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sankatsuka · 3 months

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Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou: Microcosms in Gintama

Back to being delusional and crazy about Takagin... I've always noticed some similarities between Jirochou and Takasugi, but because the narrative kept comparing Tatsugorou and Jirochou to Gintoki (+ the white hair), it was hard to decide what to make of it...

But now I would go on to say The Four Devas arc feels like a microcosm of Shogun Assassination arc. Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou could very well be a microcosm to the entire Gintama. I think there's a lot to say about Gintoki and Takasugi's characters based on this.

Warning for spoilers and romantically implied Takagin/Gintaka.

Edit: Added another microcosm I found. Marked *.

I don't even feel like this needs to be explained, but Jirochou and Takasugi have pretty much the same gruff, constipated, distant personalities, except of course Jirochou came from a better family. Not to forget the heights and the similar choices of kimonos. The narrative never makes any points on how similar Takasugi is to several characters, but it definitely is there. Especially if Gintoki often picks a fight with them (looking at you Hijikata and Umibouzu). But I think Jirochou is the biggest culprit for being most similar to Takasugi, often having the same intense sequences with Gintoki.

There are two big similarities in the setting and events of The Four Devas arc and Shogun Assassination arc -

Both involve an attempt at overthrowing the authority;

One takes place in Kabukichou, and the other in the entire Edo.

Whether its coincidence or not, the cast that appear in The Four Devas arc and Shogun Assassination arc don't appear in the other (aside from Yorozuya, of course). If you can believe this was intended as a microcosm, then this means Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou have big roles to play in Gintama's overall narative.

So if Jirochou's personality heavily references Takasugi, who represents Gintoki? Or is there a third character to represent Otose?

Nope, my take is that Gintoki represents BOTH Otose and Tatsugorou. The narrative clearly points out the parallels between Tatsugorou and Gintoki, but the ones with Otose are never said. In fact, Gintoki has many similarities to women but the narrative never points it out (aside from Tsukuyo, but even then Gintoki belittles himself compared to her). It's probably because it's weird to compare a good-for-nothing guy to a woman in the first place.

But it wouldn't be weird if Gintoki was meant to represent a son to Otose and Tatsugorou, considering how they never had a child and Otose took him in. In a way, you could say he has a half of Otose and a half of Tatsugorou--

Gintoki has also coincidentally had two occasions where he is associated with halves. The first is in the Soul Switch arc, where the soul in the cat corpse Dozaemon with half of Gintoki's soul embodies the losses Gintoki suffered. The second is in Takasugi's death, where for some reason, he says he wished he could have shared a drink with him, even if it was half the number of times they fought.

These halves can be traced back to Otose and Tatsugorou. Dozaemon was highly characterized by wanting a place to belong and found it in Tae, which very much resembles Tatsugorou who is heavily implied to long for a place as a lone wolf and found it in Otose.

Then, Gintoki's words to Takasugi about sharing a drink seems very much like why Otose opened her snack bar in the first place - so anyone, no matter how different, can have a drink together. Maybe it's coincidence, but if Gintoki chose to say half + sharing a drink, then this could be one half of him speaking (Otose).

Another implication of Otose's half in Gintoki is in the amnesia arc. If it took away all memories, including the bad ones, from Gintoki, then what was left was just his soul as it is. He acts surprisingly more polite and empathetic compared to his usual self that even Tae is captivated. He also naturally cares about everyone's feelings around him, apologizes a lot and chooses to leave Yorozuya so as to not burden Shinpachi and Kagura any longer. Gintoki's base soul has always been someone who cares deeply about people, which we see demonstrated in his own way in the rest of the series.

Tatsugorou's traits in Gintoki are obviously that he's a lone wolf who gets along with everyone, but never gets too close and keeps his past a mystery. Otose's traits in Gintoki are how he easily acts like her proxy, always bringing people together. There is that huge parallel of how the entire Kabukichou came together to protect Otose and the city and to fulfil Gintoki's wish in the end. I would simplify their traits in Gintoki as wanting a place to belong (Tatsugorou) and sharing a kindred spirit (Otose). It's probably why the Gintoki in Hijikata's body isn't so different from the usual - because the soul and some memories that defined it were still there.

There is the argument that Tatsugorou would act like Gintoki without his memories, of course. But Jirochou describes Tatsugorou as chivalrous rather than an idiot who would protect everyone like Gintoki. So I'm inclined to think that Tatsugorou doesn't have the unconditional loving side for everyone that Otose has and acts mostly on his justice. He does get into physical fights for no reason.

Now that I have established Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou's traits in Gintoki and Takasugi, the events in their past and the Four Deva arcs has more to say about their characters:

Tatsugorou dying because of Jirochou, and Jirochou making a promise to protect Otose and Kabukichou | Takasugi making Gintoki promise to protect Shouyou, who breaks it and kills Shouyou to protect both

I know, the most obvious parallel is how Tatsugorou died in Jirochou's arms. But I'm taking a more psychoanalytical approach as always, as this event became what changed Jirochou immensely. I would think that Shouyou's death would be the parallel to this, given how it changed Takasugi.

Jirochou and Takasugi (partly) letting their guards down was what caused these tragic events to happen. Jirochou distances himself from Kabukichou and lives out the guilt of having let Tatsugorou die for someone like him, and Takasugi lived on suffering the guilt of having made Gintoki bear the cross of killing Shouyou. Both even feel like they were the ones who killed Tatsugorou and Shouyou.

Not to mention how Takasugi literally threw away his humanity in the Silver Soul arc to protect his teacher, just like Jirochou metaphorically doing so to protect Kabukichou. And Pirako comments how Jirochou really couldn't care less about the city and only did so for one woman. This is the same mindset Takasugi openly fights with in the war, fighting only for Shouyou, but later that reason reveals itself to be Gintoki.

Both Jirochou and Takasugi threw away their humanities to make it up to the man they admired who died protecting them (Tatsugorou and Shouyou), and make the person they love happy through that (Otose and Gintoki).

I would even go as far as saying the Tatsugorou half of Gintoki died alongside Shouyou at that time. There is the symbolism of how all three students created their graves. After all, Gintoki lost his home, something Tatsugorou always wanted for himself. He started wandering around afterwards, distancing himself from people but still protecting them. Even being willing to give up his life for strangers, like Otose sacrificing herself for everyone.

It's as if during this period, he closed the part of him who wanted a place to belong entirely but not the rest of it. He did say he no longer wanted to carry the burden of belonging somewhere with something important--

As he expresses it openly to Kamui 500+ chapters later, he had tried to live on empty and not let people in anymore to protect himself. But when he met Otose behind Tatsugorou's grave only did Tatsugorou's half start to come back alive, fighting once again to belong somewhere.

Gintoki does after all promise to stay somewhere to protect someone, despite having avoided belonging anywhere until now.

Jirochou attempting to kill Otose for his plans of protecting Kabukichou | Takasugi fighting to kill Gintoki to go through with his plans of toppling the Bakufu

Another big similarity here is how both Jirochou and Takasugi are willing to kill someone they love for the apparent greater good. Jirochou critically injured Otose, and Otose was at great risk of dying.

This emphasizes how Jirochou and Takasugi always play the roles of villainous anti-heroes. We learn in the Liberation Army arc that what Takasugi was trying to do was play hero and make a miracle to avenge the dead, even though it was impossible.

Something I also have to talk about is the romantic feelings that this trio captures. Jirochou's feelings for Otose seem to have come about from the way she loved everyone equally, even never giving up on straightening Jirochou up no matter how much he misbehaved.

As I discussed in previous posts, Takasugi's romantic feelings for Gintoki seem to stem from a similar place of unconditional love. It makes me think that gruff guys ware drawn to gentler, unconditional people who can see through their facade, contrast them and express their love for people when they themselves can't. Someone who wouldn't give up on them.

Even Gintoki being the one to keep getting back up to stop Takasugi on his rampage, like Otose had done with Jirochou.

With how the story teases Otose with Jirochou too, I'm inclined to believe that Otose did harbour some romantic feelings for him. But she was more attracted to Tatsugorou, who shared her values of being present with people, unlike Jirochou who distances himself all the time. There is a scene where Otose notes how Jirochou and Tatsugorou communicate with their fists, and she looks from far away as if it isn't a world she is part of. A way to see this, could be that if Otose understood Jirochou better, she may have fallen in love with him first.

Whereas Gintoki already knows how important it is to communicate with your fists, that it's what he uses to wake Takasugi up in the end. The chapter even being titled Fists.

This is what makes both Otose and Tatsugorou's halves in Gintoki important. Without Tatsugorou's traits, Gintoki would have never been able to see eye-to-eye with Takasugi. Gintoki probably knew Takasugi better than Otose knew Jirochou because of this too, which is a recurring theme in the story of how they can just tell each other's thoughts. And without Otose's trait of loving people and never giving up on them, Takasugi would have never found a place and fell in love with Gintoki.

And in Takasugi's final moments, if Gintoki was speaking with the half of him who is Otose - then it could mean that part of him fully reciprocated Takasugi's feelings.

Takasugi plays strong roles to both halves - he was the one who encouraged Gintoki to just do what he wanted honestly and with all his heart at the start (here, just a theory though), and he was the one who fought to his death for his sake fully committing Gintoki's place within Takasugi's soul in the end. It's just that only one half of him could be honest, but it doesn't mean the other didn't love him either.

In the end, Jirochou's conclusion is to properly return to his life, to stop being bound to a promise and pay attention to what really matters now in the present. This is similar to Takasugi's conclusion in the Liberation Army arc: to live life as just a human and to face and accept everything that's happened.

The ending of the Four Deva arcs involve Jirochou reuniting with Pirako, and so does Takasugi's ending reuniting with Matako.

*(Another strong microcosm is in the Invasion arc: Jirocho made his entrance with a speech about the role of men in Kabukichou - how they become cowards when they can't protect one woman, so with that title, they will keep roaring about their chivalry till their death. And this is exactly what Takasugi does both as a terrorist and at his death, playing hero and never divulging the real reason why. Sadly I can't add anymore photos - this speech is in Chapter 622.)

I did talk about Tae being drawn to instances where both halves were showing. I personally think the reason Gintoki and Tae aren't together is because of how they are too similar as people, both being a combination of Otose and Tatsugorou instead of one. Both of them are kind caring people but also terribly cunning, that it isn't an exaggeration to say Tae IS the female Gintoki and vice versa. It's even emphasized in how they coincidentally have many similar character traits (having stalkers and chibi rich kid one-eyed simps, being a useless woman and man). Even the teasing of how Tae seems to return the feelings of many people like Gintoki.

As halves, I do think they would have been together. But as wholes, they probably understand each other better than anyone that they want to care about everyone (hence why they aren't together).

They can only really be with someone who is happy with them just the way they are. Even Kyubei being happy just seeing Tae smile, even if it could be taken in a romantic context of reciprocating Kondo's feelings. Kyutae was heavily implied to be mutual and canon if Kyubei was a man (grrrr). Takagin feels mutual but just won't happen even if Takasugi was alive because of their clashing natures.

Yup, I'm pretty much convinced Takasugi->Gintoki was 100% implied romantic at this point. Pirako commenting how Jirochou was doing all of this for the woman he loved and didn't care about the town, Takasugi having parallels to almost every man canonically in love...

Takasugi saying he can just a bit honest about doing what he wants to do and not entirely. This motherfucker.

(Gin-san is my honest reaction to him.)

#gintama #takasugi shinsuke #shinsuke takasugi #sakata gintoki #gintoki sakata #jirochou doromizu #doromizu jirochou #tatsugorou terada #terada tatsugorou #otose #ayano terada #terada ayano #takagin #gintaka

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tiredassmage · 10 months

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how's trooper tyr handling being outlander...credit for your thoughts??

oh, by the force, not well not well at ALL, lmaooooooooooo

Honestly, I think making trooper!tyr go through being the Outlander is probably the single cruelest thing I've ever done to him. Definitely as trooper, but I would... probably consider arguments for, like, overall to Tyr in general. tbh. Which given that his original canon is the Imperial Agent story might sound like a wild claim, so let me take us back a little to give a sense of place.

I'll put in another caution warning and it will be under the cut, but we can't grapple with this without talking about PTSD, some mentions of alcohol and drug use, and... unhealthy coping mechanisms as a general rule, tbh.

Perhaps most importantly is the groundwork that Tyr was never meant to stay a member of Havoc Squad when he was first assigned to SpecForce. For those just recently tuning in, the shorthand of that is Tyr began his career for the Republic as a SIS operative, officially around eighteen. He's assigned to Havoc Squad on Ord Mantell in his mid-twenties as part of a quiet investigation into rumors about SpecForce defections and questionable operations practices.

And then, of course, Harron Tavus and the other long-term Havoc members defect right in front of his eyes. Thus, Tyr's saddled with an unexpected SpecForce promotion and long-term reassignment. The official cut from the SIS occurs on Nar Shadaa, well into Tyr starting to establish a new Havoc with Aric Jorgan, Hyroh Kaah (@hyrohkaah), and Elara Dorne - the former two which join him from Ord Mantell, and of course Elara comes from their Taris operations.

What that does to the squad through the class story is probably its own post, so for the purposes of this one, it essentially means Tyr was never... exactly meant to be leadership material. Quite frankly, even his experience in the SIS was more directed.

Contrast that with his experience in his original canon as Cipher Nine and he lacks a lot of that developed sense of purpose and independence that made him such an effective operative for Imperial Intelligence.

So, as you may have guessed, if leading a small squad was a bit much for him to wrangle, being thrust into the thick of something as massive, unruly, and uncertain as the Alliance is... a lot.

CW again for mentions of PTSD & alcohol and drug use starting under the cut.

It exacerbates a lot of Tyr's complications that have developed in his SpecForce career. The most lingering, damning thing Tyr has yet to grapple with at the dawn of the Alliance is the blood on his hands from the deaths of the former Havoc Squad. Tyr hunted them all, and rather ruthlessly. Fuse is perhaps the single exception where Tyr didn't personally pull the trigger, but he did prioritize stopping Imperials over rescuing him. Still, at the time, there wasn't a lot of grief over the choice.

At the time when he put a blaster bolt through Harron Tavus, he... I wouldn't say felt nothing. Something felt... wrong, perhaps. But he'd had a job to do. So he stuck to his job.

The next several years of continued work for SpecForce would explain the rest: Harron Tavus might've been right about some things. SpecForce wasn't clean work. And while Tyr's previous employment with the SIS did no favors for his relationship with General Garza, his dogged loyalty to the Republic largely worked to her favor. Tavus's death meant no deep dive into Garza's methods - not until much later, when Eclipse Squad was a breaking point, one of the last cleanup missions Tyr swore he'd ever let Havoc suffer. If she hadn't agreed to hand herself in, he may have threatened to shoot her, too.

Thankfully, if such a threat was made, it never made it to the court records.

But that's, in short, a guilt that doesn't leave him. It keeps haunting him and Havoc; Aric, Hyroh, and Elara in particular are three people that stand by him through his worst and his best. They're not always happy with him, certainly, but they don't give up on him. They're together through the search for the Deadeyes, through Saresh's politicking after Corellia and Makeb, through the horrors of Oricon and Ziost that they as soldiers were never fully trained to grapple with.

He loses all of that. The one consistency in his life, the one group of people that had been slowly helping him find himself, what he wanted to genuinely stand for, who he wanted to be. Trooper Tyr had those things to lose.

And he's just... By now, he's closer to his 30s. But in ways, he's still... just growing. Just getting out of the mortifying ordeal that is trying to find your identity and sense of place in your 20s, especially having grown up too fast and having such a deeply encoded sense of what it is to be a soldier.

In the short term, five years in carbonite develops an extensive struggle with insomnia he often turns to stims to combat so that he's not entirely dead weight following Lana and the others around trying to keep up with their needs and demands - well-meaning demands, perhaps, but demands nonetheless. Demands he isn't exactly equipped to deal with as a soldier whose strength was as a sniper.

He does also throw himself into quite a routine at the Arena Grand; originally, it was just to recruit Bowdarr to their cause, but it also became one place Tyr felt he had control. The scarring from his encounter with Arcann on Asylum is still mentally fresh to him, if not as much physically. He can't fight Arcann. He's not trained for that, not built for it - Valkorian's cursed influence on him or not. But he can fight in the pits. Those are enemies he understands. That's a fight he can wrap his hands around. Everyone is so busy and has, largely, spent their time sort of talking over whatever his needs might have been that Tyr slips into coping by fighting. It gives him a place to vent out the irritability of the mood swings and the exhaustion that he can't always dampen with drinks and stims.

