#so glad i was convinced to bring her back for arcs 3 and 4

[lamaenthel]

Tivaevae | Chapter Five: Basting

Still struggling to emotionally recover from Master Obi-Wan's deception, Ahsoka discovers in the aftermath that twelve-year-old Boba Fett has been locked up among adults in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center. After convincing Chancellor Palpatine to grant him a pardon, she manages to secure his release on the condition that she serve as his legal guardian. Now, with the help of Master Plo and the Wolfpack, she vows to help him track down what family he has left.

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Fandom: Star Wars Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, Plo Koon, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Kanan Jarrus, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CC-1119 | Appo, Dexter Jettster, FLO | WA-7 (Star Wars), Shaak Ti, ARC Commander Blitz (Star Wars), CT-6922 | Dogma, Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars), CC-3636 | Wolffe, Clone Trooper Sinker (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Comet (Star Wars), CC-2224 | Cody, CT-5597 | Jesse, CT-4860 | Boost, Aurra Sing, Tobias Beckett, Null-11 | Ordo Skirata, Kal Skirata, Original Mandalorian Characters (Star Wars), Original Droid Characters (Star Wars), Original Jedi Character(s) (Star Wars) Total Word Count: 123,000 Chapter Word Count: 8,154 Chapter Summary: Boba has a hard time on Kamino, and Ahsoka gets a bad feeling about the storm keeping them there.

Comet, alongside Koon at the helm, set the ship down on the landing pad. It was raining hard; Boba had almost forgotten just how fast the rain came down on Kamino.

"This will hopefully be a short trip," Koon said, initiating the lockdown sequence. "However, we will be leaving with a new man in tow. The Wolfpack has long had need of a medic, and we have found him."

"Really, Sir?" Wolffe asked, his eyebrows up. "Is he shiny?"

"He is a veteran of New Bornalex, actually." Koon gestured at Boba and Tano to follow him to the airlock. "Formerly attached to the 21st Nova Corps, Mangle is a skilled Marine medic who sustained a rather devastating injury but is finally ready to return to duty."

"Not surprised Bacara transferred him out, then," Wolffe muttered.

"Boba, you didn't happen to bring any crayons with you from prison, did you?" Sinker snickered.

Boba raised an eyebrow. "You think there's crayons in prison?"

"We'll have to stop by the nursery and see if the tubies have any– hey!" Sinker rubbed where Boost had elbowed him in the gut.

Koon sighed like a long-suffering father. He sort of was, Boba had come to realize. He spent all of his money on snacks for his soldiers and he was pretty sure that he had caught Wolffe mouthing buir more than once. He almost reminded him of Kal, if Kal wasn't a complete fucking shitstain cunt. The Wolfpack, as they called themselves, seemed to all adore him.

The ramp lowered and the group hurried down, jogging together to the entrance while squinting at the ground. They spread out once inside, shaking themselves like wet massiffs. Boba felt a sort of malicious glee seeing the gray water all over the sterile white floor.

"So, is there a bell that we ring or something?" Tano asked, rolling her left arm and wincing like she'd just gotten punched. She had done that earlier, too, after they'd been dancing for almost an hour straight and she had accidentally smacked her arm on the bunk ladder.

"No need," Koon said mildly, then gestured down the hall.

Nala Se, flanked by Commander Blitz and a tall, red-skinned Togruta woman with a lightsaber were approaching. Boba could just barely see the stock of a shotgun poking over the back of Blitz's shoulder, and he had a hand on one of his two DC-17s.

"Master Jedi." Nala Se bowed to Koon. "I am pleased to welcome you to Tipoca City. And I am glad to see that you did not perish on Geonosis alongside your father, Boba."

Boba stared at the ground and suddenly wished that he hadn't left Robert on the ship. He really didn't want to be back here. Tano placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He felt a little better with her hand there, much to his annoyance.

"Boozhoo, Ahsoka." The tall Togruta Jedi that was stationed at Tipoca City pulled her away from him and into a hug. His shoulder felt cold where her hand had been. "It's been too long, ogichidaakwe."

"It has, Master Shaak-Ti." Tano rubbed her left lek on the older woman's face and let her cheek be rubbed in return. They both purred like sleeping tookas. He didn't mind tookas, but the one time Dad had let him hold one he'd had a sneezing fit that lasted hours.

"Boba, you appear to be injured. May I offer the services of our medical center?" Nala Se tilted her head at him. "We are capable of…"

His heart pounded in his ears, drowning out the longneck's voice. He didn't want to go to that medical center. He already knew what they'd do, he remembered the way Dad would limp for days after the longnecks drilled into his hip to take his marrow. That's all he'd be, just a fucking bag of DNA for the rest of his life, tied down to a table with needles in his bones and those souless fucking demagolkase peering down at him calling him 'it' and he'd never see the sun again, just hear rain pounding against the roof and the thunder shaking the walls–

Before he could say anything Tano had stepped out of the other Tog's embrace and put herself in between him and Nala Se.

"No," Tano said in a voice that made the hair on Boba's neck stand up. "He doesn't go anywhere without me." She stepped behind Boba and put both of her hands on his shoulders.

Nala Se blinked her big black eyes at Tano. "It will take but a moment."

"I said no." Tano squeezed his shoulders and– was she growling? "We did not come here for medical attention. His injuries have been treated already. Nothing but time is required."

Nala Se nodded. "Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to aid you."

"Have Jango's quarters unlocked for us." Tano glanced skyward as an unexpected crack! of thunder shook the ceiling. The storm was picking up. "And I want to see Corporal Dogma."

"That will not be possible," Nala Se said, bowing her head apologetically. "It is a matter of your safety, Padawan. CT-6922 killed a Jedi. He must not be allowed near one ever again."

Boba nearly choked. A clone had killed a Jedi? Fucking hell, that was a sentence he'd never expected to hear. They were programmed from birth to worship the bastards, how could he have ever raised a weapon to one?

"I want to see Dogma," Tano said, stressing the name. "I accept the risk. You will not be liable for anything that happens to me."

"Ahsoka," Koon chided her without any real heat.

"I apologize, but the answer is still no," Nala Se said.

Tano's hands tightened on his shoulders. "Is he armed?" she asked harshly.

"No, of course not."

"Does he possess the Force?"

Nala Se looked offended. "I do not understand your line of questioning."

"I dueled Pre Viszla," she said sharply. "I fought Asajj Ventress, faced General Grievous twice, and I killed the scion of a Mandalorian clan along with over a dozen of his vassals without my lightsabers and walked away victorious from every single fight. What is Dogma capable of that makes him so deadly that my safety is at risk?"

Boba's jaw dropped to his chest, barely able to comprehend what she'd just rattled off so casually. "Holy shit," he said faintly, and the other Togruta Jedi covered her mouth and laughed softly.

Ahsoka winked at him.

Nala Se's right eyelid twitched. "ARC-2485 will escort you." Beside her, Blitz shifted his weight. "You may visit with CT-6922 for one minute, no longer."

Tano smiled wide enough for her fangs to show. "Thank you, Doctor," she said pleasantly. "I'll tell Dogma that you said hello."

Nala Se bowed her head and turned to sway gently down the hallway. Boba wondered if Tano knew what it looked like when a longneck got pissed, because the stoic, bug-eyed bitch was giving a great demonstration.

"Well done," Shaak-Ti said, her eyes twinkling. She rubbed her lek on Tano and made that rumbling noise again.

"Nobody is going to touch you, Boba, I swear," Tano said quietly in his ear. "Ni ven'kyramu ad'kebbur."

Boba nodded. After that speech, he believed her. And he was pretty sure she'd enjoy it. He was beginning to see why Tiarek liked her so much. Dad would have liked her, too, he realized. She had mandokar, the fighting spirit. He just… hadn't expected it in a Jedi.

"Come on." She clapped him on the shoulders. "Master Plo, after we see Dogma we're going to Boba's old quarters to look for anything that Jango may have left behind about the Cuy'val Dar."

Koon nodded at them, and although it was hard to tell, it looked like he was smiling. "I will accompany Master Shaak-Ti. Wolffe, Sinker, please go with Ahsoka, Boba, and Blitz. Boost, Comet, with me."

"I believe that we will be able to find information on the Mandalorians you speak of in the Kaminoan archives," Shaak-Ti added. "I know your time is limited, but I will see you again before you depart, dear girl." She winked at him. "And it was lovely to meet you, Boba."

"You too," Boba mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Alright, let's get going." Blitz jerked his head and took off in the opposite direction of Koon.

Tano kept her hand on his shoulder as they followed Blitz to a part of the facility that he'd never been to. He didn't even know they had a detention center. When he'd been growing up, if a clone didn't meet the longnecks' standards then they'd get an appointment with the incinerator, not locked up.

Maybe the Kaminoans were just that desperate for the clones they'd made when they still had access to Dad's marrow.

The Kaminoan detention center wasn't exactly impressive. It was a circular chamber with eight locked doors. Blitz led them through the first one on the left and they crowded into what was barely bigger than a closet; there was a door on the far right side which opened to yet another door where the prisoner was kept, and most of the room was taken up by a desk under an observation window.

"Nala Se said one minute, so you get one minute," Blitz said as he undid a series of electronic locks. "No touching the prisoner, no secret messages, no sneaking him any objects. Behave or I'll yank you out."

Tano smirked. Boba had a feeling that she wanted to see him try. "Stay here," she told him. "I'll just be a minute."

"If you aren't, Blitz is coming after you," Wolffe said wryly.

"Be right back." Tano gave him a wink and walked through the heavy door Blitz was holding open for her.

Wolffe pushed Boba over to the observation window overlooking the tiny room. There was a clone laying on his side in bed with a beard, shaggy hair and a hollow expression. He had a stylized V tattooed across his face and he was as thin as a wheat stalk. Dad's clones were altered to put on muscle easier than breathing; for him to be as thin as he was, he couldn't have been eating anything at all.

"Let's see how quick it takes her to break the 'no touching' rule," Wolffe mumbled, smirking at Sinker.

"I give her fifteen seconds," Sinker whispered.

"Generous," Wolffe quipped back.

"If he killed a Jedi, why does Tano want to see him so bad?" Boba asked Wolffe.

Wolffe glanced at Sinker. "It's a long story," he said quietly. "We'll talk about it once we leave."

"On program," Blitz ordered through the microphone sitting on the desk.

Dogma didn't move.

"I said on program, Corporal. Now."

Dogma dragged himself to his feet and stood, swaying slightly, and placed his hands on the back of his head. His arms were like twigs and his ribs jutted out through the gap between the top and bottom of his red fatigues.

Boba didn't know how to feel about it.

Blitz turned up the audio so they could hear their conversation, then crossed his arms.

"Dogma!" Tano charged through the final door once it unlocked and immediately embraced the emaciated man.

"Told you," Wolffe snickered.

"Commander?" Dogma's eyes went wide and after a second of shock he returned her hug. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and broke down into tears. "Commander, I'm… I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry."

"Don't touch the prisoner, Commander Tano!" Blitz bellowed into the microphone. He was too loud, the speaker shrieked from the feedback.

"Ke'shabi nebat," Tano snarled over her shoulder, then pulled back and cupped Dogma's face. "Ke'sushi, Dogma," she said rapidly in Mando'a, so quiet that Boba could barely hear it over the speaker. "Gar cuy cin'kar'ta. Gar cuy jat'verd. Gar ru'cabuor Republika. Ni partayli. Gar vode partayli. Ni ven'akaani akay gar cuy yaim. Ne noy'ganar manda. Mhi ne'nibra."

"Now, Commander!" Blitz yelled again. He stomped away from the desk and unlocked the second door.

"Do you understand? I won't stop, Dogma." Tano smoothed his overgrown hair out of his face.

"On program!"

"Commander, please don't leave me here," Dogma sobbed.

She was crying now, too. She pulled him into another hug. "I'm sorry, Dogma."

"On fucking program now, prisoner!" Blitz ripped the third door open and jerked her out of Dogma's arms with one strong hand.

"Don't touch her!" Dogma screeched, grabbing at Blitz; Boba could do nothing but stare as he saw the clone go for Blitz's sidearm in a panic, trying to protect his Jedi.

"Shab," Wolffe snarled. He stepped away from the window and tried the door, but it was locked and keyed for the Kamino guard alone.

Tano brought her arms up hard like wings, freeing herself from the wampa hold, and at the same time she dropped down to one knee. She locked her ankle around Blitz's and then used his own body weight to flip him over her head and onto his back. She spun over him, still kneeling, and pinned him to the ground with a knee on his throat. "Stand down, Corporal!" she ordered Dogma.

Dogma retreated to the wall and stood at attention, suddenly every inch a soldier again. "Sir, yes Sir!" he barked. There was a spark of life in his eyes where there hadn't been a minute earlier.

"Well I'll be damned," Sinker mumbled to himself.

Boba blew out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. That was fucking wizard.

"That was for your safety," Tano said quietly to Blitz. "I'm going to let you up now, Commander. No hard feelings, 'lek?" She released him and stood, keeping herself between Blitz and Dogma.

Blitz was on his feet in less than a second and shaking with anger. "Out," he seethed. "Now."

"Alright, alright." Tano held her hands up, smiled at Dogma one last time, then let Blitz shove her out.

Boba could barely comprehend what he'd just seen. Tano had flipped a fucking ARC twice her size like he was a sack of tatos, and she'd done it using an Echani throw. Since when did the Jedi learn Echani?

"Everyone, move," Blitz snapped, marching Tano forward with a heavy hand latched around her rear lek. The three scuffled to get through the door behind Blitz and Tano before they got too far. He walked her out of the circular antechamber and back out into the hall.

"You were given specific instructions–"

"By Nala Se, yes," Tano said with a smirk. She smacked his hand away from her lek. "I am under no obligation to follow her orders."

"And by me–"

"You don't outrank me." She actually fucking giggled. Was she insane?

"Listen here, you insubordinate little shit–" Blitz yanked her back by the shoulder and slammed her against the wall with his arm across her chest.

Wolffe and Sinker immediately lunged forward to intercept the furious ARC, but not before Boba had snatched Sinker's deece out of its holster. "Let her go," he said calmly, pointing it at Blitz.

The amused little tooka-like smirk dropped off of Tano's face and was replaced with fear. "Boba, no!" she gasped.

"Calm down, it's on stun." Boba double checked then flipped a switch. "Okay, now it's on stun."

Blitz lowered his arm and backed off, and Boba was pretty sure that he had turned purple under his bucket.

"Boba, put the blaster down," Tano ordered.

Boba immediately flipped the safety on then handed it back to Sinker by the barrel.

"I think we can find our way from here, Commander," Tano said calmly, stepping away from the wall and in front of Boba.

Blitz snorted. "Have fun. Prime's old quarters are on the sixth floor, section Tau, all the way at the end of the hall. Doubt you'll find anything, though, they emptied it the day after he bit it."

Boba's heart stopped. "What? What did they do with all of our stuff?" Boba asked faintly.

"Incinerator, probably." Blitz spun on his heel and charged away, his kama flapping angrily with every step.

"Incin–" Boba said to himself in disbelief. No, they couldn't have just thrown it in the incinerator.

"Boba, look at me." Tano leaned down until she was at eye level with him. "Take a deep breath. It's going to be okay."

"They– he was just being mean, right?" Boba nearly whispered.

"I don't know," she said quietly, then put her hands on his shoulders. "Just breathe for a few seconds with me."

He squeezed his eyes shut. It couldn't be gone. Blitz was just being a dickhead because he was mad at Tano for flipping him. It wasn't gone. "We have to go see!" he said urgently, then bolted.

"Boba, wait!" Tano called after him.

He was already halfway down the hall. He slid around the corner and found the staircase, the one with the squeaky step on the third level that sounded exactly like an aiwha screeching, and he made it up faster than ever now that his ribs weren't on fire. He heard shouting behind him from Tano and the Wolfpack but he didn't care, they knew where he was going.

He had to see. He had to.

He burst onto the sixth floor and made a beeline for his quarters. Everything looked the same, even at this speed, and it almost made him dizzy with the memories that came flooding back.

"Come on, Bo'ika, it's time for bed. You can watch them practice tomorrow."

"Boba, look, I did it! Dad, I did the knot just like you showed me!"

"Smile big for Mama! Cassus, don't pull Tiarek's hair–"

"Boba, what did I tell you about dropping Reks'ika's tooka doll down the vent?"

"You're leaving again, aren't you?"

"Look Boba, we twins!"

"Mama loves you so much, my Bo'ika."

"Daddy, you hurt him! Wexika!"

"Pack your things. We're leaving."

Boba reached his home and slid the door open, fully expecting his father to be sitting on the couch with his mouth hanging open and snoring, dead asleep halfway through another holo.

It was empty. Completely empty. Even the furniture was gone. The couch that had a bite mark on the leg from Mird chewing on it, their round meal table with the paint stains, the holoprojector that went as big as the whole wall, the height markings that Dad had proudly recorded on his birthday every year in the kitchen, Dad's quetarra; all gone. He rushed into Dad's room and climbed the closet shelves like he'd done a hundred times before.

Boba's eyes burned. It was gone. Everything was gone. It was like they'd never even existed. He dropped from the shelves and sank down to his knees. He felt exactly like the home he'd grown up in.

Empty.

"Boba? No, you guys stay out. Just stay out, okay? I've got it." Tano placed a hesitant hand on his back. "Boba?"

"It's gone," Boba whispered. "It's…" His eyes hurt so badly, why did they hurt? He couldn't breathe through his nose, either. "He's gone."

There was no pretending anymore. Dad was gone. The Slave I was gone. Now, even the last things he had of his dead mother and brother were gone.

"Ahsoka," he cried, and curled up on himself. "It's gone."

"Boba, oh vod'ika–" she pulled him backwards into her lap and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry."

The dam opened. He couldn't stop it anymore. It was gone, everything was gone, it had all changed and it was never going to be good again. Dad was dead. Mama and Cas were dead. Tiarek barely knew who he was. Everyone was gone and they were never coming back. Nobody loved him anymore. The only people who remembered his dad just wanted to use him. It hurt so bad every single day and it just never stopped.

"Ke'duumi, Boba," Ahsoka whispered, rocking him. She was doing that rumbly purr thing. It felt good, like a hug inside of his chest. "Don't fight it. Just let it all out."

"I miss him," he bawled. "I want my da-a-ad." He cried like a fucking baby, and he hated himself for it.

"Of course you do, vod'ika, of course you miss your dad." She rubbed her lek on his cheek. It was softer than he expected and smelled spicy, like corn pollen. "He loved you so much. I know you love him too. That's why it hurts. You have all that love and nowhere for it to go."

"Why did he have to die?" Boba sobbed. "Why didn't he fly away?"

"I don't know. I wish I did." Her rumbles got louder.

"I see it all the time," Boba cried. "I see his… his head…"

Ahsoka kissed his forehead. "I hate that you saw that, vod'ika."

"It's my fault," he sobbed. "I forgot it and they burned it."

"What did they burn?" Ahsoka's hands were so gentle that it almost hurt.

"The bo-o-ox," he bawled. "I forgot to pack it but we were going to come back and get it after… after Geonosis…"

"I'm sorry." Ahsoka whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"I didn't bury him," Boba wept. "He– he's still there. They stripped his beskar'gam, I know they did, they probably melted it down and s-s-sold it."

"I'll find out. I promise, Boba, I'll find out. It's okay. Keep getting it out, Bo'ika, it's okay."

He cried into Ahsoka's warm, squishy lek until he was so exhausted that he could barely draw breath. Her hands, soft in a way Aurra's never were, rubbed soothing circles on his back and scratched his scalp until his whole head tingled. Eventually he ran out of tears and just sat hiccupping and shaking, still unable to really stop.

Ahsoka wiped his eyes with her thumbs then smiled at him, her own eyes swollen and wet. "Your dad would be so proud of you, Boba. You've survived so much. Gar ijaati kaysh. Every step you take forward in this life is because of how well he taught you."

He almost started crying again.

"Plo's outside, so we're gonna wash our faces and let him in now, okay?" She kissed his forehead again. "I bet he's got some good news. I don't know about you, but I am very ready to get out of this shithole."

Boba laughed, a little shocked at a curse word coming out of her mouth. She was so proper, it was just wrong.

After a quick splash on their faces with water from the fresher, Ahsoka let in Plo, Shaak-Ti and the Wolfpack. There was a new clone with them that had to be Mangle. He had a prosthetic jaw made of plastoid and a wild look in his eyes. His hair was shaved on the sides and a little longer than regulation on top, showing his curls.

"Koh-to-yah, Boba," Plo said gently. "I am sorry to see that your father's things are gone."

"Yeah," Boba sniffed.

Ahsoka pulled him towards her until he was flush against her chest and hugged him from behind. "Were you successful, Master?" she asked, swaying gently from side to side and still purring.

Plo's face relaxed from its squinch. "Unfortunately, no. It seems as though the records were all wiped and overwritten."

"The archivists know that it existed, and after analyzing the hard drives they believe that the records were tampered with some time around the First Battle of Geonosis," Shaak-Ti added. "I am sorry, dear girl, but there is no lead to be found on Kamino."

Ahsoka's arms tightened around him. "What about Jango's armor?" she asked, and Boba's heart skipped a beat. "His remains were never recovered from Geonosis. Do you think that there's a possibility that he kept a backup of his records with him?"

"It is possible." Plo and Shaak-Ti exchanged a look. "Going to Geonosis to find out, however… The search may take months, assuming it is still there, and with the war…"

"A few days are perfectly reasonable, though, right, Master?"

It sounded perfectly reasonable to Boba. He blinked at the Kel Dor, afraid of his response.

"It would be an incredible intelligence asset," Ahsoka added in the pregnant silence. "We may find out information on the formation of the CIS. Maybe even find out who the Sith Lord is."

Plo tilted his head. "I cannot disagree on that front, little 'Soka."

"Really?" Boba breathed. "Y-you… you'll help find my dad's beskar'gam?"

"It sounds, as Ahsoka said, perfectly reasonable." Plo's face squinched up again. Boba realized he was grinning.

"Well then, it's settled." Ahsoka squeezed Boba. "Ready to leave?" she asked softly.

"Boba, what did I tell you about dropping Reks'ika's tooka doll down the vent?"

"Wait!" Boba gasped, suddenly remembering. He bolted to his room and got down on his belly in the corner, peering down the intake vent.

It was there. It was there. The longnecks missed it. "Here!" he said excitedly to Ahsoka. "Down there, can you reach it?"

She squeezed in and looked with one big eye. "Uh, yeah, let me just–" Her eyes closed and her fingers moved gently, then the tooka doll floated out of the vent like a feather on an updraft.

Boba snatched it out of the air and grinned at it. It was just like he remembered, crocheted with silver and blue yarn and stuffed with the shreds of one of Dad's worn-out undershirts. There was still a tiny hole between the ears and a loop of string wrapped around its waist. The black button eyes stared back. It was a little dusty, but not nearly as much as he would have expected from being in the vent for six years.

"What was he doing down there?" Ahsoka asked.

Boba flushed. "I used to pretend he was going on secret spy missions. That's why he had the string, so he could rappel out."

He looked up at Ahsoka, feeling stupid, but she was beaming at him.

She held her hand out. "Now are you ready?" she asked.

He hugged the dusty tooka doll, looked one last time around the place he'd grown up in, then took Ahsoka's hand. "Let's get out of this shithole," he said decisively.

"Geonosis?" Anakin's hologram wrinkled its nose. "Ahsoka, are you sure about this?"

"Well, I can't think of anywhere else to find a lead." Ahsoka sat in the commhub chair with her knees tucked below her chin. She picked at a loose thread hanging from her linen sleeping shorts.

"What about that Kal Skirto guy that you mentioned?" Anakin asked.

Ahsoka bit down a giggle. "Skirata. Rex told me about that panyapako, he allowed his crazy Null squad to abuse Boba. I'm not bringing him anywhere near Skirata until I've exhausted every other option, and I doubt I'll get any help from him anyway. Boba filled me in on his priorities."

Anakin nodded, looking unhappy. "If you say so."

"I do," Ahsoka said firmly. "Someone scrubbed the archives on Kamino. I have to assume it was one of the Cuy'val Dar. For all I know, it was Skirata. Unless one of the others decides to come forward, Geonosis is it. Whoever did it wanted to make sure the odds of finding them were next to nothing."

"Well, impossible odds have never stopped you before." Anakin's smile faltered. "How's the arm?" he asked quietly.

Her right hand went up automatically to touch her bicep. "It's fine," she said with a smile. "I'm fine, Master. I'm just a little sore."

"I'm so sorry." Anakin looked away. "Ahsoka…"

"It was my fault," she assured him. "I shouldn't have pushed you that far."

Anakin closed his eyes. "I should never have–"

"I forgive you, Master," she interrupted. "I forgave you the moment it happened. You weren't in your right mind." Thunder cracked so loudly that the walls of the ship vibrated. They were still on Kamino, waiting for the unforeseen hurricane to calm down before leaving.

"Thank you, Snips." Anakin finally met her eyes. "You're a better Padawan than I deserve."

Ahsoka ducked her head and smiled. "And you're a better Jedi than you think, Skyguy."

"I guess we both have our moments," Anakin chuckled.

Beyond the commhub door she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. They were so light footed, it had to be Boba. "Mwana akubwera," she warned him in a casual tone, hoping that her little eavesdropper didn't speak Toydarian.

"Inde." Anakin gave her a wry smile.

"So how's my replacement doing?"

"Your–" Anakin threw his head back and laughed. "You mean Taarak? How'd you hear about him?"

"Rex. Apparently you dropped a teething Togruta toddler off at the barracks instead of taking him straight to the Temple? Rex sent me about twenty messages in a panic because he bit Cody and he didn't know how to tell if he had venom glands or not. I told him that it doesn't come in until we're at least four years old, but still." Ahsoka raised a brow marking.

Anakin bit his lip. "They were, uh, on the way?"

Ahsoka snorted. "Sure."

"Fine, I wanted them to meet him before he went to the crèche. But then Obi-Wan wouldn't leave me alone when I landed, and I told him to drive me to the barracks but he's an idiot and he took me to the 212th's."

Ahsoka snorted. "And why'd you dump the baby on them, again?"

"I'll have you know that I was the one who was being considerate of the baby."

Ahsoka laughed. "So you dropped him off so you could yell at Master Kenobi, then?"

"He wouldn't shut up about your 'foul attitude.' " Anakin rolled his eyes. "And no matter how many times I told him I wasn't talking to him, he just ignored me and kept going. You're going to have to take one for the team here, Snips, or I'm going to throw him off the roof."

"That's a respectful 'hell no' from me, Master."

"I'll give you fifty credits."

"Nope."

"I'll take you to a Gungan shaak roast."

Ahsoka paused. "No."

"Please?"

"Just go give him your new little angel, distract him with some porg eyes," Ahsoka said bitterly. "Works every time."

"Someone's jealous," Anakin snickered.

"Wh– jealous?" Ahsoka sputtered. "I'm not jealous. What would I even be jealous about?"

"I don't know, you sound pretty jealous."

"I am not jealous," Ahsoka sniffed. "He's more than welcome to trick some other gullible kid into trusting him. He'll learn the truth eventually."

Her Master's face fell. "Ahsoka, don't say that."

"It's true."

Anakin sighed. "I'll let you go. Just be careful on Geonosis. I know it's been secured, but those tunnels are endless. I don't know how safe they will be."

"I'll have Plo and the Wolfpack to watch my back. Plus, Boba's a pretty good shot from what I remember."

Anakin's brows went up. "Don't tell me you're going to give him a blaster," he said, alarmed.

"You're right," Ahsoka said, nodding solemnly. "He needs more protection than that. A shotgun would be better."

Anakin's eyes bugged out.

"I think I can find a disintegration module for it too–"

"Ahsoka!" Anakin exclaimed, dismayed. "Don't you dare!"

Ahsoka laughed. "Fine. You're no fun."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Be safe," he said, then ended the call.

Ahsoka stretched, yawned loudly, and made sure the chair squeaked before she got up. She heard the rapid pitter-patter of footsteps scampering away from the commhub door and chuckled.

Boba was wrapped in a blanket on the couch, pretending to be asleep by the time she made it out to the salon pod. Robert's nose poked out from the edge of the blanket along with the ears of the tooka doll. Ahsoka took a seat two cushions away from him and tucked her legs underneath her.

Boba let out an unconvincing yawn and blinked at her. "Hi."

"Hey." Ahsoka smiled at him. "Why're you sleeping out here?"

"Storm was louder in the cabin." He sat up and let the blanket fall to his waist. Plo had bought him a very nice set of red pajamas that he now wore, though they were a little big on him. His aura was vibrantly green in a way that she couldn't have imagined just the day before, but it was crawling with residual yellow humiliation.

"Do you want to talk about today?" she asked gently.

"I already made enough of a fool of myself, I think," he mumbled. The yellow intensified.

"You didn't make a fool of yourself." She scooched a little bit closer to him. "We cry when we're sad for a reason, Boba."

"Babies cry," he muttered, worrying at Robert's felted claws. "I'm too old to cry like that."

"You're never too old to mourn."

Boba's aura went violet with grief-regret. Ahsoka reached out with a tendril of copper affection and waited for him to speak. "Aurra didn't like it when I cried," he admitted. "I only did it once, after I broke my ankle. She slapped me and told me my dad would be ashamed of me for being such a little bitch."

The red-hot rage that rose up inside of Ahsoka nearly blinded her. She controlled her breathing, centered herself, and controlled its release into the Force. Boba didn't need her anger right now, he needed nurturing and reassurance.

"Ti– Rex, he said Dad would have skinned her slow for what she did," Boba continued. He stared at the tooka doll. "I thought she cared about me. She acted like she did, but I don't…" he glanced at her and then looked away, his aura suddenly going a deep, painful yellow with shame. "I heard Bossk tell her once that she shouldn't be doing that with me. I wasn't ready yet. She told him to mind his own business."

"She never should have done that to you," Ahsoka whispered. "Never, Boba. I'm so sorry that nobody was there to protect you."

Boba's shoulders slumped and he nodded. His aura was leeching green again, going dull and gray. She waited for him to continue, if he wanted to, but he stayed silent and started to stew.

"What was your dad like?" Ahsoka asked, gently changing the subject. He liked when people talked about his dad, she'd noticed. "I admit, I don't know a lot about him. Just bits and pieces."

"Probably nothing good, either." Boba turned the tooka doll over in his hands and Ahsoka took the opportunity to scooch a little closer. "He wasn't just a bounty hunter or the template. He was funny. He played quetarra and sang for us– for me, I mean."

Ahsoka desperately wanted to ask if he was including Rex, but let him keep talking.

"He liked action holos, but even when the volume was up really loud he'd fall asleep before the end." Boba's lips twitched in a half-smile. "And he could draw really, really well. He didn't do it a lot, but he used to when I was little. He could make a drawing out of pencil that looked like it was a holopic." Boba's aura slowly lightened from that bruised, painful, dark violet grief into a desperate lavender longing. "He took me on a few jobs with him. He wanted me to learn. He taught me how to shoot, and three different ways to slice and how to pilot, and, and…" he trailed off and swallowed hard. His eyes were shiny again. "He told me he loved me every day. Even when he was mad at me because I'd done something stupid or messed up, he still always told me he loved me." Boba sniffed. "I miss him."

Ahsoka smiled sadly. "He sounds pretty awesome."

"He was." He hugged Robert tightly. "Do you remember your parents?"

"Yeah." Ahsoka leaned back against the couch and tilted her head so that her lek was barely touching Boba's head. "Not much, but I do remember them. I was three when Plo found me."

"Why'd they give you up?" Boba asked, then flushed. "I mean, why'd they let him? Didn't they… didn't they want you?"

"My dad was actually the one who contacted the Temple," Ahsoka said quietly. "But my mom was having second thoughts. I remember her arguing with him over it."

"She didn't want you to go?"

"No. She thought I'd be fine. She said her mother could use the Force, too." Ahsoka shrugged. "There's a word for it in Binishii, I just can't remember it. Mew- something. My dad wanted me to go, though. He was sure it was my destiny. But, um…"

Boba tilted his head. "What?"

Ahsoka bit her lip. "He died. He drowned. It was about a month before Plo came for me. We were fishing, and he slipped and hit his forehead on some rocks." Ahsoka smiled sadly. "The one place we don't have extra padding, right? But he went under the water and I wasn't strong enough to pull him out. I tried, and tried, and finally I used the Force, even though I didn't even know what the Force was yet. I got him out but it was too late, he'd been under for… well, I don't know how long. It felt like hours. After that, my mom wanted to honor his last wish for me."

