through of the song! Excellent song choice, friend!

tagging some rebels mutuals: @laughingphoenixleader @accidental-spice @kanerallels @heckin-music-dork (if anyone would like to be added to or removed from the rebels taglist, hmu in a dm or ask!)

Send me a song and one of the tagged ships and I'll write a drabble!

[spookyhati-wren]

Wolfwren Blade Runner AU

[yandere-collections]

First Time Meeting Sabine

Anyway, have some self indulgence. You can read more about Sabine here. Hope you like her.

Female yandere ex assassin x GN Reader

For the first time in her life, the woman in blue wasn’t following orders. For the first time in 30 years, she was free to think and act for herself. And for the first time, she had the opportunity to focus on something other than… no. If she was truly leaving that life behind, she shouldn’t even think the word. Still, someone who was so good at that couldn’t ever truly leave the life behind, just take an extended vacation. Sooner or later, someone would want her to cash in on a favor for someone else. But that wouldn’t happen for a while. Her existence was dangerous enough on its own, and her threats made ensured they would leave her alone.

The woman was now independent and no longer had another’s instructions to guide her. But with this newfound autonomy came apprehension. What did she do now? She’d had all emotions and desires trained out of her from a young age, leaving only physical sensations like pain and hunger. Normal things people had things they wanted, people they cared about. She didn’t.

But she had to start somewhere. There was a muted feeling deep down within her, a wanting to want. A desire to understand others’ emotions, why they acted the way they did.

So her she was, on a sidewalk, staring into a cafe. There were a few people in line but overall, it wasn’t very busy. She’d been inside cafes before while on missions and such but always sat down without ordering. There was never a reason to.

Entering the building, she glanced up at the menu, faltering as she took it in. That was… significantly more options than she was expecting. But she was committed and so she stepped up behind the last person in line. In now time at all, the people in front of her placed their orders and stepped away. She still didn’t know what to get, paralyzed by choice. And she couldn’t take her time either, there were now people behind her, waiting to order their drinks. She must have taken too long, hearing the person behind her speak.

“Need some help?”

Of course she had been aware of you as she was everyone in the room, always on the lookout for threats and such. You hadn’t registered in her mind but now, you had her full attention. She turned around, eyes looking you over, assessing you. You just stood there, a smile on your face, waiting for her to speak.

“I… am unsure what to order.”

“Well, what flavors do you like?”

She stood in silence for a moment, thinking your question over. “…I do not know.” You tilted your head but she continued before you could ask. “What are you getting?”

You told her your usual. She nodded but showed no signs of recognition. She turned back around and perfectly replicated what you said to the cashier, ordering one for each of you and paying before you could protest.

“Right. Names for the order?” the cashier asked, writing on the cups with a marker. You stuttered out your name, looking to her and waiting for her to do the same. Her eyes flicked away as she spoke, breaking the contact between you.

“Sabine.”

Unaware of this little moment between you two, the cashier said your drinks would be ready soon and then immediately addressed the person behind you two. You and Sabine stepped to the side, waiting for your identical drinks.

“Thanks, by the way. You didn’t have to pay for me you know.”

She glanced at you, but didn’t linger, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of eye contact. Her voice held the same emotionless tone as she replied. “It is no trouble. I would not have known what to get otherwise.”

“Well, can I pay you back at least?”

She shook her head, a subtle gesture. “It is not necessary. Although…” She trailed off, not knowing if she should ask this of you. You seemed kind enough, not a threat at all. The way you were so willing to talk to something as dangerous as her, how you didn’t seem nervous at all, unable to sense the predator next to you. Taking another look at you, she was convinced.

“It has been a while since I have spoken with someone. Would you…?”

“Of course!”

Sabine felt something in her soften as you agreed. So eager, so willing. One of the few emotions she was understood was fear, it was usually the emotion she saw in her victims’ eyes before the light behind them faded away. And she was still programmed with the drive to stay alive as all creatures did as well as pain to know if her body was damaged. Looking at you, she saw none of the fear, anger, or disdain people held for her. Only acceptance. You were the opposite of afraid. How unusual.

