#have i ever mentioned i hate cid

[melliejellybellybean]

A Match Made in a Classroom

Hunter/Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.3k, whoops...

Warnings: none

It's parent teacher conference night for Omega!

Hunter hates it. While he usually dodges the responsibility, letting one of his brothers take his place, there is no one to save him this time.

You love parent teacher conferences. You love getting to meet the families who influence the children you spend your days with, and this time you just might meet someone special.

Omega has a plan. Her, her siblings, and Cid have devised a foolproof mission that she cannot wait to set in motion.

Hunter could endure all sorts of tortures. He had to, as a soldier, and with his heightened senses, a lot of mundane things could be considered torture. Yet, here he was, facing what was likely to be the death of him. There was no rescue waiting for him, no escape from the pain he’d experience in just a few short minutes. As he was led into the bleak building, he glanced at the sun for what would probably be the last time.

“Hunter, you have to stop being so dramatic.” Omega glared after Hunter sighed for the seventh time in the past two minutes. “My teacher is very nice. You’re not going to die in there.”

“Why couldn’t Tech do this?” Hunter grumbled, “Tech always comes to these things.”

“You already know the answer to that.” Omega reminded him.

He grimaced as he remembered Tech’s adamant claims that he could not separate from the Marauder for as much as two minutes for risk of “the ship exploding, leaving us stranded with no means of making an income, Hunter. With no income, we would have no way of replenishing our food supply or other needs. Is that what you want? Do you want to starve?”

Hunter had wanted to share a few choice words with Tech then, and even more now, but he settled for grumbling once more. “Stupid explosive power couplings.”

“It’ll be fun!” Omega tried for optimism, “You can finally see the super secret project I’ve been working on for the past two weeks!”

Hunter let up on his sulking a bit when he saw her bright smile. Ever since taking on Omega, he had felt wildly out of his depth. Good soldiers did not equate to good fathers, or father figures in his case. Even after a couple of years, Hunter continued to bumble through new situations and problems, making countless mistakes along the way. He had just started to feel like he had some sort of handle on raising her when Cid started this long chain of events that would lead to his current suffering.

…

“You’ve gotta enroll that kid in a school.” She shrugged one afternoon as she passed by Hunter.

“What?” Hunter suddenly twisted on the stool he’d been sitting on, nearly falling off.

Cid didn’t stop walking. “She’s gonna need to do basic math or something soon. The longer you wait, the more suspicious it gets.”

At the time, Hunter had shrugged it off. Cid was just being Cid: sticking her nose in places where it didn’t belong. However, it seemed she shared her unwanted opinion with more people than he had thought. A few days later, Echo casually slid into the seat across from Hunter in the booth where he’d been sitting.

“You know, I’ve been thinking and asking around. Apparently, there’s a pretty good school not too far from here. Walking distance.” Hunter raised one eyebrow, but Echo continued before he could interrupt. “Think about it. Every other kid Omega’s age is going to school right now. I don’t think it’s ‘low-profile’ for a kid to hang out in Cid’s parlor with a bunch of suspicious-looking men everyday. Not to mention, she’ll learn a lot.”

“She’s already learning a lot.” Hunter argued, “We’re teaching her. Some kids are homeschooled, that’s not completely rare.”

Echo wrinkled his nose, “I don’t think ship classes and modifications are standard curriculum.”

“Well, you can argue with Tech about that.” Hunter smirked, “Good luck getting him to admit that.”

“I actually agree with Echo.” Tech voice sounded from above. Hunter looked up to see his goggled brother peering over the side of the booth where he had evidently been eavesdropping. “Sending Omega to a primary school could be beneficial for both her and us.”

Tech took the stunned silence of his brothers as a chance to scramble out of his booth and shove himself next to Hunter. “Not only could a proper education lead to better opportunities for Omega in her future, but she could also gain social awareness from exposure to other adolescents.”

“Wish you’d gotten more of that.” Hunter muttered.

Tech adjusted his goggles, “The Kaminoans kept all of us separate from the regs in our early stages. It is hardly my fault my exceptional mind progressed at a rate faster than yours. I may have skipped past some social development, but we can all agree I’m better off for it.”

“Our point is,” Echo spoke up, “it could be better for Omega to be around other kids her age and learn from someone who is actually qualified to teach. We’re soldiers. We don’t know the first thing about teaching anything other than military strategy and maybe some basic math.”

Hunter sighed, “I get that, I do, but we can’t protect her there. What if she gets into some kind of trouble and we’re not there to help her?”

“What kind of trouble will she get into at school?” Echo argued, “Those kids are supervised, school isn’t a dangerous place.”

“Actually, there are significant statistics that indicate that violence in schools is more common than we would all like to think. It’s more likely to occur in larger cities on more populated planets, but Ord Mantell does not have a reputation as the safest location. In fact, a large movement has started in Coruscant protesting the lack of restrictions on–” Tech grunted when Echo kicked him under the table.

“Look,” Hunter relented, “I would love for Omega to have more friends her age, but it’s just not possible.”

“That’s not fair!” Wrecker’s booming voice made everyone jump. Somehow, the mountain of a man had snuck up on the group. “Omega deserves to have more friends. And she’s super smart! She’d love school! Aren’t we supposed to be giving her a normal life? You’re raising her like a Kaminoan!”

…

Somehow, Wrecker knew just what to say to make Hunter hurt. As much as he wanted to unkindly tell their brothers where they could stick their advice on his parenting style, his self-doubt combined with his resentment towards his own unfair upbringing caused his stubborn nature to crumble. Now, he stood next to Omega at her parent-teacher conference, trying to combat her contagious smile.

“Alright,” Hunter looked away to hide the grin that wanted to break on his face, “which one’s your classroom?”

Omega knew she had won. She grabbed her brother’s hand and all but ran to a classroom all the way at the end of the hall. The bulletin board outside the door was decorated to look like the inside of a generic classroom. A cartoonish cookie stood by the chalkboard and more, smaller cookies that had clearly been made by the students were scattered in the center. The top of the board read, “Come see how smart your cookies are!” Hunter smiled as he saw the googly-eyed cookie that had Omega’s name on it. It was a bit messy, but he thought it was the most perfect looking cookie in the galaxy.

Before Omega could knock on the door, it opened and a little Zabrak boy came out followed by his parents. “Alright Mr. and Mrs. Vint, thank you so much for coming. Your son has been such a pleasure to have in class. I’ll see you on Monday, Pev, have a nice weekend!”

Whatever response the family had, Hunter didn’t hear it. He was busy looking at what must’ve been the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Omega’s teacher stood in perfect poise, a small, patient smile on her lips. Her eyes were bright and full of energy and kindness. Hunter swore that the longer he looked into them he had more and more hope for the galaxy. Maybe if eyes that looked like that existed, there was good after all.

“Mr. Fett?” A voice broke Hunter’s trance. Blinking, he noticed that the smile on her face had slipped slightly in concern. How long had she been talking?

“I’m so sorry,” Hunter stammered, “what were you saying?”

Omega snorted, but her teacher just giggled. It was adorable, and it took all of Hunter’s discipline to pay attention to the words that came out of her gorgeous mouth, “I said it’s nice to finally meet you. Omega talks about her brothers all the time, but I think I hear of you most often.”

Slightly touched, Hunter glanced down at Omega. She met his soft gaze with a shrug and a weirdly mischievous grin. She was up to something. Immediately, the soft fuzzy feeling was replaced by suspicion, but before he could do more than narrow his eyes at his sister, the goddess of a woman spoke up again.

“Should we go in? I’m sure you’d love to see Omega’s progress.”

…

In your, admittedly not very long, teaching career, you have never experienced a parent-teacher conference quite like the first one that you had with Mr. Fett and Omega. He paid an almost scary amount of attention to every word you spoke and every move you made while Omega bounced her gaze between the two of you like she was watching a very intense dejarik match. However, you were a professional, so you took it in stride. Omega was an amazing student, always respectful and responsible so you didn’t have to worry about having any awkward conversations with parents who were convinced their “perfect angel” couldn’t possibly have hit that little girl with a textbook. He did, by the way, not that they believed you.

The only time you were able to break the weird tension away from whatever was going on with the Fett family was when you brought up Omega’s project. She had been practically vibrating in her chair as you started talking about it, and when you asked her to grab it from her desk, she shot out of her seat like a blaster charge. Before you or Mr. Fett could caution her from literally sprinting in the classroom, she tripped over the leg of a chair, falling hard to the ground.

“Omega!” Mr. Fett was out of his chair just as fast as her. You rushed just behind him, kneeling by Omega who was clutching at her knee.

“I’m sorry!” Omega sniffled, tears in her eyes, “I shouldn’t have run.”

Mr. Fett blinked, slightly shocked, but you cut in before he could say anything.

“It’s not your fault, Omega.” You soothed the girl, “It’s Mr. Chair’s fault. Between you and me, Mr. Chair is a bitter old man, he trips me almost once a week!”

Omega giggled through the tears that built in her eyes, “Really?”

“Really.” You nodded sagely before fixing your attention to her knee, “Let’s take a look at that.”

You coaxed her into showing you her badly scraped and bleeding knee. “Stars, Mr. Chair, look what you did to Omega!” You glared at the chair, then gasped dramatically, “How dare you say that! Apologize right now!” Smiling sheepishly at Omega, as if you were embarrassed for the chair, you whispered, “He said sorry.”

“That’s okay, Mr. Chair, I’m sure it was an accident.” Omega was a smart kid, so it meant the world to you that she played along with your ridiculous fantasy.

Mr. Fett finally spoke up, “That looks pretty nasty, kid, maybe we should go get it checked out.” When his eyes moved from Omega to you, your mouth suddenly went dry and your brain decided to cease functioning. His eyes were full of intense passion and care, for Omega you assumed, and despite his hard demeanor, you could see his gaze soften. It took an embarrassing amount of time to realize he was hinting at their departure from the conference, and by extension, you.

“Oh, right.” You stammered, trying desperately to regain your professionalism after ogling at Omega’s brother, “I think the nurse has left by now, but maybe I could call her and see if she’s not too far? Wait no, that’s not fair for her, I could probably track down a janitor to open the office. I think Ward is still here, he owes me a favor. If not, I’m pretty handy with a hairpin, the lock can’t be that hard to pick, right? I should not have said that!”

Mr. Fett chuckled and even more of your brain activity packed up its bags to leave the scene. “That’s alright, you couldn’t possibly be the worst influence on her life.”

You laughed. Way too loud. “I need to keep bandages in here.” You blurted again, unable to stop this trainwreck of an interaction.

“For when Mr. Chair is mean again.” He joked. The weird tension was back. Mr. Fett kept your gaze under lock and key and Omega, while still clearly in pain, looked like a kid on Life Day.

This time, he broke it, glancing down at Omega awkwardly. “We should probably get you to Tech so he can bandage that.”

“Yes!” You rushed to the door, opening it for them. “Not that I want you to leave, but that’s probably for the best. Because of Omega’s knee, not because I don’t like you or anything. Not that I don’t like you! Omega’s great and I’m sure you are too–”

“We understand.” Mr. Fett saved you from yourself with a smirk, before leaving out the door. Omega sent you one last big grin as she passed you.

You sighed against the doorway, watching the two figures walk down the hallway until they turned the corner and left your field of vision. Breaking out of your trance, you noticed Mrs. Tenfrir raising a judging eyebrow at you. Your face burned as you quickly retreated into the safety of your classroom. The whole PTA was going to hear about this now.

Three weeks after the eventful parent-teacher conference night, you stood at the school gates greeting the children coming to school for the day. Frowning, you looked at your watch. It’s not like Omega to be late. Everyday, or at least everyday for the past three weeks, Omega arrives at school exactly 15 minutes before the day starts. Everyday, or at least everyday for the past three weeks, she gives you a slightly mischievous smile as she runs past you into the building. Everyday, or at least everyday for the past three weeks, you look up to see the oldest Mr. Fett already staring at you before catching himself and walking back in the direction he came from. He thought he hid his blush, but you could always see it. It was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one, to see that Omega’s oldest brother had started bringing her to school. In the past, it had always been either Tech or Echo, both of which would always greet you warmly. However, their brother seemed to be content to admire you from a distance.

You weren’t stupid. As a younger teacher, there were plenty of single parents who flirted with you or, on some occasions, even boldly asked you out, but you always maintained a professional relationship with them. Yet, something was different about Mr. Fett. Maybe it was his dark and broody persona or the softness that he tried and failed to keep from showing through said persona, but you felt yourself looking forward to catching a glimpse of him every morning, exactly 15 minutes before the day started.

