#shes been done so dirty and now she's got a man whos soley about her and her happiness

[bunnithechubs]

that's 👏 her 👏 man 👏!!👏

[kandadiff]

Missing (16) - Knives

-

 Jack walked slowly over to me the smile on his face never leaving and I was soley focused on him, in the background Negans group shouted but they might as well have been miles away. “I’m surprised I found you, usually you were pretty good at my games. It was because you were so quiet, sometimes I had no idea where you’d get too in the house. You know what i used to call you?” I shook my head and he gave a soft chuckle stopping just two feet before me. “my little phantom, before I decided to name you all after the animals i most admire, you were going to creatures. Draven was my amazon, strong, fierce but troublesome. Makayla was my cupid skilled in art and mischief, Katya a little pixie that somehow made anything work in any situation, Arianna was my siren with her loud mouth plus she was the best swimmer I ever saw. But you were my favorite, you had surprise on you…Sometimes I would spend hours just looking for you around the house just to find you in the most obvious places but you were so quiet I never thought to look there.” He smiled and shook his head at me. “I have to say you yelling your location was a bit of a disappointment and I guess a blessing. I don’t think I would have found you had you stayed quiet. But everything happens for a reason, right?” He reached his hand out for me to take. “It’s time to go home. You’ve been away too long, I miss my kitty cat and I’m done having her roam on the streets.”

I looked at his hand and back up at his baby blue eyes and shook my head “I’m not yours.” His face remained as cool as ice and his hand remained out.

“The tattoo you chose to get marks you as mine, I’m asking nicely pussycat. Let’s go home, take you a shower, comb your hair and we’ll discuss everything in the morning. No punishments I think those Dragon men gave you enough.” He glanced at my cut hands and probably saw the bandages through the ripped clothing. “I promise I won’t punish you but you have to come home with me now.”

I sighed and nodded placing my hand gently on top of his, he gave a sympathetic nod until I grabbed his hand tight “Fuck you.” I snarled pulling him roughly towards me. He was caught off guard just for a moment and stumbled forward I punched him hard in the face and grabbed for the knife I had placed in my belt but he was quick and threw a punch at me. I quickly blocked it grabbing his arm and pulling it down harshly to snap it. He stomped on my sock clad foot and I yelped loudly, he grabbed the knife in my belt swinging it at me but I grabbed his arm and tried to claw it out of his grasp. I kicked at his stomach and legs but he was focused. 

Jack through the knife into the air catching it with his left hand and I ducked as he sliced through the air where my head just was. I gave him a right hook to the stomach and he doubled over for a moment, just enough for me to grab the knife, but his hand was bigger then mine and enclosed on it. For a moment we were locked in a stalemate, the sharp blade glinting in the flood light and I began to push it closer to him. I wrapped on of my legs around his in an attempt to trip him, but he grabbed a handful of my lose hair and violently pulled back. I screamed as the blade got closer and closer to my face “If I have to mark you up I will!” he growled at me in such an evil tone it made me look away from his eyes that’s when I spotted my opening. I bit his forearm hard so hard I tasted the copper taste of blood. He shouted in pain and let go of the knife, I flipped over his bleeding arm throwing him headfirst into a nearby tree.

  “I forgot how good you were” he managed out of breath trying to stand up but I did not waste a second in getting up and grabbing the knife and plunging into him and I smiled at the complete shock in his face, when he realized what I had just done.

-

You stayed hidden just as Romeo said and you were grateful you did. You were hidden for about 5 minutes maybe a bit more so far but what you heard made you sick, people you once thought of as friends wishing you dead or discussing how they were going to spend the money once they sold you to Jack. You wanted to get out and beat the shit out of them but you had to be smart, you had to be like Katya quiet and patient. 

You were curled into a sitting position when you heard something odd, creaking right next to you. It was so sudden you didn’t even realize what was happening until a knife plunged itself between the wood and just a few inches away from your face. You stopped breathing and you felt your eyes get wide, who the fuck knew you were here? Did you make any noise? You could have sworn you were being as quiet as possible. “Shes a fucking rabbit right?” You heard someone say but you didn’t recognize the voice or the accent. “Rabbits like to hide in small places maybe” he took out the knife and plunged it closer to you, you nearly screamed and decided to quietly back up.

“Shes not really a rabbit.” It was a girl speaking, she sounded young and you saw the guy remove his blade. “He just calls her that.”

“He calls all of you animal names?” The man said with an amused chuckle and you waited barely breathing for his next knife slice but he kept talking inside.

