#the custody battle is simply never ending

[spilledmilkfkdies]

Nobody has proposed yet that Duman is Sicilian...

[izzystizzys]

“…I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I still don’t quite understand”, Fox says, for what must be the dozenth time that hour. His heartbeat pounds behind his eyes in an incessant drum of hurt, and his head aches with every breath like someone’s taken a rusty fork to the inside of his skull and raked his brain out. Fox’ eyes are beginning to burn the way they start doing around hour 80 of a shift, and he has to suppress the brief urge to check over his shoulder. Not even Stabby could come up with a ploy this contrived to make him sleep. Probably.

In front of him, General Grievous coughs awkwardly, long spindly durasteel limbs shivering with its force. “Certainly”, he vocalizes, in that deep, watery cadence. “For your glorious triumphs in battle, your awe-inspiring victory over me in close combat, and your undeniable warrior spirit, I accept you as my consort. I have proven my skills through the ritual capture, and thus, by Kaleesh custom, we are now wed, Commander Fox. I will honor you as my war-bride, and visit vengeance upon your enemies. I swear it to you.”

Expectantly, Grievous tilts his faceplate to the side, and Fox only just catches the suppression of the manic giggle that wants to escape him. Yeah, probably not Stabby - maybe a dying fever dream? Has the infected gash from that skirmish on the lower levels five rotations ago finally decided to end him? If so, it’s not fast enough for Fox’ tastes.

Here’s how it happened: Fox has no kriffing clue. All he knows is one moment an emergency alert tore him from precious Scream Closet time this morning, he went to rescue the Chancellor’s dumb ass again, and whoop, here he is on General Grievous’ ship with the war-criminal himself declaring them happily married. And eyeing him up and down like a piece of candy.

Why, Fox thinks, desperately, does this always have to happen to me?!

Chancellor’s still kidnapped, by the way. Fox has other priorities for the time being.

“I swear to aim my weapons in your service”, Grievous continues, when it becomes exceedingly clear Fox is not going to break out of his shocked stupor anytime soon. “I swear to aim true and strike with murderous intent, I swear to uphold the sacred bonds of our clans in the name of our union, I swear to raise a strong, bloodthirsty brood of warriors with-“

“Wait”, Fox interrupts, once his brain has caught up past the astromech dial-up sound it seems to be playing on repeat. “Uphold clan bonds? You murder your way through my brothers like a rabid nexu on spice on the regular!”

Grievous’ faceplate, which should be for all intents and purposes totally expressionless, does something that reminds Fox strangely of contrition. It has him gaping and shivering in discomfort, in any case. “A fact I regret, but acknowledge lies in my past before the fateful crossing of our paths. I am a warrior at soul, you must understand, my worthy mate.” Durasteel faceplates don’t turn soft. They don’t. And coughs don’t sound loving. They simply do not. “But I uphold the bonds of these sacred vows under Kaleesh law, that I swear to you, my beloved.”

“All I did was grapple you to the ground”, Fox says, mourningly. “Cody has kicked you in the head dozens of times and you’ve never tried to marry him.”

“He is not you, and his battle lacks the lustful vitality and love of violence of yours”, Grievous declares, and Fox really cannot tell whether the sound that erupts from him is a lovelorn sigh or a hacking death-gurgle. This cannot be his life.

Just then, a droid conveniently enters, putting a pause to all Fox’ sufferings. He’ll need to tell Thorn to research Kaleesh divorce proceedings. Or, better yet - he needs to blow up this whole karking ship including himself and destroy all evidence of this ever happening.

“Generals Kenobi and Skywalker awaiting in custody, Sir”, says the droid, nervously. “They are here to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, but we cut them off just out of the hangar bay.”

Internally, Fox rolls his eyes so hard it hurts his brain. “The Jedi can wait”, Grievous hacks out, and for once Fox agrees with him. Let the two dick around onboard, there’s bigger issues at hand.

“But Sir”, says the droid, all twitchy with an anxiety Fox eternally wonders who the kriff programmed into the damn things, “what if they try to escape and -“

A deep, growling noise erupts from deep within Grievous’ massive metal chest, amplifying Fox’ pounding headache by a thousandfold. “I have no time for this”, he snarls at the cowering droid. “Remove yourself from my and mine beloved’s sight.”

“Roger Roger”, the B2 squeaks, hesitantly, before adding on - “The Chancellor-“

Harrumphing petulantly, Grievous stomps one massive, clawed foot and makes what feels like the whole viewdeck shake. “I will twist his head off his body like a rotten fruit”, he declares. “That will get those pesky Jedi off my ship faster, and then we can continue saying our vows.” He pauses, thoughtfully, and then hooded eyes ringed by what must surely be rotten flesh fix on Fox inexorably. “It will be my wedding gift to you, beloved, an offering of peace to your brothers.”

Fox opens his mouth to protest, but quickly snaps it shut again when his husband already turns tail and storms off.

Huh. Maybe this marriage thing isn’t all bad.

[u1dh]

My Bowser x reader ideas:

Bowser seeking refuge in your kingdom after he escapes Princess Peach's imprisonment.

Princess Peach using you as Bowser bait cause she's sick of being kidnapped n shit (you're totally into it, tho).

Princess Peach x reader x Bowser? I've literally got nothing else cuz I've had Bowser brainrot for a few months now, but omg..... 🫣

This is probably the one I like the most, and the one I've put the most thought into (under cut):

While Bowser is still in Princess Peach's captivity, you wander around his kingdom just cause you think it's cool and like, who's gonna stop you anywayz?

Eventually Kamek and the rest of the Koopa Troop notice you, but they don't really care because they're too busy trying to figure out how to aid Bowser in his escape, along with running the kingdom without him (I'd imagine that mostly lies on Kamek).

You figure hey, you dig this place, and you're bored as hell. Why don't you just become the new ruler for a little while? And that's what you propose to them.

They decide to entertain you, knowing that a random little human isn't gonna be able to do much harm anyway. They don't expect it to go much farther than being an inside joke, but they're surprised when they find out that they actually... Like you? And you're kind of good at this? And it's kind of nice to not have a huge fire-breathing beast with anger issues over their shoulders all the time??? Kamek is also enjoying his much needed break, so it just ends up not being a joke anymore. You're just their ruler now, and they're chill with it.

Anyway, when Bowser inevitably gets out, drama ensues, and it's kind of like a weird custody battle. Reader and him start off on a really bad foot, and they consider each other enemies at first. The only thing that stops Bowser from murking you on the spot is Kamek (lucky, lucky you!), and it is very physical. We're talking movie Bowser here so, he doesn't really care about what's best for his kingdom or what they want fr.

Anyway, a lot of the Koopa Troop really, really like you, but they are also loyal to their king, and let's be real: some of the troop could probably go without Bowser, but that simply isn't allowed. So, you guys basically have to co-parent the troop, even though you hate each other. They even pick a favorite "parent," lol.

Obviously the relationship will escalate to more of a romantic one once you guys really get to talking and interacting or whateva... and yeah.

There's still a lot for me to figure out like, where does this reader even come from? What draws them to the Koopa Kingdom? Do the Koopa Troop aid Bowser in his escape, or do they get carried away with you being their ruler and he ends up having to escape himself?

Lots for me to think about, and lots of plot holes to fill... but I wanted to know what you guys think of this. Is it something you'd be interested in reading? Does anything already seem inaccurate our OOC?

Oh and btw, if you wanna use some of these ideas in your own works, I don't care!!! Go crazy with it! I'm not necessarily new to writing fanfiction, but I've never been particularly good at it so... if I never end up writing these ideas into real stories, I really don't want them to go to waste! I'm going to try my best, but y'know... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think it'd be fun to see others takes on these prompts anyway.

I really love Bowser, and there is not enough x reader fanfiction to satisfy me. I just had to post something... I'm going crazy!!!!!!!!! Feral, even! Help me!! 😩

[aphroditeslover11]

The Flat Next Door

Fun to write and thank you for the ask! i swear to God I feel this gif somewhere deep inside of me!

Warnings: a bit of touchy feely, mentions of divorce, not proofread and fuelled by lingering red wine and exhaustion!

Jim was fresh out of his divorce. He had lost his kids in a custody battle after getting into a fight with their step dad, along with the majority of his savings, his new girlfriend left him as soon as he wanted to get serious and he really was completely alone in the world. Bearing all of this in mind he moved across the Irish Sea and took up a new job in Liverpool. The pay wasn’t the best but he wasn’t responsible for anyone apart from himself now and the city itself made up for it. It did mean though, that aged 42, he was having to live in an absolute dive in a block of apartments he never though he would have to see the likes of again until now. The kinds of people living here were the ones that you didn’t want to bump into on a dark night or had just decided to give up on life and slowly rot into the decaying depths of society. He was pretty sure that the apartment to his left was being used as a weed farm from the smell and the weird times that people were walking in and out. The flat to his right was a bit different though, it belonged to a girl who simply didn’t fit in among this band of junkies and lowlifes. She couldn’t have been much older than 22 and always kept herself to herself. Everyday she would come home at around the same time, make dinner, work for a bit and fall asleep with the tv on in the background. It was hard not to notice these things with how thin the walls were. Who was she though? That was something he was curious to find out.

~

It was three months after you had moved into your apartment that the absolute unthinkable happened. Somebody had broken into your flat, not that you should have been surprised. The door had been kicked clean off the hinges and nobody had even thought anything of it. The place missing a door though meant that it was hardly safe to stay here and fixing it was not a job that you could do yourself. This was how you had come to meet Jim, the helpful man from the apartment next door who had spotted your distress and come over with a toolbox to help you fix it. You had invited him in for coffee and the pair of you had fallen asleep on the sofa, not that it meant anything of course, you were scared so he had stayed incase the burglars had made a return visit.

After that you had started meeting up for coffee periodically. He learnt that you were a student, having ended up here after fleeing from the house you had been sharing after discovering that your boyfriend was cheating on you with one of your housemates. Though you were at very different points in your lives there was some sense of empathy between the two of you. Perhaps a friendship based on a mutual sense of abandonment wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world, but it was certainly what you were both craving around this time. 

The other thing that Jim learnt about you was that you were a very tactile person. Whenever you walked past him in the kitchen whilst making a cup of coffee you would place a hand on his shoulder, as if to move him out of your way. If you were sat together on his shitty little sofa and he made a joke you would always place a hand on his thigh or his forearm, as if to keep you grounded as you laughed.