…

“Omega, we need to get going, you’re going to be late.” Hunter reminded his younger sister for the fifth time this morning.

Omega didn’t even pull her head out of the bush she was buried in, “I know, but I promise, this is the last one. Aha!”

Triumphantly, she held up a flower she had just wrestled from the ground, adding it to the growing bouquet in her other hand. Although it significantly slowed them down, Hunter found her determination to choose only “the most perfectly perfect-looking flowers for this mission” endearing.

“The only mission you should be focusing on is getting to school on time.” Hunter scolded, “If you’re late, you’re explaining yourself to your teacher.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to explain to her?” Omega teased, “Instead of just staring at her like normal?”

Hunter almost tripped over a rock. “I do not stare.”

“Do too.” Omega chided.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“I’m watching to make sure you get in alright.” Hunter tried to maintain his dignity, but it was hard when he was arguing with a 13-year-old. Looking ahead, he was relieved to see that they were approaching the school gates.

Omega looked like she was going to continue arguing, but she cut herself off when she noticed you standing at the gates looking almost worried. Omega ran off, and upon seeing her, you smiled wide and called out. You were really pretty when you smiled. You were always pretty, in Hunter’s opinion, but whenever you smiled or laughed or joked with Omega, Hunter felt his heart skip several beats. He watched as Omega held out the flowers to you, presenting them in such a grand way, but then she whispered something in your ear and your eyebrows shot up. You looked at Hunter, a small blush spreading across your face as you took them, and Hunter felt his stomach drop. Sending Omega one last smile, you ushered her inside before approaching Hunter.

“Good morning, Mr. Fett,” you greeted him politely, “Thank you for the flowers.”

Hunter opened his eloquent mouth, “What?”

You giggled, raising an eyebrow, “Omega tells me that you picked these flowers for me?”

“Um, yes,” Hunter stammered, Omega’s antics finally making sense, “They just looked so beautiful, and so do you today, I mean, you look good most days–all days! You look nice all days, but today I just happened to be walking past all these flowers and I decided to get them… for you?”

“Well, thank you, again.” You started to turn away.

Don’t let her go! Hunter’s mind screamed at him. A voice blurted, “Would you want to get dinner sometime?” It took Hunter a second to realize that the voice was his own.

You froze, “Dinner?”

Hunter’s heart was pounding, “Yes.”

“With you?”

“Yes.”

“And no one else?”

“Yes.”

“Like a date?”

Hunter paused. He was too far deep now. If you hated him after this, he could always let his brothers handle all of Omega’s school events again. They’d probably be better at it anyways. “Yes?”

Silence fell between you both. Hunter’s eyes never left yours, but yours shifted around. He watched you ponder every angle of the decision you were about to make and, what felt like an eternity later, you locked your eyes back on his. “Yes.”

Hunter was sure he was dreaming. “Yes?”

“Yes.” You nodded, completely certain in your choice, “Does tomorrow night work? You could pick me up here around 6?”

“Yes.”

“Can you say anything other than ‘yes’?”

“Yes.” Hunter answered before he could think about it.

You laughed, “Well, I’ll see you then, Mr. Fett.”

“Please, call me Hunter.” He had meant to make it sound like a request, but it came out in a desperate beg.

“I have to go do my job, Hunter.” You teasingly chided and began to back away again, maintaining eye contact as long as you could. His name rolled off of your tongue like it was always meant to. Hunter never saw any particular beauty in his name, but the way it sounded coming from you made it seem like the most poetic word to be created.

For the next day and a half, Hunter was a mess. He tripped and fell down the ramp of the Marauder, he accidentally put salt in his coffee instead of sugar, he even mistook Gonky for a trash bin at some point. However, he wasn’t the only one acting odd. He caught Echo smirking to himself on more than one occasion. Tech kept bouncing between whispering to Omega and whispering to Cid, and Wrecker was being entirely too quiet.But none of that was on Hunter’s mind when he found himself sitting across from you at a restaurant. It was smaller, nice and quiet. He had heard Cid talking to AZI about it the other night, and it just turned out to be the perfect setting for this date.

“You clean up very nicely.” You broke the semi-awkward silence that had fallen since the two of you had been seated.

Hunter thought about how he had spent the better half of the day in the refresher preparing himself mentally and physically to meet you. He decided not to mention that. “You do too. I didn’t think you could have looked even more stunning, but I was wrong.” He practiced that line for almost 15 minutes.

You looked down at the table to hide your blush. Hunter could still see it, but he thought the gesture was cute. “Oh!” You snapped your head, eyes bright, “I almost forgot. I brought Omega’s project.”

“The one from the conference?” Hunter watched you root around in your bag until you pulled out a rolled up sheet of flimsy that looked like multiple smaller sheets hastily glued together.

“Yeah,” You started to unroll it, “The assignment was to make a family tree. Most kids just put mom, dad, brother, sister, maybe a tooka if they had one, but Omega was very determined to put every single one of her brothers.”

The paper was a mess. The family tree was less tree than it was a very, very long line, but it was filled, in Omega’s messy handwriting, of clone names. He saw Rex, Gregor, Cut and his family, and even some clones that she had only ever heard of like Fives, Wolffe, Waxer and Boil. There were even clones that Hunter had never met. And right in the middle, written the biggest, were five names: Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair. Hunter felt a lump begin to form in his throat. Omega had never known the Crosshair that the rest of them did. She only ever knew the man who ruthlessly chased them across the galaxy, trying to kill them, but she still thought of him as a brother. Enough to write his name on a family tree for a school assignment that would one day get lost, thrown away, or left behind. It was something so simple and insignificant, and it was going to make Hunter cry.

“She gave up her recess for three days straight to finish this project.” You spoke barely louder than a whisper. “I wanted to make sure you saw it since you couldn’t at the conference.”

Memories of the conference flooded Hunter’s mind. Admittedly, he hadn’t listened to what you were saying all that much, having been too focused on making sure he wasn’t actively drooling over you, but he recalled the way you soothed Omega.

“You’re really good with her.” Hunter cleared his throat to himself, “Sometimes I feel so out of my depth. Like I’m making a million and one mistakes and I can’t stop myself, but you do everything right with her.”

You blushed, just now realizing how closely he had actually watched you interact with his sister. “She’s an amazing kid, kind and selfless. I don’t think you realize how good of a job you’re actually doing with her. She couldn’t have a better brother.”

“Don’t let my other brothers hear that.” Hunter joked, trying to deflect the praise, “I would never have been able to calm her down like you did at the conference.”

“My mom used to do that.” You looked down at your lap, “Like Omega, I tended to think that I was responsible for things that were out of my control, and that’s how she helped me get past that. I always thought it was the funniest thing ever. Sometimes, I would purposefully hurt myself on things just to hear her scold them. She definitely knew when I did it on purpose, but I think it makes it all the more special that she would indulge me.”

You were pulled out of your memories by the sensation of something brushing your hand. Looking up, you saw that his hand had traveled across the table, his pinky brushing yours silently asking for permission. You turned your hand up, interlocking his fingers with yours.

Hunter opened his mouth, almost having to force the words out, “Can I kiss you?”

Your throat closed up, so all you could do was give a shy nod. The Kaminoans used to say that it took a team to raise an army. Hunter always felt that saying was a load of bantha droppings. What did they know about raising people with real thoughts and feelings? Now he realized they were sort of right. It took a team to raise a person, but most importantly, it took the right team. Not a team of the smartest doctors, most celebrated engineers, and ruthless bounty hunters, but a team of people who truly loved each other and worked together for each other’s benefit. As he started to lean into you and you to him, Hunter realized that maybe he wasn’t the wrong person to be raising Omega. Maybe he just wasn’t the only right person. Maybe he needed his brothers, and just maybe, he needed you. Hunter’s lips met yours and nothing had ever felt more right for him. And nothing would ever feel right again without you by his side. …

Omega came sprinting into Cid’s parlor. It was late, the only occupants of the room being Cid, her brothers, and AZI. They all looked at her in anticipation, waiting for her to relay information gathered from her stealth operation.

Beaming, she revealed the Mantell Mix she had been hiding behind her back. “Mission accomplished.”

A stunned silence fell for a beat, everyone processing that their work had paid off. Then the room erupted into cheers.

This fic is a gift for @miseries-mistress as a part of @cloneficgiftexchange‘s... clone fic gift exchange... (that sentence went a lot better in my head). Your dialogue prompt just screamed Hunter to me. I headcanon that he'd fall in love with someone after seeing them interact with Omega or Omega would love them before he did. I'm super excited to be able to post this for you to read, and I really hope you like it!

It was a lot of fun to participate in this fic exchange and write this. I have been looking for an excuse to start writing for the longest time and this exchange was the perfect opportunity! I am in love with the idea of Omega in a primary or elementary school, I think she'd be the best student to have. I also love the idea of Omega matchmaking all of her brothers. So, with those two ideas in mind, this fic was born! What was meant to be 800 words of Hunter being absolutely smitten with his daughter figure's teacher turned into 4k+ words of character analysis on him and Omega. Whoops. I hope yall enjoyed it!

#CFGE23 #hunter x reader #tbb hunter x reader #tbb hunter x f!reader #tbb hunter x fem!reader #tbb hunter x you #tbb hunter #the bad batch hunter #the bad batch #omegas a matchmaker #LET OMEGA GO TO SCHOOL AND MAKE FRIENDS JENNIFER

[cosmic-metanoia]

An Amazing Protagonist (of All Time)

***Warning – Spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI***

Clive is seriously one of the best protagonists I have ever come across not just in a video game but in any media. He is not perfect but the transformation we gradually witness from the age of 15 through 33 is absolutely astounding. As a teenager, he’s incredibly mature and has a strong sense of loyalty to his nation and his brother despite being treated like garbage by his own mother. At 28 during his “revenge era”, we see a brooding and darker side of him and it’s obvious that he has experienced too much. He is hellbent on avenging Joshua only to find out he was the one who killed him. The shame and guilt that burdens Clive and the eventual forgiveness and acceptance of his new identity is something many of us can relate to. We see his heroism when he becomes leader of the Cursebreakers and holds the torch handed over by Cid. Of course, we cheer him on as the warrior that he is with his amazing combat skills and Eikon powers. Yet there is so much more to Clive than his epic presence on the battlefield and his handsome looks. Many heroes (and superheroes) encompass similar qualities I just described but there are a few things that REALLY set Clive apart as a main character.

Clive is incredibly emotionally intelligent and has a lot of empathy for others. He can discern relationships between people and how deep their bonds run. He also has a wonderful sense of negotiation when dealing with tough issues and he is often able to help third parties come to a mutual agreement. He doesn’t need to use intimidating gestures, facial expressions, or harsh words to scare others into doing what he wishes. Even if he cannot convince someone, he knows when it is time to give up and politely step away. (As a random thought – have you noticed that Clive doesn’t just step in and take Bearers away from their masters when he witnesses them being abused in public? I think it’s because he’s more concerned with being on the radar which may lead adversaries to the Hideaway. He has to think about the Bearers currently under his protection. Nevertheless, I can imagine it must be hard for him to watch.) The tenderness he has for Jill makes my heart gleefully burst. The way he treats her as his equal and is so supportive of her is divinely refreshing! Not to mention his absolute loyalty to her even before they revealed their feelings to each other aloud. And I could go on and on about his love for his dearest little brother. One other quality about him is that he's not afraid to weep tears of joy or grief at certain moments - which, in my opinion, makes him more masculine and not less. There’s a TON of evidence to support everything I said but I would just encourage everyone to play ALL of the side quests to really understand Clive.

Generally speaking, many people have lived harsh lives and unfortunately some of those people use that as an excuse to treat others badly. With that logic, Clive could use his maternal issues as an excuse to treat women ill or use his upbringing as an excuse to hate on others but he was MUCH stronger. He chose love, brotherhood, and righteousness. I heard someone on the internet say that “Clive makes me want to be a better man” and that is FREAKING beautiful!

#ffxvi clive #ffxvi #ffxvi spoilers #ff16 #final fantasy 16 #clive rosfield #final fantasy xvi #final fantasy xvi spoilers

[otherworldseekers]

Cid, for the NPC ask meme!