“No, only those who’ve earned it.” So the girl was a new one of Jack no wonder she sounded so young. That’s how he liked them, young and helpless so he could mold them into whatever he wanted. You wanted to pop out and shake her for being so stupid and warn her to run but no way were you getting out now, you just had a small knife while this man was packing a machete.

“I guess you haven’t” he asked and you could hear the smugness in his voice. She didn’t answer instead you heard her twist around on the wood, you didn’t dare look up in fear that if the man saw eyes looking up at him that’s the first place he’d stick the machete.

“Someone is coming.” She whispered and you heard the man turn. You couldn’t see all off the man emerge from the woods, only from their knees down but you counted and if the man and the girl were alone they were outnumbered, 6 to 2.

“Hello gentleman!” the man above you said “good night for hunting, huh?”

“We don’t fucking hunt people.” The voice made your heart nearly leap out of your chest and as on instinct you started to crawl forward but then realized you were still below a crazed man with a chainsaw. You nervously played with the princess ring on your finger, that was shawn that just spoke. You were positive about that and you were positive that you could trust him with your life. He had never let you down before and you knew hed keep you safe and get you the fuck out of here- he might even help you look for Edward…if you lied and said you were looking for Max but the point was you could trust him. But what if he left before this guy and girl did? You couldn’t track him and you had come so close to getting hurt just a few seconds before, what if this was your last chance in getting out of these woods alive? You had to take the risk, so carefully and as quietly as you could you began to scooch over to the end of the porch as Shawn and the man above you exchanged words.

“Well you’re here, I’m here and we are both hunting people.” The man laughed “No shame in that.”

“There is a lot of shame in hunting the innocent, that shit is barbaric.” He shot back “only lowlifes do that shit.”

“Innocent? Did Jack tell you about these people? Murders, assassins, thieves-”

“Broken by and made by the man you’re hunting for. For what? You think hes going to pay you? You’re dumber then you fucking look.” With all the insults about Jack flying around you noticed the girl hadn’t said anything… she was just speaking about how she wanted to earn her name for Jack now she was ignoring the insults about him, something wasn’t right, where was she? Shawn and the man were still exchanging words when you looked up and saw the brown eyes of a girl looking back at you.

“Found you” her voice was just above a whisper but it was like alarm bells to you. You saw he quickly grab the knife from her partners hands and plunge it into the wood. And this point you were scootching as fast as you could towards shawn, but it was a tight fit and you could only move so fast. “SHAWN!” You screamed out and a wave of short lived relief came over you as he screamed back out your name.

“ADI?!” You heard the cocking of a gun and a few of his men recognize that the girl was stabbing at you. They screamed at her to stop but the man cocked his gun just above you and you became desperate trying to move quicker, what if he killed shawn?! You saw a few of shawns men get to there knees in the chaos and pull at the wood to make an opening for you. It was almost open when the men were both screaming at each other, the noise from the wood splitting as the knife was stabbed through it kept you focused on the exit in front of you instead of the arguing. 

That was until an excruciating pain sliced through you and you screamed as loud as your voice would allow you. You watched at the knife sliced through the spot just above your knee, blood leaking out of you like a river as the knife cut back through the wound as the girl removed the knife. She knew where you were, she was going to stab you again! MOVE! ADI! MOVE! Gunshots hailed over you but all you could think about was getting to the exit, the pain in your leg making you feel dizzy, the blood now nearly coating your entire leg. You were grabbed by unseen hands as you reached the exit and pulled out, you started to hit whoever grabbed you but it was hard to stand and you lost your balance falling face first onto the dirt floor.

“Adi!” It was Shawn, he rolled you over and you met his eyes. They traveled down your dirty face to your wound, he began shouting orders to his men but you just looked around for the man and girl who did this to you. All of Shawns men looked fine, who got shot then? “Adi, focus! I’m here but we need to leave now!” Shawn tore off the sleeve of his sweater and wrapped it tightly around your cut, but it was bleeding heavily and was already starting to go through the makeshift bandage, he pulled you to your feet and when he realized you couldn’t walk picked you up that’s when you saw the bloodied remains of the two people on the porch, bullet ridden almost beyond recognition. “Lets find we’re leaving now, she needs a fucking doctor!”

“No!” You shouted, your mind filling with thoughts of how Edward was out here alone with people like this, you knew Katya, me and Maxis had a good chance out here but not him “We have to find the others!”

“Do not argue with me!” His tone was harsh and biting, but you knew it was because he was angry and scared. He could barely look at you as they went through the forest careful like they were mapping it out as they walked, “someone call Negan, tell him we got Adi.”  

