#this was one of the first scenes i wrote

[gilbirda]

Ceremony

This would Danny and the Whisper first in-person meeting. It doesn't go as well as Danny would have wanted.

This one is full eldritch babyyyy

Context for this excerpt: Masterpost

---- Word Count: 2758 ------

Once the deceptively small piece of jewelry was in, Danny knew it was way too big for his hand. No shit, it previously was Pariah’s, and even if he remembered Valerie putting it on, when the previous Ghost King wore it something happened that made it fit his giant body.

Not Danny though. He waited a few seconds for the ring to do something, maybe some kind of lightshow like the crown did a minute ago, but nothing.

He looked up at Clockwork, searching for help. “I don’t—”

Time stopped. 

Weird thing, Clockwork was also frozen in place. So it wasn’t him who did this.

“My favorite.”

A voice… THE voice said in his head, at last making sense and not being random gibberish.

“What’s going on? Who— Who are you?” he said out loud, one eye on the frozen people before him.

“My favorite…” The voice’s volume faded instead of becoming louder. 

“Hey! Come back!” Danny struggled against the chains. He looked down, finding black gloved hands.

Black gloves. A white suit.

He looked up, finding he wasn’t at the castle anymore. Not even in the Ghost Zone. He wasn’t even a halfa. Human. Human fourteen year old Danny, about to make the mistake that changed his life forever.

The portal. In front of him was the shut down portal, completely harmless, waiting for him to turn it on for the first time. For him to die there. 

Danny took a step towards the machine, his heartbeat loud in his ears, something it hadn’t done since his death that very day. On the back of his mind he registered a ticking noise, soft, but constant, present, reminding him of the passage of time towards the very second he pressed that button, the next few seconds when nothing happened, the final few seconds he felt his body burn from the inside out.

His feet guided him like on autopilot towards the hole in the wall, his body moving on its own, not looking at his friends watching him, Sam with the camera ready to take a picture, excited. Or Sam watching with a resigned expression besides the controls. Vaguely he wondered if he was seeing both versions of the story — the original one and the one where Sam had wished to never know him and they had to redo everything from the beginning. 

Whatever the case, he found himself inside the portal. There was a low machine humming — no, it was a voice. Both? The ticking noise became louder, eating away his thoughts. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t process. Danny had to press that button and die again. Third time's the charm, right? He had to. He had to.

He pressed the ‘on’ button, and the humming stopped. The ticking stopped.

The machine didn’t turn on. He turned towards the entrance of the portal, expecting someone there who could explain what was going on. Wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere else?

“My favorite, at last.”

Danny turned back, finding—

The first thing he noticed was the teeth. The other end of the portal had been engulfed in pure darkness, slithering through the metal surface towards the light. In the midst of that darkness, an enormous smile made of perfect white teeth ran from one side of the hole to the other.

The mouth didn’t move, but he heard the voice nonetheless. “We meet at last, my favorite.”

It was weird, Danny thought, how the creature’s voice sounded. He heard the whisper from before as well, but this voice was not talking in a language he could understand; instead, it underlined the creature’s words like a movie with two audio tracks in different languages at the same time.

Danny also noticed that he wasn’t freaking out. He should, especially when just a bit over the mouth, a green eye opened.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” The creature said not moving its mouth. “And now you are mine.”

This made Danny snap out of it. He opened his mouth to speak, but his vocal chords didn’t seem to work for him.

He tried to think hard at the creature instead. “Who are you and what’s happening?”

The creature chuckled in that deep, rumbling voice.

“I am everything. You are mine. We are bonded.”

Bonded.

The Core?

Was… Was this… thing, this clearly-not-a-ghost, sentient being, the Core? The one he was supposed to bond with? The one he was supposed to protect?

“Indeed, my favorite. I am everything.”

“You already said that.”

The creature snickered again, amused.

“I like you,” it continued, the black tendrils of darkness slowly reaching him and circling around his feet. “That’s why I chose you.”

Danny looked down, not missing how the black appendages were looping around his black hazmat boots. Possessive much?

“Not possessive if it's already mine. All is mine. Mine. My chosen.”

“I’m your favorite.”

Danny’s acceptance seemed to please the creature. It purred in vibrations that Danny could feel through his boots. He looked back up, finding that above the opened green eye, two more had opened from the void. 

For a brief moment, the halfa felt like he had been duped. He expected… I don’t know… Some kind of sentient piece of rock like the one the Observants showed him; or maybe some kind of god or goddess that ruled over the Realms and over the centuries had been venerated by humans; or in a twist of events, that there was no real physical form of the Core and it was the concept of power itself being bonded to him.

“I am that and more. I am everything. From my flesh the world is created, with my blood my children are sustained. I am the power from where they are born and I’m the place where they go to die.”

As the creature spoke, the hollowed portal was vanishing bit by bit, the darkness flowing and engulfing the surface, finally closing the only source of light until both Danny and the creature were floating in a thick void.

Holy shit, Danny thought, thinking that he should be panicking, but his heartbeat never faltered. In fact, he had forgotten it was there completely. He realized that his heart wasn’t beating.

That’s right. He wasn’t alive. He wasn’t exactly human either.

“Mine… Like all of the others made from my body.”

