#star wars resistance live fire

[dio-icarticaae]

Recently rewatched Star Wars Resistance Season 2 Episode 3, "Live Fire", and it's such a good demonstration of all the various kinds of pilots in Resistance and how good the show is at illustrating the difference between them. There's subtle difference between all of the pilots of course, but there's two main really glaring distinctions: First Order vs Resistance/non First Order pilots, and Yeager & Kaz vs the Aces.

The difference between Yeager & Kaz and the Aces is really fascinating and also officially spells out one of the best subtle details in Resistance - Kaz is not as good at racing because of his combat pilot background that he still uses. Kaz struggles with racing flying throughout the show because he isn't a racer or thinking like a racing pilot - he's a combat pilot and he flies like one and thinks like one. And in reverse, the Aces aren't good in combat because In a race, every ace is capable of beating him handily. In a combat scenario? Kaz and Yeager pick them off effortlessly because that the kind of piloting they are best at and have been taught. Kaz loses races all the time, but in situations like in the first season fighting the sea monster? Kaz is clearly far more at ease with flying in that situation than the Aces. And the race later in the season 2? Kaz wins that not only because of the knowledge gained about the course through watching the Aces fail to go through it, but also because what with the mines, being shot at, etc., it's more of a combat situation and that's what Kaz is good at.

Sidenote - I always find it fun that Griff is the one who is most apprehensive about their chances in the training exercise. It makes sense; having been in the Empire he's well aware of what Rebellion pilots were capable of working together and he knows this will not end well for the Aces.

A minor addition to that is the difference between Yeager and Kaz as pilots is one of experience and leadership skills. Yeager's a Rebellion veteran, and you can tell - he's comfortable with being in command and giving orders to his fellow pilots in a way that Kaz isn't. He's also a little more adaptable to strange circumstances such as a giant creature trying to eat them - he saw a lot of wild things during the Rebellion so he's (less) phased than Kaz. Yeager as a pilot is who Kaz could be in the future.

The other main difference in pilots is, of course, the difference in how the First Order treats its pilots in training and how the Resistance/literally everyone else does and "Live Fire" does a great job of showing those. Yeager is so matter of fact when says of course they're not going to use live fire on each other. For the Aces, it's a given that they wouldn't be practicing with live fire because why would they? One of them could get hurt/their ship could get destroyed and that would not be good. And what's really to be gained from it?

In contrast, the First Order doesn't care if they lose a trainee in an exercise because of "friendly" fire - in fact that's preferable through some kind of "survival of the fittest" mindset. Tam preventing Rucklin's TIE from crashing into the Star Destroyer bridge also prevents a possible catastrophe and shows that she's a good pilot with good leadership skills - but because she shows compassion she loses squad leader.

Tam doesn't fit in the First Order survival of the fittest mold and it's a very early indication that Tam will leave the First Order - she's not like them and she could never be because her first instinct is to help her fellow pilots instead of leave them for dead, and that makes her a better person and pilot than any of them could ever be.

"Live Fire" does a great job of showing all of this and that's definitely a part of why it's one of my favorite Resistance episodes!

[locitapurplepink]

Taglist : @aintinacage , @trapezequeen , @cassie-fanfics , @zaya-mo , @fulltimecatwitch , @kanerallels , @commander-tech , @thebadbatch2022

[rebelresolve]

tag dump #1: canon timeline verse tags

[cherryredcheol]

"bug"

tldr: all the ways vernon uses your nickname

a/n: not proofread. also, stoner!vernon is alive and well in this.

deadpans: in the middle of the night

“bug.” he startles you. he can somehow sense your eyes on him even with closed lids. you thought he was asleep and he should be considering the time and his schedule in the morning. 

“why aren’t you asleep?” you almost tell him you were just thinking the same thing about him but instead you just giggle when he cracks one eye open to peer up at you leaning over him. you hadn’t meant to wake him up but you were so hungry and he always made ramen the best for you. 

“you’re lucky i love you, bug” and you thought about how true that statement was as you followed him from the bedroom into the kitchen, perching yourself on the counter as he got the hot water going to make your snack for you. 

cheers: from across the practice room

“Bug!” after a long day of practice, and a longer night ahead, he shouted when he saw you enter the room with food. the oily smell of fried chicken wafted through the air and if his shouting didn’t catch everyone’s attention, that did.

he bounds across the room to you in five strides, carefully setting the plastic bags you were carrying down on the ground before squishing you into a bone-crushing hug. 

“you’re the best” he whispers into your ear, his breath setting your sensitive skin on fire. you blush, telling him it was no problem, the chicken shop was practically on the way. he pulls back, smiling at you so big your cheeks hurt just looking at him. you reach a hand up to his cheek, returning his smile with one of your own. he nuzzles into your hand wrapping his fingers around your wrist, holding your hand in place. 

“Yah! you turn to see Suengkwan, “Stop being gross in front of the food!” 

giggles: when he puffs the smoke from his lungs

“bug” he chuckles when you look at him with blown-out pupils and a soft smile. you were sitting across from him on the floor of your living room as a movie played softly in the background. star wars, you think. It was nice to spend this time together after a long week of schedules and shifts.

“do you want any more of this?” he asked you, lazy smile on his face as he held the blunt out to you. there was about half left and you hate the roach so you take it from his hand, huffing a few more drags. you were pleasantly high and so was he. you hold the blunt out for him to take, and he leans in wrapping his lips around the end, and breathes in deep, looking into your eyes the entire time. 

he exhales and you’re on him in an instant, joint forgotten in the ashtray on your coffee table. you climb into his lap not wanting to be away from him any longer. he smiles at you, wrapping his arms around your waist to hold you in place. “can’t resist me can you, bug?”

coughs: with your back turned

“bug” he sounds so pathetic. you turn around, careful of the tray in your hands holding a half-empty bowl of soup he was too sick to finish. you raise a brow at him, wondering what else he could possibly need. you had gotten him everything he asked for these last couple of days while he’s been home sick from his schedule. 

“when you come back, can we cuddle?” and you melt. the way his eyes are half closed and he’s barely able to lift his head off the pillow. you nod, hurrying quickly to the kitchen to clean the dishes. 

walking back into the bedroom, you can see he fell asleep in your short absence. you shake your head, supposing you should give him the cuddles he asked for earlier. climbing in next to him, already feeling warm from the heat radiating from his feverish body. he snuggles in closer, humming to himself, “much better, bug.”

chokes out: over the phone

“bug-” the broken word stops your heart. He’s clearly crying, or had been recently since his voice is still thick. he’d been in japan for over a week working on promotions with his members. the distance was tough, but nothing you hadn't dealt with before. 

‘i miss you so much” he finally lets out after much prodding on your end. he was never very forthcoming about his emotions, especially negative ones. it took a long time to get him to open up to you so you knew you had to tread lightly or he might clam up again. 

you stayed up that night, talking to him on the phone, calming him down so he could get some sleep for his big schedule tomorrow. sniffles gone and tears dried, you finally float the idea of going to bed by him and you can hear the pout in his voice when he asks, “stay on the phone a bit longer with me, bug?”

[letteredlettered]

Hi!! Out of curiosity, which MDZS character do u think about the most and why?

The answer is, without a doubt, Wei Wuxian.

Part of what makes WWX special to me is he feels really archetypal and yet the archetype doesn't actually appear in most of the western media with which I'm familiar. The archetype may be super common in eastern media or perhaps, more narrowly, Chinese media, but my point he feels singular to me and therefore interests me, and I'm familiar with mostly western media. The comparisons in this post are all comparisons to western media, since that's what I'm familiar with, and I tried to pick popular examples so that people would understand what I mean.

Wei Wuxian is a protagonist who does bad things. Very bad things. We see that in plenty of western stories, but it's less common in western fantasy. That is, you can read a million stories about professors sleeping with their students and making a very bad muck of their lives; you can watch Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, but more often in western fantasy you're going to have a Good Guy who does good and Bad Guys who do bad.

But, okay. There's certainly a significant portion of western fantasy in which no one is a Good Guy, and everyone is a little corrupt: Song of Ice and Fire, Interview With the Vampire. Wei Wuxian feels very different to me than the protagonists of these media, because Wei Wuxian is trying to be the Good Guy. He's well-intentioned. He is willing to stand against all of society to defy corruption and protect those who are weaker than himself. That kind of protagonist isn't very common in the kinds of "dark" genre fiction that are about the corruption of humanity or the political intrigues of society. If they exist, they're usually martyred and disappear from the narrative because they are too good for this world, too pure.

But the point of WWX is that he is not too good; he is not pure. He is good; he is brave; he is righteous; he stands up for the little guy--but he is also over-confident in his own ability. He overreaches. And people die because of it. Lots of people. And then, after he accidentally murders people due to losing control, he goes mad. The Nightless City massacre occurs not due to an accident but because WWX is careless and angry. He kills a lot more people then.

I will say that western fantasy is full of characters who turn to "the dark side. The threat of "going dark" has become, in fact, an integral part of most portrayals of the hero's journey. But in the media with which I'm familiar, when someone does go dark, they become the villain. They are not allowed to live, or if they live, they must still be vanquished. Star Wars is a quintessential example: Luke Skywalker is tempted by the dark side but resists; he is the hero. Darth Vader is tempted by the dark side and gives in. Even though he turns back at the end, he must still be eliminated.

Of course, there are plenty of villains who reform in such stories and then manage to survive. I think you could say that once resurrected, WWX is reformed in this way. He knows he lost control. He knows he hurt people. He's very sorry about it, and while he still has a drive to put his hand in to help others, I can't imagine him coming to the point where he would lose control again, and I also do not think he has the kind of anger or resentment that would allow him to be so careless and wanton with his cultivation again.

So, in this sense, WWX holds the place of a reformed villain, like Zuko or, say, Angel, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One thing to note about both of these examples--Zuko is shown to be "on the dark side" because of the family and culture in which he was raised, and also, he was a child. Angel was "on the dark side" because he didn't have a soul. That is, the excuses for why these reformed villains were ever villains at all exonerate them to some extent.

Meanwhile, WWX was a villain because he was full of himself. Like, it's still understandable why WWX was a villain: he sacrificed all the power he had for someone he loved; he still needed power to protect his own life when he was being tortured, and this took him down a dark path; he needed even more power to help the world fight corrupt fascists; he was villainized by society even before he became an actual villain because that society feared and desired his power; he was literally ostracized and rejected by his own family for doing the right thing. But in the end, it wasn't like he had no other choice when he caused the death of JZX. He didn't feel like he had another choice to save the Wens, but if he had not been so over-confident in his ability to control himself, JZX would not have died. And while I find the massacre at Qionqi Pass maybe excusable considering the pressures WWX was under, WWX goes mad after that. Also understandable, but there is no way in which the massacre at Nightless City is excusable. There's just no way to say it wasn't his fault.

Okay, but there are some reformed villains in western fantasy who really were villains because they just made some wrong choices. They were arrogant like WWX, or they were petty and small, or they had a sucky childhood but nothing that should've led them into darkness. These characters do exist, but I find them few and far between (and I will fully admit here that maybe I just haven't read enough western fantasy to come up with enough examples). When they do show up, they are not usually the protagonist (Snape); they more often play side roles.

And the point with these guys is that they did bad things because they were not well-intentioned. Their intentions change, and therefore their moral alignment changes. But WWX was always trying to do good. It's only at the very end that he is no longer trying, and he loses his mind partly because all of his efforts to do good have flown up in his face. I just feel like I never get to see someone who was honestly trying to help people so earnestly, and fucks it up because he was trying to do too much. The closest example is Xie Lian, and I think we can all agree Xie Lian never becomes anything close to a villain.

However, now comes the trait that really does make WWX different from any other protagonists I've ever read, and most I've seen on screen: he is all of the above, a reformed villain who was well-intentioned throughout his descent into villainy, who doesn't brood.

Everyone I mentioned above--Zuko, Angel, Snape--are all very serious people who are consumed by their pasts. If they're not dour or bitter, they're still unable to be light-hearted or carefree. Meanwhile, WWX is the definition of light-hearted and carefree. He has a lot of regrets and some guilt, but he really doesn't dwell on it. Like, he fucked up. He died. How else can he atone? He knows he can't make it up to the people he hurt. Might as well move on and not get in their face about it.

In general, WWX's personality is unusual for the kind of hero he is. While it's true that the wise-cracking, smart-talking hero is a staple of western fantasy (Iron Man, Spider Man), these aren't the kind of heroes who can make the serious mistakes that WWX makes--or, though they do make mistakes that lead to the deaths of countless bystanders, they are never really confronted with the enormity of those crimes. I know that some people will say that WWX is not confronted with them either, that his crimes are not dealt with seriously enough in the text. I admit that I was very surprised that WWX blames the death of JZX on JGY during the final showdown in the temple. In the end, however, I think there are enough questions about whether WWX is actually a Good Guy that the story of MDZS seems quite different than, say, many western superhero stories, in which yes, superheroes do bad things and make mistakes, but are still ultimately our heroes.

But the other thing about WWX's personality that is unique for such a protagonist and also further distances him from heroes like Iron Man is this: WWX is pathetic. He's allowed to be pathetic, on quite a few occasions. He pretends to be a child. He pretends to be a damsel in distress. He purposely harasses and teases others in a way that is actively annoying to them. He's laughable. The closest parallel I can think of to how deeply WWX is willing to abase himself and annoy the fuck out of others in Deadpool, but the thing about Deadpool is that he is ultimately comedic. You know you're going to laugh if you're reading a Deadpool comic or watching one of his movies. Also, while Deadpool is a badass, need I remind you that WWX is the most powerful and the most feared person in the entire world, perhaps in all of history. The fact that WWX is as powerful as he is and still throws himself on people he likes and pretends to weep is only matched by Luo Binghe, but LBH is different in that his willingness to be pathetic is a tactic of manipulation. Meanwhile WWX is pathetic for fun; he likes to annoy people; he's ridiculous; he's laughable.

He's also lovable, but imo, like Deadpool and like LBH, I don't think we're always supposed to find him charming. We're supposed to recognize that these characters sometimes go too far for a joke. We're supposed to be annoyed at times, at least imo.

But in the end, we are supposed to like WWX. We're also supposed to feel really sorry for him and sympathize with him for what he did. He's an enormous woobie, while at the same time he massacred thousands and then laughed it off. Who does that? Who does it like the Yiling Lazou? When you add in the fact that he's super gay, but all his gay fantasies consist of farming and eating Lan Wangji's cooking and talking about fishing and keeping house, I'm just left asking, Wei Wuxian, who the fuck are you? Who the fuck can match you?

This is why I spend so much time thinking about this character. I can't actually wrap my head around him, and frankly, the way MDZS is told doesn't help. MXTX actually does not really get into WWX's head very much once he starts his path of demonic cultivation, and while we get some insights as to what is going on with him through flashback and his dialogue at the time, I am still somewhat in the dark about why he made the choices he did.

The only character I've ever encountered who even comes close to WWX is Spike from BtVS, and WWX is still on another level.

Lastly, I'll say that the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng is another thing I have never witnessed in western media. It is so complex and interesting to me that I could make a whole post on it, which is why even though the answer to your question is by far Wei Wuxian, if WWX didn't exist, Jiang Cheng would win this question by a landslide.

[ripplesinthesand]

the osha vs. mae dynamic and how they represent the different sides of the force is so interesting, because on the surface level it seems very basic - osha is the "light" side, becomes a jedi; mae is the "dark" side, becomes a sith apprentice - and yet the show resists creating a true dichotomy because both sisters show both light and dark side tendencies. osha is the one who hates mae, who wants revenge, who uses her weapon against mae in episode 2, and we also see her using the force to manipulate a living creature at the beginning of episode 3 - something she then yells at mae for doing a few moments later. she's able to recognize the darkness within her sister, but not within herself. and then there's mae, who is ostensibly the "evil" sister, yet instead of fighting osha when she fires her weapon, she speeds away. and then there's the scene at the beginning of episode 1, where she decides to let the owner of the bar go after seeing their child, despite the fact that this means leaving a witness alive at the scene of the crime ("their compassion leaves a trail," anyone?). all of this to say that i suspect the show is going to do a bit of a switcheroo; i think we might get a classic star wars "redeemed before dying" arc for mae, and then osha - devastated by her twin's death and furious after discovering the truth of what happened to the coven, which the jedi are clearly covering up - will take her place, making her the titular acolyte.

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Barney Ross

Dov-Ber Rosovsky was a world-champion boxer and injured World War II hero whose fierce Jewish pride made him an icon to American Jews.

Dov-Ber was born in New York in 1909, the son of a Talmudic scholar who fled to America after surviving a pogrom in Belarus. Dov-Ber grew up in Chicago, helping out in his father’s small grocery store in a poor neighborhood and studying to be a rabbi.

His life was changed forever when his father was shot dead resisting a robbery at his store. Dov-Ber’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown and the kids were farmed out to foster homes.

Dov-Ber became bitter and angry. He turned his back on religion, changed his name to Barney Ross, and took a job working for Al Capone. Barney’s goal was to make enough money to buy a house and reunite his family. He soon became such an effective street fighter, however, that he gave professional boxing a try. Strong, fast, and determined, “Barney” became a world champion in the three different weight classes. He was known for his exceptional stamina and his street smarts.

In the 1930’s, when Hitler was rising to power, Barney Ross became a hero to American Jews by showing pride in his heritage and taking a public stand against Nazi Germany.  He was determined to end each fight on his feet to show that Jews fight and don’t go down. In Barney’s final fight, he defended his title against fellow three-division world champion Henry Armstrong. Barney got brutally pummeled and his trainers begged him to let them stop the fight, but he was determined to stay on his feet. He’d never been knocked out in his career and wasn’t going to start now. He retired from boxing in his early 30’s with a record of 72 wins, 4 loses, 3 draws, and two no decisions, with 22 wins by knockout. He achieved his goal of having no career knockouts.

After retiring from the ring, Barney/Dov-Ber enlisted in the US Marine Corps to fight in World War II. The Marines wanted to keep him stateside as a celebrity morale-booster, but Barney insisted on fighting for his country. He was sent to Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. During his time in Guadalcanal, Barney became friends with Chaplain Frederic Gehrig. Father Gehrig found an old pump organ on the island, and Barney was the only one who could play it. On Christmas Eve, before Barney and his fellow Marines were to go to battle, Gehrig asked him to play “Silent Night” and other Christmas songs for the troops. Barney happily obliged, finishing off the concert with “My Yiddishe Momma,” the song he used to play when he entered the boxing ring. Father Gehrig would later describe Barney Ross as a “national treasure.”

One night, Barney and three other soldiers were trapped under enemy fire. All four were wounded but Barney was the only one able to continue fighting. He gathered his comrades’ weapons and fought 22 Japanese soldiers, killing them all. Two of the American soldiers died, but Barney carried the third man to safety, even though the soldier weighed 230 pounds, while the wounded Barney weighed only 140! For his courage, Barney Ross was awarded a Silver Star and a citation from President Roosevelt.

Barney was hospitalized for his battle injuries, and the pain was so bad that he became dependent on morphine. After the war, he returned to America and opened a bar lounge. However, his drug addiction intensified as he turned to heroin, which was easier to obtain than morphine. Barney became hooked on heroin, an addiction that cost him $500 a day, as well as his marriage, his business and his life savings. Finally he hit rock bottom, and checked into a veteran’s recovery facility. He kicked his habit once and for all, and became a public speaker who educated high school students about the danger of drugs.

In the 1960’s, Barney made his living as a celebrity spokesman. After a brutal struggle with throat cancer, Barney Ross died in 1967 at age 57.

For his wartime heroism and for modeling Jewish strength and pride, we honor Dov-Ber “Barney Ross” Rosovsky as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[burst-of-iridescent]

now that i've finished my re-read of the hunger games books, it’s even more baffling to me than before that people compare everlark to kat.aang when they are so incredibly similar to zutara.

a fundamental aspect of everlark’s characterization is that they are star-crossed lovers. and while it's true that that is a gimmick the capitol forces on them, it’s also a reflection of the reality that peeta and katniss were never supposed to fall in love, let alone make it last.

from the very beginning, the odds are stacked against katniss and peeta. their class division keeps them apart in district 12, and in the games you're naturally not expected to do anything but kill your fellow tributes. what peeta does in loudly declaring his love and respect for katniss from the beginning is revolutionary because it goes against everything he's been told his entire life. saying he's in love with her and valuing his life over hers is absolutely radical in a situation that forces you to prioritize yourself and dehumanize your fellow human beings. and this framing of love as resistance is something that repeats itself in zutara's arc, in the catacombs where zuko and katara reach out to one another against everything that tells them to do otherwise, and again in the final agni kai when zuko gives up everything for a girl he had been told was nothing.

they’re love stories because they stem, first and foremost, from love for your fellow human beings — especially in the places where it shouldn’t exist. love for a starving child from a lower class whom you’re supposed to kill. love for a weeping enemy who represents everything you were told to despise. both zutara and everlark are about the importance of unity amidst division, about coming together when the entire world is trying to force you apart. about looking at the person you're supposed to hate and saying no, i refuse, and reaching out in love, in compassion, in empathy instead because you understand that they're not as different from you as you were taught to believe.

and this carries on to the other theme that both ships represent: the need to break the cycle of violence.

one of the main themes that underlies each of these characters’ narratives is how easily (and even justifiably) they could’ve perpetuated the harm that was done to them. peeta, katniss, zuko and katara have all suffered without cause, and it would have been understandable if any of them had let that suffering twist them into vengeance and inflicted it back upon others. it would have been encouraged even, in the societies they live in, for them to unleash their rage upon those seen as deserving of it. to become like zhao or hama or gale or president coin. but what defines each of these characters is that instead of allowing their suffering to overcome them, they choose to help — not harm — others, even the people they would have every reason to hate. that’s why katniss and peeta refuse the chance to hold another hunger games with the capitol’s children, why zuko helps an earth kingdom town, why katara risks the invasion itself to free a fire nation village from tyranny. all of them have been victims of unjust violence and oppression, sometimes even at the hands of other victims, and that’s exactly why they refuse to stand by or be complicit as others suffer the way they did. both everlark and zutara are about looking at the darkest version of yourself, the person you might have been, and refusing to go down that road. to understand that you are more than what your circumstances make you into. to choose kindness over hatred, peace over war.

at their core, both ships exemplify the themes of love and unity and holding onto your humanity against impossible odds. but more importantly, they exemplify hope. the dandelion in the spring. the fire that means rebirth instead of destruction.

choosing to do better, be better, make something better, together.

[monstersdownthepath]

Homebrew Horror: Dominion Disassemblers

(Art from The Book of Unremitting Horror, pg. 66)

Though this is beyond the knowledge of any worldly being, the Dominion of the Black was not always the galactic union it is now. Until a united council with a common goal took the head of the Dominion, wars both petty and planet-scarring were common among its many factions, though in the centuries since their grand union, these squabbles have been reduced to near-nonexistence except when weapons must be tested.

Many relics from this tumultuous time remain in use even to this day, one of the most 'famous' being the Gan-Dergorin, known in the common tongue as Dominion Disassembler, monstrous, nigh-unkillable biomechanical titans with a unique behavioral quirk built into their very genetic code which made them useful in the old wars, and has them remaining useful even now, long after they're no longer needed for their original purpose: destroying Dominion technology. The war machines of the Dominion are unlike any of the minor scouting and scientific units seen on Golarion's soil, the twisted mixtures of flesh and steel nearly impossible to truly put down for good, able to continue their terrible march even as enormous portions of their bodies were torn away.

That is where the Gan-Dergorin come in. These bestial constructs have a simple tactic when facing down any enemy: tear it to pieces too small to remain active. Even the most resilient Dominion machines of terror cannot survive the thoroughness of the destruction that Disassemblers enact upon them, severing every single joint and connector from one another until their victims are rent to their smallest possible components. A Disassembler which has the time to do so will then go even further by separating all types of tissue and matter from one another, then carefully sorting the mangled gore into piles and rows based on how useful it believes its alien masters may find the components, behavior which assured a steady stream of resources for the flesh-forges of the Dominion.

Even today, their gruesome displays are useful when intimidating or punishing captive populations, though Dominion science has advanced to the point such brutal measures are no longer needed; they have much more thorough and effective means of reducing living creatures to their component parts. As such, Disassemblers are used as weapons of terror against the Dominion's enemies among the stars and within their own populations, though this isn't to say they're restricted to distant worlds.

The arrival of a Disassembler on soil beyond the Dominion's grip is an occurrence which is rare to the point of nonexistence, but it has happened both by accident (errant portals and teleportation errors) and purposeful action. On the exceedingly rare occasions when a cultist manages to establish and survive contact with entities concerned with the Dominion's war effort, they can be convinced to send one of these horrors to the cultist's world. Rarely does the cultist survive to give the war machines an actual order, allowing the machine to do what it does best: kill anything it encounters, and assure its own continued survival.

Gan-Dergorin CR 11 Chaotic Evil Large Construct Init +2; Senses: Darkvision 80ft, Low-light vision, blindsense 10 ft, Perception +17 Aura: Frightful Presence (60ft, DC 15) ----- Defense ----- AC 25; touch 11; flat-footed 23 (+2 Dex, +14 natural, -1 size) HP:110 (13d10+30) Fast Healing 5 Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +7 Defensive Abilities: Reassemble, Upgrade; DR 5/--; Immune Construct traits; Resist Fire 10, Cold 10, Electricity 10; Weakness Serial Number, Thorough Disassembly ----- Offense ----- Speed: 30 ft, climb 10ft Melee: Pneumatic Cleaver +19/+14/+9 (2d6+6/x3), Variable Arms +13 (2d6+3/19-20) Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft ----- Statistics ----- Str 22, Dex 15, Con --, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 6 Base Atk +13; CMB +20; CMD 32 Feats: Cleave, Cleaving Finish, Critical Focus, Improved Cleaving Finish, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Technologist(B), Weapon Focus (Pneumatic Cleaver) Skills: Climb +19, Disable Device +9 (+13 vs machinery/technology), Perception +17, Stealth +3; Racial Modifiers: +4 to Disable Device checks against complex machinery and technology Languages: Aklo (rarely speaks) SQ: Freeze (pile of metal junk), Standing Orders, Thorough Disassembly ----- Ecology ----- Environment: Any Organization: Solitary Treasure: Standard (scrap material, integrated items)

----- Combat: Disassemblers are not complicated creatures. They charge into combat with reckless abandon, using their Great Cleave and Improved Cleaving Finish to slaughter as many weak enemies as they can with a single attack before focusing down remaining foes one at a time with their Full-Attacks, using Power Attack at every opportunity. If given an option, Disassemblers prefer to target any creature capable dealing damage it cannot resist or nullify. A Disassembler will chase down any creature it believes it can kill and will not stop until its enemy escapes or it is driven back by damage.

Morale: A Disassembler brought below 1/4th of its HP maximum will immediately retreat to recover, even if it means abandoning fallen foes, Once it has regained at least half of its total HP and perhaps integrated new weapons, it will track down its foes to dispatch them. If it is slain in combat but permitted to return to function, it will Upgrade itself and track down its killers if possible, and follow its Standing Orders if not.

-----

Reassemble (Ex): Dominion Disassemblers can reattach severed limbs and portions of their bodies by holding it to themselves for 1 full round. A Dominion Disassembler is not destroyed when it reaches 0 HP, but is rendered inert and helpless. 1d4 hours after being reduced to 0 HP, all the alien machinery within whirls back to life--it reactivates at 1 hitpoint and resumes Fast Healing. Only the thorough and comprehensive destruction of its remains using methods such as immersion in magma, acid, or a similar substance, or turning to ash via Disintegrate or similar, can prevent a Disassembler from returning to function; otherwise, it can pull itself together from even the smallest remains.

Serial Number (Ex): All Disassemblers possess a serial number etched on a plate of alien metal somewhere within their body which is kept hidden near their centers. The number cannot be observed unless the construct has been rendered helpless, and even then it requires a DC 23 Perception check to find. Any creature capable of reading and speaking Aklo can make a DC 23 Linguistics check to memorize the Serial Number or write it down perfectly.

A creature may give a verbal command to a Disassembler by speaking its entire serial number aloud and stating the action they wish it to take, in Aklo. Due to the length and complexity of each serial number, this is a full-round action which provokes an attack of opportunity, and being struck by the attack of opportunity ruins the attempt to speak the number. If left without orders, Disassemblers typically try to destroy any creature that knows their serial number. Most creatures which learn of a Disassembler's serial number can easily get rid of the creature by ordering it to take a self-destructive action, or to accept the effects of a spell which will teleport or plane shift it a great distance away.

Standing Orders (Ex): To await further orders from their commanders, Disassemblers go into a low-power mode if they have not encountered another creature in 24 hours. In this mode, they come to rest and resemble a pile of junk, though they remain somewhat aware of their surroundings and may make Perception checks at a -5 penalty to detect nearby creatures and passively make Stealth checks to hide in plain sight as a pile of scrap. They can remain in this low-power state indefinitely, and will do so as long as they are not alerted to any creature, and spring back to full functionality instantly when alerted.

Thorough Disassembly (Ex): A Disassembler gets Technologist as a bonus feat and has a +4 bonus to Disable Device checks to sabotage or take apart complex machinery and advanced technology, and Disable Device is a class skill for it. In addition, after reducing a creature to 0 HP, the Disassembler is compelled to butcher it to prevent its return. It can resist this compulsion by succeeding a DC 20 Will save; otherwise, it must spend its next round attempting to coup de grace that creature if it is still alive, or to begin ripping it to pieces if it is dead.

Upgrade (Ex): When a Disassembler is defeated but permitted to Reassemble, it learns from its failure and seeks out methods to upgrade itself. A Disassembler has a number of Upgrade Points equal to 3 + its Wisdom modifier (6 for a typical Disassembler) that it may divide as it sees fit, and each time it is defeated, its Upgrade Points reset and may be redistributed. A Disassembler requires 1d4+1 days to make upgrades to itself as it gathers raw material from any source it can find (the DM may rule it finds parts much faster in areas with high amounts of technology), and never wastes time and resources upgrading itself unless it is defeated. It can take most of the upgrades multiple times; their effects stack. It will typically choose upgrades which prevent it from being beaten via the same methods it fell to previously.

1 Point: Gain 10 points of resistance to 1 form of elemental damage, or increases its resistance to an element by 10.

1 Point: Increase its natural armor by +1 or its DR/-- by 1.

1 Point: The Disassembler integrates a set of armor and/or a shield it can get ahold of into its body, granting itself the benefits of wearing the armor/shield (AC, magical abilities) but without suffering armor check penalties or speed reductions. It can only integrate one set of armor and one shield at a time.

2 Points: Increase its walk and climb speed by 10ft each, or gain a 10ft swim speed.

2 Points: Gain a +2 profane bonus to a saving throw of its choice.

3 Points: Gain 25% Fortification.

3 Points: Gain 1 feat it qualifies for.

Variable Arms (Ex): The Disassembler's Variable Arms natural attack can switch between slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage as a swift action, or change into a tool capable of fine manipulation which also acts as thieves' tools. The construct can also replace its Pneumatic Cleaver with any melee weapon it finds with 1 minute of work, losing its Cleaver attack but allowing it to use that weapon without penalty. It is considered proficient with any weapon it integrates, and wields even two-handed weapons with a single limb.

[sitp-recs]

20 Harry-centric fics to read this month

What better way to celebrate Harry’s birthday than revisiting (or discovering) Harry-centric fics? If you feel like taking a deep dive into his character, here are my suggestions: short and long stories exploring his emotional arc, inner struggles, past trauma, sexual liberation and of course, his feelings about himself and about Draco. I couldn’t resist including some Draco POV fics because I love learning about Harry through his eyes. Pick your comfort food and enjoy Harry’s HBD week!

Still Life, orphaned (M, 3k)

Hourglass Heart by @bixgirl1 (E, 5k)

It only happened once — depending on how Harry counted.

Snug by @moonflower-rose (E, 6k)

Potter can't keep his hands off himself. Draco can't look away.

Life goes not backward by @shealwaysreads (T, 9k)

Harry still isn’t used to gifts, but this one is different. A story of coming home, finding safe ground, and the wild courage of putting down roots.

fine i'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by teatrolley (NR, 11k)

Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is.

Let's Go Outside by cryptonym (E, 24k)

Harry's done with the sofa, the hall and the kitchen table, baby.

Famous by @fw00shy (E, 24k)

It's a couple of years after the war, and Harry's bored of models now, the same way he's bored of Ron's constant nagging, bored of his Weasley monogram knitwear, bored of the same fucking grin that greets him when he hands his fire-truck red Bugatti over to the valet every night. He wants to find—well, he isn't sure what he wants. Anything but models.

Expecto Patronum by @writcraft (E, 35k)

As Draco Malfoy negotiates his feelings for the wizarding world's brightest star, he becomes increasingly attached to Harry and unravels the secrets he keeps hidden from the rest of the world.

Unseen by @jackvbriefs (T, 47k)

Harry Potter finally has the chance to leave England and its expectations for The Chosen One behind for good. All he has to do is survive one Auror training conference overseas with Draco Sodding Malfoy.

Here's The Pencil, Make It Work by ignatiustrout (M, 49k)

Harry thinks "Why is Malfoy working in a coffee shop in muggle London?" is a much simpler question than, "Are you going to accept that auror offer and, if you don't, what will you do?"

Meet Me at Midnight by @the-starryknight (T, 57k)

Harry was beginning to wonder if he’d ever make anything again when Malfoy stormed through the door of Harry’s furniture shop. Now Harry’s got an impossible Ministry commission to finish, and even less energy than ever to deal with his elusive muse.

Modern Love by @tackytigerfic (E, 61k)

Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is.

Harry Potter and the elusive day off by pleasebekidding (E, 71k)

Auror Potter needs a fucking break. He is wiped. He is exhausted. He probably didn't intend to put himself into a magical coma but these things happen. And who cares, really? He is comfortable in a house where he has hidden away all the shit he can't deal with.

I Am Not Who I Became by mab_di (E, 93k)

Draco left England after the trials and has travelled the world meeting wizards and Muggles from different cultures and with vastly different relationships to magic, each other, and the natural world. Now he's a fisherman in Finland on commercial vessels. Harry has been struggling since the war and has become a recluse while trying to write his autobiography.

Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them by nerakrose and dustmouth (T, 96k)

Malfoy is way too interested in coroner reports for somebody who's definitely not looking for ways to die, Harry wants to be friends with him, and Ginny wants to break up with Harry.

Who we are in the shadows by @quicksilvermaid (E, 99k)

What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life.

By the Grace by lettered (T, 140k)

Harry is an Auror instructor. Malfoy wants to be an Auror.

where all the veins meet by eight_of_wands (E, 146k)

It's the summer of 1998. The battle is over, and Voldemort is dead, but Harry still has more questions than answers. Who is he without a piece of Voldemort's soul in his head? What is he supposed to do now?

Away Childish Things by lettered (T, 153k)

Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

Can't Sit Still by wilteddaisy (E, 193k)

Five years after the war, Harry finds himself drawn to Draco Malfoy by memories that aren't his own. Or, in which Harry hates his Auror partner, Draco flips houses, Pansy sleeps around, Hermione is a magical creatures’ justice warrior, Blaise is getting married, and Ron is just along for the ride.

[pod-together]

Pod-Together Day 2 Reveals 2024

coal-fire heart (The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry - Anonymous (Song)) written by Aether, performed by Beryllinthranox Summary: The sea was the perfect wind-roughened blue, the kind that made her want to take a deep breath and step over the rail and into the deep.

Today’s Top Story: An End to the Plagues? [text, audio] (Good Omens (TV)) written by BookGirlFan, performed by 1happydaiz Summary: “Good morning, and welcome to Ancient Egypt News. Our top story this morning, the Israelites, and the plagues they have brought on our nation. This morning, families all across the capital have woken to the news their eldest son has died during the night. Abubakar, our man on the ground, coming to us live from the streets with more.”

Convergence (Stray Kids (Band)) written by Chanlixbolt, performed by InterstellarBlue Summary: con·ver·gence /kənˈvərj(ə)ns/ noun noun: convergence; noun: convergency Convergence is when two or more things come together to form a new whole, Chan finally gets out of his head about his feelings, and Hyunjin and Jeongin start wooing him with utter enthusiasm.

Gritty Thoughts (Men's Hockey RPF) written by FandomisOhana, performed by eafay70 Summary: Thoughts on Gritty!

That's not how it happened! (Shadowhunters (TV)) written by Hagar, performed by kittona Summary: In which Magnus tells a story to Jace and Clary's kids - and everyone has opinions.

That Clear and Simple Path (Merrily We Roll Along - Sondheim/Furth) written by klb, ShakespeareStoleMyURL, and rockinhamburger, performed by horchatapods, elledubs, klb, and ShakespeareStoleMyURL Summary: Three phone calls, the night (and then the day) after Frank's party. A podfic musical.

Dirt Cake. Because Why Not? (One Piece (Anime & Manga)) written by ScarletSorceress, performed by stereden Summary: Thatch really thought he'd learned his lesson about Ace and 'cakes'. Mainly that, if Ace wanted him to bake a cake, it would never be a normal cake. The first one had pork in it. The second was an actual war crime. Now the third one...had dirt in it? What occasion could Ace possibly plan for that required a dirt cake??? Well, Thatch was just going to have to make it to find out. Yay...

Dare Me to Tell You the Truth (Hacks (TV 2021)) written by schwanenkoenigin, performed by wilfriede0815 Summary: Ava desperately wants to get Deborah to play Truth or Dare with her. Deborah tries to resist.

just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go [text, audio] (魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù) written by unitaryexectheory, performed by Gavilan Summary: "A'Yu, A'Yu..." Nie Huaisang sighed."Not even my own sect brothers call me Nie-zongzhu." He pouted, but Mo Xuanyu didn't speak, looking guarded. "The only Nie-zongzhu was my brother and Nie Mingjue's dead." "That must have been very hard for you." Mo Xuanyu said blandly. Nie Huaisang gave a little acknowledging giggle, feeling disgust and pleasure at how Mo Xuanyu glazed past Da-ge's name. It's good. This is good, he reminded himself. So, Nie Huaisang smiled, gently placing the cup onto Mo Xuanyu's hands. The skin of his wrists and hands was a shade lighter than Nie Huaisang's own, clutching the cup lightly.

When We Meet Again (Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order Series (Video Games), Star Wars - All Media Types) written by xazz, performed by Ceewelsh Summary: Bode made good plans but there was a saying that even the best plans didn’t survive first contact. He’d expected he would have more time. He didn’t expect the plan to start to fall apart at his first meeting with Cal Kestis.

The Hospital [text, audio] (The Hotel (Podcast)) written by zombified_queer, performed by tipsy_kitty Summary: The Manager, Owner, and Lobby Boy have to deal with the repetition of Madam Hotel’s very tragic accident.

[redfish-blu]

People asked to drop the Danger Days tl from my last post so I’ll do that.

*Disclaimer: Not canon at all this is just my personal idea and take on like. How all that happened. Based on what they said in the videos and comics sort of.

*Disclaimer 2: I have not read National Anthem and I don’t care if this doesn’t line up with that.

Zones Timeline

1947:

- Cold War begins.

1987: Dr. D is born (hey legend).

1991:

- Cold War does not end.

1996:

- 1st Helium War starts.

- NATO and the Warsaw countries exchange declarations of war.

- Most of Eastern Europe is destroyed first, followed by the Middle East. Russia remains intact, as do a few Western European countries. Not including Great Britain or Germany.

- Other countries fall into isolation in fear of being the next targets of war, and either disappear into themselves or join pacts with one another. Some disperse entirely.

1997:

- America dissolves into civil unrest after attacks on the mainland result in various important political figures’ deaths.

- A number of American states cede from the nation and become The Confederacy of California, as per their secession being definitely illegal, and they take the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Wyoming.

- Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are disputed.

- The rest of the states are assimilated into The Federal Republic of The United States, however they are in constant political battles between themselves because now everyone either wants out of the nation or they want control of it.

1997-98:

- Technology stagnates, but still advances. Just nowhere near as fast as it did in our lives.

1998:

- 1st Helium War ends.

- Cherri Cola is born.

- Tensions between the COC and the FRUS are high strung but not hostile.

- This is generally considered peacetime, if peacetime can be defined as you and the person you just fist fought in the bathroom being forced to sit next to one another in the principal’s office. Alone.

- A company specializing in chemistry and weapons manufacturing under the name of “Better Tech” rises in the COC and the FRUS.

2000:

- 2nd Helium War starts.

- Jet Star is born.

- War is declared on the FRUS by the COC, and various military campaigns take place in the disputed states.

- Better Tech supplies resources to both sides in a kind of double entendre situation where neither side knows they’re actually being played.

2001:

- Party Poison is born.

2006:

- Kobra Kid is born.

- Fun Ghoul is born.