As of late he was starting to wonder whether there was more to these touches than he had originally thought. It was moments like these, when you watching television together with him sat at one end of the sofa with your feet in his lap, that he questioned what you really wanted out of him. He was caught off guard by you moving your feet in his lap.

“You know Jim, I’ve put them there for a reason. I missed the bus and my feet are killing me and I was hoping I might get a foot massage out of you?” You chuckled.

“You poor thing, I can’t promise I’ll be much good but I can certainly try.”

“You’re an angel, I promise I’ll make it up to you in time.” What the hell is that meant to mean?

 ~

Three weeks later and he still didn’t know what that comment had meant. Rents had been put up and he, remembering the financial struggles of being a student, had starting offering to cook for you more often. He wanted to make sure that you were eating something other than pot-noodles or HP Sauce on toast.  You’d started helping him cook as well, if he was honest the evenings were when he missed his kids the most, so the little arrangement worked out well in his favour. You were coming back from one of the cupboards with a tin of tomatoes, he was expecting your hand to find his shoulder, but it didn’t stay there like it normally did, instead trailing down his back until it came to briefly rest on his ass. Caught unawares he automatically reached for your arm, holding it in a gentle grip.

“Y/n, what are you doing?”

“You remember how a while ago you gave me that massage?”

“Yes.” 

“And I said I’d make up for it in time?”

“Yes.”

“How would you feel about cashing in on that now…” 

[kindlyre]

Can you talk more about your personal headcanons for Rantaro?

uhhh shore!!! :3

he has thirteen siblings overall, twelve sisters and a brother

out of those, his brother and oldest sister are blood relatives. his brother is a few years older and they have a... complicated relationship. his sister is his (younger) twin

he has a pretty bad case of conduct disorder and has been compared to enoshima on many occasions because of it

his sisters have no idea, his twin kinda realized as she got older, his brother is 100% aware

rantaro's dad divorced his mom when he was about nineish, took his sister in the custody battle, but the dad fought for the two boys in the hopes that one of them would amount to SOMEthing

this is hyperspecific but. the "-taro" suffix is usualy reserved for the oldest son, so the reason rantaro is named that was because his brother ALREADY didnt live up to expectations, so his father saw rantaro as a replacement and named him accordingly

rantaro's talent came about because he has conduct disorder- the chronic boredom is why he travels so much in the first place, and the risk taking behavior commonly associated w cd is why he gets into so many Situations that make for good headlines

he's banned from morocco because he got caught graverobbing. everything he took had to be given back, except for ONE thing he got away with. he keeps it in his capsule necklace

yes he does drugs but he managed his habits well until shortly before his appearence in danganronpa 52, where he started getting worse cravings

rantaro used to have a mix of clear headed travels that are more backpacking or in rural areas or mountain climbing, AND stints in big cities where hed do some drugs and gamble

a thing he likes to do is get real messed up on drugs, black out, then play some irl geoguesser when he wakes up in some random ass location

this is why he didnt seem too concerned when he woke up in v3; he's used to just waking up in odd places and not remembering how he got there

mmmmost people with conduct disorder dont actually go on to develop aspd, which you can only be diagnosed with once you turn 18. rantaro is in the minority yaay #lostcause (that is, if he'd lived to 18)

he near-exclusively calls himself "a sociopath" because he got tired of explaining that thats not a diagnosis anymore and you cant even get the renamed diagnosis till youre eighteen and he'll Totally Be Fine By Then He Promises and that he has something else entirely, because people kinda didnt care much so he just stopped explaining

he still very much wants to find his sisters but even when he DOES find them, he's always too nervous to approach them because he feels like they would maybe not like a baby sociopath as a brother

(he's had symptoms all his life and was never all that good at hiding them. his sisters like him just fine, lmao)

HE KNOWS WHERE HIS TWIN LIVES he could literally go see her at any time. he doesn't. he's simply too ashamed of how he is on account of being compared to the girl who Ended The World all his life

rantaro's got a nasty violent streak and one of the reasons he wears those rings like that are as a brass knuckle subsitute

he's attacked and even tried to kill his father on MULTIPLE occasions due to his treatment of both rantaro himself and his sisters

he's a gambling addict though if you asked him he'd say it's "just fun sometimes" and its not that big a deal because he's rich, he can tank whatever he loses

he likes big open spaces like the ocean or the great plains; he finds it a nice reminder of how HUGE the world truly is and how, despite all he's done, he's only experienced a fraction of it. it makes him excited for his next adventure

he loves his sisters, but it's in a kind of... detached way? its hard to explain.

his relationship with his brother is even harder to explain- they fight a LOT but they're kind of the only family each of them has, but they're still pretty distant with each other (a lot of it is gonna be in fics im doing so i lowk dont wanna spoil it aaaaaaall~)

rantaro has always wanted to fall in love, but it hasn't happened yet

he hasn't fooled around with anyone, he's saving himself as it were for the person he falls in love with. he used to tell people this, but stopped after like 95% of the responses were variations on how that was such a surprising sentimentality for Someone Like Him

he's well aware that people see him as a sickopath first and a person second, growing up in a post-tragedy world with the bad luck of having the same mental illness as the person who caused the whole thing. this is a contributing factor in why he's so distrustful of other people

other factors include seeing atrocities, corruption, et cetera traveling around, AND the abuse he faced growing up and how his father is continuing to get away with it due to his wealth

even so, rantaro absolutely has used his wealth to stay out of prison. it sounds hypocritical but rantaro is a mentally ill 14 year old whom nobody really knows how to (or wants) to help in a way that actually is respectful of him instead of treating him like a nuke that needs to be disarmed, and his father is an adult man who uses his wealth to take advantage of poor women to fuck their daughters. so its a bit of a different situation i think

uuuuuuuuuuhhhhh

i think you deserve a few fun ones after all that

he's sicilian on his mom's side

he tans a LOT in the summer and has a lot of freckles, you can barely see them if he's not tanned lmao

he's a natural brunet and his hair is really thick so it gets tangled easily; he got an undercut largely so he didnt have to deal with so much of it

he has a stick n poke tattoo on his leg, though it's so blown out and faded that you kinda can't tell what it is. not even rantaro knows what it is (a sailboat? maybe?)

he did all his own piercings; they're all staggered on his right ear because he's left-handed (except his left lobe, but tbf its easier to do that than your cartilege)

people are generally aware that there's Something Just A Little Off about rantaro, including some of the killing game participants, but some of them wouldnt have minded, honestly

these ones are oumami ones for Me but rantaro likes kokichi's view on morality and that decoding kokichi's lies means they effectively have a secret language

and because of just how odd kokichi is and how outlandish his lies are, rantaro'll never get bored of him

kokichi asks "am i boring?" and the guy with Chronic Being Bored Disorder always says "no, never"

they invented romance

haha cool a guy with muted emotions concerning other people fell in love in a killing game and is now feeling a bunch of new, strong, overwhelming emotions! i wonder if this can be exploited in some way!!!!!!!!!!!

woof this got LONG!!!! anyway we love exploiting the mentally ill for shock value and television. team danganronpa sucks, good thing we don't do that!!

anyway if u want some elaboration on any of these hmu!!! i love to yap!!!!

[collapsedsquid]

Recently heard twice the same story from two women, both boomers, both reasonable but not especially well-off, about raising children after the father had abandoned the family, no custody battles or anything like that, the father just vanished as if he was never there, and it got me remembering.

Back in the old days, the big antifeminist discourse was a alimoney, child support, and related issues, the issue was that women were taking advantage of men, now the issue is that they are not. (These women did not share any stories of getting payment and I did not ask)

One of the things you used to see demanded was the right to what they called "male abortion," if a woman gets pregnant, she has the the right to end the pregnancy if she feels she cannot or will not support it. the father does not have that choice, if the child is born than the father can be mandated to support it. What they demanded was the right to a "male abortion," that the father may simply choose not to support any child before the child is born, relinquishing custody and whatever else.

Nowadays everybody demands the government-provided girlfriends but are they willing to pay the government-mandated child support? Will men really tolerate "pro-natalist" policy?

[irontragedyreview]

Honestly, I want and don't want to write about this and the previous chapter because after the final chapter between Izuku and Tomura, I honestly don't see the point. Horikoshi is a mediocre writer, who threw away the confrontation between Tomura and Izuku and produced a long epilogue to close plots like the Spinner and his arc with heteromorphic discrimination. I seriously saw people congratulating Shoji and hating Midoriya because Shoji "saved" Spinner and "understood" him, when their fight was cut short and Shoji didn't say anything really good and then we didn't even get a fucking flashback to see how their fight played out. On the other hand, you have all the villains dead, on their way to it or simply locked up never to be seen, while Edgeshot, a random hero that no one cares about, is still alive? Pls, Tomura died, Dabi is on his way to death, Spinner seems to be in a hospital and will probably still end up in police custody, Toga is missing (until there isn't a serious confirmation I won't believe she is dead), Kurogiri is dead, missing, became a cloud? did bk end up killing him? The truth is, I don't know (although I'm honest I don't care either), the remaining members of Lov are in prison. That is to say, all the villains ended up screwed and most of the heroes alive and few with completely debilitating injuries (outside of Endeavor in a wheelchair and I suppose Hawks and the heroes who lost their quirk due to AFO). Now we have a chapter that leaves open a future conversation between Ochako and Izuku and the truth is, I have read good takes on this and completely stupid ones too. I think there is going to be a love confession? No, and honestly it would be out of place when you have two characters feeling like shit. Although, I consider hypocritical many shippers who want to say that their future conversation don't have to end in a future romance or be a pillar that explains a later love relationship, this fandom shouts when two characters share a fucking panel, if the izuocha shippers izuku want to talk about romance they have the right to do so, if they want to believe that there will be a confession too (don't blame anyone when this doesn't happen, but they can do it). However, this talk has the potential to be very good or just plain disappointing, Izuku is going through a lot of shit because of Tomura, at least Horikoshi isn't mediocre enough to deny Izuku some thought about the situation. Besides this talk seems a lot to "misery loves company", since the end of the war Ochako and Midoriya have been the only two characters who have been conflicted by the results, and hiding their feelings to the point of denial, in this chapter we have the Ochako's breaking point, and the same word repeated between them pain. This future conversation also brings up many interesting points, a call back to Izuku perhaps managing to console Ochako as he failed to do during the sports festival, again a scenario similar to their talk before the final battle, both feeling heartbroken by the outcomes with their villains. This talk has great potential, but Horikoshi is surely going to screw it up, my faith in the guy is at rock bottom and honestly his work died when he rushed Tomura and Izuku end in such an unsatisfactory way and the easy route of eliminating or neutralizing the villains of the League.