And this has... already started to carry on, so, to sort of hopefully summarize, he doesn't handle it well in any sense of the term. He struggles a lot. He feels incredibly lost and even powerless, especially early on. By Knights of the Eternal Throne, he finds a bit more footing and, of course, he has some familiar supports back in place - Aric and Hyroh were found still in Havoc and have been with the Alliance ever since.

But a lot of it will aggravate the PTSD he already earned earlier in his career, and it will add new elements to it. Trooper Tyr is... a bit more ruthless, in some ways - and that's not just in the Alliance era. He's always clung hard to the ideals of the Republic that he thought were so important, and the training as a soldier made a lot of his reasoning much more cut and dry than the open negotiation and constantly shifting awareness he had as an Imperial Agent in his regular canon.

That said, it's not all completely doomed. It does teach him something about what he values and the kind of person he wants to be and become. It builds on an understanding he had come to find in the little makeshift squad family he had developed with Hyroh, Aric, and Elara - that the people beside you, the people that stick with you are the most important.

It is... a truly exhausting battle. But he tries. And he also knows he... has no intention of holding on to this kind of power in the aftermath. He never really wanted it in the first place, but there is no other place in the galaxy to get rid of Valkorian than to soldier through the storm with the Alliance.

And, while he'd never defect to the Empire, he also knows... he doesn't want to be a soldier again whenever this is through. Not even for the Republic. It's all just... been a lot too much. For him and Hyroh to be able to finally step away, to settle into something more... quiet. Maybe tinkering with speeders and droids... Tyr wants to see his mother again, make more consistent visits.

He doesn't have a lot of time to do that in the Alliance - and even if he did, he'd be terrified of catching her in the middle of the Alliance's work. [And a part of him isn't ready to grapple with her seeing him at one of the lowest points of his life, so self-destructive and worn by everything.] There are not words for the kind of emotional damage I took from the realization that, with all the Alliance gets up to, and the five years the Republic presumed him dead... its just about as long as he went without seeing her when he moved out when he turned 18. That was about eight years, and the Alliance is at least six or seven, probably.

#answered #vs: kiss with a fist / self control in locker room showers [trooper!tyr]#vs: all their words for glory / they all sound so empty [outlander trooper!tyr]#swtor ocs #i am. i have so many emotions about him. fr.#there's. a lot of guilt to it. a lot of exhaustion. a lot of self-doubt.#kdfsnslkn fittingly he gets his. personal feelings mixed up with it all too at times so like. tirall family drama cycle fr i guess xD

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space-blue · 2 years

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Is it me or during the wacky family reunion dinner scene at the finale jinx tried to make it seem to Vi that Silco didn’t matter much to her. Thoughts?

Hi Anon!

That is a very interesting take... I... think not? Mostly because she was so high on the shimmer juice, and so obviously upset. I don't think there was a lot of artifice going on, besides the obvious "uwu face" she made at Vi when asking her to kill Cait and the whole fake beheading antics.

The short reply is : I didn't take it as Jinx making an effort to downplay Silco's importance, but rather her not caring to explain/correct.

The long ramble version is :

I think Jinx truly misunderstood Silco's meaning, at the statue, because she's so emotional in response to his clarification about loving her and never surrendering her. Hence she had him present at that table because she was angry with him too, and it fit her crazy plans for a "family dinner".

To be FAIR, Jinx has a very strange relationship with Silco, which makes me think that she might not love him for who he is, might now know him that well—not as well as he knows her or values her, at least. During the entire show we see her strive for his respect ("He'll think I'm weak!") but we never see her acknowledging his dreams/goals, or actually even being careful about them (cue blowing up a ton of enforcers to get the gem, which stressed Silco the fuck out, even if he saw the gem as potentially worth it).

Overall, they seem to have a close relationship emotionally, but with Silco being the more mature and stable one. She's clearly dismissive of his well being at times too (the way he reacts to her hurting him with his own medicine gear really hints that this isn't the first time she blows up like that). While he worries about her mental and physical states.

And it ends up at the dinner, where again she's manhandling him, and again he's taking her side despite everything, defending her and trying to get her to calm down.

She's clearly in an altered shimmer induced state anyway... But it seemed to me that she wasn't even trying for Vi to perceive Silco as anything in particular.

Vi was there to chose: Jinx or Cait, pick one. Silco was there because she misunderstood his speech (and because naratively he HAS to be there, so he can die). But Vi's role at the dinner seems a little unrelated to him/his presence. Jinx isn't forcing them to get along, or talk.

If Vi DID kill Cait, I'm sure the "what now?" conversation would have included Silco. As it is, I think after Silco dies and Vi says the grossly unperceptive "It'll be all right", like Silco truly was meaningless and couldn't have meant much, Jinx says nothing because there is nothing she could say that would make Vi understand, after she misunderstood EVERYTHING about Jinx for so long, and so much.

Jinx isn't dumb. The set up of the dinner table really reveals she knows that Vi still perceives her as "little Powder". She spent far too long becoming Jinx and claiming "Powder is dead" for her to seriously be considering "reverting" to Powder. Silco sort of calls out her bluff too. I think she's couching the choice in very obvious terms, and because Vi won't accept Jinx anyway.

Vi is looking for Powder. If she choses her over Cait, she'd be doing it for Powder, not for Jinx.

It's a weird, fucked up choice to be given... But people by and large misunderstand Jinx and who she is and says she is, throughout the show. I think Silco is the only one who really understands. In that one moment where she takes the gag off, the first thing he does is to scream at Vi to stop dead-naming Jinx.

I think, with his own maturity and experience, he understands that it's important for Jinx to be a "new person". It happened to him too, though without the need for a new name. He repeatedly encourages her to let "Powder die", and the show gets out of its way to prove to us that it works well for her (she happily works to create Fishbones basically overnight, I mean, wow), and her mental state immediately deteriorates as she sees Sevika was right and Vi is alive (and with Cait).

Jinx is at her most unstable and miserable when she's being "torn" by Powder, and hence recalls Vi's abandonment.

Where the hell am I going with this? (backreads) Ah, yes.

We tend to take away a lot of agency from Jinx because of her blatant mental illness, but if you take her at her word and listen to her, she TELLS us that Powder is dead, and she wants to be known, and RESPECTED as Jinx.

Vi never does that, nor does she accept or understand that Silco is someone meaningful to her. She's told by Sevika, by Jinx herself, by Ekko, by Silco... And Vi never, ever accepts it. Because she can't, imo, not out of some mean-spirited, thought out decision.

To be fair to her, it's hard to read the room correctly when Silco is tied and gagged across the same sordid table... (Though I guess it's also a hint. If Jinx will tie up Vi to a chair, her doing it to Silco too isn't a particular indication that she doesn't care for him.)

But I feel like Jinx lacks the will to drive that point home. No matter what she does, Vi refuses to accept her as she is. Vi misreads the room. Vi wants Powder, not Jinx, Silco's daughter.

So when Jinx finally breaks and makes her choice, Vi's "understanding" doesn't matter so much. What difference would it even make? Jinx says her piece, and it sounds almost like it's more to herself, or addressed to the silent Vi that was with her all this time. It reads like a self-actualisation, or an admission of the ugly truth that she's been keeping at bay all this time.

Vi can't love her as she is, she's too different... Correcting her to explain she deeply cared about Silco and resents her sister's misunderstanding would not make Vi love her more.

So instead she goes and blows up the Council.

Those are just my thoughts though, as demanded :p

#Jinx #Arcane #Silco #Vi #Cait #anon ask #arcane meta

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photogirl894 · 2 years

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"Sun and Rain"

Chapter 52

"A Chance to Breathe"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: whoo, the writing mojo is back!! Two chapters in only a couple days! I'm back, baby!!

In case anyone missed my update, I'm going to probably have a chapter or two left after this one before this story is going to connect with the events of "Bad Batch" season 1. You can read the full update here!

Until then, enjoy this chapter 😁😁 forgive me, there's quite a few things happening in this one lol

Also, one of the scenes later on was inspired by this beautiful fan art drawn for me by @4pplecider a couple months back 🥰 Thank you for the inspiration, my dear!! 😉 and when you get to said scene closer to the end (you'll know what it is, trust me), listen to this song: "Meant to Be" by Two Steps From Hell and it will make it even better 😊

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @tmnt-leo-simp , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettroseog , @tech-deck , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49

《 Chapter 51

》 Chapter 53

All chapters

Explanation: Now that the Clones are free and the Eradicators are finished, the Koriena Force and the Bad Batch wrap things up and then take some downtime on Toydaria. While there, Kimber and Hunter have a much-needed heart to heart.

The Koriena Force's ship left the planet of Nar Shadaa behind as it flew up to the Republic cruiser waiting in its orbit.

As they got into the hangar of the cruiser, Captain Rex called Commander Cody over comms and told him, "Cody, we've docked in the cruiser. Make the jump to Toydaria and let's get out of here."

"Copy that, Rex. Making the jump," said Cody over the comm.

After that, Rex moved beside Kida again and stated to the others, "We need to get her to medical immediately."

"Rex, it's just my shoulder. I'm really okay," Kida protested.

"Your wound should still be looked at, nonetheless," he countered.

"He has a point," said Echo. "You don't want it to get infected."

Kida rolled her eyes, but still grinned. "Oh, you Clones, so concerned for me. Very well, I'll let you take me to the medic, Captain."

Now with her consent, Rex slung her good arm over his shoulder and started walking her down the ramp off the ship and into the cruiser.

Kimber couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at watching them. Since Kida had gotten shot, Rex had been incredibly attentive of her. He had reacted with panic initially and then had temporarily dressed her wound on the ship and making sure she was all right on the way to the cruiser, never taking his eyes off of her. Kimber was surprised by his change in behavior, considering before, almost anytime Kida would even speak to Rex, he would get perplexed and at a loss for words. Had her flirtations actually secretly worked their way into his heart after all?

Her train of thought was interrupted by Echo coming up beside her, a bewildered look on his face. "Uh...what's going on there?" he asked, gesturing to the two people disembarking the ship.

“You know…I’m not entirely sure, to be honest,” she responded.

The two of them began gradually making their way down the ramp and he asked her, “How are you, Kimber? I mean…you look incredible. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

She snickered, having almost forgotten that she was still in her bounty hunter disguise. “That was kind of the point,” she said, “but I’m better now that I know you lads are safe.”

Wrecker then came up behind them, gave her a hit in the shoulder and exclaimed, “I can’t believe you took down the Eradicators all by yourself!”

“I most certainly did not take them down by myself,” she replied, stopping and turning around to face him, Echo and Wrecker stopping with her. Then she gestured to the other ladies following out of the ship. “I couldn’t have done it without them. They’re the reason I got to this point.”

Rina appeared at Kimber’s side and said, nudging Kimber in the side, “You got that right.”

In that moment, Wrecker suddenly cried, “Come here, you!”, crouched down, wrapped his arm underneath her legs and hoisted Rina up onto his broad shoulder, making her let out a tiny yelp in surprise. “You were amazing back there and you’re a real cutie, you know that?” he asked with a smile.

She was startled for a split second at his declaration, but then grinned down at him and stated back, “You’re quite the hunk yourself, big guy. You got a name?”

“The name’s Wrecker,” he told her, now continuing on without realizing the rest of the group wasn’t following.

“I’m Rina,” she said back, her voice now getting fainter as they got further away.

Hunter, Tech and Crosshair as well as Lex and Irys came down and joined up next to Kimber and Echo, curiously watching Wrecker strut away with Rina still on his shoulder, the two of them striking up a conversation..

“Well…that was a first,” commented Hunter.

“Indeed. Wrecker has never shown interest in a woman before,” Tech added.

Kimber shrugged and said, “I guess he hadn’t met the right woman until now.”

“I always thought explosives were the only things that would catch his eye,” then said Crosshair, folding his arms.

“Rina’s got quite the firecracker personality. She’d be perfect for him,” Kimber replied, a smile crossing her face as she kept watching the two of them get further away in the hangar.

Then Tech spoke up, “By the way, Kimber, whatever happened to our ship after we were attacked?”

“The Marauder’s on the other end of the hangar. They were able to pull it into the cruiser when they found me,” she explained. “As far as I’m aware, they made repairs while I was away.”

“Excellent. Shall I prep the ship to leave, Sarge?” Tech then asked Hunter.

“We’ll disembark once the cruiser reaches Toydaria in a couple hours,” he responded.

With a nod, Tech then declared, “Very well. I’m going to go to the ship anyway to ensure the regs didn’t make any mistakes that will require fixing before we depart.” Then without waiting for anyone’s response, Tech whipped out his datapad and immersed himself in it as he walked away from the group.

Lex came up behind Kimber, put an arm across her shoulders and said, pulling her in a little, “Would you believe it? We actually pulled it off, princess.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you ladies,” replied Kimber.

“Thank you for helping rescue us,” then said Hunter, looking between the two ladies.

Irys bowed her head and said, “It was our pleasure. You guys are important to Kimber and we were more than willing to help.”

“Mind if we join you guys on Toydaria for a little while?” inquired Lex.

“By all means,” said Hunter.

Uncrossing his arms, Crosshair then stated, “I’m going to go check on the ship, as well.” Though, before he left, he put a hand on Kimber’s shoulder and said to her softly, “You did good today, sunshine. I’m proud of you.”

She gave him a soft smile and then reached up and squeezed his hand as she said back, “Thanks, brother.”

Crosshair’s head ever so slightly reared back and his eyes widened for a split second at hearing her call him “brother”. He knew she had referred to him as such in the message she’d left for them when she’d left for Coruscant, but hearing her actually say it to his face made him feel a sense of joy he hadn’t ever felt before. She truly did view him as a brother just as he viewed her as a sister. He couldn’t ask for anything more. He gave her a small grin in return and then proceeded to leave the rest of them.

“I’m going to go talk to Commander Cody,” Hunter informed the ladies. Then his eyes found Kimber and, to her surprise, he reached out and lightly grasped her hand. “We’ll talk later?” he asked.

“Sure,” she replied.

With that, he left Kimber with Lex and Irys, his hand lingering a little longer in hers until he finally had to let go.

“That man is probably the most handsome one I have ever seen. You’re one lucky gal, Kimber,” Lex commented to her.

Kimber smiled at the Zabrak, but there was a hint of melancholy behind it. “I want to agree, but…I don’t know where I stand with him right now, so I’m not sure what to think,” she said.

“I’ve observed how he’s looked at you since we left Nar Shadaa and how he held your hand just now,” said Irys. “I’m fairly certain he still has feelings for you.”

“Fairly certain?” Kimber repeated.

Bobbing her head, the Togruta clarified, “I would say I’m…eighty percent certain of that.”

Raising her eyebrows, Lex questioned back, “What about the other twenty percent?”

“He’s still feeling hurt and betrayed from Kimber leaving them and he’s conflicted about resuming his relationship with her again,” Irys replied casually.

Feeling discouraged, Kimber hung her head and let out a sad sigh. “Well…at least the odds seem somewhat in my favor.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Lex offering her a comforting smile. “Don’t lose hope yet,” she reassured her. “Hunter may not know what he wants yet, but at least he still cares about you. That much is apparent. You’ve won him over once; I know you can do it again. Don’t give up on your Sergeant.”

“Thanks, ladies,” said Kimber. Then the wound in her side she got from Jax twinged a little and she clutched at it briefly. “Come on, I need to go to the infirmary myself and get patched up. After that, let’s go check on Kida.”

The other two voiced their agreement and the three of them started making their way to the medical bay.

“Rex, you really don’t have to be here,” urged Kida as the medical Droid was applying a bacta patch to her wounded shoulder.

The Captain was standing near the corner, his hands wringing together anxiously. “I know, but I just want to be sure you’re okay,”

Chuckling, she said to him, “What is going on with you? Normally, you hardly say a word to me because everything I do makes you all flustered and nervous.”

The med Droid finished with the bacta and proceeded out of the room to go see to their next patient, scooting past Rex out of the door and leaving the two of them alone.

“You ladies were my responsibility just as much as Kimber’s. It’s my duty to look after you,” he explained, straightening up and his expression serious.

“Is that all this is right now? Duty?” she questioned, lifting her eyebrows.

He opened his mouth to answer, but then faltered as he found himself unsure how to respond. She watched him curiously, trying to gauge his true thoughts; trying to figure him out. His eyes looked to the floor for a moment, then he closed them and took a deep breath.

“I…don’t know,” he responded.

Her eyebrows went a little higher. “Wow...have you actually grown to care for me, Captain?” she asked mostly jokingly through another chuckle.

However, he remained silent and kept his eyes trained on her as he slowly approached the cot she sat on. This took Kida by surprise and her breath hitched slightly as Rex was suddenly standing directly in front of her, his brown eyes staring deep into her gold ones.