Cid is one of my best friends! Though at first I didn't know what to think, because he was the first Garlean I had met that was supposed to be an ally. I'd always hated Garleans ever since living in Yanxia under their rule. They executed my foster father.

Even though Alphinaud explained his circumstances, being asked to work with one made my skin crawl. But Cid didn't even have his memories at first and I found that I couldn't hate someone who barely knew who he was. I felt sorry for him. And then he proved himself as we faced off against Garuda and then Gaius. He helped me see that Garleans aren't all monsters.

And ever since then, Cid's always been there whenever I've needed a helping hand and we've worked together on many of my favorite adventures. He's the most dependable person I know. Not to mention the only real friend that Nero has.

And If I hadn't known Cid first, I don't think I ever could have given Nero the second chance he asked for. So it's really thanks to Cid that we're together now. It made him furious when I told him that.

(THanks for the ask! 🥰)

#Severia Zetsuen #Severia lore #answered asks

[someartistsammy]

Also please go off on the yuffie-hate more because you're absolutely right! Comp of FF7 is a story about war and how it breaks people and the consequences of arms races in many ways- specifically the people hurt and left behind by them. Yuffie has every right to steal Cloud's materia in game and frankly try to murder him bc like he's wearing the uniform of a SOLDIER- SOLDIER burned Wutai to the ground and crushed it under foot! I'm surprised she isn't more antagonistic to Zack in CC tbh...

A continuation from the yuffie anon: I'm always so surprised at people liking AGS and then discounting Yuffie's position in the story like it's one thing to dislike how she's written or get irritated while playing a game. Outside of that though in the realm of interacting with and analyzing media in the way we do in fandom she does not get enough credit for her narrative importance and it just comes off as holding a childish grudge a lot of the time. [I'm sorry for ranting in your asks XD]

First of all don't ever feel bad about ranting in my asks. It's been like 2 years since I've gotten an ask so I'm grinning like a madman at being able to talk about this.

Anyways, LITERALLY!!

People are always so upset at Yuffie's actions and the things she does in the game but I feel like its completely understandable. She's a character that's been through so much and people love to just completely forget about that in favor of going "ugh annoying child that stole all of my stuff". I can ignore people who are slightly frustrated at getting their stuff taken initially, but when that comes into affecting how people view her character and her influence it pains me so so much. I feel like its made infinitely worse when they turn around and praise AGS for it.

There's always this thing of loving all the child soldiers from Shinra in FF7 but that energy is never held up for Yuffie, who was still a baby when the war started, and completely grew up in it. She just wants to do whatever she can to help her country recover and repair the damage that's done, but nobody wants to view her outside of just being an annoying kid, and just ignore that she's highly traumatized. One of the things that drives me crazy is the way that (fandom) Genesis is praised/liked for being loud and boisterous and outgoing but that's the exact thing people hate Yuffie for.

I mentioned it a bit in the tags on my other post but the way people constantly talk about hating her but then love characters like Cid makes me want to bite steel. I know people have their preferences but it'll forever be a red flag to me if someone loves a verbal abuser but hates a traumatized teenager who just wants to help her own people. She's also arguably more important to the world of FF7 than probably half of the other characters because she shows the way Shinra damages entirely different countries in their pursuit of power and control.

I don't know fully where I'm going with this and it's definitely just rambling, but just the way Yuffie is constantly treated when she's an important character to the story will forever make me feel insane. Especially when its the exact thing they'll praise the other characters for. It just always reads as people hating traumatized girls. I hope Rebirth goes on to continue to show her importance and maybe, just maybe, make people understand her character more.

#sammy talks #asks #anon #yuffie kisaragi #conclusion: idk man I'm just sad at the way she's treated #She's genuinely such a good character and instantly became one of my favorites when I finished going through og7 #probably could've phrased all of this better but I was just trying to write it all out before I went to feed the cows JKFDSJKDSFKJJK

[eclec-tech]

I didn't see you give any predictions after pabu. What do you think is going to happen.

I have a few. I was flying so high on the beauty and character development of this episode that I was reluctant to share my theories. None of them are good and I hope none of them happen.

One...The Empire finds its way to Pabu while the Batch and Phee are off on a mission, but Omega has stayed behind to have some normal kid time with Lyana. The Empire is surprised to find the girl Dr. Hemlock is looking for and take her without much resistance from the peaceful townsfolk still reeling from their recent disaster. Omega insists that the Batch left her there to have a normal life and Shep backs up her lie by saying that he has adopted her. There isn't anything else he can do. The Batch return to find her gone and go to Cid, who doesn't want to help when they come crawling back. Cid is reminded of how much she owes her life to Omega, and they begin contacting everyone they can think of to help get her back.

Two...The Empire is now on Ord Mantell. Cid knows about Pabu, even though Phee has only ever mentioned it and never actually brought her there. She deduces that the Batch is there with Phee since she hasn't heard from Phee in a while either. She makes a trade with the Empire--the Batch in exchange for her continued uninterrupted dealings on Ord Mantell. Omega is taken before the Batch can stop it and the Batch barely make it off Pabu. When they confront Cid, blasters are raised by all, including Phee. Cid agrees to help with reluctance and tells them that they brought this on themselves by crossing her, at which point Hunter warns, "If Omega doesn't come back from this, neither do you."

Three...I hate this idea, but it's hard to trust things that are too perfect. Phee has had this planned from the moment Cid told her about "rogue clones on the run from the Empire". She wants Pabu to remain a safe haven for the people she loves. She works hard to gain the Batch's trust, especially of the good-looking smart one whom she thinks has the best chance of seeing through her. When Hunter asks why she brought them there, she says, "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" When Tech pauses to see where she is going, she says, "Gonna put this somewhere safe." She is actually off to contact the Empire. When she asks Hunter, "What's wrong?", she is worried he has noticed the Empire arriving. When it all goes down and the Empire only wants to take Omega and simply kill the Batch, Phee changes her mind because she never wanted anything to happen to Omega. (This seems like a highly unlikely scenario, but it is still crawling around in my brain, tormenting me. I like Phee and I like what she brings out in the Batch, so if some variation of her betraying them comes to pass I will be gutted!)

I know bad things are coming for the group, but I really hope Phee continues to be the virtuous pirate we now love and that Cid finally makes good on the "I've changed" and "I might surprise you" lines she gave us. All I know for sure is that I'm going to be a nervous wreck about this show until the finale and probably long after.

#phee tbb #cid tbb #omega tbb #tech tbb #hunter tbb #the bad batch #pabu #tbb spoilers #bad batch spoilers #my two credits

[cacneo]

I’m gonna throw all my initial thoughts about rebirth here while the ending is fresh:

1) Myrna is adorable, 10/10 no notes

2) I literally gasped aloud when Zack touched Cloud and ended up fighting along side him

3) I feel like square is fucking with us at this point with all the stamp variations

4) I’m still very hopeful for an ending where Zack is fully back. It’s interesting that they are using the white room again like in AC, I’m wondering what connection that has to the livestream and who ends up rejoining vs being in the room and what that means

5) I really need a list of everything that was changed or expanded upon vs the original

6) I’m a little conflicted with the styling of the Gi and the sort of characterization of them as a group of people. I’d be less conflicted if square hadn’t royally made asses of themselves in FF16, but they lost a lot of benefit of the doubt there recently. But having a group that is styled to look like (to my eyes anyway) African tribesmen, positioning them as outside invaders, and having them say that the cetra’s exclusion of them is why they poured all their hate into a world-ending material is uh…….not great, and it’s even worse when positioned in a narrative about the corrupting power of anger and the need for letting things go. It comes off as a “oh but slavery/colonization/etc. was so long ago, why are you still hung up on it, you’re being divisive by not just moving on.” Left a really bad taste in my mouth after that section, hopefully they just leave it there instead of digging a bigger hole in pt 3

7) I’m putting my money on part 3 coming out in 2027 for the 30th anniversary

8) after them bringing Weiss and Nero back in intergrade, and after reminding myself of them showing up at the end of crisis core, I’m guessing they will show up again when the party goes to midgar in pt 3

9) I’m going to have to find a way to replay dirge of Cerberus

10) still not sure what’s going on with them trying to say that cloud thought Zack drowned??? Presumably it’s sephiroth fuckery

11) I really need context for a) why they added roche as a character and b) why he would have volunteered for a hojo experiment

12) maybe ever crisis has / will do some of this, but I really want some context for like, what fuckery happens in SOLDIER post crisis core and pre main game with their whole chain of command fucked

13) the level design and environment people did a phenomenal job

14) Zack’s new voice actor did waaaayy better this time, whether through practice or better voice direction or both. It actually sounded more like him

15) sad to see the banora posters around but no mention of angeal and genesis (unless you count the loveless production being version G as a genesis mention)

16) square really decided to punish me for not using magic most of the game with that elemental barrier at the end

17) I ship clerith way more than I used to. Remake/rebirth have given her so much more character

18) same for yuffie, I’m glad she got intergrade and with the wutai war being a bigger deal I’m looking forward to better characterization for her too

19) curious what the plan is for cid since they’ve brought him in differently

20) and still a little heartbroken that cid/vincent aren’t full party members

21) I guess wedge appearing in the loveless scene with Jesse/biggs means he did die at the shinra building when the whispers pushed him

22) it’s neat that your weapon changes in scenes based on what you have equipped, but it does really ruin a lot of the cinematic parallels with Zack if you don’t keep the buster sword equipped all game

#39.5 hours #now to go back and do side quests #rebirth spoilers #ff7 #ffvii #ffvii rebirth

[im-no-jedi]

so I honestly don’t have too much to say about episode 11. SUPER cool to see the Zillo Beast again, although I am owed compensation for all those jumpscares tyvm 🫣

loved seeing the boys trying to protect Omega the entire time, and Tech seriously needs a leash now that Echo is gone cause good grief buddy, don’t EVER go off on your own like that again plz 😫

Dr Hemlock seems like he’ll be an awesome new villain to hate now that Rampart is gone, and I continue to wish death upon Lama Su 🙃

and of course, chaotic Hunter flying. LORDY. this man needs to quit being my type already GEEZ 🥵

now as for the whole Omega being hunted by the Empire thing… I kinda knew it was coming. one of the screeners who leaked stuff a while back mentioned it, so yeah, I’m not that surprised. it makes sense all things considered. I’m not happy about it of course, but I’m sure it’ll be fine… it’ll be FINE 🫠

honestly, there’s two things I’ve been mainly focusing on this episode: Cid and Nala Se

with Cid, I’m not too surprised about this rift that’s been created with her. it was hinted at in Faster, and it’s pretty in character for her to be a jerk to them in general. but unlike most people, I don’t think this is TBB being donezo with her for good. nor do I think Cid will be the one to sell them out. despite how she acts, Cid does harbor some good feelings towards them, especially Omega. and I highly doubt she would be THAT cruel, all things considered. I foresee the boys going back to ask for her help after Omega inevitably gets captured. at least, that’s what I’m hoping for. I genuinely like Cid and I really don’t want them to leave her for good ☹️

now for Nala Se… OH boy. I can’t believe they’re trying to pull a Mara Sov on us with her. those of you who don’t know, there’s a prominent character in Destiny who, like Nala Se, has been responsible for a LOT of crap happening (all the way down to the genocide of her own people), but recent events have been attempting to have her “atone for her sins” or whatever. and I AIN’T HAVIN IT 😤

y’all know me, I love a good redemption and will always try to push for that whenever possible. but also, sometimes, you gotta let a bad guy be a bad guy. Palpatine and Pong Krell are excellent examples of characters that I was more than happy to see bite the bullet. and I’m the same with Nala Se. that BINCH has been responsible for most if not all of the Clones problems, and is directly responsible for what happened to Fives. she’s been uncaring and selfish for as long as we’ve known her. so to pull this bs of “oh but she actually genuinely cares about this ONE person, even though she manipulated them for their entire life” is NOT gonna fly with me, sorry. idc if she “cares” about Omega, she’s just as terrible as the rest of the Empire and has NO pity from me. and I can already tell, Omega will be conflicted about her feelings cause she’s such a caring person and won’t be able to see how manipulative Nala Se was in comparison to how her brothers have treated her. it’s fine, she’s a child with the biggest heart imaginable, I can forgive her for that. I just REALLY don’t want Nala Se redeemed in any way. she doesn’t deserve it. let her rot in that cell for the rest of her life for all I care 😠

literally, I cannot believe how much this is rivaling Mara’s story in Destiny. even down to “the person you manipulated for the entire time you’ve known them is suddenly taken away from you and now you’re going to attempt to atone for it by trying to be a better person cause you suddenly decided you genuinely care about them now that you don’t have them anymore”. I cannot STAND this bs. sorry, but you had your chance, and you BLEW IT. take the L, stfu, and get outta my face. you’re selfish, and you know it. and continuing to take advantage of a kind person’s kindness makes you even more of a scumbag (predicting things with Nala Se here, but yeah, this is totally gonna happen 🙃)

tl;dr Nala Se can SUCK IT, and I hope her and Lama Su die off with the rest of the Kaminoans 🖕🏻

#the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #tbb season 2 #sorry this got so heated LOL #I’m just REALLY pissed #Cid is more redeemable than Nala Se and I will STAND by that #she’s shown to care more for Omega than Nala Se ever did #leave my daughter alone you long necked BINCH #😤😤😤 #star warz #tbb spoilers

[allaganexarch]

need to rant about 6.2 a bit lol sorry not sorry

I’m just like………..soooooo bored by the main plot unfortunately LOL.  And I don’t like Vrtra/Varshahn at all like I find his character extremely weird and annoying at all times.  I think mainly the whole child oc/little brother thing freaks me out LOL like wtf is that he is thousands of years old stop that.  But I was also very bored by his whole plotline in Endwalker and thought it was one of the weaker parts overall, so it might just not be to my taste.  I think it’s a pretty random reason to get them to the Thirteenth also lol but whatever it could work, ff14 isn’t good bc the plots are original it’s good bc of the execution of those concepts so I guess I’ll try to reserve judgment.