He was talking about ghosts. The Infinite Realms, ghosts, ectoplasm; everything was literally made from the Core. Everyone he knew, friends and foes, could be reduced to flesh and blood from the thing he had in front of him.

Two more eyes opened. 

“Why… Why?”

He didn’t know what he wanted to ask. Why tell him this? Why was he ‘chosen’? Chosen for what? What, exactly, was this coronation ceremony?

The mouth widened in the darkness, revealing a much bigger body. The mouth with too many teeth grew and grew, until Danny had to guess the size of the creature was at least as big as his house.

Five more eyes opened, the collective glow of the green hinting the real size of the body. All the eyes were fixed on him.

“I chose you that day. I felt you get closer and closer to me, I tasted you, and I knew I wanted you. But you didn’t become completely mine, even after making sure you would belong to me in the end.”

A halfa, half human and half ghost. Halfway in the grave. Halfway part of this creature.

“Indeed,” it chuckled again. “It only made me desire you more.”

Creepines aside, Danny still didn’t have all the answers. “Chosen for what? To eat me?”

This amused the creature. “I am everything, but I cannot enjoy what I have created, I cannot meet the children that exist because of me. My favorite makes sure I can.”

The King. He understood now — the Ghost King is some kind of communicator between the Core and the ghosts. Intermediate? The middle man. Okay. Okay, he could deal with this.

But the creature was snickering again. “You will be that and more, dear favorite. You will be my eyes, my mouth, my hands. You will be the well from which I can nurture my children and ensure that the balance is maintained. I will need you as much as you will need me.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I cannot exist if I’m separated from my body for too long. I need to ensure that it doesn’t happen, and for that, I require a certain… minimum of power fed to me. My chosen has to be strong and powerful to keep up with my appetite.” The double layered voice glitched at the end, as if speaking of this ‘appetite’ ignited something in it.

Or else, was also implied in the end. Or else this… thing would eat the Infinite Realms and all its residents to recuperate its body. Or else everything would be destroyed. He remembered the void from that vision Clockwork showed him, back when he asked what would happen if he refused. A black void eating away everything it touched.

He looked around him, noticing for the first time the black tentacles covering his body, crawling through the void towards him, caressing him, as if they couldn’t believe he was real.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” The creature said again. “I wanted to make you mine.”

“But I’m already yours,” the words escaped his mind before he could reign it in.

What else could he say, though. There was no going back now. He accepted, he wore the relics, he consented to this.

Somehow it didn’t make it better.

The creature purred, and the whispering increased in volume. It was pleased.

“Not enough, not enough. I need you more. I can’t have you, but I want you.”

Danny felt the tentacles crawl up to his face, softly touching his cheeks, his ears, his hair. Soon, he could see them as well, barely distinguishable from the void background and the obscure creature made of eyes and a mouth. He considered the thought of pushing the tentacles away, but his hands were pinned to his body, as the dark appendages encircled his body like a boa constrictor.

Whatever. It was too late to resist, to step away, to say no. And how could he deny anything to the Core? How could deny anything to this creature?

He couldn’t, because he belonged to it now.

His vision became blurred with tears of defeat. He vaguely wondered if every king before him felt like this — if they also felt the crushing defeat before even trying, like all the power and training didn’t mean anything after all. Because there was no Core. There was no glory in this. 

Fortunately for him, he was never in it for the glory. He knew what he had to do, and he did it. That’s approximately how he rolled since the accident.

He looked up at the eyes, noticing that more and more were opening. Danny blinked away the tears as much as he could, ignoring how the tentacles tried to wipe them for him.

“I understand,” he was glad that they were speaking with their minds, because he didn’t trust his voice. “I will be your King. I will bridge the gap between your creations and you, like you wanted.”

“Ah, my favorite. Always the bridge. Always the middle. Always between two worlds. I love it.” The creature purred. “I then offer you my power. My blood will run through your veins and my flesh will be your skin. What is yours will be mine and what is mine… will be yours.”

Just as it said the last words Danny felt electricity course through his body, starting from his left hand and up to the rest of his body. He closed his eyes, knowing what was going on. He knew this. His accident, once again. He got the torture part anyway, huh.

But it wasn’t the same, though. Apart from the electrocution and the sensation of burning (the smell, that horrible barbeque smell imprinted in his nose); Danny could feel like something was piercing his skin and wiggling its way into his body. He had room in his consciousness to feel nauseated.

He heard himself scream his throat raw once again, at least until the sound was cut abruptly and his larynx felt like it was on fire and then dunked into ice.

From there, the sensation made waves down his body, touching every organ and every muscle and every bone, and he could feel it oh my god what’s going on.

“Relax, child. We are becoming one.” He thought he heard the layered voice speak in his tormented mind.

Somehow he managed to open his eyes, ignoring the white pain behind them. The creature was… different, once again. Where before there was void, he could finally see light dancing around the actual shape of the creature, confirming that its actual size was gigantic, beyond what he could have guessed, with many more faces and many more eyes and mouths.

He saw the darkness that formed that body slither towards him, quickly and swiftly, as if the creature feared that taking its time would scare him away.

Danny didn’t know how long he floated there as the void was forced into his human body, but after what felt like minutes and hours at the same time, he wondered how everything was going to fit inside him. 