The employee behind the counter called out both of your names, placing two identical drinks next to each other on the counter. Your hands brushed, reaching out at the same time. You also grabbed cream and sugars, offering some to her. She plucked them from your fingers, staring down at the packets.

You lead her to sit on one of the couches (right in the middle of the room, unprotected) and began chatting. Sabine didn’t say much, only asking the occasional question to pull more information out of you. How naive you were, how willingly you gave personal details away. You needed someone to protect you. There were too many people who could hurt you, take advantage of you; you needed someone to look after you and make sure you were safe. You awakened something in her, a warm feeling.

You looked at the time, eyes widening at at how long she kept you talking. You gathered your things and said goodbye, rushing out the cafe. The woman in blue waited a few seconds before slipping out the door after you, leaving her drink behind.

Please allow me to find my salvation and humanity in you

[rotten-hearts-sharp-teeth]

Building off of one of your tags, what is your favourite werewolf lore that you've incorporated, the one you love but couldn't use? And finally, the million dollar question: why didn't Millenium make more werewolves?

Do you suppose the curse wasn't contagious in the Hellsing Universe? The slim chance they couldn't get Hans to turn anyone into a werewolf? Or maybe Doc couldn't replicate it, despite being able to replicate vampirism?

Thank you for the ask! I've been meaning to write something for the werewolf lore in my AU but haven't had the motivation before now. Get ready, because we are about to deep dive into something I put entirely too much thought and effort into.

My favorite lore that I incorporated was actually the base for my story. As a paranormal romance reader, I enjoy the Fated Mates/ Mate Mark werewolf trope. There is something poetic and beautiful about being magically bound to the person you love for eternity. Unfortunately, I am also a horror media enthusiast :) I wondered how that would work if the werewolf you were bound to was actually the horror movie version. Bad boys in those types of stories always end up with a heart of gold, but what if they were not a good person? What if the monster was actually a monster?

An American Werewolf in London, Wolfenstein and Hellsing gave me my answer. Enter: Hans. Because there is no worse monster that I can think of than a n*zi werewolf.

One detail about werewolves that I absolutely love but wasn't able to use, is the brutal transformation sequence. I love skin ripping, bones snapping, graphic and gory transformations. I love the imagery of the beastly feral side literally ripping through the human visage. I couldn't use a damn bit of it though because HIRANO already set the canon for werewolves in the Hellsing universe 😒 but anyway. Mist shifting is nice too. I guess.

Ok! Now on to the big question. I would like to state that I am in no way bashing anyone who uses curse werewolves for their Hellsing AU. All werewolves are valid.

For me personally, I could not figure out why the third reich would go through all the trouble of making an army of artificial vampires when they had a perfectly good werewolf already under their control. If it was a curse or virus or something contagious, why only use one? It made no sense to me. Feral werewolves could have been dropped on the battlefield like ghouls. Virginal requirements (like vampires need) wouldn't have been an issue since they literally raised children to be soldiers. So, with those questions in mind, I decided to make my werewolves a different species. In my AU werewolves can only be born. They are not created and have never been human. That's why they are almost extinct and that's why my version of Hans behaves the way he does.

Now for some Midian history.

My werewolves are descended from an ancient species of shapeshifter that took the form of two apex predators during its time: dire wolves and early humans. This species went extinct of course, but their descendants spread out and became regional subspecies.

Hans is the last Werewulf. His species comes from the Black Forest of Germany and is where the legends originated. Werewulfs developed away from humanity, so they didn't need to appear that human up close. It's why Hans has such an inhuman mouth and lacks the ability to speak. He looks human enough from far away, but up close it is obvious that he is not. I have a long, extensive backstory on what happened to his pack and why he joined the war, but I think I'll save that for another time.

I will note that werewulfs cannot breed with humans. They are too far apart genetically.

Sabine is a Loup Garou and her genetics are a little more confusing. Loups developed closer to humanity and are more human passing than their German counterparts. Sabine's grandmother was a werewolf. Her grandfather was technically human, but carried a recessive werewolf gene that he passed on to her mother. Sabine's father was human, but Sabine ended up a very unlikely recessive werewolf. Her werewolf nature remained dormant until the ritual that bound her to Hans awakened that part of her. Sabine, like her grandmother, could only have reproduced with another werewolf or someone who carried the recessive gene.