Ahsoka blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. She hadn't thought about her father in forever; not before Obi-Wan's funeral, at least. It was just one of those things that had happened to her. It was sad and she missed him, but Crèchemaster Veirexim had helped her release her frustration over her inability to save her father to the Force ages ago.

It wasn't guilt that haunted her. She had done everything she could, she knew that, it was the helplessness over not being able to do more. She hated feeling helpless more than anything. Master Kenobi had made her feel helpless, too, when he made her find his bleeding corpse in a filthy alley. It had been his real blood, too, she could still smell it in her nose. He had to have withdrawn it and kept it on ice in preparation. For all of the talk about Anakin's reaction being the selling point, he'd certainly gone out of his way to personally fool her at every turn.

"At least you tried to save your dad," Boba said bitterly, distracting her from her spiral of self-pity. His aura was flooded with violet grief-regret again. "I just watched. I saw Windu going for him and I just… watched."

"You couldn't have stopped it," Ahsoka said sympathetically, and reached for his hand. "Even if you'd been standing next to him, you couldn't have stopped it."

"I know," Boba said, and his aura flared green with bitterness. "I wasn't good enough."

"That's not why, Bo'ika, the only one who could have stopped it was your dad. He made the choice to confront Master Windu. He could have surrendered."

Boba snorted. "He was a Mandalorian. He never surrendered." He looked away and his aura darkened back into violet grief. "I wish he had, though."

"I wish he had too, for your sake." Ahsoka wiped her eyes and sniffed.

"Hey, don't cry," Boba said awkwardly. "You couldn't have done anything either."

"I know," she said, half-laughing. "It was a long time ago. I don't know why I'm crying about it."

"Well, you said we cry when we're sad for a reason." Boba nudged her with his shoulder. "I think you're sad, Tano."

Ahsoka did laugh at that. "Guess I am." She gave him a watery smile. "I've never told anyone that before, you know. About my father."

Boba watched her sniffle for a few seconds, then sighed. "You need a hug?" he asked, sounding for all the world like it was an imposition, but his aura shimmered with pale green hope.

Ahsoka nodded and opened her arms. He slipped right in and rested his head on her chest like he'd done it a million times before. "Dad told me Togs are needy as hell," Boba said quietly. "If they don't get hugs everyday they go insane, or something."

Ahsoka laughed softly and rubbed her lek against his velvety stubble. It was an accurate, if crude, summary of a Togruta's high haptic needs. "Yeah. Pretty much. Thanks, vod'ika."

He didn't answer at first. "You're welcome, ori'vod," he finally said in a voice so quiet that she wondered if he'd actually thought the words instead of speaking them.

Thunder boomed and startled them both. "This is a bad one," Boba said, the white flare of alarm in his aura quickly disappearing. "I'm surprised they haven't turned the weather matrix on yet."

"They have one of those?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah. These buildings can survive almost anything, but they still don't usually let it get this bad."

Ahsoka frowned. "Weird." It was more than weird. She'd checked the weather for Plo an hour before their descent, and while it had been storming, she hadn't seen anything with rotation on radar. Not long after they'd landed, though, the storm had intensified into a full on Grade II hurricane.

She suddenly had a bad feeling that the weather matrix was already on.

"We should go." Ahsoka patted Boba on the back for him to scoot and popped up once he released her. "Come to the cockpit with me."

"We shouldn't take off with winds this strong," Boba said, jogging to keep up with her long stride. "You should comm the control tower–"

"No," Ahsoka said shortly. Her heartbeat echoed in her montrals and there was a lump of dread in her belly. "We need to be in the air, now." She slid the cockpit doors open with the Force. It was empty except for Plo's astromech. "Chart a course for Geonosis and start charging the hyperdrive," she ordered Arseven, then took a seat. "I want to jump the second we break atmo."

"What's wrong?" Boba asked. His aura had gone staticky white with fear-anxiety.

Ahsoka considered lying to him, but decided he could handle it. "This storm wasn't supposed to be this bad," she said grimly. "I think they're delaying us on purpose."

Boba's eyes went wide and his aura went a deep gray with determination-focus. He sat in the co-pilot's seat and started to strap in.

"No," Ahsoka said firmly, booting up the surface-level navigation hologram. "Go man the cannon."

She would have laughed at the familiar look of manic glee on his face if she wasn't trying to run seven different programs at the same time. It reminded her of Hardcase. "Really?" he breathed.

"Yep." She handed him a headset. "Wait for my mark."

Boba slipped through the doors and nearly ran into Plo. He watched Boba leave with a teal aura of confusion-concern. "Ahsoka, what is going on? What are you doing?"

"We need to leave now, Master," Ahsoka said grimly. "They're worsening the storm so we can't leave. They're delaying us on purpose, and I don't want to stay and find out why."

"How do you know this?"

Ahsoka fired up the engines then looked at Plo with pleading eyes. "Master, please, you're a Baran Do Sage. Can't you feel that this storm is unnatural?"

Plo closed his eyes, then stilled. Ahsoka watched his aura fluctuate with bleach-beige unease and he took the co-pilot's seat. "You are correct. We should leave."

The entire ship shuddered as the Kaminoan docking clamp locked down their landing gear.

"Consular Cruiser Babasta, this is Tower, do you copy?" A clone's voice came through the comms in the dashboard.

"Karabast," Ahsoka growled. "Babasta, copy."

"You are not cleared to take off, Babasta, please turn off your engines and wait for clearance."

"Negative, Tower. We're leaving now." Ahsoka slapped on the exhaust exchange switches above her head.

"Nobody is leaving until the storm is over, Babasta. The atmosphere is too–"

A crack of thunder that felt like a concussion grenade split the air directly overhead. Ahsoka spied the weather matrix tower on a platform a few miles to the east, active and glowing, and toggled to the internal comms.

"Cannon, check."

"Cannon, copy."

"Boba, charge the cannon and aim at coordinates oh-seven-oh-eight-eight, ten degrees above the horizon." she ordered. "Do not fire until I give the command."

"Sir, yes Sir," Boba snickered over the comm.

"Ahsoka–" Plo warned.

"Please trust me, Master," Ahsoka replied through gritted teeth. She toggled back the comms. "Tower, you will release the docking clamp and allow us to leave immediately." Ahsoka listened to the mechanical whine of the turbolaser cannon powering up.

"I'm sorry, Commander, but all flight traffic is locked down until the storm passes."

"Boba, raise five degrees and fire a warning shot," Ahsoka said calmly.

"Copy that."

The sky lit up with green as Boba loosed a turbolaser bolt towards the weather matrix and Ahsoka heard him cackle over the comm. It sailed harmlessly over the tower and disappeared into the clouds.

"Commander Tano, what are you doing?" the clone in the tower asked frantically.

"The next one takes out the weather matrix," Ahsoka said coldly. "Release my ship, now."

"Commander, I have orders!"

"You have five seconds to comply." Ahsoka gripped the yoke. "Five."

"Please, Sir, let me get my CO!"

"Four." Ahsoka flushed the coolant. She was going to need it nice and icy for the thrusters if she had to break the clamp. Consulars weren't known for their efficient energy distribution.

"Commander, I can't just disobey a direct order, you know that!"

"Three. Boba, lower five degrees and prepare to fire." She felt bad for whichever poor vod was on the other end, but there was no way she was going to risk her vod'ika by staying a second longer.

"Fuck yeah!" The cannon whined as Boba aimed it directly at the weather matrix.

She tried not to shake from the adrenaline.

"I am with you, Ahsoka," Plo reassured her.

Her breathing steadied. "Two," Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. This was not a bluff the kaminiise wanted to call.

The docking clamp released their landing gear with a thunk. "You are clear for takeoff, Babasta." The clone sounded disgusted.

"Stand down, Boba."

"Awww!"

Ahsoka laughed. "Tell Nala Se goodbye for me, Tower. Over and out."

"What's happening?" Wolffe appeared in the cockpit with his kit on and a deece at the ready. "Are we under attack?"

"Take us up, little 'Soka," Plo said serenely. "Wolffe, we are leaving. I shall debrief the pack once we are in hyperspace."

Wolffe swallowed. "Yes, General."

Ahsoka punched up and navigated through the dangerous winds. A Consular Cruiser really wasn't built for an environment as hostile as a hurricane. Lightning struck directly beside them and Ahsoka's montrals rang like a bell.

"Little 'Soka?" Plo asked. She could barely hear him over the ringing.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth. She pinched her nose shut with one hand and blew, keeping the other on the yoke.

By the time they broke atmo, her resonance chambers had reinflated and her hearing was normal again. Arseven beeped and the blue lights of hyperspace streaked across the cockpit.

Ahsoka sat back and sighed.

Plo undid his seat belt. "With me, Commander. Ahsoka, join us as soon as you can."

"Be right there, Master." Ahsoka glanced at Boba, who had strapped into the navigator's seat and was watching her with a look of awe.

"Ni ven'kyramu ad'kebbur," she said quietly. "I promise, vod'ika."

Boba smiled. "I trust you, ori'vod."

Notes:

MANDO'A TRANSLATIONS Ni ven'kyramu ad'kebbur: I will kill anyone who tries Kaminiise: Kaminoans Vod/vod'ika/ori'vod: sibling/lil sib/big sib Ke'shebi nebat: fuck off Ke'sushi, Dogma. Gar cuy cin'kar'ta. Gar cuy jat'verd. Gar ru'cabuor Republika. Ni partayli. Gar vode partayli. Ni ven'akaani akay gar cuy yaim. Ne noy'ganar manda. Mhi ne'nibra: Listen, Dogma. You are pure hearted. You are a good soldier. You protected the Republic. I remember. Your brothers remember. I will fight until you are home. Don't lose spirit. We won't fail. gar ijaati kaysh: You honor him TOYDARIAN TRANSLATIONS Mwana akubwera: Kid is coming Inde: Yes Panyapako: Asshole TOGRUTI TRANSLATIONS (BINISHII DIALECT) boozhoo: hello ogichidaakwe: female warrior OTHER NOTES Echani: special forces martial arts, the fighting style that the clones learned. I don't actually know if it's Mando specific, wookieepedia doesn't say, but let's pretend it is Fáng Shìlóng: Jedi martial art style. It doesn't have a name so I'm naming it lmao. I'm imagining it as a blend of Wushu and Tai Chi There are two canon (Legends canon, anyway) Mando'a terms for the Republic: Jetiise (Literally plural for Jedi which is dumb to use as an official term) and Tsad Droten (Technically Senate, not the Republic in general). I hate them both so we're using Republika lol I do what I want!!!!!

Taglist: @starwarsficnetwork, @soliloquy-of-nemo Dividers: @saradika-graphics

#clone wars #fanfiction #commander cody #star wars #star wars fanfic #tivaevae #lamaenthel #ahsoka tano #boba fett #captain rex #plo koon #commander wolffe #arc trooper fives #arc trooper jesse #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #tcw #clone troopers #starwarsficnetwork #star wars tcw #mandalorian #jedi #my writing #dngg

[sustraiii]

Was very fortunate to be able to commission @sthefbooh again after the wonderful drawing they did of ZRCN.

Naturally, I just had to get the stunning Helia Vines - our resident Vytal winner, unofficial fifth member of ZRCN, mentor, warrior goddess, and all around great person.

#team HNSA #helia vines #sheeeeeee #i love helia so much #so glad i was convinced to bring her back for arcs 3 and 4 #wouldn't be the same without her

[peppermintbee]

OMORI has poor writing (Part 1)

OMORI stans, just block the #omori hate tag now because I’m going to use it to vent my frustrations with this game. If you love this game, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. I am glad it means a lot to you. I’m not here to take that away from you. I honestly wish I felt the same way!

However, if you are like me and finished the game feeling disappointed, underwhelmed, and maybe a little frustrated, then I am here to say you are not alone. OMORI--while having the right set pieces for an interesting game--is a narrative mess.

I’m splitting this into two posts. This first post is about problems with the plot. The second is about problems with the message/moral. 

(Note: I use “OMORI” in all-caps for the game title, and “Omori” in title case for the character name.)

Spoilers and criticism below.

Part 1: Plot Writing Lies

There’s a book by Brian McDonald called Invisible Ink which is about how to write a compelling story (you can read this great book online for free here). There’s an explanation of the writing “lie” that I find myself frequently thinking of. A “lie” in this context does not mean something is literally untrue, it means something FEELS untrue, unrealistic, improbable, or unlikely. For example, if a character gets shot in the leg but manages to do parkour, this is a “lie” since it seems unrealistic for that to happen. If a character witnesses their beloved parent’s death and shrugs it off, it’s a “lie” because that reaction seems highly unlikely.

In OMORI, the plot is held together by multiple little lies that--try as I might--I just couldn’t bring myself to believe.

1. Sunny’s friends care about him, and vice versa

A major theme of the game is how friendship can overcome any obstacle. Friendship gets Sunny over his fear of heights, spiders, and water. Friendship is what Sunny remembers before the final boss fight, and allows him to face his guilt and defeat it (and prevent him from committing suicide). With the photobook and dialogue you are reminded over and over and over and over and over again that Sunny’s friends love him unconditionally.

However, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. The childhood memories are cute but shallow, boiling down to simply hanging out and eating treats. Plus, Kel and Aubrey fight constantly, with Aubrey even physically hitting Kel when he steps out of line. Hero and Mari behave more like babysitters than true friends to the younger kids. 

But at least the other kids interact with each other. Sunny, on the other hand, showed nearly no affection or consideration towards his friends. He floats through the memories like a ghost--he could have been completely absent from all the photos and it would have made little difference. I was ready to accept this as Sunny being an unreliable narrator and not thinking he was a good enough for his friends, but this never contradicted. Instead we are given even more memories where Sunny just silently exists there being “cute.”

[Sunny enriching the lives of his friends by LARPING as a cat.]

Because of the lack of meaningful interactions between them, there was nothing in the game that made me think that these 12-15 year olds would have a strong enough bond that would survive 3-4 years of no contact after finding their friend hanged. In fact, that discovery only drove them farther apart. The only person who I could believe actually had a close bond was Basil, who almost literally filled that trope of being the friend who would help you bury a body (or in this case, help Sunny cover up the accidental manslaughter).

The writing fix for this would be simple: instead of showing us the same boring birthday and beach scenes over again, give the kids memories of overcoming some age-appropriate adversity together: heartbreak over an unrequited crush, anxiety over homework, sports injury, lost dogs, divorced parents, running away from home, bullying, etc. Set a precedent of the friends supporting each other through good times AND bad times. Without such backstory, Sunny’s friendships allegedly giving him the courage to overcome his guilt feels like a lie.

2. Sunny abandoning Basil in the bathroom scene

One of the most confusing moments in the game was Sunny’s negligence when Basil has his first breakdown in his bathroom. This part of the game is player-controlled, which is a strange writing decision because all you can do is click on Basil and various bathroom amenities over and over which completely saps the urgency out of the scene. When you try to leave, Basil begs Sunny to stay, but (due to a lack of player options) Sunny walks out without a word. With no option to talk to him OR get help for him, it makes Sunny seem exceptionally cruel to Basil. In fact, I was starting to wonder if the game was setting up for some sort of twist that Sunny DIDN’T care about his friends, which would fix some of the confusion in point #1. However, as we know, that is not the case. Therefore, Sunny’s negligence/apathy towards Basil’s pain feels like a lie.

The writing fix would be to make it MORE clear that Sunny is intentionally running away from Basil. Make it a cutscene, or, give a false choice such as “Leave Basil? Yes / Yes”. After Sunny leaves, Kel should make some remark about Sunny looking odd, “You look sort of shaken up, is there something you want to tell me?” then hit it home with Sunny shaking his head. This would make it more clear that Sunny is intentionally hiding Basil’s state, as opposed to just being a bad friend. As it stands, it just felt like a writing mistake.

3. Basil and Sunny working together to stage Mari’s death as a suicide

This is the plot hole that I see the most complaints over, but it’s so big I have to address it. Accidentally pushing Mari down the stairs I understand, but the rest is too absurd. Below are some of the “lies” that the writing tries to get away with:

That Sunny and Basil wouldn’t just claim she slipped and fell.

That either boy would even come up with this sick plan.

That they wouldn’t back out of this idea during the multi-step process (carrying her downstairs, outside, getting the jump rope, tying a noose, putting it around her neck, stringing her up, hiding the evidence... This is a series of multiple decisions, not one quick accident like the initial push.)

That it’s not the image of Mari’s death that traumatized Sunny, but the image of what they chose to do to her body that traumatized them. I understand the image of Mari hanging is more dramatic, but they literally did it themselves so why is that more haunting than Sunny killing her?

That Mari’s true cause of death wouldn’t be immediately obvious to the parents, the police, the friends, EVERYONE. (I’ve seen fans try to get rid of this plot hole by hypothesizing that the parents knew and covered it up, but the evidence of this is circumstantial at best. The father saying, “You’re not my son,” is unreliable since it happens in Sunny’s headspace. Divorce is common after the death of a child, and, at the very least, Sunny’s mom doesn’t show any evidence of knowing what happened. The way it is written, only Sunny and Basil know the truth.)

The ridiculousness of this twist is so extreme that it completely broke any immersion I had left. Frankly, the reveal that the happy, loveable Mari committed suicide is a far heavier and more realistic twist than a crazy murder-cover-up story is.

Additionally, it seems like Basil was only written into this scene in order to make Sunny the true victim of what happened. After all, Sunny may have pushed her, but it was Basil who came up with the demented cover up. (This is apparent from just the photos but the datamined Truth Album confirms it.) By having Basil come up with the plan, the game splits the guilt between the two of them to make the kids easier to sympathize with. It’s problematic because if Basil was not in the scene, there would be no way to justify what Sunny did to Mari. So why is what they did easier to accept when they worked together?

Fixing the writing lie: Sunny lies and says that Mari slipped. Remove Basil from the scene, and instead have Sunny confide in Basil which forces Basil to become a co-conspirator and burdens him with the terrible truth.

4. Sunny’s friends forgiving him and Basil for what they did to Mari

Last but not least, the story heavily implies that Hero, Kel, and Aubrey will forgive Basil and Sunny for what they did to Mari. I found this to be almost as unbelievable as the staged-suicide stunt.

It feels like a lie since the group’s friendship is never established as anything beyond shallow hang outs from 3+ years ago (see point #1).

It feels like a lie because this is hot off the heels of Aubrey being so distraught over Mari and the following fall out that in the last three days she 1.) attacked Sunny and Kel with a nail bat TWICE, 2.) Stole Basil’s photobook, and 3.) Shoved Basil in the lake. This trauma is still very fresh for her.

It feels like a lie because the complexity of the staged-suicide is so extreme, one would be hard pressed to forgive ANYONE for doing that, be it friend, foe, parent, sibling, lover, etc.

I’ve seen fans argue that the ending is not about forgiveness, it’s about telling the truth, and I want to believe that. Really. If the ending was about Sunny starting his redemption arc by telling the truth no matter what the consequences are, that would be a meaningful lesson. But the writing does not support that. The ending headspace segments are focused on assuring Sunny that his friends will support/forgive him no matter what. To do this, the game shows us the shallow photobook memories (again) to show how much they allegedly care about each other. Then, when fighting Omori, Sunny remembers these quotes from his friends, which directly correlate to their unconditional support:

KEL: Friends... Friends are supposed to be there for each other.

AUBREY: I hope you can find some peace... or you know... some happiness.

HERO: We made the mistake of leaving each other when we needed each other the most. This time... we’ll stay together.

BASIL: Maybe one day... things can go back to the way they were before.

The really direct evidence that this ending is about getting forgiveness is this quote from Basil in Sunny’s headspace:

[BASIL: “AUBREY, KEL and HERO are good friends. You have to trust that they’ll forgive us.”]

This is one of the last scenes before Sunny tells his friends the truth, proving that obtaining forgiveness from his FRIENDS is in fact the leading motivation for Sunny’s actions.

Fixing this writing lie is easy. Instead, adjust the writing to be about telling the truth, not about how much the friends will still love Sunny. Have headspace Basil say, “Even if they don’t forgive us, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero deserve to know the truth. It’s the only way to make things right... or close to it.”

Conclusion

OMORI is undeniably a cute game with a strong visual identity, and has a premise that could make for a very compelling experience. However, the sloppy plot and weak character writing cause the potential of this game to be squandered. There are other issues as well that I chose not to cover for the sake of time, such as the poor pacing of the dragged out dungeons and the bizarre, unrealistic behavior of characters in the “real” world. 

However, there are a few more glaring problems with OMORI that I have to address: In part 2 of my critique, I break down what may be the biggest problem with OMORI’s writing: the message.

[ Link to Part 2: OMORI’s Message is Mishandled and Distasteful ]

#omori #omori hate #omori spoilers #review #words #fun fact i named sunny 'moony' so I had to consciously change all the moons to suns in this essay #suicide cw

[redmaneroster]

Our Home Away From Home, Away From Home

[1] [2] [3] [4-5] [6] [7] [x-x] [10]

PART 8 – Permutation

Its almost strange to call it home, Yang thinks, staring up at the house she grew up in. She'd spent so much time in a cozy little dorm and a browning two-bedroom apartment that a house in the woods almost seems like a distant memory. (She hadn't spent Summer here either. She was in Menagerie with Blake then Mistral with her dad for a getaway, and the rest she spent kicking back with Jaune).

"A lot happened this year," she says.

Jaune's eying the woods around them, trying to see a break in the pattern outside of a few distant houses lost between the bark and autumn leaves. He swallows cause he knows that, if it weren't for Yang, he'd have been terribly lost. "Hm? Uh… huh?" he garbles, unable to hide the tinge of panic.

"A lot happened this year," she repeats. "What's up with you?"

"The woods are thick is all. How you only got lost in it once is beyond me… So, what's with the nostalgia? Old house got you thinking?"

"Something like that. Mostly, I didn't think I'd end up here, getting ready to reacquaint with Raven, and getting you of all people to meet my parents."

"Yeah, didn't think I'd end up introducing another blonde to my sisters either. Future seemed full of redheads and I stuck with it like an act of defiance."

"Defiance? Why's that?"

"If you haven't noticed, we're all terribly blonde. Even Adrian's hair is a dirty gold and we thought for sure he'd be a brunette. It's either a curse, or fate is terrible at jokes and uncomfortable at parties."

She chuckles. "Calling fate out like a loser isn't going to win you any favors. Besides, can't help it when both your folks are blondes."

"One of my sisters is adopted. A blind adoption, mind you. From Vacuo. You know what we got? Chocolate brown skin and dusty blonde hair. Boom. Curse."

There's the sound of fluttering feathers behind them. Qrow straightens his back with a snap as he shapeshifts. "Ngh, agh! Ha… What are two doing just standing outside? Expecting another invitation?"

Jaune and Yang exchange a look. "Stalling," they say in unison.

"W-what? How did you two…? Nevermind." He pinches his forehead cause the moment is too familiar and he feels an irrational envy creep up his cheeks. "You two coming in or not?"

"Why so impatient all of a sudden?" Jaune asks.

"I don't take enjoyment out of watching a train wreck but if I can't stop it, I'll at least hope it's over quickly."

Yang puts a hand on her hip. "Not very optimistic, are you?"

"I prefer cautious," he says as he waves a dismissive hand and stalks ahead of them. "Besides, I don't want you two walking in there expecting things to go off without a hitch." He glances back to see them roll their eyes at the same time and that uncomfortable shiver is back.

"Now that you're here, a disaster's all but guaranteed," Jaune quips.

Qrow glares but neither of them lose their cheek. He rolls his eyes too, but doesn't show them his smile when he's got his back turned. He isn't too sensitive about his semblance – if anything, he's glad Jaune can treat him like he isn't a wounded animal – but he notices the twitch in Jaune's eye. It's there cause he's too soft a soul to have all the bite that quips demand. He almost wants to say sorry for it. "He's a good kid,"

Qrow thinks.

With a twist of the knob, he opens the door and then kicks up his heel to slam it open the rest of the way. He wanders in with a swagger and a mischievous grin. Both fit him naturally.

"Rae!" he shouts. "Your brat and her boyfriend are at the door!"

Jaune balks and shoots Yang a look. She gives him a quick, "He's just like that when he talks to her," and ushers him in.

"And you didn't let them in like a normal fucking person!?" Raven shouts back and it's like a nostalgic gust has poured over Yang. Raven's every inflection is recognizable, echoing deeply from buried memories. They argued like this often when she was small.

"They can walk through a door just fine," Qrow says, swinging into the archway that leads into a tall kitchen. "And lest you forget, I'm a guest here, too. Not your chaperone."

Jaune lets Yang wander ahead, eying her backside as she inches a trail behind Qrow.

Yang peeks in to see her mother chopping something on the kitchen table by the sink. Bravado has taken a backseat and the very reality of the situation has settled in like a bat to Yang's blindside.

"Do you really have to be difficult with me right now?" Raven says with a huff but there's no bite to it, just lazy exasperation.

"Yeah, I do…" Qrow replies. "This is our normal. The minute I go easy on you, assume I'm dead and you've encountered a terribly tolerable doppelganger."

Raven's cheek quirks and it triggers in Yang things she half remembers, and half convinces herself she'd seen in a dream.

"Hmph. Bold of you to assume I won't just take the trade as an act of divine mercy. Maybe this doppelganger can cook for the house every once in a while instead of free loading off my dinner."

"If you wanted me to cook venison, you could have asked."

"Not the deer again… Tai hates it when you bring the kill into the kitchen. I personally don't care that you track blood on the carpet, but he refuses to agree with my sentiments about a house that's lived in and not one you find sterilized in catalogs. Ugh, I'm getting tired just thinking of that argument."

"I know," Qrow agrees, leaning on the counter. "That's why I do it on purpose."

Raven tilts her head back to give her brother a smirk. "You're a scoundrel, Qrow," she says just before her eyes catch Yang's.

"Hey, Mom," Yang says out of instinct. It's too late to take it back.

"Yang, you–" she crosses her arms, "–who is this?"

Jaune's heat presses against her arm like the partner he is. Not in front like her protector, but beside her like her equal. She can feel the way he's hiding his nerves with the shudder in his arm. "Dad didn't tell you?" she says. "This is Jaune. My boyfriend."

Jaune, borrowing confidence he's learned from her, doesn't back down. "Good afternoon, ma'am," he greets, standing proudly. His fingers twitch against Yang's arm.

"Oh, he told me about him alright. I just wasn't expecting a familiar face." Her eyes lock onto him. She smirks when she sees he doesn't flinch. "You're an Arc, I take it? I recognize that face. Your father was in the news once or twice."

"Oh, you heard about the manticore horde? Or was it the behemoth at Glenn?"

"Neither. He blew up a dust shop."

Oddly enough, Yang feels him relax.

"Yeah," he says, scratching his head, "Arcs really shouldn't have guns."

Raven nods. There's no tension here, and Yang feels it's gone all too smoothly.

"Perhaps you can tell me the story," Raven offers as she turns back to chopping. "I have an old bet with Qrow I'd like to settle."

"What did you bet on?" Jaune asks.

Raven snorts. "And let you lie to give my brother the win? Please. I know you two are friendly." She glances back. It's the only other time through this whole conversation that she's looked Yang in the eye and it's still only for a second. She goes back to chopping. "Why don't you two go into the living room and wait for Tai while my silent shadow of a brother here helps me sort out this recipe."

Qrow shrugs and continues to say nothing other than whisper something to Raven that makes her blush angrily.

Yang peels off of Jaune and her insides broil unsteadily.

"Sounds like she's changed," Jaune says when he's in the living room alone with her on a wide U-shaped sofa.

She shakes her head. "She hasn't though."

"What? But the way you described her before–"

"–is all hearsay. I had a mom who left out of the blue. Before that she was jabbing back and forth with Qrow, needing help in the kitchen, and trying her best to be on top of things. Everything I said about her between that time was just me making assumptions about a woman who wasn't around for me to judge in person. I never actually knew if she changed any since leaving."

"So this is Raven Branwen: Unfiltered? If this is what she was like before, then maybe she's just trying to fit back into place the only way she knows how."'

She raises her knees to curl up but she forces them back down. She doesn't want to appear too obviously vulnerable. Not when her mother is still in the house. She tosses Jaune a meaningful glance. "Is it wrong for me to hate that?"

"Some people might say it is, but I think it's too much to ask someone who has had to raise her little sister all on her own to let her absentee mother just waltz back into her life like nothing's changed."

"I still don't know if you're agreeing with me or not."

"Cause I don't know either. Give me a minute to think on it and I'll probably pick a side but I'd much rather stay right where I am. On neutral ground." He squeezes her hand. "I'm here to be your backup, not your coach." Because they don't solve each other's issues, not every time, but they always help each other along.

She knows this, of course. She hasn't deluded herself into thinking that they could crack every case just because love had lofty ideas about making everything right. Being in love doesn't solve everything, it just gives you a partner to solve them with.

"I think I'm suddenly very tired," she says, leaning on his arm. "Wake me in an hour when dinner's ready."

"Uh… shouldn't it be done sooner?"

"Raven used to wake up at five AM to make breakfast in time for school. She takes breaks cause she doesn't always have the patience for it. Don't expect it to go any faster with Uncle Qrow in there. He's just there to make sure she doesn't skip any steps."

"That doesn't fill my with confidence," he says but she's already snuggling into his arm with a contented sigh.

With the sound of clattered pans and restrained yelling from the kitchen, Jaune decides to shut his eyes too.

-0-

Jaune is violently awoken by someone grabbing him by the collar and shaking him awake.

"You!" says the messy tuft of blonde hair presently pressed against his face. "You're… yer…. Hic!" The scent of alcohol is palpable. The smell is dizzying.

He blinks himself awake. "Uh, you're Mr. Xiao Long, I'm guessing? I'm Jaune. Yang said she mentioned me?"

The tuft of hair pulls up revealing the chiseled scruff of a well-worn huntsman. Faded scars litter his neck and chin, but that's where all the menace in him ends. Despite his tone, Taiyang has the look of a desperate man. His eyes are wide and a solid, beautiful blue. His cheeks have a slight plump to them that make him just shy of an Adonis.

Jaune makes the executive decision not to think along that line any further. But it's clear that Yang's got stellar genes and – No! Bad Jaune! Stop it!

Tai glances at the slumbering Yang, snoring softly against Jaune's arm. "What did you do to my daughter?" he says with a drunken pout that would look more intimidating on a pug.

"Uh, nothing!" he whispers urgently. "Nothing I swear."

He squints so much that he closes his eyes and nearly passes out before he jolts himself awake. "You… You and Qrow really are friends. 'Nothing,' he says… that's just code for plowed her till sunrise."

Still in a sleepy haze, Yang pushes her father's face away until he falls back onto the coffee table behind him. "Dad… leave him alone," she groans. "He wouldn't touch me even if I tore off his clothes and –" Her eyes shoot open, fully awake and painfully aware. Her scream then is almost silent, Jaune thinks, but he's pretty certain that's cause Yang's vivid horror is blasted like shellshock when she abruptly screams louder next to his ear and scrambles over the sofa to hide behind it.

He's still shaking his head to get the ringing out.

Qrow bursts in, Raven meekly peeking behind him. "What the fuck – Oh."

Tai is sprawled over the coffee table, squinting angrily at everything.

"Bird!" Tai accuses, swinging his arm out to point at him but slamming it on the hardwood coffee table. "Ow," he mutters as his aura flares.

"Drunk," Qrow greets. He hoists the man over his shoulder. "Sorry about this, kids. I think Tai's got his nerves bundled up again. I'll get him to detox upstairs after a nap."

"Uh, it looks like he'll be out for the week," Jaune says, shaking his head still. "I doubt a nap will fix him by dinner."

"Nah. Tai can burn all the alcohol out of his system with enough motivation and calories. He'll be ready by the time Rae manages to get something on the table."

Tai wiggles like an insolent child, fists lightly beating on the man's back. "Back off, Qrow!" he slurs. "You're not taking this one – hic – too… guh…"

"That's my twin sister, you dunce."

"Really?" Tai pushes his head up, eying Raven. "Pfft! Qrow, you are not that pretty."

Once the two of them have rounded the corner into Tai's bedroom, Jaune asks the quietly smiling Raven, "This happen often?"

"Not as much as it used to," she says. "Was a time when there were two whole families in this house and it was never quiet. Two men and enough testosterone to make a third made competition between them frequent. Qrow got Tai to drink and you can see that he hasn't acclimated to it as well as my brother does."

