#A perfect 10/10 episode for Horizons

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 18 Review - A Flashback Masterpiece

I’m sorry, Episode 16, you just got dethroned after two weeks of reign. Episode 18 is now the best episode of this anime by far. It’s just an origin story, but the animation and storytelling are so immaculate. It’s almost perfection in a way. It feels like a good closure to the first arc and the beginning to the next possible arc in the Rising Volt Tacklers’ journey.

Liko and Roy are curious about how Captain Pikachu is able to fly in the air, so they team up with Dot to ask Friede about Cap’s origins. He avoids the topic, but with the help of Orla meddling, Friede finally reveals his past with Cap. Once a promising Professor, Friede starts his story jobless and listless. He had no motivation and no drive to do anything after quitting; he spends his days fishing with Ludlow and that didn’t excite him either. One day, he gets a phone call from his old teacher, Lucca (Liko’s mother), who he hasn’t seen since his student days at the Kanto region. Lucca moved to Paldea from Kanto after getting married to Alex. She wonders why he quit his job at the lab. Friede says that he knows everything there is to know about Pokemon, but Lucca sees through his front and points out that he lost his drive. She then asks him to meet up with him the next day at dawn where he is introduced to the Pikachu that will one day become Captain Pikachu. At first, Friede didn’t want to bother with a Pikachu, but after seeing how Cap used Volt Tackle to make a vortex into the sky, he became interested in it. He spends his next days trying to observe and theorize Pikachu’s goals and actions. After befriending him, Friede and Pikachu become partners and the Rising Volt Tacklers came to be.

First off, this backstory was amazing. It played out like a movie! I do like how Friede quitting his job and losing his drive is parallel to a lot of adults trying to find their place in life in the real world. People say that Pokemon is childish or for a general children’s audience (which it is), but having Friede and the Rising Volt Tacklers be adults and have mature motives for their path in life shows that Pokemon isn’t afraid to bring in an older audience as well. It’s like Mollie’s backstory that was told in episode 11 where she quit her job at the Pokemon Center because working there wasn’t fulfilling for her. Friede quit his job because it wasn’t fulfilling for him. I’m sure there are a lot of adults who relate to this; I relate to this myself!

I like how Pikachu was very hostile towards Friede in the beginning of their encounter. It shows off how much of a wild Pokemon he was back then. He was annoyed with Friede and kept tackling him. I think my favorite part of this episode was Pikachu gathering berries and then rushing off to eat them. I think this is one of the rare moments we see Pikachu behave very animal-like. We never saw Ash’s Pikachu as a wild Pokemon as much since most of his screen time was being a captured Pokemon and a pet of sorts. Seeing how Pikachu respected Friede towards the end of the flashback felt realistic because Pikachu knew Friede was always there and it even saved him from falling. In turn, Friede finding drive in Pikachu was understandable. Life is always full of mysteries and finding that one fateful moment can lead to a myriad of opportunities. Pikachu was definitely Friede’s muse in a way.

The animation was very smooth. The scene where Friede and Charizard flew up to the skies next to Pikachu’s vortex flabbergasted me. I never knew OLM Studio could animate this beautifully. This definitely looks like something shown in a Pokemon film or in a smaller mini-series like Twilight Wings. The way everything kept moving throughout the scene, taking a break when they looked beyond the horizon, and then moving again once Pikachu fell was breathtaking. I may not be an animator, but I can see good animation quality!

I do like how Lucca was the reason why Pikachu and Friede got together. Lucca is also the reason why Liko met the Rising Volt Tacklers. The theme of connection is very prevalent for this anime as it is a bond that expands beyond horizons. I cooed over seeing baby Liko in the episode; she’s so cute. I deduce that the flashback might have occurred at least five or six years ago since Liko is most likely ten or eleven at most. The fact that a mere glimpse of seeing Friede over a video call was the stepping stone of her current life is pretty fascinating in itself.

I also liked learning more about the Rising Volt Tacklers. It turns out that Ludlow and Friede were already acquainted with each other. Orla and Friede are also childhood friends with them both being Kantonians but Orla moved to Hoenn. The fact that Friede was requesting Orla to build an airship from Ludlow’s ship meant that he and Ludlow sailed all the way to the Hoenn region from Paldea. That’s determination right there. The fact that Friede, Cap, Orla and Ludlow were the starting members of the Rising Volt Tacklers seems meaningful now.

I love the little cameo of Larry in the restaurant, showing the game canon of him being a regular at that restaurant. Since this was a few years back, I do wonder if Larry is still a Gym Leader five or six years later and still working overtime. Anyways, I do like that this episode had the opening song play towards the end, signifying the closure of one chapter and the start of a new one. There hasn’t been talks or announcements of a new opening or ending song, so I do wonder where the show will go from here. I think this episode was flawless, but what about you? What do you think about this episode?

#anipoke #pokemon #pokemon anime #pokemon horizons #friede #captain pikachu #charizard #larry #lucca #liko #roy #dot #review #anime #anime review #A perfect 10/10 episode for Horizons

[projectdrow]

How the Bad Batch can end well

So here are my 5 thoughts on season 3 and what’s to come after. I recommend @eriexplosion if you like reading interesting thoughts, analysis and ramblings, a lot of their recent posts inspired this one.

First of all, the trailer was a work of art. It gave us some really random scenes, but also some very direct information that we can speculate on like crazy, if we want to. Also, the title-episode list comes in handy, I will refer to it.

1.) Episode 1-3 one go

I’ll come back to why the show needs to end before May the 4th later, and that’s another reason for the multiple episode days.

When a streaming service like Disney drops more than one episode, they often do so because they think viewers might be lost, because the single (first) episode does not have the full “boom-bang-drama” potential.

I think we’ll see the liberation of Crosshair, maybe even Omega, in the first three episodes. The trailer makes no secret of the fact that Cross will rejoin the team. So this story will not be the main focus of the whole season and the first episode might built up solely for the climax of the escape/liberation in episode 3. At least something heavy will happen at the end of “Shadows of Tantiss”

2.) Omega as the main character

Omega’s character is a very typical tool in storytelling. Throw a character who knows nothing into an established system, so she learns everything with/for the viewer. Sure, the boys are main characters, too, but Omega is the point of view of the kids(! - I’ll come back to that later)-show we’re watching. She can’t be gone for that long, because I don’t think season 3 will be a “Omega’s adventures on Mt. Tantiss”. I think episode 6 and 7 (“Infiltration” and “Extraction”) the latest will bring her back.

3.) So what’s the story?

Actually, and some might say that’s a big take, a lot of the first episodes will be about Tech. I don’t think I need to elaborate to anyone why it makes no sense for him to be dead and never had.

When we first saw this Clone X, there were some interesting “Undercover-Tech” ideas, but after analyzing the trailer in more depth and especially what appears to be an attack on Pabu led by this Clone, well, I think that’s Tech. And not undercover, no, the full on brainwashed, highly dangerous Imp!Tech. Episode 10 is called “Identity Crisis”, which could very well be Tech’s. But they’ll get him back, don’t worry, also because the second part will be about the BB finally deciding what to do with their lives. Which leads directly to 5.), but first:

4.) (Almost) no one dies

Two reasons. First: We already had that devastating Tech-death scene. He AND Asajj will be brought back from the dead this season. Any further death this season wouldn’t convince anyone anymore, not even the kids.

Second: The kids. It’s still a children’s show. Yes, Star Wars kills of characters in them too, but @eriexplosion made a very good point in this post: That’s not what this show is about. TBB has been about the struggle of Clones finding their place, finding family, finding a meaning. All of that would be for naught, and that’s why I think everyone survives.

Also: The last episode is called: “The Cavalry has Arrived”.

5.) About the future

I think the Bad Batch was intended to be released earlier. As well as the trailer. But with the strikes and Filoni being promoted, their was a lot going on. With the triplet opening and the double episodes, we’ll finish on May 1st. And that would be just to perfect to announce the follow-up-project on May 4th. I see another Clone series on the horizon. The Clones work, the people love them, it’s all there, the characters, the stories, the animation. It’s a safe bet for Lucasfilm. And sure, it would work with Rex, Cody and more as main characters, but the Batch was intended to be and is a stark contrast to the “Regs”, especially if they get Cross and Tech back.

Sure, Omega could be the leading figure again, but… nah. I am writing this because I’m absolutely convinced that we won’t have seen the last of the complete BadBatch after season 3.

Star Wars is about Hope. So I hope.

#The Bad Batch #Star Wars #TBB speculation

[l00rem]

Okay, so there’s a loooot to talk about from ep45 but a detail i think i’m picking up on is a set up for our next year of horizons and the arcs for amethio and spinel

This is the first time we’ve seen Amethio team up with Rvt (potentially why they skipped over it back in that moltress encounter) and while he brushes it off, the intent of the writers is clearly to show he’s capable of working with them. This is definitely the first domino in his redemption arc, and i’m wondering if by the end of this year (two arcs if it follows the same pattern) we’ll see him fully join them especially considering his new mission is to monitor them instead of fight. We’ve now got so many more opportunities for casual interactions between amethio and the RVTs! Sango, Onyx and Agate seem to be infiltrating the academy (which i find hilarious because sango can easily pass as a child but onyx on the other hand…) so perhaps he’ll be nearby to survey as well? maybe he’ll finally catch a new pokemon (espurr pls) or we’ll just start to learn more about him this coming arc.

What interests me even further is how I think Amethio and Spinel’s development are being set up to mirror eachother. Amethio will betray explorers for redemption, but Spinel will betray them for his own selfish motivations. It won’t surprise me if by the end of this year (as in a year of episodes) they both leave the group. And while that means explorers would be down two major antags, i think that’s the perfect opportunity to have hamber and gibeon become more active to fill the hole their absences would leave.

Anyway, this episode was a 10/10, I’m so excited to see where things go this year! (Also I still refuse to believe Amethio is Gibeon’s son because that man does not get bitches. They’re related, but i don’t think it’ll be as direct as that)

#pokemon horizons #amethio #anipoke #anipoke spoilers #pokemon liko #pokemon spinel #explorers #rising volteccers

[aetherialpiplup108]

The most underrated Alchemy of Souls moment is when the Unanimous Assembly goes bonkers over the ice stone. You have the old, esteemed leaders of Daeho getting into fist fights (side note: the actor playing Heo Yeom is hilarious), as well as Park Jin and Jin Ho-Gyeong getting into a legitimate argument that ends with Songrim soldiers drawing blades and surrounding the room. The situation is tense, uncertain, and a serious conflict looms on the horizon.

But then you have Jang Uk strolling up in the most dramatic fashion possible with an in-verse drumroll (like, this wasn't just OST designed to make the scene epic for viewers. Mu-deok beat a gong for him and if that isn't true love, I don't know what is) before apologizing for interrupting their passionate discussion (read: slyly insulting all the elders for being a bunch of squabbling children), claims to know the will of a legendary hero that's been dead for decades, and cites his source as a random piece of poetry Park Jin gave him as a trap like five episodes ago.

And the best part is that it works.

Everyone's stunned and confused but can't do anything (even if his own friends think he's lying to stall for time), and Park Jin is flat-out done. He trusts Uk enough not to intervene but look at this man, he's so tired.

10/10 perfect scene.

Bonus points for CP catching a glimpse of Uk minding his own business in the corner while the mages were fighting and instantly clocking in that something was going down.

Also I can't tell if this is Mu-deok "forgetting" to bow or Uk remembering to bow because he wants something from Go-won later.

#alchemy of souls #jang uk is a first order drama queen and i will die on this hill #jang uk #mu-deok #cho yeong #go won #park jin #too many actors to tag #respects to all #in all seriousness i love how the Words of the Heart is an actual plot point that comes back #it's not just a one and done thing with the love letter subplot #one day i will learn how to take high quality screenshots i promise

[diaphanouso]

10 Mutuals I'd Like to Know Better

Thanks for the tag, @dulcidyne and @westernlarch !