So to sum it up, I do think the n*zis tried to make more werewolves. Once they found out it wasn't contagious, they formed the first breeding program. When that ended badly, they gave up on werewolves and focused their energy on something that they knew WAS transferable to human soldiers. Vampirism and the production of ghouls. The end.

[justminawrites]

Of Ribbons and Other Lost Things - Chapter 3: Unlucky Girls

AO3

1 | 2 | 3 | TBC

Luka Couffaine had made a mistake.

He couldn’t decide when it had happened– maybe following his ex-girlfriend’s father into their family bakery was where it all started to fall apart, or even putting the idea of part-time employment into Tom Dupain’s mind. 

Maybe it went even further back than that. In hindsight, waking up today didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“No, no, you need to feel the dough admit defeat,” Tom attempted to demonstrate the delicate kneading technique, “See, like this.”

Luka stared at the evidently undefeated beige mush on the counter and tried not to cringe as he imagined it growing two eyes, a mouth, and begin laughing at him. He’d never been particularly good at any non-musical extracurriculars, though he wished he’d taken pottery or something, just so he wouldn’t dig himself into an even deeper grave in front of Marinette’s father. And her best friend.

“Wow, Luka, you’re really showing that bread who’s boss,” Alya Cesaire teased from across the room, watching him massacre the flour-to-water ratio as she tapped away on her phone.

“We don’t seem to be in harmony,” he admitted, embarrassed by how quickly he was ready to quit. Forget harmony, they didn’t even seem to be playing the same note. How anyone could do this was beyond him. Marinette really was amazing.

“Maybe it’s better if I give up fighting the dough, altogether.”

“Nonsense!” Tom interrupted, visibly trying not to wince as he leaned in to examine the creation, “We were all beginners once. You just need a.. uh.. you just need a little more–“

Luka braced himself for what he was going to say. Skill? Patience? Humility-to-admit-you’ll-never-be-good-enough-for-certain-things-and-let-them-go-because-you’re-not-Adrien-Agreste– 

“Flour, dear. You just need a little more flour.”

Both Tom and Luka looked up to see Sabine Cheng enter the bakery, her arms filled with stacks of colourful flyers. 

Alya quickly tucked away her phone in her back pocket to lighten her load, sending a few papers scattering across the tiled floors. As Sabine thanked her, Luka watched a bright blue one float across the room and gently settle on the marble counter, inches away from his pile of mushy dough.

QIXI JIE PLAY: Tickets only available till XX/XX/XX (2 weeks left!)

“Sabine!” Marinette’s father seemed to (for lack of a better phrase) light up, eyes twinkling, as his wife proceeded to dust off her apron and join them; carefully holding a cup of flour. 

“I made the same mistake when I first learned to bake,” she said reassuringly, dumping the white powder over Luka’s hands, “Tom’s father wouldn’t let me live it down for weeks.”

“Of course!” Tom grinned, putting on an affected accent to his voice, “Two cups of water in the mixture, Sabine? That’s not how it’s done!”

“There,” Sabine smiled back, “Now try, Luka.”

He reluctantly replicated the kneading movements he’d been watching Tom make for the past twenty minutes, and was relieved to see that his watery creation had now solidified into a a more play-dough like consistency. The tightness in chest eased a little, seeing the progress he’d made. 

“Are you putting on a play, Mme. Cheng?” Alya interrupted, not waiting for a response as she plucked the final flyer off the counter and added it to her pile,

“I could drop a link in The Ladyblog if you’re having trouble selling tickets.”

“That’s kind of you, dear,” Sabine gestured for her to pass the flyers back which she did, “But it’s not my play. I’m doing this as a favour to a friend who wanted me to teach his actors the traditional art of Dunhuang.“

“The Chinese ribbon dance,” she clarified, when three pairs of eyes blinked at her bemusedly. Sabine sighed, tucking away the sheath of papers in a cabinet below the counter, and looked up at her husband with worry. 

