#sizzle writes

[sizzleissues]

Gift (Core 4 and Adrien thinks, writing exercise)

“You didn’t have to!” Marinette says, squealing as she turns the t-shirt over in her hands. On its front is the visualiser art for Jagged Stones obscure first release, faded now by years of love and soap. Alya beams, leaning forward to see the gift through Marinette’s ecstatic eyes.

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal. You just happened to mention you’d discovered Crocodile Mania on the phone as I passed the second-hand store. It was fate really.” She shrugs but her pleasure in a successful gifting is betrayed by her smile.

Adrien can’t but feel slightly envious of her fortune. Marinette had loved the various gifts he’d given her (for example the blanket draped across her knees. While he couldn’t knit or sew, he knew that she was in dire need of something to keep her warm during the night because she kept shivering and denying it. He’d ironed on a few cat themed patches to the front and she’d glowed upon receiving it.) But nothing had quite elicited the same reaction (well, nothing material at least…)

Marinette puts the t-shirt to her face, giggling and falling back. As Nino hands his gift to Alya, she slips it on, cradling her arms around her chest. It fits perfectly.

“This is really nice Alya, I hope you didn’t spend too much. Memorabilia like this is usually-.”

Alya turns, her new set of earmuffs in her hands, and shakes her head. “It’s fine Marinette, it really wasn’t that much.”

“Alya,” she complains.

Adrien sighs internally. Always eager to give but chronically unable to receive, as Ladybug or as Marinette. At some point he’d figured out as Chat Noir that his roses weren’t rejected out of apathy or lack of feelings but by her inability to accept them. At first because she didn’t feel he was sincere, and then because she despised the money spent on it.

“It’s just too much,” she’d say. “Money better spent elsewhere.”

“It’s just too much,” she says to Alya now. “Money better spent elsewhere.”

“But for the look on your face? Priceless,” Alya assuages and partially convinces Marinette to relax her anxious frown. Adrien huffs, when he’d used that line last year she’d balked at him.

Money is it. The insecurity of it. The lack of it. Something he has in spades but his friends do not. That was the source.

The conversation moves on, the ‘friend exchange gifts in a circle with a STRICT spending limit’ over because none of them could agree what to call it. White elephant was too ostentatious according to Alya, sick of its results in her own family. She’d ended up with a bag of baby carrots, three golden Easter eggs the size of her head and a miniature chicken carved out of broccoli over the course of the years. Secret Santa deemed pointless by Nino because there were so little of them around they’d figure it out immediately. Finally Marinette vetoed grab bag for similar reasons to Nino. In the end, it mostly resembled regular gift giving.

“Speaking of Jagged Stone, did you see he’s performing in a few weeks. Tickets are crazy.” Nino lifts up his phone to show the dates and ticket price.

“That’s insane.”

“Who can afford that?”

“That’s not too bad-,” Adrien pauses, realising his response didn’t fit the other ones yelled out by the others. “That’s awful,” he corrects. Luckily, he only receives one odd glance from Marinette against his chest.

“Like maybe if it was later, but that’s so close. No one commissions me during January,” Marinette muses, playing with his arm as she speaks. Her hands make their way to his, intertwining and twisting until settling together. It’s quite distracting.

“Same here. Work doesn’t really pick back up until after they’ll be sold out. And then there’s definitely no getting them.” Alya groans and flops against the back of the couch. Balancing university and work had become the main struggle for many of them. To afford it they needed to work but to pass class they needed to study.

Notably not Adrien. The difference had become ever more starkly present since leaving collegé. While his friends took up odd jobs and dived for spare change, he continued modelling only because the evenings became incredibly boring with his friends often scattered across Paris, being more adult than him. He could quit, he should quit after everything, but then it was just be more obvious the free time his financial status afforded him. It wasn’t like he didn’t offer to help. But from there you ran into a different problem. Pride.

Case and point.

“I could get the tickets-,” he begins.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

“Adrien no. Bad.”

“Don’t even suggest it.”

“And you can pay it back once things pick up again.” He finishes. Marinette relaxes her sudden iron grip on his hand.

“Oh.” The let out collectively.

From under his head Marinette hums. “That could work. I usually get work in February anyway.”

“Exactly,” he says. “It has no downsides.”

-

Wow. I can write again. Unfortunately it’s the present tense calling to me which isn’t my usual. Forgive, I’m stretching my bones.

Anyway this is sort of based off the discussions I’ve been seeing about Adrien and gift giving. Idk if it really hits it but I had fun and it was nice to play around in these characters heads again after so long.