[lord-squiggletits]

For your MegOP conundrum:

What are your thoughts on MegOP romance in forced truce situations eg. Quintessons attack, or everyone on the battle feild was taken by slavers type thing. Do your thoughts vary on continuity TFA vs Prime vs IDW, etc?

Hope this helps

Bookwyrm

I think Forced Truce as a trope is probably one of the easiest/most convenient ways to create an alliance/eventual reconciliation between the factions without just sidestepping the issue altogether. I think it's especially cool to have there be a temporary truce BUT the issues between the factions are still messing up communication, causing trust issues that make units work together less cohesively, etc. It's really great because it forces the factions/Megatron and Optimus to work together, EXCEPT if they fail to cooperate, it doesn't just mean a continuation of an endless, tedious war, but it could spell out the end of their species altogether. There's a ton of stakes inherent to it; if we're talking MegOP romance, then what's at stake isn't just the emotional pain of their bad relationship/breaking up because they can't make it work, but the physical consequences of them failing to defeat a greater foe. It lends the romance/truce particularly heavy symbolism-- that this temporary truce isn't merely a convenience, the blooming love isn't merely an emotion, but that both of these things could be the key to life itself. And I'm always a big sucker for that kind of theme where reconciliation/hope/cooperation/etc save the day.

I can really only comment on IDW since that's my bread and butter, but it's an interesting discussion because there's actually at least three times where Megatron and Optimus (and their factions by extension) did a forced truce where, obviously, it wasn't enough for them to reconcile afterwards:

Autocracy: Orion and Megatron team up to beat Zeta, ends with Megatron shooting Orion and the Autobots being imprisoned

Stormbringer: Mostly kept off screen, but the Bots and Cons have to keep up to try and defeat Thunderwing(?), who's basically a walking natural disaster created by all the environmental devastation of the war

Dark Cybertron: Teaming up to stop Shockwave from putting the whole universe in a singularity. Famously the series where Megatron became an Autobot. Has a really underrated/never talked about scene where Megatron and Optimus actually speak together in a quiet moment before going out to face everyone (and presumably Megatron is taken into custody in preparation for the trial).

Stormbringer is actually the most interesting one to me, because I love it when TF stories in general explore the environmental devastation of the war. I love it when Megatron and Optimus are punished for their war by the very planet dying, or in this case, creating a monster that both of them combined can barely stop. They disagreed on whether to basically bomb the whole planet to ash to stop Thunderwing (Megatron) or to keep the planet intact and hope to beat him some other way (Optimus), which I think if it were the focus of a story, is a really interesting example of what I mentioned above where differences in faction/philosophy don't vanish simply because they're temporarily working together.

One of the biggest reasons I love MegOP is because the two faction leaders are kind of like the King Arthur of their respective factions: whatever befalls the commander/king is a reflection of what happens to his army. So forced truce + unresolved tension (political, personal, romantic) is fucking fantastic because it means that whatever Megatron and Optimus do trying to deal with each other could fuck over their factions as well. And I really like the idea of MegOP struggling together in a relationship NOT because of personal differences or even emotional issues, but because they have some sort of obligation to their factions (fulfilling their goals, bringing their idea of justice) that means that coming together romantically would be betraying their factions.

Sorry for the rambling answer; hoped this had at least a few interesting ideas in it!

[darlingandmreames]

Obsessed with the idea of Kallus not having as easy as escape from the Empire and coming out the other side of it just a Little Wrong.

Maybe Pryce isn't as much of an idiot and doesn't send Kallus off the bridge, giving him the chance to escape. Maybe his cover gets blown in a situation other than the battle over Atollon. Either way, Kallus doesn't manage a quick escape. He ends up in Imperial custody, a traitor and political prisoner. Imperial prisons aren't kind places, and they're particularly brutal for people like him. Kallus always knew that on an objective level, but the lived experience is something different. Something worse.

It's months before he manages to escape. Maybe longer. It doesn't take him long to find the Rebellion once he does- he was Fulcrum, after all, and a competent ISB agent for years before that. So he makes his way there and while he may not exactly be welcomed with open arms, he is welcomed. And out of everyone, the Ghost crew welcomes him with the most open arms.

Except Kallus is...different now. Quieter, more watchful in a way that's almost unsettling. Twitchy, even. Sharp, oddly mechanical smiles that have little humour behind them. Like a predator, people start saying after a while. One that's not cornered quite yet, but that's ready to fight its way out as soon as it is. He doesn't talk about what happened and people don't ask, not even when they hear him wake up screaming in the night. They simply give him space, because space seems safer. He's a predator, after all, and no one wants to be the one who accidentally corners him. So he works alone, completing missions and helping the Rebellion in ways that people don't ask about, coming back each time just a little more different and a little more settled into something no one quite understands. By this point, they aren't sure they even want to.

He finds a home in the Rebellion eventually. More specifically, with the Ghost crew. With Zeb. Zeb seems to be the one who understands him the most- even if there's still a lot he doesn't- or at the very least is the least unsettled by how Kallus has changed. Kallus knows he'll never be able to return to the person he was or even anything close, but after a while that becomes okay. His smiles never become less sharp or less predatory but they do eventually find humour again, at least around Zeb

[kellyvela]

Do you think you would be as big of a Sophie Turner fan as you are based on her other works alone and not Sansa? I ask b/c i think many ST fans (myself included) have become biased in Sophie's favor and tbh not sure she deserves the unwavering support she gets simply b/c she played Sansa Stark.

Sophie's Vogue interview was a shock b/c the lies she told that could be easily disproven as well as being incredibly disrespectful to her kids. Throwing the pregnancy test to her husband and then contemplating abortion b/c her 20s were a time to be frivolous - what was the point in making that story public? All it does is hurt her daughter who will no doubt be bullied by her classmates once they learn how to Google. Sophie is not a planned parenthood ambassador so really the story was fruitless to make public. She should have waited until her daughter is old enough so she hears it from her mother first then if ST decides to share it fine but to do it this way seems selfish and disrespectful to her daughter. The other albeit frivolous lie she told was how she was so used to going with her ex to the LV shows yet last year she clearly went by herself and she went by herself in 2016 when she went for the first time.

Lastly, Sophie's whole having fun dating lie. Sophie lied about barely dating b/c a simple Google search (2019) shows that she said she said on the record that she dated so much that she was ready to marry. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but her actions say otherwise. Sophie soft launched Peregrine at her first public work event not even 2 months when her divorced was filed. Her brothers and dad are huge rugby fans, why did she take someone she barely started dating or is being frivolous with where he would be photographed? Celebs don't take flings to places where getty photographers are esp in the middle of a divorce/custody battle unless the guy is serious. But what shocked me was when she deleted her IG post to launch Peregrine. If her marriage was already crumbling why did she do an IG story wishing her then husband a happy birthday (in a gushy way right after their fight) then then proceeded to do an IG post where she's kissing his hand which she only deleted to post her ski post with Peregrine and his friends?

I will always love Sansa esp book Sansa. I say that b/c maybe you can provide counter points to everything I said which is why i'm doing the ask. Sansa is an amazing character that deserves love and Sophie well for as fun and cool as she appears to be, her actions show she's prob the exact opposite of Sansa.

Maybe a lot of Sophie fans love her mainly because she played Sansa Stark, but in my particular case, I started loving Sansa Stark because of Sophie Turner.

But right now, I care about Sophie Turner for more reasons than Sansa Stark. Since Game of Thrones aired the irrational and undeserved hate for Sansa Stark that surpassed the fiction to reality and became irrational, undeserved hate and bullying for the actress, made me very protective of Sophie Turner. So I decided to love her even more, and protect her, and defend her, and support her career after Game of Thrones, and wish for her happiness and wellbeing.

I'm not saying she's perfect and never did wrong, but I won't judge her because at the end of the day I don't know her personally, I don't know her reasons, I don't know her circumstances, she's not my best friend.

Now, about the *lies easily disproven* and being *incredibly disrespectful to her kids,* that is your opinion, and I doubt whatever I can say to you will change that opinion.

It would be easy to argue every one of your critics and accusations against Sophie, but I think it's pointless, not only because you can think whatever you want, but because you pretty much sound like one of those Sophie haters from Twitter that is really a fan of her ex.

However, I recommend you to actually read/re-read the interview and stop repeating the clickbait headlines that took lines without context and/or twisted her words.

Have a good day.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

please please please talk about your jjk fics

and any other hcs you have

please 🥺

So i did write down some of my jjk fic ideas in this post (though I've come up with more since then. I have. problems) and I do kinda want to sit on a lot of the actual details so they won't be spoiled if I ever end up writing them. that being said, I'm well aware I have nowhere near the time to write most of them and have a lot of ideas that i find delightful that will never otherwise get out there, and I like sharing them. They give me delight and I hope they give you delight as well. So below the cut are a random assortment of details from various fic ideas that may, but probably won’t, see the light of day. Avoid the cut if you want to avoid all potential spoilers from fics that may happen in the future (but again probably won’t).

Megumi and the worlds most inconvenient custody battle au:

There’s more details in the linked post above, but in short, this one involves middle school megumi making a desperate binding vow with Geto suguru to give cult life a whirl in exchange for him sparing the lives of Megumi’s classmates, because Geto had to pick his school to commit domestic terrorism in.

Anyway it’s a huge inconvenience and results in a lot of his now traumatized classmates finding out that Fushiguro Megumi, resident delinquent, was an Actual Boy Wizard all along. As well as a lot of really personal and embarrassing life tragedies (you know minor things like “I was sold in childhood" and "i dont think i'm going to make it to 20" and new smash hits like "What do you mean gojo killed my father" and "what do you MEAN my abusive bio family is obsessed with me because my technique is supposed to be gojo's equal") he was sort of planning to die with that instead came out because Geto suguru does not stop fucking monologuing apparently.

Also the last time they saw him he was being knocked unconscious and carried away by this theatre kid terrorist to ensure their collective continued survival. It’s just. Shits embarrassing. He has to call time of death on that entire situation. Wash his hands of that place. Never look back.

So he does the only rational thing in this situation and simply never goes back to his old middle school.

He ghosts them. Never speaks to anyone from that place ever again. Some days are just so horrifically embarrassing that you just have to keep walking in the opposite direction forever. They can't make him face his problems if he walks quickly enough away from them.