“Unfortunately, it’s all very last minute so I can’t run the bakery and teach full-time. Tom and I were thinking of getting Marinette to help out but we don’t want to overwhelm her–“ 

“Maman? What did you need help with?”

Luka could feel his heart cartoonishly leap into his throat as her voice drifted down the wrought-iron staircase, and mentally pushed it down into the depths of his stomach, as the tap tap tap of ballet flats slapping the ground hurried to join them. 

Sure, it’d only been a week since he’d seen her but a lot could happen in a week. He could be perfectly fine in a week. Perfectly fine and completely over the breakup, and not at all thinking about how Jule took close ups of his face all week that she’d probably shown to all her friends and oh he was so going to disown his sister when he got home–

Marinette Dupain-Cheng entered the room and let out a sound that was somewhere between squeak and wheeze when she saw his face.

“L-Luka?!”

Luka couldn’t recall what he’d said in reply, if he’d said anything at all or wether he was even breathing because Marinette.. because her hair..

Her hair was down; out of its trademark style and spilling down her shoulders, the ends thick and black.

The idea that Luka had never seen Marinette with her hair down was laughable as it was strangely poetic. They’d hung out together so often - they’d dated! - but seeing her like this seemed much more vulnerable somehow. Like he was getting a glimpse of all the things she couldn’t tell him when they were together. All the things he couldn’t bring himself to ask. 

Not that she wasn’t beautiful. She was always beautiful. 

It was only when Marinette blushed and pulled her hair into its usual twin ponytails, that he was able to tear his gaze away from her and back to the mound of dough in front of him. Don’t lose your cool, don’t lose your cool, don’t–

“Hey, Marinette,” he said easily, though his voice wavered in a way that no one but Jule would’ve noticed.

“I didn’t expect– I mean– You look– Your jacket–“ she floundered her reply, earning a laugh from her best friend. 

Luka looked around him in surprise; he’d taken off his jacket to keep it from getting in the way. He felt a little naked without it but hadn’t wondered if it made him look weird until now. Great, now she thinks I’m weird and a stalker.

“Real smooth, girl.” After a pointed glare in Alya’s direction, Marinette turned back to him, finally noticing the dough in his hands. 

Her lips broke into shy smile. 

“What are you making?” She asked curiously, skirting around the awkwardness of him being here, in her house, when both of them knew she’d been avoiding him.

“Just bread,” he said, almost apologetically covering it with the flat of his palms, “–but I think Baking might not be the right instrument for me.“

“Here, let me see.”

Luka moved back in surprise as she came to stand beside beside him, dusting her own hands in flour. He’d expected her to be nervous and uncomfortable around him now that they’d broken up (for reasons neither of them could articulate), but Marinette only furrowed her brow in concentration, pulling the baking sheet towards herself, and got to work. 

“There,” she beamed up at him, barely ten minutes later, “All done.”

Marinette had managed to pummel his sickly-beige, barely-dough concoction into the dusky brown colour of before-bread with only a few shakes of flour and the twist of her wrist. 

“O-oh, wait,” She mumbled when he’d stared at her in awe instead of replying, “I didn’t mean– I wasn’t trying to show off or anything–“

“You’re amazing, Marinette,” It escaped his mouth before he could fully realise what he’d said, and now she was looking at him with big eyes. Crap. That was probably a bit too strong. 

“I.. am?” 

“–at baking!” He added quickly, not meeting her gaze, “A real magician, Marinette!”

Why couldn’t he stop saying her name? The awkwardness and the lingering effect of his words seemed to envelop the two of them and Luka had to force himself not to react to the spark of electricity that shot through his nerves when their forearms accidentally brushed. 

“That’s right, my daughter’s a genius!” Tom swooped in between them to examine the dough, and Luka moved back, relieved. 

If this kept up, he would start pulling out the finger-guns before lunch; and absolutely, under no circumstances, could he have Marinette realising that the ex-boyfriend she thought was cool and mature, was actually a huge dorkasaurus. He’d done enough damage already.