Y’shtola’s line delivery drives me insane, I feel this way about every character that va plays, idk what it is.  It’s so forced and unnatural to me and it ruins entire moments sometimes.  I also don’t think they know what to do with the character, like she has all the pieces of an interesting character and they just never DO anything.  Let something mildly interesting happen to Y’shtola for ONCE I stg.

I really like Zero, she has the makings of a very interesting character who is sort of outside the bounds of what they usually do esp with female characters.  BUT I think the way they dealt with residual questions about Zenos’s fate/motives was very ham-fisted and bad.  Ik a lot of people think Zenos is boring but I am not one of those ppl lol—I do like Zero and I’m not saying like Zenos should have been in her place in the story, but I think it just really reminded me how much potential Zenos had and how many really interesting and meaningful moments we could have had w his character even if he still didn’t survive Endwalker.  (I’ve heard rumors that EDW was supposed to be two expansions, which seems extremely likely with how rushed and messy a lot of it felt).

Also like look. Listen.  I try to be mindful of my personal biases but oh my GOD.  WHY wasn’t G’raha in this patch lol.  We went to the THIRTEENTH.  They played the got damn CRYSTAL TOWER RAID MUSIC MULTIPLE TIMES. Cid and Nero showed up and specifically said well haha I was at the Crystal Tower I had to see what this was all about!!!!!  also with the parallels to the situation in the first?????????  Where is the cat!!!!!!!!!  It was like almost comical that he wasn’t there or mentioned at all.  Ig he’s busy or wtf ever but who cares!!!!!  That cat man came here to have adventures not do paperwork!!!!!!!!!!!

This goes to disliking Varshahn but it’s also relevant here LOL because number ONE what the FUCK was that whole here is an adult body thing LOLLLLLLLLLLLL like WHAT that was so weird, but then it turns out that’s what??? just for battle???? and then he slips back into his child skin when he gets home????????  it’s so weird I hate it lol.  But also SCREAMING at how they had to make him a viable tank and force Y’shtola to pick up healing again (it says sorceress or w/e but she still has the conjurer icon LOL, choosing to believe she never equipped her job stone and does not intend to start now)—and I am just SAYING I know of a CAT MAN who is already an all rounder so you know we could have just asked him!!!!!!!!!

There were parts of the patch I really enjoyed—I liked the Thirteenth lore a lot, I LOVED barbariccia as evidenced by briefly going insane on here lol, I’m really hopeful that Zero will continue to have good content, and of course FFXIV music absolutely never fails to SEND ME into a higher plane of existence.

But overall I did find it really frustrating and a lot of it was not especially fun LOL.  I was considering waiting until 6.3 was out bc I kind of suspected I would feel this way and wanted a little more game to play BUT idk when 6.3 will be out and I might be back in school already by then so I decided to just give in.

Anyway, just needed to rant, as you were.

#amber plays ffxiv #personal #bring back the cat man 2kforever

[asoulofatlantis]

Let me be completely honest with you. The only reason why I have a need to finish this game right now is because it would feel awful to start Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth without finishing the Remaster of Final Fantasy 8.

(And yes, in case I have not mentioned that before... I am ashamed to admit it, but I preordered FF7R(2) even tho I still to this day, hate FF7Rs guts. BUT - among other things - now that I have started that journey, I may as well go through with it till the very end. And if that means complaining through all 3 games that they suck then that is still an interesting way to play a game XD I might also add... I bought a PS5 just for FF16 and now its standing here and has not been used in months and there is hardly any game out there right now that I would want for the PS5 so... I might as well get al least FF7R(2) so the PS5 doesn't stand here for nothing ^^' IF I get the thing to work where I can play the game on my Computer via the might of the internet, I will do a live reaction for it. So you will have complain about this game live and in colors XD ALSO anyone in the mood of a prediction game? I say we do NOT get a Kiss in THAT scene and I dare to say Aerith will not die the way she should - not saying she is not dying at all tho. Anyone on the Tifa dies instead bandwagon? I mean, seriously... what if Clouds choice of who he is going to the Golden Saucer (or whatever it is called) with will end up deciding who is going to die? BUT what if Nomura as twisted as he is decided he sacrifice the one Cloud is dating in that playthrough and lets the other one live? I would not put it past him or this game to do that XD)

ANYWAY... lets get back to FF8. We have a Shumi to kill.

What kind of question is that? I was ordered to see the master - as you were I presume - so I am going to see him? And... you know... while I am at it... maybe... save the Headmaster? I am serious, why that question? Okay, sie was searching for the headmaster instead but still... it was a weird question. I mean... could they not come up with a better way to stop him in his tracks like: "Oh, you are here too? Do you search for the headmaster as well?" or something. But I guess I am just nitpicking here.

Its not like Cid didn't use us for this ridiculous "free Timber'" - mission too.

Here comes the big plottwist. The first one, that is.

Talking Squall out of his melancholy is actually Rinoas Job, but since I don't like her or the ship, I didn't bring her. Second in line for this scene would be Xell. So... yeah... I couldn't bring him either, even tho I do like him a lot. So third is finally Quistis, which I think is pretty hard, given how she was always there for Squall so far, even tho he never treated her nicely. But... not you see why I brought Irving along ^^'

Can I just leave without talking to her? XD

Pfff. I did it. *lol*

So... this is a pacifist city... but we get weapon-stuff here? ^^' ()Also... why is "Eyes on me" playing in the background? (The ball-version.)

I know its a JRPG thing to put people in leading positions without their consent but... Squall really has it rough ^^'

You can really not blame this boy for his abandonment issues. His father was never there (and likely never will be, because Laguna and Squall both suck when it comes to dealing with emotions and relationships XD) and so he didn't even know he had one until he was almost an adult. His mother died when he was born. Ellone, his sister-figure, was suddenly gone too. And he was stuck in an orphanage with crazy guys like Xell and Quistis and Seifer of all people ^^' Even tho he can not remember anything, his trauma is there.

I will repeat this a few more times in the future... but I will never understand how this ship ever actually happened.

I thought it nice that after all this time, we finally got an explanation to why Irvin was so dead set on Selphie from the start.

Here comes the next big plot twist by the way. We have all (Rinoa aside) been in the same orphanage! But... we can not remember? Why? Wait for the next big plottwist!

You know... I wonder how it must have felt for her, walking past Squall and the other but they were not remembering her at all. Must have been sad.

Since Squall is Lagunas and Rains lovechild... it kind of makes sense that there was a special connection between him and Ellone.

And here is our next plot twist! We use GF and that is why we have slowly but surely forgotten our past. OBVIOUSLY that plot twist has A LOT of holes in it tho. Like the fact that Squall, Seifer and Quistis would have needed to start out using GFs at rougly the same time, because otherwise they would have kept reminding each other of their past. Plus, as Xell was adopted and not mentioned by Quistis when she talked about entering the garden at the age of 10, he likely has entered the garden later and thus must have used GFs later so... he should still have remembered the other then and if Irving can kickstart their memories, why not Xell too?

Oh look! Another bombshell! I know all the secrets and I am still already exhausted XD

#ff8 mona version

[user-name-password]

In this post I’ll show what was changed in chapter 2 of Another Way, Lamenting Leaders. (Originally named Restless Respite, but after the rewrite I decided that worked best as the chapter 3 title.)

The first two paragraphs (Sora’s and Leon’s) are the only ones that are completely unchanged, the beginning of the 3rd paragraph (Aerith’s) was also unchanged, but itself as a whole was originally much shorter, ending like this.

[After that was taken care off, Yuffie personally guided Sora, Donald and Goofy to the inn, whilst Aerith and Leon returned to their duties.

However before they separated, Leon gave Aerith a warning.

”We have to be on our guards tonight, with both a Princess of Hearts, as well as the Keybearer being on this world simultaneously.” Leon didn’t have to finish his sentence, Aerith understood enough.]

Leon’s warning was ment to act as foreshadowing for the ending of this chapter.

It should be noted that the Cid and Ansem paragraphs are new additions, taking the place of the two Yuffie paragraphs, as well as the first Sora paragraph, from chapter 3, the beginning of the second Sora paragraph was also a part of chapter 2 originally, but similarly to the Aerith paragraph it was a lot shorter, ending like this.

[“Then consider it a gif-“ Yuffie didn’t get to finish her sentence as the world started to shake.

“An earth quake?!” Sora questioned.

Yuffie jumped of her chair and pulled out her weapon, “I highly doubt it!”]

Which immediately led into these two cut paragraphs.

[Aerith couldn’t believe what she was seeing, Heartless, Heartless, everywhere she looked, Heartless.

She hadn’t seen so many Heartless in one place since-

”No.”

This shouldn’t be possible, Sora sealed the Keyhole, the world couldn’t be-

Aerith ran as fast as she could, she needed to find Leon.]

This one being the ending.

[Leon sometimes hated being right.

He knew having the Keybearer and a Princess on the same world was asking for trouble, but something about this didn’t sit right with him.

Leon knew Sora had been to worlds with other Princess on them, and Sora never once mentioned any of those worlds getting invaded by an army of Heartless.

Cause that’s what’s this was, an army.

And invasion.

Leon grit his teeth as one of the Heartless landed a lucky strike on his back.

There had to be a reason for these numbers, the Keyblade and Kairi couldn’t be the explanation, if that was the case they be focusing on the inner parts of town near the inn or the infirmary.

Another lucky hit.

Leon knew he was being surrounded and needed to fall back, but saying so was much easier than actually doing so.

He managed to strike down three Heartless at once, yet three more just took their place.

Leon really hated being right.]

This ending was ment to lead into the beginning of chapter 3 where it’s reveled that the Heartless invasion isn’t part of Ansem’s plan, but instead Xemnas’s.

Basically the battle of (not quite a thousand, but) a few hundred Heartless.

The problem however, became obvious once I started writing chapter 3.

I hate long battle scenes in stories, (be it in writing or on video,) I find them boring and annoying every time I see them.

I don’t mind a bit of fighting here and there, but long stretches of paragraph after paragraph of nothing but people punching, kicking, or throwing their weapons around just bore me, I know fights are supposed to create tension, but that has never worked on me.

(With one very recent exception, read On the Edge of Daybreak by CoriShadowfang if you haven’t, the fight scenes in the later half of that story was the first time I ever felt any amount of excitement in seeing characters duke it out.)

And let me tell you something, it’s very hard writing something good, when you don’t like reading what you wrote, (I even tried to emulate how CoriShadowfang wrote the fights in OtEoD, but I’m not good enough of a writer to pull of that kinda style yet, trust me, I tried.)

I ended up getting so annoyed with this chapter, I just straight up wanted to quit for awhile, and probably would’ve, had it not been for the fact that I swore I wouldn’t abandon another story once I’ve started uploading parts of it to the internet again, (never again.)

So my only option became to change the ending of chapter 2 so I could go in another direction.

There were other reasons why I decided to change It, but my dislike of long battle scenes was the primary one, the other reasons are more plot related, and I don’t wanna spoil anything.

(For those of you wandering if that means that the battle of a thousand Heartless won’t happen in this story, don’t worry, it probably still will in one form or another, hopefully in a way where I can skim most of it.)

#second post #Archive of User-Name-Password

[word-scribbless]

Different

I know I have requests to write but this one has been sitting in my drafts and I wanted to finally post it!

Masterlist

Summary: When Hollis man tries to throw a wrench in things Gibbs reminisces about what makes Y/N so different.

TW: mentions of miscarriage, family death and domestic violence

Italics are flashbacks

————————-

Hollis Mann had come to help NCIS on a case of a missing Army luitenent and a missing marine gunnery Sargent. Y/N was also at NCIS from the FBI, helping profile suspects. This made for an interesting situation for Gibbs. Hollis his ex and Y/N his current girlfriend. It wasn’t uncommon for Y/N to work cases with Gibbs’ team, but she had yet to work one that envolved an ex. A streak he wasn’t too thrilled to have end.

Things were pretty civil, y/n knew he dated someone from Army CID, but didn’t remember her name right away. when Y/N arrived the team was in the squad room, working at their desks, she came and sat in Gibbs chair, asking what they had. When noone warned her of the impending doom of that decision , Hollis knew this woman and Gibbs were dating. She couldn’t help but be jealous. This jealousy only multiplied when she saw y/n kiss Gibbs cheek later that day when she thought no one was looking.

With the way Mann was acting, and a few comments from Tony, Y/N quickly put two and two together and realized that Hollis was THAT lieutenant colonel. Y/N was nothing but nice, not petty and jealous the way Hollis felt. Gibbs wasn’t nervous for their relationship, things were good with him and Y/N. He just wasn’t sure how Hollis would act. He knew y/N could handle herself though, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

Overall, things went pretty smoothly, that is until Hollis ‘let something slip’ about Shannon and Kelly, and clearly made a big deal out of ‘apologizing’ and assuming y/n didn’t know.

Gibbs was pissed because he could tell her intentions were to hurt Y/N. She was hurt when she found out during a cause, so she must have thought she could do the same to his current girlfriend. Gibbs wanted to tell her off, not because she messed up his relationship, or hurt Y/N, but because it was her intention to.

Y/N caught up with Jethto when he stormed out of the room after DiNozzo quickly changed the subject back to the case.

“Relax baby.” She said as she caught him by the steps, using the nickname she knew he secretly loved.

“She did that to hurt you.” He seethed, and Y/N slyly took his hand on the side where the team couldn’t see.

“But I’m not hurt.” She assured him. “You’re a catch J, I’m sure it’s not easy to get over you.”

“You think so?” He smirked at her, and she felt the tension leave his body.

“Mhm, but I really don’t plan on finding out anytime soon.” She smiled and settled for running her thumb over his fingers since she couldn’t kiss him and he squeezed her hand in understanding.

“Good to know.” He smirked. ”now get back to profiling and I’ll check in with Abby.

“Yes sir” she smiled and looked around before kissed his cheek quickly and heading back to the bull pen.

On the way down to abby’s lab he begins to think about the beginning of their relationship and how he and Y/N came to be.

Y/N and Gibbs had Worked together a few times, they had made a habit of going to get dinner after cases wrapped.

It felt like they were on the same page feelings wise but she was never sure. One night she got up her courage to bring it up.

“Gibbs,”

“Hmm”

“Are we on a date?”

He Smirked at her and took her hand

“Was kinda hoping you’d catch on.”

“Could of just asked” she smiled back. He rolled his eyes playfully and asked

“Y/N will you go on a date with me?”

“Sure how’s right now?” She giggled.

Before he could get to the lab Hollis caught him and pulled him into a near by conference room.

“I didn’t mean to mess things up by telling Y/N about Shannon and Kelly.” He could tell she was trying really hard to mean it, but wouldn’t truly be wracked with guilt if she had messed things up.

“She already knew Holl.” He admitted, trying to remember what y/n said about not being angry with her.

“You told her?” She questions surprised.

He sighed and nodded. This was not a conversation he wanted to have today.

“What’s so different about her?” She asked,

“Hollis.” He responded.

He could never answer that question simply. Truthfully, everything was different about her. She was just Y/N, his Y/N.

“I’m sorry, I guess I just never thought someone would crack you.” She smiled.

“Yeah well.” He smiled back, thinking of Y/N.

She would say she didn’t crack him, she just speaks Gibbs, or something silly like that. She never wanted him to feel like she was changing him.

“You love her” she said shocked.

“Hollis” he warned again.

“Have you told her?”

“She knows” he grunted.

“Yeah but have you told her.”

“Hollis”

“Tell her Gibbs” she said and he was thinking of a comeback when there was a knock on the door. Y/N poked her head in the room.

“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt, but the director needs you in MTAC Gibbs” He didn’t know how she knew where they were, but god was he glad she did.

In the elevator Gibbs thought about why it’s so easy to trust and love Y/N. He thought back to the first time he told her about Shannon and kelly.

A few dates in she sensed he was struggling with something. It had been the anniversary of Shannon and Kelly’s deaths.

“J, I know you hate talking about things but,” she said carefully after dinner at his house.

“If you want to be my girlfriend then you are.” He grunted back taking her hand, assuming that’s where she was going.

“Oh!” She was shocked and had no idea what to say.

“You don’t want to be?”

“No, I do! I absolutely do” she corrected. “but that isn’t what I was going to bring up.”

“Oh then go on.” He chuckled.

“No we can talk about it another time, so I’m your girlfriend?” She smiled.

“Yup”

“Cool!”

“Cool?” He teased.

“Yeah cool!”

Gibbs chuckled and put an arm around her. “so what did you want to know?.”

“Another time-“ she started but was cut off by Gibbs.

“If it’s on your mind I wanna know”

“I-“

“Y/N” He insisted

“I’m a profiler”

“I know this” he said sarcastically.

“Right so I pick up on things and I pick up on things easiest when I have experienced the same type of thing.” She said and sighed at his raised eyebrow.

“English?”

She huffed a nervous laugh and continued.

“Okay I’ll just say it. I can tell you’ve suffered a big loss, probably family, a wife or a child. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it because you’ve been forthcoming about your ex wives and not ever about a loss so it’s clearly something personal.” She stopped and squeezed his hand. “And I hate talking about my loss, I also hate talking about my ex husband so you’re better at this communication thing than me.”

Gibbs scoffed “no one has ever told me that before.”

She smiled. “I just want you to know that however you process, however you grieve, I don’t want to change that. I just want you to know that I’m happy to be a part of it, lean on me like I want to lean on you. I won’t pry, or expect you to be over it, but if you loved them then they’re important to me.” She sighed again. “It just, felt wrong kind of knowing with out telling you. I know I don’t really know, just profiled but still.”

“My wife and daughter, they were killed. My wife saw a member of a drug cartel murder a man and was going to testify. Her protective detail was shot in the head while driving them and the crash killed them.” She breathed out and Gibbs winced waiting for the inevitable‘I’m sorry’ that he never knew what to do with but it never came. She just held his hand and nodded.

“I never tell anyone. They died, I shouldn’t dwell on it. But all my marriages failed because I wanted it back and I couldn’t let them go.”

She shook her head and nuzzled closer to him

“As much as we want to ignore it and hope the pain goes away, we still love them. That doesn’t mean we can’t love someone new, but that old love doesn’t just go away. I’d like to know more about them if you ever feel like sharing them with someone, but you don’t have to.”

He nodded and squeezed her hand then looked at her expectatntly. She noticed the tears in the corner of his eyes and was sure hers looked similar.

“My turn?”

Gibbs nodded.

“Ryan, my first husband. Killed on deployment a year into our marriage. I miscarried from the stress a few months later.” Gibbs pulled her closer into him wrapping his arms around her.

“He’d like you, you’re strong and protective, and you challenge me. He always said I needed someone challenging around to keep me honest.” She chuckled. “I- I didn’t want to date for the longest time after he died.. All my friends said I needed to move on, get out there again after a few years but I wasn’t ready so I picked people that would never work, people that were the exact opposite of him, of what I deserved. Then I married one of them. He ended up in jail, I ended up in the hospital.” Gibbs soft face turned to anger.

“Relax, he was killed in a prison fight 5 years ago.”

“Good” he said and she felt his body relax a bit.

“I stopped dating after that, until I met you.”

Gibbs smiled.

“The truth is, if you want to be in my life, Ryan’s part of it. Just like Shannon and Kelly are part of yours, and mine if you let me stick around. Which I’d like to”

He nodded And she readied herself for goodbye.

“Have any pictures?”

“Of Ryan?”

He nodded and she smiled.

“Yeah in my wallet, that mean you want me to stick around?

He nodded and she went to get her bag. She pulled out a picture and began to tell him about their first date, their lives, and why she thought Ryan would be happy that she was spending time with jethro.

Gibbs smiled and told her he’d be right back.

He returned with a box and pulled out an old scrap book that’s only ever seen the light of day when he’s particularly missing his family. He never thought he’d show someone else. But he also never thought he’d meet someone like Y/N.

“What’s this? She asked as he handed it to her.

“This is my turn.”

“Jethro.” She said as she opened it and realized it was pictures of Shannon and Kelly. She closed it again”we don’t have to.”

“I want to. They’d love you.”

She smiled and patted the spot next to her.

Back in the conference room, Y/N lingered with Hollis, knowing she needed to face her head on.

“He didn’t tell you about rule 6?” Hollis asked, still a bit of chill to her voice. Looking like she wasn’t quite ready to give up the hurt feeling just yet.

“He did, but I have rules of my own.” Y/N smiled trying to ease the tension.

“Is one of them not listening to his rules?”

She chuckled.

“Exactly.” She laughed “No I agree with some of them, but not the ones that go against the rules of being a civil human. It’s charming on him somehow... but it’s not a good look for me.”

She joked and eased a bit when Hollis smiled.

“Does that mean you’ll accept my apology?”

“I would, but there is no need for it.”

“There is, the way I acted was petty and uncalled for.” Hollis sighed, causing Y/N to nod.

“Maybe, but I understand.”

“Ugh why do you have to be likable?”

Y/N laughed with Hollis and relaxed a little. “Sorry, do you want me to say something mean? Or at least like scowl a little?”

“It would make me feel a little less guilty.” She smiled, but y/n could see the honesty in her eyes.

“Don’t feel guilty. I’m not running, I’m not upset. He’s a tough nut to crack. I get it. I didn’t know that he and you had history until your reaction, if I’d known I would have been more discreet, I never meant to rub your face in anything.” Y/N assured her

“You didn’t know?”

“Well I’d heard your name, you know tony.” The both huffed laughs “but jethro is, well you know.”

“That doesn’t upset you?” Hollis wondered

“Not really, I mean I’m a profiler so I have a leg up but he’ll tell me things when he’s ready.”

“You’re much more patient than me.”

“Not always, I just, I know what it’s like to lose someone and not know how to let them go.”

“Ah that’s how you’re different.”

“I’d like to think there’s other things he sees in me, but yes that’s a big difference.” She nodded.

“Hey, Y/N/N need your help. Hollis, DiNozzo has a statement to go over with you.”

They both nodded and followed Gibbs into the hall.

Gibbs pointed Hollis to the conference room where tony was.

“Hey come here” he led y/n to the elevator and paused it.

“Jethro what’s wrong?”

He grabbed her face and kissed her.

“There is way more I see in you.” He whispered against her lips.

“You heard me?”

“I did”

“Spy” she joked with a smile as she pulled him back in.

“You were too nice to her.” He grunted.

“I couldn’t be mean. I’d be bitter if I lost a man like you.”

“Mmm cause I’m such a good kisser?”

“Mhm among other things.”

“Yeah, I’m good at that too.”

“You’re a lot more than just good in bed Jethro.” Y/N said softly. “Not that you’re not excellent at that too.”

Gibbs laughed and kissed her head then looked seriously at Y/N.

“You know I care about you right?” Gibbs asked almost shyly. Y/N froze at his tone, she’d never heard him sound so insecure.

“Of course I do.” She cupped his face.

“Y/N love is a hard word for me-“

“Jethro, you don’t need to say it, I know how you feel. You show me every single day.” Y/N moved his face to look in her eyes.

“You deserve to hear it Y/N.” He huffed.

“What I deserve is to be loved and love. I think I have that Jethro.”