Just then, a smirk appeared on his face as the Clone Captain then told the blue-skinned Pantoran woman, “Well, what can I say…blue is my favorite color.”

This time, she gasped softly, completely caught off guard by his forward statement. Just who was this Clone standing in front of her now? What had happened to the shy, nervous Captain that used to get speechless every time she spoke to him? For the first time in her life, she was now at a loss for words. She was always so used to being the flirty one with everyone and most people didn’t reciprocate as she was known to come across a bit strongly, which she didn’t mind at all, but now…it seemed the tables were turning.

To try and hide her awkwardness, she looked away and said, snickering again, “You’ve never had a woman flirt with you…and I’ve never had anyone actually flirt back. This is...quite a change.”

Rex then took one more step closer to her and asked her, his voice lowering, “Kida, your…flirtations with me…were they simply for fun and meaningless or…did they actually mean something to you?”

That was also a question Kida was not expecting. Was he legitimately interested in her? She wasn’t sure and deep down was thinking it was too good to be true and didn’t want to believe it. Yet there was another part of her that wanted it to be true.

Her response to him was, “What do you want them to mean, Captain?”

For a brief moment, the two of them kept their gazes locked on each other, trying to read the other’s face for any sort of telltale sign of what they wanted. Kida’s eyes flitted down for a second to Rex’s lips, but then she looked back up to his face, hoping he didn’t notice.

Outside in the corridor, Kimber, Lex and Irys were making their way to the room one of the med Clones had told them Kida and Rex were in, now that Kimber's own wound had been bandaged up.

“I do hope Kida isn’t giving the poor Captain a hard time again,” said Irys.

Kimber laughed. “It’s Kida. I’d be surprised if she wasn’t,” she said back.

“The woman flirts with every man in her path,” said Lex with a roll of her eyes.

“Has she ever actually had a serious relationship? Or had genuine feelings for someone?” Kimber inquired.

Lex answered, “As far as I can recall, I don’t think she’s ever had a serious relationship. As for genuine feelings…hard to say. Though, she said she had her eyes on Rex, but I don’t know if that was serious or for a one-night stand sort of thing.”

“Most likely the latter,” Irys commented.

Though, as they were coming up outside the door, they heard Rex talking inside and they stopped to listen.

They heard him say, “Normally, I have to abide by protocol and behave professionally…but right now…I want to throw caution to the wind and do what I’ve secretly wanted to do for a while. That is…if you’ll allow me, Kida.”

Kimber, Irys and Lex all exchanged wide-eyed glances.

Then they heard Kida speak in reply, her voice abnormally soft and sweet, “Yes…I want you to, Rex.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Lex whispered in disbelief.

“It would appear that I was mistaken,” said Irys.

For a few seconds, they couldn’t hear anything and their curiosity got the best of them. What was going on? Kimber pressed the button on the outside to open the door, the door slid open and all three of them had to keep themselves from gasping aloud in shock.

Rex and Kida were entwined in each other's arms, kissing quite deeply and passionately. Rex was holding her tightly against him around her waist with one arm and the other hand cupping her face while Kida kept him close with her arms about his neck and shoulders. They were so enthralled in the moment with one another that neither of them even heard the door to the room open.

With her other hand clamped over her mouth to keep quiet, Kimber quickly pressed the button to the door again and shut the door. Then she let out an amused laugh and said, “Well…I think they’re just fine!”

“So it would seem,” added Irys, also astonished at what they’d just seen.

"She actually got Rex to fall for her...looks like Rina and I owe Kida five hundred credits each," commented Lex.

"Sure looks like it," Kimber agreed.

Right then, they heard Kida moan, “Oh Rex…!” on the other side of the door.

“And that’s our cue to leave,” Lex stated, now looking a little mortified.

“Agreed,” said Irys and the two of them immediately started walking away.

However, Kimber stayed behind for a few more seconds as she couldn’t help but smile at the door. She’d had a hunch that maybe the Captain had actually developed an interest in Kida, despite how flustered she made him, and it made her happy not only knowing she was right, but also knowing that those two had actually gotten out of their comfort zones because of each other. They were opening themselves to something more when neither of them thought they wanted it.

“Way to go, Captain,” she said quietly to herself before running off to catch up with her friends.

Once the cruiser made it above Toydaria, any Clones that wanted to leave the cruiser or at least didn't want to return to Coruscant for any reason were welcome to take their leave. Kimber caught the Wolf Pack just as she was on her way to meet up with her squad.

"Kimber! We knew it was you!" cried Comet as they saw her coming.

"Whatever gave me away?" she asked with a teasing grin.

Boost came up to her and said to her, "I can't believe you actually saved us! That was incredible!"

"I did what was right, that's what matters," she said back. "I had no idea you guys had gotten captured, too."

Wolffe came forward and stated, "The Eradicators grabbed us as we were returning to Coruscant from Falleen. We put up a good fight, but it wasn't enough."

"They caught my squad unawares, so we didn't stand a chance, unfortunately, but they left me behind," Kimber explained.

"Well, it's a good thing they did or else we'd all still be trapped there," said Sinker.

"We're in your debt, Kimber," said Wolffe.

She waved a dismissive hand. "You don't owe me anything. Just keep fighting to end the war and make our galaxy safer. You boys should be able to handle that."

Letting out a small snicker, Wolffe smirked and answered, "You better believe it."

"Well, I had better get going, my squad is going to head down to Toydaria now that we've reached the planet. Maybe our paths will cross again one day and hopefully under better circumstances," she said to them.

Wolffe hummed and responded, "I guess we'll see. Take care of yourself, all right?"

"Yes, Commander," Kimber told him, giving him a salute.

"See you around, Kimber," said Comet, giving her a wave along with Sinker and Boost.

Kimber waved back and smiled, once again leaving the Wolf Pack behind to go meet up with the Bad Batch and also, this time, the Koriena Force.

She found the Koriena Force outside their borrowed ship on the boarding ramp and saw Rex leaving the ship himself. No doubt he was thanking them for their help, but also bidding farewell to Kida. As she was walking towards him, he caught her eye and they made their way to each other.

"Is this where we part ways again, Rex?" Kimber inquired.

"I'm afraid so, for now," he replied. He approached her and laid a hand on her arm. "You achieved the impossible here, Kimber, and I can't thank you enough for your loyalty to us Clones."

"I couldn't have done it without you, too, Rex," she said back. "I'm grateful to have a friend like you."

"I told you you'd be a great leader. You've done me and the Republic proud."

"It was the least I could do for the people I owe my life to." She extended a hand out to him and he took her by the wrist. "Until next time, Captain."

He grinned. "Until next time."

Then she smirked at him and added as she let him go, "By the way...you and Kida make a lovely couple." She winked playfully at him.

His eyes went wide with surprise, not expecting to hear that she knew about him and Kida. She simply giggled with satisfaction and walked right past him.

"Give Jesse and Kix my regards," she called over her shoulder as she left him. Then she smiled to herself, hoping it wouldn't be long until she'd see her favorite Clone Captain again.

As she made her way by the Koriena Force's ship, all the ladies on the ramp waved to her.

"You'd better get to the Bad Batch's ship, boss lady! They're waiting for you!" cried Rina.

"We'll meet you down on the planet!" added Lex.

"By the way, you'll probably want this!" shouted Kida, holding up a large sack and tossing it to Kimber as she ran by.

Kimber caught the bag, looked inside and couldn't help but smile with joy. Inside was her Bad Batch armor. It was going to be nice to wear it again.

With a nod, Kimber slung the bag over her shoulder, waved back at the ladies and called to them, "I'll see you all there!" Then she broke into a quick canter to get to the Marauder...and back to her boys.

Minutes later, she spotted Hunter and Echo outside the Marauder and the engines were just kicking on. "Hey, you better wait for me!" she shouted with a grin, picking up speed.

They heard her call and looked in her direction. Echo then called back gladly as he watched her come to to them, "We'd never dream of leaving you behind, Kim!"

"Good! I would hope so because I didn't go through all that trouble of breaking you guys out for that to happen," she teased as she stopped in front in them.

"No...we stay together," Hunter reaffirmed.

Once again, her heart skipped a beat just getting to hear Hunter's voice again speaking like this to her. How she'd missed him!

Then he gestured inside with his head and said, "Come on. Let's get out of here and take some time for ourselves. We all deserve a rest."

Hunter climbed up the stairs into the Marauder first. Echo looked back at Kimber and then held out his good hand to her with a warm and inviting smile on his face. Kimber smiled back, took his hand and let him lead her back into the ship, ready to leave the awful experiences of the last few days behind them.

Seeing as how it was nighttime back on Nar Shadaa, it also happened to be nighttime on Toydaria, as well, since it was in a nearby system. Both the Marauder and the Koriena Force's ships landed near the wild areas of the planet, far enough out not to disturb anyone, but just close enough to civilization in case they needed to go there for anything. Once the ships landed, Kimber jumped from the Marauder over to the other ship and told the ladies they should get some rest. They would take time the next day to figure things out and just have some downtime after a trying mission. The ladies all agreed and bade Kimber good night. When she returned to the Marauder, she suggested they do the same and rest, especially since she figured they hadn't had a proper night's sleep since being captured. The Clones all obliged as well and retired to their bunks.

Kimber, however, laid awake out in the cockpit of the ship, now back in her Bad Batch armor, her tattoos cleaned off and her hair back in its normal single braid. There were just too many thoughts buzzing around in her head. So much had happened in so little time. In only days, she'd met an entire group of women who agreed to help get her squad back and now, they were her team under her command and they were her friends, people she had come to trust with her life. She had gone from a follower in one group to the leader of another; she'd grown into a better leader than she ever believed she could be. She and those ladies had taken down an entire extremist syndicate purely on their own, something that not even the Republic with all its resources and intel could do.

Above all that...she had actually killed someone.

The moment she had shot Jax Orroco repeated itself over and over in her head. She knew it was what had to be done. If he had been left alive, then there was still the high chance he would continue his work for the Eradicators had he somehow escaped or survived the base explosion. Even though it was the right call, why did it still eat away at her? Did this now make her a killer, even though she was justified in what she'd done? If anything, the final shot had been more in self-defense, but even still, there was a sense of guilt wracking at her inside. Perhaps now she realized why Echo had stopped her from killing Wat Tambor back on Kuat. Even if the death would've been justified, it was still a living being she would be taking life from, not just another Droid or creature. It wouldn't be the same. Now, she understood, but it was too late to take back what she'd done to Jax. This was now something she'd have to live with.

After what felt like a couple hours of being unable to get to sleep, Kimber finally decided to go out and get some air. She grabbed a heater from one of the storage compartments, pulled out another small box from her pack, quietly got off the ship and sat herself down on a nearby log. She turned the heater on to ensure she'd stay warm in the cool evening, plus it let off bright light almost like a fire so she could see.

Then she picked up the smaller box from her pack. This was actually a music player that connected to a lot of Republic radio stations throughout the galaxy.

It had been a gift to her...from Jesse.

Months ago, shortly after she had gone to Coruscant initially, he had given her the music player to keep her from getting bored in her hotel, keep her entertained and to sometimes help her sleep, if she was able to find a station with soothing music. It was a gift she loved and used often in her nights at the hotel. Now, she figured it would serve her again on a night where she just had too much on her mind. She switched it on, turned a couple dials until she could hear music being picked up, lowered the volume ever so slightly and then set it off to the side. Her eyes then drifted up the Toydarian night sky. There were just as many stars in the sky as she'd seen on other planets. At least that never changed no matter where she went. The stars would always be there.

"You're still up?" suddenly spoke a familiar voice.

Kimber whipped around to see Hunter slowly walking towards her from inside the ship. The soft glow of the heater really illuminated his sharp features and the tattooed side of his face that she couldn't help but sigh quietly. It was nice seeing him again and knowing he was okay. Now that he was free...maybe they finally had a chance to rekindle what they once had.

At least...depending on how things would go with him tonight.

"Yeah, I uh...just couldn't sleep," she answered.

He moved around to her side and asked, "Would you mind some company?"

"Sure. Would you mind waking up Echo?" she joked back.

Hunter gave Kimber a teasing look, showing he was slightly unamused, and she just smiled and laughed at him, patting the spot next to her on the log for him to come sit down. He stepped around and sat down beside her, his leg lightly brushing hers as he put himself directly next to her.

"I'm relieved you're okay," she told him to start the conversation. "I can't even begin to tell you how worried I was."

"It's all because of you," he said. "You got us out. You got everyone out."

"It wasn't just me. I had help," she corrected.

He shrugged and replied, "Even still...you had the contacts and used your resources to free us." He went silent briefly, his eyes distant in thought, before he then said softly, "I guess...maybe it was a good thing that you left us before."

Her head reared back, astonished. "What?"

Then he explained, "If you hadn't left, you wouldn't have met those women and without them, I don't know if you would've found us. We would've been killed and many more Clones would also be dead or imprisoned."

"So...you're not mad about that anymore?" Kimber asked hesitantly.

Hunter's eyes drifted to the heater for a brief moment, thinking it over. Then he told her, "I think I can look past it now. In the long run, your choice ended up saving a lot of lives, including ours."

Then he looked back at her with a soft, grateful look in his eyes. Her lips twitched up in a smile, relieved that he wasn't mad with her about her leaving anymore. That was already a step in the right direction.

He sighed, looked back at the heater and said solemnly, hanging his head, "I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going to die until you came."

"Did you not think I would come for you?" she asked.

"It's not that," he replied, lifting his head back up. "I believed you would...but we were also told no one else would know where the hideout was and I thought, realistically, it would be impossible for you to find us. I didn't want to get my hopes up in case...." His voice trailed off as he contemplated the one thing he had been afraid would happen: Kimber not making it in time to rescue them.

"That doesn't matter anymore," she said back. Then she absent-mindedly reached over and took his hand as she consoled him, "You're all free and we're all together again. That's what matters most."

A tiny bit taken aback, Hunter glanced down at their joined hands, unsure of what to do or think in response to that.

Kimber realized what she had done and immediately felt guilty. If he still wasn't ready for anything, this wasn't helping anything.

"I'm sorry," she said, pulling her hand back into her lap.

Seeing the hurt look on her face, the Sergeant couldn’t help but feel bad for making her think she did something wrong. He had been surprised that she took his hand, but in truth, he had liked it. After being treated roughly by the Eradicators, it was pleasant to feel someone’s kind touch...specifically her kind touch. The warmth of her hand was calming and familiar and his hand immediately became cold when she retracted hers. He hadn’t fully realized until then how much he missed the feeling of holding her hand. Thinking he would appease them both, he reached his hand out and tenderly ran his fingers along the back of her hand, eliciting a quiet and surprised gasp from her, before curling them between her fingers and into her palm. Their eyes met once again and then Kimber, accepting his gesture, closed her fingers tightly around his. For a few seconds, there was nothing but content silence between the two of them, just being in the moment with each other now that they were reunited again.

Then Hunter broke the silence by telling her with a gentle squeeze of her hand, “You did great back there. You really continue to amaze me. I don't know how we would've gotten out if it weren't for you.”

Kimber tightened her own grip on his hand and replied determinedly, “I had just gotten you boys back. I wasn’t going to let anyone take you all away from me.”

He smirked. “Well...we've rescued you and now, you've rescued us. It seems we're even now.”

“Oh no, we're nowhere close because you've rescued me far more times and I've only rescued you the once. I guess you boys should get yourselves into more danger so I can catch up.”

“Not on your life.”

She smiled and chuckled at him, bringing out a snicker from him, as well.

Tightening his grip on her hand once more, he said, "I'm proud of the leader you've grown into."

Hearing those words wrought a warm sense of pride in joy inside her. "Well...I had a good example to follow," she replied, still smiling at him.

It was then he happened to notice the box down by her feet. “What is that?” he inquired, pointing to it.

She glanced down at it for a second and then explained, “It's a music player. Jesse gave it to me back on Coruscant to help cure my boredom some nights when I was by myself in my hotel.”

Uncertain of how to react hearing her mention the reg, Jesse, Hunter tightened his lips and simply said, “I see.”

His reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Kimber and bringing up Jesse reminded her that there were things regarding him that she needed to tell Hunter. This was the conversation that she had dreaded having with him and had hoped that maybe it wouldn’t need to happen for a while, but she might as well get it out in the open now. This might be the conversation that would ruin things with Hunter forever…but at least she was being honest with him and her conscience would be clear.

Averting her gaze to her lap for a moment, she said to him, “Hunter...there's something I need to tell you.” Then she looked back at him and saw she had his attention. “You remember that I trained with Jesse while I was on Coruscant?”