Soon he stopped being overwhelmed by the pain and simply remained there, defeated and waiting for the next wave of darkness coming to merge with his body. It hurt. Everything hurts. There was only pain consuming every bit of available space in his mind, not leaving much room for regrets.

A pressure started building behind his eyes. He vaguely wondered if that meant that the suffering was coming to an end.

“You need to become more to be whole with me,” the creature whispered in his burned and frozen ears, but this time it sounded different. A new layer was sandwiched between the weird language one and the other he had spoken before. The new voice sounded eerily like his own.

The pressure kept going up and up and up until Danny had to close his eyes to try and mitigate the migraine-like feeling. It was useless, it kept building.

“Make it stop!” When did his hands go to his hair? He didn’t remember moving them. He screamed when he felt like his head was going to explode.

He heard a pop and with the new wave of painful darkness, his mind expanded. 

Now there was so much room inside, like his thoughts were there but were only a small allotted space for them to exist. He could see more and feel more and sense more. He saw himself floating in a now almost completely white void, crying with his eyes closed. 

He saw how his skin had darkened into almost a purple color, rippling with the vibrations of the waves as they entered his body, revealing cracks in the places the tentacles had pierced his skin. Through the cracks black ooze was almost pouring out, a swirling mass that reminded him of the form the creature presented itself as. Sometimes, he could see a green eye or perfectly white and sharp teeth peek through the open wounds.

Danny couldn’t recognize himself. He didn’t feel like himself anymore. Something else. He was something else.

“We become whole.” The new layered voice said, but it wasn’t in his mind. Danny saw as it came from his own mouth. 

As the last of the remaining darkness flowed into his body, his vision of himself faded, but he didn’t need to see it anymore.

He could feel that the process was coming to an end. He was feeling more awake, more aware of his body, of his limbs, of his senses. He looked down at his hands — purple skin, black claws oozing dark void mass — and he wondered if he would be able to go back to normal.

What was normal for him anymore? He chuckled, and he heard the other voice, the Whisper, mixed in with his. 

As the last of the tendrils were absorbed into his mangled body, Danny felt his strength leave him. He fell to his knees first, one hand quickly moved to stop his fall, but his sore muscles failed him. 

“... I really, really like you, Danny…” was the last thing he heard before his head hit a familiar stone floor and everything went black.

[southsidewrites]

six sentence sunday

First-time Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane was stressed, to say the least. “Crippled with overwhelming angst and anxiety” was probably more accurate. He had been a Gamemaker for nearly twenty-five years now, starting as Junior Gamemaker riding on the coattails of his family name, but working his way up through hard work, dedication, and a good dose of creativity. Plutarch Heavensbee, who had been around forever but seemed to have no ambition for the top spot, had called him one of the most sadistic bastards he’d ever met. Coming from Plutarch, that was a compliment. And now, here he was, sitting the chair he’d been dreaming about for years, and he couldn't feel worse.

Excerpt from an upcoming interlude of The Capitol's Jewel.

[seefasterdraws]

from the homumiko mines

[croquettish]

henry's voice is so THICC in the Hanry romance scene. pair up with the change in the charcter model, which I am not usually a fan of, but in terms of Hans gripping onto his heterosexuality with white knuckles....

him, already having a crush on Henry:

Henry, for NO fucking reason: hunking UP

Hans: ?!?!????????!!?!!!

Hans be like I used my growth hormone to get taller and Henry used it to ASSAULT ME WITH ATTRACTIVENESS this is NOT FAIR

honestly I AGREE and I think part of that has to do with the emotions of that scene? like if you've ever had a conversation you didn't want to have and you had to force every word out... or you are emotionally compromised enough that you're having to will your throat to let them out... that's kind of how that scene feels to me for Henry. he doesn't want to leave! he doesn't want to have to talk about leaving! he can't stop thinking about putting his hand Hans' knee and sliding it up...

meanwhile Hans is just falling apart in that scene and I love it so much. he's sitting there trying to think about anything other than Henry dying or the fact that he's finally experiencing the love he's been looking for all his life and it's about to slip through his fingers if he doesn't grab hold of it and Henry is somehow sexier than ever before?? the last remaining vestiges of heterosexuality that might have existed in him never stood a fucking CHANCE

[creatureesque]

realised ill never be finishing these cuz im busy asf... but... my javiarthurs....

[cartoonjessie]

Matangi's tone is taunting, but Maui's confidence hasn't been broken - yet. "And you'll finish it?" she asks, hiding in the shadows. "Team up with your precious..." Suddenly she's in his ear. "...human again?" Realizing Matangi can see right through him, Maui tries to strike at her with a grunt, but she's already gone. Her laughter fills the cavern, and Maui realizes he's made a mistake by showing her he cares. Trying to bluff his way out of this situation, he replies: "Team? You mean that girl with the canoe and that goofy little chicken? We weren't a team. I just used her to get my hook." Mini Maui, not bright enough to see what Maui is doing, gets insulted on Moana's behalf, slapping him painfully in the chest, to which Maui eyes him in frustration. If only his tattoo could play along, maybe they could stop painting a larger target on Moana's back.

[ohgollythatsuh]

My fellow fandom frequenters!!!!!!