-

[stillness-in-green]

Human Debris Masterpost (9/?)

This is the second of two consecutive posts in the series, which I had to break up for length (whoops).  The first one, dealing with the conclusion of the Dawn Horizon arc, can be found here.  Don’t miss the moment I fell in love with Derma!

At this point, we begin the Silent War arc, with an episode I’ve been wanting to talk about for months now.  I will attempt to manage my post length better in the future, but for now...

EPISODE THIRTY ��� Inauguration of the Arbrau Defense Forces

After some unsubtle foreshadowing courtesy of Makanai about what befalls those who try to take the quick way to their goals, we join the Earth Branch kids, as Takaki fields some conversation about what they’re going to do once the Arbrau Defense Force is all officially trained and on-duty and stuff.  

Takaki hasn’t heard anything in particular yet, but Aston puts in that he likes the Earth.  He doesn’t show much particular emotion in the statement, or immediately elaborate on why, but one of the unnamed characters (who, at the very least, have slightly more distinct designs than HQ-Tekkadan’s Random Brunettes) puts in that the food’s good, and Tekkadan members are welcome in the city.  

This is pleasant to hear, if a bit surprising, given what we’ve been lead to believe about prejudice towards those in the Outer Spheres.  Is this soley due to Tekkadan’s good rep?  It’d make sense that Arbrau, who just found out Gjallarhorn was trying to interfere in their democratic process, is feeling particularly welcoming to the organization that exposed it.  It may also be the case that the average person on the street is way less xenophobic than the average Gjallarhorn soldier.  

In any case, Takaki tries to mollify the other boys about Radice, who they don’t much like, and don’t feel is a real Tekkadan member.  

Aston and Takaki do an awful lot of silent watching of each other, at least in these first few episodes focusing on the Earth Branch.  They clearly have a lot of thoughts about each other, but are both slow to comment, Takaki probably a little reluctant to possibly hit a sore spot or say something insensitive, and Aston perhaps not feeling it’s really his place.  Will this cause them problems later?  I guess we’ll find out!

But in the meantime, back to Chad!  And also my screaming about Chad.  I’ll ask my readers to cast their thoughts back to something I mentioned some time ago, waaay back in my third post.  Specifically, Chad’s preview text for episode eleven, where he talks about only having been given torn, used clothes prior to joining CGS/Tekkadan (it’s unclear which he meant, but even CGS had uniforms), and how he’s more comfortable in dirty clothes.  

We find him working on a tie and wearing some very nice clothes indeed, for what is apparently the very first time.  Since this is not the actual day of the ceremony, I’m thinking he probably just got these delivered, and is trying them on to make sure everything fits correctly.  I’m impressed he knows his way around a tie, honestly.  Takaki compliments him, which he gets a bit abashed about, asking if it shouldn’t be Radice instead, whereupon we find out two things: firstly that Chad is indeed the one officially in charge of the Earth branch, and secondly that Makanai askied for Chad specifically.  More on that in a little bit.

Aston is a little wide-eyed throughout this scene, for reasons he will talk about later.

Chad catches Aston staring and gets even more embarrassed, saying that he knew he looked weird after all.  He’s clearly not feeling at all comfortable in the clothes, even as the smile on his face says that he’s still just a bit pleased.  My guess is that even if he feels like a street-rat playing dress up, something everyone is going to know as he shows his face in front of a crowd, he’s still proud to be representing Tekkadan.  And I love that the character writing is consistent enough to tie this back in to literally the only thing season one told about him personally, his comfort in used, dirty clothes.  

Aston tries to explain his staring, but they’re interrupted by Radice, here to deliver the last batch of guidelines for the event, which Takaki jumps in to grab, saying Tekkadan will take care of guarding the venue while Chad attends the ceremony.  

It’s indicative of Aston’s history, I think, that he’s apparently lippy around outsider adults, but shuts right down in the face of adults in his chain of command.  He doesn’t even look at anyone during this exchange, just stares at the floor as Radice rebukes them all not to cause any more friction with the Arbrau Defense Force.  He did the same around Kudal (although often he looked more terse about it, as Kudal was abusing the Brewers Debris quartet every time he was in the same room), which gives this reaction an air of ‘keep quiet, keep your head down, avoid trouble.’  

Chad and Takaki are more openly bemused by the man’s attitude.  

Ah, there’s the old terse Aston!  As soon as the authoritative adult leaves the room, he more openly glares and grumbles around it.  