He nodded in response.

“Here we go…,” she thought.

Mustering up her courage, she informed him, “During my time there...Jesse developed feelings for me. He kissed me once on a mission after I saved his life, but I stopped him before anything else happened. Then he did kiss me before we left Zeffo just to say goodbye...which I allowed purely as a courtesy to him. Other than that, nothing else happened between us. I told him that I was loyal to you and he respected that. He was very supportive and wanted me to be happy, no matter what. He's become a dear friend to me. However...during that time, I was afraid that, because of how I had left, I hurt you and...your feelings for me would've changed.”

Hunter’s heart hurt slightly at seeing the fear in Kimber’s eyes as she talked about being afraid his feelings had changed, knowing she had hurt him.

“I was scared and lonely and Jesse was there to offer me comfort and companionship,” she went on. “I will admit that, in my loneliness, I found myself...attracted to him a little bit at first, but when it all came down to it...he was just a good friend and I couldn't let go of you. I still belong here with this squad.”

She gazed at him again and in her eyes, he could see the real unsaid message she was also trying to convey to him:

"I still belong with you".

They held their gaze for a moment until he lowered his eyes and nodded in acknowledgement of everything she had just told him.

Then she said to him, her voice beginning to shake a little, “Hunter, I'm not trying to push you for anything; I understand if, even now, you still need time, but I just at least had to be honest with you. I didn't want to hide the truth from you. Not anymore. Even if what I've just told you changes things even more between us. Take all the time you need to figure out what you want from me and from yourself. I'll be here...whatever you decide.”

Hunter didn’t say anything and kept his eyes on the ground, thinking over and processing everything she’d said. She’d had the chance to choose someone else when things were uncertain between them, but she hadn’t. Despite everything, she still chose him; she chose to remain loyal to him. He was so conflicted on how to feel. He still wanted to be mad at her for leaving the way she had months before and wanted time to figure himself out, but she had come back, then rescued them and was now being honest with him about something she very well could’ve hidden from him regarding the reg. What was he supposed to do?

There was no denying that deep down, he still felt something for her. That much would never change. The question was: did he want to risk suffering this kind of heartbreak again? He hated how it made him feel; he’d never gone through such a thing before. Would it be worth risking feeling all of that again to pursue a relationship with Kimber once more? He didn’t feel the same without her; she would always be a part of his squad…but did he want something more again?

Was he willing to risk his heart a second time?

It was then he could hear the music from her music player changing to a slower, melodic song. The tune he could hear at the start was beautiful, serene yet somber. It almost seemed like it reflected how he was feeling in the moment: calm and content, yet sorrowful and lost. Looking at Kimber right then, he wondered if perhaps she felt the same.

Taking his silence as an indication that he no longer wanted to speak with her, Kimber let go of his hand and stood up to leave, feeling slightly dejected. However, a couple seconds later, she felt Hunter take her hand again. When she turned back, he had stood up, as well, and was staring at her intently before looking down at her music player for a second.

When he turned back, he started walking backwards and gently tugged on her arm, pulling her with him into an open area by the glowing heater. Then he stopped, pulled her closer and asked a question that she was not expecting:

“Would you care to dance?”

Kimber blinked rapidly for a second, taken aback by what he had just asked. Had he not heard anything she had just told him? Was he ignoring her? Was he avoiding the subject? What was he doing? Part of her wanted to press it, but if he wasn’t wanting to talk about it…then maybe she should just leave it.

She relented and said to him in reply, “I didn't know you danced.”

“I didn't...until now,” he said, placing his hand on her waist and nudging her closer while holding up her hand in a dancing position.

In response, she lifted her arm with his and then laid her other hand on his shoulder. Then he slowly swayed with her as the music started to lightly crescendo, its melody growing in volume and in feeling. Apart from the music, there was only silence in the wild they were in, so they could hear the music clearly as the two of them began moving from side to side in tandem.

“Hunter…,” she began to say.

Though, he ceased his movements and quietly said, “Hey...you don't need to say anything else. The past is in the past.” He took his hand from her waist, tenderly traced the underside of her jaw before lifting her chin ever so slightly to meet her gaze. Then with a small yet sweet grin, he stated, “Let's just be in this moment...together.”

Without another word, he resumed swaying in time to the music, holding Kimber close. With those few words, she understood exactly what he was trying to say without outright saying it. He didn't want to focus on the past and he wasn't going to let her truth affect things between them. Whether this meant he was ready to give them another try or not was uncertain, but there was one thing Kimber did feel certain of: no matter what, Hunter still wanted her in his life. The dance they were sharing was at least a promise of that. He wanted her there with him and he wasn't going to let her go, even if his heart wasn't ready yet. With that knowledge, she was content. That was enough for her for now.

With that, the two of them remained silent as they continued slow dancing to the lovely, ethereal melody that played on Kimber's music player, forgetting about everything that happened the day prior, everyone sleeping in the ships and not even caring if someone were to walk out and see them. It was just them together, the peaceful music filling the air and the glittering stars watching their dance from on high.

As the song soon came to a close, Hunter surprised Kimber even more by dipping her low in his arms. Her heart skipped a beat at seeing the doting expression in his gaze as he looked down at her, smiling. It was almost a look of love, like the way he used to look at her. He then pulled her back up, the two of them still holding to each other, and they both just stared deeply into each other's eyes, searching their gaze as if to determine what the next move would be. Hunter tilted his head down just a little until his forehead gently met hers. There they stood in each other's arms, their eyes closed and breathing deeply as they took in the moment and reveling in each other's presence after what felt like so long. This was where they were both meant to be.

Soon, Kimber could feel Hunter slowly leaning in closer and she had the strongest feeling he was going to kiss her. She braced herself for it and her heart was racing, so much that she was sure Hunter could sense it, but at that point, she didn't care.

He inched ever closer and was just a breath away when suddenly, he stopped and then he spoke, pulling back, "You should get some rest."

Even though she didn't outright show it, Kimber felt her heart sink with disappointment inside from him not kissing her. He had hesitated and couldn't go through with it, but she knew she couldn't blame him too much. It was still partially her fault.

She replied to him, "Only if you do. My guess is you need it more than me."

He offered her a friendly grin and released his hold on her, making her feel exposed and vulnerable once his arms let go. He then turned and started to walk back to the Marauder, but she took his hand and softly said his name. Hearing her say his name like that made his breath catch just as he turned over his shoulder to look back at her.

"Thank you for understanding...," she told him gratefully, "...and thank you for the dance. It was wonderful."

The corners of his mouth twitched up with gladness and, before he even realized what he was doing, he grasped the hand in his, raised it up and planted a soft kiss on her knuckles, his gaze never leaving hers as he did so.

When he lowered her hand, he simply replied in a low whisper, "You're welcome, Kimber."

His hand slipped out of hers and he then returned to the ship.

Kimber watched as Hunter walked away and inside felt a small sensation of hope rise within her. While Hunter might not be ready to commit to her again, more than likely due to his pride, there perhaps was still hope for the two of them yet. He had almost kissed her and she had seen the love that still emanated in his eyes when they danced, even if he didn't realize it. He still carried feelings for her; that, she knew for sure now. He couldn't hide that even if he tried. That was enough for her to keep going and to keep being patient. If it took days, months or even years, Kimber was certain she and Hunter would be together again.

Yes, she would have to wait for him, but she had already promised herself that she would and she knew the wait would be worth it.

Hunter was worth waiting for.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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recapcrew · 1 year

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Week 46 Transcript

Video

Intro

Extra extra, read all about it! Welcome to the Empire’s Recap, and today we will be going over the chaos and drama of our (somewhat) respected rulers!

This week has many stories coming to a satisfying ending, and a happy ending for most. No apocalypse this time (we hope).

Gem

There’s a few things in Dawn that Gem has been neglecting to sort out, so today seems the perfect day to do it!

She builds up a much safer bridge to her gatehouse, adds back lots of trees and flowers to the flower forest biome she settled in, and FINALLY lets free the villagers in her basement.

Gem enjoys life in Dawn, being a regular old human princess, but the wisps are back - and she hasn’t exactly been listening to them recently.

Dawn has been a stronghold against the dark for as long as she’s been there, but it’s time for her role to come to an end. She can’t play pretend forever.

[GEM] I think the wisps want to punish me for being in two places at once. Apollo, people aren’t generally meant to be in two places at once.

[NARRATOR] She can’t leave without saying goodbye to her friends though! She’s gonna miss them!

She might have inadvertently sent her neighbour Oli into a crisis, but he seems to have crises quite frequently, honestly. She promises him she‘ll say hi to Joe Hills for him when she goes back to Hermitcraft.

Sausage is incredibly kind, and offers her some supplies on her journey. She just wanted to see him, and he‘ll miss her just as much as she‘ll miss him. Evidenced by the tears.

[GEM] I think I’m good, I just wanted to see you again.

[SAUSAGE] Aw. You’re never coming back are you?

[GEM] …Probably not.

[SAUSAGE] I knew it! I could sense it in your voice!

[NARRATOR] …perhaps she needs to have a group meeting. Maybe that’ll stop sending people in crisis when she tells them she‘s leaving.

She heads to spawn and meets Oli, who helps her out with her final contribution to the server - her spawn tower.

Roleplay aside, the Empires server may be coming to an end, but the Hermitcraft server is not. Gem is moving over there, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have fun with friends before she does it - no roleplay involved.

There IS a warden though. Or two.

[SAUSAGE] –one time I don’t need to do it again.

[FWHIP] Wait are these--

[WARDEN NOISE]

[GEM YELLS]

[FWHIP] It’s real! Its real!

[SAUSAGE] Imma hit it, Imma hit it with the staff of Sanctuary!

[OLI] Its your moment, Gem, it’s your moment!

[SAUSAGE] Imma hit it with the staff of Sanctuary!

[GEM] Oh gosh! I’m scared!

[NARRATOR] The group messing around in Gobland accidentally bring one into the city, and end up running through the streets to hide from it. Shelby even died!

[SAUSAGE] He’s coming Gem!

[GEM] Oli what is wrong with you!

[OLI] Oh my god!

[GEM] Run! This is a horror movie! This is actually a horror movie Oli!

[NARRATOR] The final thing she has to do is follow the wisps back home, to Hermitcraft. She’ll be staying there - at least for a while.

Joel

Joel’s just admiring his megapalace when suddenly, the gods of lore appear before him. After leaving him a cryptic message about “knowing what you must do,” they disappear, leaving him baffled.

[“GOD” VOICE] You are so close to ascending you handsome and gorgeous demigod.

[JOEL] Wow that’s sick, what do I have to do?

[“GOD” VOICE] Only you know that you beautiful being, only you.

[JOEL] What the [BLEEP] was that?

[NARRATOR] He decides to go finish off lore village, and after some quick urban planning, finishes off his district with buildings representing each empire, including a museum with … acquired exhibits.

[JOEL, QUIETLY] I’m gonna steal the deputy badge.

[JOEL] Mine now Jimmy, thank you that’s going in my museum.

[JOEL] And we’re also going to head to Animalia and see if there’s anything we can steal from here. I’m gonna steal this rabbit stew, why? I don’t know. So let’s put the deputy badge here and the rabbit soup there, and label them as well. But there’s our little mini museum for Pix.

[NARRATOR] Sausage then comes by to visit Hermes, but when Sausage accidentally breaks part of the fountain of lore and soaks Hermes in its magical waters, Hermes comes alive, with a surprise for his parents.

[SAUSAGE] Um, Hermes?

[HERMES] You guys are terrible parents!

[SAUSAGE] Why!

[JOEL] What?

[SAUSAGE] I can’t believe this we were great parents!

[JOEL LAUGHS]

[NARRATOR] Well that’s awkward. Moving on, Joel goes to spawn to decorate his tower, and with that, has done what he must do. The gods of lore reappear, letting him know that he has passed the test to become a true lore god! Demigod Joel, which was definitely not a retcon, is allowed one more day in the world of Empires to take care of any final business before he ascends to the lore sky.

[JOEL] Goodbye Beanton, Goodbye Joelene, Goodbye Beansy, Goodbye Joeleth, Goodbye SmallishJeans, Goodbye Joelypoly, Goodbye Beanrammy… goodbye wonderful quartz traders, we spent too much time together. Goodbye Toy Jimmy. Goodbye Donkey Jeremy. Goodbye sphere of Stratos. Goodbye Lore Fountain. Goodbye wonderful trident. Bye, megabase. Oh no, the suns going down! I’m not gonna have time to say goodbye to all my friends ‘cause none of them are online right now.

[NARRATPOR] After saying goodbye to his villagers and his beautiful base, Joel ascends to the heavens a happy god.

Shelby

The voices in Shelby‘s head aren’t getting any quieter, and fWhip turning up to hand her a child isn’t exactly helping with her problems.

[SHELBY] Uh, wait, uhm. Do you like… evil? I don’t really know what to do with this thing. I’m not fit to be a mom! I’m in so much debt, I’m a criminal, I’m wanted! I’m giving this back to fWhip right now.

[NARRATOR] She heads to Gobland to give her kid back, but gets pulled into the Deep Dark Tour - exploring the ancient city is totally age-appropriate!

fWhip thinks a bit of „hands on“ action is needed, so when a Warden pulls itself out of the ground he punches Shelby off the upper platform. She freaks out and throws her baby at it before running away, but the Warden still gets her - she's absolutely gonna kill fWhip for this!

Someone apparently got to him first, as when she finds him at spawn he no longer has the crown. She gets a little defensive, and when Oli pops out of nowhere she immediately starts chasing him down.

[SHELBY] Well I’m not crazy, you’re crazy! You’re crazy for how you treated me! You said I couldn’t do it, but I have. I did it. So, Ha!

[FWHIP] I never—I never said you were crazy. You got me these ears, they helped me a bunch.

[OLI] I think you’re crazy!

[SHELBY] Get over here.

[FWHIP] Where did you come from?

[OLI] Waa! Oh god, Oh crumbs!

[SHELBY] I’m not crazy!

[SAUSAGE] Shelby! Shelby stop it!

[SHELBY] I’m not crazy!

[NARRATOR] Sausage drops down after him, and using the Staff of Sanctuary he sends her through some of her memories, into an ancient city face-to-Face with a warden, before she is dragged into a kind of liminal space.

Sausage appears in this white void with her - he’s been through this same thing before. He tells her he killed her. Don’t worry! She can come back, but her corruption died too. She’s free.

[SAUSAGE] Oh by the way this is the spirit realm, uh, everyone sees it differently, so this is yours I guess. Anyway, we should get out of here before other things show up, lets go.

[SHELBY] Oh yeah I’ve had enough of other things.

[LIZZIE] Clear!

[THUNDER NOISE]

[SHELBY] You know, I’m still not really sure about the hair.

[OLI] Bestie no! Bestie!

[SHELBY LAUGHS]

[NARRATOR] She’s back at home, and the white hair really gives her a different vibe. Oli likes it - not sure when he got into her HOUSE - but she apologizes for murdering him.

He takes it well, and encourages her to make up with Katherine as well. She does, and Katherine takes her apology well, agreeing to get coffee together sometime. She even likes the hair.

Back in the Evermoore, she has one other person to contact - her mailbox has been out of order for quite a while. She finds a letter from an old classmate of hers, updating her on all the drama that’s happened in the Witches Academy since she’s been gone.

Apparently someone set a demon loose on campus and it killed the headmaster (well we know where that came from)… but it was soon revealed that the guy was part of an evil witches order!

The academy repealed all the headmasters' decisions, which means she’s no longer a criminal! And apparently her classmates think she’s super cool for that tiny little bump into another dimension. Truly a powerful witch.

Her classmate was in contact with her Grandmother recently too - apparently she’s been watching Shelby through tortoise!

She spends her time now helping put the spirits of the Evermoore into their own bodies, and eventually comes the time to choose her witch speciality!

She chooses to become a storm witch, and ten years later she gets a letter on a tournament to become the next supreme witch as a call to WitchCraft SMP.

Joey

Joey's episode begins with a note in a lectern - it seems that Sir Piggles has finally located Skeletron's stronghold, and they can end this game of cat-and-mouse once and for all.

Pirate Joe never backs down from a fight, yet he realizes that this might be...it. If he loses, he's never coming back. And no one will know what happened. He spends his final day preparing his gear, and saying his goodbyes, reflecting on who he's become since washing up here.

The first letter is for Glimmergrove, and while poking his head into the castle, Joey finds Katherine's underground lair, a secret all this time. Joey only has one complaint.

[JOEY] Why does she have other peoples heads here and not my head? Well, anyways, this is not why I’m here.

