talizorahs - Tumblr blog

talizorahs · 5 months

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I am SO late (and scarcely on Tumblr these days) but Zaana let me write a fic to accompany this -

IN THE LINE OF DUTY.

Be that as it may, the Bad Batch's 100% success rate doesn't mean they aren't also affected by the realities of war.

[read on ao3]

The mission winds down quietly considering the contents: the rescue of countless child slaves from a Zygerrian slave camp in the Outer Rim. It’s just one of many blitz strikes authorised by the Republic in the wake of public uproar about Kiros. The Bad Batch were assigned this particular strike.

They succeed, for the most part. The children are rescued. The Zygerrians are killed in a shootout – and Hunter doesn’t even consider giving an order to use non-lethal rounds. A separate Republic transport escorted the rescued kids to safety. The Bad Batch return to the Havoc Marauder with their one-hundred percent success rate still intact.

But they are sombre about it.

Children.

The camp was composed of various species and backgrounds, but all of them were children.

Crosshair finds himself chewing through toothpicks at an alarming rate during the flight home.

Wrecker asks at one point, in a similar vein to Crosshair’s stewing, “D’you think they’ll be alrigh’?”

Tech occupies himself with flying the shuttle.

Hunter…

Crosshair sighs as the sergeant completes yet another lap of the shuttle.

Because Hunter is pacing. Crosshair rolls his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other, watching Hunter, as he makes headway in putting a hole through the floor. It’s obvious what everyone is thinking about right now. No man on board is a stranger to the realities of war and how it affects children. Crosshair already feels plenty of ways about that. But about this…

“Hunter,” growls Crosshair as Hunter passes him. The sniper is lounging in his bunk, trying to breathe away the day. The sergeant is very much not. “Stop it. You’re giving me a headache.”

“I thought that was a given,” Hunter replies without stopping.

Crosshair juts out a hand to physically stop him when he moves to pass again. The shuttle is only tiny, especially when it comes to the singular walkway down the middle.

Hunter stops this time. Not that Crosshair really gives him a choice about it. He looks down at Crosshair. Crosshair glowers back.

They stare at each other. Both unblinking. Both stubborn.

Only, it’s not really about the pacing. If it was, Crosshair would win this standoff. There is no desire nor intention to ‘win’ here, only for Hunter to stop, breathe a little, and… well…

Sighing deeply, Crosshair averts his gaze first. His arm is still outstretched. Hunter has made no effort to move away, in fact, he moves closer as Crosshair’s hand gently wraps around Hunter’s hip and encourages him closer, to sit down.

“Sit down and just…” Crosshair kicks his blanket out of Hunter’s anticipated trajectory, grumbling about it. “Stop. You saved the children. You were a good soldier. The angst can stop.”

“Is that what's giving you a headache?” asks Hunter. He sits down anyway. He is grinning. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “That’s the Quacta calling the Stifling slimy.”

Crosshair rolls his eyes. The toothpick in his mouth snaps with the motion.

“Whatever,” the sniper grumbles again. “Just…” He kicks the blanket again, this time to one side, so there’s room for a second person to wiggle in underneath. “Come here.”

Hunter’s expression softens considerably. This time it does reach his eyes, if only to look devastated about the turn of events that led to their recent mission. Of course they’re all devastated, even if the mission was a success. It’s perfectly natural for them to want some comfort through it all.

So Hunter moves to lie down next to Crosshair. The bunk spaces are small, but Crosshair knows from prior experience that they will fit. Especially because Hunter lies on top of Crosshair, with one of his hands closing around Crosshair’s opposite elbow. His head rests just underneath Crosshair’s chin. There, the sergeant exhales deeply, sinking into Crosshair like they’ve rehearsed exactly this. Crosshair’s hand encircles Hunter’s back just the same, holding on.

The weight is comforting. The closeness. The mutualism. The peace.

Who is comforting who doesn’t matter. At the very least, Hunter has finally stopped pacing. Crosshair doesn’t find himself in need of another toothpick, in fact, he’s perfectly happy to close his eyes and continue to breathe. He matches his breaths to Hunter’s relaxed rhythm where he lies on top of him.