Tom swept the dough into a tray and lovingly placed it into the oven as Sabine handed them both a wet towelette. He tried to look at Marinette out of the corner of his eye, and found her gaze already transfixed on her best friend’s phone.

“We gotta leave soon if we want to make it before André splits,” Alya said matter-of-factly, pointing at something on her screen, “It’ll take us at least 20 minutes to get there on foot.”

“And guess who’s going to be there because of the Bourgeois’ anniversary party?”

Luka didn’t need to turn around to see Alya shake her friend’s shoulders and quietly mouth ‘Adrien’ to know who it was. 

To know who it always would be, with Marinette.

“Marinette, could you be a dear and get the apples I left out by the door before you leave?”

“Sure, Maman!”

Luka smiled at her retreating back as she pushed open the bakery door, and stored the sorrow somewhere deep inside him instead. 

He’d meant it when he said he’d be happy for her when they got together. Not ‘if’ but ‘when.’ Because that was yet another curse he carried by remembering the events that he’d lived through, akumatised as Truth– Marinette’s secret was that all her roads ended up at Adrien Agreste, wether she wanted them to or not. 

All of Paris seemed to know that it was only a matter of when. 

He would be happy, He would be happy, he would be happy. Even if the stars fell from the sky and the moon broke into a thousand pieces. Even if every instrument he’d ever made went up in flames. Even if Shadowmoth won and all of Paris became a wasteland.

If Marinette loved Adrien, he’d be happy for her even if it killed him.

...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was going to kill her best friend. 

Not only would she have appreciated knowing about her frickin’ ex-boyfriend baking bread with her father, Alya also had the gall to laugh in her face when she’d nearly fallen to pieces in front of him. 

She sighed as she curled her fingers around the crate of apples; Marinette could hardly blame her bff for the latter. Her heart had spontaneously combusted when she’d walked in to see Luka Couffaine of all people, behind the counter without his jacket, up to his elbows in flour, clearly out of his element and did she mention without his jacket??

In all the time that she’d known him, she hadn’t ever seen him jacket-less, and she hadn’t expected to feel so flustered by the strange intimacy of seeing Luka’s tanned forearms for the first time. Or those same arms baking bread.

Well..trying anyway.

Marinette stifled a smile at the thought. Luka was normally so calm and collected, there was something almost gratifying about knowing that he could be just as much as a fish out of water as her, even if it was just while kneading dough.

She felt the her cheeks flush as she recalled his awestruck expression ‘You’re amazing, Marinette.’ Alya had cackled knowingly and Marinette’s back pocket had buzzed with a text from the brunette. She didn’t even need to open it to know what it said.

@alya.ladyblogger: tryna impress someone r we

( ͡° ᴗ ͡°)

Marinette shook her head to clear away the blush. 

Alya had it all wrong; she wasn’t trying to impress Luka with her bread-making skills. If anything, she was trying to impress.. uh.. herself! That’s right, it’d been so long since she’d helped out her parents at the bakery that she started to wonder if her baking had become a little rusty. Yeah, that was definitely it.

Not seeing Luka in over a week had momentarily made her forget why she was avoiding him in the first place, and now Marinette wondered how he was handling the after-effects of the Truth akuma. 

She’d wanted to ask him about Jagged, about his mom; she’d wanted to ask him if he could ever forgive her for getting him akumatised, for any of it, but for once, she was afraid the answer might be exactly what she’d expected.

So she settled for Juleka’s mumbling and the close up pictures on her purple-haired-friend’s phone, telling herself it was for the best, it was for the best, it was for the best. Unlucky girls like her didn’t get to fall in love, and besides, Luka couldn’t get akumatised if she wasn’t around to let him down. Again. 

Marinette tried not to sigh, as the memory of the last time she talked to Luka rose up in the back of her mind: she’d broken up with him over the same bridge he’d taken her to that very evening, because it was easier than telling him the truth. 

No, not easier– safer. It was safer for the both of them if she stayed away. Or at least, she hoped it was. Oh, and Adrien too, of course. 

Though, she supposed, Adrien was hardly in danger with the way her words twisted themselves into pretzels around him. In fact, the only chance he’d ever become akumatised because of Marinette, is if he completely misunderstood everything she’d said– like Marianne.