[NARRATOR] He places the message out front, wishing his pirate princess farewell, and reminding that even if the suit was called off, he will always still love her.

His second, and final, letter is of a slightly different kind. One grudge is enough to carry, so Joey flies to the Evermoore. He admits that his rivalry with Miss Witch Shelby was one of jealousy over her power, and he asks for forgiveness, even if he might not be around to hear the answer.

With Sir Piggles' letter calling him to wait for nightfall, Joey takes one last tour around Eversea, marvelling at all he's managed to accomplish. It turned from a simple harbor into the liveliest port on the whole server. A little unusual, but vibrant and full of character; just like the man who built it.

He settles down for a nap, resting up before his battle-

And awakens to cannonfire.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[JOEY] Woah! What the hell was that noise!

Eversea is being invaded! Skeletron's army swarms up the docks, blacking the sky with arrows. Joey cuts them down as fast as he can, but even the best pirate in the world is just one man.

He falls.

Pirate Joe comes to in a cage over lava, guarded by wither skeletons and surrounded by his crew in their own separate cells. It wasn't supposed to be like this!

And yet there he is.

Skeletron. Like any proper pirate, he gloats over capturing Joey and his crew, and for having a little inside help in doing so.

[JOEY GASPS] Sir Piggles! How could you! You betrayed me!

[SKELETRON] Yep, that’s right, Sir Piggles. He’s been on my side the entire time!

[JOEY] What do you mean? Sir Piggles?

[NARRATOR] Sir Piggles, who saved Joey from drowning, has now betrayed him. With Eversea now Skeletron's vacation home, and lava descending from above, it looks like this really is the end of Pirate Joe.

Until a giant axe smashes through the bars, and a whirling spell douses the flames. It's Katherine and Shelby to the rescue!

Seems neither of them were ready to say goodbye to Joey just yet, and they tracked him down just in time. Skeletron may be Joey's fight, but now he's not fighting alone.

And no skeleton, however terrifying, is a match for the power of friendship. They cut through his army, cut off his escape, and Pirate Joe stabs right through his undead heart.

Skeletron is dead. Joey is safe.

Katherine, Shelby, and Joey agree to put everything behind them, and make a fresh start. For real this time.

The trio boat off into the sunrise, and this will be the last we see of Pirate Joe, at least for now.

It's been an honor sailing with you, Captain.

Outro

And with that, join us next week for more chaos and shenanigans! Thank you for watching, liking, and subscribing, and thanks to everyone helping with the project, check them all out below!

#empires recap #empires season 2 recap #transcript

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jillvalcntines-archive · 2 years

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02: welcome to the badlands

SUMMARY: Meirina searches on Jakku for Poe, while the pilot gets a visit from a former friend. WORD COUNT: 3,3k RATING: Mature

MASTERLIST

... it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life and that it's nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. — Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon.

THE HEAT of the late afternoon sun was reaching through her loose, beige clothes, but yet it was everything far from warm on Jakku. The coolness in her bones hadn’t left her since the morning she’d hacked the encryption on Mandalore. It was bound into every muscle of hers and as hard as she tried to push it away, to plunge it into the darkness of all the buried and entombed things, only daring to come alive in dreams, it stayed and fought.

She heard the call again. The elusive touch of the Force, one that fought to be part of her again, just as some hidden memories, as some banished pain, but she wouldn’t let it in. It hadn’t been so strong in many years. Sometimes she even forgot how it felt — the power lying in her blood, rising and running through her. She forgot she was even capable of the things some citizens of their galaxy called sorcery or magic.

Usually nightmares and dreams, sometimes even places she traveled too, would remind her of her origin and the past she’d never been able to fully escape. The echo of darkness she felt on Jakku was similar.

Like a passing winter breeze on a hot summer night. An absolute paradox, a deviation of nature, but she knew what it meant. After what she had seen waiting in the orbit of the desert planet, it could only mean something horrible had already happened here.

But as she always did, she pushed it out of her mind, out of her blood and system, out of her thoughts and limbs. Whatever the Force would try to tell her to go back on the path she was determined to never walk again, she wouldn’t listen.

The cold vanished and in conclusion felt the full heat of the arid world tortured by the high sun — and she has never felt so bare.

She was used to wearing her helmet whenever her way led her from Mandalore to another world. At first it had been pure precaution, making sure no one would recognise her face, but it was different on Jakku. There were no large numbers of bounty hunters or other assassins ( if there were any ), giving her a perfect opportunity to blend into a faceless blur of several mercenaries as Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa or even Tatooine usually did. In those four years of bounty hunting, she had never been on such a backwater planet as Jakku, and here, a new visitor from a foreign planet with Mandalorian armor would draw more eyes than she’d like. Instead, her helmet and armor was carefully packed inside her backpack and her body was wrapped with pale linen fabric, concealing much of her head and body.

She wouldn’t draw any attention now — hopefully. The soft smoking engine of Ronon’s beloved ship wasn’t helping in her mission to keep a low profile, as the smell of burned relays and wires was very intrusive, but it would scare possible thieves. She had pushed the hyperspace engine to its full extent and now she might be even stranded here. It was probably better, as she wasn’t up to face Ronon with his broken ship.

A few passersby stared at it, before taking a look at her, but the cold stare she sent them was enough to turn their heads around again and make them continue their way.

Niima Outpost ( which barely deserved the title Outpost ) was a scattered settlement with barely any housing, but therefore more booths that offered several things probably illegal in the Republic. The big field behind her offered room for a giant junkyard and possible eternal grave of several spaceships.

Saeed had told her before her departure that Jakku held no interest. He had thought she was joking, when she told him her destination, but she had checked the coordinates several times. Many times, even when she had already been sitting in the vessel venturing across the stars.

But all her inner doubts were lifted when she had been spotting a star destroyer right after falling out of hyperspace.

Passing several merchants, everyone offering a different kind of goods, she landed in, what seemed to be, the only permanent stallment of the entire Outpost. Every path from or through the market led to the large tent, clearly marking it as its center and the big Crolute occupying the stand in the middle of it, showed her she was right. Unkar Plutt, if she remembered correctly. Saeed had told her about him, or rather warned her, but the local boss was of no kind she hadn’t been already dealing with on other planets.

That was the nice and simple thing about criminals, junkyard bosses and mercenaries: They all had a price. The art was to find it out without offending them and ending up with your head on a spike.

After a few buyers and sellers in front of her settled their trade, the Crolute now stared at her with his two small eyes, almost piercing through her. Meirina could almost see how he was mentally comparing faces and figuring out if he had seen her before, but if he was indeed the local boss, he would figure out quickly that she did not belong here.

“Selling or buying?” Not a man of many words. Very well.

“Depends,” she replied. Plutt made a sound similar to a growl, but it did not scare her.. He was probably only no fan of smart asses.

“I’m willing to pay. For information,” Meirina added, keeping her voice clean of any desperation, which started to slowly rise inside her like a nagging heat.

“Not what I usually sell.” Good. Usually. It wasn’t a no.

“I am searching for someone. He might have arrived in the last days. Human male, dark hair, dark eyes. Pilot.”

“Could’ve passed through here. Don’t remember much,” Plutt replied and the forming line behind her was only adding to her growing frustration. Of course, he wouldn’t say anything reliable without something worthy waving in front of his face. She would not get far with credits. Many dealers and merchants in the Outer Rims prefered artifacts or valuable materials over credits.

Credits were just unreliable. After two changes of government within fifty years and the following currency worth losses with every fall of the last government, the markets in the Outer Rim Territories did not usually have insurances to save their shops from financial crises.

“If that is the case, perhaps the Militia has some droids with records of his visit. Droids are not so forgetful, as we packs of meat, am I right?”

Meirina felt tension building behind her. In the corner of her eyes she observed little motion of several gunmen and she did her best to hide a smile. Of course, the local (crime) boss held a delicate balance with the law enforcement of the settlement and wouldn’t like to see any kind of money falling into their hands instead of his.

“Republic pilot, ain’t he?” Plutt responded as she took a step back, making her little threat a bit more present.

The blonde nodded. Republic Military, Resistance Military… for someone like Unkar Plutt they were pretty much the same.

“He was searching for some old man. Had no idea who that guy was and I didn’t care much.”

The henchman continued their approach and with their every step, customers took one more out of the tent — and along with them her composure.

In any other situation, Meirina might have had fun watching those men dwell in their fantasy of having the upper hand. She did love it, to see the blink of clarity appearing on their faces the moment she showed them how badly they were mistaken, but patience was clearly a virtue and she did not feel very virtuous today.

“I still got the feeling I’ll find more help elsewhere.” Her eyes were drilling into the blown face of the Crolute, her hand clenching into a fist.

“I don’t know where he went, but I heard this morning that this First Order burned an entire village down. I’d bet a lot of money that your pilot’s been there.”

Plutt’s thugs stopped a few meters from her. Just the right radius to not trigger her instinct to attack them right away, but her heart was pumping. Not out of fear from his half-assed mercs — it were his words that put an undead fear into her chest.

“What’s the name of the village?”

“How much you’re willing to pay?” His question was underlined by the subtle wink with his men’s weapons.

Her fingers found the clear orange nova crystal inside the pockets of her dark, leather pants, grasping the most valuable object in her possession. It was a memory of a job on Cotellier. A souvenir of her first one after her successful Verd’goten.

After she had left Hosnian Prime in the middle of the night, leaving everything but her clothes on her body and enough credits to get out of the Republic, behind, she had never held onto something again. Sentiments would’ve only held her back. Everything that could not be sold immediately or was of no practical use found no place with her, but this crystal was a reminder. A reminder it had just been all her. It had been her, who had trained every day until she’d fall dead into her bunk, only to be up the next morning to learn what it meant to fight for yourself. To make your own legacy, your own name.

“I want the name,” she pressed and slammed her palm on the metallic panel of Plutt’s stand.

“And a speeder.” Her hand slowly retracted, presenting the hard, flawless crystalline stone right in front of several, awe-struck mercs eyeing it like hungry hyenax.

THE TASTE OF WARM METAL and his own spit felt foreign on his tongue. Poe Dameron fought against the nausea, the pain in muscles and the urge to just close his eyes and fall asleep, just to be done with it. The thought was seductive and his body was yearning for rest, as every part was aching and pulsing from forming dark bruises. He must be a collection of blue and purple blemishes, but he cared little for it, as new ones would follow soon.

Poe didn’t know how long he'd been stuck in this cell, restrained to this chair ( for the lack of a better name for it ). But his time here wouldn’t end soon. No one would come to rescue him. It had been made clear as he agreed to get the map for General Skywalker.

And he was glad it was him in this dark holding cell rather than the brother of the Resistance’s leader. Even though the First Order wouldn’t have had such an easy game with the Jedi Master.

Yet, he regretted nothing but not having delivered the map to the Resistance. A new wave of hot sickness washed over him, as Poe tried his best not to paint the floor with the content of his stomach. Those stormtroopers definitely knew where to hit and leave a lasting mark. As much as he tried to take a deep breath without grunting in pain, thankful for the little break, it couldn’t mean anything good that they left.

Nothing had left his lips except some smug remarks about their tender touches whenever they’d asked what he did with the map. If he would die in this cell, he would take everything to his grave and after almost passing out when one of his tormentors had punched hard against his ribcage, bringing out a short, but clear crack, it must have been a signal for them to stop. They wanted him to talk, not dead, and this was all the hope he had at the moment.

At least until he’d find a way out of here. But all his tries to break free from his tight shackles were fruitless and the premonition that he would not see the world outside of this cell anytime soon was returning — just as the fact that he had failed.

He hoped that BB-8 was somewhere safe.

For a moment he had feared they had only left him alone, because they had found his droid. On the other hand, they had not killed him, yet, so there was some hope left.

It might have been an hour, maybe longer, maybe shorter, but as the door to his cell opened, the answers were delivered to him on a silver plate.

The creature in the mask stepped into the room and the already dark room was tinted in an illusive, cold tone that would have made many officers in the Resistance tense, probably even flinch, but Poe would not give him any satisfaction. His dark brown eyes burned with despise. He hoped it would burn through the other man’s mask.

“I hope my men didn’t wear you out too much,” Kylo Ren spoke, his voice booming, altered, distorted by his helmet and Poe did his best to keep his bruised lips from forming a pleased smile.

“I’m disappointed they left so soon. We were just becoming friends,” he answered. Ren chuckled deep. The mock swinging along clearly.

“I see you haven’t changed much.”

“Can’t say the same.” Perhaps he was giving the other man too much satisfaction by showing his clear resentment. The fiery hate he felt for the very one responsible for so much suffering in this galaxy. Suffering he has not been supposed to inflict.

A part of him still tried to wrap his mind around the fact that the demon in front of him had once been his friend. The memories of sitting together on a table, drinking, engaging into their usual friendly banter about spacecraft and piloting… Those weren't memories of years before, those felt like another life.

“I heard you are not cooperative.” The words run down Poe’s neck like ice, understanding their meaning. A prelude to something that wouldn’t be as pleasant as his time with the stormtroopers. “Agent Tarkin wasn’t pleased, and I must say, I’m impressed, Dameron. Not many keep up this long before sooner or later succumbing.”

“Might wanna rethink your technique,” Poe replied, while his face remained focused on the masked man. Ren approached him, every step a warning in advance what would happen if he’d remained so cocky.

“Perhaps.” For some reason, Poe hadn’t expected to see the face of Jacen Solo when Ren’s hands reached for his mask, producing a mechanical hiss before detaching from his head.

Or perhaps he hadn’t expected for his former friend to still have so much resemblance with the old memory he had of him. For many people Jacen Solo had died on Dromund Kaas — alongside Lieutenant Tanel Ka Djo.

“Maybe you would rather talk about what has happened since we last saw each other? As I hear you made it to Commander.”

Poe leaned back into his chair. If Ren thought talking would get him to open up, he overestimated him. There had been rumors. Nothing widespread, but enough to make some Resistance officers on D’Qar shudder, when the name of the Supreme Leader’s personal watchdog dropped.

Kylo Ren was one of many pets Sumanus held. Not the loudest and not the most vicious, but it was enough to bring an ominous fear over every participant of the conversation. Kylo Ren was an opportunist of dread and fear, who was known to not leave behind many survivors to tell stories.

“Or would you rather talk about something we have more in common?”

Poe avoided his glance. The corner of his lips twitched. That couldn’t be much.

He started to miss the stormtroopers. At least, it had been more entertaining seeing their frustration bleed through their identical helmets, when he hadn’t told them after hours of beatings and punches.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen Meirina?”

Her name was equal to the anticipation of thunder after the sky would be torn apart by lightning, and inside his chest he felt this very equivalent. Poe’s mask of impudence and stubbornness fell and couldn’t stop his eyes flying to Ren, hoping his reaction, as minor as it was, would not be noticed. His imprisoner’s short huff was his answer.

“Long, I presume,” Ren stated. “Which means you don’t know that my uncle has been lying to you, too.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” It wasn’t even a lie, yet Poe spoke those words out loud to get a grip on his voice and thoughts, bringing some control into this conversation. He couldn’t allow himself to slip again.

“Of course not. You never did.”

Provocation. Nice idea, still won’t work.

“Did you search for her?”

Ren’s voice was reaching into his skull, imitating an echo in a large and hollow space. A space that had been empty and sealed away for a while now.

“Tell me, Dameron, how does it feel when I tell you that she’s been right under your nose the entire time?”

His eyes stared at the blank wall in front of him. He wouldn’t give him any satisfaction from another reaction. He’s lying. Don’t engage.

“How does it feel knowing that your leader knew where she was the entire time and did nothing to bring her back?”

“Are we still talking about Meirina?” Her name left a bittersweet taste on his tongue. It was so long since he had spoken it without a feeling of regret — without sorrow, but he was surprised how all those things were shadowed by his anger.

“Careful, Commander. I wouldn’t play in a league out of mine.”

“It’s the real reason why I am here, right? You don’t really care what happened to the map. I’m here so you can finish what you started the last time.”

“You have a sharp tongue for someone who is about to die.”

“Go ahead. Kill me. Torture me. I won’t tell you anything, and this time she won’t be here to stop you.” For a moment, Poe had hoped he had achieved some kind of victory. Disturbing any kind of Ren’s power plays would be victorious, but the remaining ghost of a smile on Ren’s face told him any advantage he had thought of having, had been nothing but illusions.

“Your little spy said the same.” Jacen now stood in front of him and there would be no escape. The next hours would show him his time with the stormtroopers had been nothing but a nice time-out. “She was the one who’s been so nice to tell my master the location of my cousin and with whom she’s been this entire time. Mandalorians, would you have guessed?”