Last song I listened to: Goldfrapp - Beast That Never Was

Favorite content to watch: sci-fi (some faves are For All Mankind, The Expanse, Event Horizon, Alien), horror (Haunting of Hill House, Yellowjackets, found footage genre), long-running sitcoms (Gilmore Girls, Frasier, Community), DELICIOUS MESSY DRAMAS (Succession, Suits), anything Taika Waititi's involved in

Favorite games: Mass Effect, Horizon Zero Dawn, BotW, TotK, LoZ Majora's Mask, Donkey Kong Country 2

Favorite color: green-leaning teal

Favorite animals: mustelids, giraffes/okapis

Favorite food: tacos, halo-halo, pickled things, a plate fixed with the following: fried cornbread w/ fresh sliced tomato and collard greens w/ vinegar and Tabasco sauce—perfect bite 🤌

Sweet, spicy, or savory: SPICY 🌶️

Current obsessions: BG3 got me too 😁 Otherwise it's this sci-fi/horror ME fic I'm working on that cropped up out of nowhere amidst a field of active wips

Last book I read: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (thanks so much for the rec, @dulcidyne!). Currently reading Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth short story collection, and it's SO good

Last thing I googled: "jupiter brain youtube"

Relationship: long-term monogamy, cohabitating

Fun fact: I got to be a (very random???) guest on the Dear Prudence podcast when I chatted with Danny Lavery after a Dear Prudence Live show in DC. We chatted about conflict resolution and I didn't think he was serious when he invited me on the show but he was! I will not say which episode out here bc I'm painfully embarrassed by how I sound lol but if you're curious, message me and I can dig up the link

Tagging @dispatchwithlove @angry-jager @dwarrowdams @kalliesa @misseffect @otemporanerys @wingsy-keeper-of-songs @jtownnn

#tag game

[dongslinger--420]

when it came to bojack and penny as much as none of us wanted it to happen that made sense/had build up i was so mad at him over it with 17 minutes I was just left confused and annoyed at the writers ive mentioned in the past bojack was far to busy blacking out on drugs to think anything through and the writers just forgot/ignored he was passing out every 2 minutes in too much man , he would say something then black out and be like whats going on??? He blacked out about 10 times in that episode having no idea whatwhat So Like that Kronk meme that goes: Well by all accounts it doesn't make sense for him to suddenly be able to drive and come back without blacking out as he was doing through that whole episode. I do think bojack holds some responbility for sarah lynn but im not a big fan of how she gets none when shes 31 and made the choice to do drugs an idea i just had it would have made more sense if they crashed during one of bojacks blackout and sarah nearly dyed on impact whichthinkingonit i kindalikethatideamore cause Bojack he woke up 4/6 times in his car very confused suddenly driving and having no idea whatsgoingon sarah lynn had to remind him so crashing would have made a lotta sense. but suddenly hes able to just drive from the planetarium and not having any problems driving and do things a sober man could do when he spent that whole 2 months blasted, so its def a bad writing choice but bojack haters will never think so

Alternatively they could've just let it be a complex, ambiguous situation? I have my complaints about the Braxby interview, but the best part about it is that, OTHER than the 17 minutes thing, it is a perfect demonstration for how neither BoJack nor anyone else realistically has moral event horizons, and the reason why BoJack is bad is because he is the product of ALL of his actions. But the 17 minutes thing pushes him over the edge. It makes him seem unforgivable to Everyone involved, including the audience. "The 17 minutes thing changed everything" why??? And more importantly, why did it Have to????

And holy shit I love Escape From LA so much. I'll talk about that in a separate post though.

#bjhm s6 critical #bojack horseman #bjhm #amelia answers

[how-masterful]

Remastered

Dhawan!Master X Reader

Chapter 9: The Power of Three

Summary: The cubes arrived in mystery, and have stayed there for a whole year. You’ve dragged the curious, and slightly jealous, Master into a year of self imposed domesticity. But what happens when those strange cubes finally begin to wake up?

Notes: The first proper remaster of 2023! And yes, hold your shock, another series 7 episode. Would it make you laugh if i said this wasn’t even my favourite series (but is very much up there!) Thank you so much for all the love this series has gotten since it’s started. Our next part is story number 10 (well technically 13 if you count the four parter and the extra new earth- but like the Doctor, we could argue over numbers for days!) I hope you enjoy this part, and as always thank you to @plethora-of-imagines​ for being my proof reader in times of writing crisis!

It had been 365 days since they’d arrived. 

Palm sized black cubes, mathematically perfect to even the smallest micrometre, each exactly identical to one another, devoid of any and all differing imperfections. Black cubes that had rolled off the intergalactic production line, before dropping out of the sky as the sun rose over the horizon. A quick glance at your mobile news feed had brought you back to Earth to investigate, the Master arguing it was purely for jealous satisfaction- if somebody else was trying to invade your planet, he wanted to know. You also considered his desire to stay put for the first week to see if the Doctor would make an appearance, sticking her blonde head out of the TARDIS door and solving the problem as easy as mowing the lawn. 

But the Doctor never showed, the familiar wheeze of the blue box never drifting through the breeze. Instead, UNIT had taken a chance upon the next best thing- and now Kate Stewart had a tracking proof, bug proof, anything proof burner phone loaded with her number and given to the Master, one also kept for herself. A deal that would most definitely be under review, pending the results of the cubes.

If there was anything the Master excelled at, beyond flamboyant universal conquest and being the last great appreciator of disco, it was playing the long game. Years of establishing himself as anything from professors to prime ministers, building an entire afterlife to waiting out nearly eighty years jail hopping, had trained the Timelord to gain a strangely enviable level of patience: the application of said patience always depending on rather the less enviable, more volatile nature of his mood swings. 

If you were to simplify things, the Doctor was a hyperactive puppy: needing constant mental enrichment, her conversations a tangle of tangents and unfollowable trails of thought. But the Master was the most seasoned of spoiled house cats: able to lounge and preen in bouts of attention, concocting his own games to keep himself dangerously occupied. If silence from the doctor was a moment of peace, silence from the Master was inspiration for suspicion. 

Luckily for you, you were privy to the times where the Master could be nothing of the sort.

His hearts pounded softly within his warm skin, your naked form pressed against his bare chest, bodies glistening with a thin sheen of sweat as you lay in a satisfied pile upon the sofa. The Master's hands were idly trailing down your spine, fingers drawing the ghosts of shapes, a warm brown fur blanket covering your lower halves- a feeble attempt at some sort of privacy from the room. Your eyelids were almost heavy, hair sprawling behind as the tv continued to play the long abandoned reality shows. The cubes were their own celebrities now, a year after they’d dropped out of the sky. Tv documentaries, dramas, crafting shows, soap operas. Hollywood was even trying to cash in. 

The evening had started with yourself and the Master watching (or in his case, hate watching) the Apprentice, the pair of you smirking at the fact Lord Sugar probably had no clue he’d be still hosting the show with his consciousness in a droid in the future. But the Masters wandering hands had ensured you’d missed quite a lot of the episode.

“There's no way they’ll end up profiting.” The Master said softly, fingers still delicately caressing.

You hummed in agreement, pressing a small peck to his collar.

“I’ve got no clue who's the project manager.”

“Pink shirt, she’s a little bossy but willing to cooperate. Blue shirt overspent on the catering, he’s not going to stand a chance in the boardroom.”

You chuckled softly, the Master turning his gaze down to stare at you curiously.

“What?”

“You.” You replied, adjusting yourself to meet the Master's eyes.

“You’re laying on my sofa on a random Thursday. We’ve played a game of chess, gone for a walk, and even though we’ve been to the shops we still decided to order a takeaway. You sat here and told me how you almost stopped pizza ever being invented, and now we’re watching the Apprentice after having sex.”

The Master blinked puzzlingly.

“I’m waiting for the funny part.”

You tilted your head, fingertips gently circling over the skin of his chest, drawing shapes around one of his hearts.

“I never thought you’d be so domestic. I like it.”

The Master gaped in disbelief, bordering on wild offence. You giggled once more as the Timelord narrowed his eyes in disgust.

“How dare you use that word. I’d rather you call me a bastard.”

“I did say I liked it, though! It’s been so long since I've spent time on Earth like this, so mundane. It’s a nice change of pace, not worrying about being on the wrong end of a death ray.”

He shifted beneath you, pulling an arm behind his head and reclining back upon it. You moved along with his adjusted position, resting upon your elbow, your hair falling loosely behind.

“It’s also slightly comical to see the man I've seen blow up entire planets do the weekly shop.”

“You forget I've spent my fair share of days on Earth, love.” The Master bit back, the ugly chill of his exile breezing across the back of his neck.

“I’m not a stranger to the domestic, just highly opposed to it.”

“It’s nice, though. What we’ve been doing. You have to admit, it’s hardly been torture.”

You began to walk your fingers teasingly over the Masters collar, fingertips ghosting over the veins in his throat, creeping towards his jaw.

“You can’t say you haven’t been treated right.”

The Master hummed out a devious chuckle, slowly bucking his hips beneath you, urging your body to inch closer to his own.

“Mmm, that is true. My lovely wife has indeed helped to keep the bed nice and warm. And this sofa. And the bath. And the dining table, if I remember rightly.”

You playfully shushed him, placing a finger upon his lips. Your touch soon morphed to cradle his cheek, thumb brushing over the bone. The Timelord didn’t protest a single movement.

“The nicest part of it is having you here with me. Being able to share this part of myself with you.”

A small smile curved upon the Master's lips, his brown eyes softening somewhat.

“Well love, you’ve hardly been selfish with the other parts of yourself.”

“You’re a goddamn sex fiend.”

You teased, leaning down and stealing a small peck from the Timelords lips.

“Takes two to tango.”

He leant up to deepen your connection, warm hands snaking around your back and attempting to pull your body closer to his own. You knew if you indulged you wouldn’t be able to move, locked in an endless spiral of delicious ecstasy, one you would never dream of attempting to free yourself from. But you were also beginning to feel the chill of sweat settle across your skin, the layer of dew making the encounter feel slightly less romantic than it should have.

“No, Master, stop it-”

You warned, pulling the Timelords hands from your waist and clutching them within your own. The Master grinned, leaning back against the sofa and giving a carefree shrug, relinquishing control of his arms to your touch.

“I’m going to run a bath.”

The Master's eyebrow raised as you pulled yourself free from his clutches, sliding from under the blanket and laying it back over the Master's bottom half. You plucked his shirt from the pile of clothes decorating the floor, throwing it over your head and doing up the buttons, ignoring the way the Master dramatically pouted at the loss of your fully naked body. You made your way out of the lounge and onto the stairs, out of sight of the Timelord. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already committed every part of you to memory.

“I’m going to use that new body wash I got today.”

You said innocently, calling over your shoulder as you headed up the stairs.

“I may need a second opinion on it!”

The Master chuckled to himself, before settling down to stare up at the ceiling, a large breath escaping his lungs. He pondered to himself, alone with his thoughts, the Apprentice successfully ignored. He mulled over your words, turning them over in his head. Tasting them, taking in their scent, seeing if he liked the sensation of them. You said he was being domestic… one step up from being domesticated. You also said you liked it. But you also didn’t say you liked it more, he reasoned. You hadn’t indicated a preference for any of his states of being. Which made his analysis of your words feel even stranger.

Did you prefer him like this? The normal husband, rather than the spaceman that took you away? Would you mourn the loss of this when he inevitably found out who was trying to invade the planet he’d already called dibs on? Or, a more terrifying prospect, would this invasion ever end?

The Master's face fell. He hadn’t ever considered the idea of not knowing. In the many, many endings he’d planned for the scenario, not one of them had included never finding out the reason why. Of course, knowing his luck, the moment you both left earth the cubes would detonate and pulverise the planet, and you would never let him live it down. But that would also mean he kept you away from harm.

The Timelord scowled, furrowing his brow. He didn’t like the amount of questions his brains were presenting. He never liked thinking about a plan with this much detail. Especially when it wasn’t his. A tiny part of him scolded himself for taking a companion and letting himself have something else to look after beside himself. But the other parts of him proceeded to beat that thought into the ground, squashing it beneath their metaphorical shoes.

He turned towards the coffee table, the Tv having swapped to some random drama about a historical figure, and stared at the small black cube. It sat next to the empty pizza box and the unlit candle, right beside the abandoned TV remote and the Masters new favourite glasses. 

He reached over and plucked the pair of spectacles from the table, grasping hold of the cube in his other hand as he placed the glasses on his face. He inspected the cube with a newfound disgruntlement, spinning the mathematically perfect creation in his hands. Why did these stupid little cubes arrive? Who sent them? And why were they still here, if not to give him an extreme internal crisis?

“What are you?” He muttered to himself, squinting his eyes to scrutinise the box.

“What are you doing?”

The Master scrunched his nose in disapproval, his narrow eyes now a full blown glare.

“You’ve survived fire, ice, gravity, atomic radiation, and even tissue compression. Do something.” He urged, hands now clutching the box tighter.

“Do something, you annoying thing. Go on. Or are you just a waste of my time?”

The Master paused, watching the cube intently. He waited, internally goading the small black box to do something. But it did nothing, sitting in his grasp as it had done for the last year. With a grunt, the Master flung the box across the room, letting it tumble to the floor and crash into the carpet. 

He stared at the box for a brief moment, his anger rising exponentially when suddenly, the cube opened.

Upstairs you were in the bathroom, the door having opened with a small squeak. You headed over towards the bag of toiletries you’d bought, unpacking the items onto the side. You couldn’t help but wonder if the Master had been slightly put off by your words earlier. He was a sarcastic bitch at the best of times, an eye roll never too far behind. But you worried he’d taken your words to hearts. You’d poured your soul out to him with the best intentions. Well, it was more like you’d filled a coffee mug rather than refilling the Pacific, however the point still stood. 

You did enjoy your time of domestic bliss, free from trouble and danger and peril. You enjoyed the domesticity of the TARDIS too. Reading in the library, swimming in the pool, picking disguises from the wardrobe and playing bedroom roulette. Baking cakes with ingredients that if baked wrong would set your hair on fire, ordering things from Kerblam and trying to hide the packages from the Master, knowing full well they’d show up in the order history and on the transactions of his intergalactic black card. It was domestic, but it was a new kind. One where instead of him sharing his world with you, you were sharing yours with him.

A small pulsating sound pulled you from your introspection, the famed body wash being placed upon the side. You turned over your shoulder, hoping it was merely the humming of the pipes. Instead it was the small cube in the corner, which had effectively become a candle stand. You plucked the small candle from the top of the cube, abandoning the jar to the side of the bath as you stared at the cube in awe. The small box had begun to shimmer a deep blue, glowing and spiralling in what you presumed to be an alien text. You leant down, bringing the cube to eye level, staring curiously at the small box. 

You played through every possibility- was it about to explode? Hatch? Was this a message from whoever sent the thing? Was it… alive?