- Helium Wars end when a series of nuclear bombs are dropped around the Rocky Mountains.

- The FRUS is never heard from again, and radio/electronic communication is disrupted by damage to the earth’s electromagnetic field.

- Better Tech rebrands themselves to Better Living Industries and gain influence over the COC government with the aim of salvaging the country and fixing the physical damage done by the war as well as the mental trauma of the citizens.

2010:

- BLi attempt to take control of Latin America but are flushed out by rebellion, and Mexico’s border is closed.

- Canada follows suit soon after, and America is officially cut off. Trapping everyone who remains there within the country (legally).

2012:

- Pig Bombs drop, eliminating Texas and New Mexico, whose governments were still kind of functioning independently after Helium 2 and building resistance against the COC.

- Fires of 2012 destroy Phoenix but leave Las Vegas intact. All remaining military units are pulled to Los Angeles.

- This is where BLi’s intense propaganda machine starts working to cover up all the crap they do. Working in tandem with how technologically challenged most people are at that point.

- BLi take what’s left of the lower 48 and establish Battery City as the new capital of America. Their borders define the nation as California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.

- However, BLi becomes notoriously bad at maintaining and “cleansing” their proclaimed territories; and most of the area outside of Zone 3 sees little to no substantial BLi presence at all.

- Dr. Death Defying makes his first radio broadcast as a rebel.

2013:

- Analog Wars begin.

- Battle of Utah takes place wherein Salt Lake City is destroyed in a series of Killjoy v. BLi battles.

- Destroya was used for its first and only time during this battle, and was abandoned in Zone 3 during BLi’s retreat.

2015:

- Analog Wars pause after significant damages to both sides prompt an unofficial ceasefire, giving way to a long period of relative inactivity.

- BLi uses this time to build its presence in everyday life, establish the Zones, and advance it’s scientific research and development.

2028:

- The Girl is born.

- Girl’s mom is Drac’d

2029:

- The Girl is found by Killjoys.

- Analog Wars start up again when her existence is uncovered.

2029-35:

- These years see the most one on one fighting between kj factions and BLi since the Analog Wars first started.

- Generally remembered as a sort of Zones Renaissance due to the re-popularization of art, media, and philosophy within the killjoy community.

- Who had fractured off in the years after the armistice and became very detached from one another rather than a collective movement.

2035:

- The Killjoys die.

- Analog Wars officially end.

2036-47:

- The schools of thought built up during the renaissance period fade into the background once again as their figureheads either die off or become irrelevant.

- This is the era in which the Val Velocity era of killjoys grow up in. They were all born well after the Helium and Analog wars began and ended, so they have little to no connection to the values or customs of pre-war life.

- Its very Lost Generation-y in that everyone just kind of wants to party and forget about how their lives suck underneath all the glitter.

2047:

- California Comics events.

- Cherri Cola dies.

- Dr. D dies (rip legend).

- BLi is destroyed.

[mulberryasher]

[Fanservant]

Huitzilopochtli

Huitzilopochtli

Japanese Name: ウィツィロポチトリ

Class: Saber

Rarity: SSR: ★★★★★

AKA: Hummingbird, Eagle, Fake Blue Tezcatlipoca, Fake Grand Saber, True Sun of Mexica

Stats: ATK: 12,831 Lv.100 Grail ATK: 14,047 HP: 14,531 Lv.100 Grail HP: 15,920

Personal Skills:

First Skill: Fifth Sun: A

Grants self-guts status for 1 times 3 turns. Increase the party’s attack for 3 turns. Increases party's critical damage for 3 turns. Charge party’s NP gauge. Grants party Invincibility Buff Block for 1 time, 3 turns. Removed the buff and changed to reduce their defense for 3 turns.

Second Skill: Tezcatl eye: EX

Increase own NP damage and critical damage for 3 turn. Charge own NP gauge and gain critical stars. Ignore Invincibility for one turn and Grant's self-invincibility for 3 attacks, 3 turns.

Third Skill: Solar: A

Increases own Buster performance for 3 turns. Increases own Arts performance for 3 turns. Reduces their defense for 3 turns. Increases own attack for 3 turns. Increases own damage against Divinity enemies for 3 turns.

Class skills:

Magic Resistance: A

Territory Creation: EX

Divine Sun: A

Appreciation of Weapons: A

Parameter:

Strength: EX

Endurance: A

Agility: EX

Mana: EX

Luck: B+

NP: EX

PROFILE

Default:

It was the most powerful deitiy, without a doubt, within the Aztec world. He was born as an undefeated, ruthless warrior on the battlefield, bloodthirsty and bloodshed field, sun and rules, rising sun to the bright sun; when the Aztecs were at war, he was the protector or sacrificed to protect the people as the god of warrior, people believe the incarnation of the sun and replace Nanahuatzin, the sun god from the Aztec Mythology.

Although Hulitzilopochtli would be best suited for the Berserker class, yet was summoned as a pseudo-servant and Saber class.

Bond 1:

Height/Weight: 188cm/80kg

Origin: Aztec Mythology

Region: Latin America, Mexica, Mexico

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Gender: Male

“All I wanted was to protect the people, but I did not. I didn’t want to be a hero or warrior. I wanted to live warmly with my siblings and people.”

A deity known as the god of warrior is considered the god of sun and incarnation of the sun. He was also the patron god of the Aztecs and the capital city of Tenochtitlan. He wielded a weapon called Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, and used different weapons in his arsenal during the war field. People believed that they needed human sacrifice to strengthen their efforts.

Bond 2:

Personality

Extroverted, calm yet vibe older brother.

He is a bloodthirsty warrior, aggressive to a fault yet self-sacrificed to defend his people. Until he manifested a body, his host influenced his mind more. He is becoming a lovely older brother and extroverted. His host has a mindset as a mage, and martial arts influence his critical thinking and strategy. He does not hesitate or doesn't think about himself and only thinks he protects others. He is like a big brother who lectures to others or is playful with a smile. During the battle, he is more calm and collective. He is quite a gentleman, and caring comes to others.

He gives off as someone who is enjoying his retirement. When it comes to his routine, it is frightening. He woke up very early to practice for the taijutsu basics, then practiced his magecraft, which involved materializing objects and familiarizing all varieties of weapons.

Bond 3:

As he was defined as the most powerful and honored deity on Earth within the Aztec world, other Aztec deities feared his existence and, at some point, tried to kill him. In the myths, he was a minor hunting god of the Mexica. He is the deity who guided the Mexuca people to the Valley of Mexico from their previous home. He commanded the building of a city known as Tenochtitlan, which became the capital of the Aztec Empire. Then was worshipped as the god of the sun and became the fifth sun. When the Aztecs established their new environment and quickly replaced a Tonatiuh, the sun god, Aztecs believed their worship involved human sacrifice to be his strength effort not only that they also sacrificed the warriors who died in battle.

In the earliest origin myths of Huitzilopochtli, he is described as the fourth and final son of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. During the first 600 years of his life, Huitzilopochtli was born without flesh, but only a bone, and remained fleshless. Huitzilopochtli and his brothers created the world and its laws after 600 years had passed following the events that took place 600 years before. There is a version of that Coatlicue that saw hummingbird feathers fall from the sky. When she picked up, she became pregnant with Huitzilopochtil. In some versions, he protects his mother or avenges the murder of his mother against Couolzauhqui and defeats his siblings, Centzonhuītznāhua.

Bond 4:

Fifth Sun: A

He replaces Nanahuatzin as the new sun of the Aztecs.

Tezcatl Eye: EX

An ability that is the eye is like a second mana cord with magic circuits out of the body. There is clairvoyance and kinetic eyesight, which is gained to see things other than average, like seeing the inner energy of the life of all nonliving and living creatures. Can predict and know the opponent slowly. This can copy other mage’s magecraft and memorizing. There is a second phase of this eye, which can evolve and change the shape of the eye’s user, and it can use all the elements to control the opponent physically and mentally. The last ability is unique and exclusive to a person. Is still unknown of his ability because he didn’t use it during the time when he was summoned. Currently uses half the power of the Tezcatl Eye. Tezcatl Eye is only passed down to the Morarseu Clan. An unknown clan or a hidden clan was unknowingly destroyed in 1994—no record about the hidden clan, only the death of the people, and don’t know if their any survivors in the timelines of Fate/Stay Night series or Fate/Grand Order from any organization.

Solar: A

Using his own mana core connects the earth's planet to the solar sun.

Bond 5:

『Xiuhcoatl Moraresu』

Rank: EX

NP Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm

Range: 30-40

Maximum Targets: 100 people

Sol Blade Creation

A Noble Phantasm that creates an unlimited variety of weapons and changes the Planet field as wildfire. The place is a unique marble phantasm, sent back to the Aztec War period from the fallen wildfire field with ruined temples of the Tenochtitlan field of different weapons. He connects to the planet Earth and connects his imagination or views as his sword is morphed into a materialization. Mini energy of weapons provided by thearthet went toward his sword to complete his sword, revealing his blade in his hands. A single swing of his sword can cut the law of physics.

The blade’s name: is Xiuhcoatl Moraresu. Xiuhcoatl was a mythological serpent as a spirit form of Xiuhtecuhli. Become a weapon wielded by Huitzilopochtli. Xiuhcoatl is called a symbolic and descriptive of “fire serpent.” Xiuhcoatl is interpreted as the embodiment of the dry season and was the weapon of the sun. Moraresu is the surname of the host. It represents Huitzilopochtli using his magecraft called Atom magecraft to help his divine to create Marble Phantasm. Also, Moraresu is half-Japanese and used his influence mindset and knowledge of modern. To know Xiuhtecuhli's kind of weapon would then materialize it as a twist-shaped katana.

“As this sun fades away to become the blade who reaches this inner world. I used many weapons on this bloody battlefield, I will create the blade that I desire. Ahora ven a mí mi Xiuhcoatl Moraresu!”

Identity:

Huitzilopochtli, is a Saber Class Pseudo Servant summoned by Yukari Akiwara. He confirmed himself as a Servant and not a Grand Servant in my OC timelines of Grand/Order. Later on, Ritsuka Fujimaru of Chaldea was summoned as a still Saber.

Huitzilopochtli is a eagle deity. He was the tribal god of the Aztec people, known both as a war god and as the incarnation of the sun. The Aztecs worshipped Huitzilopochtli as the sun, causing many deaths and human sacrifices. Guided by Huizlipochtil, the Aztecs quickly largely replaced a Tonatiuh temple around the capital city of Tenochtitlan. Huitziopochtli defeated many deities in the Aztec world.

