lines that made me cry in my 3rd relisten to the chaos protocol ep 32 (MAJOR SPOILERS):
- “brother heed me, as you ought.” something about the way connie says brother this time… i will never be ok about sing and seir
- i mean i could say the entire rest of the opening monologue. but the little hesitance on “lover, hold me”? OW.
- THE WAY VAL’S VOICE SOUNDS ON THEIR FIRST LINE. illegal.
- similarly, the sobbing after “it is lost. forever.” always catches me off guard and RIGHT IN THE HEART
- the way connie just moves on to lumiéra after val says “something snaps”. cause there’s nothing more to say. nothing that can fix it.
- “a door that had been so carefully pried open slamming shut, and… he doesn’t feel.”
- “and he just… looks at where he should have been a shield.” have i ever mentioned that cai is a masterful storyteller? cause cai is a masterful storyteller and god. i’ll never stop feeling things about xainan esch
- this whole scene with xainan crumbling into dust destroys me.
- “you have always been half dead, xainan esch”
- connie calling oblivion the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen as xainan is drifting away from his own life sure is something, huh.
- “i think im just exhausted with being a coward” no cause i have so many feelings about lumiéra waiting, waiting, always a little too hesitant and afraid to tell sing how she really felt, even though sing felt the same, because it’s too scary because it’s too complicated because lumiéra is literally just fucking HUMAN and it takes so much to make that step - only for her to finally do it and it’s just. a moment. too. late.
- the moment when we move from lumiéra’s flashback to the present. the imagery of happy, triumphant, hopeful lumi giving way to lumi crouched over sing’s body, tear tracks staining her face.
- and the imagery of seir holding up lumiéra with his sister. fuck me i guess.
- THE FUCKING PERSPECTIVE SHIFT
- ok being fully fr seir’s monologue here is when i actually started crying in earnest this time. what the fuck val. not one line. all of them
- “the knife that is xainan” always hits me a little bit
- “whelming it’s pitiable vessel” is just such a good phrase. didn’t make me cry but i love it
- the music cue when artemis appears did make me cry though
- “eyes that immediately fall upon sing’s body” if i think too hard about artemis’s relationship with sing (artemis singing the twins to sleep, artemis signing her transfer request because artemis can see right through her, artemis giving them all the warning she can, artemis knowing when they die and appearing right away but unsurprised, with grief that has always been there, artemis making a choice) i will break. and start making some not-yet-canon assumptions about artemis’s own emotional state. so we are not thinking about that!
- “a lance in her chest” “bleeding.” ow ow ow the multiple possible readings of this line. connie and sea kicking off their insane narration chemistry with a lance to my chest. ow
- “those warm, gentle hands, that do not touch, that are so careful with their love” ok so when i said we weren’t feeling things about artemis? i lied
- “and when her hands pass through your flaming horns, snuffing them out like a candle at the end of its wick, it is not violent. it is not to put a cap on your grief, not to quiet you, not to for you into a box or a body that cannot contain you -“ “it is a mercy.” “it is the sweet mercy of rest when you have no tears left to cry.” the actual reason i’m relistening to this episode is to memorize all the words. so i can hold them like precious things in a box inside me. btw
- and artemis sings you and your sister to rest one final time.
ok. *wipes away tears.* anyways.
- artemis wiping a tear from lumiéra’s eye and calling her the bravest girl in the room .
- we interrupt your regularly scheduled tears to bring you: i’m gonna pull an øka* and punch fate in the fucking face. “this pain has a design”. yeah it’s called fate’s a BITCH and a BAD PARENT. and you can quote me on this
*i have not yet watched the second stranger only seen the clip of øka punching fate. so many times. i replayed that clip quite a bit after this episode.
- “and you cannot hold on to your life much longer. you are a dead man walking and you can go no farther than this.” ok back to crying! this is the sequence i was originally most abnormal about. and you know what? it still hits. so much. xainan my beloved
- sea and connie narrative trading my beloved.