There are two issues with that:

Because he never came back, a lot of them think he Actually Died for them

The Yasohachi bridge incident happens and he does apparently have to go back to that place. Fuck.

They don’t tell him where the mission is until he’s already in the car and attempting to throw himself out of a moving car raises suspicions. So instead it goes:

Nobara: what the hell did you do to these idiots

Megumi, sweating: … I beat them up

Idiot A, crying a little: He SAVED our LIVES

Megumi: *sweating harder*

The issue is that the official cover story was tragic gas leak and explosion but a lot of the survivors of Geto's attack didn't buy that and know what they saw. They just know no one else will ever believe it. some of them tried to say the truth on the internet and it got waved away as gas hallucinations. now, a good deal of them also left that school forever and ever never to look back. But some of them stayed. And they? They remember Fushiguro Megumi, that one delinquent who sacrificed himself for their lives even after stating out loud that he didn’t even like any of them all that much. The principal cries and tries to hug him when he sees him. There’s one of those little memorials that you put up for students who tragically passed for him.

Yuuji's simply aghast. So when Fushiguro lets everyone think he's dead, it's okay and normal but when he, itadori yuuji--

Fushiguro maintains he was alive when they last saw him and never told anyone he died so it’s on them for making assumptions.

more random facts from this universe:

There's a Lot that Gojo never told him that was revealed in the worst way possible when Megumi was in Forcible Cult Time and megumi tries to be like "look it's fine whatever reason you did it you kept me from the zenin so like. whatever. you had political reasons or something. we don't have to pretend this is more than it is we can be honest about it" and this derails immediately because Gojo, who has spent the last month terrified that he lost megumi forever, launches into an emotional speech about how he thinks of megumi as his little boy and how megumi's grown up into a beautiful young man who he’s so so proud of and megumi is like "yeah we don't need to be that honest" but it's Too Late

All of the second years are watching this happen like :o

See even if I wrote this universe one day (unlikely) I probably would stop it after jjk0 so we’d never get to the first years, making this an extra level of “never gonna happen.” That being said, when the first years start, nobara and yuuji are like “why is gojo sensei always hugging you and ruffling your hair and checking in on you after missions” and Megumi’s just sweating because he does NOT want to admit that gojo raised him and their relationship was harpooned when his high school ex kidnapped Megumi for like a month and told him that Gojo apparently killed his fucking dad and now Gojo’s trying to “rebuild” and “be more open and parental” or whatever

The Zenin are even more fucking annoying than ever because Geto was an infuriatingly good teacher and excellent at challenging Megumi’s mindset because he was framing everything as a secret that had been kept from him rather than trying to inspire him to believe in himself so Megumi sort of leveled up a bit in cult life. Also they’re acting like Megumi was finally broken from Gojo’s deceitful hold when really this is more of a “they need family counseling�� situation. So they won’t stop showing up and hounding him to take his place with the rest of the clan. This is a non issue because Megumi sort of leveled up a bit in cult life and wow. He can just tell them to fuck off and back that up with his own power now. Huh. So that’s what that feels like.

Tsumiki spends the entire fic just. feral. Losing her mind. She was not at all fucking okay with her baby brother joining a fucking cult (without her) for a month and she's SUPER not okay with a lot of the information that was revealed. When Gojo shows up on scene after megumi gets taken assistants are trying to Physically Carry her into a car and she's straight up biting people. She does not shake this energy for the duration of the fic.

Sea glass gardens:

See I talk about this a lot already and what I don't talk about is because it's probably going to actually be written one day. But if you are interested in something from this universe, here's something that will definitely never happen:

So, whenever I start getting really into one of my little universes, I always have some very self-indulgent parallel storylines that i would never actually write because they're just not the most narratively satisfying direction to take the story, but they're just fun to think about. They are crackish and live only in my head.

I have sort of a time travelish one (not to be confused with the time travel au, which is my favorite JJK story i have and will happen one day hopefully) that's basically based on the idea of sea glass gardens proceeding into canon without change and Yuuta time traveling from the disaster that is canon back to immediately after he fucks up Geto and rushing to fix everything. But the catch is that Uraume also travels back in time and the conflict is whether Yuuta can save everyone before Uraume launches one of sukuna's fingers down Yuuji/Megumi's throat. Why did they both go back in time? I dunno. This is my self-indulgent fun story. I never bothered to figure out how to make it work. i cannot emphasize enough that this fic will never ever happen.

yuuta is. vibrating.

Yuuta does the only rational thing and decides to put everyone he has ever loved into one room where he can keep everyone safe until he can fuck up that little freak of a monk and save his loved ones.

The first thing he does upon waking up in the school's wreckage is to fucking sprint to heal geto, not out of any love for geto, but because his sensei's gay love got them into this and he's not fucking risking it again. geto's going to stay alive, sit down, and shut up so no body hopping whore can take him over and ruin everything. Yuuta's very aggressive about this point. He's going 2-0 with geto and he will make it 3-0. does geto want to lose the other arm? shut the fuck up.

The really difficult thing for him is that he has to go get megumi last.

He knows for a fact that the Zenin have megumi right now. And the last time he saw megumi, Sukuna had taken him over and completely destroyed him. He is absolutely desperate to see Megumi again and keep him safe and whole. And it's torture knowing that Megumi is being actively hurt in a scenario that legitimately devastated him the first time around, that he could go straight there and just stop it, and it wouldn't have had to have happened in the same way.

He also knows that Megumi would never forgive him if he didn't save his sister or his friends first.

Megumi, in a weird sort of way, is the safest out of anyone when Yuuta time travels back. First off, he was legitimately kidnapped from where he was supposed to be, so Uraume's going to have a lot of trouble actually finding him. Secondly, he's currently in the hands of an entire clan of powerful and trained jujutsu sorcerers who are utterly obsessed with him, who have him under constant guard, and who would kill to keep him. Out of everyone, Uraume has the least chance of getting near Megumi.

Yuuji doesn't even know jujutsu sorcery is real right now. Yuuta has to go get him first.

He and Gojo split up to rush around getting everyone before uraume can get to them. Gojo gets Tsumiki and Nobara and the Kyoto crew. Yuuta gets Yuuji and his grandfather. and then fucking books it to the zenin compound.

without dropping them off first.

This has been a very weird day for Yuuji.

It honestly took less explaining than Yuuta thought it would because apparently Yuuji's grandpa has just been sitting on the fact that before yuuji was born his mom died and came back to life one million times more of a fucking freak and was very very obviously possessed and his dad was just. fine. with that. still hit that. he's learning a lot about his parents right now. Whatever. they're on the level.

It also helps that some weird little freak shows up and gets in a fucking duel with Yuuta over Yuuji. Yeah sure. let's go to wizard school for his own safety. what do you mean they need to make a stop to pick up his future best friend (and maybe boyfriend yuuta really was never clear on whether they were like together or together) from the people currently torturing him. what do you mean yuuta needs yuuji to carry him while he fucks up his bio family. what is this.

THE TEAM:

Yuuta. Has. Really had a day and a half. Completely emotionally unstable right now. exuding an Energy. killed naoya and brought him back to life as a warning shot and it wasn't even the most terrifying thing he had done that day.

Tsumiki, was frantic about trying to find her brother, suddenly has him back with the news that in the future he gets possessed and kills her, confused as to why his time traveling upperclassman hugged her for five unbroken minutes and cried a little

Megumi, so fucked up, like SO fucked up. Mostly unconscious right now but very confused when he's awake. Who are ANY of these people. why is this pink haired stranger tenderly holding his hand. where is he. Not so much on the team as the person the team is protecting. he's too unconscious to be on the team. sort of going through it right now.

Yuuji, has had a Long Day, already murderously protective of megumi, who is apparently his future bestie. he's one first meeting deep and it mostly involved manfully cradling megumi in his arms while his future senpai fucked up his blood relations. he knows this will be friendship for the ages. thinks yuuta is great and is not jealous of him in the slightest. why would he be jealous. it's weird that you asked that actually.

Yuuji's grandpa, weirdly on board with everything and firmly advocating to solve problems with violence. Actually may be the most violent one there. suggests a car bomb as a problem solving strategy at one point. he kind of scares yuuta.

Nobara, wasn't really doing anything else today, has a passion for violence and is down to hit people with hammers. also there's a lot of beautiful and violent women in this room. is hoping something lgbtq will happen to her.

Gojo, offended by the continued implications that he cannot handle this solo, also wants to just put his kids in a single room for a while where they can be safe and where no one can possess either of them ever.

Shoko and nanami, constantly reminding him that he cannot handle this solo and to sit down and shut up before they lose megumi to sukuna, because Megumi is physically incapable of protecting himself right now.

Geto, only here because Yuuta has threatened to cut off his fucking head and burn the body if he moves a single fucking inch because yuuta is not dealing with his whore ass getting possessed again. he does word it exactly like that too. geto doesn't know how to feel about being called a whore by this deranged sixteen year old with a sword. he doesn't push back though because there's more than one way to solve this problem and yuuta's an inch from picking the permanent one. also here because apparently his daughters are killed by sukuna and he doesn't want that to happen. constantly bullied by every child in the room.

The Zenin, weirdly, who witnessed Yuuta v. Uraume round two when Yuuta came to save Megumi from them and absolutely refuse to lose the ten shadows to fucking Ryomen Sukuna of all people. Their most treasured technique cannot be tainted by Sukuna's putrid legacy. It would be what Kamo Noritoshi did to the Kamo clan all over again but worse because Sukuna's worse than Noritoshi ever was. They'd never recover as a clan. Anyone seeking to implant sukuna's consciousness in the ten shadow's body must die.

Maki (and the rest of the second years), ride or die, thinks they should use the Zenin as canon fodder. Yuuta agrees with this plan.

The Kyoto crew, does not know why they're here, mostly forced to stay in a different room so they'll be safe but like. not really part of the planning process. sorry. yuuta doesn't know or like them all that well. thanks.

From that point on it's mostly Yuuta & Co going after Kenjaku and Uraume and the rest of the special grade curses like Wile E. Coyote going after roadrunner. At one point he hires the creepy jujutsu sorcerer assassin to bring back Toji Fushiguro to help implement one of his plans. Neither Gojo nor Geto are okay with this idea. Yuuta vetoes them both. Yes he has veto power now okay Gojo and Geto's irredeemable homosexuality for each other left him with dealing with this fucking mess. He's going to kill absolutely everyone in this room and then himself if His Boy is not safe within a week.