"Do you drink?"

"I'm a Branwen," she shrugs, "our blood is two parts alcohol. Small mercy that Yang hasn't picked up our habits. Or Ruby for that matter."

Jaune raises a brow. "Ruby's a Branwen?"

Yang nearly gasps from behind the couch, hands clutching her mouth.

"No," Raven says. "Well, she should have been but Qrow basically raised her all the same. He even knit her a tiny red hood when she was barely a foot tall, and it's been her motif ever since." Raven, eying him, closes her arms a little tighter around herself. As if guarded. Uncertain. "Despite how it may appear," she says, "I am glad my daughter found you but there's something you should know moving forward…"

Jaune prepares for the inevitability of the 'boyfriend' talk. It doesn't come. Raven is beside herself, eying the floor. "No matter what happens today, I do not intend to reconcile with my daughter."

He realizes that she doesn't know that Yang is in the room, just by the sofa. His heart knots. "You don't know if she wants that yet."

She laughs. It's bitter. "It doesn't matter. What Yang wants isn't coming into the equation. She needs to distance herself from me."

"What was the point of coming here if not to bridge the gap between you two?"

Raven chews her lip, wanting nothing more than to end the conversation and walk out of the room. She doesn't. Can't. "To prove that things have changed here. That me and my brother talk, and that Tai has… met me halfway."

"So this – all of this – is for show?"

Her features darken, her face hardens. "Yes."

He pushes himself up, almost prepares to march up to her. His feet don't push him any further. His willful restraint is there but it's paper thin. "And if she wants more?" he asks, inwardly begging her to give him a reason to meet her up close.

Her eyes narrow at the floor. "All you have to do is make her an Arc and she'll live a life better than anything I can give her!" Her gaze is at him, dangerous and unafraid, but its desperate. She's asking him a favor. "Asking me to be a part of her life is like active theft. You will give her all she'll ever want, but me? I'll only ever take things away. And if you give me the chance, I'll end up taking her too. She'll leave you like I did Tai."

The silence wanes and Jaune can hear the thumping in his own chest. She's making claims for things that haven't happened yet. As if she can't promise to give as well as she takes. As if she can't meet her own daughter halfway. As if she can't compromise. His ears strain to hear anything from Yang, but she's so deftly quiet that he feels alone in the room with her mother.

Muscle fastens onto bone, curling his fist inward till digs into his palm. His aura flares. The sound of it jolts him awake. He'd been holding his breath.

Then… he plops down onto his seat. Tension in his skin unwinds. All his disbelief slips away. Any anger he feels pools into his back to weigh him against the cushions. "But why?" is all he asks, looking up at her.

Raven is so taken aback by his sudden shift that she shows the tangled fear she'd tucked away for a moment. The question is genuine and – like her many nights moonlighting bars – she is tempted to bare her soul to a stranger. "Because I'm a Branwen," she says, eyes deadened. Scowling as if the name is a profane. "And even a terrible mother wouldn't wish that name on her daughter."

When she leaves the room, Yang rises from behind the couch. She doesn't focus on anything. She looks bewildered, pained.

Qrow comes down the steps and they look at him. He looks like how she feels. "I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting," he says.

Yang clutches the backrest of the sofa. "I don't know what I was expecting."

Qrow gives her a worried look. "Maybe… maybe it's better that way."

He wanders into the kitchen, leaving them alone.

Jaune doesn't hold Yang. Instead, he fishes her gauntlets from the duffel bag, takes her by the hand, and pulls her outside.

-0-

She sets fire to a dead tree. The blast of Ember Celica ripples through the woods, scatters wildlife, shakes the canopy, and rustles the owls awake. She doesn't care. The blowback from her gauntlets as it makes contact with the deadwood is cathartic. Reflective of what she's feeling inside.

But it isn't anger.

"What does she even… Ugh!" Another blast, sending out a spent shell, light casting over her cheek and hair with accompanying heat. "I don't get it!"

She breathes in and out. Blinks moisture into her eyes. She's been doing the very opposite of crying and drying the liquid in her sockets. She's starting to feel dizzy. She slumps back onto a rock Jaune is sitting on, using his shoulder as a backrest. "I'm not… mad at her. I'm confused. And I'm mad that I'm confused. Does that make sense?"

"About as much sense as she was making," he says with a sarcastic smile.

She's trying to smile back. Even a little one might do but her lips down-curl. Her frown tightens and she sighs into the open sky. "I wanted to give her a chance," she says. "Maybe see where this goes but… now that I know she won't even try? How am I supposed to process this? Do I just do what she wants and not try either?"

He plucks a twig from a dead branch, snapping its length into little pieces. "Do you even want to do that? I mean, if leaving things as they are isn't what you want, then ideally how would you like all this to end?"

She takes half of the twig – snapping it between them. She picks it apart too.

An answer doesn't come.

They gather the tiny bits of branch and bunch it into Jaune's hands. Yang pulls out a fire dust shell from her gauntlet and cracks it open over them. Red particles filter over and into the loose wood bits. He spools them into a ball and his semblance surges over his arm.

His muscles tighten when he approaches the dead tree. It's barely as tall as he is now. His arm pulls back. The chunks in his palm ignite. He throws them like a man-propelled buckshot, scattering burning holes through it.

Even charred, the thing has dangerous embers dancing off its broken pieces.

"We should put this out," she says.

"Mm!" He kicks it down, unrooting it. Then he hoists it up. "Got another good punch in ya'?"

"I've got a few, yeah, but I'll save the rest for later. I only need one for this."

He crouches low, prepping to toss. "Ready?" he asks.

"Pull!" she shouts.

He tosses it into the air, scattering the scent of ash and char, and she swings her fist into it. The sheer force of the blow consumes the flame as it rockets and splinters into a tall rock.

"Y'know what?" she says. "If it's taking me this long to even answer, maybe this isn't what I want."

"So what now, chief?"

She snorts. "Don't give me ideas. Anyway, I say we take the aggressive approach. We got them a present, I say we break it out instead of handing them the box. Invite them to try it with us."

Jaune turns to the house where they left the duffel bag. He winces. "Are you sure about this?"

"I don't see an elegant solution. And it's probably stupid, yeah, but stupid has worked for us so far."

"Really? How exactly has it worked for us so far?"

"In what universe do hickeys stop two primed teenagers from having sex?"

"Ours, apparently…"

"Gets the tension out. Would be genius if I didn't find it by accident."

"Speaking of which…"

He comes up behind her and pushes her hair off her shoulder, exposing her neck.

"What are you – Ah!" she gasps when he bites her neck. Her aura lowers on instinct, letting him mark her.

He pulls away and wipes her dry with a handkerchief. "You taste like saltwater and ash."

She rubs her neck as the pain subsides rapidly. "We should bathe when we get back. What was that for anyway?"

"Revenge, mostly. Feeling petty."

"On me?"

"Your mom."

"Heh, yeah, she's gonna ask questions or implode trying not to. Actually, since we're getting shiners, we should get ones to match."

He doesn't protest but he's not happy about it. With a sigh he leans down but she's already jumped up to latch onto him.

She bites down so hard that he swears that she was actually trying to eat him. He'd be more okay with it if she didn't keep trying to one-up herself.

-0-

Dinner, somehow, is always pleasant. True to Qrow's word, Tai comes in completely sober. Jaune chalks it up to having a very useful semblance.

Tai is a chill dad. He nudges Yang when he sees the hickey, even when Qrow refuses to make eye contact with Jaune and Raven squints while warring with herself to say something but won't. Tai reintroduces himself and sits next to Jaune to strike up a conversation with him.

It takes minutes for Tai to fish out that Jaune has seven sisters, that he met Yang by throwing up on her boots, and that he used to have a crush on Ruby. The last bit comes as a surprise to everyone but Tai who pats himself on the back for having incredible girls in the family.

Jaune finds out that Tai is very much like Yang. Despite closing himself off for a good chunk of her childhood, he's clearly had a great influence on her disposition. Father and daughter joke and jab at each other, laugh just as loudly, crack the same kind of jokes (he tries not to think of them as mom jokes when he looks at his girilfriend).

Jaune eventually gets to tell the story of how his dad blew up a dust shop during his third year in Beacon. Just a mishap with a loose dust feeder, a weapon he didn't know how to use, and a particularly handsy bully. By the end, Raven cheers when she wins the bet. Apolian Arc punched a cop. Qrow bet that he punched a civilian.

They're unwinding in the living room when Jaune's eying the wall of photos. Summer's only in a handful of the group shots. Qrow explains that she insisted on being the photographer and didn't like being in photos herself. It's why she has the hood. It's comforting when she can pretend to be hiding.

She sounds like Ruby.

"I just noticed," Jaune says to Yang, "your mom's smiling in every photo. Qrow's the only one who occasionally doesn't."

"It was a different time," she says. "Qrow told me that she was cheery and crass. Would even crack a joke or two whenever she found the time to stop training and be a teenager."

"I'll be honest, it's still weird seeing her smile so much. I came in here expecting a variation of Glynda Goodwitch, not Qrow Branwen. Speaking of which," he glances back at the adults huddled laughing by the sofa, "we should probably break out the gift."

"Speaking of speaking of things," she rubs the hickey on her neck, "it still stings."

"Oh, sorry. Let me heal it."

She pushes his hands away. "No, I –" Her eyes widen. Pressing two digits into the bruised flesh, she feels the ache but doesn't hate it. "Okay, heal me quick before this turns into a fetish!"

Warmth pools out of his palms.

"Could you not make out in full view of her family?" Qrow calls from across the room, and they realize they're leaned a little too close.

"We weren't gonna!" Jaune calls out.

Yang rolls her eyes cause she's comfortable with them coming to their own conclusions about her relationship but Jaune's stint with Tai made him want to make a good impression. It was already easy enough what with Tai admitting that as long as Yang chose and continues to choose him, then he'll rest easy knowing she's in good hands, but Jaune wants to pile on the goodwill.

Those thoughts take a backseat when Yang reaches for the duffel bag by the coffee table. Goodwill be damned.

It's time.

Yang parts a few clothes and a hollowed-out cushion for their scrolls to fish out a crystalline bottle. "We wanted to hand this off in the box but we figured we might as well crack it open tonight."

With the way they're all staring at the bottle, it's clear they recognize it.

Qrow roars with laughter. "Ha! Diadem, the dirtiest fucking drink on the planet!" He comes up to it and holds the bottle aloft, fingers running over the bumpy, crystalline surface. "Ah, look at it. All prettied up for the upper class. Diadem used to be homemade and brewed in a shack. Used to be so strong that you could feel nothing for hours."

"'Course, the stuff's a little better refined nowadays. You used to taste fire dust in it too cause their shoddy furnaces were held together by spit and prayers. But look at it! Pricks like Jacques fucking Schnee or that Lucius ass-end-of-an-ass Merrigold would down this like it's water, having no idea that they're chugging the equivalent of desert moonshine."

Tai licks his lips and it almost feels like a bad idea before he shoots up from his seat. "I'll get the shot glasses!" he announces.

Raven is the only one not smiling. She's suspicious, but the minute the drink touches her lips and she's made wide awake, she melts into the same stupor as everyone else.

-0-

Yang barely registers what their plan was supposed to be. Loosening Raven's lips with the stiffest drink since frozen stalactites seemed a half-baked plan at best, but they didn't plan passed that. They might have been able to salvage it if they didn't take many drinks themselves.

Jaune took exactly one and he's already left her alone to start an intimate relationship with the toilet.

He did, however, get the ball rolling about last names for some reason. He might have explained why to her but she can't remember.

"They'll lose sleep over a friend who's had a bad day," Raven says with a snarl that isn't sincere so much as it appears to be her permanent tipsy-face. "Worrying up and down but will leave you alone after a smile cause that's all they need to calm their nerves. Their hearts are too kind…"

"Who…?" Yang slurs, struggles to think of the rest of the sentence, then starts over. "Who… who are you talking about?"

Raven scrunches her nose. "The Roses," she answers.

Yang buries her head in her hands and curls into her seat. "No… I don't wanna hear about Uncle Qrow's god-damn garden again…"

Qrow, sporting alcohol like one does water, kicks back beside her. There's something in his eye though. The alcohol is getting to him. "We're talking about the Rose half of the family. Y'know, Summer and Ruby?"

"Hm?" She squints. "Oh yeah… Ruby's a worrywart."

"Qrow!" Tai calls from beside Raven, looping an arm around her. "What's a Xiao Long like then?"

"They're all fucking crazy," he jabs. Yang and Tai simultaneously pretend to be hurt. "But! I've found that the more obnoxious they seem on the outside, the more worth you'll find underneath."

Raven leans into Tai and stares at Yang's feet curled up on the cushion. It's the closest she'll get to meeting her eyes. "They can be in your face," Raven says, "deftly abrasive, louder than foghorns, and wilder than ursa! But they're steadfast partners…" She looks up at Tai who has a half-lidded gawk to him that's like he's falling in love with her again. "Painfully loyal… and… dangerously persistent."

Yang feels a heat roll over her side. She leans into it until she realizes that Jaune's slid beside her and pulling her in by the waist. "She's right, y'know?" Jaune tells her quietly. "You never did listen when I asked you not to pursue me and, yet, here we are. You never did know when to quit but I'm glad you never quit on me."

She wants to return the sentiment somehow but words don't form and she's making faces that she worries he'll misunderstand. She's just mad at herself for not finding words. "F-fuck… That was a human sentence you just made. Why aren't you drinking?" she says instead, pushing an empty shot glass to his lips.

"No thanks. Diadem will literally kill me. I felt like I was throwing up my own organs. I swear I felt my lungs pull up into my throat. I am not touching that decanter ever again." He turns to Qrow who is squinting at them as if they're all out of focus. "Oh, shit, sorry, Qrow," Jaune says. Cause the man is sat alone in front of two couples.

Jaune tries not to wince when Qrow downs a shot and his eyes go glassy.

He is sat slumped at the last corner of the large U-shaped sofa. His scroll, set neatly below him on the coffee table, flashes over his gawk face as he leans into it. His hands are beside him, palms pointing upwards while his fingers twitch like roots animating in intervals. His slack jaw regards them with his deep gaunt, eyes meeting every face before he points his head to the ceiling as he falls back into the seat. Seems he's not quite as adept with so many drinks in him. Or maybe Diadem is a weakness.

He lets each eye blink individually before he announces, "I'm dating again!"

Everyone sits up. Okay, only kind of. They lean out but can't peel off the sofa. Except for Jaune who is sober. "Since when do you have time to date?" he asks.

"I don't," he chuckles, shaking his head as he comes back to his senses. "I flirt while on the job. Closest thing either of us will get to a date at this point."

Yang mumbles something.

Jaune strains his ears to hear her. Maybe the ringing from earlier hasn't stopped. "What was that? I'm sitting right next to you and even I couldn't hear you."

She pulls up before falling sideways onto Jaune's shoulder. "Who!?" she calls out to the room cause she doesn't know where Qrow is. Her eyes are still closed.

Qrow grins. "Winter… Schnee."

At first, when he starts talking about a mission they had together in Mistral, they think he's going to segway into a conquest. But he doesn't. He starts talking about how he and Winter shared in the fact that they both had a responsibility they shirked for duty. To protect the world their loved ones live in, they've chosen to abandon having lives of their own.

No one calls him out for clearly being drunk out of his mind nor for opening up.

He's got an anthology of moments with Winter. And each time he finishes a story, they're surprised whenever it doesn't end in heat. One time they do end it in a kiss, but it was on the cheek. She'd done it comfort him but they both knew it was hollow. It was an appreciated gesture, but it wasn't something that could help. They aren't wired to let something like that heal any kind of wound.

Winter doesn't know what it's like to have a delicate heart anymore and the idea of quiet comforts like a hug or a kiss feels so… unsubstantial to them both. They either needed more or that wasn't the kind of comfort they needed. Realizing this is why they started dating.

The stories are nicer then. They leave a movie theater ten minutes in when they realize that sitting around to watch actors pretend to be heroes isn't for them. They instead find a quiet corner in a bar but they don't drink. They talk and he jokes and she's smiling and they kiss and…

Raven is curled up into Tai now, staring at her brother with a look that can only be pride.

Jaune is smiling sleepily at him. Yang nestles into his chest as they scoop together on the sofa's corner.

Qrow gets up, scroll in hand, and leaves the room to call Winter.

Tai and Jaune fall asleep.

Yang catches Raven staring but is so out of it that she isn't sure if Raven caught her staring instead. The quiet makes the crickets fill the spaces beside something crackling outside.

"What are Branwens like?" Yang asks.

Raven squints, pulling herself out of her dreariness. "…What?"

"If a Rose cares too much but loves unconditionally, and a Xiao Long is a dependable but gets in your face, then what is a Branwen?"

She huddles into Tai, looking vulnerable. "We…" Her eyes narrow at the floor and she hisses quietly to herself. "I…"

A pang of empathy makes her sit up. "Mom…" she says consciously.

Raven stares at her. Yang can't tell if she's touched or just shocked, but when her eyes draw away and she clutches at Tai's shirt, words pour shaking out of her lips. "Branwens… are a curse." Something awful crawls into her cheeks, her features squeezing together so her few wrinkles cast shadows. There's a pain there that almost looks familiar, as if she'd had this look about her forever but only now is Yang seeing it for what it is. And whatever that pain is, it's old. Maybe even older than she is.

Raven whispers something to Tai before getting up. Halfway up the steps, she looks at Yang and Jaune before saying, "You should take him to bed. I don't care what you do with him but I'm sure he'll appreciate a warm mattress over a sofa."

"That's very considerate of you," Yang says as she eases Jaune's arm over her shoulder. "Thanks."

Raven blushes, deeper than the alcohol might, as she marches back up the steps. "Don't get used to it," she says, not meaning it.

Jaune sleepily wakes up with a good shake. "Ugh, babe, could ya' not?"

"Pfft! Since when do you call me babe?"

"In my head, mostly. Giving you a pet name will actively worsen my experience. You've got enough ammunition to tease me with."

"I'll fish them out of you yet. Pick up your feet a little. I'm taking you to bed."

"Please, no," he says, pretending to resist. "I'm still tender…"

She rolls her eyes. Even in a drowsy state, he still finds time mess around. "Don't cooperate and I'll sling you over my shoulder."

He scoffs playfully. "As if a free ride is gonna stop me."

Her eyes narrow. "I'm really going to do it."

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, I'll do it…" He yawns. "See?" His shin hits the coffee table and he stumbles.

Yang grabs him and leads him by the arm.

Tai stirs when they pass him by. "Honey?"

"Go to bed, Dad."

"Good night, Mr. Xiao Long."

"Please," Tai grins, "call me Tai."

Jaune squints. "Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"You're not –" Yang starts. "Oh, hey, look at us. Still in sync!"

"I think there just isn't a universe where I call your dad Tai." His nose scrunches up. "Yup, even sounds weird saying it out loud."

-0-

Yang's room is as she remembers it. Only, for once, it's completely tidy. She always had a habit of leaving a little mess somewhere. Sometimes it was hidden, like in a drawer or a corner under her desk, but not this time. Her dad (or maybe Qrow) keeps it cleaner than she ever would have.

Even her strung-up photos along the ceiling are still there. Dates and names and faces she thought would be her whole world. Only now she has a new circle of friends.

"This feels like a room for a different person," she says to Jaune after she's laid him in her bed. Her comforter is freshly pressed and still warm. "Like I'm looking at old me through a lens."

Jaune's eyes are still closed but he reaches for her hand over the sheets and says, "Or maybe this is the version of you your dad remembers. How different are you now from back then?"

"Not a lot, I think. I mean, we're only over a year apart," she spies a photo of her and Ruby glistening in the moonlight. It's of her last day in Signal. It was Ruby's last day too, apparently. "Or maybe I just haven't noticed." She shoots him a look and he can feel her stare enough to crack an eye open. "Comparing me now to when we met. Was I different?"

He shuts his eyes again, but he finds her hand and tugs once. Yang willfully falls onto the mattress next to him. "Hm… well you used to have anger issues in the ring. Even Ms. Goodwitch is starting to notice how you've mellowed out."

"Heh, I guess I have you to thank for that."

He places a hand over her face. He's still not opening his eyes but his nose scrunches up again. "No you don't."

She moves his hand off her face. "Eh?"

"That's all you, Yang. You made that change. If I helped at all, our friends did just as much."

Her lip tilts. "I was trying to flirt."

"I know but… we can't about this. Part of me still worries we'll do that stupid couple thing and forget we have friends."

"Hey, we've been good so far, I think… Look, we can talk to them and figure things out."

"Yeah, compromises."

"Yeah!" She curls into his arm. "But not tonight, please… I've enough things to worry about right here."

"Right… Okay, big picture later." He kisses her forehead. "Now sleep. We've had a day…"

"Yeah, a day…"

She gets comfortable under the sheets and on his shoulder for exactly a minute before she remembers something. "Fuck…" she whispers as she pulls out.

"What is it?"

"Forgot the duffel. I'll go get it and be back in a minute."

"Leave it, Yang. Come back to bed."

"Not taking any chances without our scrolls. Ruby might call us." She's already at the door. "Just a minute, I swear."

She finds her dad slumped against the railing that overlooks the living room. Steam billows hazily off his skin and through his jacket, his semblance burning away the alcohol. The area smells thinly like Diadem but mostly of water vapor. Yang's nose twitches at the familiar scent.

He's blinking a lot, head shaking.

"Dad?"

He turns in a start. Breaths pass through him in labored chunks, chest heaving. His eyes are puffy. Fingers twitch and his eyes steal glances at her as he turns away. There's a want – need – to reach out but she can tell that he doesn't think he's worthy of it.

So, she crashes into his back and hugs him.

A palm runs down his face. "I'm so… so sorry, honey," he says.

He tucks his arms into his chest so she can hold all of him. His hands clutch over her encircled wrists. "Dad… Dad it's okay. You were in a rough spot…"

"That doesn't matter… I'm still your father. You needed a parent and you ended up having to be one for Ruby. I… I hate myself everyday thinking about how you didn't have anyone… I… I should have… I'm so sorry…"

She knows telling him that he didn't do anything wrong or that he didn't have any control over himself would only be excuses upon excuses, perhaps only a handful compared to the thousands he'd piled for himself over the years. He knew he did wrong, and none of her strength coming out the other end of it is going to change that.

So, instead, she shifts to his front and pulls up his head. She wraps her arms around his neck. "I don't care about any of that anymore… I already forgive you. I did a long, long time ago."

She feels his tears running down her neck. Then she realizes that some of them are hers.

-0-

Jaune winces. He's been up for over an hour now. Yang slipped into bed with him but she'd been shaking and sniffling. He could tell that she'd been crying but the tears had dried and she'd been fighting off all that was left of whatever it was in his arms. Now she's sleeping soundly while he's been trying to piece together what happened on his own whilst constructing a speech in case it's Raven's fault.

Finally, he settles with getting up and loosening his nerves before really doing anything. Yang groans from the missing warmth as he stumbles out, scroll in hand.

"No new messages…" he mutters. "I hope you're alright, Rubes."

Pushing the door open, he notices an orange glow coming from downstairs. Over the railing, there's nothing below but darkness and moonlight through the windows. Even then, dark shadows waft passed the moon, clawing darkness across the floor.

"Strong, windy clouds tonight… It didn't look like it was gonna rain earlier."

The smell of ash filters into the air. "Ick… Wait."

He's awake now as he stumbles down the steps. The shadows in the window are moving too rapidly for any passing cloud. That's smog, and it clears passed the window for a moment long enough to show the orange glow outside.

The forest is on fire.

"Shit!" he howls as he runs back up the steps. Thinking quickly, he sets his scroll to Seven Rapids and blasts the heavy chorus riff at max. Leaving it in the hall, he can already hear everyone else waking up, groans and thuds all.

He busts through Yang's door. She's rubbing her eyes awake. "Jaune, what –"

"Forest fire," he says quickly, pulling out their weapons from the duffel bag.

She shakes awake. "What?"

Ember Celica crashes into her hands when he tosses them at her.

"The forest is on fire!" he says, not even waiting for her as he busts through the door again and leaps over the railing.

He tucks and rolls along the carpet, nearly colliding with a lamp as he slams through the front door into the suffocating smoke.

Heat rolls through the air like he's sitting in a boiling pot. Even his aura flares at the licking flames that whip in the wind, coiling off the trees like infernal tendrils.

Jaune thinks back to the embers they tried to douse. "Did we do this?" He shakes his head. The thought is useless right now.

The fire burns over a host of trees like charred pillars to the darkened sky, but they're all centered ahead. Most the forest is untouched still. They can contain it if they hurry. They can't stop the fire, but they can stop it from growing.

So he speeds towards the outer rim of the roaring flame where the trees are unburnt and pours his semblance into his arms. One enhanced swing fells a tree, then another, and another, but he knows he can't keep it up. He can't cut these down so easily once he's out of juice.

Qrow blows passed him, slicing a tree himself, clad in only his pants and the greatsword in his hands. "I'm guessing you and Yang have the same plan?"

"Cut off its fuel?"

Tai runs by them as sand pours out of his skin in layers. He's using his semblance and earth dust in his palms to cover the dried leaves on the ground. "Fell those quick!" he shouts. "We don't have much time!"

On the other end of the fire, Yang and Raven are busting a row of trees. Yang's fists tighten with every strike, but even if she can split a tree in a single blow, her aura suffers from the blowback. It isn't any better with Raven whose forearms flare with every swing against the sturdy oaks.

"This isn't working!" Raven shouts.

Tai sprints passed them with the familiar glow of Jaune's semblance running over him like a white shell. A layer of sand up to their ankles forms underneath them, burying dry leaves and loose branches. They could really use Jaune's semblance too. Their arms are aching.

"There are people in these woods," Yang says. "We can't let this get any bigger. Vale's never gonna send any help here fast enough without someone getting hurt."

The fire spits pillars of ash and smoke their way by a rogue wind. They turn to shield their eyes. Yang blinks through the haze and sees something in the distant dark of the woods behind them. Glowing red eyes bob rapidly between the trees, charging towards them.

Yang growls. "Ugh, we do not have time for this!" The cylinders in her gauntlets click together as she loads in fresh shells. "Raven, you're clearing the wood better than I can. Keep at it while I cover you."

Raven's hand fall quickly on her shoulder. "No," she says sternly, "this is all pointless. We're destroying our bodies for a cause we've not the strength for."

"I don't care!" Yang hisses. "I'm still doing this. Whether or not you're behind me helping at all won't change that." And with that, she bolts into the dark and the twisting red eyes in the woods collide with her.

Flashes of her gauntlet colliding with grimm flesh light up the yawning dark. Blackened fur rimmed with pale external bone all scorch and smolder with her every blow, a comet to meet the streaks of vicious red eyes.

Raven backs away from the sight, seeing Summer Rose instead.

Jaune comes up behind her and Raven feels a rush of power coursing through her veins. Her pain vanishes. Her strength feels like it's multiplying. Trees fall with ease then, matching rhythm with her daughter as Jaune runs to her side to fell grimm together.

Raven sees Tai in Jaune's place too.

Minutes pass as the fire is choked on all sides but one. Raven sees Qrow and Tai on the other end, making progress. They're exhausted, heaving through labored lungs, and she can feel her own trying to crawl out of her throat.

She dares to glance back at Jaune and Yang. Something looms overhead of them: a single red eye in the canopy. There's no time to parse what it is. Raven's already sprinting over to them.

She cuts a portal mid-sprint and she leaps into it. Her momentum carries through and into the air as she rockets up from the other end of the portal that manifests at Yang's side. Omen surges with dust as she empties the canister in her sheath and swings into the red eye above.

Fire dust surges in a swath against a mass of stone and charred bark. It's a geist amalgamated into solid wall of wood and stone.

Raven swings again, ice dust crashing into it and pushing it up. Again and again and again. Wind, earth, lightning, gravity. The last one splashes a purple glow over the grimm as it slowly floats, all of its form ensconced in a gravity well that tugs it into the sky.

She swings but she's out of dust… And she's falling. Her skin rustles like pinpricks as she starts to shapeshift into a bird, but she stops when Yang zooms passed her. Jaune's semblance is folded over her, making her glow like an ascending meteor as she crashes dead center into the red eye.

With a thunderous crackle, she breaks through and the night sky gleams passed her. She whoops while she's up there against the moon.

Raven falls into Jaune's arms below. His semblance is already working its way to ease the ache but she pushes off of him. "Thank you," she manages behind a heave of her chest, "ha… but the boys aren't done yet. Help them with the fire. They'll need it more."

Jaune nods without hesitating and sprints off towards the remains of the flame.

Yang falls into a controlled descent as Ember Celica slows her momentum with a few blasts. Her arms aren't blasting evenly. They probably still hurt. She lands into a stumble and lets herself fall into a sitting up position. She's breathing a lot.

Raven sits beside her. Somewhere in the distance, the boys are cheering.

"We did it," Yang says.

"You sound surprised," Raven says.

"Cause just like you, I didn't think we could do it either."

Raven lifts a brow. "So why did you keep pushing?"

"To prove to us both that we were wrong."

And Raven laughs, hardy and true till she's tearing up in one eye for a moment. "You really are Summer's daughter," she says. Her smile is infectious.

Yang hides her smile in her knees, huddling them close to her chest. "I'm yours, too."

Raven's mouth thins sadly. "But you shouldn't be."

"I don't think you have a choice."

There's a blue shimmer through the treeline now. The boys are trying to finish this quicker by using ice dust to enclose the largest parts of the fire in pillars of ice. The pale light resembles frosted glass.

"We're pragmatists," Raven says.

"What?"

Raven tilts her head at her. "You asked what the Branwens are. That's it. Pragmatists." Not a curse this time. This is her honest answer.

Yang huddles closer as Raven's gaze turns faraway. She knows what's coming because Raven, in her disheveled shorts and worn shirt, her ragged hair and muddied skin, is vulnerable. Her artifice, the one of strength that championed her tribe, is gone.

"We like to pretend we have room for love," Raven continues. "That's never the case. Never true. My mother and father died at a burning beach while Qrow and I fled with the tribe. Nevermind that our eldest sister died with them, more brilliant than either of us will ever be. It didn't matter that she deserved a life brighter than either us could ever make it. A Branwen is hardwired to protect something bigger than they are. To us, that was always the tribe. The whole of it. Not its members, not its kin, nor the ones we dared to love. Just the tribe. The larger whole."

She sighs slowly, letting her breath catch in the now cold air. "Then Beacon came and Ozpin changed all that. Suddenly the tribe wasn't our greatest responsibility. Ozpin had drilled in us the want to protect the world of all things, and he gave us the means to do just that… I remember being excited to save lives. Plucking civilians from impossible odds and reveling in the praise. Summer and I even seemed like sisters for a while – we were so giddy. Like sisters…"

Yang unfurls when Raven tucks into herself. Yang's hand is warm on her shoulder. "The day Summer died was the day we realized we'd made her a Branwen. That she chose the world over us. Over her daughter." She glances at Qrow slumped against the ice wall. "Over her fiancé."

"It wasn't why I left, mind you. That was different. That was futility on my part. I couldn't save the world from something impossible, not with what Ozpin had us face. The tribe had to be my answer after that. Something I could save. Thought I'd find a little peace in scaling back. Scaling down. It felt like I was regressing but I wasn't like Summer. Didn't have the courage to face insurmountable odds like the compassionate fool she was…"

"Mom…"

"You… don't have to do that. You don't have to call me that. I know it doesn't mean anything."

Yang chuckles. "It means whatever I want it to. And right now, it means this." She squeezes her arm again. She knows it isn't forgiveness – not quite yet – but it's a step in that direction. More than she expects. More than she deserves.

"No room for doubt," Raven says. "You're Tai's alright."

"So, I've got some Rose and Xiao Long in me," Yang says proudly. "Doesn't mean there's any shame in having a part of me still be a Branwen."

Raven's lips thin. "Yang…"

"Hush," she says quickly. "Part of me still wants to save the world but I'm also in it for the thrills. I might not end up like Summer. I might not choose to martyr myself if I know I have people waiting for me. I can be selfish too. We all are. I think… I think there's value in being a part of all three."

"Four," Raven says. "That boy you've tied yourself to. You seem content when you're with him. Comfortable even. If he's involved, you're as much an Arc as you are a Branwen…"

"God…" Yang blushes. "You make sound like I'm married to him already."

"If it comes to that, you have our blessing."