“You do.” He whispered and pulled her lips to his. “You do.”

“Good, now that that’s settled. Let’s go close this case huh?” He smiled at her words.

“Y/N” he said pulling her back from the switch. “I love you.” He said with confidence but she could tell it took everything he had to say it out loud.

She smiled as turned around, wrapping him in a hug. She hid her face against him. “I know you do baby. I love you too, So much!.”

He pulled her face up and looked into her eyes. all she could see was love as he leaned in to kiss her. She forgot where they were as he wrapped his arms around her and dipped his tongue in her mouth. He slowly pulled away and kissed her head.

“Okay, you ready now?”

“To go home? Yes.” She whispered, voice shakey from the kiss.

He smirked his classic Gibbs smirk and shook his head “to solve the case.”

“Oh that, yeah okay.” She said with a smile that he couldn’t help but love.

He knew she was it for him right then and there. He’d known for a while but never truly admitted it to himself. Yes he sucked at marriage and she didn’t have a great experience either. No matter what though, he knew she was it for him. He had only truly loved Shannon and Kelly before he met her, but he knew that both of them would have loved Y/N as much as he did and been proud of him for falling in love again.

@mac99martin @kittenlittle24 @viper-official @ilovemark1951 @theofficialzivadavid @averyhotchner @andreasworlsboring101 @diesinspanishbcimhispanic

#ncis image #ncis x reader #leroy jethro gibbs imagine #leroy jethro gibbs x reader #gibbs imagine #jethro gibbs imagine #gibbs x reader

[otherworldseekers]

They Can’t Take You Away From Me: Amnesia AU part 6

We’re getting close to the best parts. 

The threat of the Ascian may have been solved, but Severia and Nero have been strictly avoiding each other and the entire Toll has become tense as a coiled spring. It’s obvious to anyone who knows Severia that she’s still pining for Nero, no matter how brave a face she puts on it or how determined she is to never mention him. And it’s clear to the entire Ironworks crew that Nero is still yearning to fill the gaping hole in his life, no matter how convinced he is that he can never retrieve what was lost. Everyone is waiting for the gil piece to drop. 

Everyone except three individuals who have gathered at the Rising Stones for another council of war. 

“We’ve got to do something,” says Tataru. “Everything is still all wrong. They belong together.”

“I know that and you know that,” Thancred says, waving a tankard of ale in the air. “But those two are some of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. And they both seem to have decided that their fate is to be apart. It’s maddening.”

“They’re both individuals who value logic,” Cid puts forth. “Surely there must be some way to convince them to give each other another chance.”

“You know Nero better than we do,” Tataru responds. “But I’ve already tried talking to Severia and it didn’t go well.”

“She’s scared,” Thancred says. “If she did try again and it didn’t go well… it could break her.”

“That’s why it needs to happen naturally,” Tataru insists. 

“How can it happen naturally when the two avoid each other at all costs?” asks Cid.

“That’s where we come in. We need to get them face to face,” says Tataru. “We need to get Nero to see Severia.”

“Yes, but how?”

Tataru grins over her cup of tea. “I have an idea.”

“All right, stop being coy and spill it,” says Thancred.

“I think he’d have a hard time resisting her if he saw her again in that fancy dress she wore to the Gold Saucer gala with him years ago. It might even jog his memory. We just need to come up with a reason for her to wear it and for them to see each other,” Tataru explains. 

“You really think it’s that simple?” Thancred asks in doubt. “Dress her up and he’ll come crawling back?”

“It’s about letting him see the Severia under the armor again. You know how she is. She never gives herself a chance to be anything other than the Warrior of Light. Nero needs to see that there’s more there. Dressing up gives her a chance to shine.”

“She’d only wear it if she was forced,” says Thancred. “She hates dressing up.”

“What if she were invited to a fancy party by a very important personage? Someone she wouldn’t want to say no to? Or at least that we could convince her she shouldn’t say no to.”

“Who?” Thancred asked. 

“Aymeric,” Tataru says with a triumphant smile. 

“Is Aymeric having a fancy party?”

“He doesn’t need to. He just needs to invite her to one. My job will be persuading her to wear that dress. It shouldn’t be difficult. She has practically nothing else that counts as formal wear.”

“All right, so she’s invited to this party and convinced to wear the dress. Then what?” Cid asks. 

“That’s where you come in, Cid. You’ll need to handle Nero. Give him some job that will keep him in the Ironworks after hours alone. And then I’ll give you a signal and your job will be to call her up last minute and say you urgently need to see her at the workshop.”

“But I won’t be there. Only Nero will.”

“Exactly! Then Nero will see her in the dress and it will all seem like an accident.”

“Or destiny, depending on how you look at it,” says Thancred.

Tataru giggles. “Things can proceed naturally from there.”

“There’s little risk and everything to be gained,” says Cid, rubbing his beard. “The worst that could happen is that nothing happens. But I think it could work. All Nero really needs is opportunity.”

“What happens if nothing happens? She tries to go to a party that doesn’t exist?”

“Oh I’m sure Aymeric can make his excuses. So sorry, I told you the wrong day. Something like that.”

“And he’ll go along with this?”

“Of course.” Tataru daintily sips her tea while the two men think about it. 

“Why don’t I have any role in this plan?” Thancred asks, sounding hurt. 

“Thancred, don’t whine. If this one fails I’ll make sure you’re at the center of my next plan,” Tataru promises. “And if this one does fail, you may need to be there to give Severia emotional support.”

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

“I’ll contact Aymeric tomorrow. We’ll set a date a few days from now.”

Thancred holds up his ale for a toast. “To victory!” 

Cid and Tataru raise their beverages with him.

“To a well crafted plan,” says Cid.

Tataru smiles beatifically. “To true love!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t know about this, Tataru,” Severia says as she looks at herself in the full length mirror in the Lalafell’s sewing room. It’s been years since she wore this dress and while she can’t deny that it still fits her perfectly, she didn’t exactly enjoy wearing it the first time. Now, just looking at it brings back painful memories. Why had she even kept this dress? She can’t remember anymore.

“Tell me, Severia,” Tataru says patiently, “what exactly your other options are.”

“I could just go in my-”

“If you are about to say ‘in my normal clothes’ I will stick you with this pin,” Tataru declares. “You cannot go to an Ishgardian dinner party in your adventuring garb. Everyone else will be in their best.”

Severia takes a deep breath. That may very well be true, but is there a reason she has to wear all the same jewelry and have her hair done up in the same style as that night? Tataru’s stubborn insistence seems just a little odd and one can never be sure just what the Scion administrator might be planning. But at this point, is it worth the argument? She’s already fated to hate this evening. She might as well hate it in a hated dress as well. Dinner parties are one of her nightmares. 

“Are you almost finished? I might as well go and get this over with.”

Tataru has been securing her elegant but simple bun with hairpins decorated with jeweled stars. “There. Last one. You look amazing.”

“Thank you, I suppose,” Severia says with a sigh. She really isn’t interested in looking amazing. People are bound to compliment her. She hates compliments. They require some kind of response and she never knows what to say. Glancing at her appearance in the mirror one last time, she collects the red woolen, fur lined cape slung across a stack of fabric bolts. 

“Thank the Twelve I made you that cape last year for Starlight. I cannot imagine what you might decide to wear over your dress if you didn’t have it. Probably something leather and travel stained,” Tataru shudders. 

Severia laughs and doesn’t notice the hand Tataru holds to her ear. “So that’s it. You’re all ready to go.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can politely make my escape,” Severia says as they walk into the Rising Stones main room. 

“Now,” Tataru mutters into her linkpearl and just a few seconds later Severia’s linkpearl dings from the fashionable bag Tataru had given her to carry.

“What now?” she sighs. The linkpearl line crackles as she retrieves it and holds it to her ear. “Yes?”

“Severia! Thank gods you answered,” Cid’s voice sounds through the device. “I need your help.”

“Right now?”

“Immediately. Can you come over to the Ironworks?”

“Of course,” Severia answers eagerly. “I’ll be right there.” Turning to Tataru as the line cuts off she says, “Perhaps I should change quickly…”

“No!” Tataru exclaims. “If it’s as urgent as he says you need to go right now. I’ll hold your things.”

Severia nods and heads for the door, sans bag and cape, without thinking about the fact that Tataru seems to know who has called her and why.

#Severia x Nero #my writing #Amnesia AU #Severia Zetsuen #Nero tol Scaeva #WoL/Nero #As Rivers Reach the Sea

[sarenhale]

Just watched the Endwalker trailer.... I am super excited but also heavily thinking about the expansion, and what it will mean for Zenos as a character.

Long ass thoughts under the cut.

He’s posed as the final boss here, the big bad guy, but it made me think a lot when the game and some characters explicitly say: “Maybe Zenos isn’t even our final obstacle, the final days will be’. Which also leads me to think that Zenos is just... well, vibing and thriving in the destruction, but that he could not be the reason the final days are happening and everything is going to shit.

He sure as hell is enabling things to happen, but I don’t know if I believe that he’s the instigator and the one behind the idea. I think he’s more of the opportunist taking advantage of chaos and delirium to act his plan of the final hunt, but I think it has been made clear enough that he doesn’t exactly care about Eorzea ending or wars happening to create an intricate plan such as the one put in motion by Fandaniel, he just wants to relive the hunt with his first friend and enemy once again. (Which don’t get me started, it’s so fucking sad man, don’t make me think about it or I’ll tear up...)

This led me to think ... where will this character go? What will happen? I am VERY torn about this, mostly because SE has done an incredible job at keeping everyone guessing and surprising people everytime with the story. 

Could Zenos end up being an ally? Could he be spared? Can he come to reason? I see people even mentioning that he could be a Scion... I honestly really don’t see that happening, the man is batshit insane and as much as I love him, he doesn’t give a shit about Eorzea or helping the world, and I’m sure 99% of the Scions despise him or just want to see him dead. He won’t be a Scion, that would be really out of character for everyone. (For him to be one, for everyone to accept him as such)

But I do wonder if he will end up being spared, or changing his mind. Maybe being a ‘neutral’ force? Maybe even temporarily allying with the WoL (and only with the Wol, he doesn’t care about the others) to prevent him from dying, because he doesn’t actually want his rival and friend to die. A ‘villain turned ally out of necessity’ situation with him would be cool, and would make sense if he wanted to protect the Wol temporarily from another foe, even for just ‘being the one that has to kill / defeat them’. He’s very possessive over the Wol, I feel like.

I just hope we won’t have to kill him... he’s one of my favourite characters now, so I would honestly be DEVASTATED to see him go, even if I perfectly know he would deserve it and everyone would probably be happy if he did. But I just can’t help thinking about how much I love this character, his story, what he implies, what he represents, all the things he carries with him... I feel like Endwalker will surely give us a lot of content for him, which I am excited and happy about, but I just wish we could not kill him so we get to see more.

This is where I get conflicted because my realist side tells me we already got a fake death, even if we DID kill him, and fight him with the intent to kill. He managed to escape death though, and came back. I just think it would be a bit unrealistic to have him escape death once again, and even more unrealistic having him being an ally. One could argue we already have examples of Garlean villains turned allies, with Nero, Cid and Gaius, but like... they weren’t like this.

What I love about Zenos is also what makes him unreedemable.

Zenos is mad. Zenos doesn’t give a shit about anyone, about life, death, people, slaughtering innocents, about Eorzea, hell, he doesn’t even give a crap about the world ENDING if it means he can have a final dance with his beast. And I LOVE all these unique parts about him, but I also realize those parts are what make imagining him surviving so hard, considering the circumstances. 

Cid, Nero and Gaius weren’t mad with power. Sure, they all did bad things, but you don’t see them talking about how they just wanted to fight one person to feel an emotion and destroyed countries and people for that reason. The others had reasons behind their actions (as bad as those reasons could be, their actions were still guided by logic), Zenos doesn’t. Zenos is a feral animal and follows his istincts, that’s why I find it so hard to imagine him as someone who is not a villain. I would LOVE for him to be saved, to have someone give him a chance, my humane (and emphatic ass) wants someone to take a chance on him also because I feel so close to his struggle, but my realistic side says ‘Yeah, it’s not gonna happen’. 

As much as I love this character and would like him not to die, I also realize he did horrible things and slaughtered innocents without even thinking about it. I went back to check on dialogues of people talking about facing him in the war, and man it’s bad. People basically describe how he wouldn’t even find enjoyement in killing people or winning wars, but how we was just ‘looking for a feeling’ even on the battlefield, while destroying people’s hopes and dreams in Doma and all Yangxia. It’s bad. It’s REAL bad. Sometimes I forget how... bad this character is.

“...I do not think there was any joy in it. Nor justice, nor morality, nor meaning. To him, the weight of one life is no different from that of a thousand.  A challenge had been issued and was accepted. But on finding us no challenge at all, his objective changed. There were tales of imperial soldiers being flayed for slaughtering families. For breaking brave men’s spirits. Only later did I come to understand why. He did not desire obedience. He desired hate… and men consumed by it.  A new battle. A new enemy. A new challenge. The hunt, I am told he called it. A hunt without end. And when all our best lay dead and broken, he left. He left, muttering that we had “bored” him. But our weapons, at least, held his interest. For he took a fallen samurai’s sword, having grown… fond of it. Since that day, he has ever wielded Far Eastern blades. He is said to be fascinated by ones with storied histories, and so soldiers who seek to to curry his favor often present those of defeated enemies as gifts.

Lyse: It’s like all a game to him. People are suffering -- dying -- and he’s collecting swords? “

But man. I don’t know what Endwalker has in store for me, for Zenos, but I sure hope maybe something can happen where he doesn’t die. I don’t know how the fuck that would happen, maybe we would need to see more of him and understand his story/his side better, and see if he actually does want to work with the WoL side by side instead of just fighting him. Maybe that can happen, he does care about the WoL after all, and he knows enjoyement and thrill will come out of being with them. I just don’t know how that could realistically *WORK*... But I sure does hope there’s some kind of compromise, where he maybe just can reflect on his actions and do something about them.

This is my stupid ‘I see too much of myself in Zenos to talk rationally’ self talking, but I am so sad at seeing a character that has struggles and grew up feeling nothing but apathy, being loved by no one, end up like a villain again. Having to just be put down like a feral animal. Again. 

I guess my stupid ass would just like him to be happy, found peace maybe, HELL, I don’t know if he deserves it, but some parts of me tells me he does. I just get so sad when I am reminded at how much his father, family, nation, no one gave a shit about him. That’s too much human and close to home for me to disregard everything entirely and just call him a villain. 

I also am conflicted because I wonder if what I want for him isn’t also out of character, and something that would ruin his character and story. I love Zenos because he’s unapologetically himself, does what he wants, and obeys no one’s agenda, but his wants and instincts. I don’t want his personality and story arc to be ruined by salvation or him randomly becoming an ally and everyone pretending he didn’t do anything wrong, that would make me hate him and SE so much. I would much prefer him dead than him ruined as a character. I do wonder if me wanting him to be spared death and him being unapologetically himself are two things that can’t co-exist- it FEELS like that, honestly. I have faith in SE that they will write him and the story well, and make me enjoy what happens, so at the moment I’m not particularly worried about him being ruined as a character. But I just got to the point where I am so attached that I am of course scared of losing my favourite character. I guess we will have to see, honestly only the game and what will happen in the story can tell me if I am right in having hope for him or if I am not. There’s a lot of possibility in the story, a lot of surprises in SE’s writing everything everytime, and i how they make things WORK, so there’s hope in THAT.

And maybe I want to see a different solution for him that isn’t death. Call it retribution, maybe I am projecting TOO MUCH in this character, but yeah, just being honest and baring my emotions to the world here. I guess we will have to see what happens. 

#long ass ramble!!!! #ffxiv #zenos #zenos yae galvus

[ladykittenfair]

Tagged by the fantastic @up-sideand-down - thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

44

2. What is your total AO3 word count?

631,933

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Including crossovers:

Compilation of FFVII

FFXV

Legend of Zelda

Marvel Cinematic Universe (specifically the Avengers)

Sailor Moon

Star Wars

Threads of Fate

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

To Be Human

Dog Whistle

The Snowball Effect

It’s Not a Game

Party of Five

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do! No shade thrown to people who don’t / can’t but for me, that’s part of the “community” aspect of fanfic. I love hearing about people’s thoughts and feelings about things I’ve created. And I’ve made some of my best friends through fanfic interactions.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I... don’t really do angsty endings? XD But if I had to pick from any work it’s probably The Ballad of Crisis Core. That’s a poem, however, so I guess the angstiest fic would be Picking Up The Pieces, because it’s canon compliant and you know it’s a false hopeful ending.

7. Do you ever write crossovers?

I do! I’ve got... two now, I think! They’re fun.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nothing horrific? But definite bullying.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don’t know that anything I’ve done solo counts as smut. There’s some very tame M/M stuff later on in To Save the Future...

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, probably more than once honestly. It’s hard to keep track of these guys.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have, on a couple occasions, and I’m hoping to do more.

12. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh man, you can’t do that to me. My ship feels are a revolving door, it’s not “all time” it’s “flavor of the day” - Ardyn (FFXV) & Genesis (FFVII) in a crossover parent-child ship is one of the newest ones. Vincent and Veld (both FFVII) as either a romantic ship or a brotp are also amazing. One of my oldest ships is Valenwind (Vincent / Cid from FFVII) and then I have a couple people to blame for Lazard/Reeve (FFVII) being such a dynamic ship so don’t make me pick.

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I... think it was DBZ? It was certainly the first I actually posted for.

14. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

How can I pick just one of my babies??? I love them for different reasons! In order of age:

To Be Human - an older favorite (can you believe it’s been four years since that was finished?) but a favorite because it was just... such an achievement? It was my first real long fic, and yeah, it took me three years but dangit it was done and I am so proud! And you can see me improve as a writer over the process. i learned so much. Would I rewrite it before continuing it? In a heartbeat. But I remain so proud of it.

Dog Whistle - this will be chronologically my second longfic, it’s WIP but getting closer to the end, and it was not supposed ot be this long damn it. But in this one, I took everything I’d learned in TBH and put it into practice. I really feel the quality of writing is just higher here?

And then, not individual “fics” but series -

In Spite of Destiny (currently posting To Save the Future) is a FFVII/FFXV crossover fixit I’m doing with @wandererriha and it owns my heart. It was another “what if?” that got out of hand and I just love it and the ships - platonic and romantic both - so dang much.

And then I just started posting Stand By Me (Let Us Defy Fate) with it’s first fic, To Live in Expectation, but I’ve been writing the series for the past three months and holy crap I knew I loved Ardyn but I didn’t realize I loved Somnus and Gilgamesh until now, not to mention Aera and also the toothrotting fluff that is Aera/Ardyn. It is also a shameless fix it that may not go where you think it’s going. But it’s a good thing, I promise.

OKAY so! I’m supposed to tag some people, I think? @wandererriha, @thegeeksqueaks , @vorpalgirl , @razziecat , @greenjudy , @yuzukimist aaaaand @secret-engima ? No pressure, only if you want to!

#my work #askbox games

[thicctails]

Summer Of Whump Days 14 + 21 [Hand gagging/Panic]

He remembered hearing Tech’s voice crackle across the comlink, full of panic and desperation. His hysterical cries had started the hole, weakening his heart and leaving him vulnerable. Hope that they would be able to get back to the Havoc Marauder in time to chase Crosshair down had been the only thing keeping him together. That hope had shattered upon seeing Imperial ships disappear into the atmosphere.

 In the immediate aftermath, he just… froze. He was just barely aware of the sound of Wrecker yelling, shouting obscenities in Mando’a that would make even the most foul-mouthed soldier blush. The world just seemed to go quiet, his breath caught in his throat as his lungs refused to take in oxygen. He had only been brought back by Rex’s firm hands on his shoulder, the man gripping him harshly as he shook him.

 “Hunter! Hunter, come back to us.” Rex was borderline shouting, his gaze hard as he watched Hunter take a deep breath. “There you go, vod.”

 “Omega- she’s gone! We have to- ARRGH I don’t know!” Hunter yelled, his nails digging into his palms as he curled his hands into fists. “Chase them! Hunt them down! Something!”

 “We can’t. The Empire will kill us on sight if we get to close.” Rex said.

 “Well what do you want us to do?! Leave her with them?!” Wrecker exploded.

 “No, but we need a plan first. We’ll get her back, we just need to wait until they’re far enough away to trail safely.” The clone captain raised his hands, trying to deescalate the situation. Even as he did so, he looked sorrowfully towards the stars.

 “No. I won’t leave her with them for any longer than I can help. She’s hurt and she’ll be scared and she needs us.” Hunter snapped, his eyes wild with a burning protectiveness. A fire had been ignited in his chest, and no amount of placating words could stomp it down. It would blaze until he held his precious ad'ika was safely back in his arms where he could make sure that she was never taken away from them again.

 “Hunter,” Rex started, his eyes going soft, “I understand how you feel. I have someone that I’d chase Imperials across the galaxy for if she got captured. But we can’t just throw ourselves at the Empire. If you want to help Omega, we need to stay under their radar.”

 Hunter growled, the sound vibrating in his chest. He hated Rex in that moment. He hated him because he was right. Using stealth was their best bet at rescuing Omega, and that fact irritated him to no end. He didn’t want to be stealthy, he wanted to use the blinding rage that was making his heart thunder in his chest to find the people who had dared to take her away and rip their throats out.

 “Hunter!”

 Echo’s voice made him look up. The man was walking towards him, a limping Tech holding onto him for support. He looked fearful, his eyes quickly scanning the group, desperately hoping to see the little girl that should be there, ducking behind Hunter’s legs or being held by Wrecker. His face crumpled when he realized that they had failed. Omega was with Crosshair, who was still under the chip’s influence. She was in the Empire’s claws, vulnerable and alone.

 ‘No, not alone.’ He reminded himself. ‘She has Pillow.’

 “Echo, Tech, are you okay? ” Hunter released some of his anger as he spoke to his brothers.

 “Tech’s leg is hurt. Crosshair kicked Pillow into him when he attacked them.” Echo explained. “Omega stopped Crosshair from finishing the job.”

 “She shouldn’t have.” Tech grit out, his face already stained with tears. “She should have just ran.”

 “You know she would have never left you.” Hunter sighed. “She loves you, loves all of us.”

 “He was going to shoot me.” Tech whispered. He knew that Crosshair would attack him, but he never thought he’d live to see the day that his ori'vod would point the muzzle of his rifle at him with the intent to kill. “Is he even still in there? Can we still help him?”

 “We have to try. He’s our brother, and I’m not abandoning him again.” Hunter’s voice dropped. “Even if I do want to kick his teeth in for taking Omega.”

 “What’s the plan?” Echo asked.

 Hunter looked at Rex and sighed. “We wait. Once they’re far enough away, we’ll track ‘em down and figure out a way to stage a rescue.”

 “Wait?! Are you serious?” Echo hissed.

 Hunter bared his teeth. “It isn’t my first choice either, trust me. But it’s the best we can do for now. If we leave too soon, we’ll just get ourselves killed.”

 Tech growled softly, his own frustration leaking through. “Hunter is right, unfortunately. As much as I hate to say it, waiting is our only option.”

 “Can’t we do something?” Wrecker asked, his mouth drawn down into a frown. “Anything?”

 “We still have that debt to Cid. I say we scavenge enough to pay her back and then some. Once we get Omega back, we can disappear once and for all. Give her a life beyond being an outlaw.” Echo proposed.

 The group looked at each other.

 “I need to get a message to someone, but I’ll be more than happy to help you after that.” Rex said. “The armory on this ship should still have some supplies in it.”

 “That could be useful on a number of levels. Wrecker, come with me to the armory. Echo, help Tech to the main controls, we’ll need to get the power back on.” Hunter commanded, needing to get away from this place. He couldn’t keep looking back at the sky, back towards the space where Omega had disappeared. “Let’s get ready.”

     A drop of water splattered onto Omega’s head, the warm droplet sliding down her nose. She breathed in the smell of damp earth and growing plant life, smiling as she observed all of the greenery around her. She was sitting in the mouth of the ship’s doorway, watching the forest slowly come to life. Pillow was off snoring somewhere in the ship, sleeping off whatever he’d managed to catch and eat last night.

 Crosshair had forbade her from leaving the ship while he went to go hunt breakfast, stating that she and Cal needed more than ration bars. Said padawan was still snoozing on the bed, his hair all tousled and knotted from their days in captivity and their wild escape. She wondered if he’d let her help him brush it out. She’d read on one of her datapads , in some cultures, friends brushed and braided each other’s hair. While she didn’t know how to braid, her own hair required maintenance, and she was sure it was just as bad as Cal’s. She should probably start looking for a brush soon.