Instagram Influencer AU:

Explained in more detail at the linked post above but the concept is that nobara is trying to launch her instagram influencer career and keeps accidentally making everyone else instagram famous except for herself.

Megumi and Maki are a family duo because they're both ridiculously attractive people of indeterminate familial relationship who Nobara posts videos of sword fighting. Megumi wants her to stop doing this. She will not.

When Megumi's not appearing with Maki on Nobara, she's posting candids of him with Yuuji. The entire internet thinks they're dating. He wants her to stop doing this. She will not.

Nanami did not want any of this to happen to him specifically.

Nobara posted a video of Nanami explaining how he thinks that baker should be the highest paid position in society and how work is shit and how he hates capitalist grind culture and the internet became simply obsessed with him. bread companies keep trying to sponsor him which is the only good thing that came from this.

Gojo did want this to happen to him specifically and very purposefully strolled into Nobara's live and flashed his eyes at the camera. Now he won't stop threatening the higher ups with leaving jujutsu sorcery forever to sign with one of the many modeling agencies begging him to join their brand. Yaga wants her to stop doing this. she will not.

Yuuji is an enthusiastic participant who is having a great time. Half of his old school is in the comment section asking what the fuck happened to him because he straight up disappeared one day and now he appears to be a fitness influencer on the internet?? He does not answer them. It fuels quite a bit of internet drama.

Inumaki finds this all hilarious and wants this to happen to him to. She refuses to aid him. This was supposed to happen to her. He aggressively photobombs at every opportunity and she finds exceedingly creative ways to crop him out.

Panda also finds this hilarious and keeps begging Nobara to post glamor shots of him that he and inumaki took on a flip phone camera and she cannot put in strong enough words why she will never ever do that

Nanami/Gojo Fake Fiancees no curses au:

Again, explained in more detail in the linked post above. No curses au where Nanami is Yuuji's adoptive dad and Gojo is Megumi and Tsumiki's adoptive dad and Gojo needs a fake fiancee because his ex just joined the same school district with his twin daughters and Nanami's trying to get through a custody battle with Yuuji's terrible older brother, Sukuna, who just crawled out of whatever abyss he's been in the last decade to challenge his custody.

Nanami was Yuuji and his grandpa's next door neighbor who was completely burned out as a salaryman and whose life revolved around work until a very tiny Yuuji knocked on his door and asked him to help him cut up some fruit because he wasn't allowed to use the knives by himself but his grandpa was sick and needed the fruit to get better. He loved Yuuji like his own from that day forward. Yuuji and his grandpa became his family and he was genuinely devastated when Yuuji's grandpa died. He took in Yuuji without a thought and never looked back.

Gojo was coming off of a bad breakup with his committed boyfriend, Geto, following them falling apart when Gojo's little sister Riko died tragically in front of Geto. Gojo then decided it was his slut era and had the terrible decision to include Toji in that era.

Apparently fucking jacked but amoral men as a purely sexual thing does lead to finding out that he has Entire Children he's left living alone when he gets the phone notification that the power company finally shut off their electricity because toji forgot to turn on autopay. is this a panic attack? this feels like a panic attack.

Toji honestly doesn't know what happened in that relationship because he couldn't have even knocked gojo up but he still somehow saddled gojo with his kids. unmitigated success.

Gojo just sort of freaks out, goes over to Toji's kid's house, takes them home with him so they have a place with electricity, and just... never can bring himself to let them go again. the next time he saw toji, he handed him the papers to transfer guardianship and told him that they'd never need anything from him so please, don't call. He just sort of dove into single fatherhood from then on out and never looked back.

Sukuna's attorney for the custody battle is Mahito.

The jujutsu kaisen world is a manga that Yuuji, Megumi, and Nobara are cocreating (with the main trio as some obvious self inserts), with Megumi doing the writing, Yuuji doing the drawing, and Nobara doing the coloring and layout design. Yuuji is very convinced that it will one day make them all famous.

Gojo finds out the most powerful character is based off of him and cries for like three days

Nanami: You mean the most annoying

Gojo, still crying to him on the phone: you can't take this from me

Megumi still has his divine dogs just as actual dogs. they're a pair of "puppies" he found and took in before Gojo adopted him who he loves dearly and refuses to be parted with.

They're not puppies. they're wolves. those are fucking wolves. where did five year old megumi get fucking wolves. what the fuck. gojo is terrified of them.

I have others but this is already kinda long so we're gonna cut this off here

[fumblingmusings]

I haven't actually followed the strips in ages and only see bits in pieces pop up now and then, but does Matthew call Arthur an older brother? I remember Matthew was the one taking care of Arthur when he fell apart after Alfred left but then there are times where they don't seem very close at all? Alfred and Matthew in fanon are usually portrayed as having a very close friendship while canon has the more typical 'no one else knows how to piss me off like you do' sibling relationship.

Ooooh yeah let's get our sources out for this one lads. Except not the April Fools'/Halloween Specials I'm too tirrrreeeed and I genuinely don't think there's anything in them regardless. Please excuse odd image formatting - go follow the links to read the strips in their full context!

The very early strips from like 2011 England and Canada did not have much of a relationship at all, but then we got a few Canada focused strips in like 2015 ish which kind of shed some light on what their dynamic is.

I can only find three references to Arthur being a father - and that's in the strip's title, not actually anything anyone says. Otherwise it's kind of implied with the toy bear metaphor but even then...

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 193; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 204

The other is - of course - from Cleaning Out the Storage. Thanks Alfred for that one. It still isn't the F word but whatever...

Cleaning out the Storage

In the strips set in the modern day, Canada just calls England England (or jackass in his head in one of the older strips... which is fair). Canada has never called England big brother, instead consistently calling Arthur Mr England.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 196; Fly Canada Fly (Also 'I'll leave the caring of his heart to you' WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH T_T)

It's the same for Oz, who hasn't even said England's name yet, but it's harder to say what he thinks of his relationship to England him since A) he's far more informal in his manner of speaking and B) has far fewer appearances.

However, they still are family I think even in modern day? I can only do logic by association here really. Canada and England explicitly call each other family when Mattie is a baby as well as some of the 19th century strips too. England getting custody has him say: 'from now on I'll be your family' and Canada gets very excited at the thought of a family.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 192

Matt and Alfred are called brothers (more than even) far more consistently.

Fly Canada Fly; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 199; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 178;

When Canada is introduced to Australia, England says that he wanted to introduce the newest member of their family to him. He's defined as a 'sort of' younger brother.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 201 (I like how Arthur tells Oz off - not because he's wrong but because it's rude... poor Canada...)

Zee is the blessed exception! He calls both England and Canada big brother fairly consistently.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 269; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 414; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 227;

Mattie has, as far as I can recall, never had the B word come from his mouth regarding to Arthur. He does however refer to him as family.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 181

So you have Matthew who apparently fine with calling Arthur the equivalent of Sir, Zee who merrily calls both Big Brother, and Arthur who doesn't correct the boys either way (extrapolate what you will from that insecurities all around methinks). And yet Arthur and Matthew don't refer to each other as siblings in return. Arthur doesn't call anyone his brothers aside from Wales, NI and Scot.

And Alfred. Which ended badly so... that kind of tracks actually. Like literally Arthur rejects anything too informal because it like... triggers him??? Or something. Trauma flashbacks right here.

The Battle for America

So one sided familial relationships all around??? I think the more likely answer is Matthew and Arthur are simply less open with those terms than say Alfred was or Zee is; I assume the translation from Japanese is much a term of endearment as it is an actual declaration of relation.

So, in some ways Matthew and Arthur's relationship is not the same situation as whatever Alfred and Arthur have going on, as there's no explicit on page declaration of 'I'm not your little brother' like we got from Alfred or 'It's not like that at all' from Arthur (that strip in Africa where that soldier says he can't believe they're related and they both say no they aren't [in their own ways]), so until then... Schrödinger Sibling.

I quite like that they don't really put a name to it. It just is. They're family, sure, but beyond that... shrug. And that thing (cough cough colonialism) can't really be boiled down to one term. Everyone's relations are in such flux and beyond just one word to define it.

[blametheeditor]

Terms Of Agreement | Chapter 2

Previous | Next

Run Down: The monster under your bed, the one in the closet, and your sleep paralysis demon fight for custody.

Content Warnings: Mentions of a funeral. Mentions of sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and sleep deprivation. Mentions of death, murder, and accidental deaths. Mentions of treating others as lesser than, addressing someone as 'it'.

As promised, the Fritz has been tortured

____________________________________

The first thing Fritz did when it seemed like no one was coming to grab him was attempt to block entry points. 

In hindsight, he should’ve realized that beings that were creatures only told in stories wouldn’t be deterred by anything a regular teenager could do, but he couldn’t do nothing. So that meant pushing his dresser in front of his closet door so no one can simply walk out of it without him knowing. Removed his mattress from his bedframe so there wasn’t a dark space underneath capable of hiding unspeakable horrors.

It wasn’t much. And there wasn’t anything he could do to hinder Vincent, but it made him feel much better. Especially when none of the giants appeared at his door to demand he explain himself. Punish him.

Only then did he realize the front door wasn’t the only way to leave, stared at his window as afternoon light illuminated his room before rushing toward it. Felt his heart thump against his chest in relief at the tree only a few feet away not towering above him. Wanted to sob as soon as it became clear the window will not open no matter what he does. The latch claims it’s unlocked, but the sill acts as if it’s been cemented. 

That was when Fritz decided to not block the door outside of his bedroom. Because as much as he was genuinely terrified of the twisted monstrosity his childhood home has become, as much as he didn’t want three giants who want him dead to be able to grab him, he’d be completely cornered. It might even be seen as a challenge that ends with the door being broken, so he only locked the flimsy knob. 

He then sat down on his mattress after shoving it into the corner directly across from his door. Wrapped himself up tightly in his blanket. Trembled as he watched and waited. 

Nothing happened. 

His terror almost became unbearable when the sun finally began to set. After not hearing a single voice or footstep. Realized his mom’s friend never came over. Felt his stomach growl from hunger and his eyes droop from exhaustion. 

Staying alert and awake once the sun disappeared was a loosing battle. As much as he feared sleep and what the night would bring, there was no stopping it when his eyes closed for just a second too long, effortlessly pulled him into unconsciousness. Yet when Fritz woke up with a start, daylight greeted him. Not darkness as a figure loomed over him. No form of paralysis that kept him from jumping to his feet in disbelief. There hadn’t been a single nightmare or taunting voice. 