"W-what!? Mom, isn't it a little soon for that?" Yang's shock fizzles at her mother's sad smile. "…Mom?"

Raven's gaze is on the house now. She's tearing up. "It's… it's funny," she says with some difficulty. Not through sobs but grit, almost anger. "I feel like I have everything I dreamed about having. I've got family again, a daughter that might love me, a loyal husband, an honest brother. I've even got a quiet home in the middle of the woods. It already has a rose garden and a dog. All its missing is the white picket fence." Her teeth grinds. Her head shakes in disbelief. "But I have to throw it all away…"

Yang's chest squeezes. "What… what do you mean?"

Raven won't look at her. "By Summer's end, that house will be empty. And it will stay that way until you decide to enter. To come back here." Raven's hand finds Yang's. "Because we – your father, uncle, and I – will be going back to Ozpin. We'll be gone for months doing work for him. And maybe we'll see each other again, but it won't be much and never for long enough."

Yang's skin grows cold and clammy. She doesn't like what she's seeing, the sheer finality in her mother's eyes. Resigned to some inevitability. So this is what it means to be a Branwen. Somehow, she understands but she has coasted along the unknown for long enough.

"What is Ozpin doing, Mom?" She asks. "He sent out Ruby earlier this week and –"

Raven jolts into standing. "What!? He has Ruby!?" Her eyes are white with fear. She doesn't wait for Yang to answer, sprinting back in the direction of the boys. "Qrow! Ozpin has Ruby!"

Yang follows, jogging behind her.

Qrow curses. "No, no, no!" Frantically, he fumbles for his scroll. "This can't be real…" His face is going red with panic.

Tai snatches his scroll from him. "Enough! The both of you!" He breathes. "Enough… If Ruby is with him, then she did so willingly."

"But she… she…!" Qrow stammers.

His hand goes to squeeze his shoulder. "I know…"

"I can't lose another Rose to him," Raven gasps. Her sword is already out, prepared to open another portal. Tai's hand takes her by the wrist.

"And we won't," he assures. "We'll cover every gap and protect her ourselves. Maybe even see her on the field."

Jaune joins Yang's side as the other three huddle together. "What's happening?" he asks her, squeezing her hand. "They mentioned Ruby and I'm more than a little worried right now, I'll be honest."

"I don't completely know either," she says. "But it's larger than we are… Than all of us."

Raven rips open a portal before hugging Tai. She nods to Qrow, and they step into it, leaving Tai behind. With a sigh, he ambles over to Jaune and Yang.

"We should talk."

-0-

Tai explains that they all had a job from Ozpin a long time ago. That there was a serial killer and a disgraced Atlesian scientist, and that those two unsavory sorts were only scratching the surface. It was saving-the-world type stuff, and along the way they lost Summer because of it.

It still isn't done. Those two are still at large and there's word of there being more in league with them. That's all he's allowed to say but Tai has – for the past few years – allowed himself to grow complacent since they went underground.

Not anymore. He, Raven, Qrow, and Weiss's sister, Winter, will spend everyday onward tracking them down.

He lets slip that there's whispers of missing huntsmen in Mistral. Yang mentions that Ozpin had Ruby go out to that kingdom to meet someone. Tai tries not to show how much that bothers him.

They won't be seeing each other much from then on, he says. They'll try to keep in touch but they'll be knee deep in places the CCT has no signal in. He doesn't look forward to it but it'd make Summer proud that they're out there doing what needs be done.

The next morning, Yang wakes up alone in bed.

She stumbles down the steps into an empty living room, but then she hears the clamber of porcelain plates in the kitchen. She runs in only to find Jaune at the sink.

Behind him, the dining table has five plates of a warm breakfast. Omelets, tiny sausages, and a minced venison smothered in soy sauce till it's a blackish brown. Three of the plates are half eaten. They were here but left in a rush.

She slides into her seat. The noise of the chair catches Jaune's attention. He drops a letter beside her. Both their names are scrawled onto the poorly folded note.

He sits beside her. "I didn't get to see them myself but I found this and a set of keys." She shows her the worn keys and drops them neatly by her plate. She recognizes them. They're for the house and they aren't spares. One of them even has the word "FRONT" roughly carved into it. It's filled in with golden stencil. She and Ruby did that, back when they were kids.

She opens the letter and reads it aloud. "Sorry. We'll try to be home by tonight. Don't wait. House is yours."

"Not very eloquent," Jaune says after swallowing, "but they were probably in a hurry."

"Eloquent?" Yang laughs. "Where'd you pick that up?"

"Weiss had a few choice words for my poor poetry back in first year. I told you I picked up a few things from her."

He's already finished the sausages on his plate. Yang remembers to eat.

"So, what now?" he asks her. "We house sit for a few days until Ruby shows up?"

Yang shakes her head. "No… that isn't what they mean by the house being ours. They don't actually know when they'll be back. School year might even end before they do."

"That's… a long time."

"It is, but in the meantime," – she wiggles the keys – "we actually own the house."

Jaune frowns. It's deep and it cuts just as well. "That sounds like a parting gift."

Swallowing an omelet, her head falls onto his shoulder. "It is."

Then the door busts open and they hear Qrow slurring in the next room. He's accompanied with another voice, Winter's, as she shoulders him into the kitchen. She's stringing together insults whilst blushing up a storm. They're quiet them when they find Jaune and Yang.

Qrow squints as if unsure of what he's seeing. "Ohhhh," he bellows before whipping his head back. "They're still here!"

"Ahem," Winter says. "Forgive my intrusion. Present company often ends our meetings this way."

"Which is weird," Jaune says, "cause Qrow can walk just fine when he's drunk."

"He can… what?" She shoots Qrow a glare and he gives her that stupid grin of his. He's not even close to sorry. She shoves him off her and blushes against her pale skin. "You're insufferable. Trying to get a rise out of me.."

He hobbles back a step but his grin seems carved into his cheeks. "Heh, nah. I just like being close to you."

Raven peeks into the room then with Tai close behind. Her hesitation lasts only a moment before she hurries in and Yang's already bolted out of her seat to hug her.

"You came back…" Yang says. Her hands reach out grab her dad so they can sandwich her mother between them.

Raven squeezes. "I'm as much a Rose and Xiao Long as you are. I figured the world could wait till we could all say goodbye. At least."

They pull away. Raven's age shows along the harsh circles around her eyes.

"So, this really is goodbye," Yang fathoms, weaving her digits into that of her parents'. "This… doesn't feel real. Everything's happening so quickly and I just got you back and… and…"

Tai pushes strands of her hair behind her ear. "Life's abrupt," he says. "Especially when you become a huntress. You'll often find that your whole world can change in a day. Adapting to that is a skill you have to learn."

Raven's eyes narrow. "But we're not worried. I was scared for you all my life but every time I looked back, you were already over another hurdle." She holds her daughter again. "And just like then, I'll miss you every day."

Yang's grip tightens around her. Like she's hanging off the edge, held on by a thread. She can feel it slipping, digging into her palm. She knows she has to let go but there's a part of her now that's made her an Arc. She's defiant. Foolishly, optimistically, defiant. And it's with that nonchalance that she peels away and suggests, "We're all home. We should have breakfast. Like a family."

Qrow's already sat down and Winter has already eaten most of his venison. Tai insists on sitting next to Jaune again, and Yang huddles the closest she's had in years next to her mother.

Ruby never makes it to Patch. All they get is a nerve-wracking call from her that's more apology than explanation. Qrow tells them she's in a good hands.

They don't tell him that that isn't the point.

-0-

It's halfway through their second year that Jaune and Yang step back into their dorm rooms. They'd come two days early since they didn't want to stay in an empty house and an empty apartment didn't feel much better.

Jaune finds Ren and Nora snuggling by a bean bag. (Nora's messing with his hair while he goes through a book on Vacuan flora). Pyrrha isn't home since she's with her family, but Sun is lying on her bed and he greets Jaune with the kind of enthusiasm he needed.

It takes him a while to realize that his smile is forced. "Sun, please tell me there's nothing wrong with you and Pyr."

"What? Oh, no! Everything's fine with us!"

"He's been fussing about something else," Nora chimes in as she twists knots in Ren's hair. "And he won't tell his big sister, Nora, so you know it's gotta be big."

"Uh, I'm a year older than you."

She squints. "Why is everyone older than me!? I know Ruby's sixteen but I'm starting to feel like a toddler here."

"Nora," Ren says, "I'm younger than you."

Nora wraps her arms around his head to squeeze him against her chest whilst clasping tightly over his mouth. "Shh, same age, honey."

Sun turns to Jaune. "What…?"

"Nora made them have the same birthday when they were kids. Flipped a coin on who got to keep theirs. Ren lost." Jaune decides not to mention that it was to simplify a holiday for two survivors in the woods. Less stress on their resources when they buy only one cake a year and have to share it. "But enough about them. What's got you all knackered?"

"Knackered? Who even says that anymore?"

"Ylda Braveheart. Now quit stalling! What's going on, man?"

There's a knock on the door. "Come in!" Ren says. He's already put his book down and is snuggling back into Nora. She and Jaune exchange a look. Something's up.

Yang and Blake walk in. Yang joins Jaune on the bed while Blake crouches by Ren and Nora who both drag her into the bean bag with a yelp. They laugh at her expense, and for a moment it seems like it's just a visit.

Then Weiss and Neptune walk in and stand there in front of them all, locking the door behind them.

There's a thickness in the air. Jaune and Yang are already holding each other for strength. Sun curls into his knees beside them but Jaune won't have that. He reaches over and grabs his shoulder. He shuffles a tiny bit closer in response.

Weiss shuts her eyes, squeezes Neptune's hand, and stands tall. Like a performance demands, she is rigid and neutral, but it's too much and her knees wobble. Neptune catches her and reaches for a nearby chair. He rubs her shoulders after he sits her down and she's starting to breathe evenly.

"Nice and quick," Neptune whispers to her, and it's audible in the relative silence.

Yang and Blake have been standing since she buckled, unsure if they should run over and hug her. She spots them and raises a hand. "Sit, please. This will be easier if I do this without having to cry on something…"

Neptune kisses her head. Her hand finds his massaging her shoulder, and her other balls into a fist. "I'm… leaving team RWBY."

PART 9 – Adaptation

Yang is afraid she's hurting Jaune when she hears the news and tenses up, her fingers closing tightly over his. Little parts of her feel pain, like her pulse is bulging in her veins and stretching out of her skin. Then she realizes that it's her body telling her to go and hold Weiss close. Stop her talking cause it's easy to see how much all of this is hurting her and she's still so painfully afraid that her friends are going to hate her.

Yang bites her lip and leans out. Her hand is suddenly cold. Jaune had let go of it. "Go," he whispers.

She's off the bed and crashes into Weiss just as she's inhaling. Neptune backs away just as Blake runs over to join them.

Weiss stops talking cause she can't at this point. Her arms reach around them both but her nails curl into their backs as her fingers twitch and anything she wants to say is lost in her sobs.

"It's okay," Yang says. "We know you have a good reason."

"We'll still love you," Blake adds. "Doesn't matter if you're here or not. We're still a team."

To Weiss, that all seemed enough to uncoil her fears and breathe relief.

-0-

"I have to be his daughter. His heir," Weiss explains when they're all gathered at the empty cafeteria. "I'll have to play his games and do everything I can to keep my integrity and still be me."

Her sister informed her around the time of the boat trip that her father was planning to discredit her and seat her brother as next-in-line. "I know it sounds almost foolish but my plan was always to juggle life as a huntress and as an heiress. To prove that I could follow in my sister's footsteps without needing to make any of her sacrifices." Her hand, the one not holding Neptune's, falls to Myrtenaster resting magnetically at her hip. "Winter gave me so much when she trained me. I wanted to prove to father that none of that was a waste of time. It worked for a while, too. Atlas was abuzz with news on my departure. That I'd taken the strength of the old Schnee vanguard and vowed to marry it with the capitalist empire. That we were still the staunch knights we always were and that our nobility hadn't tarnished that."

"Why can't you just stay?" Nora asks, eyes gleaming like the absent Ruby. "Why does your dad get to take even more from you?"

Weiss smiles placatively at her and wishes Ruby was here too. "Because I've learned a lot in my time here with all of you. I've learned that Remnant will always have enough amazing huntsmen – there's already so many at this table." She eyes them all but stops at Blake. "But I've also learned that there's a lot of good I could be doing. A different kind of good for my people in Atlas. Human and faunus."

Blake gasps. There's a sting in her chest. "I'm… so sorry."

"Don't be. All that time staying up together has given me perspective. The kind I feel is uniquely distinct to a Schnee. I need to use that. Maybe get my brother to see it the same way."

"Will you have help?" Yang asks, locking eyes. "I'm not willing to let you go alone."

Weiss leans into Neptune. "I won't be alone."

"We'll have to keep our relationship secret," Neptune explains, "but I'll be at every function, every gala, every fancy dinner. Dad's a shipping baron so we've already let rumor spread that I'm looking into partnering with the Schnees to get trade into Vacuo."

"In a few months' time we'll be married, too," Weiss adds, giggling in way that's resigned and heartbreaking. "It's hardly the way we wanted it to go but it's how it has to happen so father doesn't marry me off for a business venture. We'd do it today if I was already eighteen."

"Are you sure he won't reject you at the door?" Jaune asks.

"Not when I come in as bargaining chip. I'll flirt my way through a few prospective suitors and he'll see I'm still too useful to throw out." She snuggles into Neptune's side and he wraps an arm around her. "We've spent weeks planning. And though I'm sure things are going to go terribly wrong at some point…"

"…We'll adapt," Neptune finishes.

Even though there's hope here, the moment feels strained. A tension in the air is either like knots in the heart or the tightening of a noose. So Jaune and Yang put on brave faces and stand up.

"This isn't how we should be spending this day together, isn't it?" she asks with a grin.

"It's a going-away party," he says, "so we should have a party. Ren? Join us in the kitchen. Let's bake a cake."

Nora's already on Weiss and Blake. "C'mon! I know a buffet outside of town that sells their raws cheap. I'll even show you two how me and Renny grilled fish! I guarantee that you two princesses won't find anything like that at your fancy dinners."

Blake opens her mouth. "Actually, we–"

"Hush! Mommy's talking."

Neptune and Sun trade looks.

"Should we get the drinks?" Sun asks him. "I know a way into campus we can smuggle alcohol through."

"Actually, just pump me full of sugar. This might be the last time I get to have soda since I'll be spending the next few years getting used to wine."

"Ew!"

"I know!"

-0-

When the semester starts, Glynda Goodwitch announces that Ozpin won't be back for a month or so still, so she'll be acting headmistress.

The sister teams are all worried about Ruby but she sends them messages with a few photos that she's on a mission with Ozpin and what looks to be a farmhand. They don't expect to be back for a while and she isn't even allowed to update them but she slips them messages anyway. (She doesn't know how long she can keep up the ruse that she had a spare scroll from before Beacon).

Yang's nerves get the better of her until Jaune convinces Qrow to give them an update. Somehow the photo of Qrow, Raven, Tai, Winter, and Ruby together like the disjointed family they are is a monumental comfort. She makes it her wallpaper. Jaune promises that they'll all get a chance to get in that picture together at some point.

With Goodwitch so busy, it leaves combat class to Professor Port. It's a blessing in disguise since the extra class drains him enough to sleep through most of his own class. He gets worried for a while until everyone gets visibly excited for what is effectively a free period and some students actually get comfortable enough to sit with him on his desk and share real stories for a change. He isn't always telling them this time either.

The teams spend a lot of time on the roof where they're allowed to grill. Jaune, Nora, and Blake make a show of their techniques and Weiss, who is sitting on the sideline, lets the collective aroma of their sizzling platters soak into her skin.

They also take turns teaching Weiss and Neptune how to cook. It'll be useful when they get a place of their own. They hadn't considered an apartment yet, actually.

"Trust me," Yang says, "after what you two are gonna go through, you could use a getaway that's just yours." She shares a meaningful glance with Jaune who blushes, suddenly unable to keep eye contact.

They make that second boat trip with the same crusty boatman. Sun and Blake tie on the number of lobsters.

They spend a night in the apartment, cramped together and drinking till sunrise. (Pyrrha learned to mix drinks with her uncle over the break and Jaune hasn't puked so much in his entire life).

They joyride in Jaune's new Highway Aries and the boatman's Beluga van to the same cabin they went to with Saph and Terra. Joan can drive too, apparently, and they decide that seating her next to the excitable Nora is a recipe for turning the winding country roads into a roller coaster. (Jaune, Yang, Weiss, and Neptune end up trailing behind the van because of it.)

They rent out a thawed ice rink and have their own school dance. (Jaune spent the week teaching Neptune how to lose his second left foot).

And they skip class on Friday to spend their last day together. Ruby even manages to call Weiss and they find out that they might even meet in Atlas for a while. (Jaune and Yang are starting to suspect that Ozpin already knows about the scroll).

In the next morning, Weiss's bed is empty cause she had to go alone in a separate flight. Neptune has to arrive a day later on a separate trip. It's abrupt and even though they all knew it was going to happen, it still feels like it came out of nowhere. The space Weiss leaves behind is palpable.

She manages to send them all one final message with a photo. She's holding Blake's little triangular team flags she made for them during last year's Vytal Festival against the window of the bullhead.

"We'll always be a team."

-0-

Jaune cracks an eye open at the sound of clicking on screen . He's in the apartment, in his room, but his door is open halfway. Through the dark he can see Yang and Blake's faces lit against a scroll on the couch. Blake is sleeping on her shoulder.

They set her up with the guest room (Yang's long since migrated all her things into his anyway) and they must've gotten up at some point last night to chat.

He shuffles out of bed, scratching his bare chest and blinking away his drowsiness.

Yang can hear him. "Mornin'… Evening? Morning. It's one-AM."

He peels around the doorframe. "Shouldn't we be quiet?" he says in a hush.

"Nope," she says, not even looking up from her scroll. "Blake said she wanted to wake up to the sound of people so the room feels less empty."

Regardless, he sits on the softly beside her. "Is that why she stayed up so late?"

"She used to wake up early with Weiss. Sometimes she'd fall back asleep when Weiss got her early morning shower, but with her gone she's hoping to sync up with me instead."

"Maybe Ren's more her speed. He gets up early to get breakfast prepped for Nora the rest of the team if she didn't eat it all when we got there."

"Too bad they're not roommates."

"Yeah…"

Blake shuffles. Her ears twitch and there's a smile on her lips.

"She seems comfy," he says, laughing. He can't help but think they've adopted a stray though he won't say it aloud.

Yang's thinking the same thing but keeps her mouth shut too. "She met with Sun and Ilia for brunch yesterday. She came in when they were already talking about him losing Neptune. She felt like an outsider listening in."

"She didn't walk away, did she?"

"No, she sat with them and they talked. Even admitted to how she felt. They tried to make her feel comfortable and Sun had no trouble talking about it, but even they admitted that it feels like she's just a step out of her element. She's going with Pyrrha to meet with them again later tonight."

"I'm guessing she's not particularly enthused?"

Yang nods. Blake stirs but doesn't wake. "She thinks losing Weiss is upsetting everything else in her life. She usually doesn't feel that kind of doubt when talking to them. Pyrrha's doing her best to help on her end, too, but she might need some more outside help to get her out of this funk."

Her scroll buzzes. Jaune instantly recognizes the sender. "Ruby?" His voice is hopeful, almost desperate.

She ruffles his hair. "Don't worry about it. If you start losing your cool, then I will too."

He rolls his eyes with a smile. "Sorry, I just miss her."

"She wanted to talk to you but she's only got enough courage to message her big sister. She's still beating herself up for being gone so long. She's afraid you might hate her."

He fishes his scroll out of his pocket, squeezes his face next to Yang and Blake's, and takes a photo. "Morning…" he types, "…Crater …Face." A moment passes after he sends it.

Yang's scroll is then blasted with exclamation points before a video call starts. Their hearts soar when they hear her whine for the first time in weeks. "Yang…! I wasn't ready!"

It's dark wherever she is, huddled in a closet judging by the hangars swinging above her. Zwei is whining and scratching somewhere in the background.

"Sorry, Sis, but we're a package deal now!" Yang says.

"We miss you," Jaune says, the look of him is anything but teasing.

"I miss you guys, too…" she looks away, head half hunched in shadow. Her expression is unreadable.

There's a shuffling on her end of the call, she looks up, eyes wide, as some light pours into the closet she's in. "Ruby?" a hushed boy's voice says. "Is everything alright?"

Her eyes dart and she gets up in a panic. Jaune and Yang stay quiet as the closet is shut and the scroll spins in the dark for a moment before her face shows up again next to the same farmhand in her photo with Ozpin. "Keep this a secret. Please?" she asks him.

"I… sure. Lips sealed. What are you–?"

"Yang, Jaune," she says quickly. "This is Oscar. He's my, um, partner for the mission I'm on."

"I, oh, uh, hi," Oscar stammers. "I'm Oscar." He slaps his forehead. "Stupid. She already said that…" Ruby giggles.

"Aw, Jaune," Yang nudges him. "He's you, freshman year."

Jaune huffs. "I like to think I was as confident as I was awkward." He gets up. "I'm getting peckish. You want any coffee?"

"The orange juice, please."

"Weak!" Ruby teases through the screen. "Milk is the way to go. Keep up the store-bought pulp and I'll be taller in no time!"

"I prefer oranges freshly squeezed myself," Oscar adds before he shuts himself up. He seems afraid to add to the conversation.

"They are freshly squeezed though," Yang says. "Right, Jaune?"

"If two days ago counts as fresh, then yeah. Reminds me of home."

Yang sniffs the air. "Are you cooking tuna and eggs again?"

"What? Clove didn't have much fish and poultry. We had beef, pork, and way too many vegetables."

"It's one-A.M.!"

"And we're out of snacks. Now do you want some of this or am I gonna split it with Blake?"

Blake rolls her cheek up the backrest to look at Jaune. The smell probably woke her. "Mm… You'll have no objection from me."

"He was a farmer?" Yang hears Oscar ask Ruby. "I thought he was a huntsman."

"Huntsman-in-training," Ruby clarifies for him. "He grew up in a farm. I don't think that counts as a farmer but he used to herd cows. Even had this brief stint when he was ten where he'd run with the farm dog and bark at the cows to help wrangle the cattle."

"Pfft!" Yang and Blake snicker. "What?"

"What are you laughing at?" Jaune asks from the kitchenette, stood in the lowlight.

"Nothing!" Yang calls back. "Feeling better, Oscar?"

"Oh. You noticed?"

"It's okay. Meeting new people can be scary. Can't have been any easier with Ruby."

"Actually, she could barely look me in the eye." Ruby bumps him but can't deny it. Oscar stays smug. "Ha ha… Had to ease into meeting her. She caught me in the middle of work and she scared me so much that I almost fell off the hayloft with the way she squeaked her greeting. I thought a mouse got in the feed again."

"Oscar!" Ruby whines. "I'm putting you through the ringer for this."

He looks scared. "Uh… mercy?"

They spend the some of that morning together. Ruby builds confidence enough to promise to make another call if Oscar can keep covering for her. They also find out Ruby is training Oscar and Yang couldn't be more proud.

They're somewhere remote and secret so Ozpin isn't taking chances with the security breach but Ruby hopes that a closet is enough to be inconspicuous. She still can't tell them why she's there but she will when they arrive.

They. As in both of them. Oscar is coming to Beacon. It should be exciting, even just a little bit. It's not going to fill the gap Weiss left behind but it means less quiet. Plus, Penny is with them and she might come too. But Yang picks up the sadness in Ruby's eyes whenever Oscar asks about Beacon. There's something wrong.

When Oscar goes off to distract Ozpin and Jaune takes Blake to the convenience store, Yang asks, "Sis, what's going on that you're not telling me?"

Ruby chews her lip. "I can't say," she says for the umpteenth time, but Yang can feel the weight of it now that it's coming out of her mouth and not through text on a screen. Somehow, that makes it harder to let it go.

"I'm scared for you," Yang admits, "I'm worried that something else irreversible is coming and…" No, she tells herself. She can't put this on Ruby. "It's okay. I trust you. I'm worried but I trust you and before you say anything, nothing you say will break that trust."

Ruby curls closer to the scroll, like she wants to hug her. "Thank you…" she whispers.

"Just come home safe…"

"I love you, Yang."

"I love you, too, Sis."

-0-

The dorm room doesn't have the comforts it used to. Yang almost feels ashamed for leaving it behind half the time but Blake tells her that it isn't something she should worry about. She always made time, even if her memories seem like a blur of blonde hair and blue eyes. It doesn't mean she valued her time with them any less.

No one can blame her for falling in love.

Still, with Blake snoozing under some double-wide bedding across the room, Yang feels alone in the room.

She sits up and she hears a startle somewhere. She realizes the silhouette she thought was Blake has been just a mess of pillows. (Blake pulled her and Weiss's beds together to get comfortable. Didn't work. All she's got now is more room to feel cold in. They still miss her).

Another hushed sound reaches her. She gets up and walks around but she stops when she spots Blake sitting on the floor against the wall. Her ears are twitching.

"What's happening?" Yang asks.

"I can hear Goodwitch in the JNPR dorm."

Yang shuffles closer. She can hear the faint tap of the headmistress's heels but nothing more. "What is she saying? Are they in trouble?"

"I thought so at first, but no. It's something about a transfer."

"A transfer? Like a student?"

"I don't know. I'll keep listening."

Yang wants to go back to bed and grab her scroll. Jaune could answer her if she asked. She bites her lip.

"There's someone else," Blake says. Yang's limbs stiffen again. "She sounds familiar but I could be wrong. She's talking about… Moving furniture?" She peels off the wall. "Maybe I shouldn't be listening in."

Yang realizes that she's probably working herself up over nothing too. "Maybe, but it got you out of bed at least." She laughs. "I've been worrying myself ragged about this team, but unlike the other two, you're actually here." Arms wrap around Blake's thinner shoulders. "I hope you aren't blaming yourself for all of this."

"I am but I know it's stupid," she admits. "Weiss having an epiphany was bound to happen anyway. And her father would have forced her to leave whether we turned out to be friends or not. But there's always that little side of me scraping at the back of my head. I'm so painfully aware that it's there that I could almost reach out and strangle it."

"Pfft! You sound like Weiss."

"Heh, well we'd spent over a year together. Some things were bound to rub off on each of us. In fact," she looks at Yang meaningfully, "you didn't explode once during that whole talk about Weiss's dad. Jaune have anything to do with that? You've been minding your temper."

She rubs the back of her head. "No, not entirely. I mean, we've helped each other along but we can't give each other all the credit. I've mellowed out cause we lost at Vytal and I crashed at a bar. Cause I came home a mess and you girls set me straight. I won't say that solved it completely. I think I gave myself enough time to ease out of my anger issues over the summer and finding Jaune and ending up in his apartment gave me places to feel normal and happy for a change." She's blushing now, can't help the heat rolling tight circles in her cheeks. "Did I ever tell you about that? No… I don't think I've told anyone. Being in that apartment let me glimpse a life of being a civilian. Not a huntress-to-be, just a girl living in the city she swears she'll die in. It felt simpler, domestic. And I kind of liked that. I kind of really, really liked that."

"I envy that," Blake says with a knowing smile lying sideways on her knees. "Not the civie life but the happiness. I'm glad you found someone. Honestly, it's kind of crazy you two aren't completely official yet."

"I, uh, I think we are? I mean, it's not like we've talked about it again since all this craziness happened but we've said the three-word thing, named our kids, we own a house together and –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What? Rewind there for a second."

"To which part?"

"I don't know, all of it?"

Yang shrugs and that is equal parts everything so like her and everything that's frustrating. "I don't know. They all just kind of… happened?"

"How do you just happen to own a house now?"

"A couple birds left it on my dining table and flew out the open door."

Blake squints. "I… I can't tell if you're joking."

Yang grins.

Blake's ear twitches to the faint sound of a door closing. "JNPR…" she mouths as she hears it. "…moving out?"

-0-

Blake thinks she heard it wrong. Yang tries to tell herself they could be misunderstanding something but when they meet with JNPR, they don't mention a thing. Jaune and Pyrrha are all smiles, whilst Ren is keeping Nora from any more antics. Nothing's changed.

It eats up at Yang more than she's willing to admit but Blake doesn't need to be told in order to notice her best friend writhing inside of herself.

On occasion she can see Jaune stealing glances at Yang. He's noticed that something's off too. Sure, Yang is keeping it close to her chest, but she isn't loose in the way she usually is. And even though her being a little more guarded might make sense given recent events, Jaune's been with her long enough to notice that she's been easing back into her old self. The regression should be obvious.

Blake nudges him at the end of Port's class. "Talk to her," she says.

He nods, a determined look to him. "I was gonna wait till she was ready. I guess I have to act this time."

Blake smiles. "Just like you, she'll need a nudge sometimes."

Jaune jogs over to Yang as she rolls her eyes at something Nora says. She should be laughing instead. His eyes narrow.

"Yang."

"Oh! Hey, sorry, I thought you were with Blake and Pyrrha. Did you need something?"

His hand clasp over hers and people around them pull away and snicker. He takes her hand and pulls her to the wall and out of the way. "Don't think I haven't noticed you worrying about something. What's wrong?"

Normally she'd come out and say it. Even before they got this close. Before they were together. She isn't the kind of girl that lets these things lie. But she's lost so much in the past few weeks and she's feeling more and more vulnerable. More and more fatigued.

And this? What she's worried about? Hushed whispers in the night that might ultimately mean nothing? Half of her thinks it's fears she's digging up for herself to pile on the already rich avalanche of things she has to deal with. Another hates herself for doubting him, and that she's ashamed to reveal she doubted him at all.

But they were supposed to be able to talk about anything, right?

Her mouth opens.

She remembers her mother. She'd looked so stoic when she said goodbye, daring not to fall apart and swallowing her fears. With a sigh, she lets it go.

"It's nothing," she says with an easy sigh. "I'll tell you about it later if you're so curious but I'd like to stop worrying about nothing and focus on the things that actually need my attention."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Now I'm hungry."

"We still have class."

She takes his hand. "I don't care. Your girlfriend needs a pick-me-up."

-0-

Yang walks back into the dorm with a spring in her step. "Evenin'," she greets Blake who's lounging on the bed.

"Had a good night, I see? He not kissing you goodbye at the door?"

"We parted ways earlier. Said he had an errand to run."

Blake stares at her with a smile. Yang returns it before going back to her scroll. Blake's nose scrunches in confusion. "Well?" Blake asks.

"Huh?"

"What did he tell you?"

Yang winks. "Sweet nothings if that's what you're asking."

Blake's face goes through a series of emotion. "Yeah. Good. Great. Perfect." She sits up as her ears sharpen. "But what about last night? With the whispering and all that?"

"Oh! I, uh, I didn't ask about it."

Blake slips out of bed. "Okay, I've had it. Waited all this time to find out so let's just go over there and ask."

"Right. Sure." Yang picks up after her and doesn't bother to put her school shoes back on.

Blake stops just as she exits the door. Across from them is the JNPR dorm and the door is ajar. She twists back to Yang. "Was that open when you passed it by?"

"I didn't notice."

They approach the door and feel a draft coming through. The door swings to the side as they enter and the thud against the wall is the only sound.

The JNPR dorm is empty. Even the blinds have been stripped away and one of the windows is cracked open.

A hole opens in Yang's stomach. Confusion, mostly. Anger, even if she can't place it. She doesn't know what's happening.

Blake's hands are sweating too when they reach for hers. "Your scroll is buzzing," she says and they run back to their room.

Yang has a message from Jaune.

'are you decent?' it reads.

'uh…. Yeah?' she replies after a cursory glance at her uniform.

'perfect'

Yang stares at the word. His scroll didn't even get to auto-punctuate it. She's already typing another message. Where are you right now? I was at your dorm and it's empty – She stops typing when they hear a grunt and a thud.

Blake's ears perk up. "Nora?"

Something breaks, like snapping wood, then Yang can hear it too.

"Hah!" Nora shouts. The thud after shakes something in their room. "Hah!" Another shudder, louder and resonant. "Hng…!" They can feel the way she's inhaling. "Hah!" Then their wall shakes.

"Hah!" Then a chunk of the wall pops out and swings aside like a portal door. They can see Nora behind the hole. She's in the next dorm room. They transferred next door instead of across the hall.

Nora peeks in with a wide grin, the light behind her shining over her features like a beacon. She pulls away and her hammer carves down into the hole till its roughly the shape of her silhouette. She kicks away the loose boards and cement around her and stomps into the room.

"Evenin' roomies!" she announces with gusto and caked in dust.

Jaune slips passed her in shorts and a worn shirt, pillow under his arm and eyes half awake. He walks up to Yang and takes her hand. "Sleepy?" he asks.

She realizes she's exhausted. Relief lets her body feel its fatigue. "Yeah…"

He pulls her to bed and they fall in together. She's confused but doesn't focus on it.

"What is happening?" Blake asks Ren as he comes in with Pyrrha in tow. (Who has already apologized but her smile doesn't slip away even once).

"Jaune said that it was starting to get a little quiet here in your dorm," Ren explains. "So, we hatched an idea to trade rooms with your neighbor's. Team ASHE took a room on a different floor instead of taking ours."

"Miss Goodwitch was very accommodating," Pyrrha says. "Went so far as to levitate most of our things from one room to another."

"She almost said no," Jaune says with a yawn, "but when I explained why we were doing it, she just sighed and drew up the permit."

"You need a permit to switch dorms?" Blake asked. "Wait, there's a permit for that?"

Nora hoists the hammer back onto her shoulder. "Permit's not for the dorm. It's for breaking down the wall."

Blake can't help but a feel a tingle under her skin, and it rolls into heat when Pyrrha and Ren squeeze her between them.

The night draws down and they got rid of the bits of dust and talk about how they're supposed to tear the down the wall. They'll put up two beams they'll have to pay for themselves but the rest of the wall can go away and there will be nothing between the two rooms in a few days.

And when they're all cleaned up (and splitting two bathrooms between six people), they push the four RWBY beds together so they can crawl under the collective sheets. In the middle, Yang sees Blake shiver happily between Ren and Nora, calmer than she has been in weeks.

Nestled against the curve of Jaune's neck, she nudges him. "Thank you for this," she whispers.

"It wasn't all me," he murmurs.

She flicks his forehead. "You're allowed to take credit for the idea, at least. Besides, I feel like I should reward you somehow."

"Fine," he grumbles but his smile doesn't sell it. "As for the reward, I'd ask about the rent but I think we should stay out and keep the bill thin this month. I don't think I can meet the payment this time if it gets any bigger with electric and water."

Yang chuckles. "Hey, you asked for the heavy down payment so you could sidestep the interest. That car is a money sink and you should've seen this one coming." He whines and she kisses his nose, making him whine some more. "Still, I'll still have to find a way to thank you."

"Missionary always works for Sun," Pyrrha chimes in from behind her.

Jaune and Yang's eyes go wide.

"What?" Pyrrha asks as they stare at her. "Too vanilla?"

Yang squeezes a pillow to her own face. "Pyrrha!"

"What? Oh! Sorry. I hadn't realized that you… It's just that Sun's been gentlemanly and I tried to get him to talk dirty to spice things up so I ended up having to do it myself and –"

"Uh, Pyr?" Jaune stops her. "That's not it. We, uh, we haven't done it yet."

She tilts her head. "Missionary?"

"Sex," Yang whimpers.

Nora shoots up. "What!?"

Yang shrinks even further. "Are you all awake!?"

Ren turns an open eye behind him and Blake peers sheepishly over the length of his arm. No one looks sorry.

"Ugh…" she groans. "Is it too late to call this a bad idea?"

Pyrrha pulls her away from Jaune and into the collective cuddle of everyone else. "Not on your life, Xiao Long."

She mouths a "help me" to Jaune.

He reaches under his pillow, pulls out his scroll into its camera, and mouths a coy "No," before the shutter snaps.

The photo goes up with the rest of the stringed ones Ruby set up earlier that year. Eventually, they flood it with more memories till the ceiling is lined with their found family gleaming from wall to wall to wall.

#jaune x yang #yang x jaune #Jaune Arc #yang xiao long #rwby dragonslayer

[camelely]

13rw S4 Fix

 So i did one of these for last season and I think now that I’ve had some time to think about S4 I’ll do the same. While last season I thought the issue was one character being overused. But here it seems like there were multiple smaller things that could have improved the whole season Again I’m keeping the same basic plotline and characters :) 

1) Winston 

Have Winston stay at Hillcrest. Him moving to Liberty did nothing for the main plot and he was basically a red herring through most of it. Let him try are befriend the characters from the outside. He can learn about Jess from Bryce’s trial and the news coverage and then try to befriend her at Monet’s. This is where he meets and later starts to date Alex. Since he doesn’t go to liberty school Alex sees him as a sort of escape and lets him in. Clay and Ani dont tell everyone about him because they dont know he is trying to get close to them. It makes them seem less like assholes and more like people. They don’t mention his connection to Monty because they dont realize how close he is getting to answers. Clay can still suspect he did the graffiti, after all it was a break in and a non student could have done that. Plus Estella is another red herring in the school. She serves that purpose so let Winston be the outsider looking in. His arc would still be about knowing a different Monty and not knowing who is was at Liberty but now he is literally the outsider who didn’t really get Monty, rather than it just being a figurative thing at the prom. You can still have the prom scene it would just be entirely imagined rather than the half imagined thing they went with. I think they overused the people talking to ghosts thing so here it would be a  fantasy of Monty and the relationship they had rather then a representation of what could have been. However I don’t think this would have retracted from the point. Also play him up, he is a sympathetic antagonist and it sucks how much he is sidelined for Diego. I didn’t hate Diego but Winston and him basically went through the same arc. They were pro Monty and ending up dating a member of the group, couldnt believe that member was involved and then learned something about Bryce and Monty agreed to move on and just did. All while saying they will alway care for that member of the group. It was an unnecessary rehash. Having WInston be the outsider looking in and Diego the insider looking out also lets their characters compliment each other. They should still work together, just have Winston contact him looking for Monty’s friends. It’s simple. 

2) Tyler and Tony 

Oh Tyler. The character who seems to be in the middle of everything despite never doing anything himself. I didn’t mind his arc of helping the cops find the guys who sold the illegal guns. But Tony’s suspicions, eventually leading to Clay and Tony finding out the truth and just moving on never really go anywhere. I think  it would be cool if Tyler tells Tony, despite the cops telling him not to tell anyone, because he trusts Tony. But Tony, who has had bad run ins with the cops, thinks it is a bad idea. He doesn’t want Tyler taking the deal. Tyler says its the only way the guns wont be traced back to them but Tony thinks teh cops are planning to double cross them to mind out more about Bryce and Monty. At the same time he starts getting close to that cop that takes him boxing and helps him get into college (i dont remember his name for the life of me lol). Tyler sees this as being hypocritical and pulls away. Tony still suspects Tyler is behind the lock down because he is pulling away and Tony is getting paranoid. The rest of their story can still be the same but this way they can show Tony’s paranoia and his loyalty. 

As for Tyler and Estella, It was fine. The scene of them in the bathroom was really powerful, being in the bathroom with a de la cruz and becoming comfortable because isnt her brother was really nice. This could even be another reason Tony and Tyler fight. Tony can be paranoid that Tyler is trusting her too quickly and think she will turn on him. 

3) Jess

Her arc with the principal, being scared and agreeing with the security measures before she sees them in action was really interesting. Focus more on it and less on her manipulating Diego. I did like parts of that arc for her so I don’t want it completely gone but I do think focusing on her working with the principal would have been cool. I would call more attention to her first meeting and her agreeing with the measures and slowly show her change her mind and start to turn against them. Maybe even have an early scene of her and ANi talking about it and have Jess admit she feels safer. Move the creepy cop trying to pat her down to the second or third day. So she can have a moment where they make her feel safe before the negative experience. I loved the protest and a bit better build up would have made it amazing

Her arc with Ani. They fought over Bryce... It should have been a conversation. Not a moment where Ani judges Diego and then they argue. I still think this arc should have been Chloe and Jess and should have been in last season. But they had the opportunity to include Chloe this season and just didnt. I’ll talk about this a bit more in the Zach section but I think Chloe should have been at Prom and the moment between the Ani Jess and Chloe should have been then. It would be right after Jess and Ani made up and would have been cool. 

I don’t think she should have had scenes where she saw and talked to Bryce. Yes it created some powerful moments but they could be reworked. Have WInston use his wealth to commission a positive thing in the paper about Bryce and Monty and have her talk to his idealized photo of Bryce. I will mention it in the Clay section but her hallucinations detracted from his journey with mental health. 

4) Clay

Okay two thing here the first is his arc with mental health, hallucinations, and blackouts. They used it for drama and I wish they hadnt. It should have been about him healing. I didnt mind the way they handled the realization for clay that it was him doing everything (Did they explain the symbol he kept drawing because I missed it if they did? or i just forgot because it was that forgettable lol) but I think the whole thing could have been handled a lot better and a more educated fan then I can provide a better explanation for what exactly was off about it. I will say the the therapy sessions were repetitive and I know thats realistic but for a tv show its boring. The scene were Clay goes to his home was weird and low key scary. I understand the purpose but  I wish he had called him and asked to meet at his office instead. A more likable and relatable journey for Clay with his mental health would be really good for a show that was accused of glorying suicide (personally i dont think it did. My inbox is open if you wanna talk though :))

The second thing is the phantom phone caller. I hate this trope so it might just be me but this is so stale. There are exactly two ways it could go. The person could know everything and be a real problem or the person could be fishing for information and not be a real problem. The whole thing was predicable since Winston had red herring written all over him, Estella was barely developed, and on this show it is always the football guys. Instead let the pranks be smaller and less crazy. Like these boys had to coordinate a lot to mess with Clay. There should be more than one prank and end with a Monty doll and Clay holding a knife to set up the camp episode. But they should be pranks, not the phantom caller psychological torture bs. The blood shower can also happen just on a different day. Clay can be confused about what is real and what isnt making him even more worried about his blackouts and again assuming the mental health arc is handled well, the pranks can be a real part of it. Dumping him in the pit on the camping trip also seemed kinda attempted murdery so maybe do something like tie him to a tree of the path or in a small dirt ditch not a rocky pit where if he hit his head or fell weird the team would all be murderers. 

5) Alex

His arc with Charlie was one of my favorite stories this season. I was also not bothered by him getting close to and exploring his sexuality with Winston and Zach. I’m in the minority but I’m glad Zalex wasn’t made canon and Zach was used to be an effective (kinda) ally and good friend. Plus this way Zalex can live on in the fandom untouched or ruined by the writers interpretation. 

They should have given us Alex in therapy. He tried to kill himself had a traumatic injury, an arc with steroid abuse, and an arc about killing someone. All of which were forgotten this season. All the other characters seemed to be dealing with Bryce and Monty, why not focus on Alex? Even if it isnt in therapy just let him exist in his feelings.

6) Zach

I have one major issue with Zach’s arc, the lack of Chloe. She was the reason he almost killed a man. Let them date, let him start to spiral while dating her. She doesnt know what he did. Have them grow apart on screen but her still connecting to him and not wanting to give up on him. They should go to prom together. I know the hooker was supposed to represent Zach turning into Bryce with the hookers and the drunken sex/potential rape  and cocaine. But Chloe fills the same comparison. He brings cocaine she is not okay with it, He tries to convince her to have sex in the back she is not having it. Maybe he tries to convince maybe it becomes a bit worse than that but she breaks up with him at prom and leaves early. She sees Bryce in him, she doesnt have to say it but you can see it on her face and she walks away when her mind and heart tells her to this time no making excuses. Boom Chloe actually has an arc. As for Zach this is a big wake up call for him he sees what we had become. I know it is later in the actual show but I think it should be in the prom episode so he can have a better conclusion in the finale, like the other characters. The whole season was a downward spiral and I wish we got to see more of him pulling himself out of it. If the whole finale is him getting better even though he wont be all the way done he will be in a better place up the end.

7) Justin

Okay the hard one. I think the writers really wanted to kill him. I mean a fan favorite, who did bad things, and the death would be in the series finale. this is a tv writer’s drug of choice. So I’m gonna do a fix where I still kill him first then to the ideal version. Ok so first Justin dies. No HIV/AIDS. It was out of nowhere, unneeded, and seemed a bit insensitive. If you want it to be related to his drug use, make it so he got a bad batch when he relapsed. Or maybe organ failure. If it doens’t need to be drug related it can be an accident or someone he knew on the streets getting revenge, like that drug dealer we spent time with last season. Or if Justin helps Tyler put the gun salesmen behind bars then have it be retaliation for that. He can still go to the hospital and have goodbyes but it wont be an aids diagnosis and death in the same episode. I know they had signs in earlier episodes but the timeline is still really fucked up...

An ideal ending would have him live. He can still pass out at Prom. The diagnosis can be a combination of stress and withdrawal symptoms.He can be the red herring for the person in the coffin. If Justin lives he can represent hope. He can show the audience that you can get better and things can work out. Even if you are sick and think you will die you can do better be better and live in a better world. Plus I love him and really wanted him to be happy. The message would be you can get out of a bad situation and wold have ended a sad series on a positive note. Even if you are a bad person. Even if you have bad circumstance. Even if it feels like the world is against you, it can get better if you put in the effort. Which felt like the message the show was going for in eariler seasons by showing the people on the tapes doing better but abandoned this last season.

So who would I put in the coffin. Ani’s mom. Now I know she wasn’t a well liked character and her mom wouldn’t have the same audience or character reaction Justin’s death did. But this version isn’t about making the audience sad. Ani would finally have a plot that was really about her, her mom died, Bryce’s mom basically wants to provide for her. And she isn’t sure what to do. Justins funeral felt like it was overshadowed by graduation anyway. Now Ani’s moms absence and the funeral being overshadowed both make sense. She is going to college and doing what she can to honor her mom. And the death of a parent causes Clay to immediately appreciate his own family more. The theme in the first season with Clay was appreciating and acting on his feelings for Hannah before she was gone. Ani’s mom dying is a reality check for him and he know the most important things are his family and friends. Justin’s arc was about finding a family and he did. The core of the show is about family, friends, and the importance of  a strong support system. And starting it with a mother grieving her daughter and ending it with a daughter grieving her mother would be a cool full circle moment.

This post is really long so if you read all the way down Thank you! :) 

#13rw #13 reasons why #Thirteen Reasons Why #13rw spoilers #13 reasons spoilers #13 reasons why spoilers #13 reasons season 4 #13 reasons why season 4 #thirteen reasons why spoilers #clay jensen #Justin Foley #ani achola #zach dempsey #jessica davis #tyler down #tony padilla #alex standall #diego torres #winston williams #montgomery de la cruz #monty de la cruz #estella de la cruz #bryce walker #charlie st george #tw rape #cw rape #rape mention #tw suicide #cw suicide #suicide mention

[theabominableblogger]

My Reaction to “Avengers Endgame”

Yes- I still haven’t seen this movie.  Yes I know exactly what happens in this movie.  I mainly avoided it for a while due to overhype but with some convincing from my brother, Imma sit my butt down and try to watch this.

Pressing... play!

Right off the bat, I feel like I should warn you guys and say that I have... my opinions... about stuff.  Plus I’m a dumbass about Marvel so just bear with me.

I like that Disney Plus has to warn us about product placement

Clint!

Are we gonna see little Nathaniel running around- THERE he is!

We are gonna see Clint’s entire family get freaking obliterated

Is all the rumbling from the sky or are those airplanes freaking crashing to Earth in the distance?

What if they pulled a reverse WandaVision and showed the people getting snapped out of existence in a future film or show?  That would be freaking terrifying.

They’re [Tony and Nebula] playing paper football...

I wanna see more of THEIR interactions aboard the Milano.  The shots of them just repairing the ship are great too.

“I’m fine.  Totally fine.”  Everyone ever.

I also like you see the visual difference between Tony and Nebula.  While he’s growing gaunt and haggard from loss of oxygen, you can still see that Nebula looks absolutely fine because she’s like 75% android

So between 1995 and now, what the heck has Carol been up to?

“Thanos wiped out... 50% of all living creatures.”  So like entire ecosystems are just demolished.

*anthropology major part of my brain scrambling for answers*

“We lost.  And you [Steve] weren’t there.”  HE WAS IN WAKANDA!

Wait so the arc reactor ISN’T in Tony’s chest anymore?

“Where the hell have you [Carol] been all this time?”  Good question!

*silently bops to opening theme*

For some reason, I just really want the ship radio to randomly turn on so you just see everyone sitting awkwardly as “Piano Man” plays over the speakers

*Thanos slowly cooks his food*  Faster, all together now!  COOKING CAN BE FUN!

“I [Thanos] used the stones to destroy the stones.”  ...what?

“I am...[Thanos] inevitable.”  *starts humming “Inevitable” from TGWDLM*

“I [Thor] went for the head.”  YES YOU DID

[FIVE YEARS LATER] All righty so we’re doing this

*gasps*  Is... Steve running the therapy sit downs like Sam did in “The Winter Soldier”?  That’s awesome.  I really like this tidbit.

I’m also really liking Alan Silvestri’s score for this so far

I’m really trying not to nitpick but I feel like it would take more than 5 years for greenery to just completely overtake a suburban neighborhood

Also wow pre COVID life looks great you guys

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t even wanna find him.”  Are they talking about... Clint?  Is Clint just going the full vigilante route?

DOES HE KILL PEOPLE?!?

I really like Steve and Natasha’s friendship in these movies but for some reason I don’t feel like we get enough of Natasha for me to get behind her on an emotional standpoint

Are they gonna use the quantum realm to jumpstart the multiverse for Phase 4?

Also speaking of multiverse, I honestly really don’t want Spiderman:  No Way Home or Wandavision to get too cluttered by that

I like Tony’s lake house.  And he got a whole vegetable garden going too.  Kudos!

The little kid who plays Morgan Stark is adorable

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel.”  Which we obviously won’t.

“We’re gonna need a really big brain.”  So where the [expletive] is Banner?

“Stranger danger.”  *snorts*

“Dab!”  *rolls eyes*

So is the whole Professor Hulk thing permanent?  I know he’s gonna be in the She-Hulk show but I’m wondering how they’re gonna tackle that.  And they’re gonna have Tim Roth too!

*smiles when Tony takes Morgan to bed*

Steve Rogers here [when they do the first time travel tests] is a Look ™

Maybe don’t let the GIANT GREEN MAN keep pressing a bunch of tiny tiny important buttons on a dashboard

*laughs at Steve shaking his head in disbelief when they finally bring Scott back*

*Tony’s car races toward the Avengers base*  NYOOOMMMM

*Tony rolls down his window*  It’s Britney, bitch

“And maybe not die trying.”  And you definitely will.

This whole bit where Scott keeps losing his dorito only to get another one from Bruce feels like a Doritos commercial.

*jams out to "Supersonic Rocket Ship by The Kinks*

Did they just keep reducing the green pigment for Hulk or what?

*sighs when they reveal Fat!Thor*

MIEK’S ALIVE!

Please tell me Noobmaster69 is Kid Loki, whom we meet in the Loki series

“Don’t... say that name.”  “Yeah we actually don’t say that name here.”  I like this.  I like that Thor has so much resentment for killing Thanos at the wrong time and that he felt that could have done better cause he’s A GOD.  So the fact that THANOS was on equal level and BEAT HIM-

Hawkeye’s killing people

This sword fight’s great [between the Yakuza person and Clint]

WHY DIDN’T THEY BUILD ON THIS [Clint and Natasha’s connection] ???

*laughs when Rhodey suggests killing baby Thanos*

These shots of Clint going through the Quantum Realm looks like something straight out of Andy Park’s concept art and that’s awesome

“Well I [Scott] haven’t [encountered an Infinity Stone] but I don’t even know what the hell you’re all talking about.”  *snorts*

“The Aether, firstly, is not a stone.”  Thank you!

The little glance Nebula gives after Thor mentions the Dark Elves just make me think that somewhere down the road, she has either A) encountered them or B) has encountered other Asgardians besides Thor

“Guys if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York.”  “Shut the front door.”  *laughs*

Also underrated trio:  Steve, Natasha, and Bruce.  Gimme more.

Wait a minute, in 2012, Doctor Strange wasn’t active yet.  So are they gonna go see- OOOOOOOHHHHHH

[NEW YORK 2012] Oh here we go

*cracks up when Bruce very half-assedly smashes stuff on the street*

“I’m looking for Doctor Strange.”  “You’re about five years too early.”  Wait a minute.

HOW DOES SHE [the Ancient One] KNOW?!?

*giggles at Thor and Rocket sneaking in the background with a bored Loki in focus*

“That’s my [Thor’s] mother.  She dies today.”  I love this scene already.

Also WHY IS THOR- or the Thor films in general- have like the most well written characters in the whole canon?

It’s those movies, Guardians 2, The Winter Soldier, Civil War, aaand.... I can’t think of any more of them. 

Oh yeah and WANDAVISION cause THAT HIT ME LIKE A TRUCK-

Rocket just said he thinks of the Guardians as his family I’m gonna die...

What about their [Natasha and Rhodey’s] friendship?!?  I want more of that!

“Ronan’s obsession... clouds his judgment.”  ...HUH

*Thanos uses his sword to lift up Nebula’s chin*  Aw heck no

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass.”  *has to take a second before nodding in agreement*

Wait is that Jasper Stillwell?

“Flick me.”  That bit alone could be taken out of context

“We’re in route to Doctor List.”  Who’s Doctor List?  Is that a code name?

“Hail Hydra.”  THE BASTARDS WENT AND DID IT

Please tell me this hand off scene is gonna be the opening for the Loki show.  Please tell me this is gonna happen.

*Loki takes the Tesseract again*  AND HE’S GOOONNNEE!!

LET’S GET TO FREAKING JUNE ALREADY!

*ends up quoting “Yeah, I know, I know” along with Steve*

I’m really glad Tilda Swinton actually came back for this cameo

*keeps slapping my laptop screen when people keep saying Doctor Strange made a mistake when it was an explicit point in Infinity War where he encountered 14 million other AUs to find the best result*

Are you telling me that this whole plan could derail because Nebula accidentally hacked into her own WiFI network?  Are you seriously doing this?

*Thanos and Ebony Maw scan Nebula’s duplicate memory bank and track her down*  Are you freaking kidding me?

...I have 96 minutes left?!?

“The future hasn’t been kind to you [Thor], has it?”  Frigga is underrated

So for these shots with Jane, are they just reusing different shots from Thor 2 or just footage from deleted scenes?

Can we talk about how Frigga is absolutely the best parent Thor has?  Meanwhile her husband ODIN is like “oh yeah by the way you have a secret sister totes magotes i’ll die now byeeee”

*sings along with “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone*

*laughs when we cut to Quill just very badly singing along to his iPod in the distance*

I want a bonus short with just Rhodey and Nebula doing their thing

*Nebula gets her memory taken over by 2014 Thanos*  Nooooooo...

Are the glasses that Tony wears here part of EDITH from “Far From Home” or are they like a prototype?

Also I haven’t seen “Far From Home” yet because Sony hates me

Doctor Zola?!?

*jams out to the music playing when we see Hank Pym’s lab*

“A little girl would be nice.  Less of a chance that she’ll end up exactly like me [Howard Stark].”  *gasps softly*

Oh my God, he’s [Steve] in Peggy’s office

Alan Silvestri is really killing it with this score

JARVIS!!

Wait and that’s the guy from “Agent Carter”!

Ohhh that shot’s [of Thanos’s ship coming out of the clouds] awesome...

*2014 Nebula hands Thanos the Pym particles*  Oh are you kidding me...

The CGI for Red Skull is also awesome

*gasps when Natasha reveals that she never knew her dad’s name when Red Skull told it to her*

*is super bummed out when Natasha sacrifices herself*

Kevin Feige really went and said “so Phases 3 and 4 are gonna make everybody cry” and the writers went “YES”

Wait doesn’t Cap go and return the stones at the end of the movie?  How’s he gonna handle meeting Red Skull on Vormir then?

“It’s like... I [Bruce] was made for this.”  Please someone get Mark Ruffalo his own Hulk movie before he combusts from giving out more spoilers

So Thanos used the Pym particles to time travel then.  Honestly that’s kinda genius

I just noticed that Scott shrank himself right as the explosion hit the windows

I really want someone to just drop one F-bomb somewhere in the MCU and I really hope it’s Clint because he would 100% say it

*starts singing “Hollaback Girl” when Thanos arrives*

Here’s my question;  how did Thanos acquire Nebula then?  With Gamora, it was with the genocide of her people.

“We [Gamora to Nebula] can stop him.”  LET’S GO!

[Thor uses his storm powers to summon both Stormbreaker and Mjolnir] *softly* Ohhhhh that’s badass...

Now I’m just imagining the cast just in the green screen room just hitting Josh Brolin with a bunch of foam weapons and making all the sound effects while poor Josh is just struggling under the weight of the Thanos reference head on his mocap suit

Who does the voice for FRIDAY?

AN:  Irish actress named Kerry Condon

*Steve deems himself worth to wield Mjolnir*  OKKAAYY OKAAYY

Love how Thanos is like “yes, I’m gonna stab you with an AXE”

“In all my years of conquest...”  Steve you suuuucckkk...

Are we getting the Chitauri again?

“On your left.”  *laughs incredulously*  O-ohhh my God...

*Everyone starts coming out of the portals*  Oh my God I’m getting chills

I would have lost my mind in the theater

I HAVE ACTUAL GOOSEBUMPS RUNNING ALL OVER ME.  This is how good this is

WAIT ARE THOSE THE RAVAGER SHIPS ABOVE THEM?!?

“Avengers... assemble.”  Oh my God this is amazing!

M’BAKU!

Also “Endgame” really just said “We are KILLING FOOLS TODAY”

How are they gonna tackle Peter and Gamora’s relationship in Guardians 3?

[Horn plays La Cucaracha] LET’S GO

God I’m gonna turn feral

*has to pause to scream in excitement when Wanda touches down in front of Thanos to fight him*

*puts hands on head*  OHH MY GOOOOODDDDD

They’re literally just playing Keep Away with a teenage boy.  Marvel, everybody.

*Captain Marvel destroys Thanos’s ship*  WELL IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH

OK I got mixed feelings about that [the girl power team up scene]

*Thanos unsuccessfully headbutts Carol*  Oh shit!

*Doctor Strange holds up one finger*  Oh my God this is it

Someone definitely tore off when Thanos pushed Tony off

It was in that moment he [Thanos] knew- he effed up

*All of Thanos’s army dissipates*  Byeee...

Is it bad that I’m not crying at Tony’s death?

*gasps when Peter reunites with Ned at school*

Wait the whole time heist takes place within ONE DAY?

“I love you 3000.”  I really hope we see Morgan again somewhere in one of the movies or shows.  Actually a cool way to reincorporate her would be in the Ironheart series whenever they make it

Even Drax is wearing black!

It’s the “We should be getting therapy but we got a TV show instead” trio [Wanda, Bucky, and Sam]

Wait is that guy- was that guy- the little kid from Iron Man 3?

AN:  Yes

So right after this funeral, Wanda’s gonna storm SWORD right?

AN:  This was finished up on 2/26 so probably YES

*Thor crowns Valkyrie the new leader of New Asgard*  I now cannot wait for “Thor Love and Thunder”

Wait Peter’s looking for Gamora!

Still cannot believe that the time travel suits are completely CGI

I know they had a body double for Chris Evans here but I do think it would have been cool if they used the body double’s voice for Old Steve instead of Chris trying to sound old

He [Steve] put the shield in an art portfolio bag...

*says “No, no I don’t think I will” along with Steve*

*silently jams out to “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” playing during the credits*

Wait and that was the song Fury was playing in “Winter Soldier”

Oh they even got the actual signatures!  That’s awesome!

#avengers endgame #marvel #the blogger reacts #finally #mcu #tony stark #steve rogers #captain america #iron man #bruce banner #mark ruffalo #natasha romanoff #clint barton #scott lang #peter quill #nebula #red skull #thor #chris evans #thanos #josh brolin #alan silvestri #morgan stark #rocket raccoon #kevin feige

[watchathon]

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Series Finale: Sozin’s Comet

In case you’re finding this post just by browsing the tags I’ve used for this post, this is the Watchathon, a blog where I’m hoping to watch an episode of a TV show every weekday, with a short blog post where I write down my thoughts as I watch. Each new thought starts with a hyphen and a bolded first word.

- Like so. Now that the introductions are over with, it’s time to break that one-episode-a-day rule and finish off Avatar: The Last Airbender with the climactic grand finale, Sozin’s Comet:

PART 1: THE PHOENIX KING

- Okay, so, Katara in the intro is still saying “He has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone.” I could’ve sworn they removed that part by this point... Maybe that was just something for the DVD?

- I like that the “Previously on” segment is so long. It really emphasizes how much buildup there was to this. How much the Gaang has been through to get here.

- I gotta say, I was not expecting a beach party in this episode.

- Somehow, for reasons I can’t explain because I don’t understand them myself, this ambush from Zuko made the audio of Nicolas Cage saying “Surprise attack!” in Into the Spider-Verse play in my head.

- Zuko’s really lucky that he earned Katara’s forgiveness before this violent pop quiz, seeing as just a half season ago... “You take one step backwards... one slip up... give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang - and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently.”

- It never occurred to me that we didn’t get details on the war meeting before now.

- I’d bet hearing about this plan is the thing that tipped the scales and fully convinced Zuko to join the Gaang, and prevent the genocide of the Earth Kingdom.

- It’s so nice to see Zuko being welcomed into the group hugs. Especially when it’s Katara who invites him.

- I like that Zuko is teaching Aang to redirect lightning, the same way Iroh taught him.

- Even before it’s made explicit, you can tell that Aang’s uneasy about the idea of killing.

- Toph is just delighting in her role as Melon Lord, isn’t she?

- Someone out there has definitely written an AU fanfic where someone gets killed during this training and it’s Toph’s origin story as the malicious Melon Lord. If not, then I will write it myself, and it shall be the crackiest crack fic that ever cracked.

- Y’know what, I wish Toph could’ve actually gone on a life-changing field trip with Zuko too! Everyone else got one...

- This scene of Sokka climbing into Appa’s mouth is even more uncomfortable once you’ve... well, once you’ve grown up and... Okay, I tried to put it subtly, but I just can’t: Once you’ve been cursed with the knowledge of what vore is.

- Well, there’s a bait-and-switch if I’ve ever seen one: “Azula, you’re the new Fire Lord!” “=)” “But I am now the Phoenix King and still your superior who you will answer to.” “=O”

- Nice to see June and her Shirshu make a comeback.

- Does this mean Aang wasn’t running away on purpose? I honestly thought he was just going to that island to get some alone time, maybe meditate or contact the previous Avatars’ spirits.

PART 2: THE OLD MASTERS

- I’m not sure if this is something I forgot from June’s first appearance, or if it’s actually just never been brought up before, but I didn’t know her Shirshu had a name.

- It’s sweet that Zuko is seeking out Iroh’s help. Even if the method of finding him is, ah, well... unorthodox.

- Even Avatar Roku doesn’t know where Aang is. And here I thought it was some Avatar thing that had never been brought up before.

- It’s nice to see these people make a comeback. Bumi, Piandao, even Jeong Jeong and Master Pakku are here for the finale.

- I am surprised that we didn’t get an interaction between Toph and Bumi, though. The man Aang wanted to teach him Earthbending, the girl who ended up doing it... But I guess there’s only so much time, and I don’t think there’s any scenes that could be deleted to make room for it.

- It seems like Aang is just searching for confirmation of his beliefs, rather than actually seeking wisdom.

- I like that we get to see Bumi taking full advantage of the eclipse to take back Omashu from the Fire Nation, instead of just being told about it.

- It’s nice to see so many past Avatars beyond just Roku and Kyoshi, Avatars that we never heard of before, but now we hear their stories. But all of these past Avatars echo the same sentiment that Aang should kill Ozai, even an Air Nomad Avatar.

- What can I say about this scene of Zuko and Iroh reuniting? Forgive me for echoing a post I made on my main blog, but this is a scene that’s both sweet and sad.

Sad, because Zuko’s abuse at the hands of Fire Lord Ozai left him anxiously expecting furious punishment for crimes much less than what he did to Iroh. He can’t even comprehend the idea that Iroh would forgive him. His expression while apologizing to Iroh clearly shows he’s expecting the worst.

Sweet, because Iroh still loves Zuko like his own son, and doesn’t even need to forgive him because he never felt anger at Zuko’s betrayal: Only sadness and a worry that Zuko had lost his way, truly lost his honor. And Iroh is so clearly happy to see that Zuko has found his destiny, and joined the fight against the Fire Nation.

I could go on and on about this scene... It’s my absolute favorite scene in the whole series and it brings me to tears every single time I see it.