This feels kind of weird to do because I literally use this blog to talk about gay people and reblog pretty fan art but ya gotta do what ya gotta do:

I am a student journalist and I'm writing an article for class about the way that fandom spaces have changed over the years (especially over the pandemic) and the effects of the popularization of fandoms. I'm looking for people who are willing to talk about their experiences in fandoms, the communities and relationships that they've built, how they feel about the shift in fandom culture (or if they've even noticed a shift), etc!

Some things to note: this is not going anywhere besides to my professor (unless all participants actively want me to share it on Tumblr or something, in case anyone is interested in reading it -- it's really up to everyone's comfortability levels). The mode of interview is, once again, up to comfortability: we can do zoom calls, conversations over DMs, in-person meetups (this is obviously going to depend on where we live) -- once again, this is up to your comfortability!!!

My DMS are open and I would reallllyyy really appreciate any and all participants! Your voices are CENTRAL to this story because fandom is based solely off of the real conversations between community members!!! I'm really passionate about fandoms because it's been like. My whole life since childhood. So I'm really dedicated to making a beautifully authentic story out of this!!

Feel free to DM with any questions :) Or if you know someone who'd be interested, or have some suggestions on things you'd like me to write about or have any leads that I could research, look at, etc. -- just dm or even comment or reblog this and put it in the tags!!!

Reblogs are appreciated! I'll be tagging some popular fandoms in order to get some more traction

Edit: so many people dm’d thank you guys for helping a poor undergrad get a good mark on their paper :’) sorry if it takes a second for me to respond to your dm I’ll get to you I promise!! My dms are still open so if someone is reading this, you can still participate!

[sir-sphinx]

the long-awaited sequel

well. this is what won my poll and i needed to brush up on my coloring/painting for comms so i hope you all enjoy this peek into average Dysmas behavior

[lemongogo]

[haleswallows]

Mourning ‘til Dawn Fandom: DCxDP Teen (minor descriptions of injuries, vivisection, off-screen deaths) For the @dpxdcbigbang Inspired by a prompt by tourettesdog where Agent O is a GIW whistleblower.

Arc 3: Recovery now live!

Teaser:

“Hi, Diana,” comes his soft voice. A little smile slopes across Danny's face where he's floating on his back in the water, head cradled against Kaldur'ahm's shoulder. Diana feels her face crinkle as she smiles back.

“Having fun?” She squats down at the edge, dangling a hand into the water. Kaldur'ahm tucks Danny into his side. With powerful one-armed strokes, he brings them to where Diana's crouched from the middle of the pool. Danny kicks as well, not as coordinated but still smiling.

“Yeah, Wally came to kidnap me so I could get a change of scenery. The med team agreed a swim would be good exercise.” Danny explains, hooks his elbows over the edge to look up at her. He looks worn out but happy. Kaldur floats behind him, a supporting hand on his lower back.

“The others decided Danny's first visit to Titan Tower necessitated a pool party,” he adds, tone dry. Wally scuttles over on hands and knees. He's still in his full suit, but gloves, boots, and cowl removed.

With a hand cupped around his mouth, as if to angle a whisper to Wonder Woman, Wally loudly says “Kaldur was the most excited of us when I suggested it. He spent half an hour convincing Danny's doctor it was a good idea and even promised to always have at least one hand on Danny at all times in the water.”

The teasing earns him a small spout of water, aimed for his face with a flick of Kaldur'ahm's wrist.

Danny smiles at their antics, resting his head on the ledge, eyes half lidded. Shifting to sit criss-cross legged, Diana leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees. She pushes Danny's hair back, then rubs the space where neck meets shoulder. The material of his rashguard style top is slick beneath her hand.

“Where'd you get this?” she asks, plucking at the hem on his wrist.

“Robin and Kaldur designed it,” he says into his bicep. “Cyborg printed it on the fabricator.” Danny shoves his arms at her, showing off his signature Phantom colors. There’s a quiet self satisfaction to be back in his hero colors, clear in the way he holds his shoulders a little broader, a straightness in his posture. “Look, they even got my insignia. Sam designed it for me.”

He says her name without a hitch, or an immediate wince. “Robin and Kaldur did well, it's a good rendition of your suit.”

“The design was easy. Phantom's suit is very distinctive. It was a pleasure to make appropriate swim attire for Danny,” Kaldur'ahm adds.

“Help me convince him that the green needs to go though,” grumbles Robin, still partially behind her while he taps on his Batman branded tablet.

Danny chuffs at him. “Dude, my eyes literally glow green when I'm ghost. It ain't going anywhere.”

With an exaggerated gasp, Wally flops forward. Hands almost a blur, he rains pats down wherever he can reach Danny. Kaldur'ahm wedges himself between Wally and his target, wrestling him and pulling him towards the pool. Diana offers her hands to Danny, letting him use her as a support to keep himself from sinking into the pool without Aqualad’s support.

“Stop, stop, I’m still in my suit!” Wally shouts, jamming an elbow into Kaldur'ahm’s side. “Danny, Danny, save me! Don’t you want to show Wonder Woman the thing? You know, the thing thing? The cool thing?”

“The cool thing,” Danny snorts. Then shyly glances at Diana. “Yeah, uh. Kaldur?” He reaches a hand to his friend. Kaldur releases Wally and slings an arm around Danny to pull him from the edge. Danny does a rough backstroke. His coordination is still a bit off, but Diana is impressed how quickly his motor skills are returning. Once they’re about five feet from the edge, Danny floats loose limbed on his back. Kaldur cradles Danny’s head, helping him keep afloat.