- “do you want to live?” “i don’t know.” “then why don’t you come with me, and you can tell me your answer later.” god what a line. what a perfect response. there are no words that can fix this, but maybe with time and love and care someday you will want to live again. why don’t you come with me.
- “and she carries you home.”
- i don’t think i fully internalized the imagery of sing’s sword being driven into the earth by the roots of the world tree and the roots growing up around it before, but this time i imagined wildsailors hundreds of years from now coming upon this site and approaching it with reverence and love, knowing that it was here that something bigger than their world changed forever, holding sing’s eulogy in the very heartwood of the wildsea—yeah.
- “i love my dad, ok?” thanks abasi already sobbing.
- “it is effortless, the care that they hold for you. it is a reality unto itself.” just. cause. this is what i was hoping the whole time in the lead up to this episode. i know it would be awful and crushing and it would break them, and i was so worried that they would have to just. find a way to push on somehow. make plot happen anyways. but this, nova being cared for and held and protected in their grief? someone carrying them home when they can’t do it themselves anymore? this was just what they needed. and what i needed. i cannot wait for arc 2.
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42 and 43 with Olive for the ask game! And forgive me, I did not have the brainpower to read through the latest MM chapter, but I'm hoping to get to it tomorrow! ^_^
42. Let them vent for a second, without the fear of being judged. What would they like to say?
Sad incoming!
"I'm just so, so tired of being angry. Of having this gaping, carnivorous maw in the center of my chest. I've tried so hard to satiate it - with the love of my father, of my siblings; with the love of friends, of lovers... and with hundreds of dead bodies, when that didn't work. But it didn't help. No matter how much blood it drank, it was never enough. This ravenous pit dug into my chest by my parent's murderers, widened by awful foster families, left eternally famished by the cruelty of my father has never been filled, has never been satisfied, has never been whole.
So I'm left empty, wanting, longing, and angry. Furious. Enraged. How could I not be? After all, do starving creatures not lash their teeth at the first sign of life? This burning flame of anger at the bottom of the pit consumes anything I attempt to fill it with.
I try and try and try, with alcohol, and painkillers, and books, and collecting, and new hobbies, and meditation, and months by the sea, moving cities, leaving my toxic relationship, starting therapy, starting medication, volunteering, working myself into burnout saving lives as a paramedic and in the ER to atone for my death toll, and... for what? All of these things, I've fed it, and... it's made no difference.
I'm trying so hard. I'm trying so, so, so hard! So... why does nothing help?
I'm good at everything.
Why am I so bad at this?"
43. And what would you say to comfort them?
I love you, and I'm sorry. You're not bad at this. No one is good at this. I'm so, so proud of you and how far you've come. Trauma is a black hole, and it's doing what it does best - sucking the life out of you. But, it's okay. It's going to be okay. I promise, I'm going to make it better. You're not going to feel alone anymore.
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Making amends
Part 5 of the Spinoff set in the normal sentient Lost Light au from @cuppajj is finished, and I slightly feel like crying.
Also, if you wanna know which lullaby I specifically thought of when writing that part. It's this one.
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Nearly four weeks have passed and there was no sign of a way home. Brainstorm and Perceptor have been working hard on repairing the machine that got him and Rodimus stuck in this universe, but whatever made it go ‘boom!’ seems to have ruined it for good. Or, at least that’s what Perceptor said, Brainstorm said that he was able to fix it. A statement Snow had believed at first, but now, he was slowly doubting the strange mech.
At least they weren’t stuck on a hostile ship. After this universe’s Rodimus had introduced him as ‘Snow’ and his Rodimus as ‘Convoy’, everyone seemed to welcome them with open arms, or, at least he thought they were. Of course, there were some who were wary, but Snow couldn’t blame them. Two mechs who looked like their captain and the one Decepticon youngling respectively must have been strange to see. But those crewmembers mostly left them alone, especially when they saw Convoy glaring at them while breathing a small flame out. Then they usually scattered.