Gosh... it’s gonna be so awkward going back to the jokes and little mundane thoughts after this, isn’t it?

- Okay, I have officially given up on the idea of finding out what the heck this island is.

- I like the smile on Katara’s face, when she’s asked to team up with Zuko and fight Azula.

- It’s nice to know that Iroh will get the opportunity to run that tea shop, even if Zuko won’t be there to work with him.

- Okay, okay, so the island was actually a lion turtle. Frankly, I’ve still got a lot of questions. Even some new ones.

- It’s nice to see that the Netlix subtitles aren’t ALLCAPS anymore.

PART 3: INTO THE INFERNO

- Gotta hand it to the music, it can make even a scene of Azula making a fuss over a non-pitted cherry rather unnerving.

- Azula’s... Azula-ness has gone straight up to eleven with her newfound role. Hasn’t it? What with all the banishments, even banishing the entire Dai Li.

- Sokka, Suki and Toph are the real dream team. 

- And we get a great final blind joke!

- I like that we get to see everyone doing their part in this final battle. All the members of the Gaang, even the White Lotus, get their moments to shine.

- The hallucination of Ursa shows that Azula, on some level, has an idea of what’s wrong with her. You can tell that they were thinking of a redemption arc for Azula come Book 4, though I am glad that didn’t happen.

- It’s chilling to see Ozai razing the forests of the Earth Kingdom like it’s nothing. And then to realize that this is what Aang will have to face.

- At first I wasn’t sure what Sokka’s plan was, but now that I see it in action, it’s really creative.

- I like the idea of a final one-on-one Zuko vs Azula duel(...a). It’s been a rivalry since Book 2, and it’s nice to finally see it get settled, even if I can’t imagine it’ll end up that easy: Otherwise, what would Katara do?

- It’s so cool to see Aang showing his prowess in all bending techniques, using them all in this final showdown.

- The background music during Zuko and Azula’s Agni Kai really sells it. It makes it sound almost tragic, and it is: two siblings pitted against each other, no choice but to fight to determine the future of the world.

- Azula might be slipping, but she’s still Azula, all too willing to cheat in what’s supposed to be a one-on-one duel.

PART 4: AVATAR AANG

- Netflix isn’t showing the intro for the individual parts, but I’ve gotta say... There’s no way that Katara’s still saying Aang’s “got a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone.” Right?

- I like that we get to see one last use of Metalbending from Toph in the finale.

- Dang, I hope this isn’t really the end for Sokka’s sword, or his boomerang. Especially when the sword was so cool, and one could say meaningful.

- I honestly wasn’t sure the Avatar State would ever be a factor again. But if there was ever a time, this is it. (ADDENDUM: This is probably the best time to clarify that I find and add the images at the start after writing the rest of the post.)

- And it’s so epic to see Aang bending all four elements at once.

- I like that Iroh got to burn down the Fire Nation flag.

- Since Zuko’s down for the count, I guess this means a battle between Katara and Azula, the latter powered up by Sozin’s Comet.

- To be honest, I could barely make out what Azula just said. “kjsdbksrbfkjvf family position to look after, kdcbkfh”?

- Katara may not be stronger than Sozin’s Comet-powered Azula, but she’s much more clever than Azula is right now as she loses her marbles.

- This is just the perfect kind of defeat for Azula. There’s no grace to it, no dignity, just writhing around, screaming and spewing fire as Zuko and Katara look on with pity.

- There’s probably a great practical reason someone could find for Spiritbending being a thing, but here’s why I’m glad it exists: Aang gets a happy ending. He gets to take down the Fire Lord, and hold true to his beliefs. If it weren’t for Spiritbending, if Aang killed Ozai, then he would be conflicted to the end.

And I don’t want that. I want Aang to get an unambiguously, undoubtedly happy ending, where the world is saved and that’s all there is to it.

Plus, Spiritbending is quite the spectacle.

- I’m guessing Sokka’s space sword and boomerang really are done for. But hey, there’s always headcanon. Maybe Sokka searched the forest and eventually found them.

- Weird to think that Ty Lee’s gonna be a Kyoshi Warrior.

- Again, I can’t believe Zukaang’s not the most popular Zuko ship in the fandom. Not a ship I’ll go to bat for, but it’s got all the hallmarks of a fan-preferred couple.

- It’s so nice to see Zuko’s coronation, and the official end to the war. It’s a happy ending for the whole world, the start of an era of peace.

- “Love and peace,” huh...? Now that’s funny to hear in the finale to this show, considering the next show I’m covering, come 2021...

- I like that we get to see one last confrontation between Zuko and Ozai. Even if Zuko’s question of where Ursa is doesn’t go anywhere (in the show, I know they touch on that in the comics), it’s nice to see the newly-crowned Fire Lord Zuko having evolved past a need for Ozai’s attention, or a fear of Ozai’s wrath.

- It’s nice to see the whole Gaang having fun at Iroh’s tea shop, in the end. And I stand corrected, this is where we get the final blind joke.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m lucky in that most of my childhood cartoons hold up as an adult. I watched Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb, Code Lyoko, Courage the Cowardly Dog...

Still, there’s something special about Avatar: The Last Airbender. It had a unique aesthetic and world that no other show was quite like. It had a story that was like nothing I’d ever seen as a kid.

And it doesn’t just hold up, it’s even better.

When I was a kid, it was as simple as rooting for the good guys to win, and for the Firebenders to lose, except for Zuko once he turned good.

Now, as an adult (but mostly as someone with a DVD player/Netflix account so I’m not just watching whatever reruns I can catch) I can appreciate the character development, the arcs, the entire story.

I can appreciate how Aang grew from a little boy who does indeed have a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone, into a hero who could save the world.

I can appreciate how Zuko was an abuse victim who did what all abused children wish they could do and left his abuser.

I can appreciate... Gosh, Iroh’s entire character and dynamic with Zuko.

Some people say that Avatar “starts off as a kids show, then turns serious”, but I’d disagree. Avatar is a show where our heroes change, where they learn lessons, where they come of age and become the kind of heroes who can end a war that’s been going on for over a century.

As relieved as I am to be (mostly) done with these posts for the rest of the year, I am still oh-so-glad that I’ve rewatched Avatar yet again, and I know that I will be whenever I rewatch it in the future.

Now, with all that said... Farewell! Until the Christmas special, at least...

#TV #Avatar The Last Airbender #ATLA #Book 3: Fire #Sozin's Comet #Katara #Zuko #Aang #Toph Beifong #Sokka #Appa #Azula #June #Nyla #Iroh #Avatar Roku #King Bumi #Piandao #Jeong Jeong #Master Pakku #Fire Lord Ozai #Suki #long post

[aaronmaurer]

TV I Liked in 2020

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Was there ever a year more unpredictably tailor-made for peak TV than 2020? Lockdowns/quarantines/stay-at-home orders meant a lot more time at home and the occasion to check out new and old favorites. (I recognize that if you’re lucky enough to have kids or roommates or a S.O., your amount of actual downtime may have been wildly different). While the pandemic resulted in production delays and truncated seasons for many shows, the continued streaming-era trends of limited series and 8-13 episode seasons mean that a lot of great and satisfying storytelling still made its way to the screen. As always, I in no way lay any claims to “best-ness” or completeness – this is just a list of the shows that brought me the most joy and escapism in a tough year and therefore might be worth putting on your radar.

10 Favorites

10. The Right Stuff: Season 1 (Disney+)

As a space program enthusiast, even I had to wonder, does the world really need another retelling of NASA’s early days? Especially since Tom Wolfe’s book has already been adapted as the riveting and iconoclastic Philip Kaufman film of the same name? While some may disagree, I find that this Disney+ series does justify its existence by focusing more on the relationships of the astronauts and their personal lives than the technical science (which may be partially attributable to budget limitations?). The series is kind of like Mad Men but with NASA instead of advertising (and real people, of course), so if that sounds intriguing, I encourage you to give it a whirl.

9. Fargo: Season 4 (FX)

As a big fan of Noah Hawley’s Coen Brothers pastiche/crime anthology series, I was somewhat let down by this latest season. Drawing its influence primarily from the likes of gangster drama Miller’s Crossing – one of the Coens’ least comedic/idiosyncratic efforts – this season is more straightforward than its predecessors and includes a lot of characters and plot-threads that never quite cohere. That said, it is still amongst the year’s most ambitious television with another stacked cast, and the (more-or-less) standalone episode “East/West” is enough to make the season worthwhile.

8. The Last Dance (ESPN)

Ostensibly a 10-episode documentary about the 1990s Chicago Bulls’ sixth and final NBA Championship run, The Last Dance actually broadens that scope to survey the entire history of Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson’s careers with the team. Cleverly structured with twin narratives that chart that final season as well as an earlier timeframe, each episode also shifts the spotlight to a different person, which provides focus and variety throughout the series. And frankly, it’s also just an incredible ride to relive the Jordan era and bask in his immeasurable talent and charisma – while also getting a snapshot of his outsized ego and vices (though he had sign-off on everything, so it’s not exactly a warts-and-all telling).

7. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

This miniseries adaptation of the Walter Tevis coming-of-age novel about a chess prodigy and her various addictions is compulsively watchable and avoids the bloat of many other streaming series (both in running time and number of episodes). The 1960s production design is stunning and the performances, including Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role, are convincing and compelling.

6. The Great: Season 1 (hulu)

Much like his screenplay for The Favourite, Tony McNamara’s series about Catherine the Great rewrites history with a thoroughly modern and irreverent sensibility (see also: Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). Elle Fanning brings a winning charm and strength to the title role and Nicholas Hoult is riotously entertaining as her absurdly clueless and ribald husband, Emperor Peter III. Its 10-episodes occasionally tilt into repetitiveness, but when the ride is this fun, why complain? Huzzah!

  5. Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC)

A limited (but possibly anthology-to-be?) series from creator/writer/director/actor Jason Segal, Dispatches From Elsewhere is a beautiful and creative affirmation of life and celebration of humanity. The first 9 episodes form a fulfilling and complete arc, while the tenth branches into fourth wall-breaking meta territory, which may be a bridge too far for some (but is certainly ambitious if nothing else). Either way, it’s a movingly realized portrait of honesty, vulnerability and empathy, and I highly recommend visiting whenever it inevitably makes its way to Netflix, or elsewhere…

4. What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2 (FX)

The second season of WWDITS is more self-assured and expansive than the first, extending a premise I loved from its antecedent film – but was skeptical could be sustained – to new and reinvigorated (after)life. Each episode packs plenty of laughs, but for my money, there is no better encapsulation of the series’ potential and Matt Berry’s comic genius than “On The Run,” which guest-stars Mark Hamill and features Laszlo’s alter ego Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

3. Ted Lasso: Season 1 (AppleTV+)

Much more than your average fish-out-of-water comedy, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso is a brilliant tribute to humaneness, decency, emotional intelligence and good coaching – not just on the field. The fact that its backdrop is English Premier League Soccer is just gravy (even if that’s not necessarily represented 100% proficiently). A true surprise and gem of the year.

2. Mrs. America (hulu)

This FX miniseries explores the women’s liberation movement and fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and its opposition by conservative women including Phyllis Schlafly. One of the most ingenious aspects of the series is centering each episode on a different character, which rotates the point of view and helps things from getting same-y. With a slate of directors including Ryan Bowden and Anna Fleck (Half-Nelson, Sugar, Captain Marvel) and an A-List cast including Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Sarah Paulson, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ulman and Elizabeth Banks, its quality is right up there with anything on the big screen. And its message remains (sadly) relevant as ever in our current era.

1. The Good Place: Season 4 (NBC)

It was tempting to omit The Good Place this year or shunt it to a side category since only the final 4 episodes aired in 2020, but that would have been disingenuous. This show is one of my all-time favorites and it ended perfectly. The series finale is a representative mix of absurdist humor and tear-jerking emotion, built on themes of morality, self-improvement, community and humanity. (And this last run of eps also includes a pretty fantastic Timothy Olyphant/Justified quasi-crossover.) Now that the entire series is available to stream on Netflix (or purchase in a nice Blu-ray set), it’s a perfect time to revisit the Good Place, or check it out for the first time if you’ve never had the pleasure.

5 of the Best Things I Caught Up With

Anne With An E (Netflix/CBC)

Another example of classic literature I had no prior knowledge of (see also Little Women and Emma), this Netflix/CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables was strongly recommended by several friends so I finally gave it a shot. While this is apparently slightly more grown-up than the source material, it’s not overly grimdark or self-serious but rather humane and heartfelt, expanding the story’s scope to include Black and First Nations peoples in early 1800s Canada, among other identities and themes. It has sadly been canceled, but the three seasons that exist are heart-warming and life-affirming storytelling. Fingers crossed that someday we’ll be gifted with a follow-up movie or two to tie up some of the dangling threads.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

I liked Breaking Bad, but I didn’t have much interest in an extended “Breaking Bad Universe,” as much as I appreciate star Bob Odenkirk’s multitalents. Multiple recommendations and lockdown finally provided me the opportunity to catch up on this prequel series and I’m glad I did. Just as expertly plotted and acted as its predecessor, the series follows Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman on his own journey to disrepute but really makes it hard not to root for his redemption (even as you know that’s not where this story ends).

Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim)

It’s hard to really describe the deadpan and oddly soothing humor of comedian Joe Pera whose persona, in the series at least, combines something like the earnestness of Mr. Rogers with the calm enthusiasm of Bob Ross. Sharing his knowledge on the likes of how to get the best bite out of your breakfast combo, growing a bean arch and this amazing song “Baba O’Reilly” by the Who – have you heard it?!? – Pera provides arch comfort that remains solidly on the side of sincerity. The surprise special he released during lockdown, “Relaxing Old Footage with Joe Pera,” was a true gift in the middle of a strange and isolated year.

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

One of the few recent Star Wars properties that lives up to its potential, the adventures of Mando and Grogu is a real thrill-ride of a series with outstanding production values (you definitely want to check out the behind-the-scenes documentary series if you haven’t). I personally prefer the first season, appreciating its Western-influenced vibes and somewhat-more-siloed story. The back half of the second season veers a little too much into fan service and video game-y plotting IMHO but still has several excellent episodes on offer, especially the Timothy Olyphant-infused energy of premiere “The Marshall” and stunning cinematography of “The Jedi.” And, you know, Grogu.

The Tick (Amazon Prime)

I’ve been a fan of the Tick since the character’s Fox cartoon and indie comic book days and also loved the short-lived Patrick Warburton series from 2001. I was skeptical about this Amazon Prime reboot, especially upon seeing the pilot episode’s off-putting costumes. Finally gaining access to Prime this year, I decided to catch up and it gets quite good!, especially in Season 2. First, the costumes are upgraded; second, Peter Serafinowicz’s initially shaky characterization improves; and third, it begins to come into its own identity. The only real issue is yet another premature cancellation for the property, meaning Season 2’s tease of interdimensional alien Thrakkorzog will never be fulfilled. 😢

Bonus! 5 More Honorable Mentions:

City So Real (National Geographic)

The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

How To with John Wilson: Season 1 (HBO)

Kidding: Season 2 (Showtime)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs The Reverend (Netflix)

#tv #television

[thecanadianowl]

Justice league Snydercut review

Wow talk about a long movie. Remember Mass Effect's 3 shit endings that were later improved (sorta) with DLCs. Well that is kinda how this movie is.

Before we start this, I just wanna say that I was very impartial throughout the whole snydercut movement. I wasn't part of it but I do see the good that they did in regards to some of their charities and with how the fandom itself has been painted in a negative light. So its good that they got what they have been demanding for quite some time. Snyder as director for me, I really am not the biggest fan of. His movies have some great cinematic moments that look amazing but the context around it is what muddles it for me.

Is it better than Whedon's JL? YES. To start I'll look at some of the things that I do like.

I do like how it was split into parts.  Gives it that miniseries/Comic book feel

Thank god they removed that stupid cringy flash landing on top of Diana's chest scene.

Darkseid looks good. I know some people have issues with it but I liked it. I mean looking at it first glance has me convinced its Darkseid. His voice isn't too bad either. Reminds me a bit of Injustice 2.

As much as I have issues with Darkseid being introduced so early I do like that he had a brief confrontation/glaredown with the League, foreshadowing a possible in person encounter and that the League needs to expand if they are going to fight against Darkseid.  

Steppenwolf's design has greatly improved and looks better than before.

Loved the scenes between Alfred and Diana.  Wish there was more of that.

I loved how the movie added Cyborg, Aquaman and Flash attempting to stop Superman from getting to Batman. I also liked how in this version,  Batman pleading to Clark's humanity telling him that world needs him and he needs to snap out of it.  Also bonus for taking out that scene of Batman on the ground groaning about how old he is getting.

Okay seeing Clark get the black suit and having the voiceovers of both his father's merge together works in terms of Clark's arc into becoming the person he was meant to be. Also like the use of Zimmerman's Ideal of Hope score wished they let it play out a little longer.  Probably my favourite moment in the film is where Superman just takes Steppenwolf's Axe like its nothing and freezes it.

Now to go into some of the more critical stuff that bugged me when watching.

For a movie that is 4 hours long, pacing issues were bound to happen. I think the first example of this can be found in the opening with the Superman scream wave (which started to get a bit hilarious when his screams could be heard every now and then) hitting all three mother boxes. they are shown individually reacting to it and it takes time, where it could have just showed them together or an compilation of each of the motherboxes waking up. I know it Snyder's thing but tone down on the slow mo. Like some instances its fine (like with bullet time or Flash's scenes) but other instances I'm just like alright I get it.

The scene involving Cyborg transferring money into that single mother's bank account. Is he gonna do this for all the people suffering just like her? or just for that one person? I mean if you can hack into the world monetary system, you can solve a lot of financial issues affecting  the majoirty and not just one person. Did I miss the scene but why did Cyborg go from helping one poor person, suggesting the potential good he can do to change the world for the better  to "Fuck the world". Seems a bit inconsistent in character. Especially since he knows who Diana is (from what he says)  and that Parademons are after the motherbox. Maybe her offering help, you should take it? idk Vic. Also the whole Auto defense system malfunction, would it not be better if this was established beforehand where we see Vic struggling to maintain his body's autonomy leading up to the Superman confrontation? Prior to that it seemed he had it under control and his biggest conflict throughout the movie seemed more to be with him coming to terms with his new body. With that being said, Cyborg's character here is much more interesting and better than it was originally. I can see why Ray Fisher is so pissed (well that and the abuse he faced).  I am glad this was improved and gave the character a lot more to do.

The movie still has the same issue as before in regards to the whole motherbox plot and how convenient it was that all three are located on earth. You would think that with the involvement of Darkseid/Steppenwolf that separating them to distinct locations across space would make it more difficult to collect them. I mean we know that the Green Lanterns exist (we saw one get chomped), you'd think that they or the guardians would take one and secure it on Oa. The pushback to this would be "well there was only one green lantern and he died, so how could they retrieve the box?" which begs my question, why send only one? I mean it has been established that Darkseid is a known conqueror of worlds, you'd think the Guardians would be smart enough to send more than one Lantern to aid Earth in their fight.  Did they not think it would be a good idea to have the corps be more involved/keep an eye on earth since it is the only planet that was able to repel Darkseid's forces?

Why is it that the best idea of security when it comes to humans is to bury it? Would it not be better in optics to look over it and know its location instead of dropping it somewhere on the off chance that someone might find it due to being  curious or the land changing/altering  making the box more easy to attain? A situation as dire/serious as this, you would think that the Amazons/Atlanteans would have been better prepped with armor/weapons for such an event. I mean you have the arrow of Artemis that shoots quite a distance to give Diana a message but not some kind of weapon that hurts/cripples Steppenwolf? Or better yet, how about the moment that the boxes started acting up after Superman's death, that Atlantis/Themiscarya would put aside any differences they had with one another and to the outside world to come together to secure the boxes?  How could Darkseid forget the name of the only planet that was able to force him to retreat? nor does he know that it harbors the anti life?

Did this movie break Aquaman's continuity? because from the dialogue between Mera and Arthur, its implied that Atlanna abandoned/left Arthur at Tom's doorsteps whereas in the movie,  we see Atlanna spend a couple of years with Tom and raising baby Arthur before she was forced to come back. You'd think Zack being a producer for the Aquaman  movie would have edited that line or made it more clear. Well that or James Wan F'ed up when making the movie.

"I've never seen a being as strong as Steppenwolf" Did Diana just forget Ares aka the god of war who killed the Greek Pantheon/Old gods and orchestrated the first World War? Hell from the looks of the flashback it seemed Ares (I'm assuming its Ares, if its Hades, my bad) was getting some good hits in on Darkseid, who is superior to Steppenwolf.  While we are on the topic of Diana, it's a bit odd that Snyder who  was a producer on WW84 where one of the biggest focuses on the movie that Patty Jenkins talked about was how Diana doesn't solve her problems with violence (even though her primary weapons in this movie are a sword and shield but okay. Then again New 52 hasn't done a good job in disproving that), yet in this movie we see her using her gauntlet smash to fucking kill the one remaining terorrist. Like sure you can argue that they were terrorists and deserve to die, but given how easy and quick it was for her to take out the previous guys, why do something that runs the risks of destroying the very building that you are in (with hostages). I mean from the look of the blast and how much debris fell from the building outside, and it was a miracle no one (but the terrorist) got hurt/killed.

Why did Steppenwolf  kidnap  them in the first place? Just use that mind extracting device you used on the Atlantean soldier to see if they know. Seems like a waste of time to collect them in one location only to interrogate them later.

Okay, I'm sorry but even in this cut I still don't like Miller's Barry Allen. He isn't as bad as he was in the theatrical cut but man does it stick out. When he is helping to escort the kidnapped civilians out, why doesn't he just grab them and transfer them to a safe distance? He even makes a comment about how slow they are going. Can I also just say how weird it is for Barry to take time saving Iris to caress her hair and look at her more creepily in slow mo? Like yeah its in slow mo but still I think your priority should be to get everyone to safety as quick as possible and check if anyone else could get hurt.  I will admit that Barry's speech as he is running so fast to reverse time at the end was really good. Tho the more I think about all the slow mo Flash scenes are good.

They still kept the "Let's use the mother box to bring back Superman plot". Why? This is a piece of tech that you don't fully understand how it works and you are going on the whims of someone you just met. Especially if they come back as a different person/mindset all together.  If Superman 's death was the reason that allowed for the Mother box to call to Steppenwolf/Darkseid, what the hell were they doing prior to Superman's arrival on earth? I mean we've seen how easy it was for Steppenwolf to attain the two boxes even if they were guarded, so why the wait ?. I get that Batman is going through an arc and trying to change from the person he was but how does go from "1% chance of absolute certainty" to "let's go on a whim and have faith" when it comes to resurrecting Superman? 

Its gonna be awkward as to how Clark will explain his sudden return from the grave around the same time Superman came back.

I was wondering when the Knightmare scene will play out. Jared leto's Joker isn't over with me, it seems way too try-hard to be edgy. Other than that yeah, not much I can say about it. Tho do we seriously need another iteration where Superman (or someone with Superman like powers) is evil?

I also love how nonchalant Bruce is about J'onn appearing in front him. However the revelation that J'onn was that army general all the time breaks so much of continuity (and just why now did you decide to show up and help and not idk the time Zod invaded and nearly  terraformed earth, HELL WHY TF DIDN'T SHOW UP TO HELP THE LEAGUE IF YOU KNEW ABOUT DARKSEID, I'M SORRY TO RAG ON BUT REALLY THIS CAMEO JUST OPENS UP SO MANY QUESTIONS, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE AN "PALPATINE WAS BEHIND THIS ALL ALONG" KIND OF THING ).

In terms of getting a sequel, I am not sure if WB is going to go through with it given that their current vision seems to be a different route than the one Snyder intended so who knows. Despite my criticisms I do believe this is Snyder's best DCEU film to date and probably one of his better films. You could tell that he put in a lot to make this. The movie itself does have issues mostly due to the plot surrounding the motherbox as well as pacing. I would say it's worth the watch at least once, though I think its best to watch it in doses rather than one sitting. Ultimately this is the version that we should have gotten and I can see why so many people who were supportive of Zack wanted or vouched for him to finish it. Regardless, I think the very least I am happy for Snyder. If you like Snyder's previous stuff, you will like this one, if you don't, your perception of the film won't change significantly other than some cool bits here and there.  

#dceu #justice league #snydercut #snydercut spoilers #dc comics

[sweetmemories2606]

Never Simple (Gruvia and NaLu) Ch 5

Bringing back this ancient fic because I finally updated after over 2 years. Here's the info to jog your memory:

Title: Never Simple

Pairings: Main: Gruvia, NaLu, Minor: Jerza, Albis, ElfEver and GaLe

Summary: What if the future had been even more tragic? On the 4th night of the Games, future Juvia shows up right after Lucy is taken by the royal army. Even more surprising, she's pregnant and the question of who the father is leads to the most unexpected answer: "It's Natsu."

Timeline: This story is set on the 4th day of the Grand Magic Games (in case no one noticed yet, I just love this arc)

Warnings: There is MATURE CONTENT in the first chapter, therefore it is M-Rated. The other ones contain graphic scenes of VIOLENCE and SUICIDE, so caution is advised when reading.

Word Count: 2.000 words per chapter.

Links: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5

I hope you'll enjoy!

                     Chapter 5: Anything For Her

The next few minutes were a mess. They were almost reaching the hideout when it was suddenly hit again with a fireball, and this time Juvia's barrier wasn't fully effective. Blue Pegasus' team and Lamia Scale's surviving members were eliminated easily and quickly. Turned to ash, to nothing.

Yukino, Alzack, Bisca and Asuka were lucky enough to get away from the mansion just before the explosion. However, the shards of glass that were sent everywhere wounded the couple; causing both parents to drop to the ground, bleeding heavily.

Yukino quickly took Little Asuka's hand and they began running away from the house. Her intent was to bring the poor child to safety before coming back for her parents. However, as soon as they reached Juvia, Gajeel, Natsu and Lucy; another fireball hit the house and the second explosion was so large that it took Alzack and Bisca as well.

Juvia remembered the horrified screams that left everyone's mouths as they watched the couple be swallowed by the flames before there was nothing left but ashes.

They were gone, just like Gray. In the blink of an eye, so unexpectedly. And they weren't the only ones either.

As the group tried to reach the location where Dorenbolt, Porlyusica and Levy were awaiting them, the dragons attacked them.

There were just a few, maybe 10, and only two of them went after the group. Natsu and Gajeel quickly turned into their most powerful forms and prepared to hold them off; managing to convince the others to keep running after a long discussion that almost got them all killed.

While Juvia pretty much dragged the over emotional and sobbing Lucy away, tragedy hit them harder than before.

They heard Gajeel's loud scream and turned around just in time to watch as Natsu was thrown hard into a tree, his lifeless body falling to the ground a moment later. Black spikes belonging to the dragon were all over his body, having drained him of magic and blood.

His death caused Lucy to completely lose it, coming so close to a miscarriage, and Juvia wasn't able to calm her down.

When Gajeel's body joined Natsu a moment later, she too entered into full panic mode. Memories of every death she had been forced to watch filled her mind and she was unable to breathe.

If it wasn't for Yukino's quick thinking and acting, they wouldn't have gotten away.

The white haired girl let go of little Asuka only so that she could reach for her keys, before summoning Libra and Pisces at the same time. While the two fish carried Lucy and Juvia, Libra held off the dragons long enough so that they could reach the escape point.

                                    ----------------------

It was a miracle that they actually managed to reach Antartica, but soon enough they found themselves in the middle of the frozen town; ruins scattered all around them.

It was cold, devastating and hopeless; but at least they were safe. They had survived somehow.

However, death wasn't yet done taking away their loved ones, as Lucy dropped to the ground seconds after they arrived.

While inspecting the blonde, Juvia realised with horror that she had been hit with one of the dragon's spikes and there was blood dripping from her shoulder.

"She's hurt!" The water mage told the others while attempting to lift the pregnant woman up, Dorenbolt quickly rushing to help her.

"Quick! In there!" Porlyusica used her magic to build a tent in record time and the two carried Lucy towards it; Yukino and Levy following them. The former held the sobbing Asuka in her arms while the latter was numb to everything around her-still processing the news of Gajeel's death.

Lucy was placed on a bed and the healer began to examine her, face paling with each passing moment.

A few minutes later, she turned to the others with horror in her eyes. "I'm afraid it's much worse than I feared."

"No." Juvia shook her head, refusing to believe it.

"The baby. Will she...She has to be okay!" The celestial wizard pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." Porlyusica sighed. "The wound wasn't as superficial as I hoped; you've lost a lot of blood and I'm afraid there's no way I could keep both of you alive now."

"Oh, no." Yukino gasped; she sat on one a chair with Asuka still in her arms.

"What will you do, then?" Dorenbolt wondered.

"Save her." Lucy spoke before the healer could reply. "Please."

"No. Don't do this." Levy pleaded, speaking for the first time since she learned that Gajeel was dead.

"There must be a way." Juvia tried, but Porlyusica shook her head.

"The only way I could save the child is to remove it, but that would only cause her death since it's too early." Tears streamed down Lucy's face.

"I can't...I can't lose her." Placing hand on top of her stomach, she cried. "She's all I have left."

"I refuse to believe that this is the end." Juvia stubbornly said. "We must save little Layla; I'm willing to do anything."

Silence fell upon them until Porlyusica came up with an idea.

"There is a way." All eyes turned to her, interested-except for Asuka, who had fallen asleep.

"What way?" Levy asked, standing up and approaching the bed.

"I know a spell that can transfer the child." Seeing their confused looks, the healer explained. "This way another person will carry her and deliver her, so that Lucy can survive."

"I'll do it!" Juvia said without hesitation as soon as she understood.

"Juvia..." Lucy turned to her, brown eyes filled with gratitude.

"This baby, your baby, has been my reason to keep living. The thought of losing her after everything I've already lost is too much to bear, so I'm willing to do anything to save both of you." The water mage sincerely told her, taking her friend's hand.

"Thank you." It was all Lucy could say before she burst into tears.

It was settled then. Natsu and Lucy's child would be transferred to Juvia, who would carry her until it was time to give birth. Then Lucy would get to raise her little girl like planned; with everyone's help. They would find a way to be happy, even after everything they'd lost.

That was their plan, but it didn't work out that way.

After the baby was removed and then placed inside of Juvia with Porlyusica's magic, the healer turned to the celestial wizard to heal her, but it was too late.

Lucy was almost gone, brown eyes barely able to keep open and she only managed to thank Juvia one more time, plead for her to keep her daughter safe and give two small vials-which had been hidden in the celestial spirit world with Loke-before passing away.

Her death marked the moment Juvia's determination, which had diminished after Gray's death, came back full force. As she watched her friend's brown eyes close and the knowledge that Lucy would never get to met her daughter sinked in, the water mage vowed to herself to find a way to go back and undo their tragic pasts.

It took 3 months, but eventually, Levy and Yukino managed to finish reconstructing the gate. They activated it using the latter's celestial keys and there wasn't much of an argument on who would cross it. Juvia had long since made clear that she would be the one to warn their friends about the dragons' invasion.

Since she was 9 months pregnant by then, right on time to give birth, the Gate's reconstruction turned out to be timely because there was a chance the baby might be born in the present and get to meet her parents like Juvia had wanted.

                                   ----------------------

                                     Present day...

"This is crazy!" Gajeel yelled once Future Juvia finished her tale.

"So we're all going to die?" Mirajane frowned.

"No." Juvia shook her head, looking at Gray with teary eyes. "I can't lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere." The ice mage wrapped an arm around her, bringing her close.

"So…so Lucy and I…" Natsu struggled to comprehend it.

"I guess congratulations are in order." Erza told him.

"I knew that you two would end up together." Cana smiled victoriously.

"I think we all did." Levy added.

"But having a baby and so soon…" Lisanna spoke. "That I didn't expect."

"I am glad that I managed to come here in time." Future Juvia smiled. "Layla deserves to meet her parents."

"Layla…." Natsu whispered, staring at her still in shock.

"So, what do we do now?" Elfman asked no one in particular.

"Now that we know what's going to happen, we must find a way to stop it." Master Makarov stated the obvious.

"But how?" Gray frowned.

"What could we possibly do against so many dragons?" Juvia wondered.

"Do you really not know where they came from, Juvia?" Cana asked her future counterpart.

"No. They just showed up out of no where on the last day of the Games." The latter replied before groaning as another contraction hit her.