The sprawling blue swirls disappeared as soon as they arrived. You stretched out a hand to grasp hold of the box, hand clamping down on the top of the square, when a painful sensation shot through your hand. You pulled away with a wince, cradling your wrist and inspecting the damage- A small square of needle pricks sat in the palm of your hand, tiny droplets of blood pooling at the mouths of the wounds. Your fears of alien tetanus were distracted by a steady beeping noise emanating from the cube. 

You looked up, eyes widening. The cube was showing your pulse.

The Master scurried over from his place on the couch, ignoring how the loss of the blanket left him rather exposed. He crouched down onto the floor, staring down at the awakening cube with widened eyes. The far side of the cube had opened, the panel sliding upwards, and a large beam of blue light spurted from the other side. The Master attempted to outrun the cube, darting to the other side to face it, but the cube was much faster. Before the Master could peer inside the cube had snapped its open side shut, taunting the Timelord by opening the panel on the other side instead. The Master growled, circling the cube once more, but the cube continued its game. After three more attempts the Master grasped hold of the cube, determined to see inside. The small black box was instantly searing hot in his hands, like it had been sat on a grill. The Master winced and threw the box into the air, proceeding to throw and catch the cube through various levels of pain.

 He ran through the door that linked the lounge to the kitchen, small welts appearing on his palms as he nakedly juggled the cube, wincing and swearing like a sailor as he went. The washing up bowl was still in the sink, the water ice cold, having been forgotten about from breakfast. The Timelord threw the sizzling cube into the bowl, the water bubbling and boiling like a cauldron. The cube refused to relent, steam and bubbles errupting to the surface. Saying a silent prayer, the Master turned on the cold tap, the bowl spilling over and into the wider basin of the sink. He hoped that would be enough to stop it burning its way through the centre of the Earth.

“Master!” You called urgently from the top of the stairs.

The Timelord turned over his shoulder, before glancing down at himself, visible debate upon his features. While he was sure you wouldn’t mind, he also considered that being fully naked beyond a pair of tortoise shell glasses wasn’t the most polite state of dress to be in when running up such a high water bill. He also hoped the neighbours were also distracted with their own cubes, and not nosy enough to see his antics through the floor to ceiling glass door to the garden. Purely for your sake, that was. Nudity had never been a thing of shame for his current face. He had been Rasputin, after all.

“Master!”

You called again, racing down the stairs, still only wearing his shirt. The Master sped into the living room, eyes scanning over the piles of clothes. His trousers, or underwear for that matter, were nowhere to be seen. Where the hell did you throw them?

“Fuck!” 

He hissed to himself, before grasping the blanket from the sofa and tying it around his waist like a towel. He ran into the hallway, the blanket already threatening to slide down his legs. You ended up meeting in the middle, your arms leaning on the bannister and you looked down at your husband.

“The cube in the bathroom just spiked my palm and showed my pulse!” You yelled, the Master grasping hold of the blanket and glancing back to the lounge. 

“The one on the coffee table kept opening its sides and then got boiling hot- also, where the hell did you throw my trousers?”

You looked down at the Master and gave a snorting laugh, when a loud bang came from the downstairs bathroom. It was a metallic zap, the sound colliding with metal. You both looked at the door, then each other, then back at the door as the sound grew louder and louder. The Master was about to step forwards, likely in an effort to be the brave one and open the bathroom door, but the cube beat him to it. 

The door swung open, the metal lock now burnt and smoking, and a cube came floating outwards, hovering menacingly in the air. You blinked in shock, your lips parting to ask what it was doing, when the front side slid open and a small laser sat within. The metal laser looked you both up and down, and you looked at the Master in confusion. But the Master was preoccupied with ducking from the blue laser bolt that had been shot directly at his head, which instead proceeded to shatter the vase of flowers on the side.

“Up!”

The Master cried, but you were already halfway up the stairs. With one hand covering his face and the other clutching at the blanket the Master stormed up the stairs, swiftly catching up with your speed and almost sprinting into the bedroom. The pair of you pressed your backs against the door, your fingers frantically trying to twist the knob shut. The floating cube was sending an assault in your direction, firing randomly and rapidly in every direction it could. Holes were punctured in the walls, pictures were shot down, the carpet singed. Now you anticipated that the cube would try to shoot you both dead. You knew if you took a death ray to the head, the ending would be quite swift. If the Master took the hit, you’d have to pray the wardrobe was fireproof. Either way, through fire or fury, you’d never get the deposit back.

You shut your eyes as you focussed on keeping the door pressed shut, the Master joining your mission as you felt the door continuously jolt forwards. The hits were heavy, but never enough to send the door free of its latch. It continued its firing for an endless two minutes, but those minutes felt like a day. It took the Master's hesitant prying of your body from the back of the door for you to realise the firing had stopped.

“Is it-”

The Master pressed a finger from his free hand to his lips, gesturing to the door with a tilt of his head. You swallowed, nodding in agreement as he ever so gently began to open the bedroom door. You spotted the TCE in his grasp, fingers clutching it like a phone- likely an instinct to carry it, you hadn’t even felt him leave the door to fish it from his jacket pocket on the chair. The Master wordlessly stepped out into the hallway, and you braced for the chaos. Maybe the cube was smart enough to plan a sneak attack. Growing the courage to poke your head around the door, you saw the Master was creeping down the staircase with slow, deliberate strides. You took the deepest of breaths as you carefully followed, watching as he peered through the bannister to watch the cube. He tilted his head like a curious animal, beckoning you with his head again, all while keeping his gaze on the lounge. You scuttled over to meet his side, careful not to squeak any troublesome floorboards.

“What’s it doing?”

You whispered, watching as the cube hovered in front of the tv. It was scanning it, cycling through endless images and scrolling through Wikipedia pages at lightning speed. You saw the history of the world pass over the screen, images of bombs and tanks mashed in with pictures of animals, machines and athletes.

“I’d say it’s doing its homework.” The Master whispered back.

“On what? Weaponry? Politics? Evolution?”

“Everything. Maybe it’s building up its information banks to… um… honestly I’ve not got a clue what it's doing now.”

The Master trailed off, confusion creeping across his features. The cube had stopped scrolling through Wikipedia, and was now on social media. Pictures of dogs in hats, a Youtube video on making bread, an Instagram model's trip to Paris. The cube was making its way rapid fire through every single social network site around. It had even posted a blank tweet.

The sound of a phone pinging upstairs stole your attention, the pair of you wincing as you anticipated the cube turning to face you both. You held your breath, awaiting the death ray, but it never came. The cube was too busy playing a game of Solitaire to notice. Sparing a glance to the Master, you cleared your throat.

“HEY!”

You called. The cube didn’t flinch. It was still hovering in the air, playing the game as fast as it could.

“C’mon.”

The Master had begun to trudge back upstairs, heading towards the bedroom and disappearing through the door. The cube had now begun online shopping, scrolling through hundreds of pairs of shoes and handbags, and was searching for a discount code. Your earlier fear had been replaced with pure confusion. Why had it suddenly ditched its efforts to kill you… to scroll the internet like a person?

By the time you’d finally made it upstairs, the Master was sitting on the bed and fishing a phone out of his jacket pocket. You recognised the device immediately as it fell into his lap.

“That's the UNIT phone, isn’t it?”

The Master nodded in reply. He looked at the notification and smirked, before extending out his arm for you to read it.

“I think we’ll be needing a quick shower rather than a relaxing bath, love.”

The Timelord said as you peered forward to read the message.

“Come to the Tower of London ASAP. Matter of Urgency. Kate.”

While your arrival at the tower had been expected, what you found within was not. The cubes had been active for approximately 47 minutes before shutting down, UNIT having had almost 300 under constant monitor. One caused mood swings, another blew fire, and one played a constant, ear splitting rendition of ‘Agadoo’ on repeat. You joked that the poor soul sitting in that box with the cube was due some serious workplace compensation. 

You could tell the Master was restless, the situation poking at him in a way that set his teeth on edge. Standing in that room, endless questions being shot at him, suspicious eyes of every worker who’d read his extensive, extensive case file. The file that, according to Kate, was more like a filing cabinet. And that was just from the seventies. He couldn’t work with all those hands on deck, he needed the air to think. So, you’d dragged him to a wall overlooking the Thames. Give him space to breathe, you considered. To calm himself down and think.

“Earth is such a shithole.” He muttered to himself, staring at the vast body of water.

“Your politicians are corrupt, your capitalist societies are draining you dry, you have no idea how to be nice to each other anymore.”

“Is shithole Gallifreyan for ‘alien renegades dream?’” You asked with a small smile.

The Master shook his head.

“A renegades dream is a planet worth concurring. I spent seven quid on a coffee on Monday. There's no saving this place.”

You laughed softly, swinging your legs lightly on top of the wall.

“Years ago I'd have asked what else there was, where on Earth doesn’t function this way. But now? After being with you?... I’m inclined to agree. I’ve seen so much out there… whole different ways of running things, whole different societies. I’ve lived in your world and now everything seems so… different. It’s comforting, I know it’s mine, it’s where I came from. But I’ve seen the end of the universe, Master-” You said, taking hold of the Timelords hand.

“And now everything seems slightly-”

“Strange?”

You nodded in agreement, leaning into his shoulder. The Master stared down at the water, watching the waves lap against each other, crashing softly into the concrete wall.

“You said you enjoyed seeing me here.” The Master said rather bluntly.

“That you enjoyed seeing me so… domestic.”

“I knew that word would bite me in the ass.” You hummed out a laugh, turning your head to face the Master.

“I didn’t mean to insult you. I also didn’t want you to think I wanted to change you. You told me about Missy, how the Doctor wanted a different you. But I didn’t mean that I liked you changed, I meant-”

“I know what you meant.”

You gaped at the Master, who was now making his way towards the same smile you’d worn earlier. It was slightly painful, as if he was fighting against his own body to get out the words. As if years of hardened instinct were being chiselled at, piece by piece.

“Could you… maybe tell me what you think I meant?”

“You meant that we had very, very different lives. And while we’ve spent our time together perhaps I overlooked the fact that you’re human. I took you away from earth and let you in. But this year-”

“I brought you to Earth and did the same.” You said, filling in the gap. The Master nodded, your hand slowly creeping to make your way into his.

“I don’t want you to think I've forgotten who you are, Master. That I don’t appreciate the fact that you’re literally a whole different species to me. Maybe that's why I like it so much, seeing you living in a house and doing human things. Because I know you’re an alien, a mass murdering criminal one, but you’re putting in that effort for me.”

The Master raised an eyebrow in warning.

“You’re making me sound far too nice.” He bit.

“Master,” You chided, squeezing his hand.

“What do you want me to say? You’re only being nice to me because you’re a manipulative bastard who wants to take over the universe? That I only ran away with you because you promised me great sex?”

“Now you’re making me out to be a monster.” He purred. You playfully swatted him on the arm.

“You’re not a monster, you’re a Master. Who picked up his own human stray and looked after it better than the Doctor ever could.”

The Master couldn’t help the smirk that crossed over his face. It was quite the unspoken truth amongst him and his old friend. One the Master would now hold as eternal bragging rights until the end of time.

“And now I'm working with UNIT. If the old me could see me now-”

“Maybe when we solve the invasion we can work on your acceptance of character growth.” You suggested. The Master sighed.

“I should’ve told Kate to gather all those cubes and destroy them. Lock them away. Keep them out of sight.”

“You did the best you could.” You argued. “You offered to help, and you’ve constantly been feeding back. And let's be realistic here, would they have listened to you?”

“No.” The Master grumbled. “But the one time I actually try to help, it’s pointless.”

“It’s not pointless-”

“If i’d told them to leave them out, they would’ve thought I was behind them and not trusted a word I said. If I'd told them to get rid of them, they’d’ve thought I’d planned to use them as, I don’t know, bugs or something. Wanting to know where the super secret UNIT storage is.”

“You already know that, though.” You pointed out. “You stuck the address on the fridge.”

“But they would think that anyway. And now, I look like a useless help because now the cubes ARE doing something.”

“You couldn’t have known that-” 

“But I should’ve! World domination is my thing, love. This is what I do! God knows I've been trying for centuries. And now these stupid little boxes turn up and all of a sudden they’re breaking into government systems, hacking the Pentagon. I could’ve stopped this. But nobody had the balls to trust me.”

“Kate does.” You suggested, leaning into the Masters side.

“Obviously speaking metaphorically. If she’s anything like her dad, from what you’ve told me, she’ll be able to tell when you’re working with slightly less evil intentions than usual. Like that story you told me about the Axons.”

The Master smiled to himself, staring down at his shoes.

“We still went back to hating each other afterwards. He locked me in a prison and punched me in the face in the death zone.”

“All in one day?”

“No, two separate days. Two separate bodies.”

You wrapped your arm around his back, fully leaning into his side and resting your head on your shoulder.

“Well I'm sure you were doing lots of wonderfully horrible, wickedly cruel and criminally genius things that deserved such twisted justice.” You purred. The Master chuckled, resting his head on top of your own.

“You don’t have to grovel, love.” He said. “I already married you.”

You laughed gently, nestling more comfortably against his side.

“I like seeing how big I can inflate your ego before you know I'm teasing.”

“Obviously, you can’t tell anybody about any of this. I’ll more than happily hypnotise you.” The Master suggested with no malice in his tone. You shook your head, eyes resting shut as you listened to the sounds of the waves.

“You don’t have to hypnotise me, Master. Sooner or later you always get what you want.”

The pair of you sat in a comfortable silence, allowing the sounds of the cityscape to wash over you. You could have sat there forever, cuddled up to the Master and-

“That's it!”

The Master suddenly yelled, pulling his head from your own. You pulled away from his shoulder, staring at the Timelord, eyes riddled with confusion.