[s0fti3w1tch]

When did his baby blue get so far from reach?

[wisteria-whump]

whumpee getting hurt in a completely preventable situation after caretaker warned them and they didn't listen

[thunder-wolf64]

The two slugcats squirmed through tight tunnels and vast open spaces. Sizzle's stomach flip-flops in the lack of gravity; it's a strange sensation, there was no heft to his body, not to anything he touched. He would compare it to falling... but even then, you can still feel wind batting against your fur. The air here was still, the oh so familiar noises of the outside were all replaced by mechanical whirring.

Artificer reached out and snatched one of the small floating creatures from the air. She stuffed it into her mouth, "Eat these, and be quick."

Sizzle reached out as well, his paws grabbing onto the organism as it flashed an aray of bright colors. He but I it it quickly, hoping it wasn't in too much terror. The texture was chewy, with hardly any taste. "What are these?" Sizzle asked, reaching for a few more.

"Food. You can eat it, and you won't die from it." Artificer didn't need to eat anymore, she had already filled her belly with scavenger meat. It sickend Sizzle. But the green slugcat still needed to survive the cycle, he ate his fill and continued through the complex machinery.

Then the two suddenly popped into a different looking room, inhabitanted by something more complex. Similar structures to a slugcat, upright posture and diget-ed paws. But it was attached to wall with cords wrapping around it's metallic skin. It beeped weird noises as it stated at the two slugcats, seemingly annoyed.

Sizzle flinched at the familiar white-eyed-glare. He let his mother move in first, and she did so with confidence, the strange hunk of metal that's been following her around poped into existence and immediately caught the other beings, eyes. A moment later, gravity returned.

Sizzle smacked his face on the warm metal floor groaning as his mother landed safely. He really needed to work on his landings. Before Sizzle could lift himself up, a blaring light enveloped his vision and his ears rang with loud noise, similar to that of an explosion. He was propelled backwards and onto the floor once again. He clutched his head in pain, but there was a sudden clarity to the noise. A voice.

The two slugcats rose to their feet as this... iterator started to speak to the two...

[timeskip i ain't writing the spiel 5P gives Arti]

What a strange thing, Sizzle was having trouble wrapping his head around being in the presence of something god-like. Scavengers were known to exaggerate their stories, but the things they've said about gods in sky boxes suddenly were more believable.

Artificer was taking it in stride. She knew what coming here would give her. And now Sizzle must question the reality of the situation. There's no way his mom could survive slaughtering an entire city. It was impossible. But she seemed entirely confident.

She heard what she needed and waved Sizzle back up to the exit as gravity disappeared once again. She moved out through the pipe, but her son heared a shift in the room. The iterator, Five Pebbles. It made him come to a halt.

"You, green one. I need to mention something to you." His voice echoed in Sizzle's skull.

Sizzle angled his body around to face the iterator. Sure listening was uncomfortable, but his words must be important.

"I have seen pieces of your journey, and you seem to exhibit complex social behavior. So if you can prosses this information, I think you should know it," blue overseers popped up around the room, flashing bright holographic screens, "as much as one animal can lie to another one... well, I don't think you should be lied to."

Sizzle looked on, confused, and the holograms started to project a familiar environment... and a familiar friend.

---

hopefully the writing made up for the art! This is all I got motivation for right now, but I think it should give you guys a kick! Sorry for any typing mistakes, new phone and such.

[angelofchaos001]

Cut AU Writings

Okay, so I've obviously had some writings that never made it into my posts, and I figured I'd take some highlights and show them to you all! With each cut, I'll explain the situation, the AU, and why it was cut.

Enjoy!

@thunder-wolf64 and @mushroominaforest your AU's are involved here so

-

(Splitmind and Sizzling Waters Writing. Cut because the pair weren't in SI yet and the mask was removed a few posts after this draft.)

Sizzle limped alongside Artificer as the two walked through another stretch of land. This place, Sky Islands, as it had been called, was torture for him. It was constant large gaps he’d have to leap over, walls he’d have to climb, and he kept feeling the hot breath of lizards on his neck before they’d see the mask and move on to easier prey.

“Mom . . . ?” He didn’t know exactly what he was asking, but he had to do something. His arm made things impossible. His uncontrolled jumps had sent him crashing into walls hard enough to daze him. This had to stop.

That’s what he told himself cycles ago.

-

(Splitmind and Sizzling Waters Writing, from the same draft as the above. Cut for the same reasons, but additionally due to a changed scenario in the draft itself. Originally, Sizzle had fallen from a cliff when Artificer chose to fight a vulture instead, and SM Arti saved him.)

He flicked his tail and looked up at her with a sigh. “Well, what did it look like to you?”

“I was hunting a centiwing that ran this way,” she said, pointing to the green winged corpse beside her, “And when I was just about to dig in, this mask fell next to me.” Ruffian held up the pinkish mask that Sizzle’s mom had given him.

No. I can’t lose that. I - She’d - The lizards -

He couldn’t figure out who would be the biggest threat without the mask. The lizards, or his own parent. 

“I grabbed it and was about to head out with my catch when I noticed you falling, too.” Ruffian reached over and pat Sizzle on the shoulder. “And of course I wasn’t about to let a friend fall.”

He smiled a little more genuinely. It felt comforting to hear the word ‘friend’ and not ‘pup’. Anything to distance this kind stranger from his psychotic mother. He wondered if she held any kind of memories from the first time they’d met.

Obviously she recognized him, but he particularly wondered if she would remember what his mom had done to her. Does she remember being . . . killed?

This was the only friend the cycles had brought directly back to him. Sizzle hoped it would last.

“I was jumping across a gap, and I fell,” Sizzle tried to play it off like nothing was wrong, but it felt horrible. Knowing that his own family thought his life meant less than the loss of a vulture’s. “Mom will come get me soon, but thank you for catching me.”

“Mmhm . . . “ Ruffian did not seem to buy it. “And if she doesn’t?”

“What?”

“If she doesn’t come for you.”Sizzle gripped his head. He felt dizzy and faint. “She will. She will.”

-

(Sibling and Splitmind Writing. Cut due to a poorly written situation and writer's block.)

For the first time in a long time, Artificer felt like she was somewhat at peace.

They were curled up underneath a large leaf, the gentle drizzle of rain overhead peacefully rolling off the plant and landing around them instead of on them. It made soft splashing sounds, water trickling down every surface, and despite hating the water - It calmed them down. It sounded so relaxing, so smooth and perfect in every way.

A droplet splashed onto her tail and she hissed. Perfect in almost every way.

They weren’t cold, even with the rain and wind trying to make them. Their fur was too thick to let the elements in. But the parts of them without the warm covering were absolutely freezing to them. Their nose and paws felt like ice. 

She didn’t want to move, though. She wanted to hold on to this perfect moment before she’d have to keep facing the problems she didn’t want to face.

Hunter. 

I mean, I tried, at least. I know I was wrong for just . . . abandoning him. And attacking him. And everything else that hurt him. 

But this is how the world is. The strong prey on the weak. If he’s not strong enough, he’ll just get hurt by someone who cares less than I do. I’m still . . .

To distract themselves from their own thoughts, Artificer poked their head into the rain, flattening their ears at the feeling of being wet. It was so horribly heavy and dragged their fur down - not to mention how reactive they were to it - and they avoided it at all costs.

She also wanted to avoid her thoughts at all costs, and water was the lesser of the two evils.

-

(Sibling and Splitmind writing. The second attempt at it. Cut for feeling like character assassination of Hunter and Artificer.)

They patted their pup and tilted their head. “Do you . . . not? Actually, now that I look at it, what happened to your eye?”

She growled, flattening her ears. “None of your business.” At the mention of it, though, she looked closer at the stranger and saw that one of their eyes was odd. It was purely black, but with a bright green pupil that watched her closely. It almost reminded her of her own father. “What’s wrong with yours?”

“What’s -” they paused, then gestured vaguely while having such a stupid look on their face that it made Artificer want to tear it off. “Arti, it’s Hunter? Like, look, I know I’ve been a little busy with the pups lately, but Inv is literally in the den with you half the time!”

At the mention of his name, she twitched and almost reached out to claw at them - but stopped. Gourmand wants me to be better, and the least I can do is try.

“You’re not Hunter,” she said, rather bluntly. 

‘Hunter’ looked even more confused. “Did a rain deer run you over? I don’t mean, like, in a bad way, I just . . . do you not remember me at all?”

They snorted, looking this slugcat up and down. “Hunter isn’t nearly as grotesque as you are. And he’s much darker than you. And his eyes are perfectly fine.” Mostly fine.

His expression dropped as he just . . . stared. “Is . . . Pebbles even there?”

“Who the hell is Pebbles?” 

A switch seemed to go off in ‘Hunter’s head, as he softly made an ‘Ohhhh’ sound and nodded. “My mistake. I thought you were Artificer.”