"Her contractions are too close now, she needs to go to the infirmary." Evergreen said and Elfman stared at her in confusion.

"How come you know so much about pregnancy?" She shared a nervous look with Freed and Bixlow, but said nothing.

"This is not the time." Freed said.

"I can help you get to the infirmary." Juvia offered gently.

"I'll go with you." Gray quickly added.

"Why don't you join them, Natsu?" Erza suggested, but much to everyone's surprise the dragon slayer shook his head.

"No, I have something more important that I need to do." Many people frowned.

"Like what?" Gray asked, raising a brow.

"Lucy." Future Juvia answered, smiling.

"I gotta save her." Natsu confirmed a moment later.

"But how?" Laxus asked, frowning. They had already established that going anywhere near the castle was a terrible idea.

"You don't have… to worry… about that." Future Juvia said between pained groans-Gray and Juvia each held her upright as they began to lead her towards the door.

"What do you mean?" Erza was confused.

"I'm not the only one who came back." The pregnant woman answered.

"Oh, really?" Many eyes widened.

"Who else is here?" Juvia asked, curious.

"Yukino." Her future self answered. "She went to rescue Lucy while I came here to talk to you guys."

She groaned again and they knew that it was best to take her to Porlyusica immediately, so Gray and Juvia rushed her there while the others stayed behind and began devising a plan to avoid getting killed by the dragons.

                                   ----------------------

                                Inside the Mercurious...

"Who are you?" Lucy stood up quickly, getting into a defensive position.

"You can relax, Lucy." Yukino's eyes widened once she heard the voice.

"Wait, what?" The blonde stepped back, staring at the hooded figure in shock.

"How is this possible?" The white-haired celestial wizard had never been more confused.

"I know this must be confusing for you." The figure told them before removing the hood.

"Yukino?!" Lucy looked between the two women in confusion.

"You're me?" Yukino gasped.

"I've come from the future." Her twin told them.

"The future?" She frowned.

"How?" Lucy asked.

"The Eclipse Gate." Future Yukino answered before looking around, appearing nervous. "Look, we don't have a lot of time now, but I promise I will explain everything later."

"If you really came from the future…Why are you here?" Lucy frowned.

"I came to rescue you." The other woman smiled.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Yukino raised a brow.

Her counterpart reached for something inside the hood before taking out her keys. "By taking us to the Celestial Spirit World. That way we can arrive outside of the castle without anyone noticing."

"You have your keys." Lucy noted with a hint of sadness in her tone.

"I have yours too." She then noticed that there were 12 golden keys instead of just 3.

"How?" Tears welled up in Future Yukino's eyes.

"I have a feeling that you don't want to know." Her present self stated.

"Let's…Let's just go now." Future Yukino sniffled before taking out two keys; for Libra and Taurus. Within seconds both celestial spirits appeared before them and the bull-like creature stared at Lucy with such sadness in his eyes. "Miss Lucy…"

"Are you okay, Taurus?" She asked, confused.

He simply stared at her silently until Future Yukino instructed him. "Taurus, could you destroy the cells?"

"Yeah." Sniffling, Taurus nodded. "You'd better stand back, Miss Lucy."

Seeing as she was frozen in place, Yukino grabbed her hand and pulled her backwards. Once the cells had been destroyed and the two celestial wizards were free, they joined Future Yukino and Taurus outside. Then, Libra, after receiving a signal from her contract wizard, used her magic to take them to the Celestial Spirit World.

                                   ----------------------

                                 Near the infirmary...

"Ugh this hurts." Future Juvia groaned in pain, holding Gray's hand a little too tightly.

"Just take deep breaths." Her present self tried to comfort her, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"You're doing great." The ice mage said between gritted teeth, trying not to focus on the pain in his hand.

"You okay?" His girlfriend asked, worried but also slightly amused.

"Ye-Aaah." He couldn't keep himself from yelling.

"Sorry." Future Juvia offered him an apologising look while letting go of his hand. "Oh God." She then hunched over, hands grabbing at her stomach.

"That's a big one." Juvia pointed out.

"We really gotta get her to Porlyusica." Gray said, urgently.

"We're almost there." She told him before looking back at her twin.

"Ugh… Bisca never said it hurt so much." The latter complained just before her face relaxed. "Finally."

The couple struggled to hold her once she nearly fell backwards. Sharing worried looks, Gray and Juvia decided they'd better fasten their pace.

"Come on." The ice mage called while dragging the pregnant woman towards the infirmary.

They arrived a few minutes later and thankfully there were no more contractions. Once they arrived, Porlyusica, who was already waiting at the door, scolded them for not bringing Future Juvia in sooner.

They apologised while helping the pregnant woman settle down in one of the empty beds. Once she was comfortably lying against the pillows, they turned to the healer for instructions.

"All we have to do now is wait." She responded, much to their disappointment.

"How long exactly are we supposed to wait?" Gray asked, impatient.

"I'd say it will be at least a few hours before it's time for the birth." Porlyusica replied.

"Really?" Future Juvia's eyes widened. "I thought it was almost time."

"It's hard to know when the right time will be since it's up to the baby." The healer explained.

"I see." The former smiled while caressing her stomach.

"We'll stay with you until the end." Juvia told her, offering a reassuring smile.

"It's not as if we have anything better to do." Gray shrugged.

"You should get comfortable, then." Porlyusica told them. "It's going to be a long night."

#fanfic #gruvia #nalu #pregnant #fairy tail #grand magic games #eclipse gate #future #plot twist #angst #fluff #never simple #chapter 5 #long overdue

[magnumdays]

The Episode of Lost Opportunities AKA 2x16

SO I wrote this before watching the promo, then I did and now I know most of us are just FREAKING out about next week (and I’m freaking out the most because ummm they’remakingmyfanficintoanactual EPISODE!!! How does one deal with this????)  but if you want a break from freaking out, here are some thoughts on last night’s episode!

So even though 2x16 was perfectly enjoyable, I’m going to have to officially re-name it “The Episode of Lost Opportunities” because there were so many plots and just tid-bits they could have done great things with.

So yeah not really a review today, instead I’m going to (in true Jenny Nicholson fashion) make a numbered list of things I think they should have added /done something with, in no particular order.

Miss nr. 1. Not having Higgy tease Magnum back with British pet names. I’m honestly devastated by this. Like what would a little sarcastic “come on luv” or a “Dearie, come here” from Juliet have cost them? The closest we got was Babe take our selfie.

Nr. 2. Not having Mr. Dorky Helpful But Cute guy ask Higgy out. I really thought this was where it was going with him being all “it’s just our second date, we met online” and yeah even though he looked about 12, it would have fit the episode. 

Plus they could have had Magnum standing to the side gesturing like “go for it” and her either saying yes or no and later her and Magnum having a little chat about it. The Yes with him being all “I convinced you to do it” proud and also mildly jealous. The No, with her being all “he’s a suspect” or “he went on a love bus tour!” or “I’m not ready, bc of the dead fiance, remember him?”

Nr. 3. Which takes us neatly to - drowned guy should be bringing up some feelings for Juliet as I’m fairly certain back in Day of The Viper they mention something about how Richard washed up on the shores of something-something (I mean obvs he was shot before but I’d still imagine some associations there).

Also her own almost drowning in 1x19 (even if this episode’s dude wasn’t drowned, it did seem so at first and he was still in the water). I just feel maybe there could have been some feelings here that our favorite duo actually talked about. Just a nice little call back to either one of those would have been great. One line! Is that too much to ask for?

Nr. 4 on the list of missed opportunities is for me going to be Theresa (Teresa?). TC’s old flame. And this is a big one! 

I honestly would have loved it if they went with this - as in have him not be so damned noble and let the childhood sweetheart go. Like, why not have them actually try to make a go at it?

Maybe she could have been there with just her boyfriend rather than husband to make it less of a thing and then maybe give it an episode or two and have them talk over the internet before she comes back and they get back together! Because why can’t anyone have a girlfriend? Like why do all of the guys need to be such lone wolves? 

I mean, I get it, because they are a family/brothers, but having even just one more minor female recurring would be interesting and would add dimension to the gang and characters!

Now this is like one of those random side plots that don’t really do much because in the end nothing has changed. Other than us learning a little more about TC, which is nice, but it doesn't seem like it will actually impact future episodes and didn’t really connect a whole lot with the episode. TC is just off getting closure to a relationship we never knew he needed closure for. Which means we’re not super invested.

I feel like this is a bit of a problem with the show in general. We get really nice and moving and character developing stuff for characters we haven’t been shown to need, as with Kumu last week and now TC. Rick and his dying “dad” Ice-Pick and even Shammie with his lying army buddy. Even Gordon and his son. Jin and his sisters and that’s why he steals.

These things could all have had 100 times more impact if they’d established these problems/ relationships earlier. Like if we had learned Kumu's husband had cheated on her and had a child with another woman (or maybe that Kumu is a bit sad she never had kids on her own) sometime before - over the past 30 episodes, wouldn’t last week’s episode, where she finally reaches out to the husband’s kid, would have been so much more emotionally satisfying? 

Same if Theresa had been mentioned as TC’s great love and maybe him being sad some episodes ago (or even back in 1x19 when his dad doesn't come to visit - that could have been about him seeing a post about her getting married and him being upset about it and connecting with Rick about that.) 

Like I get that maybe sometimes they just throw random things in there but at the same time why do they need to do that? Want to do that? Isn’t there someone keeping track of the big picture? Giving characters long running story arcs over a season or even multiple ones should be someone’s job. 

If it’s not, I volunteer! 

Seriously Lenkov I’m currently unemployed and totally up for it, just give me a call! I already know we think the same... (Marriage of Inconvenience). 

Nr. 5 Not having Gordon comment something on the fact that he’s been called to a murder scene on a Island Love tour bus site by his favorite PI duo. Like yeah they’d have told him why they were there but he still should have teased them about it! Like “What were you two doing here anyways? Something going on?” and both of them giving a horrified “NO!”.

Nr. 6 when the guy says “is he crazy?” after Magnum jumped into the waterfall pool thing, not having Higgy be all “Yes, he is”, then jumping in after him, was a huge miss. That would have been so funny and shown how much alike they are (even if Higgy will always be the sane one...)

Nr. 7. Not having Magnum and Higgins try to pretend to be together when the bus driver catches them. I mean come on! At least some more hand holding! Snuggling? I’m not saying to just kiss already okay maybe I am saying that.

Nr. 8. Not one real Miggy moment in this episode? I mean lots of bickering and maybe for a moment with her being all “well done” when he tells the cheating a-hole he’s an idiot for having an affair. And if the camera had stayed on him for a few seconds more when they’re toasting at the end we know we’d have gotten a Mangum looks had Higgy soft heart eyes moment. But we didn’t. But other than that, not really much feel-y moments even if we got plenty of cute stuff.

Nr. 9.  Sandy and how they find out Sandy is the killer! Like what? She cut the bus’s fuel line  which makes no sense, she’d wouldn’t want to trap herself right?  Sandy if you’d just not cut the fuel line and stayed with the group, you’d have been taken back to civilization and no one would have figured you out! Or you should have left right away on car/4-wheeler you must have prepared for escape, not stayed around! You could have left down long before the cops got there or the autopsy revealed anything. Same for why does she give her knife to her date? Why not just throw the knife away? She’s in the jungle, big chance it will be found. Not.

And why kill someone in the middle of nowhere, making yourself one of the, like, 8 suspects? Like come on girl, for a hit woman you’re not that clever. Also if you had a gun, why strangle a guy 2x your size? That’s not a smart plan either. Just get a silencer and shoot the guy when he’s on his morning jog back in the city or something! I feel like the only reason they had her be the baddie was so Magnum/ Higgins could say “Shot through the heart” // “How is that for poetic” all dramatically after Gordon took her down.

Problem nr. 10. Tied in with this I just think Sandy as the killer should have not happened. 

In fact, I think having the sweet loving wife as the killer would have been wonderful. 

It would have been a much better twist! Dead guy could have been poisoned (traditional how wive’s kill their husbands… just saying) and then he fell off the cliff. They could surely have found some weird clue to that, like maybe his throat is all swollen and stuff to make them think foul play and then when they’re moving the body towards the end, Magnum realizes it’s poison.

But Higgy stayed back with the ‘grieving’ asthmatic widow and oh no! Must rush back to save my one true love platonic partner. 

We could have had some sort emotional moment where the Wife got Higgy with a knife at her throat and is all “He was supposed to be my best friend, my partner, my everything and he did X” and Magnum being all “Well that woman you’re holding a knife to is my (best) friend, my partner and she didn’t do anything so please put the knife down!” Or something. 

I mean I know that sounds like I’m off in Miggy fanfiction land but honestly I think they could have made it work (this is hilarious when re-reading after watching next weeks trailer). She could have teased him about the best friend bit but then she could have been all soft, “Thomas. Thank you. I’m glad you're my friend.” And the episode could have ended with how love just never seems to end well for anyone which would have been way more on theme for the vibes in this episode (and frankly whole show because no one gets to have a romantic relationship for more than, like, 3 episodes).

Nr. 11. Higgins hair. Not putting it in the fluffy “Blood In the Water” style was a big miss because that hair made her look so freaking adorable. Just saying. I mean both my babies are always adorable I just love the poofy fluff hair from that ep!

Anyways, those were my 11 missed opportunities for episode sixteen!

My fave bits were Magnum and Higgins fake couple thing at the start. Magnum being all like “While we’re up here we might as well take a selfie!” and then when talking to the old couple his, *I’m just gonna keep my hand here, on your waist! I’m real smooth* move. 

I enjoyed the fast action pack-ed-ness of the whole ep and the pretty Hawaii scenery we got. The more I watch Magnum PI the more I want to visit Hawaii (one day when there is no Corona, I’m much richer and 20h airplane rides are suddenly comfortable, I will!) and just enjoying all the amazing natural beauty and stuff.

The Rick and TC’s interactions were also highlights, I loved the whole “just pretend to walk by”. Like so middle-school yet so relatable because who hasn’t done that when we’re like, is that Lisa from second grade? And just we walked down the cat food aisle perusing cat food (when we most def. don’t have a cat), just to check if it is indeed Lisa.

Also this made me crack up so hard.

Magnum: Muffin? 

Higgy: Could you please not refer to me as a breakfast pastry.

That’s just so on point for Higgy I can’t even!

You guys agree with my missed opportunities? Or have any of your own for this or any other episodes?

______

(And who is desperately searching for a time machine to steal so it can be next week - right this minute!! LIKE!!! I’m still freaking out from the trailer.)

#Magnum pi #miggy #magnum pi 2018 #thomas mangum #juliet higgins #magnum pi season 2 #magnum higgins #so much potential

[bombshellsandbluebells]

Hey @wolfheartgirl! responding to you here because boy that post is getting LONG

Thanks for joining the conversation! Always good to have more opinions! I’ll admit I also don’t agree with your points completely and I just in general have a different view of the characters and relationships I think. Also, being 110% honest here - I didn’t finish season 6 so I might be iffy on all the details and how they play out. At some point I just really could not bring myself to keep watching, not just because of what was happening but because of how bad the execution of the writing and the acting was. Let’s face it - no matter what ships or characters we like or what side of the fandom we’re on, we ALL deserved better than what we got execution wise. And that’s disappointing. :(

Anyways, onto some body-snatched Bellamy discussion!

1. The Monty Thing - completely fair points! I did forget that they reached out to Wells’ actor first and he was unavailable, which is a shame. But that’s a good reminder that sometimes writing gets dictated on television because of things like that the writers can’t control. I do think you’re correct here, and I was wrong when I said it didn’t make sense for it to be Monty. Monty appearing to Clarke was much more about his legacy and what he had asked them to do than it was about his relationship with Clarke. On second thought, yes he was the only one who really fit there.

What I WILL still argue is, even if it works with Clarke, it still WOULD have had more weight and emotion behind it if it was Bellamy. So basically, it’s fine as is in canon, might have worked BETTER if it was Bellamy.

2. Honesty hour. I don’t know....what Octavia did in season 6. I really don’t. I tried to follow. There was some quicksand and some time travel and I was just really lost and disinterested at that point and I stopped watching and I STILL don’t know what she did in the finale.

Octavia’s redemption is......iffy. As is. I love Octavia. I don’t always love Octavia’s writing. I really don’t like anything I saw of Octavia’s writing in s6 aside from getting paired with Diyoza, though even THAT fell flat for me. And I really don’t understand what role she played in this season at all.

So maybe she would have crossed lines trying to save Bellamy, but I also do think there is a possibility to do something fun with switching the dynamic to being “my brother, my responsibility” and her trying to make up for hurting him last season. Again, don’t know WHAT she did last season, so being part of the Save Bellamy Squad would have at least pulled her into the action a little more. (I know that Octavia’s time travelling quicksand adventures are supposed to help set up the whole s7 thing but honestly.....it’s way too confusing and disconnected from the rest of the season and would probably be better cut.)

3. Inside Man Murphy. Fair! Completely far! Murphy 100% would not have helped them he is ride or die for his family ESPECIALLY after last season. And true, his anger and growing indifference did lead to him helping Josephine! (I didn’t get to 6x11 lmao, but I am kind of glad to hear it was about Abby, not Clarke. That makes A LOT more sense for his character.) And I don’t think CLARKE saying she was proud was OOC - I more meant that in my opinion it doesn’t make a lot of sense for that to hold much weight with Murphy considering he DOESN’T care about Clarke or her opinion of him.

What I will say about this is that not every detail of how the season was written is going to work with Bellamy as the bodysnatched because it wasn’t written for Bellamy. It was written for Clarke to be bodysnatched and so all the details of that storyline are going to support that. The idea behind switching it was an attempt to try to fix some of the main character and relationship arc issues last season with one simple fix, though the entire execution of the plot would then have to be adjusted to fit Bellamy and not Clarke. So yeah, Murphy’s storyline as a WHOLE would probably have to be adjusted - if not completely changed - to make sense with his character.

I was thinking about this actually and I think in general most of Murphy’s storyline needs to change. For instance, why did his near death experience THEN suddenly spark this fear when he nearly died in the finale of s5. It wasn’t necessary to have him nearly die AGAIN just to convince us that Murphy is scared of dying. He always has been. That’s a core part of his character. It’s kind of redundant.

But I was thinking that the main arc Murphy goes on in s5 is that he feels worthless and that triggers his fears of being unloved and abandoned. This is a pretty core part of Murphy too so it makes a lot of sense. I didn’t think the resolution of this arc was the best, but Murphy choosing to save his family and being instrumental in doing so and then Monty and Bellamy risking their lives and the lives of everyone in the finale do a lot to prove to Murphy that he’s not worthless or expendable.

Rather than switching to a completely new arc for him in s6, it’d be nice to keep expanding on this idea. That might mean removing him from his current canon storyline completely (which, although I did like it and it IS in character, doesn’t add much more to his character since he’s already gone though many similar arcs)

What if instead he took on more of a leadership role in saving Bellamy? That’d be something new from him we haven’t seen before. It would echo back to moments in s5 when Bellamy asked for his opinion or he was the one to make a decision for the others. It would be a really exciting new adventure to take his character on and it’d just be new for him. Maybe then he could work closely with Clarke and we’d get an interesting new dynamic there. It’d also let Murphy continue his journey of realizing that he is not worthless, which is nice.

Just spitballing here. I do agree his current arc doesn’t at all work with bodysnatched Bellamy, so it would definitely have to change.

4/5. Ok, here’s where we won’t agree, haha. I’m not a Bellarke shipper at all. I don’t disagree that s6 was very centered on Bellarke. It was, absolutely. My issue is that that is directly at odds with s5. s5 set up Becho in the beginning, forced them through struggles and separated them for most of the season, but then reunited and reenforced their relationship at the end of s5. The clear takeaway seemed to be that Becho was here to stay and strong. Bellamy and Clarke’s dynamic was certainly important, but it wasn’t framed as romantic in s5 and wasn’t, to me, framed to be more important to Bellamy than Echo.

s6 then goes and completely flip-flops that with no development to get there. Becho goes from ending the season strong to finding over nonsense and then Bellamy being completely focused on Clarke. s6 absolutely frames Bellarke as more important, but it’s frustrating that it is so at odds with the season that came before it. If they wanted to switch from Becho to Bellarke - which I’ll admit, I’ll never be happy with - it at least needs to have more development. Because the last we’ve seen, Becho is happy and Bellamy and Clarke are not on the same page and dont’ have the same priorities. If they did want to change that, there just needs to be more growth between Bellamy and Clarke that isn’ reliant on what happened between them several seasons ago. 

So frankly, I don’t think with EITHER of them bodysnatched that can happen. They don’t have the time to get to know each other again (remember, in canon, they haven’t seen each other in six years! you can absolutely re-fall in love with someone you knew, but it isn’t instant) which NEEDS to happen to sell that relationship. It isn’t good enough to me to rely on the development of early seasons when both characters have changed SO MUCH and been separated for so long.

I’m not going to argue whether the writers intend for Bellarke to be canonically romantic because honestly they have been so back and forth about it and unclear in the writing that I’m going to need some outright “I love you”s before I buy it. I do think they’re important to each other, I’m just going to need more recent development before I buy it, espeically after last season ended with Becho going strong.

6. Scrap the sheidheda storyline. Just scrap it. I really dislike it and it adds clutter to an already busy season. I don’t believe it really added anything of importance and just distracted from the other plotlines going on. You’re right it probably wouldn’t work with bodysnatched Bell but like.....I’m all for just getting rid of it. There’s more interesting ways to use Madi than whatever that nonsense was.

7. True! I actually talked to someone else about this. As it is currently written, the nightblood is a problem. However, like I said this plot and all it’s details was written to fit Clarke and it can easily be adjusted and re-written to fit Bellamy. Since bodysnatching and Sanctum was totally new this season, it doesn’t contradict anything previously established to just cut the nightblood thing out. A lot of other random details probably don’t fit for it to be Bellamy either because it just wasn’t written that way.

So yeah! Those are my thoughts :) Whew that was long.

I would also just really love to see everyone saving BELLAMY this time around since he’s always saving everyone else.

#the 100 #the 100 meta #bodysnatched bellamy

[raggydraws]

Crow fam headcanons (Crow, Night, and Breeze), please? Personally, I believe Crow loved Nightcloud but never showed it because he was afraid to love again because it only ever gets people hurt

Hewwo! Sorry this took so long, been real busy and also this is one heck of controversial family so I wanted to be careful with what I said. But I hope you enjoy!

I swear to the Erins that somewhere in a Field Guide Rock said that out of all his mates Nightcloud was the one meant to pad alongside him the longest. Now that probably meant that she wasn't going to die?? Or that she was going to remain his mate for a long time but my baby brain always thought it was because she was the one Crowfeather was going to love the most.

But I love it when people end relationships amicably and even though it took awhile for Night and Crow to become friends again I'm real glad they did.

Also this is gonna be really long (cause I both and hate this family) and probably needs a Trigger Warning for death mentions.

Imma do some individual headcanons for them and then the family together!

Nightcloud

Nightcloud is one of many Windclan cats who showed up out of nowhere during Mudclaw's coup, but I like to imagine she been there the whole time. Nightcloud is the niece of Barely, daughter of either Jump or Hoot, and was brought to the clan by her mother. She was promptly adopted by Tornear, a kind tom who was also the brother of the deputy Mudclaw. She was raised exclusively by her adopted father and uncle, but while the deputy and his brother loved and accepted her without hesitation, the rest of the clan was very weary. Nightcloud grew up feeling a little isolated from the clan and thus grew a thick skin and quick wit to defend herself with. After Mudclaw's death she was ostracized even more for following his coup, only being welcomed by her Father, her former mentor Ashfoot and her childhood rival Crowfeather.

Nightcloud had pretty bad anxiety after Crowpaw left on his journey, it left her feeling very alone and out of control, she started taking cues from her uncle Mudclaw to feel more in control of her life and emotions. After he dies she's left feeling out of control and

She was named Nightcloud for her fluffy fur and her usually calm personality, she likes her name but feels like it doesn't her very well.

Crowfeather

Crowfeather was born one to two-ish months after the battle with Bloodclan to his still living mother Ashfoot and his deceased father Deadfoot. Crowkit was born with two siblings, a sister with black fur whom he doesn't remember very well, and a sister who resembled his mother. Unfortunately his sisters passed away and left Crowkit, the runt of his litter, by himself. Almost all of Windclan merged on the nursery not long after to give their condolences to the high ranked queen, which only served to stress out both Ashfoot and Crowkit. Ashfoot basically put a ban on the nursery after that and keep Crowkit by her side at all times, she could see her own anxiety growing in him and didn't want him to be uncomfortable. Thus Crowkit was never properly socialized, something Ashfoot tried to remedy by introducing him to her friend's kitten, Nightkit. This lead to the childhood rivalry and uh 'friendship' between Nightcloud and Crowfeather, they pushed each to be better and shares their hopes of being welcomed by the clan. While Crowpaw was considered very reputable due to his mother's own reputation, his poor attitude and lack of social skills made him very unliked, even his mentor grew frustrated with him and spent little time teaching him to understand or control his emotions.

I also like to think that if he hadn't asked to be named after Feathertail, Tallstar would've called him Crowhop after his father's original name!

Breezepelt

Breezepelt was born 3 to 4 months after The Three, very weak and sickly to Nightcloud and Crowfeather. He doesn't really remember much from his childhood as he slept a lot and spent a lot of time in the nursery. What few he has are of his father, the two quietly sitting in the sunlight away from any loud noises. He's fond of those memories but it hurts to think about them sometimes.

I remember reading, like a prologue or something, of Breezekit seeing sunlight coming through a hole somewhere and thinking about how much he loved the color. Than Nightcloud found him and commented on how she hoped his eyes would stay the kitten blue color they were, while Breezekit hoped they'd be the color of the sun. So! Breezepelt loves to sunbathe and definitely has rusting on his stomach. It's the only time anyone would see the usually angry, resting b*tch faced tom relaxed and happy. Yellow in general is the fastest way to calm him down and to get on his good side. He hated the Dark Forest, the darkness made him feel trapped and amplified his negative emotions, he was there of his violation of course but a little voice in his head would always reminds him that he belonged in the sunlight.

I have somewhat thought of a better redemption arc for Breezepelt, at least a skeleton for one, but it involves his first 'mission' for the Dark Forest. When he goes to kill Jayfeather at the moonpool he wasn't expecting the heavily pregnant Poppyfrost to be there, he expects Brokenstar to call it off (he wants to believe that Brokenstar wouldn't make him attack a queen) but all he says is to not leave any witnesses. Afterwards when Honeyfern kicks his ass he's a bit shaken, he knows the Dark Forest isn't full of great cats but, his delusions of finally regaining his father's attention had clouded his judgement. As more and more cats start to join the Dark Forest the more he realizes that he isn't alone in the way he feels.

Antpelt, a friend of his, joined hoping his newfound strength would impress the cat he liked.

Harespring, the son of his leader, is even there because his own father ignored him too.

Hollowflight, a Riverclan cat he comes to respect, is bullied and ridiculed for his heritage.

Even Ivypool of Thunderclan is there for the attention and validation she so desperately wants from her own clanmates.

Cue Dark Forest therapy sessions. Cue the very awkward friendships of Ivypool, Hollowflight, Antpelt and, Breezepelt. Ivypool and Breezepelt bond over neglect and maybe Ivypool (after she realizes she can find happiness with herself) convinces Breezepelt that maybe he didn't need his father's attention to be happy. He had a mother who loved him, a clan that respected him "and hey, you've got us too, right?"

Alright now all family headcanons are post Crowfeather's trial cause I'm not touching OoTs.

Breezepelt and Crowfeather don't spend much time with each other. They're still very awkward with each other but they bond over watching Breezepelt's kits together. Sunbathing is their favorite pastime.

Nightcloud and Crowfeather are just friends, they do kind of rekindle their friendly appreticehood rivalry tho. Whenever hunting is good and over hunting won't hurt anything they compete to see who can bring the most rabbits back. Breezepelt joins them sometimes and gets praised quite a bit for smoking them both.

Brindlewing and Smokehaze know all of the New Prophecy Gang stories, ones Breezepelt never got to hear. Cue Crowfeather being surrounded by his grandkids and son listening to his horrible Squirrelflight impression from when she was stuck in the fence.

Breezepelt usually has the say for if he wants Crowfeather to be around for family things, when Heathertail got pregnant the first time he was real nervous and didn't want his father around her. Crowfeather understood and kept his distance. Second litter Breezepelt let him visit right after they were born and the two babies cried about how cute they were.

Family therapy with Kestrelflight. Just, someone telling Nightcloud she was reacting reasonably to a very bad situation. Crowfeather's issues with connecting with people and lashing out when he can't be with someone or to keep them away. Breezepelt being told that while his parents issues did influence his own he is still responsible for his actions as a grown ass adult and that it's up to him to break the cycle he was unfairly stuck in.

Breezepelt will probably take the moonpool incident to his grave. Tbh he may of thought of naming one of his daughters after Poppyfrost to somehow atone for it but chicken out.

Nightcloud adores that most of her family are girls now. She and all her granddaughters (Plus Heathertail) can and will chase the two Toms down and sit on them.

Nightcloud gets a girlfriend and excitedly tells Crowfeather about it. Crowfeather gets a boyfriend and excitedly tells Nightcloud about it. Breezepelt gets a new stepmom and stepdad and gets double the amount of parental validation he's been chasing after his entire life.

#this is really long and im sorry!! #kudos to whoever reads all of this #warrior cats #asked and answered #thanks for the ask btw #i love giving cute domestic headcanons

[dogcopter]

Rose Ghost Theory (Comprehensive)

This is the wrapped up version of various Rose theories. You don't have to believe me. Just getting it all out there before Future ends next month. We'll see what happens. I think it's gonna be an awesome plot twist if this is all true. 

TL;DR Rose gave up her physical form, but her soul has been astral projecting and watching over Steven, primarily in the body of Lion and others along the way. This is also why he sees visions of her memories.** There may be more to this than I've identified, but this part is nearly certain. Show gets exponentially more emotional upon rewatch when you see her everywhere.

Meta It all comes back to Rose. This is going to be the last, most recent worst decision that when he learns the truth will send him over the edge of his crisis of avoiding his feelings about her. (And send the fandom over the edge too, lol.) Because her absence shaped his whole life and she was there all along and could have been there. He will be rightfully angry, but I also think she will be able to help him, and like with all of her bad choices maybe he will understand why she did so even if he doesn't forgive her. It will also be her character development opportunity, to finally change.

Whose body will Rose Quartz inhabit

She is most of the magical NPCs that aid Steven in his journey. She is Lion, the Tiny Floating Whale and realistic Rose in Rose's Room, Dream Dogcopter, Baby Melon and the melon dogs, the source of Steven's Pink Diamond visions, Pink Steven, "Shy Rose" and probably Cactus Steven too.

Abilities in use

All these powers are established by Steven, Rose is using them as well.

Steven has gone into dreams like Kiki's, where he changed the dream imagery. In Steven's Dream, after Steven wants to learn more about Pink Diamond, he sees her fallen palanquin in his dream and is crying. This was Rose communicating to him.

He spoke to Lapis while she was fused. In Jungle Moon, Stevonnie has a Pink Diamond memory dream that shows them the passcode to Yellow's moon base so they can call Lars. Rose again.

He took over the bodies of Lars and Watermelon Steven. Rose uses Lion's body and the melons with the same ability. Note: Lion himself is just a normal lion who Rose revived, his backstory remains intact. But most of the time when we see him around Steven it's Rose in disguise using his body.

Steven astral projecting in Reunited Steven enters an astral projection dimension where the others can't see him. They can hear him if he touches them. Rose may be present at times when not pictured.

Appearances

Rose's Room The Tiny Floating Whale has Rose's voice actor. Steven has never heard his mother's voice. He hears it later in the VHS tape but not at this time.

Storm in the Room In that scene when a more realistic Rose speaks to Steven, she refuses to listen to what he says unlike the room and reassures him instead. This is Rose stepping in to change the vision because Steven is spiraling.

Dream Dogcopter In Lion 3: Straight to Video, Dogcopter tells Steven to hold his breath before Steven wakes up in Lion's mane. In Chille Tid, Dogcopter shows Steven where to go while dreaming to find the real Lapis (inside of Malachite) after he exhausts himself looking for Malachite and has a nightmare about her.

Watermelons

Baby Melon winks at Steven and runs back after being stolen by Onion. When the melons fight each other, Baby Melon hits Steven and sacrifices himself. The other melons are enraged at that action. The melons don't tolerate a threat to Steven, so why would an ordinary one hit him even in this situation?