“What’s it?”

“They got what they wanted! The cubes got what they were after!”

The Master pressed a firm kiss to the top of your head, grasping at your cheeks and making you splutter in shock.

“C’mon!” He called, already sprinting back to the tower.

By the time you’d caught up with him, the Master was already laying out his plan. You looked around in confusion as you stepped into the base of the tower- The power was completely out.

“Do you have a back up?” You asked, jumping into the conversation.

“We’ve got three.” Kate replied. “Each kept separate and constantly maintained. This shouldn’t be possible.”

“Well, is it the cubes?” You looked towards the Master, who was already typing away madly at the computer. You met the eyes of the guy at the desk, who sent an unsure glance. You hardened your gaze, attempting to send the strongest message possible- the Master, for once, could be 100% trusted.

“Most likely.” The Master called over his shoulder.

“But how does it link with earlier?”

“You set a scan for their activity, while you’ve been gone it's been off the scale. Perhaps they’re… recharging?”

“By that logic it took them 365 days to charge up. Did we see anything to suggest that?”

You asked, following the head of scientific research further into the base.

“No, we would have noticed!” The Master yelled over his shoulder.

“We noted nothing. No spikes, no surges, nothing. Maybe they had the energy already when they landed.”

“Then why take a year to act on power you already had?”

The Master spun around in his chair, eyebrows furrowed as he thought. You could tell your earlier chat was pushing him further than before. He was determined to figure this out… Whatever it was.

“What's that?”

He asked suddenly, pointing towards the closest cube container. You turned around to look at the metal box, peering through the window at the cube. Kate brought her torch up to the window and gasped softly. The cube was glowing once again with the blue energy you’d seen earlier. Only this time, instead of its side emblazoned with alien text, it read a simple number. 

7

The Master pushed himself from the chair, pushing his fingers against the glass as he peered into the box between you. Kate hurried over to the next box, peering in through the glass.

“This one says it too.”

“And this one!” You said, staring into a third box.

“And the one over there. They all say seven.”

“Why would they do that?”

The Master pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned, as if trying to yank the answer from one of his many brains.

“Seven… Wonders of the world?” Kate offered. 

“Continents, days of the week, seven seas?”

“Is it the planets? Seven planets have influence over humanity?” You suggested.

The Master's head suddenly shot up, his nose almost pushed against the glass as he stared down at the small black cube.

“Sides of a cube.”

“What?” You said, meeting his side.

“Seven sides of a cube. A cube has seven sides.”

“Is this extratemporal physics again?”

“No, no cubes have seven sides.” The Master said, narrowing his eyes.

“The six you can see… and the inside.”

It was almost as if the cubes had heard his words. The lights in the building suddenly burst back into life, illuminating the UNIT base. In the same moment, the cubes all began to flicker, the blue text upon them shifting and changing.

6

“It’s a countdown!”

The Master declared, spinning on his heels to face both you and Kate. You stared at the cubes in confusion, a million questions coursing through your mind.

“How long do we have? Minutes?”

“You’ve got until they hit zero, then you’ve got nothing.”

“It can’t be minutes.”

“They’re alien cubes that fell out of the sky, Kate, they can count down in whatever fashion they like.”

The Master met Kate's eyes, his hardened expression knitted together with stone cold severity.

“Whatever they’re going to do won’t be good. Get it out however you can- news, radio, social media, text, amber alert. Hell, I'll give you the password to Archangel, god knows they never changed it.”

Kate stared at the Master wordlessly and the Timelord stared back, his voice laced with deepest sincerity.

“I need you to trust me, Kate, as much as you can bring yourself to. Just get your precious humanity away from those cubes.”

“But why now?” You interjected. “If we’re running on Kate's theory, they already had the ability to do all this stuff. Why did they wait so long?”

The Master's eyes were shifting. He was knitting together a theory in his mind, his brains fizzing with resolve.

“Because they needed time… they needed trust… Harold Saxon!”

You sent the Master a strange look, Kate joining you with a raised eyebrow. The Master smiled, his eyes wide with excitement.

“I’ve done this before! When I was Saxon, I landed eighteen months before election day. I knew people wouldn’t trust me the moment I landed, I needed to slowly convince everybody to vote.”

“But you had the Archangel network, the cubes aren’t hypnotising people.” You replied.

“No, they’re not. But this was politics. I needed to be irresistible, one wrong moment of press could cost everything. But the cubes are just that- cubes. They can’t talk, they don’t move, but they’re clever- they rely on people to naturally convince themselves to trust them. Use that herd mentality, bring them into their lives, their homes, make memes and documentaries and fake twitter accounts, become unsuspiciously mundane. And then, once you’re inside-”

“You reveal who you truly are.” Kate finished. The Master snapped his fingers in her direction.

“Like what you did with MI6 too. Get inside, get trusted, get the information, use it to your advantage. Learn how to attack.”

The Master nodded at your words.

“We took our eyes off the horizon just as things were coming over it.” The Master said, his words echoing something the Doctor had said a long time ago.

“Get that information out as fast as you can.”

The Master said, turning back to Kate.

“Obviously not the stuff about me. But everything else, go go go!”

By the time the word had spread to the news, the cubes had counted down to the number 3. The Master hadn’t stopped staring at the cubes, watching them count down with a dangerously growing fascination. It was as if a year of private musing had built up to full blown fixation. He wanted to know what happened when the taunting little boxes reached zero.

“I’m going in there.”

He decided, stating his decision proudly to both you and Kate.

“What? Why?” You asked, spinning around in your chair.

“What if it, like, explodes?”

“That’s the reason I'm not sending you in.” He smirked. “The magic of me is there’s always another one that comes next.”

“Are you serious?”

“I know it’s not going to explode.”

“How?”

“Because one cube already has!” He said, staring at the map.

“There's roughly 100 billion cubes on earth. And in those 47 minutes every cube did something different. One of those cubes exploded in Japan. So we know it's not going to do that.”

“How can you be so sure?” Kate questioned. The Master smiled darkly, grasping hold of the metal door of the container and yanking it open.

“Because the best showmen never reveal their final trick before the end. Wish me luck, my love!”

The Master sauntered inside the box, slamming the door shut behind him as the number lowered once more.

2

“We can do this remotely!” Kate called through the glass as the Master sat down on the small stool. He gestured to the glass and to his ears, throwing his hands up in a questioning manor. You sighed and knocked on the glass wall, the Master still pretending to not hear a thing.

“This isn’t the sound proof one! You can still hear us!”

You yelled, and the Master rolled his eyes. He sat comfortably, placing his hands upon the table and staring down at the cube. He waved innocently to you from the inside of the capsule. You stood in wait, anxiously nibbling your bottom lip.

1

The number counted down once more. You leant forward. So did Kate. So did the Master. The three of you held your breath, waiting in pure anticipation. Your stomach was churning, feeling like it was climbing higher and higher on a roller coaster track, inching towards the precipice with every agonising second.

0The Master smiled in anticipation. You felt your stomach drop as the coaster threw itself down the descending track. The top of the cube smoothly slid open as it had done hours before, only this time it stayed open. The Master leant forward, carefully manoeuvring himself to hover over the open box. He peered inside, Kate standing on her toes to try and see what was inside. 

“Well?” You asked hesitantly, eyes flickering between staring at the Master and staring at the cube.

“What's inside?”

The Master inspected every corner of the cube, staring with all the power his gaze could muster. He stared at every side, every inch of the inside of the cube. All the theories that had been wrestling inside his head withered and perished.

“Nothing…” He growled, anger surging inside his chest and sparking through his body

“There's nothing!” The Master snarled, reaching to grasp hold of the cube. He threw the box to the other side of the container, gritting his teeth and storming towards the door.

“Why, why is nothing inside?!”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” You called after the Master, following him towards the desk, his furious gaze devouring every inch of data present.

“Nothing inside means no bombs, aliens, invasive plants. Empty means good, right?”

“Empty means nothing!”

He snapped, investigating the board.

“But it means the general public is safe, right?” Kate clarified, standing behind the man at the desk who was slowly inching away from the furious Master. The Master growled, turning to face Kate with an exasperated expression.

“No! You don’t do this without payoff! Every single movement by those stupid little cubes has been calculated, precise. Them being empty means you sent billions of cubes to earth, made them sit for a year, put on a show and couldn’t carry it out!”

“Master, look at the screen.” Your voice wavered, the Timelord following your finger as you gestured urgently to the screen. The various feeds of CCTV around the world were showing the same exact thing: People in cafes, streets, offices, parks, homes. All of them were collapsing to the ground, clutching their chests, before falling still on the floor.

“Oh my god, they’re dying!” Kate said. The Master's face turned even more perplexed.

“How, how are they dying, why are they dying? Why doesn’t any of this make any sense?!”

“Kate, do we know the cause?”

“I want intel, give me reasons why-”

“Why is this happening?!” The Master groaned loudly, pacing a hole in the floor before the desk.

“The cubes, they show off a bit, they go dormant, they open and suddenly-”

The Timelord felt a venomous punch in the chest, a burning hot wound sizzling him through the inside out. He let out a choked shriek, his body lurching himself backwards and into the wheeled desk chair, the chair rolling back against the floor as he clutched at his chest in a panic. He could feel his arteries seizing, the power in the left of his chest being snatched away with red hot fury.

“Master, what’s wrong?”

You clamoured urgently, the Timelord craning his neck to look at you. He gasped for breath, eyes almost bulging out of his head as he clawed at his chest in pain. 

“I don’t, ack, I don’t-” He panted as you rushed over to his side.

The computer began to beep rapidly, the man on the desk frantically ingesting the new readings that were coming in.

“Global reports in a surge in heart failures-”

“ACK!” The Master cried, his voice strangled as he violently scratched at his shirt.

“Oh my god, ah, only one heart!”

Your eyes widened almost comically as the Masters fists began to thump furiously upon his chest, hitting in a fast rhythm of four as he attempted to restart its beating.

“Shit!”

“Only one heart, fuck, only one heart! Not working, ack-”

You grasped hold of the back of his chair, mainly to stop the Masters sporadically kicking legs from sending him dizzy.

“Ok, shit-”

“Only one heart, only one heart!”

“I’ll get you to the hospital!”

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

He shrieked, waving a trembling hand towards the screen.

“Turn me around, show me, turn me around!”

You pushed hard against the back of the chair, sending the Master rolling towards the desk as the screen flashed a violent red with warning signs.

“Show me what the cubes did after they opened!”

“I don’t-”

“Do as he says!” Kate snapped, and the man on the desk instantly began typing. He pulled up every reading they had. Temperature, weight, size, shape-”

“Look at the currents!” The Master cried.

“Sudden spike in electrical field.” The man on the desk said.

“No-” Kate exclaimed. “They stole the power?”

“They’re signal boxes! Steal the electricity, find the closest idiot leaning in and BAM!”

The Master clutched at his chest again, wincing as he recoiled back in his chair.

“They take out what they- ack- can, the human heart. It’s powered by electrical currents, one blast will do it-”

The Master had grabbed hold of the desk man's chest mid rant, his fingers fisting into the material as he yanked at his chest furiously.

“How do you kill a human? Go for the heart- FUCK!”

“They have to have a main hub, a power source, somewhere to report back to-”

Kate asked, her terrified technician frantically trying to peel the Masters fingers from his shirt. You grabbed hold of his wrist and tugged, another searing bolt of pain surging through the Timelords chest. He released his grip and began to smack his fist into his chest once more, his eyes scrunching shut as he let out a pathetically drawn out whine.

“HOW do you humans cope with only one heart,” He groaned, leering at you as you watched worriedly.

“It is PITIFUL!” He spat, small flecks of spit hitting your face. You groaned, rolling your eyes as you wiped the glob from your face.

“Master I don’t care, i’m taking you to the hospital-”

“I’m not going to the fucking hospital!” The Master shouted.

“I think you should.” Kate replied sharply.

“The energy readings are converging there.”

The Master let out another pained whine. You supposed this one came from finally having to do what somebody else wanted.

By the time you’d gotten to the hospital, the Master could barely stand on his own. He was clutching his chest like he had heartburn, rubbing it in circles with his fingers. You followed close behind, Kate and her soldiers in tow. You knew you might not have long left before the Master went down. You had to figure out what was going on.

“How many do we think have been affected?” 

You asked as Kate checked her phone furiously.

“Early reports are saying about a third of the population. Anybody with even the closest proximity to the cubes.”

“It could happen again.” The Master groaned, his face cast with a pallor of sickness.

“Who knows, they love the number seven so much, six more could be on the way. You need to tell them how to not die.”

“And you need to find where they came from.”

“I’ll do my bit, you do yours!”

He grunted, before collapsing against the wall.

“Stay in contact, Kate!” You said, patting the side of her arm.

“The world needs you right now. You’ll do great!”

“I’ll do my best.” She replied, before she and a small tribe of soldiers disappeared back through the hospital corridors.

The Master whimpered, clutching at his chest as he tried to push himself free of the wall.

“Ok, how long can you hold on for?” You asked, taking hold of his arm and throwing it across your shoulder. With a heave you pried him free, the Masters weight heavy as you yanked him up the small set of stairs. He groaned loudly, his voice croaked as he struggled for breath.

“Not.. much longer. But I can feel it’s here somewhere… down here!”

What was once a helpful hold had become a headlock, the Masters elbow trapping your neck as he attempted to drag you forwards. You struggled under his clunky leadership, his legs swaying as he staggered like a drunkard through the frantic hallways of the hospital. All around was unfolding chaos, doctors and patients alike collapsed upon beds and chairs, staff running ragged as they tried to hold back the unknown affliction.