“I am,” she snarled. “So once again, how do you know me and why do you have my brother’s name?”

“Brother?” He blinked. “You thought I was your brother?”

“NO!” Arti grabbed a spear off the ground and pointed it at him. “You’re not making any sense! I’m Artificer. The Artificer. And my brother is The Hunter. Okay?”

‘Hunter’s eyes widened and he pulled his pup closer to him. “Woah, woah, okay, put. The spear. Down! Look, my name’s also Hunter, but I didn’t choose it.”

Do NOT say it was given to you by an iterator.

The slugcat continued, not taking their eyes off the weapon’s point. “I don’t usually lead conversations with new slugcats like this, but I was made. That’s why I’m so strange. Spearmaster’s like it too, and they’re also made.”

“Made by who?” She pressed, glaring harshly. “Iterators?”

“So you know about them, then.” They tried to smile. “That makes this easier for me. But I was made by an iterator named No Signif - “

Artificer screamed in rage and pounced on ‘Hunter’, pinning them flat and growling. “I swear if you DARE finish that name!”

“Sig?” They blinked, confused and a little dazed. “What’s wrong? Did you meet him or something? He’s very nice, I pr - “

“HE IS THE OPPOSITE OF NICE, DAMMIT!” She dug her claws in, and ‘Hunter’ winced, looking for an escape. “HE’S WHERE ALL OF MY PROBLEMS CAME FROM!”

“I - We can’t be talking about the same iterator here,” they stuttered. Artificer felt like her very soul was on fire with white-hot rage at them.

“First, you know my name. Then, you claim to be my brother. NOW YOU ALSO KNOW THAT BASTARD?! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

-

(Sibling Writing. A test for characterization of Saint and Inv, cut due to feeling unfinished.)

Inv sighed and finally let their muscles relax. He was breathing too hard, too panicked, too everything. He was lightheaded at this point.

Stay strong for them. I can't even begin to think of how they feel.

She looked over at her only sibling. The only true family she ever had. Saint was shaking, balled up in a pile of green fur, but at least they'd stopped crying.

I did one thing right, then.

They gasped, pain coming back to them as their wounds cried out for attention. Inv clutched their arm and crouched down, trying to stay quiet. Saint doesn't need to be worried about this right now. Not when there's so many bigger issues going on. Not when she's looking for us.

Inv hated herself for what had almost happened. Knowing that she had almost walked both of them back into Bountiful's clutches. All because of a scavenger spook. What a mess I am right now.

If I hadn't insisted we leave, hadn't left the scavengers to be, maybe it wouldn't have been as close of a call as it was.

Their heart started to race again just thinking about it. About how close the overseer had been to seeing them. They'd stupidly gotten themselves hurt because of it.

But at least Saint was safe. That was more than Inv could ask for.

We just have to get out of here. He didn't know where they would go, but as far from here would work.

[bunabi]

Hey I can finally yell that I had the pleasure of working with Green Ronin Publishing on the cover for the Fifth Season RPG — set in the world of the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin!

It's already been fully backed, but please consider supporting the project by reserving a copy of your own via Backerkit!

[cinnaminsvga]

hiii I was lowkey going back to reread some of ur smaus and saw u were active. I love ur storytelling style sm lmao I keep reread locked out of heaven even tho it would prob never be finished. Ur the first person I followed when I made my tumblr like 4-5 years ago 🙌 I’m glad to see ur doing well and I’ll def check out ur recs 👀

ON GOD LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN MENTION IN MY 2024???? MORE LIKELY THAN U THINK LMAO

anyways hi hello hey thanks for stopping by! yes ur right that smau is likely never getting finished HEJAJDWJ im barely hanging on as it is and writing a story i started when i was like… 19… is not on my ttd unfortunately… im glad u enjoyed it enough to care about it even if its been years since ive updated 🥲 i am truly sorry for abandoning it but it do be like that sometimes

i hope ur doing well too!! im on here like once or twice a month lol mostly to scroll thru shitposts that have that tumblr-esque stench that i know and love… im always here to just talk if anyone wants to just yell into the void (ie my blog) lol and if ANYONE WANNA REC SOME FICS… I AM HERE TO LISTEN 🦭

[rayssion]

Guys, guys!!

Imagine like 4000 years later where human civilization developed or retreated I don't care it's not necessary.

Imagine if all sources of greek mythology vanished or died with the years, and as much as we depend on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey now people on the future find PERCY JACKSON and the other Rick Riordan serieses as the only source of mythological knowledge!!