He is the final and youngest sibling and is known as the loyal and ruthless god of war, yet some myths are out of character, as he wants to protect the people or his mother. Many Divine Spirits are represented as Huitzilopochtli uses his divinity power like Tenochtitlan, the dinosaur king, and Tezcatlipoca. At some point, an aspect of him is known as Blue Tezcatlipocas from Tezcatlipoca. Can’t be summoned fully self as the god of the sun. The Servant Huitzilopochtli is a Pseudo-Servant but summoned with a human vessel named Moraresu Isamu (モラレスイサム) and also Saint Graphs identity as the god of warriors before he was known as the god of sun.

Dialogue

Summoned:

"Are you the Master? I'm Huitzilopochtli, the god of warriors. My class is Saber as a Psudeo-Servant. Let get along well, right, Master."

Summoned (Clear Shatterzone 7):

"Saber, Huitzilopochtli. Well well well, this is interesting. It looks like I'm on your side now, and I hope we get along. I will serve you as my Master."

Relationship:

Cuauhtémoc (OC):

“Cuauhtémoc is some what unique when we hangout. The first time was pretty funny. When I saw her, she gave off a vibe of an elegant lady but she was a fan girl when it come around me. I didn’t expect that from her."

MORARSEU (Caster)(OC):

“Well, well, their another person named MORARSEU. Perhaps he may have known my vessel?”

Tezcatlipoca:

"Big bro, how are you doing? Doing well after calling me the fake Huitzilopochtli and fake Grand Saber and then already giving me the nickname Eaglet. It was a bit disappointing. I thought you could change it a bit. But still, you are my older brother and still my family. I hope this time we spend our time as a family, big bro.

Quetzalcoatl:

“So you also summoned as a pseudo-servant, but why? I will just let this slide because you are you. I hope there is no fight between you and Big Bro. What now? Should I call you sister? Huh, Oneechan, then.”

Kukulkan:

“Huh? Kukulkan from the Mayan deity? This is confusing. She is a different Kukulkan than I know. So she is the sun from the lostbelt. Interesting, a new god and a new sun are rising. A new of myamily…Do you want to know if I would win against ORT-Kukulkan as my Saber Class?...... Nah, I’d Win.”

Tenochtitlan:

“So she is the embodiment of the city from Tenochtitlan. Que linda pequeña hermanita that I have. I hope we will have fun and go around the place. Master… Since I was summoned and here, you would not be alone with mi pequeña hermanita.”

Ozymandias:

“So that guy is known as king of God and the sun….I do respect him and did well as a ruler but I don’t need to worry about him.”

Senji Muramasa:

“Isn’t that one of the well-known blacksmiths, too? His blade is full of power and the will of the flame, but I can still block with my hands. Hehe.”

Karna:

“So he is Karna the son of the sun god. He should relied on other than his spear. He could join me in my routine.”

Miyamoto Musashi (LOST DATA):

“You tell me Muasahi from Alternate universe. She is completely different from I know. She is simple to get along with, and during sparring, she has indeed lived up to the title of the greatest swordmaster, but still, the Musashi I know can really make me not hold back. Maybe she can also join me in my routine with other servants.”

Miyamoto Musashi (OC):

“We finally met in Chaldea. Do you want to catch up or use the blade of our world like the old time with our previous Master?”

(He is the proper human history version and Saber Class. They were summoned by a Master named Yukari Akiwara before Ritsuka Fujimaru. That is how they met the first time.)

Cynthia:

“You also here, too? I guess Yukari’s team is back. Don’t lie to me again or use me for money making.”

(She is a pretender and the goddess of the moon from Greek mythology, as Selene is the goddess of the moon. She is also often identified as Artemis, the goddess of hunting. Her true names are Selene and Cythina, and Cythina is from the Sextus Propertius and the four bok of Elegis. She was summoned with Musashi, Huitzilopochtli with her previous Master. The funny part is that Cythina and her Master lied to him to materialize his physical form to help them with an event. But Huitzilopochtli was working as the butler then earning some quick cash because of his popularity.)

Iori Muuasahi:

“Well, we finally met, so tell me, how was your old man back when you were young? I bet it was hard to get along at first, right, or it was only me.”

Gorō Nyūdō Masamune (OC):

“That blacksmith.. I don’t know I feel he is a rival. He gives off a dangerous vibe when we sparring. Perhaps it is him or his host. Who knows, but still, he is a friendly great-grandpa.”

Celeste (OC):

“That girl, she oddly very friendly to me? What did I do to earn her trust? This is the first time I ever met her.”

(She is a rider class servant. She is the daughter of Andromeda from Greek myths and she is lostdata. She is from an alternate universe or maybe a distant future whose timeline is unknown. Her personality is similar to her mother's, but she doesn’t reveal who her father is.)

Asahina Gozen (OC):

"Gozen, I know them. Isn't he the one who defeats Masamune during the Shatterzone 5? I would love to see that battle. I bet the great-grandpa was in a cage and selling as a slave, Right....uhhhhu RIGHT?"

(Asahina Gozen is a lostbelt or a different version of Asahina Yoshihide and a Saber Class. He is from the Yōsei Nihon and a half-Yōsei who is from a clan of ōni. He is the strongest Yōsei Samurai in Yōsei Nihon. This version has the memory of his pan-human history and also adopted by the ruler of Yōsei Nihon named Umiko Hizumi)

Fusō (OC):

"Wow, isn't she the tyrant queen of Yōsei Nihon? No, it is her younger version, known as Fusō the Saviour and Fusō the Witch. I don't know but I have a bad vibe from her is not of her personlity but it her mana. Maybe she can also use marble phantasm.

(Fusō is a Caster class and lostbelt of Umiko Hizumi. An unknown person that has no record in the historical records but somehow connects to the Throne of Heroes. Her purpose is to cast the Wold's Mana in the Yōsei Nihon. Like her future adopted son, she also received memories in different way of Pan-Human History Umiko Hizumi. Fusō was the Inner Sea of the Plaent of her purpose. Hizumi is an older sister of the "Creation of Magecraft" lost in the record and Hizumi is a woman of selfish witch that wants to rule humanity in her own way)

Something you Like:

"Something I like is quite simple: my family, my people, and others who support me, like you, Master."

Something you Hate:

"What do I hate? I don’t really know. I know there are many things I can hate, like misunderstandings and my siblings, but I can’t hate them."

About the Holy Grail:

"You mean that energy supply? I’m not really that interested. I just want to focus on the extra time in Chaldea and also want to spend with my brother and sisters."

[ladyevol]

I have way too many AUs right now for MCYT, so I'm trying to decide which ones I should focus on, either by remaking them or continuing them, so I'd like to limit the AUs to just 3. One of them is my Hotguymustdie AU which I like and people seem to like, but I want to leave the other two up for voting. The two most voted ones are going to be continued, while the others are discarded for the time being. An explanation of each au below:

Witch Trials AU-

Life series AU where witches are people born with magic, thus considered highly dangerous by the angels and people. In order to ensure that someone is a witch, once someone is believed to be a witch, they are sent to an island by the angels who rule the world where they must fight for the death over and over again in the hopes that during one of these timeloops they will slip up and use their magic, allowing the angels to finish them for good with some added gimmicks. Grian, Bigb, Pearl and Jimmy are all angels sent as spies to these trials to try and identify these witches more closely. Scar, Smajor, Cleo, Lizzie and Tango are all witches, with their magic type being Chaos, Death, Time, Shadow and Fire/Ice respectively. Both angels and witches can remember past trials. Grian has learned that Scar was a chaos witch in third life and has since then been trying to hide it from the other angels, causing him to slowly fall in the process.

Withered dolls AU-

Secret life/Life series AU, after winning Secret Life, Scar begins making dolls of his friends to keep him company while refusing to die. Since this universe was not meant to exist for this long, more and more anomalies began appearing, including one that allows the ghosts of the past winners to possess these dolls, thus gaining a new chance at life, but only for as long as Scar is alive. The past winners have to essentially band together to ensure that the most accident prone man they have ever known remains alive while also resisting the corruption that threatens making them into the very monsters they try to fight. Scar's mental state also affects how the dolls look like, with each of them having three forms. All of them have powers that resemble their aspect (Grian has the power of the sun, Scott has the power of the stars, Pearl has the power of the moon, Martyn has the power of Mars aka war, Scar has the power of Nature/Earth and Cleo has the power of Pluto/Death)

Celestial Vessels AU-

Life series AU, the life series was created with the intent of finding the best versions of the participants to turn them into assassins for the Watchers to eliminate anomalies across the multiverse or those that oppose them. The winners live in an archipelago composed with the central island where the portal and their they training area is located as well as an island for each of them based on their bases in their games. Each winner is also given a weapon that holds their soul and grants them incredible power: for Grian, its the bandages of the sun, for Scott, the Ax of Stars, for Pearl, the scythe of the moon, for Martyn, the sword of Mars, for Scar, the bow of the Earth.

Hungry Heart AU-

Hermitcraft 10/Hotguy AU, Grian was once an angel by the name of Xelqua, however, after defecting during the holy war to join the Hermits, he was deemed a traitor and hunted down for his crimes. Just before he met his end, he was found by Scar, and in one desperate attempt to survive, he ended up possessing the man, leading to the two of them sharing a body. As Heaven and Hell alike send their forces to take down the two, they must fight for survival and to protect the rest of the hermits they care about. Grian can take a physical form for a very limited amount of time, and even then he can't be too far away from Scar. Very loosely inspired by Venom.

Ascended Victors AU-

Life Series/Hermitcraft 10, after winning their respective seasons, each of the winners becomes a guardian deity in their world where they must try to live a normal life while also protecting their world from Bugs and the Corruption that threatens every universe. To do this, they must borrow the strength of the spirits of those who have fallen during the trials (life series games) and use that to create weapons, items and even companions capable of assisting them. The only issue is that these spirits summoned to assist them can never be that of people from their own trials, only ones past and ones future. Inspired by Noragami, instead of turning into weapons, the ghosts will possess an item or an animal chosen by the victor, allowing them to interact with the real world. For example, Grian can summon the spirit of Limited Life Jimmy and place it into a sword, allowing him to kill corrupted beings while Jimmy's ghost is possessing the weapon. Once a ghost possesses an object, they must always possess the same object. The hermitcraft members are replaced by their victor counterpart (so the grian in season 10 is third life grian for example). Grian's group is composed of the bad boys, double life scar, double life big b, last life mumbo, real life scar, real life grian and secret life mumbo. Pearl's group is composed of last life Cleo, last life Bigb, last life Pearl, secret life Pearl, secret life Scott, third life Ren, third life Martyn. Scar's team is composed of last life Scar, double life Grian, double life Martyn, double life Ren, limited life etho. Cleo's team is composed of the clockers, double life Scott, secret life grian, secret life etho.