And after everything that’d happened on French-American friendship week, even her feelings about Adrien had become pretzel-shaped; the inextricable threads of shame and disappointment weaving their way into the “love” she’d been so sure she held for him, less than a month ago.

Marinette took a breath and hoisted the crate up to her hip, trying not to recall that final night in New York, the cold shards of rain that peppered her face as she pedalled as hard as her burning calfs would let her. Hot tears rolling down her cheeks as she screamed and screamed after the car, only for Adrien to leave without even turning once. 

What a mess.

As Marinette was about to push open the bakery door a single apple fell from the crate and rolled backwards.

She tried to reach for the runaway fruit with one arm while balancing the crate in the other, and ended up losing her balance and toppling over instead, spilling the apples onto the sidewalk and earning sympathetic glances from the pedestrians on the street as she fell. 

“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki flitted out of her purse as if on cue, perching on top of an apple, as her big bug eyes widened with concern. Marinette could see herself reflected back in the glassy blue tint, from the shadows under her own eyes all the way to the the defeated slump of her shoulders.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten a good night’s sleep– mess was an understatement. 

“I’m fine, Tikki,” she sighed rather than said, gathering the fruit back into the crate. 

“Just the same old, klutzy Marinette.”

The kwami frowned up at the mouse miraculous pendant hanging at her neck.

“Maybe you shouldn’t..” 

Whatever Tikki was going to say was immediately interrupted by the hum of a motor as a black taxi pulled up in front of the bakery, and a blonde girl, about her age, got out. 

The kwami quickly flew out of sight as the girl promised the driver she’d only be a few minutes, oblivious to the disarray Marinette herself was sitting in the middle of–  and the single red apple that had rolled to wait right under the girl’s colourful sneaker.

“Wait, WATCH OUT–“

But it was too late. 

A slip and a stumble later, the girl found herself right beside Marinette on the pavement, her fall jostling the blue beanie she was wearing off of her head, so Marinette could see a faded streak of pink hair peeking out of the blonde. 

“Oh my, is everyone alright?” The bakery door swung open to reveal a concerned Sabine, holding her purse tightly, with a bemused Tom in tow. 

The girl gave Marinette a weak smile as if to say ‘oh, clumsy me,’ and the idea that there was someone out there in the world who was just as uncoordinated and graceless as her was so silly that she grinned right back, and the two were soon in stitches on the floor outside the bakery. 

“Here, let me help you.. uh..”

“Zoé,” the girl smiled, taking Marinette’s outstretched arm, “I’m Zoé Lee.”

“Hello Zoé,” Marinette smiled, dusting herself off, “I’m Miss-Walking-Disaster, but everyone calls me Marinette. Please let me spot you some of our macarons to makeup for all this.”

“Oh, that’s not necessar–”

“I insist,” Marinette interrupted bending over to put away the last of the apples, “It’s the least I could do after introducing you to our lovely Parisian pavements.”

Before Zoé could reply however, Sabine sighed and took the crate off of the ground and handed it to her husband, who dutifully retreated back into the bakery.

“Maybe that’s enough excitement for the day, dear,” Sabine added, not unkindly, “Why don’t you let your father handle the macarons, hmm?”

“Yes Maman.”

“Wow!”

Zoé glanced down as Marinette got an eyeful of the bright sneakers and looked up at her with sparkling blue eyes.

“Your sneakers are awesome! Did you decorate them yourself?”

If there was anything Marinette loved more than designing, it was seeing other people’s designs. Particularly DIY ones. There was just something so inspiring about them.

“Yeah,” Zoe agreed tucking a lock of hair behind her ear sheepishly, “I’ve written down every nice thing that anyone’s ever said to me.”

“To keep them with me all the time.”

A single I ♥ U, was scribbled on to the toe cap of the left shoe.

Marinette frowned, “But there’s only one message.”

“I.. uh.. only had one friend.”

Both Sabine and Marinette let out an ‘oh’ sound, the sound wavering somewhere between pity and second-hand embarrassment. Zoe shifted on her feet, suddenly uncomfortable. 