They'd read the books and imagine that those are the gods we believe in now and they'd think that Percy and the other demigods are real,

And couple of millennia later, Rick Riordan's books were destroyed or lost so people only told the stories verbally for centuries,

And as stories go they got deformed!! Imagine people after so so many years thinking Percy and the other demigods are like super super heroes whom are like much stronger than your local demigods yet still below gods, and then further deformation happens!!

And people start to think that the demigods are the gods!!

Now please, imagine.... imagine!

Percy, god of the sea, water, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and horses. (I can see him becoming the new king of the gods btw)

Jason, god of the sky, lightning and thunder, law and order.

Nico, god of death, shadows, ghosts and spirits. King of the underworld.

Annabeth, goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare.

Piper, goddess of love, pleasure, passion, procreation, fertility, beauty and desire.

Frank, god of war, violence, bloodshed and manly virtues.

Leo, god of fire, master blacksmith and craftsman of the gods; god of the forge, craftsmanship, invention and volcanoes.

Will, god of the sun, of light, prophecy, philosophy, archery, truth, inspiration, poetry, music, arts, manly beauty, medicine, healing, and plague.

Thalia, goddess of the hunt. the wilderness, virginity, the Moon, archery, childbirth, protection and plague.

And I'd like to add!!

Dakota, god of wine, the grapevine, fertility, festivity, ecstasy, madness and resurrection

Rachel, goddess of family and marriage, women and childbirth.

Hazel, goddess of earth and riches. Princess of the underworld and younger sister of Nico, King of the underworld.

Conner, god of traps, diplomacy, thieves, games and the guide of dead souls.

Travis, messenger of the gods; god of travel, commerce, communication, borders and eloquence.

Meg, Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, nature and the seasons.

Reyna, Goddess of the hearth, fire and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, and also goddess of war.

Yes, they have 16 gods!!

I don't know what to name them but it has to be a cool name, like we got the Titans and the Olympians so it has to be cool.

Also imagine if like the Olympian gods we have now being translated to future generations as the bad guys (like how we have Kronos and Gaea now) and like the demigods gods (cuz I still don't know what to name them) are the forces of good that protect humanity, because they need humans to worship them of them to exist obviously.

So this generation of demigods gods are like nice gods for once!! They care for their children and the people under their wings!!

Best things as follows:

Percy, the god of the sea, is married to Annabeth, goddess of wisdom and war strategy.

Nico, god of death and the underworld, is married to Will, god of the sun and music.

Jason, god of the sky, is married to Leo, god of fire and crafts.

Frank, god of war, is married to Hazel, goddess of earth and riches.

Reyna, goddess of the hearth and war, is married to Thalia, goddess of the hunt.

Conner and Travis are the new twins and Rachel, goddess of family and marriage, is a sworn maiden because she wills her powers to maintain other relationships either between gods or between mortals.

Dakota on the other hand, doesn't like to be restrained as much as a mad person could go.

In this world there's nothing called being a maiden so as to be a hunter, bullshit I'm telling you, goddess Thalia herself is married.

Piper, the goddess of love and beauty knows best than to fall in love. Meg is one of the young gods, still closed in her bulb.

Also pffft, Thanatos who? I'm sure Nico can manage it all.

Another generation of demigods arise within no god is whoring around, the gods observe mortals and seek potential within them and when a god catches a mortal child leveling up to their preferences they claim them as a sort of blessing and take them under their wings.

The camps theme is surly still there, merged into one camp because one for some reason humans are less, and two because there's nothing called greek and roman gods anymore, only one version.

Demigods still go on quests, and as we know gods can't directly help them but they always make sure not to use mortals unless it's necessaity, and they try to help as much as they can.

I'd really love to live in a world like that! This post started off as a little imagine then quickly turned into world building, lol.

[hatchetation]

one of my favorite things about gap: the series is how unapologetically horny it is. i’m not even saying this just as a horny lesbian, but really in the larger context of what it means to be watching television within this heteronormative world we all live in. i feel like queer women’s sexuality is so often either invisible, sanitized, or exaggerated for the male gaze.

but like the truth is, often a big part of being a wlw is wanting to fuck other women. and i just feel like the way sam and mon are so clearly attracted to each other is rare to see. the way they actually follow through with the attraction and kiss and have sex is rare. and the way that it all feels like it was made with queer women in mind is probably the rarest thing of all. i hope writers and producers are out here taking notes!!! 🍀❤️‍🔥🔥

[latimeria-fell-from-heaven]

guess who’s going crazy bc their pre-teen comfort anime is coming back

[cryptid-stimming]

👻 Too Many Meatballs Stimboard 👻

x x x / x x x / x x x

[Image description: a 9 gif stimboard; from left to right.