And then there was that weird mech with the yellow mouthguard named Getaway. He was nice, most of the time, but his compliments always had a certain edge. As if he was trying to butter someone up, before making them do things for him. Kinda like Second Fiddle, and Snow learned to stay away from mechs like Second Fiddle.
Either way, right now, the white and blue youngling was walking down the halls of the Lost Light. There were some data-pads that needed to be delivered to Ultra Magnus’ office and no-one seemed to want to do it. So, Snow offered to do it and was promptly handed the data-pads before getting shoved out of the room and towards Magnus’ office. Although, even if he didn’t want to admit it, Snow got a little bit lost. Mostly because, while this Lost Light was similar to his, it was still different. And seeing how bright the halls were, it was a little bit overwhelming. So, Phoenix decided to ask for help. And help he got in the form of a big purple mech with horns that made him look like a bunny. He didn’t say much, which the youngling didn’t mind, but he was kind enough to show him where the office was. He even helped him get there, although he was gone as soon as Snow stepped out of the office.
“He probably had something better to do…” Muttered the youngling, as he made his way down the hall and to the bridge. His Rodimus should be there together with the other Rodimus. Snow didn’t know what they were doing, but he was sure that his brother was giving the other prime a lecture of how important it was to do reports and such. Especially when someone was taking care of a crew as big as the Lost Light’s. And despite what this universe’s rodimus said, Snow knew why his Roddy was giving those small speeches. He didn’t want Rodimus to lose his crew like he did. His brother might not always talk about his crew, but Snow could tell how Roddy blamed himself for what happened to them.
“Maybe that blame manifests itself in a need to make sure something like that won’t happen again? I really wish Dominus was here. He would probably know what to say…” Muttered the youngling, as his mind wandered to those left behind in his own universe. By now, Fungus and Softstreet surely must have contacted the DJD to see if he and Roddy have come to visit Dominus, only for them to tell his guardians that, no, they weren’t with them. And then they would probably contact Pharma, only for the medic to also tell them no. And then? There wasn’t really anyone else he called his family… Ah! Maybe they would ask Ghostrider and Big John too. Those two beastformers have become his bestest friends after all.
Yea, working on Fungus’ and Stofstreet’s farm had some perks. Especially when you consider how easy it was to make friends when you worked with others together.
Snow was rather deep in his thoughts, so deep that he didn’t notice bumping into something. Or rather, into someone. And who was that someone? No-one else but this universe’s Rodimus, who seemed like he was sneaking off to somewhere else. “A-ah! I am sorry!” Squeaked Snow, as he looked around, before averting his gaze to the ground. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to… I was thinking and I didn’t look where I was going…”
“Hey, it’s okay. No harm done, right?” Asked the prime with a grin, before making his way down the hall, and with Snow not having anything better to do, he followed him. “W-where are you going, M-mister captain, sir?” Asked the youngling, to which Rodimus fixed him with an amused glint in his optics, before he reached over to pat his head. “Oh, you know, just doing captain things and sneaking away from my doppelgänger, because he’s been trying to show me how to do my reports correctly, only to end up doing them for me. So, I got some free time and decided to see if I could go meteor surfing. Also, you can just call me Rodimus. I know that it’s probably weird for you, but imagen how weird it is to me to hear my brother’s doppelgänger calling me ‘Mister captain, sir’. I’m not that old.”
“W-well, you’re clearly older than me and in a higher position. So, shouldn’t I be respectful towards you? Fools Shot and Second Fiddle sure wanted to be addressed like that.” Said Snow, which got the prime’s attention. His Phoenix hardly talked about his past crew, let alone dropped their names, but here was his doppelgänger who seemed to have been through the same as his Phoenix has. So, Rodimus decided to do a change of plans and invited Snow to a small tour on the ship. Showing him the best spots to either wind down or hide from Ultra Magnus and Megatron, while having a small conversation with the young flier. And Rodimus would be lying, if he didn’t get some new insight into some of his brother’s ticks. Especially the ones concerning his quick retreats whenever there was tension in the crew.