They murmur to each other, Kaldur leaning in close until their foreheads nearly touch. Danny sticks his tongue out at something he says and Kaldur smirks back. Diana tilts her head while Wally vibrates in excitement by her side.

Then the temperature suddenly drops. Danny’s eyes flash green. A thin layer of frost stills the surface of the water around them, starting at Danny’s fingertips and radiating outward. Danny wrinkles his brow, eyes closing with the effort. He heaves in a deep breath. On the exhale, the ice breaks apart, cold puffing into the air, a swirl of snowflakes following it.

Diana raises her hands palm up, catching a few of the flurries. She smiles with wonder as the chill dissipates. “You have cryokinesis! Ice powers!” she exclaims, eyes following the remaining snowflakes. When she meets Danny’s eyes, he’s beaming. Oh Danny, her heart sings.

“Danny said when he’s full powered he can do all sorts of stuff with his ice! Like big spikes.” Wally surges to his feet, arms stretched over his head to mimic the shape. “And it won’t melt unless he wants it to, which is so cool? Even Captain Cold’s ice eventually melts.”

“You need to stop calling it cool,” Robin groans. “Even Nightwing has better ice puns.”

“Robin, Rob, my guy, my man, my angry little quasi-brother,” Wally starts, flashing to him and draping himself over Robin’s back. Robin folds forward with an oof, but doesn’t push him off. “I’m not making a pun. It is objectively a cool power. Why does Danny get so many powers?”

Danny splashes up the pool edge. When he reaches dripping arms over the edge, Diana slouches down to wrap him in a hug. “I’m getting you all wet,” he mumbles into her shoulder.

“It’ll dry.” And squeezes him. “Little warrior, you’re amazing. When J’onn returns from South America, would you like to show him?” He bobs a nod she does not see, but feels. Diana smiles into his hair, Wally’s excited rambling filling the spaces between Danny’s quiet pride.

[jessicas-pi]

So, given that I actually have an AU where Anakin and Ahsoka secretly co-authoring a trashy obitine novel is a major plot point, it seemed pretty obvious to me what the setting was gonna have to be for my fic for @sabezraweek's Sabezra Day! I had it all planned out. It was gonna be set in this hilarious No-Order-66 AU, and Luke and Leia and Mara and Kata and Shin were all Ezra's friends in the Jedi Temple and they all totally shipped sabezra and went so far as to write a play based on the Trashy Obitine Novel for the Bi-Annual Jedi Theater Night as an excuse to make sabine and ezra play the leads (and therefore kiss) and...

...well, needless to say, I did not come anywhere near to finishing that fic. So instead, here's a bit of a really old WIP, from an entirely different AU, wherein Sabine and Ezra watch (a holofilm adaptation of) Anakin And Ahsoka's Top Secret Trashy Obitine Novel! (Yeah, the Trashy Obitine Novel is a running gag in my fics.)

------

Ezra sits with his knees pulled up to his chest as he waits for Sabine to get the holoprojector set up.

He’s wearing his dumb Loth-cat pajamas again. He has others, but it’s pretty much tradition by now. He wears the Loth-cat onesie, she wears her hideous green-and-purple pajamas with glow-in-the-dark stars, he’s the one to gather the blankets for the fort while she gets the snacks, they always take a selfie… they have a lot of traditions for Movie Night.

It’s a whole thing now. Once every month, they have a not-sleepover in her room. (They’ve only had six so far, but he hopes this is a tradition that will last until they’re old and pruney.) It’s awesome, because for that single night, they get to be just a couple of goofy kids staying up until exactly 3am. They forget about the Rebellion and about the Empire and about everything they lost and just have fun.

That’s turning out to be a little harder than usual for Ezra today, though.

It’s Empire Day.

It’s been nine years since he lost his family. They’re gone; gone and dead, and he knows that now. But the ache remains, and he’d been prepared to stay shut up in his room all night, except Sabine barged in and threatened to throw him over her shoulder and carry him fireman-style to the blanket fort if he didn’t get moving already.

Ezra knows she’s trying to make light of it all, but he can’t help noticing the worried glances she keeps giving him. In the end, it’s more for her sake than for his own that he decides he just won’t think about it anymore tonight.

So he thinks about something else.

The story behind tonight’s holo is pretty wild. Hera sent the rest of the crew on a supply run into a market town a week ago, and Ezra… okay, maybe he got a little distracted, because he ended up wandering into a spooky old secondhand shop run by a guy (looking back on it, Ezra is 99% sure he was a Jedi) and his creepy wife, where he saw a holofilm case with Mando’a writing—he couldn’t read it, but he could recognize the letters—on it, and as it turned out, not only was it a Mandalorian holofilm, it was also a very very banned Mandalorian holofilm based on a book, and the book was based on, supposedly, a true story. The maybe-Jedi claimed to have known the real-life version of the male lead of the story.

(Honestly? Ezra believes him.)

Anyway, he bought the holo for Sabine (for no reason, really, except maybe a little bit because it would make her smile), and he did not expect the reaction he got (which was her nearly falling over from laughing so hard.) Then she told him that she had read the book and it was just completely terrible, we’re totally watching this next movie night.