First line: A close-up gif of meatballs sizzling in a frying pan and being turned with a pair of tongs. A close-up gif of a hand placing a cooked meatball onto a pile of meatballs on a plate. And a gif of a creepy humanoid shadow on a wall gesturing with a clawed hand towards a bed (taken from the 2010 film Insidious).

Second line: A gif of meatballs being stirred in a pan with a thick sauce, steam rising up. A gif of Ryan and Shane from the online show 'Watcher', sitting around a firepit, with font appearing on screen reading "too many meatballs". And a gif of meatballs in a frying pan being turned with a pair of tongs.

Third line: A gif of someone's hand writing 'you'll die' with a white paint marker over a drawing of a meatball with a ghostly face. A gif of meatballs sizzling on a baking tray tray. And a gif jumpcutting as meatballs are added to a pan of thick sauce with a pair of tongs.

End of image description.]

[sizzleissues]

“So you have an English interview tomorrow?”

“Yes,” She mutters, ignoring Tikki as she flutters about. There really isn’t anything to panic about, it’s just a sore throat. She’s checking the gas has come on under the pan when Tikki swoops down, touching her hand (well what she calls hands, more end of limb) to her forehead.

“You’re boiling.”

“I need you to get out of the way so I can get this pan to boil.”

Tikki titters and complains but gets out of the way as mercifully the old gas stove ignites. Marinette straightens, trying not to ruminate on the sudden light headedness as she grabs the olive oil. She isn’t sick. It’s just a cough.

“You need to call in sick to reschedule.”

“No. You only get one shot. The examiner has to go back to England at the end of the week,” she rasps. It’s a wonderful quirk of her college course that 40% of the final grade for her English language class is decided in one twenty minute interview, time slotted over the course of three days. Three incredibly missable days if one thing goes array. But she won’t miss it because she

Isn’t

Sick.

The oil spits out hot flecks, flying onto her exposed arms. She hisses, drawing her hands into her chest. The oil bubbles.

“I’m sure there’s another option.”

Marinette faces Tikki with what she hopes is a withering glare. Six years at her side and Tikki had yet to grasp certain human qualities. For one, sometimes life is going to suck. Other times, you just can’t be sick.

“There isn’t. If I was sick, which I am not, I’d have to do it even if every word felt like sandpaper.” She pauses, finding it difficult to speak for a moment. “I’d do it dead.”

She slides in the cut up chicken with her knife, evening it all out across the pan. Her head pounds with a needle like headache. It’s just bad air, that’s all.

Tomorrow will be different

-

Marinette when she really doesn’t need to be sick right now thank you very much.

(Totally not based on my life right now. I definitely don’t have a speaking exam coming up with what feels like nettles in my throat. This is just writing practice, no venting has occurred xD)

[ghostlemon36]

Rotating the bio bedrock bros and bodyguard angelduo au in my head every few weeks like… it’s them… I love them… aldhakwjqnakhw

[welcometogrouchland]

Something so scary about developing, essentially, OCs knowing that I'm actually trying to pitch them/their story (my story) to a local (small) network rather than just being like. 15 and doing it for my own sick twisted mind yet being convinced it will one day make one million billion dollars somehow. I miss that girls confidence in her ideas

[thunder-wolf64]

@kaceyunderfell 's au of my au

Raincloud bared her unusually sharp teeth, "How could you have just lived amongst them after all they did to our family?!"

Sizzle lowered his body, his ears pinning. "Well, they saved my life and kept me alive. They may have endangered you, Mom, and myself, but they've made it up to me."

"I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOU!" Raincloud shouted, "The scavangers stole you, separated us!" She clutched her spear, stabbing it into the soft ground. "None of us even knew if anyone else was alive!"

"Sister- Raincloud, what happened was terrible, but we shouldn't judge an entire species from one action." Sizzle inhaled shakily, "They have cared for me, admitted their mistakes, I've learned their point of view."

"What if I was actually dead? What if Mom had died?" Raincloud said coldly. "Would you still love your captors? Knowing they distinctly killed your family?"

"T-thats just-"

"What if they didn't take you in! What if they left you to die. Would you still feel empathy?"