 Beams of rosy morning light shone down through the canopy, causing all of the little water droplets on the plants to glisten. She looked on in awe. It was like a thousand little diamonds had appeared, scattered across the clearing by some unseen hand. In the trees above, avian creatures began to sing, their melodious songs ringing out pleasantly into the calm morning air. If she hadn’t been so sore, she might have ignored Crosshair’s command and gone to roll in the grass. It looked so soft and cool and inviting, and her inner curiosity practically begged her to go look at those morning dew drops.

 Closing her eyes, Omega reached out with the Force. In an instant, a comforting rush of life filled her, and she could feel the Force in everything around her. It twisted through the trees, settled in the rocks, flowed through the water, and thrummed joyously in the bodies of every living creature around her. Behind her, Cal and Pillow were beacons of energy, their lifeforce practically tangible. She let her own Force signature reach out to them, wrapping them in the happiness and liveliness she felt. Pillow did not respond, likely too deep in slumber to feel her, but she could feel Cal reach out to her in the Force. A warm fuzz of sleep-muted contentment and peace wrapped her in a warm hug, the positive feelings settling into her chest.

 Having another Force-sensitive was better than she had ever imagined, especially since Cal was right around her age, and she wasn’t sure if she could go back to being alone. Well, not alone, she’d have her family, of course, but this was different. Cal was someone who understood, who experienced the world the way she did. What’s better, he had experience training with the Force. If he stayed, she could probably learn a lot from him. Not to mention it had been nice to have someone to sleep with that wasn’t a large salamander that liked to kick off the blankets.

 She wanted to stay with him, to learn about the Force and how it worked. She wanted to be there for him when the trauma of what he’d been through made him go quiet and distant. She wanted him to be there for her when she was struck with another nightmare, as she knew she was bound to have plenty. She wanted to be able to have looked at him so much that she could count the tiny stars that dusted his cheeks. She wanted to know what his laugh sounded like, his real laugh, not the little watery chuckle she’d managed to pull from him. She wanted to see him grow up and be happy.

 He blinked at her, his eyes matching the forest before her as he fought the heaviness of his eyelids, and Omega realized that she may have still been sharing her feelings with him. She drew back, embarrassed. Those thoughts were meant to be private, and she winced at the idea of him finding her feelings to be weird. Despite the fact that it felt like she’d known him for years, she only met him a few days ago. Oh gosh, he totally thought she was weird, didn’t he? Good job, Omega, you’ve kriffed up your first chance at friendship.

 A warmth gently tugged at her Force signature, coaxing her to open up again. Surprised, she obeyed, tentatively reaching back.

 A wave of thoughts came across the connections. He wanted to teach her, to show her everything he’d learned from his Master. He wanted them to learn new things together. He wanted to be able to chase away nightmares before she could even have them. He wanted to hear her laugh.  He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to protect her, make sure that no one would ever harm her again. He didn’t want to be alone again, and he didn’t want her to be alone either. He wanted them to grow up happy together.

 He sleepily smiled at her, relieved that he could just let her feel how he felt, let her know without even speaking that he wanted to keep their newfound friendship. Omega smiled back, her eyes sparkling in the morning light. Cal yawned, stretching as he got to his feet. He came over and sat with her, quietly keeping her company as they watched the peaceful morning.

 Suddenly, there was a rustling from the bushes. Omega and Cal looked towards the sound, each child sending the thought ‘be cautious’ over their connection. Cal, who had not been confined to the ship due to him still being asleep, slowly made his way down the ramp. Omega instinctively reached for her bow, cursing internally when she realized that she no longer had it. She looked at the bushes with a worried expression, before deciding that, even if she didn’t have her bow, she was going to help. Mentally apologizing to Crosshair, she reached out to Pillow with the Force as she descended down the ramp slowly, her injuries flaring up as she moved. Her eyes fell on a large stick, and she gripped it, holding it in front of her.

 She turned around to see if Pillow was at the doorway yet, but when she looked back, Cal was nowhere to be see, his Force signature gone with him.

 “Cal?” She called nervously, noting how silent the clearing had become. She remembered Echo telling her stories about his brother, Fives, and how the clone would sometimes pull a prank on him. Was that what Cal was doing?

 “If this is a prank, Cal, it’s not very funny!” She called, her eyes darting around. The stillness of everything made her nervous.

 A hand clasped around her mouth, a firm arm pulling her backwards. She let out a muffled yelp as she was dragged back into the bushes. She kicked and struggled, the Force under her control whipping about wildly as she tried to figure out what had grabbed her.

 ‘Sleep, youngling.’

 A calm, soothing voice entered her mind, smoothing down her panic with ease. She felt her eyelids start to droop, urged on by the gentle suggestion. She kicked weakly a few more times, before succumbing to sleep.

   Crosshair shifted the animal he was carrying on his shoulder. He’d manage to track down a fat little cervid that had been munching on some plump blue berried. One accurate shot later, and he had secured breakfast for himself and his little group. He was no cook, but he knew how to make basic meals that would sustain them for a bit while he figured out their next move. Soup could be a breakfast food, right? Did kids like soup? He and his brothers had liked it quite a bit when they were younger, especially if they’d been out in the rain, so he figured it would be okay.

 “Adike, lor'vram!” He called, before realizing that, unlike his brothers, Omega and Cal wouldn’t understand what he was saying. He should really teach them some Mando’a, especially if Cal was going to be staying with them.

 As he approached the ship, he paused, scanning the ground outside the ship. There was grass that had been stepped on, recently too. His eyes flicked up towards the inside of the vessel, and he cursed when he didn’t see the two children or Omega’s pet.

 “Omega, I told you not to leave the ship!” He scolded, hoping that she was close enough to hear him. He waited.

 No reply.

 “Omega?” He tried again. “Cal?”

 Nothing.

 He observed the tracks in the grass, following them until they stopped abruptly. Building worry gripped his gut in its icy claws, and he hurried onto the ship. Perhaps they’d simply gone down onto the grass and then came back up?

 “Pillow?” He cringed a bit at the mushy name Omega had given the annoying beast.

 He moved back towards the storage part of the ship, where he knew Pillow had been sleeping. He entered the room, expecting to see a sleeping lump of a lizard and, hopefully, two kids.

 He saw neither. Instead, there was a large, crystalline cocoon in the centre of the room. It was deep purple in colour, flashes of white occasionally shining through. A light pulsed rhythmically, like a flashing heartbeat. Crosshair stared at it, dumbfounded.

 What the hell had Omega befriended?

 Whatever was happening here, it could be dealt with later. He needed to find the kids. Shucking off the animal he’d been carrying, he tossed it into cold storage before rushing back outside. He examined the prints again, then looked towards the forest. If there were no tracks beyond this point, then…

 He looked up.

 A tangle of thick branches permeated the canopy, far above the ground, but reachable if you knew what to do and had the strength to do so. As a sniper, high places were Crosshair’s element. He felt no fear while being perched on a ledge, trusting in his impeccable balance. If something, or someone, had taken the kids, that was likely where they had fled to.

 Growling, Crosshair secured his rifle and found a place to start climbing. He hadn’t just risked their lives to get the kids to safety, only to lose them to some forest predator. While he lacked Hunter’s otherworldly tracking skills, he still had some training. Moving over to a branch close to where the footprints had ended, he saw that part of the bark had been scrapped away, too recently to have been natural. He scanned the canopy, finding little signs of movement everywhere. A trail had been left behind, one that only someone like him or Hunter could follow.

 “Don’t worry, adike, I’ll get you back.” He said, before leaping onto the next branch.

#hunter bad batch #omega bad batch #tech bad batch #wrecker bad batch #echo bad batch #captain rex #rex clone wars #crosshair bad batch #cal ketsis #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #summerofwhump #summerofwhump[14] #summerofwhump[21] #whump prompt #writing challenge

[autumnslance]

I felt compelled to thank you for the Werlyt writeup. As someone who vitriolically dislikes Gaius, even I find his writing in this arc to be in poor taste to put it mildly. A friend said it best when they called the whole thing thus far character assassination.

Your friend isn’t wrong, I feel.

As a villain, Gaius is a character I love to hate, for a lot of reasons. He’s always been compelling in his convictions and motivations, that weird line of his own moral code/sense of honor at both in line and at odds with the horrors he perpetuated as a Legatus of the Empire, conquering and ruling with his “might makes right” mentality. Initially I was unhappy he was suddenly back, especially since Stormblood had a bad habit of fake out deaths; too much of a good thing in too short a time.

But as someone who’s spent a great deal of time on formal literary analysis and writing studies, I tend to be the type who on seeing fans’ enthusiasm for a character it can make me re-examine some of my own knee jerk negative reactions, and I warmed up and became interested in where Gaius’ arc could be going and what that could mean for Garlemald as StB and ShB MSQ progressed. It could be a fascinating study, from a narrative perspective. Love him or hate him, there’s a lot of good story potential.

Werlyt ain’t it.

The bones of a good story are there. What they’ve dressed on that frame however has been thrown on sloppily. They’re taking some of the worst tropes of mecha genre and disregarding character histories, personalities, motivations, and their own often-established lore. Severa has a third eye but is only half-Garlean? Cid spends years spitting fire when Gaius is so much as mentioned, even pushing him so far to shoot Cid in 1.0, but here he’s all chummy? Gaius is suddenly ignorant of how his subordinates and fellow officers behave? He was unaware of his own kids’ actions because obsessive big sis Livia (in a mild fit of victim blaming from a possibly biased third party) was keeping him in the dark and getting away with it? What?

And then there’s Valens. His existence and the excess of his cutscenes strike me as an attempt to make someone so awful that Gaius looks better by comparison. After they spend a bunch of time smoothing over Gaius’ own culpability and previously angry NPCs suddenly waving off how bad things have been (CID). It’s not at all about Valens’ victims, the people he tortures, experiments on, and abuses. It’s not at all about the young pilots we’re killing every time we face a Weapon—and it should be, especially when it’s been made clear how much they did internalize Gaius’ viewpoints and teachings, that’s leading them to make these stupid choices, in addition to their worldly inexperience. And yet another sudden group of foster children shouldn’t be necessary to suddenly make Gaius go “wait...are we the bad guys?” (Also did he never talk to Severa about who she was or where she came from or why in the however long they’ve traveled together??).

It’s especially galling when we spent the entirely of 5.0 with Emet-Selch, who was unapologetic about the evils he had committed and his reasons why, and yet was still sympathetic and even relatable as an antagonist. It’s even worse, I think, with the contrast with the current Eden’s Promise story as the situation there and that villain, which could have been bad-creepy, is handled well and “good”-creepy (narratively) thanks to building off the existing lore and character motivations (Mama Bear ‘get away from her!’ Mode was in effect, but I wasn’t ever disgusted and understood exactly what was happening and why because it makes sense).

I was Angry when I typed up that summary post of Emerald’s storyline and it was the only thing I could do. I am lucky in that I don’t have trauma triggers and can usually handle a lot of dark material. And generally, FFXIV has been good at keeping its really dark content to spoken/written references and offscreen; it’s there, and affects characters and the world, and the Garleans have certainly perpetrated a lot of it, but this is the first time it’s been so blatant, so in your face, and it just kept going. If I felt blindsided, how might others who are more sensitive, or have triggers for such material, going to feel walking into that with no warning, in a game that has usually shied away from showing such material?

I’m frustrated enough with the handling of the characters and the narrative of Werlyt. That I was physically repelled by what I saw, and felt I had to warn others about it in my usually innocuous catgirls online game is upsetting and I don’t know how or why this was greenlit. I can’t even think of any tropes or arcs in JP that may just not be translating well, and kinda want to see the JP texts/dialogues to compare, but that doesn’t change the horror in the actual animated cutscenes, or what the EN text shows.

So, you’re welcome for the summary and warnings; it’s the least I can do, and sadly more than it feels the devs have concerning these characters and the trash excuse of a plot they tossed the poor things into, dragging players along for the ride.

====

P.S. Only good thing in this mess is the brief memory flash of an unarmored Rhitahtyn. He really deserved better than what 2.0 gave him.

#final fantasy xiv #shadowbringers #patch 5.4 #Futures Rewritten #Sorrow of Werlyt #Gaius Baelsar #Valens van Varro #literary analysis #literary criticism #my roegadyn fangirling is only slightly appeased