“So… your crew has been hunting you down whenever you weren’t doing something important?” Asked the prime.
“Mhm.” Snow nodded. “Or when they felt like they needed to remind me of where my place among them was… Which was right at the bottom. I might have been on the ship to study and learn how a medical bay worked on, well, a ship, but they didn’t even let me near it. And most of the time, I was more of a punching bag. Verbally more often than physically. They didn’t want to anger Old Man.” He said, before reaching towards his back with one of his servos, while the other one moved his wing slightly to the side. Showing Rodimus a small scar, clearly made by a precise cut, right where his wing connected with his back. Only a few inches away from an important cable. “See that one? I got that one from one of the medics of my old crew. I never really knew it was there, until Pharma pointed it out. I think not even Lightlost knew about it…”
“You say that so casually…” Said the prime, after taking a look at the scar and making a mental note to see if his Phoenix had the same scar, while also making an appointment in the medical bay for both younglings. “Wait, you said one of the medics did this. Why would they do that?”
“Because a flying prime is a dangerous one…” Was all Snow said, before shaking his head while his wings shot up. “But I don’t care about my scar, nor what those cranky old medics said! Because I don’t see them as something hurtful, but rather a reminder. A reminder to become a better medic than them! One that would never stop helping, no matter what, because everyone deserves medical treatment if they need it!” Declared the youngling proudly, before looking up at this universe’s prime with such determination, that Rodimus couldn’t help himself but pat the youngling on his head while laughing.
“I’m sure you’re going to be an amazing medic, kid.” Rodimus said, before continuing their tour. With him telling Snow all about his Lost Light. And as the youngling asked him about Lightlost, Rodimus told him every positive thing he could think of. Because he knew what the other Lightlost did to him. So, he tried to mediate a little bit and show the kid that this one isn’t as bad as he thought. And it seemed like it did work, even if it was only a little bit.
However, they had to stop their tour after Rodimus got a message from Megatron requesting him to come to the bridge. Saying a quick goodbye, taking the long route to the bridge and leaving Snow to wander the halls alone. Although, the yungling was quick to make up his mind and go on a small search for Lightlost. Hearing about them being kind is one thing, and the last interaction he had with them was weeks ago, but having a talk with them himself was something else. So, Snow made sure to look everywhere for them. Asking some of the crew he came across if they have seen Lightlost, only to be met with the shakes of their heads, or a small ‘haven’t seen them’. And after searching for a while, Snow gave up and walked back to his hab-suit. Getting out Mister Sharky and sitting down on the berth, before there was a knock.
“Come in?” Said the youngling.
“I heard you were looking for me?”Asked Lightlost, as the door opened and they just kept on standing there. Unsure if it was okay for them to enter the room, when Snow was alone and might feel uncomfortable with being alone with them. But that concern soon enough turned into surprise as the youngling jumped up from his berth and came over. Causing Lightlost to take one step back, just in case. Although, despite the unsureness in Snow’s optics, they still felt smaller servos grab theirs and pull them into the room. And then, Lightlost found themself sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, while Snow was sitting on his berth. Clutching his plush shark toy, while keeping his optics on them.
Waiting, as if he was making sure that they wouldn’t do anything, before opening his mouth. “How do you see your crew?”
“E-excuse me?” Was all Lightlost could ask, because of every possible question or conversation starter, this wasn’t one they imagined. “I am sorry, but I don’t think I understand your question, little one.”