“Why don’t you two come inside?” Sabine smoothly changed the topic, holding out an arm to help her daughter up, “And you can show your new friend around the bakery, Marinette.”

“That’s a great idea, Maman!”

“I mean..,” Marinette held up her hands apologetically, “Only if you’re free Zoé.. I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

Zoé shrugged, “I’m not in a rush.”

Sabine looked back and forth between the two girls fondly, smiled and turned to leave. Marinette quickly checked the left pocket of her pink jeans to make sure the bee miraculous was still where she’d left it and missed the strange glance Zoé gave her. 

“By the way,” Marinette added over her shoulder, as the two of them followed her mother back into the bakery, “–where’s your accent from? It’s really pretty.”

“New York,” the other girl replied, bending over slightly to tie her shoelace, “I’m from New York.”

“Wow! How exciting– I was just there on a class trip!”

“No way!”

“Yeah– so what brings you to Paris?”

“I’m here..“ the light in Zoé’s eyes darkened.

“...to see my family.”

______________________________________________________________

END NOTES:

This chapter was basically: Luka on the inside: asdfghjsjdjhbjhrwkjefehfhrgbkrhIstillloveyou Luka on the outside: oh hi marinette Mari on the inside: *Mari.exe stopped functioning after seeing jacket-less exboyfriend* Mari on the outside: *baking to not process feelings*

NEXT CHAPTER ->

[dotthings]

Some thoughts about the end credit track and how it reflects on Ahsoka herself and what it might mean thematically and for her arc.

The end credits track by Kevin Kiner is mostly built around Ahsoka's theme, originated by the same composer.

starts out slow, with higher, melancholy violins and rhythmic, darker cellos as a baseline that almost sound like drumbeats, plus there's drumbeats. Feels powerful, yet weighed down. (Like Ahsoka herself, commentary on that below)

then the theme starts rising with soaring horns, builds and climbs, becomes less weighed down, with more instruments joining in.

quiet passage with a flute which segues into more wind instruments, more energetic, and then it goes contemplative, quieter again.

track ends with more quiet horns that sound somber to me, but not heavy like the opening.

That end credit track has an arc. It's telling a story in itself. What that story is yet, what it all means, we don't know yet.

However the way music works in Star Wars, music reflects the story. The end credit track has clues tonally about the arc of S1. We haven't seen the build and climb yet. We've only seen the first 2 episodes.

It's not going to stay there. There's going to be an arc.

The "slowness" of Ahsoka's fight scenes are not a mistake. Notice how Shin Hati and Sabine's fight scene is paced a bit differently, and the way they move is different than how Ahsoka moves. Also "slow" isn't the right word. That's a shorthand. More precisely, I'll describe her movements as deliberate and steady. It may look less dynamic that what we're used to but there are several reasons for it.

One thing is that as an older, experienced Jedi, Ahsoka doesn't need to zip around like she did as a teen. She's very powerful and very experienced. She moves strategically, purposefully, steadily, and lures her opponents into traps. Another reason (a more practical logistical reason) is difference from animation to live action--animation has a weightlessness live action simply cannot replicate, and comparing the two makes no sense to me. But again, given that Shin Hati and Sabine's fight scene is paced more rapidly, I don't think this is simple logistical difference between animation and live action. It's a deliberate story choice that fits thematically.

Those moves of Ahsoka's were thought through. Very carefully.

The other reason is her emotional arc--it's a visual, stylistic commentary on Ahsoka's emotional state. It's the weight on Ahsoka's shoulders, along with how powerful and deliberate her fighting style has become. There's also her defensive posture so far in quiet non-combative scenes. Arms folded.

Ahsoka is carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders at the start of S1. Her regret and guilt about abandoning Sabine, her regret on not finding Ezra, her regret about leaving Anakin, not being able to save Anakin, the responsibility she feels, her fears of failing.

TV isn't random spaghetti thrown at the wall, especially not with something done with the care that goes into Star Wars. Stylistic choices are made deliberately. Visual choices, music choices, lighting, blocking, are deliberate. And Star Wars rhymes.

We're going to see an arc. Because that's how storytelling works.