[pockykierra]

The Drive Home From Tadfield (based on @vavoom-sorted-art's comic

Go check out her comic, her art is so lovely! Both chapters out now.

The first chapter is SWF, the second is all NSFW, for anyone who wants to skip it/skip right to it 😏 Thank you @vavoom-sorted-art for letting me write a fic about your art! Here's a little sneak peak of Chapter One:

For a good few minutes, they fell into silence. They watched the setting sun pour beautiful light through the Bentley’s windows - yet another thing Crowley would miss when the world was gone. A demon wasn’t supposed to admire a lovely sunset - and certainly not a lovely angel - yet, on numerous occasions, he had found himself doing just that. Appreciating the beauty of the world he lived in.

The world that would soon destroy itself through divine and occult influences. Wasn’t that wonderful? All the things Crowley and Aziraphale loved - the people, the drinks, the food, the sunsets, the cars - gone. Turned to dust before their eyes.

Aziraphale would scold him for it, but Crowley couldn’t help but keep glancing at him from the corner of his eye. With his glasses, it was a difficult task, but he managed for a good few minutes without cluing Aziraphale that his eyes weren’t entirely on the road. He could see thoughts and ideas churning in the angel’s head, each twitch of the nose or flicker of the eye a new one - but from the dour expression on his face, none were leading anywhere. 

Crowley supposed that was better than what he was doing, which was focusing entirely on Aziraphale and not on ways to fix the up-and-coming Apocalypse. It was hard not to be when the angel looked so beautiful in the oranges and reds of the setting sun, his pale hair turned to fire and his eyes sparkling like stars in the burning light. He was - as the angel had said himself - ethereal. Wondrously, ridiculously radiant, and so full of light that Crowley could bask in for the rest of their days. Even if said days were now quite limited. 

Crowley’s jaw tensed, his teeth grinding together in a way that would have been painful for the average human. He had been trying not to think of it, focusing instead on losing his car and his humans and his alcohol, but deep down, he knew what the end of days truly meant losing - Aziraphale. No more dinners at the Ritz watching the angel savor every bite, no more late-night drinking sessions at the bookshop, and no more Arrangement. They would be - at best - separated for eternity and - at worst - forced to fight in the coming war. 

The Bentley swerved violently in reaction to Crowley’s thoughts; the angel beside him let out a tiny, barely-there gasp but said nothing about the sudden veer. Crowley glanced over at him, a pain like nothing he had felt before aching in his chest. He couldn’t fight Aziraphale. He wouldn’t. He would sooner throw that ridiculous tartan thermos of holy water he had hidden away onto himself - which, contrary to what Aziraphale thought, had never been the plan. But he would do it in a heartbeat for the angel beside him. 

From the corner of his eye, Crowley could see Aziraphale was still staring intently out the window, now looking to be thinking even harder about something. What it could be was hard to tell in the fading light of the sun, now mostly disappeared beyond the horizon - setting for, possibly, one of the last times.

Just another reminder of their fading moments together.

Unable to resist, fueled by panic and desperation, Crowley reached out and palmed Aziraphale’s thigh, grasping it like a lifeline. He was a demon weak for the pleasures in life, and his chances to have them were dwindling to nothing. Crowley and Aziraphale had spent years orbiting each other, never getting close enough to come together - and he was tired of it. He had gotten a taste of that tempting closeness earlier when Aziraphale had dared to call him nice, and Crowley pushed him up against the wall in retaliation. It was meant to be threatening, but from the way Aziraphale’s eyes had lingered on him as their bodies pushed together, it had been anything but. Thinking about anything else since then had been difficult - besides, of course, the oncoming death of the Earth. 

Crowley figured - best to do something now while there was still something to do. 

His hand tensed on the Aziraphale’s thigh, fighting everything in his body to keep his face neutral as the angel stared at him and contemplated what he felt about this new development. Crowley didn’t want to pull his hand away, but he would if Aziraphale asked. 

He would do anything for him.

Check out the story here!

[vibrantbirdy]

No Survivors: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Fic

Title: No Survivors Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi; Action/Adventure; Enemies to (almost) Allies; Hurt/Comfort; Romance if you squint Setting: Pre The Force Awakens Characters: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: 3k Warnings: Detailed (probably inaccurate) descriptions of injury/aftermath of injury (non-fatal impalement); descriptions of (probably inaccurate) emergency/makeshift medical treatment; mild descriptions of death from a crashed ship; mild sexuality; mild/canon typical swearing

Summary: You are Resistance fighter who has been captured. You are in transit aboard a First Order transport destined for an Imperial prison on the swamp moon of Delka 6. When a violent electromagnetic storm brings down the ship, you appear to be the only survivor. That is until you come across Supreme Leader Snoke's primary warlord, Kylo Ren, amid the wreckage. The volatile Ren is injured and you have to decide whether you can put your reservations aside to help him in the aftermath of the crash.

You open your eyes and your vison is blurry. Your head pounds. As the world languishes into focus, you realise that you are staring up at the clear night's sky.

But something is wrong. The constellations look strange tonight. Where is Sheyn's bow? And why does Terrin's saber have several stars missing from its hilt?

Slowly, you realise you are not lying on the soft grass in the meadow by your family's farm. Your sister is not here beside you. You are not laughing as you star gaze together and make up silly names for your own constellations.

Pekka's left knee. Channa's wonky nose.

You are not at home on Bakura at all.

Instead, you are wet through and frozen to your bones. You are lying in a marshy puddle, and sharp, thick reeds are stabbing uncomfortably into your flesh. Your saturated clothes are plastered unpleasantly to your cold skin. With each inhale, the damp smell of rot and sodden earth fills your nostrils. A cloud of tiny insects swarm around your face and bite at your skin, feasting on your blood. Then, you notice that your ankle is throbbing dully. You sit up to examine it, cringing and shivering as filthy bog water drips from the tangled mess of your soaking wet hair and down your back.

Not broken. Good.

The fuzzy outline of your memories start to take shape. This must be Delka 6, your destination. You remember the storm already raging as the prison transport juddered through orbit and into the moon's atmosphere. The sky alight with white fire flashing violently through the slit of a window in your cell. You hear the shouts and cries of others, the unholy metal screeching cacophony of the ship as rips itself apart around you spiral down helplessly into the black abyss.

You must have been thrown clear of the wreckage.

The transport had been moderately sized, equipped for long journeys with living quarters and communal areas for the Troopers and cells for twenty prisoners. Only six of these were filled by the time you reached Delka 6.

You didn't know any of them, at least not to begin with. But stuck with nothing else to do in a miserable cell for days on end, you'd joined in sharing tales through the bars with the rest of them. Stories of your family and friends and life before the First Order when you thought you might one day complete your medical training and become a doctor.

Your heart breaks for the lives lost. God speed rebels. Brave men and women of the Resistance, fighting the good fight, just like you.

That is until a botched recon job on a backwater world in the Outer Rim lead the First Order right to you...

You spot a flash of brilliant white a few meters in front of you, shocking against the grim landscape. You realise it's the helmet of a Stormtrooper, broken and smashed and sullied by the thick mud. You're surprised to feel a twang of of unexpected sympathy for the Trooper and his fallen comrades.

As you stagger to your feet, you wander aimlessly for a time, feet sinking and sticking in the marsh. Amongst the debris you come across the bodies of more Stormtroopers and fellow prisoners alike.

Here and there, fuel fires still burn ferociously, eerie little funeral pyres in the dark water.

Suddenly, a drawn out howl of pain and rage echoes across the marsh. You spin around, trying to pinpoint the location of the cry and spot a torn-off section of the transport.

You wade through the bog. It's unpleasant, especially with your aching ankle which complains as you have to rip it free of cloying, stinking mud with every step.

As you reach the remnant of the the vessel, you have to duck and weave under sparking wires and clamber over and under pieces of jagged metal. When you finally make it inside, the interior is surprisingly intact - an officer's personal quarters - and it's an odd and surreal juxtaposition to the hellish wasteland outside.

A tall young man, about your own age is half sitting, half lying on his bed. He is barefoot, clothed in simple sleeping attire of three-quarter length black pants and a loose long sleeved shirt.

He has a full head of thick, shaggy raven hair which falls in waves around his long, interesting face. His prominent, aquiline nose sits well with his other features - deep set eyes, full lips and a sharp well-defined jawline.

Under normal circumstances you would have considered him to be handsome, but you recognise him immediately even without his fearsome mask.

Kylo Ren.

You've heard the stories. Ren is Supreme Leader Snoke's formidable dark apprentice. Powerful with the Force, an elemental warrior driven by a mixture of blistering internal rage and radical First Order doctrine.

It all makes sense now. The strange, tense atmosphere between the Stormtroopers on the ship. They'd been so uptight, hardly deigning even to making a passing jest at the expense of their prisoners. All because Ren had been on the transport. Kriff knows why he needed to visit a backwater swamp like Delka 6.

Ren is propped up at an uncomfortable angle as if he has been interrupted while rising from the bed. Oddly, he is framed by a variety of metal spikes, as if the bed has been designed to resemble some dark, otherworldly throne.

After a moment, you realise that these spikes are actually durasteel rods from the ship's internal frame work. They must have slammed through the wall of Ren's sleeping quarters on crash impact.

With a jolt of horror, you suddenly understand that one rod is jutting upwards through his back and out through his left shoulder.

Ren is panting with exertion, breathing hard through his teeth. His brow is ridged in a deep furrow of pain. Sweat is dripping from tendrils of black hair into wild, anguished eyes and down his neck.

Sensing your presence, he looks up at you. His face is unguarded and softened by distress. In this moment, he appears disarmingly like any other young man.

"Please," he says quietly.

His tone is low and firm, but it is filled with a humility you don't expect. Still, you hesitate in the doorway, saying nothing. Your resolve solidifies and you stare coldly at him, wondering at the Universe's poetic sense of justice.