“Through, here!”

The Master declared, yanking you around a corner before suddenly flinging himself backwards. He collapsed back against the wall, his face crumpled with agony as he struggled to stand, his eyes scrunched shut as he let out a series of panicked grunts and whines.

“I can’t, love, ack, I can’t-”

“Master-” You pleaded, crouching down by his side.

“I need both hearts, I can’t do this! I can’t!-”

You watched in horror as he sank flat to the floor, his back pressed into the pale blue linoleum as he convulsed in pure agony. You looked around you, trying to ground yourself as best you could. Right now, though he’d never admit it, he needed you. Desperately. A real life or death moment in time. You scanned your surroundings, eyes dashing over every part of the corridor to find something that could possibly save his life. Maybe a spare doctor to help with CPR, maybe adrenaline to restart his heart, or maybe just-

Then, you saw it. Sat atop of an abandoned nurses cart, a bright red bag with two paddles on the side. A defibrillator. If electricity had stopped one of the Masters hearts, maybe electricity could start it again.

“You’re gonna hate me for this!” You declared, dragging the bag from the top of the cart and siding it across the floor.

“But this may do it!”

The Master turned to look at the red bag beside him. If his eyes were wide earlier, now they were practically out of his skull.

“No, oh no no no!” He protested, attempting to shove the bag away. The machine awoke with the twist of a knob, the screen blinking on with a loud beep.

“Don’t you fucking dare, don’t you fucking dare!”

“Stop swearing at me and let me save you!”

You smacked at his hands, the pair of you engaging in a pathetic wrestling match as you fought to rip open his shirt, the Master vehemently protesting your attempts through guttural grunts of pain. He gasped in shock as you exposed his chest to the cold hospital air, his hands flying into the air as you grasped hold of the two live paddles. 

“That won’t work, It won’t work on a Timelord! I’m a-”

“Alright, clear!”

Through some miracle, the Master kept his hands out of the way. You pushed the two paddles onto the sides of his chest, hopefully hitting each heart dead on. The cold metal of the paddles made the Master wince, but the electric shock that hit his system made him scream in shock. He made a strange whooping sound as you pulled away, dropping the paddles on the floor in a panic. The Master suddenly sat up at the waist, his torso springing up like a Halloween decoration as he reached out with splayed fingers like Frankenstein's monster. He whooped and hollered as he scrambled to his feet like a new born fawn, legs wobbling as he stared down at his chest in amazement.

“Oh, oh, yes!”

He moaned, the sound making you blush as you stared up at him on your knees. He did a small strange dance, likely waking up his limbs properly, his hand pressing over his heart. He felt the familiar rhythm beneath his touch once again, a cackling laugh escaping his throat.

“And he escapes death once again!”

He declared, grasping hold of your hand and yanking you to your feet.

“With his glorious companion by his side!”

The Master span you around in his grasp, practically tangling your legs together and he leant you down into a forceful dip, your lips crashing together as he pulled you into a ferocious kiss. You were too startled to indulge in the moment, your lips working on instinct as you gasped for breath once parted. His lips now reddened, his heart beating once again, the Master smiled down at you with a maddened, Cheshire cat grin.

“Do that to me again and I'll leave you in the stone age.”

Your eyes rolled dangerously hard as he guided you to stand, kicking the machine to the side of the corridor and flapping his hands above his head.

“No problem Master, happy to help Master, love you too Master.”

You grumbled loudly, the Timelord winking in your direction. You were about to remind him to button up his shirt when he pressed a kiss to his palm, patting it to the top of your head, his touch much gentler than before.

“You know me so well, Love.” 

The Master mused, before running into danger half dressed for the second time that day.

#dhawan!master x reader #sacha dhawan #the master #dhawan!master #bbc doctor #bbc #doctor who #reader #reader insert #x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #doctor who fanfic #doctor who fanfiction #the master x reader #master x reader #the power of three #remastered

[yuristarwars]

No but the way everything about this episode was perfect.

The bits of Legends and EU (General Peleon, the Darktroopers) combined with Cannon (Hux, Praetorian Guards) and GRAND ADMIRAL THRAWN ON THE HORIZON!!!

Grogu being inside IG-12 was such a perfect way to incorporate comedy into an otherwise dark episode. (had my dad and I giggling a lot)

NOT TO MENTION BO-KATAN’S BACKSTORY??? Her surrendering to Moff Gideo because all she wanted was peace was SUCH a Satine thing to do. Din pledging his respect and loyalty to her afterwards gave me chillssssss.

AND PAZ’S SACRIFICE OH MY GOOOOOOOD 😭😭😭 “This is the way” NO IT AINT!!! RUN BACK WITH BO!!! You have a SON my dude! (Who’s gonna explain this to Ragnar 🥲) Such a bittersweet way to end the episode…

There were other amazing parts like Din’s capture, Moff Gideon’s armor, the Mandalorian survivors and their big-ass skiff, seeing Coruscant again and SPACE CHESS???

10/10 episode, made me cry, gave me chills, hope next week’s lives up to that.

#star wars #the mandalorian s3 #the mandolarian #the mandalorian spoilers #3x07 #the mandalorian 3x07

[userastarion]

tell me about ur comfort shows, movies and video games plsss 🥺🩷🩷🩷

ooooohhh okay i will try to be concise but i can have lots of things to say lol

shows:

the good place - i just love this show. it's about ethics and morality and also choosing to be good to others. and it's funny. what's not to love??

elementary - elementary is like a warm blanket i wear. it was the first show i ever started watching when it premiered and stayed on top of for the entire time it was airing. sherlock & joan are literally everything to me and i fell off my rewatch at the last season bc i didn't want it to end (again)

ted lasso - this one is pretty self-explanatory but much like the good place, it's about kindness and being good to others and it's hilarious. whenever i feel like shit i rewatch the christmas episode from s2 lol

movies:

the princess diaries 1 & 2 - i just love these movies so much. the humor in them is so good!!! i missed so much when i was younger. they're just as funny, if not funnier, as an adult now. maybe they're comforting bc of the nostalgia but i just love how familiar they feel

into the spider-verse - if i want to be entertained by a Quality Film, this is what i'll watch. when i saw it in theaters i wanted to see it again and when i bought it i watched it and then literally started it over to immediately watch it again. it's just phenomenal and i love every second, every frame. this movie has a special pedestal in my heart next to peeta mellark

captain america: the winter soldier - aside from movies i watched as a kid, this may be the film i've seen the most. i just think it's great. the music is so special, the pacing is perfect, and the dynamics between everyone.... this was top-tier moviemaking, particularly for marvel, bc it was before every mcu movie felt quite so formulaic.

video games:

animal crossing - i kind of don't want to count new horizons in this bc it doesn't feel the same but i spent soooo much time playing ac games on my nintendo ds lite and my 3ds. i just love going into the games to talk to all my adorable ass villagers.

the last of us part ii - so this kind of comes with a caveat. i only count this if i skip all the cutscenes. i really really like how the gameplay feels so sometimes i'll just hop into chapters or combat encounters to mess around bc i know exactly how they'll go and i challenge myself to harder difficulties (or just go OP with all the cheats on). the content itself throughout the story isn't particularly comforting sldfjksdfl

skyrim - i have a tough time playing it these days (i just got it again and am playing for the first time in like 10 years) because of motion sickness stuff that hurts my eyes but i love skyrim so much. this was the first huge open-world game i ever really loved and i credit this one and portal 2 for kind of opening the door to gaming for me.

portal 2 - i can't go without mentioning this one bc even though i haven't been able to play it in a LONG time bc i have it on xbox 360 and my laptop can't run it, this game is the first game i remember REALLY loving. it's so special to me. i don't remember how many times i played through it but i know it was at least twice if not 3 times, which is a lot for me as a teenager. it's a quality game with really clever levels, fantastic voice acting, hilarious lines, and a really fun style of play.

it's sleepover saturday! send me... whatever?

#b:answered #gracelcdomas #fun fact: i've spend over 200 hours in tlou2 #also had to do 4 games bc portal 2 does comfort me even tho i haven't played in like a decade #i have wanted to tho #anyway ty for sending!!! #honorable mention is nintendogs bc it always makes me happy to go back and replay it #nintendogs on switch WHEN!!!!!! #mutual:milo

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 10 Review: Avant-Garde!

This is the best episode of Pokemon Horizons by far! The writing choices were good. The mystery behind the Black Rayquaza is good. The way Nemona and Brassius are introduced and handled is good too.

How was Nemona handled? Great! She’s already showing off her love for battling by challenging kids to battles. Her enthusiasm is as consistent as it was in the game. What I liked was that her status as a Champion-Rank Trainer is still present. Liko is from Paldea so she knows the ins and outs of Paldean culture and society; she’s the one who realized who Nemona was and I liked that detail. Nemona got the respect she needed! Since the Rising Volt Tacklers already have all three Paldean starters, her partner Pokemon is Pawmo in the anime, which makes sense because she has one in the game, which fits canon. Her voice actress is Eri Kitamura, who has participated in the previous Pokemon anime as Roxie and is also Bea in Pokemon Masters and Twilight Wings. Her non-Pokemon roles include Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Anri Terieri from Blue Lock. Her voice suits her so well! Great choice for casting!

How was Brassius handled? Amazing! The anime did well on portraying him as both an artist and a Gym Leader. Brassius as an artist was handled well. The anime did amazing on showing off the many sculptures he produced; the tea set is adorable and I want one. The writers also did well on portraying him as an passionate artist. As a writer, I understand the ups and downs of slumps. I’ve gotten them several times in the past too; creative blocks are the worst feeling ever because even if you want to get motivated, a force keeps holding you back. He was also integral in helping Roy learn a bit about the Black Rayquaza and in turn, Roy helped him out of his slump by complimenting his art.

Brassius as a Gym Leader was handled well! He was definitely a challenge for Roy who is still a novice Trainer and Terastal was shown in this episode, which I didn’t even expect it would! Props to the anime staff for the surprise reveal! The battle was EXCELLENT! The Gym Leader theme used and then the way the music syncs as Brassisus terastalizes his Sudowoodo was perfection. I could spazz over this segment for hours. Immaculate animation. Perfect synchronization. I do like how Fuecoco learned a new move, which is a step forward into Roy’s development. The fact that Roy lost to Brassius is a good choice. It would be improbable if Roy had won.

The way Nemona and Brassius were handled gives me hope for other Paldean Gym Leaders and trainers to show up. I can’t wait to see the day the other Gym Leaders show up and for the day the other important characters appear too. The casting for Brassius was handled well! He’s voiced by Kazuya Nakai who has also voiced a character in the previous Pokemon anime; he voiced Nando in the DP saga. I find this amusing because Nando has a Sunflora and Sunfloras are Brassius’s muse in a way.

The mystery of the black Rayquaza increases as Brassius revealed that he has seen it in the nearby forest. That’s the group’s only clue to finding it. I love the buildup and the suspense. It makes me anticipate what’s to come next episode.

I think the most interesting aspect about this episode is the fact that Roy and Liko are traveling around Artazon without adult supervision. Friede and the others take a step back as they are resting in the airship. I like that, honestly. It shows that they trust the kids well enough to not hover over them 24/7 and that their goal is something they have to achieve, so they can’t hold their hands all the time.

Overall, this episode was perfection in execution. The pacing was amazing as they managed to squeeze everything necessary into one episode without it feeling choppy or rushed. I also love so much of the game integration into the anime from Sunflora gathering to Brassius jumping off from the windmill. I hope that Horizons continues producing quality episodes like this. I can’t wait to see more!

#ecargmura #arum journal #pokemon horizons #pokemon anime #anipoke #pokemon #liko #sprigatito #roy #fuecoco #nemona #pawmo #brassius #sudowoodo #dolliv #rayquaza

[what-if-nct]

hiiii today's reminder is i watched all the nct episodes of Jonathon (i do not know his full name but that's all they call him so idk) and fuck i forgot how funny dream are. chenle is my little dude, i want to be the kind of besties with him where we talk once a month but we know everything about everything and have very strong opinions. i wanna get tipsy and gossip with him and talk shit about everyone i know

Hiii, I have only seen clips of them here and there I actually haven't watched any kpop content except Riize in the haunted house there was screaming and running, my attention span has been horrible lately so certain things lose me. I literally just went to search for the episode you're talking about then I got a random thought and began to move my whole room around and i realized i moved my bed far from any outlets so i ordered a 6ft charger instead of moving my bed again. Now I'm listening to country music instead. The only thing I can watch longer than 10 minutes is Trisha Paytas podcast cause she talks fast and jumps all over the place with subjects it's the perfect pace to me. so anything with subtitles, my brain can't do it. That was so long winded for an unnecessary statement but I do know dreamies are just a bunch of ridiculous little guys. Chenle always gets so passionate in conversations especially their silly debates. Him and Jaemin get so enthralled and little stressed. But also they're just silly and goofy. And like a sleepover with them would be so fun. I would also love to see just Wayv and Dream together, I don't think we've seen just all of dream and all of wayv together just fooling around. I want that so much.