"-Yes." Sizzle stressed his words. "Because there are still scavangers who wouldn't have done what my tribe did."

Raincloud relented, "What happened to you..." She tore her spear back out of the ground. "I won't tell Mom I found you," The blue slugcat turned away, preparing to climb back up the mound of garbage. "You have the rest of the cycle to do whatever you need."

"I love you, Raincloud." Sizzle spoke with grievances weighing heavily on his heart.

"...We love you too, please come back to us." Then she was gone.

[heyclickadee]

Tech's Alive, Part Four: Placement and Structural Purpose (okay, so this is waaaaaay more rambly and nonsensical than I thought it would be, but, here ya go)

So, the placement of Tech's fall in “Plan 99”is...weird. It happens around 6:30 into the episode, and given that the logos and title card take about forty seconds to get through, that means it happens less than six minutes into the action. And it would be one thing if the rest of the episode was dedicated to the other characters processing their grief or dealing with the aftermath, sort of like if Kanan had died in the first few minutes of "Dume" instead of the last few of "Jedi Knight" and then the rest of "Dume" proceeded exactly the same, but that's so completely not what happens.

Do we get small moments of everyone grieving? Sure, we get those shots of Wrecker looking broken(1) and wiping away tears, Hunter's face when he tells Omega the news and again when he picks up the goggles, Omega's disbelief, and Echo sitting by himself in the marauder looking at that empty pilot's seat(2), but these are all just snapshots. The episode acknowledges their grief, but doesn't allow them to process it, because "Plan 99" is packed and they don't have time. Not thirty seconds after Tech falls, the train crashes, Omega almost dies, the gang goes back to Ord Mantell, Omega's thankfully okay, Hunter and Wrecker , Cid rats them out, Hemlock shows up, Omega gets captured, the marauder's practically empty now and Hunter's out for blood, Omega's reuinited with Crosshair, who's still unconscious on a slab, Emerie's Omega's "sister," cats and dogs are living together, mass hysteria—

It's. A lot.

And that's, again, weird. That's not typically how main (or main secondary, I sort of consider the bad batchers all mains) character deaths in genre fiction work.

See, typically, unless the whole story is about the mystery of why a character may have died, a main character deaths happen towards the end of an episode or chapter, and they usually function as either a conclusion or emotional climax to whatever story they're in. Take, for example, Fives's death. Fives dies at the conclusion of a multi-episode narrative arc, and his death functions as both the conclusion and emotional climax of that arc. Or Thorin’s death towards the end of The Hobbit. Or Richardson's implied imminent death at the end of "Underbridge." Main character deaths are exclamation points, or full stops at the very least, before things continue.

Tech's “death” doesn't work like that.

Despite following up on some ealier foreshadowing leading up to the team having to adapt to things without Tech, and despite following up on the repeated thread of Tech loving his family so much he'll sacrifice himself for them at the drop of a hat(3), Tech's “death” concludes nothing. Not in the episode, and certainly not in the overarching story. Far from being a natural ending to either his own character arc or a larger narrative thread, Tech falling figuratively and literally throws everything off the rails. The whole thing the narrative was driving towards—the reunion of the clone force 99 family and these clones being able to choose a purpose besides the “fighting and dying and being lab experiments” they were manufactured with—breaks down. It happens early and then the episode keeps driving and just doesn't stop.

In fact, not only is Tech's fall NOT the only dramatic thing to happen in the episode, it's not even the emotional climax of the episode. Omega getting taken by Hemlock is. Even the soundtrack suggests this. The theme which plays during Tech's sacrifice is the same theme that plays when Omega is taken, and that theme has even more tension and drama in it when played that second time. Her getting taken, and that moment of Hunter running out to the edge of the platform only to have to helplessly watch as Hemlock's ship looms out of reach and take his daughter away—that's the emotional climax(4).

Furthermore, Tech's "death" isn't a rallying cry for the team to rally and get revenge like main character deaths in genre fiction typically are. Instead, it's one loss too many. It's the thing that makes Hunter and Wrecker want to take Omega back to Pabu and just never leave again, because they can't take risking anything else like losing Tech. It's the thing that makes them want to throw in the towel for good.  

So, if Tech, who's one of the six main characters of this series and was more or less the lead along with Omega this season, had a death scene, and his death scene doesn't serve as a conclusion to either his or any other arc, if it isn't the emotional climax of the episode, and if it isn't a rallying cry the team can get behind, then what purpose does it serve in the structure of the episode? To be completely honest, the closest thing that I could come up with is that it's either the catalyst or the inciting incident, because Tech falling is the thing that makes everything else in the episode happen.