“What is there not to understand?” Asked Snow in return, before hugging his shark tighter. And Lightlost could see how he was using the toy like a shield, while his body tensed up even more. “I asked you about how you see your crew. Do you care about all of them? Are they unimportant to you? Do you only care for your Rodimus? Are you going to kill everyone? Are you going to… to… Are you going to keep your Phoenix alive, only to slowly take him apart? Ripp off his wings and keep him with you? A-are you…you…”
“NO!” Lightlost didn’t mean to scream, especially with how it made the youngling flinch and scoot to the end of the berth, but alone the thought of harming their crew was something terrible. “No, I would never harm them. They’re my crew, the thought alone of them dying because of me… it makes me sick. I… I can understand why you would ask me this, but believe me, I would never hurt anyone of my crew, nor would I ever hurt you or your brother.” They said, before getting up. Taking one experimental step towards the berth, while placing one servo over where their spark would be, if this wasn’t a holoform. “I know what my other version did to you and your Rodimus. I know that what they did left its scars in both of our minds and sparks, but believe me, I would never stoop so low as to force anyone to stay if they don’t want to, let alone hurt them.”
Lightlost’s spark broke as they saw the from fear shaking youngling look at them with wide fearful optics. And they felt the urge to reach forward and engulf this young spark into their arms to show him that they mean what they said. But they refrained in fear that it would only worsen everything for the already frightened youngling.
So, they took a step back and sat down on the chair again. Giving Snow enough time to take in their words and make up his own mind, because they knew that their counterpart probably didn’t give him the option to think. To choose his own words, without fearing the silent wrath of a titan in disguise.
And that’s how the two stayed for a while. With Snow looking down at his shark, while Lightlost looked at him with worry and concern being the main emotion reflected in their optics. Although, they were yet again surprised as the youngling got up and silently made his way over to them. Sitting down on their lap, before hugging them. Burying his face in the crook of their neck, as tears started to roll down the younglings cheeks, accompanied with small whimpers and sobs. And Lightlost carefully wrapped their arms around the weeping youngling. Hugging him tightly in their warm and comforting embrace, as they gave Snow enough time to let it all out.
Singing a soft lullaby and running a servo over his head, as they rocked their body back and forth.
That’s how it was for a while, with Snow seeking comfort in the cartographer's arms, while they gently reassured him that everything was fine. That he was safe, and that no-one would hurt him, before telling him how brave and strong he was for enduring all the things their counterpart did to him. “I… Might not be them, Phoenix, but if there is anything I could do, to make it up to you, I would.”
“You… you can’t make it up. You’re not my Lightlost.” Whispered Snow, as he looked up at the holoform with pained optics. Causing their spark to ache even more for this broken youngling. “You haven’t hurt me like they did. You didn’t take my wings, nor have you… have you…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, not when another sob wrecked his body and caused him to take in a sharp inhale, before calming down again. “You can’t make it right… You can’t make the nightmares go away… or make ‘Them’ go away from… from in there…” Muttered Snow, as he pointed to his head, before burying his face back into Lightlost’s shoulder.
Lightlost was saddened by what Snow said, but they understood. Maybe they even understood better than most Cybertronians on this ship, but that didn’t stop them from promising that they would do anything they could to help him overcome those nightmares.
“W-would… Would you help me even now? I’m… I’m tired and… and I don’t want to sleep with the lights off. It reminds me too much of… of how it was with them… Can you… Can you dim them? The lights?” He asked, and Lightlost nodded with a solemn smile and carried the youngling over to the berth. Making sure he was tugged in nice and tight, before searching for this room's lightswitch. Although, a soft chuckle coming from the sleeping youngspark stopped them. “Why are you looking for a lightswitch, when you could do it yourself? Aren’t you the ship?”
Hearing this question caused Lightlost to turn around and look at Snow with a surprised, maybe even shocked expression, but the laughter coming from the youngling, after he’s seen their expression, turned their solemn smile into a relieved one. They made him laugh, accidentally, yes, but still. They managed to, for a small moment, make Phoenix happy, and that’s all that mattered.
“Of course.” They said as they dimmed the lights, while sitting down at the edge of the berth. Holding the youngling's servo and singing their lullaby again, until they were sure he was asleep. Only then did they let their holoform slowly disappear, as their voice slowly faded out at the last note.
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