Random daily side note, is there something going on with the planets because random men from my past have been popping up there's some I haven't spoken to in months to years!! They've randomly popped up asking if I'm single, what's going on? Can they see me? Like I just ignore it at this point there might be one guy I would hear out if he reached out but all the others ugh. Why are they here. My period is on the horizon so I might just be extra irritated plus I only want to eat cashews so I bought a pound and that is indeed all I've been eating. Also Wonbin finally happened upon me, seeing him screaming for his life made me see him differently. I literally just said not long ago I love pathetic men, If a guy shows a little patheticness, he got me. Like the only guy from my past id give another chance, laid on my chest for an hour while I ran my fingers through his hair and was so sweet and nervous and when he said "dang it" when he missed a turn and was excited he ended up covered in glitter by me, oh come to me you lanky long haired pathetic man. There's another thing that happened but I shouldn't say it in public but he's the only one I'd even consider meeting up with again only him. Just like hyunjin, Wonbin screaming in the haunted house unlocked my feelings for him.

[porgthespacepenguin]

Thoughts about episode 2.8 (3/3)

Finally, I’m done with this episode. Oh, who am I even kidding, I’ll be back. I’m a woman possessed.

(By the way, watch out for an upcoming post about episode 2.1 because with the benefit of hindsight, this episode was unhinged. They’re toying with us.)

This time, I’ll start with plot things, before I go again on an inevitable Qcard tangent.

(Spoilers under the cut, you know the drill.)

Agnes goes to war

So, finally some movement on the A-plot front. Frankly, I’m relieved. We have only two episodes to go, and team Picard is all over the place:

Q is dying, has no powers, and cannot help them,

Rios has two civilians on board,

Guinan and Picard just lost a day with FBI!Guy,

They have no way home without the Borg queen,

In fact, they have no way home at all,

The Europa launch is in 19 hours,

The Queen has teamed up with Soong to prevent it,

And now she’s assimilating soldiers...

Need I go on?

Given that Queen Agnes needs to travel to the future somehow, and given that La Sirena is already borgified, I’m relatively certain she’ll manage to take over the ship.

Soong, despondent at finally facing some consequences for his actions, has clearly decided who to blame:

Even without his powers, Q is more than a match for Soong, on every conceivable level. But with every minute that passes, Q is weakening a little more, and Soong, already a dangerous man, has nothing to lose. So watch out, Q, please. You have enough problems without a powerful enemy.

The Queen explains to Soong that he has a choice to make:

“(...) two possible futures. One leads to you bringing humanity back from the edge of exinction. They’ll call you ‘the father of the future’. Your statues will grace capitols. Or you die alone, no glory. Forgotten in a pool of your own 90-proof vomit.”

Well, when you put it like that...

Of course, there’s a third option:

“Or... atonement, maybe even... forgiveness?”

But that would require some soul-searching, and wouldn’t get him any statues, so Soong doubles down and sides with the Borg Queen, bringing his considerable means to her cause: money, access to satellites, soldiers...

At least the man is consistent. Consistently evil, but consistent.

So team!Picard is dramatically outgunned and outnumbered. How are they ever going to pull it off?

They probably won’t.

In fact, I suspect things are going to spiral until we’re circling the metaphorical drain: one despair event horizon, potentially coming to your screens in episode 10. Yay?

But because this is Star Trek, this will be the darkest hour before the dawn, and they’ll manage to eke out a win at the last moment.

But it may cost them more than they imagine.

The Agnesification of the Borg

Speaking of the Borg Queen: in my post about episode 2.7, I wrote about the borgification of Agnes; turnabout being fair play, time to flip that thought upon itself.

We know, from 2.1, that the new Queen is different:

The Queen asks for Picard’s help, and later expresses a wish for peace. Utterly unprecedented, for the Borg, who normally behave quite differently, consuming everything in their path like locusts.

At the time of Star Trek: Picard, the Borg are shells for their former selves,

“(…) effectively decimated, functionally hobbled.”

Their civilization is essentially destroyed.

Yet here comes along a new queen, with a new fleet, from somewhere else. And her behavior is at odds with what Starfleet expects from the Borg, seeking negotiation over agression, integration over assimilation.

Something has changed – but what?

Enter Agnes.

Agnes, whose deep, abiding loneliness made her long for the perfect togetherness only the Borg could provide: who has not been assimilated so much as has assimilated herself.

In 2.8, although Agnes is still fighting, the Borg Queen has clearly taken the reins, and Agnes is fading. She’s killing people, eating batteries and behaving like a Borg instead of a human.

But when the Queen tries to kill Raffi, Agnes wakes up and refuses, walking away.

Later, as Raffi wonders that Agnes didn’t kill her, Seven remarks,

Indeed. Mercy is a human quality.

“It’s a Jurati quality.”

Much as the Borg Queen is changing Agnes, so is Agnes changing the Borg Queen in turn. And most likely, they’ll keep changing each other until only the best qualities of both remain.

As Agnes said to the Queen in 2.6 (an episode named “Two of One”!):

“It’s by design (…) 50/50, remember?”

Ultimately, this season of Picard is about the successful integration of the self. Fighting both sides of yourself is not the answer: reconciling them is.

Most prominently, of course, Picard needs to reconcile his brain and his heart. Agnes, on the other hand, needs to integrate her humanity with the Borg in order to chart a new course for them as a species.

Raffi vs. Picard, Heart vs. Brain

Raffi and Picard. What a fascinating pair.

The show cleverly plays them off each other as reverse images of two emotional extremes sharing a similar wound: a desperate fear of loss. 

But when their fear of loss is triggered, the way they react to it is diametrically opposite.

Raffi reacts with her heart and let her feelings overrule her judgement. She clings and manipulates, plucking on the emotional strings of others to get the reassurance she desperately needs: she praises Seven for her ‘Borgness’, guilts Elnor into staying, shames Picard for Elnor’s death… The list goes on.

Picard, her mirror, reacts with his brain and lets his logical mind takes over and shuts down his emotions, using virtue and duty as a shield, at times behaving more like an admiral than a friend.

He just doesn’t let himself get too attached to anyone. If everyone is temporary, and nobody takes root in his heart, then their inevitable loss will be survivable.

Both of them deflect any attempt at vulnerabilty. Raffi shields herself with dark, self-disparing jokes, and Picard with emotional distance:

Raffi and Picard need to find a middle path between the heart and the brain, and ultimately a healthier way to interact with others.

Mirrors, I tell you.

Considering all this, I find this parallel, shall we say… worrying?

Are they really going to do this to us? Have Q die in Picard’s arms?

(If you need me, I’ll be in the drawing room. Crying. In the dark. Thanks.)

Trios and Qcard

Oh, look, a Qcard tangent! Honestly, is anybody surprised at this point?

Because of Tumblr’s dumb-as-a-brick image limit, however, this section is now its own separate post.

That said, I encourage you to read it because CHOICES WERE MADE, and this show is unhinged for it.

Not, mind you, that I’m complaining.

That’s all folks

For now, at least.

If you’ve followed my ramblings across all three posts, I must commend your saintly patience and thank you heartily for reading. ❤️

Or, if you haven’t, and for some reason have a itch for more incoherent ranting:

And more: masterpost.

Episode 2.8 Part 1 (Q-card)

Episode 2.8 Part 2 (Soong vs. Q)

Also, feel free to ask me anything, should it tickle your fancy.

(I’d also encourage to read @celestialwarzone​‘s excellent metas if you haven’t already:

Cirque du soleil (Q and the sun)

Through a door, lightly

The meta to end all metas (upcoming)

You certainly won’t regret it.)

Read more:

[Back to part 1] [Back to part 2]

#star trek #star trek picard #star trek: picard #star trek picard spoilers #star trek spoilers #qcard #q of the continuum #q star trek #jean luc picard #star trek picard season 2 #season 2 episode 8 #qcard meta #star trek theories #star trek speculation #star trek: picard spoilers #porg has qcard thoughts

[crab-instruments]

What’s Coming to Me Part 10

Master <Part 9 Part 11>

Pairing: Crosshair x Sniper Reader (GN)

Rating and warning: killing and ambivalence to killing (someone is killed pretty thoughtlessly in this one, Killing Eve like)

Beta Reader: @unfocusedfish (Updated 7/10/22)

a/n: Force, this fic is longer than I intended it to be. I kept telling myself that it would be shorter but now I keep having ideas, which is always risky, so I guess I hope I don't drag it along too much. Things do happen in this longer episode of "Crab wrote many words, some of which are coherent sentences" I usually average about 1.5K words a chapter but I'm starting to think I should double it so I finish in this lifetime.

Tatooine was as much opportunistic as it was spiteful. The desolate desert planet harbored many unsavory types but that fostered ample chance at getting whatever you needed under the radar. The shifting sands made it easy to start anew with a continuously cleaning slate. A perfect place for one of your few safe houses. Maybe the binary suns could give you guidance.

The rendezvous was a ghost town, the remains of a forgotten settlement. The ruins had been a favorite place to rest between contracts. The varying heights of the building remains made for fun cover and was great for target practice. This was essentially where you became Shev’la. A home. You knew every nook and cranny the place had to offer, especially the best sight lines for sniping. It seemed fitting to bring the sniper who had bested you, in a sense, to this place, although he would never know what it meant to you.

Before landing, you put the cuffs back on Crosshair, for show. Nuwa got anxious easily. You directed the pilot to fly a bit out of sight once you had gotten off, at least until The Batch left with their missing brother. It would be safer in case they decided to be vindictive or try anything. You did, after all, attempt to kill them. You wouldn’t put it past them to want to get some revenge.

The sand crunched under your boots when you took your first few steps before turning your head to watch Nuwa’s ship disappear on the horizon. It was late afternoon, sunset only a few hours away. This did not stop the twin suns’ rays from cooking you like an MRE in your armor. The discomfort brought an odd sense of calm, reminding you of the safety that was here, a home field advantage.

Crosshair was quiet as you released his arms and gave him his sniper back. He followed you into what was possibly the least damaged building in the area. It still had a flat roof and offered shade. This would be where you would wait for the Marauder, out of the suns’ reach. You estimated they would be there within the hour and were glad you had beaten them here. Everything was falling into place.

You placed your helmet on what was once a table and sat down in something that could pass for a chair. A beat after, Crosshair did the same. Nothing passed between you for a bit, the only sound was the wind whistling as it swept through different openings in the surface of the buildings’ remains. The clone shifted, finding a toothpick and placing it in between his lips.

“What will you do after this?” Crosshair’s voice sounded incredibly loud as he broke the silence but was still delicate and soft. His golden brown eyes studied your face, waiting for your response.

You did not react at first, mainly because you didn’t know how to respond. After about a minute, you met his eyes and shrugged with the best uncertain face you could muster. It would be so much easier if you had just killed him and gone on with your life. The smug mir'sheb just had to change your whole life instead and he had the audacity to ask what you would do with it now?

Crosshair readjusted his position, crossing his legs and arms. “Do you plan on trying to kill me and my brothers once this is all behind us? Temporary truce forgotten?”

You looked away and snorted. After a moment, you took a breath to center yourself before looking him straight in the eye. A light smile appeared on your face as you shook your head. You hoped he could feel how much honesty you put into the simple action.

“Good. Though, I will miss knowing you’re out there.” It was his turn to smile. “You added a bit of excitement to each mission. ‘Are they going to be in the AO? What will they try and do next? Will it work this time?’ Gave an additional challenge, which we gladly accepted. When Hunter finally stopped complaining about his shoulder, he admitted he was impressed. The first time you took my droid kill was what really solidified it. No one said anything for most of the trip back, too puzzled but strangely amazed.”

You flushed at the praise, uncomfortable and not sure what to do with it. Better than being made fun of like you had initially thought, but now it was practically confirmed that Clone Force 99 was the insane reckless ragtag team of soldiers you assumed it was. You were… puzzled yet strangely amazed.

A silence fell between the two of you. Crosshair fidgeted, changing positions but never fully sitting comfortably. You watched as he struggled with wanting to say something but not knowing how to. When he finally figured it out, he couldn’t make eye contact with you, speaking more to the sand on the ground. “You know… You could come with us.” You spun your head around so fast you almost got whiplash. “Join us, I mean.” He cleared his throat. “Probably. There were bounty hunters that trained us on Kamino. So…”

You didn’t have time to consider his proposition, your holopad beeping. You glanced at it, but you already knew what it meant; The Bad Batch was in the atmosphere of Tatooine. You got up from your spot and just went past the threshold to stare at the open sky. The twin suns were setting and the light was fading, the sky painted with more reds and oranges than the harsh blue it normally was. Crosshair was followed close behind you, his presence solidifying the impending future. He put a light hand on your shoulder, silently echoing the deal he had proposed.

Slowly, you turned to face him, crowding his space and boxing him in against the side of the ruins. His eyes went wide, waiting for your next move. With one hand, you cupped his cheek, giving a playful smile. Crosshair responded with his own before your lips met. This was more of a passionate kiss than the first time. This one was fueled by confidence and an agenda, not something spontaneous. You took your time, pleasantly surprised when Crosshair allowed you to lead. Pressing him even more into the wall, you tilted your head to deepen the kiss and hummed in satisfaction.

Crosshair must have gotten impatient as he reached out with one of his arms that had sat comfortably on your waist. Well, he tried to reach out. His wrist was cuffed to a metal loop sticking out of the wall, a long forgotten apparatus of the past. Crosshair made a frustrated noise, confused as to why his arm was stuck. He had broken the kiss and you had stepped back for him to fully take in his predicament.

You couldn’t help the mischievous smirk as you stepped back out of his reach.

No, you couldn’t go with him, not yet at least. Not until you got your head on straight and knew what you wanted outside of his influence.

The clone gave you an incredulous look as he watched you walk back inside. You put your helmet on and grabbed Crosshair’s, putting a key to the cuffs inside and dropping it out of reach but still in sight. You gave a lazy salute before sauntering off behind some buildings, picking a far off snipe point to wait for the reunion.