Kassiia. He had met and spoken to General Organa’s right hand only a couple of times. No one at the Resistance base knew exactly what she was doing, although everyone knew she was handling things only someone with a silver tongue and a quick mind could do. Spy was just an easier term, but in the last three months no one had seen nor heard of her. All he knew about Agent Kassiia Djarin privately came from his Lieutenant Jessika Pava, who had once dropped in a talk that she was a Mandalorian, but doesn’t seem to be much talkative about it.

“They are impressive warriors. Honor above everything. She put up a worthy fight. If we wouldn’t have been faster, she might have died before saying anything. My master was impressed by her strength, but everyone has a weak spot and for Mandalorians, it’s family.”

His hands clenched into fists and his restraints digged painfully into his waists. “In the end, all of her tries to resist had no meaning and my master found my cousin. I had almost forgotten how furious she can be when provoked.”

“You’re lying,” he pressed between his lips, the mental image of his best friend — former best friend — fighting alone against waves of stormtroopers.

“I’ll show you.”

Nothing could’ve prepared him for the sharp, continuously rising pain inside his head, numbing down every single of his limbs. He lost all control and for a moment, he didn’t even realize that the scream echoing from the cell’s walls were his own.

#story: ascension #character: meirina skywalker #character: poe dameron #poe dameron x oc #poe dameron x skywalker!oc #mandalorian oc #star wars sequels #star wars fanfiction #ship: poe x meirina #poe dameron fanfiction #writing*

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soulcluster-moved · 2 years

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@handpickedriot / leia organa “You have no idea what you mean to me, do you?” she asks with fond amusement. Leia blames that on herself, and all the time she spent so scared of further damage to her heart that she held back, from him. “How much you’ve meant to me over the years?” Leia smiles softly, heart in her eyes, as she gently touches Han’s cheek. “Over and over, you’ve proven to be more of a home than any physical place, keeping me grounded, keeping me from locking myself further inside my own heart. You showed me that I could love and be loved again, and I will forever be so grateful. I love you,” she kisses the cheek she’d been caressing, letting her lips linger, “and I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Han hardly had what one would call a normal life. His time on Nar Shaddaa was the closest he had to a stable home, and before that it had been wherever Dewlanna was. He understood the concept of a person being a home, and Leia had become that to him as well.

Hearing it was something else. Part of him still felt like he was waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him. That he’d wake up and find a flimsy from her saying how much she loved him but that he just wasn’t enough.

Han caught her hand and padded his thumb along her palm. “You’re never going to have to find out, sweetheart.”

If there was one thing Han was good at, it was hiding his fear, and those habits weren’t going to go away easy. It was self defense at this point. He turned just enough to kiss her on the lips, moving to cradle her jaw and relish, for this moment, her words and affection. Resting his forehead against hers, Han grinned roguishly. “Any time you want to tell me again, I’m all ears.”

#c: han solo #handpickedriot #handpickedriot: leia #answered #;a;

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skyflyinginaction · 2 years

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Character Design Talks: Roxas

Another character from the series whose design I wanted to talk about, one that is close to my heart, is Roxas, my top fave character in the KH franchise. Roxas is the character that introduced me to the KH series. He's the character I thought the most about.

I loved his personality and design and I wanted to talk about it though Nomura already explained Roxas's design concept. This post is just my attempt at explaining his design.

Name:

His name is straightforward but is deep and enriched in meaning that has something to do with her nature and his supposed role.

Roxas's name is the anagram of Sora and x used like this:

Sora + X = Roxas

This is used to signify that Roxas is the nobody of sora with Roxas name being an anagram of Sora’s name.

The x is what organization 13 uses in their names with the anagram of x and the member's real name when they were once human.

The x in Roxas's name is a lot deeper than what you think. X is part of the roman alphabet pronounced “Chi” or “kye."

The x is called the resultant Sigil pronunciation similar to the roman alphabet or kye or key. This is given to the organization members. The x sigil is used by Xemnas to locate members of the Organization so he can use them for his goals. The x is a symbol designed by Xehanort to represent the rejection of a nobody to form his original persona so he can control them.

X is symbolic of death. This notes Xemnas’ objective with the members. He plans to use the artificial kingdom hearts to make the members the intended vessel of Xehanort's heart once it has been completed. Xemnas plans to use all the original organization members' vessels once kingdom hearts are met. Xemnas added x in their names, which x is the mark of an intended vessel.

He needs the person's original self to die first so he can use them as a vessel. He needs the person's original self to die first so he can use them as a vessel. The x symbol for death symbolizes the death of the self. organization 13 members are marked to signify the death of their original self.

Design:

To keep with Kingdom Heart's themes of connection, Roxas's design encompasses these concepts

Roxas's design concept is based on the concept of between since nobodies exist between light and dark not belonging to neither. It alludes to nobody. Roxas has many elements in his design that correlate directly to nobody which is seen best in his outfit.

The zippers seen throughout Roxas clothes look like teeth from the mouth of dusk, and dusks have notable zipped mouths in their designs.

The X cross zipper on Roxas clothes is the same emblem nobodies have; the cross is a motif for nobodies, Roxas X shaped zipper pull is modeled after a nobody symbol.

Nomura said the X is symbolic of the crossing of dark and light. Nobody are beings that neither belongs to light nor darkness this part in his design hints at his true nature as a nobody in a more subtle way

Another interesting detail is in his black and white rings on his fingers and the black and white checkerboard pattern of his wrist band on his left wrist, Nomura stated that the checkers in Roxas's clothing represent light and darkness this goes well with nobodies since nobodies are being that belong to neither.

Roxas's first design is based on Sora.

Roxas original design was supposed to look like sora since he's his nobody and the person nobody looked similar to their original person. His hair isn’t as spiky as Sora’s; it's clear that Roxas's hair is meant to be similar to him with his jacket resembling Sora’s white kh 1 jacket in the concept art. Roxas was designed to resemble Sora, but with as much agency Roxas has in his character arc, his looking like Sora would have not done him any good.

Roxas has created contrast Sora,

Roxas is designed to bear similarities since he is his nobody but retains his individuality.

This is seen in their clothing. While Roxas is designed to be an urban child to contrast Sora’s country child

Roxas has slightly narrow eyes; his hair is the same length as Sora’s. But his blonde hair contracts Sora’s brown hair Roxas harbors the same face as Sora right down to the same pixels.

Roxas's main color is white, the basis used in his clothes in contrast to Sora’s black clothes.

Roxas' image color is white, white is the color of nobody, it's the color of Dusks, the first nobody we see in the game.

White is the absence of color, white is the color of nothingness being a color of blank, nothing. This goes well with the enemies nobodies in the games that are a blank slate made to be transparent since white is a color with nothing in it.

Roxas’ white jacket and pants being white on black goes with how nobodies are seen with white on black.

This took a while to summaries since there are a lot of intricate details of Roxas design. If I forgot to add anything or I’m wrong feel free to correct me.

#kingdom hearts #roxas #Character Design #kingdom hearts meta #character design talks #my meta

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anewp0tat0 · 2 years

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chapter 184

this may end up being a long post. my bad.

so I want to talk about the topic that has circulated the current chapters and then get into the nice things because I'm really glad we have those again.

chapter 182 had a very one sided portrayal of Native Americans, an already marginalized group of people which have these stereotypes up to modern day. chapter 183 was much worse. I explained my specific issue and why exactly I thought yana's artistic portrayal was harmful in the past post under #kuroshitsuji 182

and now in chapter 183, we have bard showing us that in present day he understands how the world wasn't peachy and giving for everyone.

we have the panel going over the suffering of the natives, but under that are 3 much bigger and more emphasized panels. those panels are meant to be where the reader draws their attention and sympathy towards. not towards the natives, but to Bard's grief, and his family who were killed by natives.

It would be unnecisary story wise to put so much attention on the natives when the main focus is Bard sure(though may be they simple shouldn't have been in the arc to begin with)-

but this panel also demonstrated how yana did a poor job at showing equal levels of sympathy. on the right you see bard fighting a native who is struggling, fighting back, impaled his chest with a knife(wow??? bard never mentions that I guess). it's obviously a tough fight against a vicious foe, but bard prevails as the victor. it seems.

on the left panel, we see bard mourning over a dead soldier who also killed the natives, killed by natives. in this panel we see bard in grief, so we sympathise for the two soldiers. to any unaware reader, the picture painted from these two panels is "natives were savage and killed many soldiers, even almost killed bard, but bard managed to win". I hope it's understandable why this is not a good message to give to people when they don't know American history.

one good thing that this pair of panels does though is show that the cycle of violence and death is equal and endless, regardless of where it started(though, actually the colonists had guns. it was a gun and a knife fight. so maybe not that equal. anyway).

this is where i feel the imrpovement in narative is because it shows bard admitting that his siege of violence against the natives was in blind rage. mostly. at the very least, he acknowledges too that Ada is the better of the two of them for her heart of gold.

I want to clarify in case it wasn't clear before that my problem is not exactly with the events of the flashback because those things did happen, to both colonists and natives, and I am sad for that small child and loving wife. my concern is with people who do not know anything about Natives Americans and what they are facing now, because again- these people are not plot devices or mythical demons. so it's a shame that yana decided to use them as such.

look maybe I am overthinking about this, I just want to get comfortable with being able to criticize media while still very much enjoying it(the other parts I mean).

now then. I hope that I won't need to touch on this again on any more chapter reviews. I think I'm gonna go with my original plan of ignoring that mini arc. most people seem to be ignoring the servant arcs anyway 👁

so if I may continue on what I very much enjoyed:

sebastians face just reaked of "how long is this story". maybe I'm biased idc.

this is unrelated to the whole post but I find this a tad funny, cause if I'm not wrong that's the exact pose(or panel) used the last time he asked this question. the way I interpret this is that Sebastian, in his early human impersonation days, doesn't have enough motor skills to come up with new poses and actions in recycled situations so simple recycles the poses as well.

that or he's just trying to be cute.

this is a chilling statement. though, i gotta ask, genuinely because I think i missed this; does meyrin really not fear death? I'm asking because I remember that after she had failed to kill the earl, she ran away knowing that an assassin would come for her and she now had to try to survive on her own. this seems like the fear of death. especially since meyrin then later tried to assassinate the earl again with a knife, in the hope she still had a chance to return to the den. I'm wondering then what development took place, or if I'm forgetting a detail about meyrin.

also. Finny. look at

this

I'm happy for him. he was always a survivor but I think this point may be where he moves on. which would explain why he never mentioned his past at all.

I'm glad this chapter was able to remind me why I like this series after the bit of annoyance I had with the last one. but before I conclude I have to end with another popular sentiment going around with this chapter...

fear

yea I'm worried. about what ronald's doing. I'm not quite ready to let go of bard yet- I mean I can't imagine what type of toll it would take on the other servants, or the grand mission. and Ada- I mean, it wouldn't hurt the story too much, barely effect it even. though of course it's a shame that the good ones always seem to get it 😐.

but i gotta say i really am wondering what Ronald is doing there. what is so urgent that he has to roam around in the middle of the night(when he could be sleeping) stalking their conversation and checking his death list? in fact, we already saw him check his death list quite suspiciously when he was around Ada and Bard once before, so why do it again? is stuff gonna go down now??? who else could be roaming around the sanitorium about to cause something catastrophic. oh god where did lau go I can't even remember it's been like half a year.

unfortunetly I'm leading towards Ada dying. while some people point to Bard's fear of dying as a reason for him to be the one that perishes, I think the line "you're the "miracle healer"" might signify something upcoming, and it's undeniable that if something we're to put the patients of the sanitorium in danger Ada would stay behind to help. Ada has been established as the giver of life and Bard the taker. if bard came to the sanitorium, caused a mess that would lead to death, and Ada saved him only to meet a tragic end, well... uh. I don't even know.

sorry for the long post and ranting, hope everyone's had a good day!

#also other thought that i had going through some panels. but is yana's style changing- was it yana's assistants-or is bard becoming thinner #just me maybe? i know that he was pretty thin(like everyone else) when the manga began and then entered a more buff himbo phase.#i wonder where we are now #kuroshitsuji #black butler #kuro spoilers #kuroshitsuji 184 #black butler 184 #kuro chapter 184 #chapter 184 #black butler manga #kuroshitusji spoilers #long post #rant post #sorry #i should also note that since im basing a lot of my arguments off of the dialogue and i am only referencing the translation #take if with a grain of salt maybe #i love when yana includes history in her chapters but this is just too much history for me. i want to work towards helping these people #not promoting anything against them or letting any stereotypes that they are naturally violent pass. in other countries this may be fineidk #but in american these stereotyoes really do damage. so thats where i come from i suppose #i would add the 'continue reading' feature but uh... idk how👀 is it even for mobile? tumblr...

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dayseternal-blog · 3 years

Note

OK OK OK, I know I sound kind of weird but, could you pleaseee recommend some of the kinkiest naruhina fanfics?😳

Thank you so much🤍🤍

OK OK OK, you know you came to the right place 😳

I don’t know what you mean exactly by kinky, but I was thinking...I’ll just sort this by kinks hahahahahahha

OMG

This is going to include some of the MOST KINKY Naruhina fics I’ve ever read, EVER. SOOO majorly inappropriate. Also this will have some of the ones I’ve recommended before, but I’ll put everything under the cut.

NaruHina Smut & Kink

um hmmmm

Everything that follows is Rated Explicit. Some of these fics are meant to be read with HUMOR. Please enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

BDSM

“Echoes of Silence” by @ellaroundpanda - Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Hinata Hyuga was trapped. Her relationship with Toneri was leading to nowhere and she wanted to find a new Dom. Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be the answer to all her prayers, but her fiancé wouldn’t give up that easily…

“Professor Passion” by omegas - College AU, Dom!Hinata & Sub!Naruto One-shot. Naruto is a new university student with a crush on his professor; Hinata Hyuga. Shy first dates and kisses quickly turn into a relationship, and Naruto discovers his professor’s provocative secret – along with one of his own.

“Secrets of the Hidden Leaf” by Sessakag - Includes a ton of different kinks. Canon-Divergent. Multi-chapter, Incomplete. The author’s summary hints at NaruHinaSasu, but they never got that far in the story. Naruto and Hinata push the boundaries of propriety and decency in a budding relationship of profound love and wild, sexual exploration.

“Out with the Old” by agitosgirl - Includes cheating, Modern AU. Two-shot. Hinata’s been mistreated by her current Dom, Toneri. Thankfully, another Dom has had his eyes set on her for awhile now.

“dorks.” by EroPrincess - Canon-Compliant, Multi-chapter, Complete. Random sexual exploits featuring Konoha’s most innocent couple.

“I want you to cry” by Devahhole - Includes a ton of kinks and things like dub-con and graphic murder, Multi-chapter, RECENTLY COMPLETE!!! A sociopath blinded by revenge runs into his greatest opponent.

“Some Like it Rough” by Cheating Death - Modern AU, One-shot. Yet she couldn’t help the thoughts that had been racing through her mind lately. Thoughts of her fiance using less restraint than he usually did.

Clones

“Clone Present” by @carny-writings - Canon Compliant (lol), One-shot. So it’s Hinata’s birthday; does this mean a Naruto Shadow Clone Gangbang is in order for our best girl?

“Hinata’s Rose Lips” by Plump_Hinata - Includes extreme Bimbo!Hinata, Canon Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto and Hinata are sent on a mission to find a mysterious flower. But they will get a big surprise when they find out that the "Rose Lips" flower has a special power. A power to turn young ladies into ultra-hot, super-busty, sexy bimbos, and Hinata will be its victim!

Stamina/Multiple Orgasms/Cum Inflation/Size Kink

“Honeymoon” by Prestige Frost - Canon-Divergent. One-shot. During their honeymoon, Hinata learned something new about her husband: he was an absolute stamina freak in the bedroom. How was the beach? Why, they never even left the room!

“Adventures of the Warlock’s Apprentice” by pizzansushi - Includes lactation and furry kink, Fantasy AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. One rainy night, a warlock, finds a stray cat in alley. He takes Hinata in and breaks her curse. Turns out, his smitten kitten is actually a young lady. Naruto the Warlock allows her to stay beside him as his apprentice, although her looks and wiles will likely be the death of him.

“Sweet Love Bakery” by pizzansushi - Includes lactation kink, Fantasy AU, One-shot (but supposed to be multi-chapter?). Tender and sweet. Love makes people feel full and satisfied. Naruto Uzumaki the Warlock and his wife Hinata Hyuga open a bakery tavern.