Chad (because Chad has the patience of a saint and the self-esteem of a child abuse victim), says that Radice probably just has a lot on his mind, while Takaki (ever the optimist) points out that Radice has gotten more willing to listen to them over time, compared to how he was when he first joined, and jeezus, I dread to think how intolerable the man must have been at the start.  

We close the scene with Radice briefly eavesdropping from outside the door, as Chad jokes that maybe Radice’s just given up on them because they’re so dumb (see again: self-esteem issues), and Chad plz stop hurting me this way you are wonderful and smart and deserve much better than what’s about to happen to you.

Takaki and Aston head on out, with Takaki chattering about how cool Mr. Chad looked.  This leads Aston to ask about Chad’s history—that he used to be Human Debris like Aston himself, right?  Takaki confirms, but does not follow up on the question at all, instead changing the subject to whether Aston will be coming home with him that night, as Fuuka likes having him over.  

This is, perhaps, a good point to remind the reader that Takaki was nearly killed by Masahiro back during the Brewers Arc, something that I don’t doubt he is keenly aware of, though I don’t know how much of that Aston ever found out about.  His unwillingness to press Aston about Aston’s own issues stemming from that history are likely rooted in that awareness—that he would prefer not to dwell on that old division, telling himself that Aston is a member of Tekkadan now, and thus that Human Debris stuff doesn’t matter anymore!  (Spoilers: It still matters.)

In any case, Aston turns down the invite, noting that Fuuka has a test she’s been studying for, and he doesn’t want to distract her with fussing over him.  As was the case back with the Brewers, Aston shows himself to be observant and thoughtful, and with a tendency towards mediation that he only ever shows to his peers.  Takaki looks a little startled, and the next scene gives us the general impression that Aston has, perhaps, noticed more about Fuuka’s habits than her own brother has.  

After the credits, we return to Mars, and I get to roll around some more in my Human Debris feelings.  

Shino is chitchatting about how Chad will be pleased with the delivery of Shidens Tekkadan is getting ready to ship, though if they’d gotten them to him earlier, it would have made him look better.  Akihiro agrees, in an unusually upbeat mood.  When Lafter comments on it, Akihiro observes that they were both Human Debris.

Dante joins in to confirm, saying that Chad will get the job done, in a ‘Chad is awesome and we are proud of him’ moment that gives me more warm fuzzies about the Human Debris trio than my body has room for.  Ride breaks it up with some ribbing about how Akihiro would get nervous if it was him.  

Akihiro scowls theatrically at the teasing, and I am reminded of Biscuit commenting that he was surprised Akihiro came to the Tekkadan+Turbines oath-swearing ceremony, as it didn’t seem like the kind of thing he liked.  At that time, Akihiro said it was an important moment for the family.  This, though, is an important moment for our ex-red-stripes, one they’re clearly all feeling the resonance of, and it is great great great.  

After a check-in with Arianrhod, we return to Earth for the day of the ceremony, where Chad is giving some last-minute instructions.  They’re at the parliament building, actually!  It’s the same place where Kudelia gave her speech during the season one finale, and which will eventually be renamed in honor of Makanai.  

As the rest of the group disperses, Chad calls back Takaki just long enough to place him in charge.  Their trust in each other shines here, but knowing what’s coming, we also know that that trust can, itself, be a weakness—because Tekkadan focuses so strongly on obeying their appointed leaders, to the point that they don’t really think for themselves, there’s no protocol for what happens when a leader goes down, no way to put on the brakes even as things start to feel really wrong.  This will prove disastrous over the entire rest of the series, but particularly in this arc.  

As the ceremony gets underway, Takaki finally asks Aston why he’s been so out of it lately.  Aston responds with self-deprecation, saying that he isn’t very smart, and doesn’t know how to describe what he’s feeling.  

He was surprised when he saw Chad dressed up; it made him want everyone to see him.  He continues to puzzle over further explanation, until Takaki finally fills in the word—pride.  He was proud of Chad.  Aston confirms, and Takaki continues—he was also happy.  

Aston looks briefly, openly shocked by this assessment, turning his gaze away awkwardly, but confirming that as well.  He was happy.  

You guys, I’m starting to feel pretty confident in my assessment about Aston’s stunted emotional self-awareness.

As we approach the beginning of the end, we find Chad in Makanai’s office, where they have apparently not headed to the ceremony just yet.  Makanai is complimenting Tekkadan’s work as a military advisor, and thanking Chad for it, which Chad is a bit startled by, brushing it off.  