“You could have just said no,” a defeated Crosshair called out, only making you giggle as you scaled the tall structure. The sound of the Marauder filled the air, kicking sand around like a force field. You watched through your scope as the Batch cautiously filed out of the ship, checking around corners before pushing forward toward Crosshair. You could hear them talking, most certainly a joke or two at Crosshair’s expense due to his predicament. Once he was freed and they felt the coast was clear, they made their way back.

Crosshair held back a moment, brushing the dust off of his helmet before looking out, taking mere seconds to find you in your spot. You smiled before giving a nod and a thumbs up.

You watched as the ship left the atmosphere, disappearing into the dark sky.

Out of all your successful missions, this ‘failure’ felt the most satisfying.

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You waited a bit before calling Nuwa back, taking in the starry night on the high structure. It felt odd, being in the same place, retracing your steps of the past but with a whole new understanding of the galaxy. Or, rather, your initial understanding shattered and the foundation that was so carefully crafted to keep you safe from yourself no longer existed.

When Nuwa did arrive, he seemed chatty and chipper as always, but noticed how you had ‘vibe’, as he phrased it. He inquired about it, but you had no answer to give. You both were at a standstill, as he had no location, and you had no direction. You watched him pace, mulling over the next move like it was his personal mission.

“I’ve got it!” His voice cut through the emptiness as he stopped in his tracks. Nuwa twirled to face you, his extensions whipping to hit his face. “Let’s go to a cantina!”

You looked owlishly at him. Really? This is your best idea?

“Well, you’re like… unemployed for the first time in forever, right? That’s where you can find a job, yeah? We can be a team again. You’re the muscles and I’m the handsome pilot! They could make a holositcom about us.”

He continued to babble to back up his idea, but you tuned most of it out. Shrugging, you accepted his idea and allowed him to lead the way. It wasn’t a bad idea, just not as much for you as it was for him.

In mere minutes you were walking towards a seedy dive bar that was bursting with life. Truly, it wasn’t your scene. The loud noises overloaded your senses easily and being around this many people gave you anxiety that you couldn’t place. You never let it show, being the face of calm, cool, and collected, but you couldn’t breathe until you left the unknown puddles of liquid and the humid atmosphere behind you.

Nuwa blended right in, fitting into the background as if it was planned. He disappeared but you could always pinpoint where he was when you needed to. You worked harder here than on a job, ever vigilant. Dancers pushed you and patrons did their best to keep their drinks within their cups as they sloshed around. Finally, you spotted what you were really there for; bounty hunter jobs. You did your best to navigate the crowd as you made your way to the keeper of the pucks. Luckily, this man sat alone in his robes, nothing really remarkable about him. Just another man on Tatooine.

“Ahh, Shev’la, it has been a while, no? Heard you were taking some jobs straight from the source but now you are back. Welcome. I have some jobs that may interest you.”

They did not, in fact, interest you.

He went through a few of them that were extremely typical of what you would do, but nothing that spoke to the new you, whatever the kriff that means. At some point Nuwa came to join in and noticed the lack of interest you showed, giving commentary on the ones he thought would be fun. Everything left a bad taste in your mouth. Did anyone pay money to do good in the world?

Your attention was directed elsewhere, when you noticed a patron aggressively handling a Twi’lek woman. It didn’t take much to figure out that the woman was a slave, and her current master was a drunk osi'yaim with only two braincells banging around in his soup can of a head, though you were being generous.

Without really thinking, you stood up and pulled a knife out. It was almost too easy to dig it straight through his neck. This di'kut was an easy target, practically asking to be stabbed. You were doing the galaxy a favor in removing his presence. You didn’t even bother taking the knife back, watching him go limp on the ground.

The Twi’lek froze in place; horrified, surprised, and thankful all at once from the quick service you provided. You expertly removed the slave wrist band tech from her arms before her thoughts caught up with her and then moved the barkeep. The cantina hardly noticed the violence, something so normal for the atmosphere was bound to happen two more times that night alone. You placed some credits on the bar as the man behind the counter looked at you with wide eyes. Not many paid for clean up, but you thought it would be a nice gesture. A small price to pay.

The cool Tatooine night could not have been more welcoming. It felt like you yourself had the shackles broken off your wrist. Once far enough away, you reached down and dug your hand into the sand, grabbing fists full of it to ground yourself. You ripped your helmet off to allow the cool breeze to flow through your hair. It took a moment for the world around you to come back into focus and realize Nuwa was trying to talk to you.

“Yo, Q, what the kriff is your damage, my guy? First, you completely ignore some easy money, which sure, maybe not as exciting as what you were doing but still, kinda whack for you to just pass up on everything. But then you go and give a free knife away in some dude’s neck?” You felt Nuwa was being a bit dramatic, it’s not like it mattered. Didn’t he see the way he was handling his slave? That he had a slave? With an eye roll, you expressed to Nuwa that you were doing the world a favor.

Before he could muster up a response, you heard the footsteps of someone approaching in the sand. When you turned, the Twi’lek girl stopped dead in her tracks before slowly approaching again. In her hands was your knife with a little bit of blood smeared on it, as if she attempted to clean it. When she felt she had gotten close enough, she kneeled with the knife in her hands. This was a very grand gesture that was a direct consequence of your actions. An uneasy feeling washed over you.

You made yourself as unthreatening as possible, as well-meaning as a Mandalorian who just killed someone in the middle of a club could be. Approaching her, you saw her hands shaking. You gracefully took the knife, wiped it, and put it back into the thigh holster where it came from.

The Twi’lek looked at you with big eyes, waiting for your next move. Unsure of what to do, you gave her two awkward pats on her head before turning to walk towards the ship.

“Wait!” You flinched before turning back around. “Are you not going to take me with you?”

Nuwa, who had been quiet up until this point, finally let out a squeak. “what.”

The young woman was as confused as the two of you but moved on. “You… killed my master. That would mean you hold my contract now, yes? I go with you.” You looked at Nuwa for help, who stared back at you for guidance.

“Uhhh… listen. There’s no more contract. You’re free! Quiet here,” Nuwa clapped a hand onto your shoulder uneasily, “isn’t in the market for a…” he gulped as he struggled to say the word. “slave. So, you can just… do what you want.”

The Twi’lek seemed to allow that to sit a moment before speaking again, staring directly at you with excruciating determination. “Then I will go with you.”

Nuwa laughed nervously and a little too loudly, gripping your shoulder tightly. “Okay, um, I see where that could have been misunderstood and truly, that’s on me. I should have been more clear. I did say that you could do what you wanted, but I meant like… not that.”

“I do not have anywhere else to go. I will not be able to survive on my own, I will have to go back as a slave. Please.”

And therein lies your mistake. While you did good, you ultimately made a bigger mess. No good deed goes unpunished. There was much more to the tangled web that not just one action could fix, and you didn’t consider the longer lasting effects. So much for turning over a new leaf.

“I can do anything you want! Cook, clean… I have information that could be useful.” You threw up a hand to silence Nuwa and allowed the woman to continue. “My last master did dirty work for the Separatists, I was there during different meetings and know important locations.”

You nodded toward Nuwa, signaling you wanted to take this offer. Nuwa, in turn, looked surprised. “Weren’t you just working for them? Why would you want information on them?” You gave a singular, but very understood finger as an answer, causing Nuwa to recoil a bit. “So, that’s why you didn’t take those jobs?” You nodded.

Nuwa rubbed his chin, considering all the new information. “Alright, kid. Do you have a name?”

“Siari.”

“Welcome to the Quiet Alliance, I guess.”

Part 11

Notes:

Gif is made by me :) (me making my own gifs "It ain't much but it's a lot of work")

MRE - Meal Ready-to-Eat kriff - Star Wars cursing

Mando'a mir'sheb - smartass osi'yaim - Useless, despicable person di'kut - idiot

Tag List: @rintheemolion @salamiwrites @lokigirlszendaya @jinxedleo @dionysuskid21 @awkwardwookie @welcometothepedroverse @gabile18 @xxglossii @techssexythighs @imalovernotahater @littlemisscare-all @seeley-marie23 @badbatch-simp24 @goddess-of-congeniality @sunipostsstuff @ladydiomede @admiralmaple @dwarfnip

deactivated: @xxspqcebunsxx

If you want to be added to the tag list, just send me an ask or fax me a picture of a crab

#what's coming to me #crab writes #bad batch x reader #tbb x reader #tbb x you #the bad batch x reader #crosshair x you #crosshair x reader

[oxcjae]

UnKnown Moments: 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, on this day, I released the final episode to my (relatively) famous series, UnKnown Moments. Personally, I consider its release a milestone in several ways. Not only did it coincide with the end of my high school years, but in hindsight, it also represented the beginning to the end of my Gmod videos. With that said, I think this is a good point to pause and reflect on the past 10 years of my creative and personal ventures.

  Shift of Focus (2012 - 2013)

After working on it for 2 years, releasing “UnKnown Moments 5″ was a huge relief for me, and not just because of how long it took. At that point, after 6 years, I lost most of my interest for Gmod and couldn’t see myself producing with it in the foreseeable future.

So what was I interested in? TF2, Minecraft and reality... but mostly reality.

See, I finished high school a semester early and recently turned 18, and with college still half a year away, I was ready to dip my toes into the real world. So, like most 18-year-olds, I spent most of my time working, socializing, and partying above all else. Gaming basically became irrelevant for me, and whenever I occasionally did, it was a joke.

Once fall arrived, college only shifted that focus further, especially since I lived relatively far from home. During that first year, whenever I wasn’t occupied with schoolwork or socializing, I was self-reflecting or using Minecraft as a creative outlet on my school laptop. In fact, if I weren’t so preoccupied, I probably would’ve materialized a satire LP that I frequently fantasized.

Looking back to those ages between 18-22, this shift was absolutely necessary for new inspirations and personal growth. In fact, those years built the foundation of the person I am today. My advice to anyone in that age range: get out of your comfort zone, else you will regret it.

  “Alien Days”: Gmod & Creative Futility (2013 - 2016)

After my first year of college, I transferred to a school closer to home to pursue a different degree. When I returned to my home city that summer, my open mind still sought to expand its experiences. To compensate, for the rest of the year, I delved into new... creative inspirations. And inspired I was, especially when I was accompanied by MGMT’s self-titled album and it’s first track “Alien Days”, which still brings me plenty of awe and joy to this day.

Naturally, after returning to my home city and being creatively revamped, I began playing with video ideas again while attending the fall semester at my new school, fantasizing of a potential new Gmod video like “UnKnown Moments”.

Once 2014 had arrived with its spring vibes, I was hit with inspiration on a perfect, sunny day and typed out most of what became the first script of “Alien Days”, a project that started off as a nostalgic revisit to the UnKnown Moments universe but with a linear story. In the following months, “The Dealer”, “The Terrorists”, and “The Diagnosis” were produced from this script, along with other (unreleased) sequences, and were meant to be eventually accompanied by the full video.

But, alas, the beginning of a new lesson was on the horizon: perfectionism and its futility. The script kept evolving to the point where I halted production to let it play out, expecting a personal masterpiece at the end of it. Problem is: it never fully grew, rather only kept changing form, its abstracts always stuck between versions to where the sequences never fully aligned into a comprehensive script.

By 2015, between schooling and my social life, my occasional Gmod sessions had me wandering through it aimlessly, hoping that some interest or comedic inspiration would spark. Instead, I found myself in a creative wasteland, forcing my uninterested mind into producing empty videos. At that point, most of my momentum for “Alien Days” evaporated.

With these empty Gmod productions came the obvious realization that my creativity was longing for a new genre. Naturally, I followed my interests and began pursuing for more abstract and psychedelic videos, letting comedy take the backseat through easygoing parodic playthroughs, before ditching “Alien Days", which had mutated into an abstract project of personal self-reflection with an incomplete script after 2 years. Its last breath was in the form of a short video (produced March 2016):

In hindsight, “[]” is the perfect representation of the creative emptiness and futility that I felt when attempting to produce funny Gmod videos, which I had started doing 10 years ago at that point. What I took away from this creative crisis is to accept when your heart is no longer into something. Else, you’ll never evolve.

  GoldSource Transition (2016 onward)

The fact that I graduated from college in the same season that I basically moved on from Gmod is almost poetic, personally. My only regret is not listening to my creative intuition sooner. 

As spring 2016 arrived, I was already longing for a new creative medium to escape the emptiness that I felt with Gmod. I had recently played around in GoldSource for giggles with “Blew Shift”, so I decided to goof around some more, which resulted in the OG version of “A Posing Farce”, the foundation to the version that’ll become my highest-viewed video ever. The project also led me to a glitch that inspired “Dream Mesa” (2017), which only solidified my interest in pursuing GoldSource machinimas.

To say Half-Life was refreshing for me would be a massive understatement. Not only were Half-Life machinimas barely explored at that time, but the engine also served as an interesting creative challenge, given that its physics and NPC manipulations are relatively limited.

Yet, the creative potential for GoldSource doesn’t just stop at just comedy, as its features are more customizable than they appear. By playing with numerous in-game video settings, as demonstrated in my cinematography guide, I’ve been able to push Half-Life productions into psychedelic-levels of abstract, from changing the field of view to map lighting. Furthermore, NPCs’ voice lines can easily be changed with a simple file replacement, and map entities can be added or modified on the fly with a third-party program like BSPEdit, allowing you to insert NPCs, animations, dialogue, and entire sequences at will. And I learned all of this just by following my creative interests, project by project, and there’s still so much more for me to learn with GoldSource, from DemoEdit to the production-focused mod HLAE.