“The Pinocchio Effect” by Silent_Soul_Ken - Fantasy/Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto goes to see a Fortune Teller for a view into his luck however after his insult he'll find that he has a big problem and it's just getting bigger and bigger…

“Lord Hokage” by EroPrincess - Canon Compliant, Series of One-shots. Naruto loves it when Hinata screams out "Lord Hokage" during their lovemaking.

“Engaged or whatever…” by Devahhole - Rated E, Multi-chapter, Complete. Shenanigans, jealousy, and sex ensue when Naruto and Hinata decide to tie the knot.

Squirting

“Unless the World Were to End” by @bunny-hoodlum - Modern AU, One-shot. Anonymous internet friends decide to meet up IRL and give each other their first times.

“I’m in Here” by @bunny-hoodlum - RTN!Hinata, Canon-Divergent. One-shot. Thanks to Hinata’s newly acquired boldness, she and Naruto begin to explore their boundaries with each other – partly for distraction, partly for fun – But is Hinata the same Hinata anymore or not?

Voyeurism

“Unseen Audience” by @vegebulsoup - Canon-Divergent AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. He wondered what she might think if she found out about his new hobby. Surely, she would be mortified, embarrassed, and/or thoroughly creeped out. But still, he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

“Caught in the Act” by HoneyWriter78 - Modern/College AU, One-shot. Hinata decides to watch one of the adult videos at her workplace, not knowing that someone is watching her…

“Let Me See You” by callmesenorita - Canon Compliant (lol), Two-shot. When Naruto wakes to an empty bed, he is surprised to discover his wife indulging in an old habit. He’s also seriously turned on.

“Money Shot” by callmesenorita - College AU. Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto can’t help noticing that his soft-spoken, new girlfriend bears similarities to PearlPrincess…but there’s no way Hinata, of all people, livestreams those kinds of videos, right?

Cheating

“A Maid’s Responsibility” by agitosgirl - Modern AU, One-shot. It had been a year since he and Sakura had been physical. Now he had Hinata, sweet, kind, caring Hinata.

“All Kinds of Wrong” by Kieren - Crime AU. One-shot. It was ironic how something so pure had sprung from such a sordid arrangement. They were perfect for each other. But they had met at the wrong time.

Drugged/Dub-Con/Non-Con

“Side Effects” by Cheating Death - Includes graphic non-con/dub-con, Modern AU. Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto and Hinata decide to participate in a high-paying clinical study, but the pay turns out to be too good to be true.

“Shinobi Passions” by HoneyWriter78 - Canon-Divergent AU. Multi-Chapter, Incomplete. When a mission takes a surprising turn for the worse, only Naruto can help her through the night…

“A Love Never Seen” by HoneyWriter78 - High School AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata Hyuga attend Konoha High she is part of the athletics group. She is friends with Ino and Shikamaru but is secretly in love with Shikamaru who is oblivious and loves someone else. She tried to fight her feelings not noticing that a certain senpai has had his eyes on her…

“Warped” by BountifullyBeautifullyBlessed - College AU. Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata can’t sleep and her roommate, Naruto, is more than willing to help her out.

“Heavy Sleeper” by InTheMist032000 - Canon-Divergent AU, Two-shot. Hinata has a peculiar way of sleeping, and a knack for sleeping through all kinds of things. Naruto is intrigued and makes it a game to see how far he can go before she wakes up.

Semi-Public/In Public

“The Lustful Maid” by HoneyWriter78 - Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata Hyuga wakes up in an unknown room on an unknown bed, after one of the most worst days of her life. Her only memory is knocking into a tall blonde handsome guy with her juice spilled over him! Was it a dream? I think not as now she has signed a contract to be his very own personal maid!

“The Superstar Falls in Love” by HoneyWriter78 - Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto Uzumaki is a superstar, he and his band Kyubi set off clubbing after their opening night in Konoha. There he meets a blue haired beauty that immediately captures his attention. Will this blonde superstar playboy finally fall in love?

“A Shirt, a Neckerchief and my Bag on my Shoulders” by @badluckbrebis - Summer Camp AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Hinata is freezing cold as she washes up in a nearby stream despite the poor weather, until Naruto unexpectedly shows up to shelter her…

“Nighttime Workout” by Breezyanimetra - College AU, Two-shot. Shy Hinata doesn’t usually have the courage to speak with her long time crush Naruto. All she does is watch him workout wishing she can do more. A snow storm one fateful night changes that for her.

“21 Days” by @bunny-hoodlum - Includes dub-con, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Anonymous internet friends decide to meet up IRL and give each other their first times.

Pregnancy

“Vacation” by Prestige Frost - Includes foot fetish among other kinks, Canon Divergent AU, One-shot. Their honeymoon was just the beginning. For Naruto and Hinata Uzumaki, the love they shared only grew with each passing day.

“The Art of Seduction” by katraine - Canon Compliant (?), One-shot. ...as only Uzumaki Hinata can do.

“October Tenth” by ShiroiNoKiba - Includes lactation kink and miscarriage scare, Canon-divergent. Two-shot. Naruto’s pregnant wife surprises him at home for his birthday.

Dark!Naruto/Demon/Kyuubi

“Calming the Beast” by Goldfishlover73 - Includes cheating, Canon-Divergent. One-shot. Naruto can’t understand why his relationship with Sakura just isn’t working. Hinata has a solution.

“Honeymoon” by DemonOfTheFridge - Includes graphic rape/non-con, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto always left on a secret mission once a year for a whole month. A curious Hinata finally had enough and followed him to an underground house. A house she finds herself trapped in, with a dark Naruto. Curiosity Killed the Cat.

“Breeding Season” by BlackMajjicDuchess - Includes rape/non-con, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Completely out of pattern, Kyuubi leaks free and causes terrible destruction that Naruto cannot suppress. There is a solution, but it comes at a terrible price.

“In a Demon’s Possession” by HoneyWriter78 - Demons AU. Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Pursued by the snake demon Orochimaru for their mysterious bloodline, Neji and Hinata accidentally trespass into Lord Kyuubi’s territory.

Furry/Mating/Alpha/Omega Dynamics

“A Wild Love” by agitosgirl - Fox!Naruto and Bunny!Hinata, Two-shot. They are a mix of humans and animal. They form communities and societies with their own species. Unfortunately, Hinata from the bunny section of the wood, finds herself in danger of being eaten.

“Love at First Sniff” by agitosgirl - Fox!Naruto and Mouse!Hinata, One-shot. Finding your one true love is the easiest thing that anyone can do. Hinata sets out to find the one male who will become the love of her life.

“Drainage City Tales” by Silent_Soul_Ken - Includes mutation/gender changes, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto is a young man working in Fume City's mining operation recently orphaned he struggles to survive and out of desperation eats some fish. Unusually large and bloated fish eating them will cause a change he never wanted but must now accept. But when Hinata a young noble girl who loves him, finds he's missing she'll do all she can to be with him.

“Naruto’s Mate” by funkychicken67 - Canon Divergent AU, Two-shot. Naruto receives a...gift from the nine tails. And Hinata gets in the way.

“When the Devil Picks Up a Stray” by callmesenorita - Rated E, A/B/O Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata, an Omega, questions buried feelings when she decides to help a childhood friend who has adopted a new persona under the name Menma. Although their attraction is instant he is no longer the Naruto she once knew, and soon enough Hinata is thrust into a dangerous yakuza conspiracy.

“A Fate Worse than Death” by Caelestia - A/B/O Canon-Divergent, One-shot. Naruto, improperly socialized and traumatized as a child, rejects his inner Alpha, which has devastating consequences on his family and marriage. “A Risky Bet” is its fluffier follow-up (One-shot).

I feeeeel like I might be forgetting some, but that’s a lot! :D Happy fic reading!!!!

#anon #naruhina fanfic recs #naruhina smut #naruhina smut fics

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nightswithkookmin · 3 years

Text

TAE TELLS: JIKOOK

It's taken me days to get round to making this blog post- commenting on another Jikooker's analysis.

Now y'all don't need me to provide a tall list on all the reasons that this a bad bad idea for me. Lol.

Been there. Done that. Doesn't end too well.

Mi nar wan treble wif gudt piipel.

But I also don't want to shy away from the conversation; whether or not Tae is good at keeping Jikook's secret. Whether that is a tell. If it is, does that mean all the times he's 'exposed' Jikook were wrong analysis etc.

Let me start off by saying, I totally admire this content creator. I don't have a particular favorite Video creator- most of my go to YouTube jikook content creators are Spanish speaking content creators, Karmy and a few Iarmy- a lot of whom have disappeared off of the surface of the internet over the years.

These days I watch just about anyone that shows up on my recommendation or home feed. Used to leave comments and what not but I've refrained from that due to privacy issues and prefer to share my thoughts on my blog instead.

Haven't seen a lot of her analysis, but hands down agree with a lot of the analysis she's made in the few I've binge watched so far- thanks to y'all who recommended her to me.

I think for the most part she knows what the fuxk she is doing. She definitely knows what she is talking about in her videos and I like that. I admire that.

I don't disagree with anything I've seen so far on her channel. Especially her thoughts on Kook. Fearless Kook. Absolutely love those.

I think she could have taken time to flesh out her theory on this whole 'Tae is good at keeping Jikook's secret' bit cos it seems that's what causing the stir? I don't know.

'If Tae is good at keeping people's secrets then there is no way he could have exposed Jikook blah blah blah'

Sigh.

Tuktukkers will jump on anything to invalidate Jikook. Sigh. Sigh.

I can't put words in her mouth, but I don't think she was interpreting Jimin's words to mean that Tae is good at keeping others' secrets and so cannot 'expose' Jikook like we been saying in this part of stan land.

And if she did mean it like that then I'm afraid I'd have to humbly disagree.

My understanding of Jimin's assertion that Tae is good at keeping a straight face when it comes to others' secret is that, he meant Tae has a strong poker face and it's hard to tell when he is lying or telling the truth sometimes.

That's all Jimin was saying. In my opinion.

Which honestly, it's truth. Tae is such an actor. A talented one at that. I mean have you been watching Run episodes?! Ayayaya.

I won't play Russian roulette with him cos imma end up with bullets in my head.

Play Texas hold'em with him at your own risk.

I mean he is the king of blank expressions in BTS. Isn't that why RM describes him as 4D?

He's only what, honed that- should we call it skills, since debut! He's become a master at it. Add his impeccable acting skills to it and its kaboom.

His blank expressions to me sometimes seem like a coping mechanism, if you will. And often times, he deliberately induces it to mask his feelings- when someone says something he finds annoying or something he is uncomfortable with.

A typical example is when JK read 'Tae Kook' in the comments during their VLive and he pretended he didn't know what the fuxk JK was talking about- prompting JK to explain to him that that was their ship name yadda yadda. Insert skull head.

Now we all know HE KNOWS TAE KOOK.

I saw a lot of jokers running around teasing Tuktukkers with the whole "look, your bias don't know y'all ship exists bye'

Listen, I'd join in on the joke- nothing makes me happy than jokers pulling some tuktukker legs but just as long as we all know and agree that's not true.

They all know of their ships.

They've known since the beginning.

They know everything.

When he said get out of your imagination I don't think it was because he had no ideas what homegal was going on about on Weverse.

Tae has many tells. When he exchanges awkward looks with RM or Jimin when Jikook or JK does something outrageous that's a tell.

When he passive aggressively smirks after revealing a detail on the whereabouts of Jimin at 1am that's equally a tell.

The slight head tilt when he says Jk don't want Jimin to come that's equally a tell.

He is very observant.

He loves to observe Jikook when they are up in their shenanigans. In my opinion. So when he is quietly looking at Jikook, observing them with no expression on his face that's equally a tell.

JK is not the only one always watching JM.

I mean he was stood right behind Jimin when he and JK were taking turns staring at eachother while Joonie was busy being eloquent. Tae saw all of that but didn't react to it.

In the recent OT7 VLive when Jimin called Jk too big or something Tae was right behind them and as I pointed out in my analysis on that, he looked away almost as soon as JK turned to look at him- JK was conscious of Tae and he knew Tae was looking at them through the viewfinder.

Sometimes he feels compelled to call them out on it too like he did in the dynamite MV when he blurted out, let's not look in the cameras when JK and Jikook were about to do their weird eye fucking absolutely gay stuff that they be doing from time to time.

All these are tells. To me at least. And I think in her video she was simply pointing out yet another tell of Taes- his blank expressions around Jikook in certain moments.

Having a poker face is one thing, having a blank expression is another.

Like I said his poker face is deliberate. He turns that on in various situations ranging from mild to not so serious circumstances like keeping others from finding out he is a mafia in a game etc.

His blank expressions are often times involuntary. His resting face. Sometimes I don't even think he realises he's blanked out.

When he don't know what to do with himself he blanks out. It's similar to how JK intensely focuses on Jimin when he doesn't know what to do with himself on set or when the cameras are rolling.

When he isn't intensely focusing on Jimin he becomes fidgety or sometimes does some really weird expressions that have popularly become various memes under the heading Jungshook.

It's not just Tae. It's not just Jimin. They all have their tells and go to expressions when they don't know what to do with themselves on camera.

Tae has a strong poker face, he is a master of blank expressions, and he is notoriously one of the most passive aggressive members in BTS.

Any of these can be tells depending on the context and situation.

-As long as we are able to distinguish between these moments and expressions I suppose.

His expression when Jikook were narrating the rain fight for example would be a blank expression and not a poker face in my opinion- a poker face is a deliberate state of induced expressionless demeanor.

Yes he had a blank expression. But I don't think that that was deliberate. That's just his go to resting face when he is not active in a moment most times.

I found his comment, 'that was a long time ago' much more telling that he knew about the rain fight and that expression of embarrassment he had on later equally said that he knew and thought Jikook were being gay unprovoked.

But that is my thought process.

I gotta respect hers too. It's valid.

Him going blank dead silence when Jimin said he loved waking up to see JK's face was more of that 'awkward, can't believe JM just did that shook moments' he gets around Jikook from time to time when they do something very shocking and gay.

I'd be lying if I said I understood what she was driving at with that bit in her video but I don't totally disagree with that.

By her stating that, I don't think she implied the opposite of it. Nor did Jimin by his statement.

Tae has a good poker face don't necessarily mean he is good at keeping secrets. I think it is much more nuanced than that.

I mean he is good at keeping your secret until he misses his best friend and soulmate then it's 'JK don't want Jimin to come' 🤺🤺🤺

Sometimes I wish Jimin were a triplet so I can slipt him between Tae, JK and RM. Suga and Hobi don't mind sharing him with the others and it seems Jin only wants his mirror so... Lmho.

And yes, Tae does give Jikook away from time to time- blank face or not.

I hope this helps??

Signed,

GOLDY

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tishinada · 3 years

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100 Days of Writing – Day 23

One of the things I'm trying to explore, though I haven't really gotten that far in Dance, is how control of information and “news” influences what people think and believe. I think a lot of people don’t understand how propaganda works or even what it is.

Something I've noticed are the number of people who are adamant that the Republic and Jedi absolutely are the “good” guys. How do we know? Their answers always distill down to “Why they tell us so in the game!” And when you start from the assumption that that is absolutely trustworthy, you can dismiss every single “bad” thing the “good” guys do as an aberration and not a symptom of a problem. That's how propaganda works, btw.

A very clear one is the dehumanization of the natives on Tython - implying they're cannibals to deny their humanity through the very name given them. They’re described, predictably, as violent and “primitive” (i.e. subhuman.) And never once does the game actually explore their POV (I don’t include the side quest of the Force sensitive who took someone hostage) – I mean, they're defending their home, ffs! Wouldn't you fight back with every weapon at your disposal (especially if you had ancient stories about the Force wars on Tython?) And the Twi'leks in this instance? Are colonizers themselves. (Historically, for example, the Irish endured colonization by the English, but themselves participated in colonizing indigenous peoples elsewhere.) Tython had a native species and the Twi'leks simply took land from them. We don’t even know how the conflict started, we’re just expected to assume it was the fault of the indigenous species.

In another case, people do take some notice of Gen. Garza's “bad” actions, but that gets blamed on her personal “ambition” rather than her fanaticism or the structural systems that encourage and enable it. Gen. Var Suthra? Created not one, but several world-destroying weapons due to the same fanaticism and somehow used the attack on the Jedi temple on Coruscant as a justification. He put one of the projects on Nar Shaddaa to evade Republic laws meant to prevent “human” rights abuses. Yes, people volunteered, but realistically, how much choice would those refugees have had? This was Hutt Space where you can be enslaved for owing a few credits. He gets a pass mostly for how he frames his decisions (and for being male and less prickly than Garza, let’s be honest.)