Sabine nudges him over and sits down next to him.

“What do I need to know about this?” he asks, as the beginning credits start to appear.

“It’s a Mandalorian holodrama called Tigaanur Te Ka’ra. It’s very loosely based on a novel written during the Clone Wars. Apparently, the film was pretty controversial, because it was a more traditional Mandalorian studio that made it, but a couple of the heroes in this are Jedi. Which is also why I’ve never been able to get my hands on it. I’ve heard it was different—better, than the book.” She makes a face. “It couldn’t be worse. I couldn’t get through Chapter 39. I had to skip it.”

Ezra grins at her. “I didn’t know you liked novels.”

“Guilty indulgence. I bought Touch The Stars because the Mandalorian main character was named Sabine, and she had Jedi friends.”

He breaks into a grin. “Hey, like us?”

Sabine turns her head and stares at him with exaggerated vacancy in her eyes, like she’s having flashbacks or envisioning something horrible, and says distinctly: “There were a few differences.”

He gets enough of the vibes of her tone to understand more or less what she’s hinting at.

“You, uh. You don’t need to elaborate.”

“I won’t.”

He clears his throat awkwardly. “So, is this going to have, um…”

“A racy scene that Kanan or Hera will inevitably walk in on even though it’s only twenty seconds long and the entire rest of the holo is nothing they’d blink twice at?” Sabine offers, filling in the awkward blank.

“Yeah.”

“Heck no. Mandalorian holodramas don’t even usually have kissing. We Mandos show affection by going to war at each others’ sides, and sometimes bonking our heads together.”

Then the holo starts, and it occurs to Ezra that he doesn’t speak any Mando’a and this film has no subtitles.

“What’s happening?” he whispers as the opening scene plays out, showing a bunch of Mandalorians sitting around a table. (Ominous music plays whenever one of them talks, and a mysterious sort of wind-chime motif follows a different one around. Then there’s a heroic melody for a third Mandalorian. Villain, love interest, hero, Ezra decides.)

“Peace conference. Never ends well.”

Sure enough, about three seconds after Sabine says that, Bad Guy Mando whips out a blaster and starts shooting. The Wind Chime Mando jumps up on the table and starts swinging a lightsaber—the Jedi in disguise?

The fight scene lengthens on gratuitously, until finally Wind Chimes grabs Hero and does a jump that Ezra is pretty sure even a Jedi Master couldn’t pull off that carries them out through the stained-glass ceiling.

They escape, and then they stop, and argue, and argue, and argue more. Finally, Wind Chimes rips off her helmet to yell at Hero better, and Ezra notes that she looks a little ragged. Her curly red hair is falling out of its braid, and her face is sweaty-looking. (She’s also stunningly gorgeous, because of course she is. But she is worse for the wear, which is surprisingly realistic for a holodrama.)

Ezra glances over at Sabine and is surprised to see that she’s sitting forward a little, watching with rapt attention. She can understand the dialogue and he can’t, which explains some of it, but she looks invested.

The movie continues on for another two hours—he wonders just how long Mandalorian holodramas are, because they’re not even close to coming to a plot resolution—and from what Ezra can put together, the story goes something like this:

Beni is the name of the red-haired lady. She’s a Jedi Padawan who disguised herself as a Mandalorian to attend the peace conference for… some reason. She rescued Tian, aka Hero Mandalorian, and Beni, Tian, and Beni’s Jedi Master, Quinn, are traveling to an important place that they have to get to so they can do something important.

There’s also been, like, six musical numbers.

Yeah, Ezra’s not really sure what’s going on anymore.

[locria-writes]

just realized that qls and mc canonically have either 1) never kissed or 2) kissed exactly once when mc was trying to seduce him 😩

[wackywatchdotcom]

on the subject of pomni and zooble im deeply invested in seeing how their dynamic plays out. theyve had like.... two proper interactions. one of which is barely even both people like zooble delivers Bad News to pomni and pomni doesnt really seem like shes noting whos saying it so much as the fact that shes being told things by a bunch of strangers and is panicking about it and then zooble scowls in the bg for the next five minutes before jax drags ragatha and pomni off. the most theyve actually interacted is in ep 4 when zooble asks pomni abt ep 3, pomni tells them and then they get deeply upset for a reason that revolves around 'why did caine think i would enjoy possession'

we generally dont really know what their dynamic even is they just kinda exist around each other. that said zooble tends to sound harsh like half the time but like... theyre not mean theyrw just blunt. i think above all else zooble is actually more concerned w the safety of the other cast members than one would assume. we see it best in eps 2 and 4 i think. in ep 2 theyre patient w ragatha, smth theyre not in the pilot. but the circumstances are different. in the pilot this is just another shitty day, that keeps getting worse. they dont even get to sit out the adventure despite being told they can. but ep 2 they get time to themself, and know ragathas probably not really handling things well