What I’ve taken away from producing HL1 videos is that growing is really just one step at a time, motivated through tangible challenges that you give yourself. To think I’ve learned as much as I have with HL1 just from occasionally playing with it over the years says a lot. Oh, and sometimes learning and growing comes in the form of failures.

  In summary, since the end of my UnKnown Moments series, these past 10 years have been a great journey of personal and creative growth, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds. A big thank you to everyone who has followed and grown with me since then. Since I’ve been relatively distant from my audience since 2013, I hope this piece will enlighten those who wish to understand my personal journey behind the scenes.

#oxcjae #oxcjae. #UnKnown Moments #machinima #machinimas #Gmod #Garry's Mod #Half-Life #Half Life #HL1 #GoldSource #GoldSrc

[sakura-83]

Things from Anne with an e that I feel like writing down

Season 2 Episode 1: Youth Is The Season of Hope

1. Anne looking over her collection of treasures

2. Her walk through the forests and fields, talking to trees and watching butterflies and being free from worldly concerns such as dirtying her clothes or going home before dark

3. The general way that Anne loves nature

4. Anne falling into a creek. I’ve done that so many times

5. Anne coming hone covered in twigs and mud and Matthew just smiling

6. It does make me sad how Mr. Dunlop is genuinely happy at Green Gables but the plan still crumbles. He was a bad person but I still wish he could’ve had his house, a calm life, maybe then he could’ve changed forever.

7. The fact that when school isn’t in session, there’s no paper to be had for students

8. Anne critiquing the way Nate prays

9. “And bless those who are here, and those who are in our hearts” CUTTING INTO A SHOT OF THE BOAT GILBERT IS ON

10. Gilbert singing while he works

11. Bash being exasperated with Gilbert

12. Gilbert could’ve had a comfortable steady life but willingly chose to work in the name of adventure and experience

13. Nate trying to convince Anne of all people that geology is boring

14. Nate frequently says things that will trigger a flashback in Anne and yet she still continues to spring back up enthusiastically

15. The whole flirting thing between Nate and Marilla never fails to make me very uncomfortable

16. Yknow. It’s probably the money they stole from Jerry that’s paying the rent

17. Jerry having a mini heart attack when Anne is in the barn

18. Jerry knowing there’s something off about Nate but being unable to place it

19. Anne’s fond talk of reading seeking very surface level while the scene is interrupted by flashbacks of how it was the only hope, the only shred of happiness she was able to keep in her youth

20. “Reading can save your life.”

21. Anne finding Jane eyre when she had to hold the books as punishment

22. “Look at this sentence, isn’t it glorious!” “Sometimes you’re not very nice.” “What do you mean? Why are you- Jerry!” “No school for me, remember?” “I can teach you to read!”

23. Jerry telling her not to bother and her proceeding to relay the entire alphabet anyways

24. They don’t have any paper so Anne has to teach him by writing in the hay and dirt on the ground

25. Nate just starting to scream and throw things so people thing he’s having a breakdown

26. Stupid mr Barry falling for it

27. The cuthberts singing the same song as Gilbert while they work

28. Bash explaining to Gilbert that he’s a young white boy and he can do whatever he wants in life, but bash is stuck with his lot in life and needs to keep his job

29. Bash telling him he’s also bad at singing

30. “I’m so glad I get to live in a world where there are Octobers, aren’t you?”

31. Anne being baffled that they haven’t been to the beach since they were children

32. Anne going to the beach for the first time

33. The way she absolutely has to stand on the cliff edge over the ocean

34. Matthew waving back to her

35. Anne impulsively stripping down and jumping into the ocean during a Canadian October

36. Matthew doing the same

37. Anne can’t swim

38. Anne laughing at her near death experience

39. Matthew teaching her to swim

40. Anne asking to buy back Birdie with the harvest money

41. Even Marilla coming to enjoy the beach

42. Anne looking off into the sea from land and Gilbert looking out to the horizon from the ship deck

43. Only Anne would realize how well loved the gold chapter is

44. Anne’s impulsive and nosy nature is what ultimately revealed Nate’s lie

45. Nate manipulating a child and taking advantage of their trust

46. “How about a dashing hero, named Albert, Herbert, Rupert, Pilbert-“ “Pilbert!? That’s ridiculous! I would never write a story about a boy named Pilbert!” “It’s not like we can’t tell-“ “Well YOU always murder everyone because you can’t figure out what to do with your characters-“

47. Aunt Josephine wanting to read their stories

48. Anne using an entire framed embroidery piece to teach Jerry to read

49. Jerry trying to refuse learning to read but being convinced by the way Anne talks about it so fondly

50. “Reading can save your life.” “Alright, I’ll try it.” “YES!”

51. “Let’s kill the cat.” The cat being Anne. I wouldn’t put actually killing her past Nate

52. Them decorating a pie

53. Jerry carving the alphabet into the barn wall

54. Poor Jerry, not only did Nate beat him terrible but the comments about “a little French pig” are also. Ouch.

55. Anne coming out of a flashback and still acting brave, plus her starting to catch on to Nate based on his outbursts and Jerry’s behavior

56. Not Nate half stripping in front of Marilla >:(

57. Yayyyyy more marriage drama from the Barry household

58. “I just want to do something that matters for once.”

59. Mr Dunlop really isn’t so bad to me? A crook, sure, but one with basic empathy and way less full of malice towards children

60. Anne making him an apron

61. One specific tell of the lie being the specific repeated use of the phrase “moral quandary”. Most people in a genuinely situation wouldnt repeatedly use that phrase and Nate’s liberal use of it makes him feel scripted which is perfect because he’s a liar using a script

62. Marilla giving Jerry an entire BASKET of pastries for his family

63. Never tell Rachel Lynde a secret

64. $150 PER GOLD TEST????

65. Fun facts from Matthew, most folks in Avonlea make about $300-$400 a year

66. Nate isn’t a great actor but mr Dunlop certainly is, mostly because he’s half genuinely

67. “You are a moral man.” :/ well

68. Anne immediately thinking of writing to Gilbert and being determined to find where he is

69. Anne almost cracking the code with the stamp and then getting distracted

70. “Does that sound romantical?” The- the manifest, not the letter to Gilbert-“

71. “Please let there be gold in Avonlea, so that there’s no more hardship for anyone. And please, please help me get my letter to Gilbert. And please be sure I don’t misspell any words! Amen.”

#anne with an e #renew awae #awae #anne shirley cuthbert #marilla cuthbert #mathew cuthbert #jerry baynard #gilbert blythe #diana barry #cole mackenzie #sebastian lacroix #bash lacroix

[supergay-supergirl]

i fixed supergirl season 5 (part 1/3)

hi i'm back on my supergirl bullshit :) anyway my episode by episode notes for how supergirl season 5A could/should have gone is below the cut, enjoy

(the rest will be in another post, this got way too long)

Overall Themes

Season 5 is about facing reality and accepting grief and pain. This is already done well in 5B imo but it could have been even more central to the plot (see plot)

Emotionally Lena is in a terrible horrible no good very bad place right now. They executed this pretty well in the show but I think they should have scrapped Lex and Rama Khan / most of Leviathan and made her the primary villain.

Kara has to learn to forgive herself for keeping a secret she was forced to keep. They also did this pretty well huh maybe season 5 had good themes after all

Overall theme of forgiveness, of self and of others. This ties into the previous themes; you need to face your grief and forgive in order to move on.

Note on CGI

Real talk here the CGI is the one thing that I have no defense of

It's dependent on budget so there probably wasn't much they could have done but. hhh

Anyway imagine all of these things with like season 2 level CGI

Episodes

*important changes in bold.

5x01: Event Horizon

Original rating: 7/10

Absolutely love the cold open. Perfect. Change nothing

Instead of the confusing restrictive contract thing, the crew stays at CatCo because they still believe in it. A small amount of blackballing can be involved.

Kara and Lena scenes are good

Fight scene with Midnight: They don't know Malefic exists yet so there isn't that much you can do with action. But definitely a roll call style fight scene that showcases each character's powers in their most iconic way (Dreamer gets a dream pun, Guardian does his shield slide move, etc.)

And maybe let Supergirl do the sonic boom clap thing, just for kicks

Malefic doesn't tell J'onn he's his brother right away. Like Lena, he wants to hurt the person who hurt him while avoiding direct confrontation with those feelings or that person.

5x02: Stranger Beside Me

Original rating: 5/10

Cold open on William, talking to someone about Andrea and Russell Rogers. We start to get hints of his true integrity; he's kind to his source and willing to show his vulnerability to earn their trust.

Also he should be less annoying in general

Malefic releases some other villain from the Phantom Zone to kill J'onn. Brief villain of the week run ensues.

Lena is continuing to develop Non Nocere, but she's having science problems, as she often does. Perhaps intersperse some clips of Lex from S4 or childhood, showing her emotional volatility.

Leave Eve out of the picture for now

Kelly and J'onn figure out that J'onn is missing memories. J'onn thinks his mind was wiped by someone, but Kelly notes that his brain activity matches that of someone who's repressed trauma.

5x03: Blurred Lines (Ancestral Memory)

Original rating: 4/10

Split this episode in half and stretch it over two episodes. Move James's goodbye to episode 5.

Kara and Lena stuff is good

Malefic releases the Aurafacian from the Phantom Zone in a continued villain of the week fashion.

Nia and J'onn access J'onn's repressed memories. They realize that Malefic (1) exists and (2) is behind all this. J'onn considers reaching out, but he can't find the courage.

The Super Friends defeat the Aurafacian, but Rip Roar kills her before they can take her in.

Fight scene with Malefic: He continually turns into and/or mind controls each of them so that there's very little actual fighting (think DEO scene in human for a day)

Also I think it should be called ancestral memory

Closing scene: William finds an exhausted Russell after the attack. He tries to reason with him, but Russell speeds away.

Closing image: Frustrated at his delegates' failures, Malefic decides to take things into his own hands.

5x04: In Plain Sight

Original rating: 6/10

Cue Sean Astin and temporary Kelly superpowers

Lena works with the DEO to create the modified Phantom Zone projector

They manage to corner Malefic using temporary Kelly superpowers. Right when they're about to hit him with the Phantom Zone projector, J'onn calls out for them to stop—Malefic is worth saving, and one needs to face their past, not lock it away—but Lena sets it off anyway, imprisoning Malefic.

Meanwhile, Kara follows William while he investigates Gemma Cooper (prev. Margot), Eve's white-haired connection to Leviathan. He reveals that he's investigating the disappearance of his friend Russell, which he believes is related to Andrea.

None of the Elena Torres stuff. This is solidly a B plot

He tells her that he was only acting so annoying because Andrea only trusts people who act for their own predictable self-interests (hinting at a deeper backstory for Andrea). However, he got into journalism because he isn't afraid to face the truth. Kara relates.

Kara and Lena talk about what happened with Malefic. Lena asserts that she was right, echoing her words to Lex; Malefic is a bad person, and the world will never be safe with him in it. We see how the events of the past few months have radicalized her mindset. The only way to save humanity is to control it.

5x05: Dangerous Liaisons

Original rating: 4/10

Put James's goodbye here. We can still do the date-aversary and trauma stuff with Kelly in Calvintown.

Wracked with guilt, J'onn tries to reach out psychically to Malefic, but he can't reach him. He thinks it's because Malefic is in the Phantom Zone, but it's actually because Lena has used her data from the previous episode to block J'onn's Q-wave frequencies while she experiments with Malefic's Q-waves.

Big showdown with Rip Roar over the geyser

Fight scene with Rip Roar: Supergirl faces him alone, trying not to hurt him and instead to reason with him. When she says William's name, he hesitates long enough for her to catch him.

Closing scene: At the DEO, William talks to Russell, appealing to their close friendship. When William asks who did this to him (implying Andrea), Russell says one word: "Leviathan."

5x06: Confidence Women

Original rating: 8/10

I highkey love this episode, wouldn't change much about it

Previously on Supergirl: lots of longing looks between Andrea and Lena. But neither of them have the mental or emotional well being to actually talk to the other.

I think overall the adult plot could have been organized better. Spend less time on Acrata and focus instead on Russell, Leviathan, and the general turmoil in Andrea's life.

Draw clear parallels to Lena and Kara's relationship

Canon Rojascorp optional but encouraged

5x07: Tremors (mid-season finale)

Original rating: 7/10

Get rid of Rama Khan. Literally just delete him

Having been told by Kara about William's investigation, Lena follows the clues to Eve. Eve tries to apologize, but Lena won't engage and kidnaps her instead.

The Super Friends research Leviathan. Supergirl goes to the Fortress to gather more information.

Meanwhile, J'onn gets wind that Malefic is still on Earth.

Fortress scene good

Intercut with the Fortress scene, J'onn tracks Malefic and realizes that Lena's been keeping him prisoner. The two pairs speak in parallel as they finally air their grievances. J'onn and Malefic are able to forgive and make up, but Lena and Kara can't.

The reference in my head is why stay / a promise from Next to Normal

I think they kind of did this but not as deliberately

parts 2 and 3 to come!

#supergirl #cw supergirl #script doctor #superspeaks #kara danvers #lena luthor #supergirl season 5 #supergirl season 5a #supergirl meta #supergirl script doctor #andrea rojas #william dey #j'onn j'onzz #kelly olsen #supergirl cw #long post #my content