...it was too real not to have been.

Fritz looks around his room with confusion and suspicion. Maybe he should be a bit more relived, but he can’t think of why they would just...leave him alone. For almost 24 hours. After the three promised he was going to be looking over his shoulder every second until he decides how he dies. 

It's almost too good to be true. Meaning he slowly walks to his door to open it, genuinely expecting one of the three waiting for him. Instead, he’s greeted with an empty hallway. One that’s his size. 

Wait!

Fritz lunges out of his room before the house can grow to a monstrous size. Nearly crashes into the wall because it doesn’t change. Stares at the open door that seems to be taunting him. Both as proof for what had been stated it was what controlled the reality around him, and as a dare to try to escape to see what would happen. 

“Hello?” he can’t help calling out. When no one responds, he takes a careful step down the hallway and toward freedom. Freezes at what sounded like someone else in the house. “Vincent? Are you here?” 

The sleep paralysis demon gives no indication he’s even inside the house. 

“I-It wasn’t a hallucination,” Fritz mumbles as he walks back into his room, turning around to see the hallway still hasn’t changed. “It was too real to be one.” 

The teenager is left to stare at nothing, feeling paranoid. Fearful it somehow had been a hallucination despite the fact he wholeheartedly believes it was real. It had to be real. 

...he’s going to be late for the funeral. 

Fritz grabs his phone at the realization what today was supposed to be focused on. Checking the date, time, glancing at the hallway that still remains untouched by supernatural forces. Peeks his head out to once again confirm the front door is open. 

I shouldn’t push it.

He shouldn’t. He should grab the clothes set aside for the funeral and run out the door as fast as possible before he’s trapped inside. He should get out while he can. 

The moment he reaches for his button up and slacks is when a text buzzes on his phone, Jeremy’s name appearing to state he’ll be over in about an hour so they can walk to the service together. 

What did Vincent say? A normal human doing normal human things? 

F- don’t come inside, just text when you get here!

With that he decides to take a chance and jump into the shower. Is he an idiot? Yes. But he wasn’t going to go to his own mother’s funeral looking like he didn’t care. Not to mention how irresponsible it’d be to go after not eating for over an entire day. Literal monsters might have taken over his home, but today is for his mom, and she’s going to get the respect she deserves. 

J- Here!

Fritz is out the door the second his phone buzzes, looking presentable and fed, even if he could only manage to eat half a bowl of cereal. All that mattered is he was out and didn’t get trapped at the last second. Unable to help flinging himself at Jeremy for a much needed hug. One his best friend doesn’t hesitate to return. Not knowing it was to help the redhead establish this is real. 

“Are y-you okay?” the taller asks. 

No.

“I’m okay,” Fritz begins as he pulls away. Wipes away his tears before grabbing Jeremy’s hand to lead him down the street. Feels his shoulders growing lighter and lighter the farther away he gets despite what’s waiting for him at the cemetery. “It was...it was a rough night.” 

His hand is gently squeezed to offer support. They don’t say anything else, though. Not on the entire walk to the cemetery. Not when he says goodbye to his mom one last time. Not until they’re excused and told there was nothing else left to do, but he knew where her grave was and could visit at any time. 

“W-W-Would you like to come o-over?” Jeremy asks as they start the journey back to Fritz’s house.

His first thought is to say yes. Because despite the Fitzgerald family having incredibly strict household rules and repeatedly making it clear how little they thought of the friends their son invites, Fritz would take that over literal giants openly discussing his death. 

He didn’t know if that would be breaking some kind of rule, however. The three said he was allowed to spend time with friends, but he doesn’t know the details and what would be ‘allowed’ or not. And to top it off, the minute he’s inside Jeremy’s house, the Fitgerald’s would have to physically remove him to make him leave. Not when he’d fight tooth and nail to stay with those who are simply hostile rather than deadly. 

“Maybe some other time.” 

Jeremy gently squeezes his hand. “Don’t hesitate to t-text or call, o-o-okay?” 

Fritz nods in agreement as they stop in front of his house. He can’t help but stare at it for a few moments with genuine trepidation. Terrified of what’s waiting for him. “Thank you, Jeremy.” 

“Always,” his best friend smiles. “Want me to-?” 

“No!” Fritz almost screams, jumping away from Jeremy as if a hand was going to emerge through the open door and grab him, uncaring if there would be an extra passenger. Feels like he was stabbed through the heart at the look of hurt on his friend’s face. “I-I didn’t mean it like that, I’m so sorry-” 

Jeremy suddenly pulls him into a tight hug. “It’s okay. P-P-Please let me know if you n-need anything.” 

Fritz clings to the taller, wanting nothing more than to never let go. “I will.” 

“I’ll s-see you at school.” 

Just like that, he’s left to climb up the porch steps alone. Stands on the doormat as he stares down the hallway, pleading it stays exactly where it is until he’s able to get to his room. 

Doesn’t get a full foot inside before the front door slams shut. 

Fritz screams as the impact not only sounds like thunder as it makes the very ground shake, but he’s suddenly sent tumbling head over heels as the wind created knocks him off his feet. 

“Welcome home.” 

The rumbling voice proves this morning had been nothing but a false sense of security. It only gets worse when he finally orients himself, sitting up to freeze at the sight of a shoe the size of a bus pointed directly at him. 

Yesterday had been terrifying. But this? Being on the ground rather than on a counter or in a hand? Knowing they want to do nothing more than kill him? 

“Fritz!” someone shouts from somewhere behind him. The demand for his attention is the only reason he remembers to breathe, though his limbs are shaking too much to try and turn to see who it is. “You’re finally back! I don’t know if you ate while you were out, but food will be ready shortly.” 

It takes a moment to recognize it’s Vincent’s voice. A few more to register what was said. Becomes genuinely confused why his sleep paralysis demon was making him food. 

“You heard him,” booms directly overhead. “I suggest you start making your way toward the kitchen.” 

Fritz’s eyes slowly trail upwards. Has to tilt his head backwards until he’s forced to lean back until he’s nearly lying down. Feels a sense of vertigo when he finally recognizes the giant as David, the monster staring down at him like one would a bug that invaded their home. 

He fully expects to be crushed under a shoe right then and there. But the longer they stare at each other, and with the giant not even shifting in place, Fritz finds himself finally able to turn his head toward the kitchen. Stares at the sight of Vincent doing something out of sight as James watches with mild interest. 

With a glance toward the shoes in the hopes that will be the closest they ever get to him, Fritz carefully stands up before numbly walking toward the kitchen. Confused. Exhausted. Wanting to go to his room even as his stomach gnaws on itself painfully. 

He wasn’t going to risk testing David, however. Not when a shoe steps much too close for comfort once Fritz gained enough distance. The impact not only caused an earthquake that made him stumble, but it made an imposing wall between him and the hallway to the only place he felt any semblance of safety in. Meaning he doesn’t dare try to deviate from the path currently demanded he follow. 

“Remind me,” Vincent begins, pure white eyes locking onto the redhead steadily making his way closer. “Why don’t you eat cauliflower?” 

Fritz hesitates, not expecting that kind of question. Especially worded in a way that made it seem almost conversational. “I-I’m allergic to them.” 

“Right, allergies. And what about carrots?” 

“I just don’t like them.” 

The sleep paralysis demon smiles in thank you, leaving the teenager bewildered on why such information was needed. Wanting to ask, but almost immediately distracted by David taking another step. Something that almost seems as a warning he shouldn’t be questioning them or their motives. 

James then tilts his head. “What are allergies?” 

“Just another thing to add to the long list of what can kill humans,” Vincent waves. 

Suddenly Fritz is turned to, unable to help freezing up completely under the scrutiny. “Is there anyway to get rid of it?” 

“U-Um, not really,” he begins. Terrified something he can’t control will be used against him in some way. What if it’s deemed that his reaction is might be painful, but it’s not fatal, and therefore a viable option for punishment. “I’m not a doctor, but I’ve, I’ve always been allergic. And-d-d it hasn’t gone away, my throat closes up if I’m near it when it’s being cooked.” 

“Relax, Fritz, we can’t physically harm you, including intentionally making allergies flare up.” 

Part of him wants to trust Vincent’s words. A much larger part is telling him he should lie about eating at the funeral and make sure he never has so much as a single bite from food made by those who want him dead. Make an excuse for today and then bargain having his home the proper size so he can make his own meals later. 

He can’t find the words to ask to be excused to go to his room, however. Only flinch as David silently demands he continue further into the kitchen, a shoe stepping directly behind him. So he continues despite getting closer to the counter Vincent has been actively walking around with a clear focus on everything but the ground. 

That is, until he reaches the counter that has the sink, prompting the demon to give his familiar wide smile as he gives his full attention to Fritz. “You have yet to not surprise me.” 

That sounds like a compliment.

A compliment, but for what? Fritz doesn’t know what he’s done to earn such a sentence. And with all of their previous interactions, it’s hard to see it as anything but a way to make him doubt himself. Make him even more confused on what this ‘custody battle’ arrangement means for him. One minute he’s threatened and taunted, promised he won’t have a single restful night. The next, the door is open so he can go to his mom’s funeral without any obstacles after being left completely alone for a full day. 

“C-Can I ask a few questions?” 

That only makes Vincent’s smile grow wider. “Of course! Let’s get you off the floor first.” 

Fritz feels his heart drop as his sleep paralysis demon walks toward him, all too aware he could be killed on pure accident. He can’t run, though, not with David standing directly behind him. Though even if he could, the earthquakes make him fall onto his back, unable to do anything except curl into a fearful ball as a hand reaches for him. 

He feels warmth and something nudging his side before he’s sent tumbling with a yell. Covers his head in fear as a dark chuckle confirms he’s been grabbed, gasping when vertigo makes his stomach flip. Yet it all disappears within seconds as he’s spilled onto the counter. Glad he’s wearing more layers as the cold ceramic tiles attempt to steal what little body heat he has. 

“So,” Vincent smirks. “What would you like to ask?” 

“This morning. Wh-Why did you, why weren’t you here?” 

David snorts as he heavily leans against the counter opposite of where Fritz was deposited, the teenager flinching at the sound seeming like a building colliding with something. “You wanted to wake up to Vincent greeting you?” 

“No! I mean, I was just expecting it,” Fritz defends. “I-I just didn’t know what happened. You said you’d torture me every night, but you didn’t, and the door was just open with all of you gone. And now you’re making me food!” 