Makanai presses, though, stating that he’s counting on Chad as a person in charge of Tekkadan—and then he namedrops Chad specifically, leaving the young man completely stunned at the recognition.  The way he breathes, “My name…” here just guts me.  AUGH MY RED STRIPE FEELS.  

Before this gets any more personal, though, Makanai’s assistant (who I will have some words about, in a post I intend to make someday about various odds-and-ends I’ve noticed going through the show again; suffice to say the guy is a CHAMP) comes in and, showing his own observational skills, comments on the flower arrangement sitting on the table, asking when it was delivered, because it wasn’t in the room earlier.  

Before he’s even all the way through the question, Chad is leaping to a terrible (and sadly accurate) conclusion.  As Makanai reaches out and touches the flowers, Chad yells his name (calling him ‘sensei’, fascinatingly enough), the vase emits a beeping sound, and we go to slo-mo.  

Chad body-tackles Makanai to the floor just before the explosive goes off, removing him, alas, from these recaps for an agonizingly long time.  He’ll be back, though!  

Outside, as soon as the sound of an explosion hits the street, Aston is making to bolt inside.  He has to be physically stopped by Takaki, reminding him that a) Arbrau is in charge of security inside the building, and b) Mr. Chad is in there, and he’ll take care of whatever happened!

When they overhear that Makanai’s been injured, Aston wastes no time in grabbing an Arbrau security dude by the lapels and demanding to know about Chad.  Alas, the rest of the world is not so attentive to the names of random teenaged security personnel, and the guy has no idea who he’s talking about.  

After a brief timeskip of three days, we return to a bunch of angry kids (and they are kids; not one of them looks even as old as Chad and the other core members back on Mars, seeming closer to Takaki in age) already showing the first signs of frustration that Takaki doesn’t have any orders direct from Orga, but is just relaying them via Radice.  As has been and will continue to be the case, Aston keeps his own council, just keeping an eye on Takaki during the argument.  He is less of a mediator through here, for reasons that we’ll touch on shortly.  

Here we find him lurking in the hallway while Takaki tries to talk Radice into letting him contact Tekkadan directly—Radice says that’s his job while Chad is still unavailable, and Takaki lacks the wherewithal to just up and pull rank on him.  

In the hallway outside, Aston reveals that he, like the other Tekkadan members, wants to go and avenge Chad, but feels supporting Takaki is more important.  I think, though, that the fact that he never jumps in to try and smooth things over between Takaki and the others does speak to just how much he wants that revenge.  He wants to support Takaki, but probably doesn’t have any words to soothe the other members, because frankly, he agrees with them—so he just says nothing.  

Back on Mars, Orga has smelled a rat in all of this, and decides to rush the Shiden delivery, opting to send Akihiro and some others along.  Akhiro, who is without a doubt more pissed about this than he is immediately showing through his immediate worry and confusion, wastes no time in agreeing.  

He comments here that he wants to hurry, as he has a bad feeling.  It’s probably just his experience talking, as well as his trust in Orga’s bad feeling, but it does please me a bit to think that he’s having that shoujo manga “react as though I’ve sensed my loved ones’ mortal injury despite being miles apart and having exactly zero psychic ability” feeling that the show will traffic in more and more heavily in its wind-down episodes.  

We return to find Takaki and Aston talking about the possibility of a war breaking out, and what they should do without explicit orders from Orga.  Takaki, who made it through an entire season’s worth of Orga’s rhetoric about Tekkadan being family, wants to trust Radice, as well as hold out on Earth because Fuuka likes it so much.  Aston is entirely ambivalent about Radice, but wants to protect Takaki and Fuuka’s happiness however he can.  

However he can, though for him that really only means killing or dying.  

Whoops.  The Human Debris stuff still matters.  

Takaki protests this talk angrily, which seems to honestly bemuse Aston, in a strong echo of Akihiro’s early confusion about Orga offering him freedom, and the rest of Tekkadan welcoming him as family.  It just isn’t their first instinct, these red-stripes of ours, to understand the value the people around them place on their lives.  Aston is even more clueless about it than most, as Takaki is more reluctant to talk frankly about it than, say, Orga or Shino, Eugene or Mikazuki were with Akihiro.  

Yes, as Sudden Narrator Takaki tells us, this is all going to end in pain.  

Oh god, these are so long.  Thank you all for reading all this, and apologies again for any confusion with the back-to-back posts.  Comments and discussion are totally welcome, by the way!  Anyone who wants to talk Human Debris, or IBO generally, is wholly welcome to do so via reblogs or direct messages.