Melon Dog 1 brings Steven to offer himself (the watermelon he's possessing. F) as a sacrifice to show him where Malachite is during the arc where the Gems are looking for Malachite, much like Dogcopter led Steven to mindscape Lapis. She also knows what the Cluster is.

Melon Dog 2 tries to distract Steven from getting off the island when he's trapped in Pink Diamond's cell on Homeworld and astral projecting home for help. She tries to entertain him with escapism.

Lion I have a whole tag for this and analysis of all of Lion’s appearances if you need more info on this. Condensed version: Lion shows Steven the mane when he wants to know more about his mom, and shows him the landfill when he wants to know more about the truth of why he was born. He knows an unusual number of secrets for the pet of Rose Quartz, a notoriously secretive and impulsive gem who left Greg and the Gems without instruction or any plan to raise Steven and kept secrets even from Pearl, who knew her secret identity. He appears to know more about Pearl and the Diamonds than he should. He ditches Spinel at the Sadie Killer concert after glaring at her all day.

Can't Go Back When Steven and Lion go to the moon to find Lapis, Lapis and Steven talk about her feelings of watching everyone from afar and being lonely. She's afraid to return

Steven: So why didn't you just come back? Lapis: I want to. But I just can't. Not after the way I left. What would Peridot say? What if the Diamonds show up? What if something bad happens? Steven: Well, what if something good happens?

but Steven reassures her it could work out.

Lapis: Maybe I'm tired of running away. Maybe I'd rather be with everyone and be in danger than be safe and alone. Steven: They'd be glad to have you back. Lapis: I don't know. If I went back now, there's no way things could go back to how they were. Steven: Yeah, but that's alright. Things would just be different.

Steven then has a dream explaining how Pink Diamond tried to convince the other Diamonds to leave Earth alone and was refused. He also sees Pearl with her sword, prompting him to talk to Pearl. This finally reveals Rose's secret of being Pink Diamond to him. (Lion brought him to Pink Diamond's ship when he showed Steven the landfill and Nora VHS a full season earlier.)

Diamond Days & Change Your Mind

Steven has stress dreams about Pink Diamond's memories. I think in this case it's possible Rose is with him "in spirit" and being home is triggering flashbacks. When Steven goes back to her bedroom he dreams about playing with Volleyball before Pink hurt her or lost her. When in the cell she used to be trapped in, Steven wakes up in a memory of being punished there. In the case of other visions I think they were typically intentional from her, given the plot relevance, but these might be unintentional nightmares. Unfortunately, Steven is stuck with them too.

She's Gone

(People tend to hate this idea and refuse to entertain it, but I believe) Pink Steven was also Rose. When his gem was removed she reformed in it, choosing Steven's appearance because the gem belongs to him now. She was focused on getting the gem back to Steven to save him and had rage at White. Her protecting Steven despite seemingly afraid of White and telling White Diamond directly that Pink Diamond is GONE is major character development for her. Steven is not two independent bodies if split up, he is himself, a human boy who has a gem.

Shy Rose Finally, the Rose who looks just like Rose Quartz in Rose Buds. She's actually Rose. She acts like Lion and she picks up on Steven's distress more than any other character has so far - it's because she knows him best and has seen/heard the most build up of things affecting his mental health in Future.

People hate this idea too. Idk what to say. It's true. If I'm right then Rose Quartz blatantly came back in episode 4 wearing her own face and we as the audience collectively missed it. If I’m wrong I have a fanfiction AU idea to tell you about next month.

Cactus Steven - in this case I also like Cactus Steven as his own cactus, bc the mirror metaphor works so well, but given all the other examples I have my suspicions about him. If she *is* the cactus too then: Cactus Steven is happy to be an ear for Steven to listen to, but concerned for him when he's upset. Cactus Steven tries to talk to him and tries to get him to talk to the gems.

TL;DR long text picture of Rose Quartz character arc speculation below. You can skip this theory wise as it's just guessing at the story.

One possible version of this story: During the war on Earth, Rose had already planned to give up her physical form. She somehow specifically designed the Rose Quartz gem that she now inhabits to have similar features to the fantasy Rose that Pearl originally created. (For one thing none of the other RQs shown have curly hair) With Pearl's help, she faked Pink Diamond's shattering and assumed her new identity with a permanent reformation.

After things died down without Pink Diamond and the Diamonds left Earth alone, she would switch to the new gemstone and live as a Rose Quartz with Pearl, giving up her power forever and leaving behind her abusive family to become a new person. As we all know, things went very differently.

Eventually (her origins with Garnet and Pearl as shown) Rose meets Amethyst, an unusually “blank slate” gem who learns and grows who’s also similar to herself in many ways. Then, Greg Universe, who *wants* to know the real her behind the persona, and who also tells her that being in love is torture. (Pearl is in love with her.) She becomes fascinated with humans, especially the way they change and grow, and decides to have a child. The events of SU occur. Rose doesn't tell Steven she's here because she thinks everyone's better off without her and she only makes things worse, and the evidence of things getting better and her bad choices and mistakes being revealed seems to support that. When he tries to get Lion to play the role Steven wants, she refuses, because that's what went wrong last time. Just like she stopped raging after hurting Volleyball.

Now that Steven's actions have led to peace among Gems and the other Rose Quartzes were unbubbled, Rose had the opportunity to finally take her own physical form. Having given up her physical form in the meantime and needed a new one, she will now have her own body to return to. Now she knows how badly Steven is messed up about her, kind of like the Gems coming to terms with how he's grown up in Snow Day. Now that she's hurt Steven she's going to change her behavior again, like after hurting Volleyball, and after hurting Pearl, and finally just tell the truth at the end of Steven Universe Future.

This resolves the question of Steven's Rose stuff entirely. Steven isn't Rose, he's himself. He's not receiving her memories from some weird magic repressed gem data, it was because she was using astral projection powers both intentionally and unintentionally. His gem doesn't have its own consciousness that splits in two, he's both human and gem.

The big twist is that they *can* both exist, and *anyone* can change, including god damn motherfucking Rose Quartz. Like everyone else in the show, after seeing her through everyone else's eyes, in the end she's just a person - a flawed, weird individual who has made mistakes and hurt others. Steven doesn't have to forgive her or even like her, but they can finally know each other as themselves, the core theme of the show. It's a hopeful ending to a hopeful show that ties off both character arcs. Thanks for reading, love you, can't wait to see the finale.

#steven universe #rose quartz #su theory #steven universe theory #su meta #rose is lion 2020 #rosedemption 2020 #steven corrupts bc his mom is alive and thats even more fucked up than the mom baggage he already has piled sky high on his plate.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hello! I don't know if you've seen the Trollhunters series, but in the third season Jim has the opportunity to become a troll/human. However the effects would be permanent, and in the words of Merlin "Part of you will remain Jim, but the other part will never be the same." I've been thinking that something similar could happen with Oscar. That he has the opportunity to "fuse" his soul with the soul of Ozpin. Feeling not like Oscar, nor as Ozpin, but as someone else.

Hi there Los! I have actually seen Trollhunters and was a fan of the series for a while when it first dropped. However I sadly never finished the series (or checking out all it’s other spin-offs). I made it as far as I think the sixth or seventh episode of S2 and never got around to finishing it. So…yeah, thank you for that nice spoiler there XD Just kidding, I kind of already know about the Jim turning into a troll bit but mostly from spoiler screenshots on Twitter. I didn’t really know the context behind it until you explained it. Again, thanks for the spoiler but it’s cool.

In regards to Oscar and Ozpin and the Merge—well once upon a time, in a RWBY Musing of mine way back before V6, I shared my own views on the merging of the two souls that was not so different from your theory fam. 

I figured that the Merge would’ve been similar to fusion in Steven Universe and I even used the character of Garnet as my example. Not sure if you’re a SU fan but in the series, Garnet is a fusion of two gems named Ruby and Sapphire and the embodiment of their love for one another. 

While Ruby and Sapphire are their own individual characters with their owndistinctive personalities, what’s interesting to note about Garnet is thatinspite of being a fusion of two gems, the show and by extension, the other characters within the Steven Universe world have always treated Garnet as her own character outside of the two gems she’s comprised of.

As a fusion, Garnet possesses physical characteristics, mannerisms and of course abilities that she inherited from Ruby and Sapphire respectively. Nonetheless, Garnet is still seen as her own gem and thus her own character. This is how I originally pegged the Merge to be with the treatment of the ‘new Oscar’ afterwards.

This squiggle meister has NEVER 100% bought into the holdnotion of Oscar completely losing himself to the Merge. Ever more after I recapped V5 and remembered how Ozpin told RNJR that HE is the one destined to change with the fusing of the two souls. NOT Oscar.

I originally pictured the Merge would’ve involved Oscar and Oz forming a new persona who I dubbed the Wizard—the embodiment of both minds,inheriting all of Ozpin’s original memories and abilities while still retainingOscar as the dominant personality since he is supposed to be Ozpin’s successor.

Despite the CRWBY Writers attempting to sort of convince the FNDM with the idea of Oscar disappearing entirely by having that be a concern of said character, I still don’t buy into it because there have been other little breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the last few seasons that highlight Oscar’s experience with the Merge being different from his predecessors.

Hence why I’ve now dropped my original theory in favour of a new one. Nowadays, I’ve deviated to my Pinehead headcanon where I think that Oscar is actually Ozma

I’m going to tag @daggerpawstudios​ here as well since my points in this response post also answers her inboxed question:

Hey squiggles!! I read your theory on Ozma and Oscar joining souls to just make Oscar whole again. I think you mat be on to something. I recebtly just rewatched eipsode 3 of volume 6 and i never noticed that Oscar and Ozma have the same voice actor as well. You can hear it wheb Ozma says his lines in the stories. I also find it interesting because it is implied that Oscar is the last recarnination of Ozma by the way he speaks in volume 5.

Basically my idea was that Oscar is possibly the teenage re-embodiment of Ozma’s original form that he never regained after his soul was first resurrected in the body of Diggs (Ozma 2.0). In the Lost Fable, it was highlighted that only Ozma was only brought back soul form. He never truly regained his original body; hence Ozma’s genuine surprise when he realized that he wasn’t in his old body and was instead inhabiting the mind of somebody else’s (Diggs). 

It also justifies Oscar’s reaction to seeing Ozma’s shock of being paired with Diggs the firs time and his solemn “He didn’t know” remark since Ozma didn’t know the Gods would bring him back in the body that wasn’t his own.

The narrative has placed too much emphasis on Oscar being his own person to just have him become somebody else.

Not to mention there’s the whole important bit with Ozpin’s allies and enemies reacting to his sudden reappearance as if they weren’t expecting him back, at least not so soon.

My hunch with that the Ozma Cycle doesn’t work like the Avatar Cycle or the Doctor Lineage. Instead of being brought back almost immediately after the death of their predescessor within the same time period, my guess is that a new Wizard is reborn every half a century or so. I do a much better job at explaining this theory in this post right here. 

But the general consensus is that Oz was NOT supposed to be back this soon.

I initially figured this was the case after recalling Lionheart’s reaction to Oscar back in V5 and Tyrian’s reaction to the news of his return in V6 and now  Ironwood’s reaction to Oscar being revealed as Ozpin’s successor in V7 further supports my theory.

“...This can’t be...I knew you would be back, but...you made it here! You found Qrow! How?” - Lionheart (RWBY V5 Chapter 11) 

“...Ma’am. I have more to report. Qrow and the children are taking the Lamp to Atlas...” Hazel Rainart.“...Not if I can help it...” Tyrian Callows“...And they’re being led by Ozpin.” Hazel“...So soon?!” Tyrian (RWBY V6 Chapter 4) 

“Oz? I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t think you---” Ironwood (RWBY V7 Chapter 2) 

Here are three examples of characters being surprised to see Ozpin back so prematurely so clearly there is something is very, very different about the Cycle when it comes to Oscar. 

Instead of being reborn in another like-minded soul possibly years down the line as the cycle probably works, Ozpin’s soul took an unexpected detour and was instead paired up with Oscar.

You might be asking why though? 

Why would the cycle suddenly do this all of a sudden and why would it suddenly chose Oscar Pine—a 14-year-old farm boy from Mistral all of a sudden.

This brings me to my headcanon. I’d like to believe that Ozma’s cyclehas been pretty consistent up until Oscar’s lifetime. While the show didn’thave Ozpin make a big deal about him suddenly being brought back sooner than usual inside the body of Oscar Pine, it’s the characters associated with Ozpin and the Ozma Cycle that give me this strong impression.

I’d like to think there is something very special about Oscar that sets him apart from other Wizards and Ozma successors and it’s why I strongly believe his experience with the Merge will be much different and much more significant. 

This is why I like my theory of Oscar secretly being Ozma’s original body that he never regained after his first reincarnation, now resurrected in Modern Remnant and given a second chance at life.

This theory of mine was inspired by a similar scenario in the magical girl series Sakura Cardcaptors where the character of Eriol Hiraigazawa is one half reincarnation of the great wizard and creator of the Clow Cards: Clow Reed while the second half was Sakura’s father.

Both characters were two halves of Clow Reed, only Eriol was the younger half who inherited all of Clow’s memories and magical abiltiies while Sakura’s father---Fujitaka Kinomoto---didn’t. 

My idea was that since Ozpin is the current version of Ozma’s soul (theculmination of him and all the other Wizards over the years), if Oscar is revealed as the other reincarnated half of Ozma---his body--- then that could mean that our impression of the Merge has been wrong.

What if...the Merge isn’t meant to erase Oscar. It’s meant to make him whole. Body and Soul together as one make a person, right? 

So my idea was that merging with Ozpin would help Oscar see the truth of who he really is. That Oscar is in fact the one true Ozma. 

This also ties into my theory where I believe Oscar is meant to represent the end of the Ozma Reincarnation Cycle. He’s meant to be the last life. 

This is also why I love the idea of him being revealed to be the true Ozma. This whole shebang with Salem began with him in his first lifetime and therefore should end with him in his last lifetime. 

Ozma was the beginning so Oscar will be the end. The end of a cycle. 

I love the concept of the Merging of the Two Souls actually representing the reunion of Ozma’s soul with his original body, therefore fully resurrecting the original Warrior of Light from First Remnant to become the Warrior of Light of the New Remnant. 

...or at least one of them.

The irony with this is that neither Ozma’s soul nor his body are the same anymore. They’ve both been changed. Ozma or rather the soul of Ozma has definitely changed from all of his lifetimes spent living in the company of the like-minded men he was paired with while his original body was given a new life and purpose in the Modern Word. 

Ozma has been a lingering sentiment of First Remnant who has withstood the ultimately test of time. This all started with him and Salem basically. Ozma is a primary player in RWBY’s key arc with Salem. All the more reason why I think it would be so cool if Ozma and Oscar are actually one and the same.Thinkabout it.

I also really love the concept ofor the obvious nod to the Wizard of Oz and its sequel story--- The Marvelous Land of Oz. 

Wasn’t the Wizard original believed to be the ruler of Oz until  later it was ultimately revealed that Princess Ozma was the true ruler.

Princess Ozma was the true ruler of Oz. Oscar is true reincarnation of Ozma. Here we’re all thinking that Oscar is going to become the Wizard when it actuality, he’s the true ruler of Oz.  Think about it.

Imagine…how compelling of a twist it would be if, here we have Oscar believing that he’s going to lose himself entirely to Ozma—becoming someone he didn’t recognize—living as just another one of Ozma’s many lives when in reality, he’s not meant to lose himself.

He’s going to be made whole again. He wouldn’t become someone he didn’t know. He’ll be himself again and instead of living another life as Ozma, Oscar will be the proper second chance at a new life that Ozma never thought he’d get.

I really like the idea of Oscar realizing he is in fact the real Ozma and then afterwards deciding for himself who he wants to be. 

Now that he knows the truth of who he really is, courtesy of the Merge, does hetake back his original Ozma name or will be continue forward as Oscar? 

Naturally, Oscar chooses to be Oscar. Although folks can still address him as ‘Oz’ if they’d like for those who were more familiar with him under that nickname. 

Fun Fact: Did you know that ‘Oz’ is actually a pet name for ‘Oscar’.

As Oscar, our little barn prince now fully reborn as a Warrior of Light, still plans on fulfilling his duty to save humanity from Salem but he now does so under the firm motivation that his life as Oscar will be his final one. No more innocent souls being dragged into his war with Salem. It may have began with Ozma but it will end with Oscar.

This is my current impression on the Merge and my main theory for where I think Oscar’s Arc might go. I could essentially be wrong but nonetheless, this is one of my favourite Pinehead headcanons that I really, really love at the moment. And I hope you like it too, Los.

I hope this post also answers your question along with Dagger’s. 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#loscardonofrio #squiggles answer: rwby #oscar pine #professor ozpin #oscar and ozpin #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons

[wr1t3-my-wr0ngs]

Good Soldiers—Chapter 3/4

Remembering Yesterday’s Tomorrow (In the Here and Now)- Part 4 cont.

As much as Rex wants to move directly onto the next step in removing Krell, there is still a war that needs to be dealt with. Having Fives in his corner helps immensely as both a sounding board and support. It has taken a weight off his shoulders that he is infinitely glad he no longer has to shoulder alone. However, he had forgotten the specific brand of insanity that comes from working with his brothers, and while he is happy (among the other emotions that swirl dangerously close to the surface) to have them in his life again, it does, at times, make him wish his hair was longer so he could pull it out. Especially as he, Jesse, Tup, and Hardcase listen to Fives' infiltration plan.

"You want to what?"

He knows his plan to deal with Krell isn't perfect, but he hopes beyond all sense of reason that it's better then what he just heard Fives suggest.

"Have the men and myself fly the Umbaran craft into the supply ship and blow up the main reactor."

Last time, he hadn't asked for details. The thinking being he couldn't report what he didn't know. If this was the same plan that Fives had used to take down the supply ship, Rex knows why it went so horribly wrong.

"You are aware that General Skywalker was already one of the best pilots in the galaxy at that time? And that most of it was an accident?"

His brother looks sheepish. From his perch atop a table, Rex pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. Despite knowing the answer, he asks his next question anyway.

"How many men are you planning to take up?"

"It would be us three, Sir."

Rex looks at Jesse who has momentarily looked up from cleaning his blaster to indicate Fives, Hardcase, and himself. The Captain unconsciously brings a hand up to stroke a beard that isn't there, thinking over the specifics that he was privy to the first time around — regretting his lack of involvement and the subsequent lack of information.

“If you have a better plan, we’re all ears.”

He thinks of Ahsoka, of her uncanny ability (force given or natural, he never knew) to plan on the fly. To take a pile of unknowns and somehow rearrange them until they created actionable intel. There was a reason she was one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and he, her right-hand-man.

But she's not here. Surrounded by a room of living ghosts, the only thing he has of her is his ring and the memories of advice they had shared. One in particular whispers across his mind.

Work with what you know.

So that’s what he does.

He thinks about the Separatist ships he's been on. The narrow passages designed for droids and not much else. Considers the size and challenges of the Umbaran crafts. Three would be a tight squeeze and tricky to maneuver in such a limited space, even with the best of pilots, never mind when operated by foot soldiers who considered demolishing a hanger a successful test run.

"Send only one pilot."

"Without backup?"

Tups concern is valid, a brother without backup was always a dangerous thing, for the mission and the soldier both. But he doesn't have a better plan, not one that would work with their limited number of men, resources, and time. He can only pray that what he can change will be enough.

Rex leaves that part out when he explains his thinking, although Fives gives him a brief side-eye. He watches as each man mulls over the idea, weighs the pros and the cons, considers their part.

"I'll do it."

His heart sinks.

"The Captains right, and I have the most experience with the tech."

"Hardcase, " He isn't sure what to say without giving himself away to everyone in the room. When he had first woken and started putting together his plan, he had considered that there may be things he couldn’t change, couldn’t make right. Hardcase it would seem, is one of those things. A knot of emotion catches in his chest as he considers the very real possibility of watching his brother's death a second time over. Eventually, he settles on the only question available to him.

“Are you sure?”

His brother squares his shoulders, easy-going manner set aside.

“I am, Captain.”

The room is silent for a moment, heavy with the knowledge that this very well may end up a suicide mission.

"What about—"

At that moment the doors to the barracks open, cutting Jesse off mid-sentence, revealing Dogma, head bent over a datapad and lips silently moving.

The collective group freezes, including Dogma who seems to realize he has the full attention of everyone in the room. His head snaps up and eyes go wide, jaw clicking shut, and for a second Rex thinks he can see fear in his brother's eyes. But his time to observe is limited, as Dogma, without so much as a word, about faces and leaves the room with the speed of a man being chased by cannon fire.

The group exchange glances and all Rex can do is shrug at the inquiring look Fives sends his way, just as stumped by his brothers behavior as the rest of them. He had expected suspicion and anger, or even the cold shoulder. Those he could understand, but fear?

He shakes himself internally. His concerns about Dogma hardly the top of his priorities at the moment.

"What about Krell?" Jesse repeats, looking between Fives and Rex in equal measure.

"We need a Jedi."

Hardcase scoffs and crosses his arms.

"Yeah, I don't know if you noticed Captain, but they're in short supply."

"I'm just saying that his ability to receive transmissions with new orders is awfully convenient, considering they're supposed to be being jammed."

Jesse looks up from cleaning his blaster with a critical eye.

"You think he's lying about communications with the 212th?"

Rex nods.

"It's a possibility. And it won't hurt to try and get General Kenobi here to assist."

"I think, " Tup starts slowly. "That I might be able to convince a few of the men to try and establish contact against orders. No promises, though."

Rex looks over to Fives, who nods in agreement.

"That's all we can ask for Tup."

Tup inclines his head at the ARC Trooper.

"And what if, and that's a karking large if mind you, we can't get the General to assist?"

Rex sighs.

"Plan B and prey."

----

Dogma was acting strange.

Usually, Tup wouldn't have paid much attention to his brother's odd habits. But he had never seen him that upset before or that close to exchanging blows with another brother. He understands Dogma's anger; he does. Is still reeling from the implications himself, even though nothing he heard really surprised him when he thought about it. But he also understands, as best as he can understand his brother, why it would affect Dogma more than the rest. He’s aware that he is the closest to Dogma, one of the few Vod’e who took the time to get to know the tightly wound trooper. And as a result, is far more used to the quirks of behavior than most and has learned to read Dogma with some degree of accuracy.

But he’s not sure what to make of his brother's recent behavior; walking into rooms, only to turn back around when he spots any of them, constantly reading at every available opportunity. Not that Dogma hadn’t done his share of recreational reading, but this was something different. The few times Tup had found him in the past hours, Dogma seemed to be enthralled, reading as if his life depended on it.

And now he is missing from his bunk.

It feels like avoidance, but never in his short life has Tup known Dogma to do anything less than face a problem head-on.

It concerns him, for Dogmas sake. His one consolation being that he knows his brother would ask for help if he needed it.

Whatever it is Dogma is up to, he only hopes it won't cause a problem for the Captain.

-----

Watching the sky for the impending destruction of the Separatist ship is by far the tensest twenty minutes of Rex’s life, and he intends to spend them with his eyes glued to the sky as if he might be able to see the raging space battle and the one small ship that contains his brother if he looks hard enough. Futile, he knows, but it's all he can do. The troops mill around him, coming and going at their own paces, running information back to the main tower, or just enjoying what rest they can in the middle of a war zone. At some point, Fives joins him.

"Any word?"

"Not yet, Captain."

"Any sign that Krell suspects?"

Fives shakes his head.

"No, Sir. I don't know what you told him about the takeoff, but he doesn't seem suspicious."

Rex didn't expect he would be, since he's almost certain that Krell knows what they are doing despite the lie Rex had fed him. Suspects that Krell knew the first time too, and that everything that followed was designed to torture himself and the men as much as possible.

They laps into silence and Rex returns his focus to the sky.

"Permission to ask a question?"

Rex glances at his brother, gauging the request.

"Granted."

"How did this mission go, last time?"

Fives is looking at him, but Rex can't meet his eyes and hopes that his brother will let the topic go with a simple answer.

"It was a success,"

"Rex, " The plea is soft, and it strikes him how much younger his brother is; the gap between them able to be measured in decades instead of a few years. Aware that behind the bravado and the swagger, Fives is as scared as Rex, wondering if he just sent his brother to his death.

He's hesitant to talk about it, the memories from Umbara old wounds that never fully healed. The sound of distant artillery and shelling only hammers home the futility of attempting to avoid them.

"I wasn't as involved last time, didn't really condone the course of action. I don't know what went wrong exactly, but from what I gathered something happened to sound the alarm, and the Seppies raised the ray shield around the main reactor. It had to be detonated by hand."

"Which brother...?"

"Hardcase."

The inhale of breath is sharp, and its what makes Rex finally look at his vod'ika, sees the pain in his eyes.

"Fives, I'm sorry."

"He knows the risks."

Rex isn't sure who the phrase is trying to console, Fives, or himself. He reaches out a hand to the back of his brother's neck, gently bringing their foreheads together. He can feel his little brother tremble ever so slightly under his touch, and he gives what he hopes is a comforting squeeze. They stay like that until the Captain feels the ARC Troopers breathing even out. When he pulls away Fives looks better, less shaken, and although his grin isn't as large as normal, it's still there. (He marks it down in a new column in his heart, right next to Ahsoka's smiles and laughter, counting it as a small victory against a war that's designed to cause as much misery as possible).

"Thanks, Gramps."

Despite himself, he laughs. Perhaps, he thinks, the nickname isn't so bad if it brings a little joy.

He's about to respond, when a flash of light overhead draws their attention; Bright orange and yellow that bleeds through the dark clouds. Hardcase did it. But he doesn't let himself relax, not yet, because for all the changes made, he still doesn't know if he changed enough.

His heart pounds in his ears and he's fairly certain that he's forgotten to breathe. The seconds tick by, each one seemingly longer than the last. Beside him, Fives is tense; eyes also fixed to the sky, waiting and watching.

The relief that foods him when he spots the speck of light approaching is indescribable. However, it quickly fades when he notices the erratic flight, the way the ship lists dangerously to one side, and (when it gets closer) the sparks that trial behind it.

The landing, if it can be called that, is rough, and when the shield comes down, Rex is there ready to catch his brother if need be. It's a good thing too, as Hardcase tumbles from the seat, blood leaking from under his helmet. It takes a matter of moments to find the pulse at his brother's neck and only then does Rex breathe. Unconscious, but miraculously alive.

Boots on the pavement prompt him and Fives to look up.

"The General requests your presence."

---

Knowing the execution order is coming doesn't make it any easier to hear or make him want to strangle the fallen Jedi any less. Especially as Hardcase, barley able to stand from what Rex strongly suspects is a concussion, has to be assisted to his mark.

“Do the prisoners request blindfolds?”

Tup looks disturbed to even be asking the question, and Rex’s heart goes out to him. No brother should have to face killing their own family.

Not right.

He has to check again to be sure he isn't imagining it, but no, it is Tup at the firing line.

Fives has begun speaking, but Rex doesn’t pay attention, too busy doing a headcount, grateful for the lack of helmets obscuring faces. He does it again, just to be sure.

Dogma isn't there.

Distantly, he's aware that Fives speech is winding to a close, but only just. Too busy running over the possibilities, the implications, and drawing a blank.

The sound of blaster fire draws his attention violently back to the present, and he is no less relieved to see that the firing squad had come to the same conclusion as before.

Fives glares at him as he walks up.

"A warning would have been nice." The ARC trooper hisses under his breath.

"And miss that speech? Look at them Fives, " he surreptitiously gestures to the men as he begins undoing the binders. "Sometimes we forget that we're more than walking numbers, especially under men like Krell. They needed to hear that."

The binders come off with a click, and Fives rubs his wrists.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because I needed to hear it."

The ARC Trooper looks at the Captain for a moment, eventually nodding his head in acceptance.

"Besides, " Rex cocks an eyebrow, "I thought you didn't believe me?"

Fives punches him in the arm.

---

To say that Krell is displeased at the news of the failed execution would be an understatement. The fallen Jedi is livid, and standing before him held in a fourhanded grip, forced to look up to meet the massive force users gaze, Rex is reminded of standing up against the Imperial AT-AT on Seelos, just him, Gregor, and Wolffe; Easily uncrushable and very small.

“You are making a mistake by crossing me clone.”

It is fortunate then, that he isn't immune from the insanity that plagues his brothers, and that his tolerance for disrespect dwindled significantly with age.

“Its Captain.”

The lack of ‘Sir’ does not go unnoticed, and Krell’s grip on his arms tightens to the point of bruising. Rex does not look away. Neither does Krell, not even as a trooper relays the incoming transmission.

Rex is aware that were they alone, Krell would drop all pretenses of being a General. When the Besalisk does let go, it's accompanied by a shove and despite his best efforts, Rex stumbles.

“Lock the traitors in the brig. You have your stay of execution, Captain.”

The way Krell says his title slides like ice down Rex’s spine and leaves a rancid taste in his mouth.

“We take the Capitol now.”

---

The battle passes in a blur and by the time its over, he's shaken to his core. The reality of it so much worse than the nightmares ever were. Worse because he can still taste the ion trace from the blasters that lingers in the air, the screams of his brothers ringing to loud in his ears. Unable to console himself with the knowledge that it was just a dream.

The blood caked into his blacks.

He's only one man he tries to remind himself, only one man against a tide of destruction and death. He can't change everything.

Intellectually he knows its not his fault — that it's Krell and Krell alone that is responsible for every life lost in this sector of the planet.

It doesn't help, knowing that the battle - the loss- was designed to be a form of torture, not when it worked so well. Not when he still blames himself—his orders for the troops to not wear their helmets into battle being too little, too late, with far too many brothers dead by friendly fire.

Blames himself for every brother lost.

For Waxer.

His fists clench in a mix of rage and sorrow, before pulling himself back to present. They have minutes left before they go to confront Krell, and he needs to focus as they go over the plan one last time. The prison is hardly private, but at this point, discretion no longer matters. He knows that every brother, not just the little band he has assembled, will stand with him.

"I still say we should just kill him."

By rights, Hardcase shouldn't even be out of medical, but Rex strongly suspects that only death would have kept him from joining the fight against Krell at this point.

He shakes his head.

"And I'm right there beside you Vod, but unless we want to end up shipped back to Kamino for reconditioning, we need-"

"Evidence."

All four heads whip around. There, standing in the door to the cell, looking haggard and broken is Dogma. No one says a word as he makes his way toward the group and silently extends a datastick, hands trembling.

"I couldn't get what you said out of my mind." He addresses Rex. "About how things didn't add up. So I read his reports, ran the numbers. You were right."

His face is stony, but in his eyes, Rex can see the betrayal, the anger, the overwhelming sense of loss that comes from having ones whole world come undone around them.

"He didn't even hide it."

Ah, he read those reports. Brutal and full of plain language detailing his choices. The kind of reports where it didn't make sense how they could have gone without being flagged, not until Rex had learned the truth about Palpatine, just one of the many puzzle pieces that fell into place. Rex carefully takes the datastick.

“How do I help?”

He looks from Dogma to the cylindrical tube. Evidence, he had said.

"Is this what I think it is?"

Dogma nods.

"Every file, every report, every statistic." His smile is a wry, bitter thing. Sharp and self-deprecating, edged with the anger of a man who will never again be played for a fool. "It's amazing what you can get access to when someone thinks you're in their back pocket."

Then they have all the evidence they need.

"Tup, any word from the 212th?"

"No, Captain."

His frustration slips past his lips as a growl and he rapidly does the mental calculations, handing the datastick back to the tattooed Trooper.

"Dogma, get this to General Kenobi. I don't care how or who you have to go through to get it to him, but it's for his eyes only. Understand?"

The Trooper salutes, new purpose lending strength to his bearing, and as he barks out a "Yes, Sir!" he almost looks like the Dogma Rex remembers from the start of the campaign.

He looks around the cell at his brothers, fully kitted and armed, faces set with grim determination.

"Alright, men: Plan B."

#ct 7567 #ahsoka tano #captain rex #rexsoka #star wars #star wars: the clone wars #star wars fanfiction #rex x ahsoka #arc 5555 #fives #arc trooper fives #hardcase #clone trooper hardcase #clone trooper tup #ct 5385 #clone trooper jesse #ct 5597 #clone trooper dogma #dogma #pong krell #umbara arc #umbara #time travel fix it #time travel au #time travel #blood mention #tw blood #violence mention #my writing #cross posted on ao3