At the start of the episode, the train car is stalled and without power. Tech restores power to the car, but it’s being pulled away from the track and still can’t move. Tech cutting the connection and allowing himself to fall is what allows the train to start moving again—but it's moving too fast. It derails and crashes through the barrier on the other side. And the train crashing is how Omega gets hurt, Omega getting hurt is what necessitates them having to go back to Ord Mantell, going back to Ord Mantell is what allows Cid to rat them out, Cid ratting them out is what gets Hemlock to show up and take Wrecker and Hunter prisoner, Wrecker and Hunter being taken prisoner (and Omega being griefstricken about losing Tech) is what causes Omega to disobey orders and go back for Wrecker and Hunter instead of leaving with Echo, which is what leads to Omega getting captured, which leaves Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo doubly bereft by the end of the episode. What I'm saying is, the train is an intentional stand-in for the narrative here, and Tech falling is what allows it to move forward, but in such a way that everything it was building towards is completely broken derailed.

And, again, this is weird, especially if this is supposed to be a genuine character death, because it’s not about the death—it’s about what Tech letting himself fall puts into motion. And so little of the focus of the episode is on the “death” itself, because there's so little time in the episode, and what little there is is less on Tech dying (because sure as hell don’t see it happen) and more on the other characters grieving or being manipulated by it in the very little time that they're allowed because, again, things are moving too fast and they're not allowed to really stop and process anything.

Now, there is actually a main character death in The Clone Wars that works pretty much the same way, and which is actually similarly placed towards the beginning of an episode, and that's the "death" of Obi Wan Kenobi in "Deception." Granted, we know that Obi Wan's fine, because it's Obi Wan and he has to show up in A New Hope or at least Revenge of the Sith (though it's possible some of the kids who had never seen either movie didn't know that), and even if we didn't know that, we find out it's a fake out almost right away because we continue following Obi Wan's perspective in a way we don't continue to follow Tech's. Tech falls into the mist and then we're back with Omega and the rest on the train and hurtling towards a broken future. But Obi Wan's fake death does function in a similar sort of "get things moving/flips the domino to get other things happening" sort of way.

Now all this, despite the closest structural parallel I could find in star wars being a fake-out death, isn't proof that Tech falling is a fake out. But it is worth noting that the supposed "death" here isn't placed like a normal main character death and doesn't serve anything close to the same purpose a main character death typically does. And that is probably why, as @cross-my-heartt pointed out in this excellent post, it doesn't really read as a character death to anyone who isn't either heavily invested in the story or the character (hello there) or who isn't an edgelordy dudebro who thinks it has to stick so that there are "stakes" (get off my lawn). And while I don't think The Bad Batch is a perfectly written show, I do think that it is very well written overall, and written thoughtfully and deliberately, at the least. What's happening here is very much on purpose. It’s just a question of what that purpose is.

(1) Jennifer, ma’am, I don't know what I have to do to make sure I never have to see Wrecker's face crumpled in despair like that ever again, but I'll do it. Let him be happy.

(2) *sobbing*

(3) I have so much to say about the foreshadowing and how it points to Tech’s absence and selflessness but absolutely not to his death I am gnawing on the foreshadowing here

(4) And this might have to be one point where I have to admit that the writers did err, just a little. Not necessarily in the writing, pacing, or in the placement of Tech's fall, because if this really is a fakeout, then all of that was brilliantly done. The episode doesn’t feel rushed to me the second time around, because I know what happens and I can breath. Less so the third. But I think they may have slightly underestimated just how attached some of us are to this particular character. I mean...okay, I get the impression that the people working on this show love every one of these characters as much as we do. I really do. Are they going to put these characters through hell? Well, yeah, because otherwise we wouldn't have a story, but I get the genuine impression that they really love these characters. But working with characters in a story is about three-quarters knowing and loving (or hating) the characters and having them bounce around and do their thing as though they are real people who live somewhere outside of your head, and one-quarter having to maintain enough of a level head about them that you can use them as tools to tell your story. And that last quarter can add a little bit of...not emotional distance, but something like emotional distance, especially if you, the writer, know that the character is going to be okay in the end no matter what it is you're putting them through in the moment. You, as a storyteller, have an assurance that your audience doesn't. Because when I saw Tech fall the first time, my whole heart shut off and I couldn’t access my emotions for about three days. It wasn’t until I watched it the second time that I realized that it wasn’t the emotional climax of the episode.