“Sounds like you’re a little ungrateful,” James murmurs. Making it seem like this morning had been a favor. One that won’t be repeated because Fritz seems upset. 

Which he is! Of course he is! He’s trapped in his own home with three giants who have done nothing but play mind games with him. He’d like to think he’s allowed to be upset. Even if that means possibly yelling at literal demons and monsters. Especially if the rest of his life, no matter how short it might be, will be filled with nothing but terror, then he has a right to voice his opinions. 

Except, now he doesn’t feel as confident as before. Not with James comment and clear distain. Not with David looking indifferent and uninterested. Vincent’s not even paying attention anymore as he stands over the stove. 

Fritz can’t help curling into himself, looking down at tiles that shouldn’t seem so alien to him. “I’m s-sorry.” 

“Naw, don’t loose steam now,” Vincent pouts. “I thought you were going to let James have it!” 

That earns the sleep paralysis demon a look of despair, prompting him to turn off the burner. And then a bowl Fritz’s size is offered, one that’s taken purely out of shock, not knowing what else to do. 

“This morning will actually be a routine on the weekdays,” Vincent begins. Leaning over to set his arms on counter with enough space to not seem like he’s looming. “Today is the exception with everything considered, but it’s our compromise so you get to school on time, with the door open and none of us around to distract you. Once you get home, and on every other weekend, the door will be closed with at least one of us around.” 

...that makes sense. “Wh-What about last night?” 

“I neglected to give you a schedule. We didn’t want to overload you, especially with how shaken up you were. In hindsight, not the best choice, but it worked out in the end!” 

Fritz stares up at the demon beaming down at him. Glances at the bowl in his hands containing soup. Not missing the fact there’s carrots in it. “And the food?” 

“You’re a human teenager who might not know how to properly take care of yourself, so I’ll be making sure you don’t die on us from malnutrition. Or from complications with food allergies.” 

It’s clear preferences such as carrots are still fair game. But that helped him understand why those who want him dead are acting ‘nice’. It’s just insurance he doesn’t die before he chooses who gets his soul. 

Fritz opens his mouth to ask about the other rules, specifically what could get him punished and what that entails, but the soup that has been keeping his hands warm keeps stealing his attention. It smells like something his mom would’ve made. Which he should be suspicious why Vincent could make such a thing considering the demon would have to find the recipe, want to follow it, and that brings up the concept of the catastrophic being knowing how to. 

Hunger wins over. And the second he tastes it and confirms this is his mom’s recipe, he’s unable to stop himself from eating spoonful after spoonful. 

“Are humans really this much work?” David grumbles. 

“You could always forfeit, David. James and I don’t mind one less competitor.” 

“Oh please. If I leave you with James you’d drop out purely from how much he’d annoy you.” 

“Says the monster who constantly complains this is just a waste of time.” 

“Says the monster who didn’t know what allergies are.” 

Fritz’s grip on the bowl tightens as he gathers his courage. “Wh-What happens if I don’t come home?” 

The three go silent. Not a hint of being upset their argument was interrupted, but they all look slightly confused. Maybe just surprised. “Mind giving us a little more detail?” 

“Not forever!” he quickly amends as a shiver travels down his spine at the clear warning. “I meant for a, a single night! If I was at a friend’s.” 

“Ah,” Vincent murmurs with a sneer. “Our nights are still ours, Fritz. No matter where you are.” 

That’s enough to get the point across. That if he spends the night at Jeremy’s, his best friend would be in danger. Or anyone for that matter depending on where he was. Which makes him feel even more confined, but at least he knows. 

“Um, th-thank you.” 

“Mind if I take it in payment for helping me train these two on how not to kill you preemptively?” 

Fritz doesn’t know if this is better than sitting in his room and not knowing what’s waiting for him. 

[sebeth]

Rhaegar Targaryen: My Most Hated Targaryen

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

 I’ve been ranking the Targaryens as I’ve been re-reading The World Of Ice And Fire, Fire & Blood, and Rise of the Dragons. 

This is not based on good guy or bad guy attributes – it’s simply on how I feel about the character.

In my opinion, the worst Targaryen is...

Rhaegar Targaryen: Easily tops my most hated list. Made a half-assed attempt to remove his insane father from power only to be distracted by a 14/15 year-old girl. One who is betrothed to the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Proceeds to abandon his wife and young children in the hands of his crazy father. Abducts/runs off with Lyanna, hiding away while the realm goes to war. Has to be dragged back to lead forces in the war he caused. Loses the deciding battle in the war causing Tywin Lannister to side with the rebels, ensuring the horrible murders of Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon.  He leaves his new love in an isolated tower in the middle of nowhere with three kingsguard, a wet nurse, and maybe/hopefully a maester. Another sound decision that results in the death of Lyanna and 8 other individuals because he didn’t bother to clarify that Lyanna’s kin should have visitation rights and/or allow Lyanna to have the authority to decide on who she can meet. Not to mention the tens of thousands who died because of his stupidity.

While we don’t know the full story behind Rhaegar & Lyanna, I don’t feel there is an interpretation that can spin Rhaegar into the “hero” role. He spent his entire life as an emo-boy obsessed with “the prince that was promised” prophecy – first it was himself, then it was Aegon, who was “the song of ice and fire, and then he needed Lyanna because the “dragon must have three heads”.  But then his incompetence caused two “heads of the dragon” to be killed. Seriously, what was Rhaegar’s plan? He doesn’t seem to have one and was improvising as he went along with no clear end goal in sight.

Lets run through the common defenses of Rhaegar’s actions:

1)      Rhaegar didn’t abduct Lyanna – she ran away with him willingly. Still doesn’t excuse Rhaegar’s actions (or Lyanna, if she was willing). He’s married and she’s betrothed. This is a huge “no” in their society.

2)      They sent messages to Lord Rickard but they were intercepted/lost. Then Rhaegar should have sent an in-person messenger. This is a situation that required clear communication. He clearly didn’t tell his father either. And even if Rickard received the message, it doesn’t change the situation. Rickard still had his daughter taken by a married man, a daughter who is betrothed to another Lord Paramount of Westeros. Even if the message stated that Rhaegar was taking Lyanna as a second wife, it still wouldn’t reassure Rickard – he’ll now have problems with the Stormlands and Dorne. Westeros isn’t fond of polygamy – the Stark reputation would take a hit.

3)      Elia knew of Rhaegar’s actions and she approved, you know, cause she’s Dornish. No, she did not. It’s stated “all smiles died” at the crowning of Lyanna – that includes Elia. It’s one thing to have a piece on the side, its quite another to take up with another woman for the sole purpose of breeding another heir – one that threatens your children’s inheritance. Lyanna’s child would be a threat – Rhaegar was all but setting up the Dance of the Dragons Version 2.  Even if the children were besties, the power players around them would certainly manipulate them to their advantage. Lastly, Elia would never approver of her marriage being annulled (show cannon) – that would be a great shame to her – and she certainly never consented to her and her children remaining in the custody of her insane father-in-law.

4)      Rhaegar couldn’t foresee the consequences of his actions. Again, no. Rhaegar had previously made a half-assed attempt to remove his father from the throne because he knew Aerys was insane. Brandon Stark had to be held back at Harrenhal from fighting Rhaegar – that didn’t clue him in that Brandon would have a rash response to Lyanna’s disappearance. And the Bratheons rebelled against Rhaegar’s great-grandfather over a broken bethrothal – he didn’t think history would repeat itself?

5)      Rhaegar was a great guy – all the characters think so. But does that make him a good person? Or did the characters fall for a charismatic surface without truly knowing the man. Lets be honest, compared to Aerys, it’s not hard to look like the great Targaryen option.

6)      “The Prince That Was Promised” prophecy – Rhaegar was one of a dozen Targaryens obsessed with prophecy, dragon dreams, and a mysterious threat. And every single one messed it up by arranging the prophecy to fit their own goals. I believe Daenerys is the “prince that was promised” and Lightbringer will be her dragons. Jon’s Targaryen blood may have him ride a dragon in the books but his true effort in the war against the Others will be uniting the North, the Free Folk, Stannis’s forces, etc – nothing that relies on him having Targaryen blood. I guess you could say Rhaegar’s actions led to Daenery’s expulsion from Westeros leading to her exile in Essos and obtaining the dragon eggs along with the means to hatch them. Of course, his actions also led to the downfall of the dynasty and near-extinction of his house. Win some, lose some?

Aerys, Lyanna, and Brandon all have responsibility for the war but the blame starts with Rhaegar – an idiot with delusions of grandeur, blind to the consequences of his actions.

 Up next, we continue from the worst to the best with another Targaryen whose delusions of grandeur led to the deaths of thousands.

[gospelofme]

Jesse

Part 3: How it Ended

Jesse found himself wanting a jet pack. He had watched Death Watch fly around on them. They looked fun. He took aim and hit the fuel cell on one, it and it’s wearer exploded. Well, fun until you get shot in the fuel tank.

Commander Rex had entrusted Jesse with his own team of men. The ARC Trooper was determined to prove to the Commander that he was worthy of the honor. He knew Rex wouldn’t have given him his own team if he didn’t trust him. But Jesse didn’t want to disappoint him. Ever.

The fight ended with Ahsoka capturing Maul after an impressive lightsaber battle on the metal support beams miles above the city. Jesse had watched the blue and red lightsaber blades slash and stab at each other. Both combatants were incredibly impressive. He had to respect Maul’s skills as a fighter, being able to hold off Ahsoka. And it was equally impressive of Ahsoka to meet Maul head on. But eventually Maul was in custody and they were headed back up to the Venator-class Star Destroyer, Tribunal.

Word had spread that General Kenobi had engaged and destroyed General Grievous. Jesse knew the Jedi would be proud, even if such a reaction would never be displayed. Grievous had long since been a thorn in General Kenobi’s side. Another announcement followed, that this war would soon be ending. Jesse felt a wave of different emotions: excitement, anxiousness, fear. The battles resulting from the war had caused absolute decimation of many towns, cities, and villages. It will take years, decades maybe, for these areas to recover. Millions had been made homeless or refugees. At least soon they’ll be able to start to rebuild.

But what about him? What will happen to him? To his brothers? The Jedi will simply be able to go back to their lives before this, whatever that was. Jesse and the other clones didn’t exist before the war. It was the reason for their very creation. They had no lives to return to. That’s where the fear and anxiety crept in. He had a simple question on his mind. Now what?