and i think abt it a lot but them being ragathas designated driver is like. really notable imo actually. because ragatha isnt in danger. its unclear where theyre driving or if theyre driving, but zooble goes oh, ragatha cant be trusted to drive. even though ragathas been pissing them off all day. even though if ragatha actually got herself injured it would be fixable and its unclear if ragatha would even notice. if zooble didnt care they couldve just left. if zooble was worried abt gangle theyd have stayed (theyre clearly concerned for her, but i dont think they read it as danger- so making sure ragatha stays physically safe becomes a higher priority. it also says smth abt the amnt of faith they have in gangle, even if it was technically misplaced here. i think they get worried about gangle but to them the highest risk member is kinger, not gangle. on some level i dont know if theyve been in the circus long enough to see any patterns in when people abstract). but they make sure ragatha gets back safe. because she pissed them off that day but could tell something was up, and that even if shed be okay in the end, they wanted to be sure that ragatha wasnt hurt

i think it speaks to the actual level of concern they exhibit for the others. theyre cautious. them and pomni ar ethe most visibly distrusting of caine. and i think it relates to zooble not having been here long. jax and ragatha in particular may ebe able to ignore the slapstick bullshit of the circus, may be able to walk off an injury just fine because its just part of life, but as far as zoobles concerned they want to avoid it if possible. i think they know its not normal for things to be this way and they cant change it but they can stop pointlessly harmful things from happening

i think their spiel abt the others in ep 3 is also very telling in that they actually have a really flattering description for ragatha and gangle. ragathas too nice, and i dont think thats obliviousness. i think zooble is one of the more emotionally intelligent characters, they just have little patience and arent 'sweet' about it. theyre extremely aware of the other characters imo. they just... genuinely think ragathas nice. i dont think ep 4 even changed that. and gangles too ahy to speak up. they say this not in a way thats critical. in fact its one of the calmest things theyve said in the whole show im pretty sure. they care abt her and know how she feels even if shes not confident enough to say it to caine

and getting back to pomni is that their assessment of pomni is that 'she looks traumatized everytime she comes back for one' (iirc some other translations are even more explicit in this description of pomni as being impacted by the adventures). implying theyve not only been very much paying attention, but q the way they say it they seem Genuinely Concerned. i think on some level theyre irritated by pomni, not on a personal level but bc pomni is The New One. she hasnt settled in, and i think zooble gets irritated by the song and dance of a person finding out that what they already have to cope with as being Their Life Forever, Now is also theirs. but its not personal, and i dont think its smth zooble holds against her. but i think zooble has definitely picked up on the fact that pomni is having a very rough go at it for her first days- esp since the harshest they get is before caine gives his spiel abt the fake exit door or before its clear that pomni saw kaufmo, too. and from the start of ep 4 its clear that they heavily dislike the measures caine is taking to appeal to them (and id argue that part of their response to caine is in part frustration at him putting the others at risk, but thats getting more into my personal speculation without a huge basis)

i think zooble is a person who largely expresses care for others through concern and, honestly to some degree, helping people. which now that i say it is fascinating considering ragathas whole deal. and the trajectory pomnis going in. or the fact that im not sure they know kinger all that well yet (they know a bit abt him but i think without talking to him in the dark a person would miss a large amount of context). or their deeply interesting dynamic with caine, a person who prides himself on his role as an entertainer for others and has no other goals at all. it creates an interesting contrast when i think theyre one of the few characters who even helps others successfully at all

anyway, this all got off track and wasnt what i actually even made this post to talk about. my intent was to mention that i dont think zooble has actually seen pomni when shes more stressed. i mean theyve seen her post ep 2, which is notable, and theyve seen her get panicked in the pilot and probably saw her Not Looking Well at the feast. but ehile the audience has seen pomni Freak Out and be jumpscared or launch herself at a gate (plus select members of the cast), zooble has certainly not. we also have that advert where ahe attacks jax that is noncanon but depicts a aide of pomni not seen super clearly in the eps yet, that of which being violence. all of this is to say im not sure zooble actually knows about pomnis capacity to attack things and i find it funny to imagine zooble finding out and getting startled because they knew pomni was nervous but they havent seen that side of it yet

(and to a lesser extent, i think gangle- and ragatha sort of- are the only characters whove actually seen pomnis capacity to be patient with people. gummigoo doesnt remember. its implied kinger forgot- even if its vague how much he forgot pomni was scared thru most of that and the brief moment of patience she had was VERY short-lived. ragatha got pomnis little apology type thing in ep 3 but thats it. i think gangle is the one whos actually seen the most of this from pomni. so i imagine gangle probably has one of if not the most flattering image of her of the entire main cast, despite the fact that pomni does actually say smth that upsets gangle too earlier- which ive been meaning to make a post abt how each of the cast members upset gangle in a way unique to that persons own issues but thats smth ill talk abt later- and i think gangle wouldnt blatantly state this in detail to zooble, maybe say that pomni helped her out, but i think if gangle told zooble abt this at all itd make zoobles image of pomni even more skewed. and way more likely that seeing pomni attack someone would startle them)

[born-to-lose]

Came to the conclusion that crushing on a musician is never good and it's literally not that serious ever and you don't have stay loyal to those dogs and you should have fun always

[antilocaprine]

Chapter Three of Waterbound is up, and we finally meet Benrey's daemon. She is not what Gordon expects...

[stolenslumber]

i wanna lock in your love (sjy)

PAIRING: sim jaeyun x gender neutral reader GENRE: best friends to lovers, newly established relationship, fluff WARNINGS: kissing, suggestive content WORD COUNT: 1.1k

“So… what do we do now?” Jake asks. His head tilts quizzically at you from where he hovers at the side of the bed— his own bed, so why does he feel so nervous?