In the Imperial Agent story, you have a former Jedi-now-SIS agent determined to retrieve and use a weapon that the inventor of Var Suthra's planet killers believed was too inhumane. A weapon that would have been used specifically on civilian Imperial targets to “demoralize” the Empire (a very clear parallel to a real world weapon, btw.) And who abused the Imperial Agent, up to and including giving absolute control over the agent to someone that he should have known would abuse that control. That mind control is an absolute form of propaganda in a way, one that you literally can’t resist.

In fact a lot of the class stories are about an arms race, with both sides rushing to create weapons for fear the other side is gaining superiority. I'm an old fart. I actually remember this shit in the real world, btw, so yeah, I noticed this thread immediately on both sides. Neither side is creating defensive systems, only offensive ones, but describe it as defending themselves.

There are all sorts of horrible things done in the name of the Republic and justified as “self-defense.” Brushing aside all of them depends on accepting the Republic and Jedi's self-created image. Propaganda. But the first attack we see in the war in the first game trailer? Wasn't an attack on the Republic itself. It was an attack to reclaim Korriban – the Sith's homeworld, which had been occupied, colonized, looted, and the culture erased by the Republic and Jedi for over a millennium.

Am I saying that the Empire must be the good guys? My question is: why do you believe there is a heroic side? These are governments, inherently flawed (and who should be closely watched and called to account.) And they’re carrying out a war that they’ve been manipulated into by outside forces like Vitiate and the Star Cabal.

Tomorrow, looking at propaganda from the Empire's POV...

(Day 22 here) (Day 24 here)

#swtor #100daysofwriting #dance in the shadow of honor #fanfic #world-building #Propaganda in the Republic #tomorrow propaganda in the Empire

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radioactivepeasant · 4 years

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Fic Prompts: Star Wars Wednesday

(Returning to the Doom Vader universe!)

"Give a warm Nar Shadda welcome to the last of his kind...Kongo the Disemboweler!"

Luke swallowed hard and readied himself. By the size of the gate they were raising, he didn't have much of a chance. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for chasing so recklessly after that thief. Ben often said that a Jedi's weapon was his life, and that it deserved respect. But the Nemesis, when he did speak out loud, tended to say that a weapon was a tool only, and the loss of a tool was less important than the loss of a life.

Luke still hadn't wanted to see the legendary destroyer again and have to explain that he'd lost his father's old lightsaber to a random pickpocket. But now he wished he'd called for help first. At least then somebody would know where he was.

Seconds passed, and there was no sign of the infamous Kongo. The announcer looked to Grakkus, confused. The Hutt made an impatient gesture, and the announcer quickly played it up as part of the show.

[[MORE]]

"Uh-oh!" he feigned an obnoxious laugh. "Looks like Kongo is chowing down on the keepers again! Come on out, Kongo! We've got a treat for you!"

A spotlight swung to focus on the cage door. There was Kongo, alright: a four meter tall roggwart with cybernetic armor across his limbs. Drool slipped from overcrowded jaws to hit the sand with a faint slap. He stared out with glowing red eyes.

And he cowered.

Luke could taste the roggwart's fear, acrid and oily on the back of his tongue. By the confused murmuring of Grakkus's guests, he surmised that this was extraordinarily out of character for the beast. It had clearly been intended to be his means of execution, and yet Kongo would not even ease one toe into the arena to face Luke.

Luke was pretty certain that he wasn't the threat the roggwart sensed. Chewbacca frequently reminded him that he needed to work on putting on a fearsome front. Apparently what he thought was intimidating mostly came off as endearing to Chewie. That was just plain embarrassing.

With a shuddering breath, Luke pushed through the smokescreen of Kongo's fear and his own terror to grasp at the Force. If the roggwart was afraid, something else was coming. Something a lot more dangerous than a twenty year old in magbinders, waving a borrowed lightsaber.

The temperature dropped so sharply that it drove the breath from his lungs.

Luke sucked in a gulp of air, stinging painfully against his throat. His blood hummed in his veins, pulsing in time to a battle song few could hear, and fewer still could see. When the shadows began to drip from the spectators' eyes, from their mouths, Luke tried not to be afraid. He watched the manifestations of their greed and malice slithering to a focal point, drawn as if by a magnet to the place where the shadows were deepest.

The Nemesis stepped through the door, and the shadows clamped their jaws down on the spectators. In an instant all sound was muffled. Luke could see them straining to shout, to question, but their voices were thin and soft. And over them all came the sound of the breathing.

Darth Vader did not waste time making threats or demands. He stormed forward. Those with good sense dove to get out of his way. The first foolish being to attempt to apprehend him was cleanly bisected by a bright blade. The second fell back, shrieking, under a gout of flame from Vader's gauntlet.

Luke took advantage of the distraction to make a desperate leap to the arena wall. He barely caught the edge. Worn, abused muscles twinged in protest as he hauled himself over the wall, but at least he was out of the arena.

Vader ended his march before the Hutt. He aimed his gauntlet directly at the slug's hulking mass, but said nothing.

"What? What do you want?" Grakkus blustered. He waved frantically for his magnaguard droids to come to his rescue. "You want to fight? You...you want the holocrons? I see you have a lightsaber. I have quite the collection myself..."

He trailed off awkwardly. The Nemesis remained silent, and took one step closer. Luke shouldered his way through the crowd to get closer to Vader.

"Let me go, Grakkus!" he shouted. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, his voice went unhindered by the darkness. It bent around the sound to give it passage, tilting away from the Light as much as it could without giving way. "This is probably the only chance you're going to get."

He nodded towards Vader. "He doesn't really like Hutts."

Grakkus sneered. "Is this meant to be some kind of rescue?"

The droids were almost there. Just a little more, and Grakkus would have another fine addition to his collection.

"I think you're a little outgunned, old boy."

Darth Vader tilted his helmet, just a fraction.

Close your eyes, son.

Luke responded to the telepathic command without question. He squeezed his eyes shut as Vader fired a flare from his gauntlet. It burst overhead, blinding the audience. In the silence that followed, a sharp, angry buzz echoed over the arena.

Followed by another.

And another.

Slowly opening his eyes one at a time, Luke looked out across the coliseum and gasped. Lightsabers were igniting throughout the crowd. Blue, green, purple, he even saw white blades. And he recognized many of the hands holding them. Han brandished a green blade like a club. Chewbacca had a sword in each hand, standing like a pirate king over terrified gangsters. Leia held a purple blade with the grace of an accomplished fencer.

They'd all come! Everyone!

"Now."

Everyone in a five foot radius shuddered as the Nemesis finally spoke.

"You choose whether your bodies remain warm...or cold."

#doom vader #doom vader au #star wars #luke skywalker #fic prompts #writing prompts #star wars wednesday #grakkus the hutt #he's so doomed #no pun intended #elements of The Mandalorian #because Doom Vader has a couple Mandalorian friends and they're rubbing off on him #and for the record Obi-wan really wishes Vader would stop calling Bo-Katan Obi's sister-in-law #so does Bo

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jadedjo · 3 years

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If I remember there were some behind the scenes problem were Lucasfilm wanted spice to be a food enhancer beacuse they didn’t wanted to make Han into a drug dealer but Lucas said that no, it was a drug. So yeah Mara and Han tend to be whitewashed even though that partly ruins their character and their relationship with Luke and Leia since one of the reasons they fell in love with them is that Luke and Leia accepted them even though they had a dark past.

I’ve heard the spice=drugs/not drugs in Star Wars before. It’s pretty clear that it was always meant to be slang for drugs.

As for whitewashing Han and Mara (I totally misunderstood what you meant and had to go over it with my SW peeps to realize you didn't mean “white in place of POC character” instead of “ concealing unpleasant facts about someone or something” thank you @klcthebookworm ).... I don’t think they DO get white washed that much in Legends.

At least, not Han. He had 6 books all about his past on the fringe as a smuggler/spice runner and he had a bounty on his head for dropping Jabba’s shipment of spice all through ANH and ESB. BUT, he has a redemption arc where he gives up his old smuggling habits for the greater good of helping the Leia/the Rebellion. So far as to join them as a General. So his past isn't brushed aside, more as in he has moved past it by the time of the EU. That’s not to say that it’s not there.

In TTT he is on a mission to recruit other fringe freighter captains to the New Republic BECAUSE of his background as a one time member. Most turn him down as he is Respectable™ and they aren’t sure they can trust him/NR. He also has contacts on Nar Shaddaa in Dark Empire and runs into an old girlfriend while there. So I would say that Han’s past isn’t concealed, its just that it doesn’t need to be brought up as he has moved so far beyond it as to almost be irrelevant.

Now when it comes to Mara’s past... That’s a little harder and easier to brush aside. We know so little about it that’s hard NOT to brush it aside. We know she was the Emperor’s Hand and a few details from different sources that could mean spy, assassin, personal informant, or whatever you want ‘Hand’ to mean, or all of the above. But once she is on the run from the Empire and the Command, she is now fringe and with Karrde’s group.

By the end of TTT, the main characters all know of her past as Hand and know that she isn’t that person any more. She saves the Twin’s and DOESN’T kill Luke (though she did kill his proxy, make of that what you will, but it does free her to live her life on HER terms) She has helped Luke/NR a few times before ultimately joining it. In Union, her past almost seems like common knowledge as an Imperial tries disrupt the wedding of a former imperial and a jedi master.

Her past is always there, but I think what you mean is that she never has any consequences because of it. Han gets frozen in carbonite for like a year so I’d say he’s paid his dues. But for Mara, there isn’t anything. Unless you count being mind tortured to kill Luke Skywalker for 5 years while on the run from the Government she once served and is now out to get her. Or, what I believe, is Mara’s regret over her past once she is free of Palpatine and that is something she has to live with for the rest of her life.

Would it be nice if there were more references so Mara had something to react to like in this excerpt from Joiner King found by @teagrl? Yes. But even then that has almost no impact on the story. (that is what fic is for 😉)

But not having consequences or having their pasts brought up all the time doesn’t ruin their characters and Luke and Leia both know their history and do love them in spite of their pasts.

#anon #mara jade #han solo #I think their past would help them bound as in-laws #han and mara are bros #asks don't stop asking #star wars #star wars legends

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depizan · 3 years

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100 Days of Writing

@the-wip-project‘s 100 days of writing

Day something or another (I’ve lost track again): more babbling about worldbuilding

One other worldbuilding thing I’ve pondered a bit is medical care. It’s one aspect of the Star Wars universe that I feel got vaguer over time. The original trilogy didn’t say a whole lot about medical care, but what was shown felt like something that could be extrapolated from in a reasonably sensible and consistent manner. (And some Legends stuff did.)

I’m not sure if it started going sideways in Legends before Revenge of the Sith introduced ever so much what the fuck, but by the time SW:TOR rolled around Star Wars medical care was incoherent, and also magic. Add in aesthetics and the question of exactly where the story/gameplay divide is, and it’s enough to make a fan writer cry. Or go “well, if canon isn’t making sense, I’m just going to invent my own sense.” (Which, I suppose, brings us back to Director Furying canon. Though in this case, it’s less that canon made a stupid-ass decision and more that canon opted to make no decisions whatsoever.)

There’s dialogue in game and in tie-in material to support basically whatever you might want medical care to be capable of…or not capable of. Half the stuff talks as though kolto is the treatment, for everything. (Which matches up to the Legends works that solved everything by sticking people in bacta tanks, regardless of whether that made sense. (Bacta being the successor to kolto, with both poorly explained healing fluids being treated very similarly.))

The only way dunking someone in a tank of liquid to fix broken bones and/or internal injuries could possibly work as the only treatment is if kolto (or bacta) were sapient. And had a medical degree. Pretty sure that’s not what’s meant to be implied. (Though I suppose it could be entertaining...)

I treat kolto as part of medical care. Sure, it’s highly useful, and canonically both eases pain and speeds healing (and if injected, acts as a sedative), but you’ve still got to do the hard medical work of putting people back together first! Surgeons are very definitely a thing, as are replacement parts, mostly of the cybernetic or otherwise non-biologic variety, but some things are also lab grown. I mean, come on, as I noted when talking about bounty hunting, this is a universe where they can duplicate people, redo their genetics, and all kinds of other things. I think there are going to be a lot of options for how you put somebody back together after an accident or battle.

But those options are going to depend greatly on where in the galaxy you are. I tend to assume that both the Empire and Republic have some form of universal medical care, but logistics and bureaucracy and nepotism and a million other things means that that care isn’t equally good for everyone everywhere. The care available on Coruscant or Dromund Kaas is going to be far better than the care on some fringe world. The Empire’s going to sink more into putting an Intelligence field agent back together than a low level clerk. A Republic senator will have more care options than a farmer. Etc.

What’s available on independent worlds and systems also varies greatly, depending on how that government operates and what it considers important or not. You might have universal healthcare, you might have for profit medicine, you might have some order of Force Sensitives that fixes people up. Who knows.

And then there’s Hutt Space and the galactic underworld, where things are exactly the mess you’d expect them to be. There are for profit medcenters. There are cheap surgeries in some dirty back alley office where you can only hope the medical droid doing the work has had its programming updated sometime this decade. (And that’s assuming you’re not crossing your fingers that the person doing the work has – or had – a medical degree from somewhere, at some time.) There are truly excellent independent clinics who do absolutely cutting edge work…as long as you have the money, or don’t mind owing a Hutt, an Exchange boss, or some other crime lord for the rest of your life.

And, sure, there are actually independent actual doctors who do good work and are operating in the fringes either because they were born there and they managed to pay off their Hutt indenture or because something unrelated to their medical skill caused them to leave the Republic or Empire or wherever they came from. But they’re harder to find, and you’re still going to need to have ready credits.

You do also get the occasional Jedi or other do-gooder providing free medical care on Nar Shaddaa or one of the other trade hub worlds. As long as they’re focusing on the lowest of the low and not cutting into anyone’s bottom line too much, they usually manage to stick around for a bit. But they almost always eventually run into that bottom line problem (or, in the case of some Jedi, draw a bit too much attention to themselves) and get booted off the planet.

(Okay, so maybe I kind of treat Hutt Space and the galactic underworld as Shadowrun in space.)

All that’s just the how. What about the what? How does medicine work in the galaxy far, far away?

I could answer that better if I knew more about how medicine works in the here and now. Unfortunately, I don’t even play a doctor on TV. All I’ve got are vague science fictional ideas.

You’ve got your cybernetics, both replacement parts and enhancements. Strictly replacement parts have the potential to look pretty much like your original parts, just with different care regimens. Enhancements tend to be more obvious. So are your options on the cheaper end of things or out in the boonies. That’s where you tend to get less pleasant options like people using discarded droid limbs and the like.

Broken bones that can’t be repaired can be replaced. Skin can be grown in a laboratory. A whole lot of things just aren’t a big deal if you’ve got access to a well-equipped medcenter. Galactic medicine can cure cancer, make you a different person, put you back together after a horrible accident, all that good stuff. If you’ve got access to a well-equipped medcenter.

And, of course, there’s the downsides or complications of all this. Sure, you can probably save a badly injured person by stuffing them in a kolto tank and hotfooting it for a major world. But I don’t pity the medical team that has to deal with whatever horrors the kolto wrought during the journey. If you’ve got fancy cybernetics, there’s always the chance you’ll run into someone who wants them very, very badly. People can be turned into perfect (or very near perfect) duplicates of other people.

On the flip side, people still die because they were too far from the nearest medcenter when they got injured. Battlefield medicine – and emergency medicine in some places – tends to be more focused on saving life and limb than having things look pretty afterwards. Kolto might do a great job of reducing or even entirely preventing scars, but only if you get it applied soon enough. (Though, for those last two, cosmetic surgery is always an option.)

Soldiers don’t always fix scars, because they’re proof you did get fixed up in the field – which is proof that you were in battle and survived. Similarly, it’s not uncommon to see bounty hunters and mercenaries with scars. (Whether actually from battle or not.) And people just make different decisions. A person who lost their legs in an accident might get cybernetic replacements… or they might use a hoverchair.

In one ficlet, Savler thinks about the trade-off between having a perfectly lifelike replacement eye vs. one that could do significantly more than a human eye. Both have advantages and disadvantages in her line of work, and it’s clearly a decision she revisits from time to time.

I’ve left it unclear if Kyrian made the most practical choice when it came to his injured hand. (Actually, no, I’ve kind of suggested he didn’t. A good cybernetic hand wouldn’t result in any of the minor problems he’s just going to have to live with.) But he’s hardly the only person in the galaxy made that choice.

You know, I’m not sure I’ve so much replaced canon as worked out a lot of justifications to explain canon. (Well, aside from the kolto tank weirdness.)

#100daysofwriting #ficverse worldbuilding #galactic medicine #long post

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