Ren's face hardens. Any hint of vulnerability present in his expression vanishes in an instant. His eyes darken like storm clouds as he comprehends that you are not going to help him out of his well deserved predicament.

He turns his attention back to the rod embedded in his shoulder . He puffs out his cheeks and gives a long, juddering exhale through his lips before wrapping two large, shaking hands around the pole and wrenching upwards.

It budges, but marginally, the slight movement serving only to send a new wave of agony tearing through his body. Ren snarls in pain and slams his head back against the wall in frustration, eyes squeezed shut.

After a moment, he plants both palms flat against the mattress and draws his knees up towards his body, positioning his feet flat on the bed below his bottom.

Your stomach lurches as you realise that in his desperation, he is going to try and push his body up and off the rod.

Kriff knows what he'll do to himself if he tries that and gets it wrong.

"Don't!" You shout out before you can help yourself, moving towards him instinctively, palms outstretched.

Ren looks up, narrowing his eyes and squinting at you, clearly startled to realise that you're still there.

You curse your medical training for kicking in automatically, but you know you can't leave him like this. As much as you'd like to. As much as it would be a fitting punishment for Snoke's war dog.

But you've made your decision. You stride over to him and put a hand on his heaving chest.

"Stop moving."

You are surprised as he immediately does as he is told. You look down into his pain clouded eyes and are surprised to find that they are not the black, emotionless pits you'd expected. There is a golden, amber light behind them and you realise that he really is just a man.

Climbing up on to the bed, you straddle Ren as if you are lovers. You rest a knee either side of his hips, sinking into the soft mattress and bringing yourself to rest gently on his lower abdomen. You are careful, but you feel his whole body vibrating with pain beneath you.

He looks surprised, but you ignore it. With how Ren is positioned and the need to avoid the other sharp pieces of metal jutting out dangerously from the wall, this really is the best and easiest way to assess the damage. You have a direct view of the exit wound in front of you, and you can appraise the entry wound in his back by leaning over his shoulder, all with a low chance of impaling yourself in the process.

Still, you can't help but feel a flash of satisfaction as his uncertain face flushes when you move around on top of him.

The placement of the wound is not the problem. There will be no permanent damage and Ren is extremely lucky that the metal didn't pierce a lung, or his heart.

If he has a heart, you think sourly.

The real issue, you realise, is that the pole is stuck fast through the back of the durasteel wall, gripped tightly in molten, twisted metal. No wonder he couldn't move it. You'll have to cut it and he'll have to pull it out in quick succession.

Now you know what you're working with, you grab the front of Ren's shirt and tear it open, revealing a chiselled torso. You can't stop the heat that creeps up into your cheeks and despite the pain he must be in, the most irritating ghost of a smirk flickers across Ren's face.

Now it's your turn to feel uncomfortable.

You strip him to the waist, carefully working the fabric away from the areas where the foreign element is impaled in his body.

"Where's your laser sword?" you ask.

"What?"

Ren speaks the word so quietly, but there is a sinister, cold edge to it. Suddenly the energy in the room feels heavy and oppressive.

"We need to cut this or you're not getting out," your words tumble from your mouth and you are furious that you've allowed this sudden change in his demeanour to ruffle you.

You clear your throat and the next time you speak, you've regained some composure.

"I haven't come across any actual medical equipment in this hell hole, so your lightsaber will have to do."

His expression is full of suspicion, but you hold his gaze defiantly. After a moment, he appears to acquiesce that he has no real choice.

"By the door."

He lifts his chin in the direction of the twisted sheet of metal that had once been the door to his quarters, and you see the weapon hanging from a belt on a hook on the wall.

Carefully, you extract yourself from Ren, trying not to hurt him further. It's difficult as the soft mattress bends and shifts under you. He places a big hand on the curve of your waist to help guide you and you try to ignore the glance that passes between you.

You walk across the room and unclasp the weapon from it's belt. You examine it, fascinated. The black hilt is an odd shape, roughly made, with its wiring exposed. It is far from the elegant thing you've heard described in the old tales of the Jedi Order.

But then, Kylo Ren is no Jedi.

You take up some of Ren's torn shirt, rip a length off and coil it into a something for him to bite down on. He looks at you, weary and resigned, before he takes it and positions it into his mouth, pliantly.

You make sure he understands that when he comes to pull the metal out, he must do it all in one go and make sure he follows the exact angle of the rod's path through his body.

You get him to sit up slightly. A growl, low and long resonates in his throat as he gingerly props himself up. The gap he has manged to make between his upper back and the wall is small, but you should be able to cut through the pole quickly without catching him with the blade.

Ren grips the base of the rod as close to the exit wound as he can. He takes a couple of deep, heaving breaths, clenches his jaw, then nods.

You flick the activation switch on the lightsaber's emitter and the laser roars into life, crackling and sputtering. You are suddenly overcome with an ugly feeling of power as you wield this deadly weapon. And you suddenly understand how vulnerable Ren is right now. Paralysed and defenceless before you. You could end his life in a second right here and no one would be any the wiser.

You'd be a hero of the Resistance... And a murderer and a coward for striking down an unarmed, wounded man.

So you don't.

Instead, you use the spluttering, fiery blade to quickly cut through the durasteel pole which impales Ren to the wall. The metal gives way like butter under a knife.

Ren doesn't hesitate. In one swift movement, he rips the pole from his shoulder as soon as you sever it. He gives a roar of anguish which hitches in his throat somewhere, and throws it across the room where it lands in a corner with a metallic clang.

Finally free, he leaps up from the bed as if distance from the place of his injury might help quiet the white hot pain flaring through his body. He staggers wildly and you step back out of the way, realising for the first time the enormity of his height. He collapses in a heap on the ground with a thud then rolls onto all fours, spitting the cloth out of his mouth.

Ren lets his forehead come to rest against the cool metal of the durasteel floor. He is gasping in deep, shuddering lungfuls of air, nostrils flaring with each ragged breath. You get the distinct impression he's trying not to throw up. His dark hair cascades about his face. One hand is pressed flush against the wound in his shoulder, the other, supporting his body weight, is clenching open and shut against the floor, fingers clawing at the metal tiles.

"Thank you," he utters, finally.

He doesn't move, he doesn't even look at you, but you are taken aback by the sincerity in his voice. He means it.

"Don't thank me yet," you snip coolly, "that's bound to get infected. Bacta spray?"

Ren shakes his head, although in his exhaustion, he doesn't bother to lift it from its resting place against the floor. The tip of his long nose graces the metal tiles with the movement. Ren is bleeding freely down his back and rivulets of crimson are seeping through his fingers where he is pressing against his shoulder. Bright red drops spatter on the metal floor.

You need to do something soon.

The hilt of Ren's lightsaber is still in your hand and you reignite it. Ren's head snaps up and you realise you've made a dangerous mistake by arming the blade without consulting him first.

You've heard stories about how he can hurt people, throw them about like ragdolls with just with his mind.

"We need to cauterize the wound," you explain quickly, "I can't see another option right now."

You think you see a shadow of panic cross his face, but he quickly composes himself and he nods once in reluctant ascent. With great effort, he pushes himself up to his knees and sits back on his heels. With resigned, laboured movements, he reaches out and picks up the throng of twisted fabric, placing it back between his teeth.

You move behind him. His shoulders rise and fall rapidly as his heart rate quickens and adrenaline surges through his body. Just a touch should do it, you don't want to cause more damage.

Grimacing with concentration, lightsaber feeling clumsy and unwieldy in your hand, you press the searing blade lightly against the entry wound in his back.

Ren throws his head backwards, muscles tensing down his long neck. A muffled scream escapes through the material in his mouth, but he doesn't move. He is gripping his knees tightly and you notice his knuckles are white.

You crouch down in front of him and prepare to cauterize the exit wound. He locks his gaze on you, the unstable red beam of his weapon dancing like fire in his golden eyes. He reaches out grasps the emitter, large hands coming to rest upon yours, enveloping them. His touch is almost gentle.

It's a silent plea for a moment to brace himself. It's back again, you realise, that sliver of humanity in his expression.

He inhales deeply, readying himself, then lets go of you. Without wasting time, you press the blistering blade against his shoulder once more.

This time he makes little sound, save for a low keening in his throat as he grits his teeth against the twisted length of fabric in his mouth. He keeps his penetrating gaze fixed on your eyes. You don't look away.

After it's done, you give him a small nod of approval and allow the trace of a smile to form on your lips. He did well.

You both sit down on the bed again and you set to work, using the rest of his tattered shirt to fashion a sub-par bandage which wraps around his wounded shoulder and across his muscled back.

"You're a medic."

It's not really a question, but a statement.

"I was," you say sharply, "before the First Order turned the hospital I was training at into ashes."

Silence.

You finish your work on his injury.

"There, try not to move it too much."

Once you've finished, he rises and you notice in alarm the way he towers above you. He looks down with an odd, appraising look on his face, as if he is trying to make a decision.

"Come with me."

You don't see how you can argue. You both clamber outside and you recoil as the stench of rotting vegetation from the swamp hits your nostrils. Still, you welcome the cool air on your face after the heat of your exertions and the metallic smell of Ren's blood.

"A rescue vessel will arrive soon," Ren states.

You say nothing. Some rescue.

"There is a settlement ten klicks west of here," he muses, almost casually.

"I came to look in to reports of a Resistance faction operating on this moon," he continues, "But having had the opportunity to thoroughly investigate, I will be able to report back to the Supreme Leader that this is no more than mere rumour. For now."

Ren turns to you. There is a smirk on his face and a spark of humour in his eyes. It makes his expression boyish and almost charming.

There it is again, you think. That light in the darkness.

You can't bring yourself to thank him. The words refuse to leave your mouth. But you do allow yourself to give him a reluctant half-smile of your own in return and an inclination of gratitude with a bob of your head.

With that, you set off across the bog and into the unknowns of Delka 6.

**************************************************

Kylo Ren watches as you limp westwards across the marsh. You disappeared into a cover of stunted trees and out of his sight.

Behind him, a Lambda shuttle descends. He holds the emitter of his lightsaber in one hand and his mask in the other, both salvaged from the wreckage.

Boarding the ship, Ren ignores the almost imperceptible turn of heads from the Stormtroopers who line the durasteel ramp as he traipses slowly up it bloody, filthy, shirtless and barefoot.

As he passes the Captain at the top of the ramp he utters two words in a flat, level monotone.

"No survivors."