Your hands smooth over his bedsheets robotically, just as nervous. It’s the end of your first date with Jake Sim, who has seen you in diapers and acne and graduation gowns alike; who knows you like a favorite song, played backwards and forwards and over and over again; who looks at you with such sweet adoration that your heart lurches and trembles whenever you catch him staring at you. 

It’s the same look he’s been wearing proudly for the past week, ever since you’d finally gotten on the same page about the way you feel for each other. He’d wear this look for the rest of his life, if you let him. 

And you would. You’d let him do anything he wants; but the words die in your throat, caught somewhere between aching familiarity and wobbly newness. 

He’s the same Jake who raced you around the block under never-ending sunshine in those hazy elementary years, and he’s the same Jake who told you last week that the air you breathe— you, just you— is more precious than anything in the world. 

(He had added that he could confirm this, thanks to everything he knows about the laws of physics, and you had poked his forehead and called him a nerd for that joke, so truly: he’s the same Jake as he has always been.)

But even after all this time, there are still parts of him that you never knew. Like how his mouth moves against yours like he was made for you; fluid, eager, earnest, forming words of devotion in Korean and English, haphazardly alternating between the two after you’d kissed him for the first time after that stupid joke. Like how his face shines in the glow of requited love, his half of which he had been holding tightly against his chest for so long as an unspeakable treasure. Like how his fingers dance across your skin as they did during today’s date, tracing mindless stars and hearts over your arms, raising goosebumps from you and chuckles from him.

So… what do we do now? There’s really only one answer you can give. 

“Whatever you want,” you let out— finally, truthfully, and with a great whoosh of air that you’d been holding in for too long.  

Suddenly, Jake laughs; that high-pitched giggle so dear to you that it automatically makes you smile.

“We’re being dumb,” he declares as he drops himself onto his bed, settling with his back against the headboard. 

“Speak for yourself,” you retort, but there’s hardly any conviction to your voice, what with how distracted you’ve become by the way he has one arm tucked behind his head and his bottom lip caught under his teeth.

He laughs again, but now it’s breathless, because he’s tracking the rise of the flush from your chest to your cheeks. “C’mere, cutie.” He pats the spot next to him and hopes you don’t notice how his hand shakes. 

Of course, that just makes you flush deeper, but you obediently scooch up until you’re hovering over him, up on your knees while he looks at you with that same adoration that scrambles your thoughts once again. 

Slowly, he reaches out and unfurls your fingers from the unconscious fists they had formed. He takes your hands in his and squeezes, once, twice; right in time with your racing heart. 

When he speaks, it’s hushed and sacrosanct. “Will you let me love you?” 

“I always have,” you murmur. And it’s true. Now that you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it: Jake has looked at you like this for a long, long time. Realizing it was like coming up for air when you hadn’t even known you were drowning. 

He hugs you close, bringing you into his lap. “Then will you kiss me?” 

And when he asks so sweetly, how could you ever say no?

You get lost in kissing him as heat rises all around you just as quickly as it had risen in your cheeks, until it’s almost unbearable and you’re whining something incomprehensible against his mouth. 

He tears himself away from you with a gasp. His chest heaves, and his lips are so shiny and red that it makes you squirm in his lap. His hands tighten around your hips to still your movements even as he asks, “What do you want, angel? I’ll give you whatever you want.” 

Your thoughts ricochet in every direction; there’s too much you want, and the strength of your want is dizzying. One thought bubbles up to the top: “Off. Please take this off.” Your fingers scratch against his stomach through the thin fabric of his white T-shirt. 

He shudders underneath you, and he can’t stop himself from wrenching another whine from your throat when he kisses you again, so deeply that you almost miss it when he attempts to take his shirt off with one hand. Of course, you do notice when he fumbles and gets stuck in the shirt. 

All of a sudden, the almost suffocating tension in the room pops, and you can’t stop laughing when a muffled, “Don’t look at me,” comes from inside his shirt. You’re still laughing when he finally untangles himself and gets out of it. 

“What were you trying to do?” You ask, settling your hands on top of his shoulders. 

“Some trick I learned from the older guys on the team. Heeseung, mostly,” he admits. His fingers fidget with the hem of your shirt. 

“Heeseung can do that?” 

Jake makes a face at you. “Yeah, so what? Are you impressed, or something?”

You burst out laughing again. “No, you idiot, I think you’re all very stupid.”

He nods as his hand splays against your back underneath your shirt, pressing you closer to him. “Okay, but you like me the most, right?”

You roll your eyes even as you lean into his chest. “Obviously. I love you, like, an embarrassing amount.”

He chokes on air. “Sorry, I’m still not used to hearing that. Feels like I’m dreaming, y’know?”

“Me, too. The best dream ever,” you sigh, settling your ear against the steady beat of his heart. The overwhelming heat from before simmers down to comfortable warmth; fervor slips into felicity. 

Unexpectedly, you yawn. You’re halfway to apologizing when Jake shushes you with a kiss. “Sleep,” he urges. “I’ll be here when you wake up. We have all the time in the world, lover of mine. The rest of our lives.” 

And you do. And you do.