There was a sharp pain in his right temple, quick, fleeting. An order was suddenly delivered. Commander Rex’s stern voice suddenly filled his helmet,

“Under this directive, any and all Jedi leadership must be executed for treason against the Republic. Any soldier that does not comply with the order will also be executed for treason.”

Jesse couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal and hurt that bloomed inside him. How? How could they do this to them? They had been loyal! Unquestioningly so! Even if it went against any personal feelings they had developed. The Jedi were traitors?! Why would peacekeeping….Jesse stopped mid thought. The Jedi had always said they were “peacekeepers”. He had heard the phrase uttered by Anakin, Obiwan, and Ahsoka many times. But they were the ones leading them into battle. To kill. Hypocrites. Jesse’s hurt morphed into anger. He had to defend the Republic and enforce the ending of a war a bunch of religious zealots wanted to continue.

Now Tano was loose in the ship, Commander Rex having given a good effort to eliminate her. She had escaped into the ducts. She could be anywhere. Jesse soon got word that Commander Rex had been cut off from the soldiers he had been with. He kept up with the chatter on his comms, filtering through everything quickly. Maul has escaped, his Commander was missing, and a traitorous Jedi was crawling through the ship’s inner workings. Jesse was next in command after Commander Rex. He took charge for now.

“Target number one’s escaped the medical bay. We’re in pursuit.” Came an update

“What is the status of CT-7567?” He asked, concerned for his Commander.

“Commander Rex is still missing in action, sir.”

“Did he aid in Tano’s escape?” Jesse had to ask. He knew the two were close friends.

“Unknown at present.” Was the answer.

A few moments later came another update.

“Control failed to report in. We think they’ll make their move to escape via the main hanger.”

Jesse didn’t fail to notice the use of “they” and “their” instead of “her”. Was his brother implying Commander Rex could be a willing participant in Tano’s escape? Perhaps he was talking about Tano and Maul. It’d make more sense for them to be in cahoots, since Commander Rex had issued the alert in the first place.

“Affirmative. I want squads marshaled at position 2-5 and 2-7. Wait for my signal before proceeding.” Jesse responded, turning on his heel and jogging down the corridor.

“Copy that Lieutenant.”

Soon he had nearly every trooper on the Tribunal in the hanger. That was the only way off this ship since the Commander had ordered all escape pods to be jettisoned.

“Hold your position, men. If they try to leave, they’ll have to go through us.” Jesse ordered. He paced up and down the front of the squads. Pacing was secretly a nervous habit of his.

Jesse kept tuned into the chaos on the comms, from troopers who were trying to find Tano and their missing Commander, to the ones fighting Maul. Jesse was certain that monster was set loose on them by Tano, which worn down any question about her guilt.

“Sir, we think Maul might be headed your way. Be aware.” Came a warning from a trooper. The door in front of them opens, Jesse braces for Maul but sees Tano walking with her hands behind her head, Commander Rex following behind her with a blaster aimed at the back of her head.

“Hold your fire.” Their Commander ordered.

“Hang on, we have Tano and the Commander. Send all remaining troops to my position.” Jesse barked. As the pair walked closer, Jesse’s men prepared to fire.

“I said hold your fire Jesse. I have the situation under control.” Commander Rex repeated. For some reason, the exclusion of his rank by Commander Rex irritated the ARC Trooper.

“You have your order, sir. Now execute it or I will.” Jesse replied sternly. Not an order, an ultimatum.

“The order was to execute the Jedi for treason against the Republic.” The Commander stated. Jesse’s blank stare was hidden by his helmet. Of course he knew what the order was. He wasn’t stupid.

“The problem is, Ahsoka Tano isn’t a Jedi. Hasn’t been for some time.” Commander Rex continued. Jesse lowered his blasters, taking this into consideration. Rex wasn’t wrong…but

“Sir, you said so yourself that we’re under special order from Darth Sidious to eliminate Ahsoka Tano and any other clone who disobeys Order 66.” Jesse reminded his Commander. Surely Rex wouldn’t have forgotten that. His helmet’s sensitive microphone picked up something muttered by Tano. It sounded like ‘just keep him talking a little bit longer.’ Commander Rex than barreled on.

“Jesse, Jesse, listen to me. We’ve known each other for a long time. If we don’t get this right, we’ll be the ones committing treason, not her.” Commander Rex spoke as if he feared Jesse had heard what Tano had whispered.

Jesse’s heart dropped. There were two options here. One, Commander Rex was under a Jedi mind trick by Tano and being forced to comply with her demands. Or, the man he idolized since he was a cadet…was a willing participant and a traitor as well.

Jesse raised his blasters once more.

“Commander Rex, you’re in violation of Order 66. I accuse you of treason against the Grand Army of the Republic.” Jesse couldn’t believe he was saying these words to the man he had once worshiped.

“You’ll be demoted in rank from Commander and subject to execution, along with the traitor Ahsoka Tano.” Jesse decreed.

“Company. Ready, aim-“

Suddenly the floor dropped behind him, sending a large portion of his men falling to the lower level of the hanger. Jesse immediately opened fire on Tano, who shoved him backwards with the Force. Jesse felt the floor disappear from under him and he landed on the floor of the lower hanger with his men.

“Move it, move it! Get these lifts activated! Get us up there!” Jesse commanded, hearing the commencing fight between his men and the two traitors.

“Our panel’s locked out!” Came the reply, Jesse looking up and scanning the area he could see. Then he spotted them. Droids who had aligned themselves with Tano and CT-7567. No doubt the same ones his men had reported seeing when Commander Rex was first intercepted.

“Fire on those droids!”

As the fight carried on above them, Jesse ground his teeth. Each moment he spent stuck down here was another moment Tano and CT-7567 were able to keep breathing. All of the hurt that Jesse had felt at Tano’s and Rex’s betrayal dissolved into rage. Perhaps if Maul was headed this way, he’d deal with them for him. However, there would be no such luck when Jesse got word that Maul had escaped in a stolen shuttle.

Jesse was just about scream another command about the lifts, when Rex and Tano suddenly plummeted down to their level. His men had overwhelmed them and forced the Jedi to cut through the floor. Finally!

“Blast them!” Jesse ordered, but it wasn’t meant to be. The lift suddenly shot Jesse and his men back up to the main level. He was about to angrily round on the clone responsible, but stopped when he spotted those kriffing droids. Jesse didn’t have to give the order again, as his men finally dispatched the malfunctioning machines into scrap metal.

Jesse felt like a repeating record when he ordered his men to once again get him to Tano and the former Commander. Just then, the ship gave a horrendous shutter. Jesse turned to look out the hanger doors and saw a the surface of a moon fast approaching. In all the chaos, he had completely forgotten about the fact the Maul had fatally crippled the Star Destroyer. Jesse watched as pieces of the ship broke away, chunks floating out into space only to be snatched up by the ravenous moon.

There were no escape pods, any shuttles that might be of use in a desperate escape attempt were out of reach. The one thing that gave him solace was the fact that Tano and CT-7567 were likely going to be killed in the crash or from the chunks of debris from the destroyer.

As the moon’s surface got closer, Jesse being able to make out land formations, he took a deep breath.

Soon the nightmares were going to stop.

Soon he’d be free.

Fin

Part 1

Part 2

@thatonegreyghost

@owls-spice-cabinet

@gen-has-green-vibes

[callofthxvoid]

Please welcome FLEUR VILLIERS (SHE/HER) to Huntsville, WV. They are a 25-year-old VISITOR who lives in TOWN. You may see them around working as an UNEMPLOYED SPOILED BRAT. Poor unfortunate soul. We'll see if they survive.

quick facts

Title: The Reborn

Name: Fleur Eleanora Villiers

Birth Name: Angelica Flora Aquino

Nickname: N/A

Date of Birth: June 12th, 1999

Age: 25

Place of Birth: Dallas, Texas

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Languages: English, Tagalog

Faceclaim: Paris Berelc

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Heteroromantic Bisexual

Relationship Status: In a relationship with Quincey Harker

personality

Myers-Briggs: ESFP - The Entertainer

Enneagram: Type 7 - The Enthusiast (7w6)

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Occupation: Makeup Artist at McVries Theatre

Role: Neither

[+] sociable, spontaneous, adaptable, persuasive [-] duplicitous, superficial, self-serving, insecure

Character Inspirations: Jenny Humphrey (Gossip Girl), Heather McNamara (Heathers), Patricia 'Trish' Walker (Jessica Jones)

background

Angelica Flora Aquino was born to a single mother after a teenage pregnancy that had gotten her kicked out of her very Catholic parents' home. Her biological father, also a teenager at the time, was quick to abandon his plans for the future to help raise her—and while his family did their best to support her and her mom, they had already been struggling to get by without two extra mouths to feed. Nevertheless, they were kind and generous people who welcomed them into their home, and while money was constantly tight, Angelica at least never wanted for love or affection from them.

When she was twelve years old, her still very young and very beautiful mother caught the eye of an older, wealthy man who was on an extended business trip to the city, and the two struck up a romance. When it came time for him to leave, he proposed to her, she accepted, and plans were quickly put in place for her and Angelica to move to New York with him, much to Angelica's father's and his family's chagrin. However, knowing that they neither had the time or resources to go into a lengthy custody battle against a billionaire, they simply made a request that she come visit them. The last thing she did before leaving was promise to stay in touch. She didn't, and she never came back.

Upon arriving in New York, she fully embraced her stepfather's extravagant lifestyle, and more importantly, his money. Changing her name to Fleur, she was determined to completely hide her past from her new friends in a desperate bid to fit in with them, fearing being shunned if they ever found out about it. She became more obnoxious, spent her family's money recklessly, completely ignored her education in favour of drinking and doing drugs, and was generally The Worst. Eventually, it reached a point where her parents threatened to cut her off if she didn't change at least one thing about her life. And that was where Quincey Harker entered into the picture.

Quincey had been part of her social circle for years and she knew that her stepfather approved of him. Their relationship was entirely fake, but at least it got her parents off her back; and as a bonus, it looked great on social media. They fully committed to the ruse, completely stopped sleeping with other people, kept it up in front of everyone including their closest friends, and even moved in together. What the difference was between what they were doing and an actual relationship was anyone's best guess.

Fleur and Quincey were on a party bus with their friends when they ended up in Huntsville. Now effectively cut off from her parents anyway, and without any social media to post to, she is beginning to wonder what the point of the fake relationship even is anymore. She still wants to fit in with her friends, but there is a part of her that desperately craves a real connection—a part of her that longs to feel loved like she did when she was growing up in Texas with her biological father and his family.