If he dozes off, he’s none the wiser. Crosshair even pretends to stay asleep when Wrecker tiptoes up to put Lula down next to the pair of them. He only intervenes when he hears the rustle of a datapad being poised.

Crosshair growls, without opening his eyes, “If I find a holo later, you’re both dead.”

There’s a few muted snickers. With more rustling, the datapad is returned to a certain technician’s utility belt. Lula is adjusted to rest against Crosshair’s arm.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wrecker whispers as he tries to find the correct position for the doll. “Yer all bark no bite, buddy. The kids are safe. They jus’ arrived on Coruscant.”

“Good.”

“Ya did good.” Wrecker ruffles Crosshair’s hair, which earns him a sleepy scowl.

But he doesn’t dare ruffle Hunter’s hair, because the sergeant is fast asleep; a rare sight these days. So Instead, Wrecker gently tucks away a stray strand of Hunter’s hair.

He adds in a murmur, “You too, sarge.” For all of their feelings about children in the throes of a war, it often fails to include the four ‘enhanced’ clones in the Havoc Marauder. Right now, it includes Hunter’s comforting weight against Crosshair. But not exactly as they are – only ten and eight.

Happy Birthday Crosshair!

Who needs a weighted blanket when you have Hunter?

#the bad batch #writing #not bioware #star wars #tbb #I AM SO HGDFUKHGKUD FOR HUGS #RAHHHH!!!!!!

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talizorahs · 7 months

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The Bad Batch Dividers!

Heyyyy look! The fantastic artist @ve-ti-ver graced us with these TBB portraits that I crafted into dividers! Feel free to use but please credit the artist. 😍

#the bad batch #star wars #reference #not bioware

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talizorahs · 7 months

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attention all bg3 players who have also played dragon age!! (which is probably everyone, let’s be real)

im conducting an experiment, so if everyone could please reblog with their romance choices for both games

regards

#*sweats nervously*#for my first ever DA playthrough it was #origins: leliana / 2: isabela / inq: josie #and now #bg3: lae'zel #can u tell my type because uh #*SWEATS LOUDER*#dragon age #baldur's gate 3 #text

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talizorahs · 7 months

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bg3 being such a huge commercial success just makes me more and more convinced that bioware should remaster dragon age: origins

#da:o was my FIRST bg3 where i sunk 500 hours into it and never regretted it #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #dragon age origins #dragon age #i love both games and i'm not trying to put one against the other #i just grew up playing dragon age and it holds such a dear place in my heart #and i need everyone to align my boyfriends zevran arainai and astarion #text #explosion noises

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talizorahs · 8 months

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what reminder you need to hear depending on which bad batcher you stan. an introspective 📬

[cross-posted from my twitter][s0ftbatch]

i put together these words for a particularly negative moment within the fandom, and want to share them here, as my bad batch brainrot continues to deepen. introspection is highly subjective to my interpretation of the characters - i know some better than others. such words were constructed from typing each batcher to a maldaptive schema.

remember to be excellent to each other 🥰

HUNTER

"you don't need to be strong all the time"

TECH

"you are worth more than what you can give"

WRECKER

"you are allowed to be here" "you are wanted"

CROSSHAIR

"it's okay to ask for help"

ECHO

"you can't fix everyone's problems"

OMEGA

"don't let anyone put out your sunshine"

#the bad batch #star wars #hunter #crosshair #wrecker #tech #echo #omega #tbb #not bioware #im trying to migrate my threads over here #the format semi-works but i also just wanna put everything onto the one tumblr blog #ik im talizorahs here but just entertain me ok #writing

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talizorahs · 8 months

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little victories [star wars: the bad batch] [ao3]

written for my @badthingshappenbingo card

READ ON AO3

summary:

Wrecker comes up with a new tactic to help Echo manage his chronic pain. (Please don't tell Tech.)

prompt: chronic pain word count: 1,485 pairing: none (gen)

notes: this is for my friend first and my card second! the themes just happened to line up and i'm always happyto tick one more off the board. especially as whumptober looms.

my board progress: