#anyways. The Master Core is WEIRD man

[beardedhandstoadshark]

If Smash Bros is a kid playing with toys, Melee is said kid getting older, and Brawl/Subspace Emissary is them growing up and struggling with the societal pressure to stop being into "childish things“ already vs going "fuck you cringe is dead“ to them, then where does that leave Sm4sh and Ultimate?

Especially Sm4sh, with the Master Core. That thing was weird, right? It came out of nowhere, created nightmare fuel, and dropped dead on the ground.

So I‘m proposing: it continues right where it left off. Tabuu is dead, and with it, The Cringe. The first kid, then teen, now adult is living their best life creating sickass crossovers of more games than ever before now that they‘ve got a Steam Account.

But anyone who‘s ever grown up ridiculed, be it for their hobbies or their interests or whatever, who’s spent their entire life up until then perfecting how to hide what they love from anyone else and no one to share, knows: The shame doesn‘t leave. Not completely.

It lingers, it festers, in the back of your mind and out of sight on most days, all the little jabs and familiar hurt every single act of love reminds you of piles up one by one, until one day in the middle of it all it finally cracks, and bursts out stronger than ever.

Or in other words; if you fight the hands on a high enough difficulty, it gets interrupted by the Master Core violently ripping out of Master Hand.

Aside from Master Hand specifically being the Creation half of the Hand Duo, putting emphasis on that, the Core’s forms are interesting. It starts off as a humanoid giant with no face but a glowing head, sweeping arms arms across the stage like someone shoving their things off a table, the head bursting open into a vacuuming void or slammed on the ground.

Defeat it, and it turns into a Beast. With sharp teeth and spikes in its back, claws like a T-Rex and scorpion tail, it looks like a chimera of animals a kid would find cool.

After that, too-many swords with spiky edges and even spikier decoration barely made out. Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t have an edgelord phase as a 13y old where you thought stuff like this was the sickest shit ever.

Then the next phase: You. Or rather, the character you picked to make it this far. If it’s your first time, most likely your favorite or Main too. It’s programmed to be bigger than the player and have all your custom moves and equipment, but as you defeat it, it shrinks down in size as the Black swarm slowly clears to show the colors underneath.

If you defeat it in the 3DS version, this is where it ends. In the WiiU version, you get another phase: Subspace Emissary Body Horror Edition. A maze that plays just like Brawls (Tabuu’s) Subspace, but in the form of a body whose guts you traverse, where you have to find and hit 4 hearts that audibly beat. It spits you back out after the first 2, but you go back in to finally finish the job,

And there it is. The Master Core. Cleared of the festering swarm, it’s just lying there. Still. Glowing a bit, a rainbow of the previous forms’ colors contained with black and white. Behind all the darkness, there is nothing that can really hurt you.

(Unless you wait for too long. Because if you wait for 45 seconds, it will fly back up and unleash Tabuu’s attacks on you.

Because if you don’t do anything against those thoughts and ignore them, the shame will just come back to strike you.)

So you go kick it, and it comes back. You strike it, it comes back. Next kick, it comes back again, another kick, strike, every time it comes back, but every time, it flies a bit farther, takes a bit longer, is easier to get rid off, until finally, for the last time, for real this time- GAME!

So that’s what the Master Core is, imo. The literal Core of all the negative thoughts that festered over the years of the kid, teen, adults’ shame of loving the things they do, ending in them finally coming to terms with their childhood experiences and moving past them once and for all.

(And Ultimate’s spirit mode is them getting into the Smash Bros fandom on the internet but if i ever explain that one it’s in a different post)

[quietwingsinthesky]

that was actually a very funny post because. okay, again, i don’t have context for thirteen, but that post was sooo adamant that the reason thirteen’s run was bad was that the doctor didn’t fall in love with yaz and. i believe they phrased it as ‘cut her toxic ex-boyfriend out of her life for good’. because apparently it’s only at this point that the master has done truly unforgivable things and not the like 40 times he showed up before murdering people and torturing the doctor for fun. <3 sorry that’s just how they love and it’s beautiful

[smollsmule]

Ok ok but you wanna know the real tea?? I've read several beach fics at this point (which are all awesome btw, y'all are amazing writers) and it's a beloved staple to have Edwin be somehwat scandalised at everyone's beach outfits not to mention all flustered from seeing Charles in swim wear. Which is a Good Trope, don't get me wrong, I love that just as much as the next person

HOWEVER

I think actually it's Charles who should be more shooketh about Edwin in his funky lil edwardian two piece!!

Picture this. The year is 1916. You are 16 year old Edwin Payne with a bunch of repressed gay thoughts. Much unpleasantness happens, you die and get dragged to hell, even more unpleasantness happens, 70 years later you finally manage to claw your way up and suddenly women are allowed to vote. There's been not one but two world wars, several countries you grew up reading about in the news don't exist anymore and mini skirts are a thing now.

All I'm saying is, for all the teasing Edwin gets for "What is a handjob?" and "Crystal's internet", this kid was essentially thrust into a scifi world full of weird shit and gets mostly by via an attitude which can only be paraphrases as "fuck it, this might as well be a thing (maybe ask Charles about it later)". King of adaption, master of radical acceptance.

Charles on the other hand, and I say this with only love in my heart, is at his core a boomer. He was there for every tiny gradual shift from '89 to modern day. Sure, he was dead for most of that time, but that's not really relevant. All I'm saying is, seeing the bbc announce marriage equality was probably a bigger shock to Charles than it was to Edwin. That's a guy who already had to accept he will never fully wrap his head around home television.

Also consider the states of undress they've been exposed to seeing the other in. Edwin was stripped to his underwear in hell and still had his knees and elbows covered. And that was probably a more exposing outfit than he'd ever be comfortable with. His usual casual get up features a sweater vest for crying out loud! Meanwhile you have Charles going full 'ceps out in his undershirt first chance he gets. Edwin either got real cool with a lot of shit real fast or he would have combusted several times over those 30 years.

And yes yes, we've all seen Edwin "Haunted By Gay Thoughts" Payne's mental slideshow of abs n hips close ups after getting one (1) glance at the Cat King's stomach. But to his credit, the man was going through a full blown sexuality crisis at that and has since emerged victorious.

So all I'm saying is. Edwin seeing Charles shirtless at the beach? Probably not even the first time this is happening, a lil flustering for sure but just last week he saw two people making out nasty on the tube so hell if he knows. Charles seeing Edwin's kneecaps and upper arms for the first time? Incredible, show stopping, pride and predjudice 2005 hand flex level of suppressed horniness.

Anyway. I'm writing this fic now and none of y'all can stop me.

[vodika-vibes]

So you know how I had that idea of Fox with an MMA fighter, that I ended up writing a fic for? Well, now I'm thinking of Wolffe dating a retired assassin.

Wolffe is a man in love. Completely smitten with his cyare.

Sure, they're a bit soft. They get weepy watching commercials about animals without homes, and Wolffe knows that without him there, they'd have a home full of animals.

But, he loves them all the same.

They always look so happy when he comes to see them, arms flinging around his neck and peppering dozens of light kisses all across his face.

Its almost like, every time he walks out the door, they expect to never see him again. So they have to make sure that he knows they love him when they can.

It's a weird quirk. Adorable, but weird.

Wolffe loves them enough that he's willing to overlook the fact that he knows nothing about their past. And even when he asks, they side-step the questions with ease.

But it's not a huge deal to him. There are things in his past that he doesn't want to share either, after all.

So he doesn't think about it. He just accepts their love and affection as much as he can, and tries to make himself worthy of their love.

And then, one day, a mission goes wrong. His brothers are killed by Ventress, and he knows he's not going to survive the torture. Especially since he refuses to speak.

Wolffe is just counting the days until she kills him, and regretting that he won't be able to see his cyare again, and then they're there.

A blade the length of their forearm easily deflecting Ventress' lightsaber, the gleam of the blade familiar in the way the all beskar blades are.

"I'm retired," his cyare says in a voice that chills him to his core, "But you took what's mine and that's not allowed."

Ventress lowers herself into a defensive stance, "Count Dooku has been trying to contact you. He wishes to hire you."

His cyare tilts their head, and though they're wearing goggles and a lower face mask that cover their face, Wolffe can tell that they're looking at the dead bodies of his brothers strewn around the room.

And when they speak, it feels as though the temperature in the room drops 10 degrees.

"Inform your master that I'm retired. But, if he's willing to take the risk he can come speak to me in person."

"You—"

"I do not bargain or negotiate with a potential client's attack dogs." A second blade appears in his cyare's hand, "But do inform your Master that should he appear at my doorstep, he'll be greeted with a blade and a slugthrower."

"You would threaten the Count?!"

"Who's going to stop me? A failed jedi turned into a failed sith?" There's a hint of amusement in their voice. "You're former Master must be so proud of the woman you've become." And that's the sarcasm Wolffe has come to anticipate from his cyare's lips.

Ventress snarls and lowers her body as if she's going to attack. But his cyare just tilts their head back, "Please. You would hardly be the first force user to die by my blades, and at this rate, you won't even be the last. I'm...allowing... you to leave with your life. I suggest you take my mercy. Before I decide to show you the same mercy you showed them."

For a moment, just a moment, Wolffe thinks that Ventress is going to attack anyway. But then, surprisingly, she takes a step back and turns off her blades, "I will kill you one day."

"Better warriors than you have tried. And failed. Now leave."

And then Ventress is gone, and his cyare droops, before turning to look at him, the mask and goggles getting pushed down and up respectively.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I meant to be here sooner." Gentle fingers release the bindings holding him still, and one gloved hand touches the side of his face, "This will scar."

"Cyare, how—?"

"The Jedi Council reached out to me for help." They smile, though it comes out as more of a grimace, "It's only for emergencies, but Plo insisted that this was one."

Wolffe leans his weight on their shoulder, "You owe me an explaination."

And they sigh, "And you'll get one. Promise."

[siblingshuffle]

Sibling Shuffle: Suspicion

“What? Why on earth would Dr. Wily make a robot that fights robots that HE reprogrammed?”

“I’m not sure. …Maybe I should check on her, just to be safe— huh?”

“What? What is it?”

“The lab door - it’s locked from the inside!”

—————

Sorry again for the delay!

————— LORE:

So. I’m not sure if it’s really established if Bass was really that badly damaged from Shade Man or if he was playing it up, but Piano did sustain heavy damage. That being said, she always was more of a strategist than a battle-hungry fighter, so I can’t imagine that she didn’t see this as an opportunity to accomplish her goals with a minimal amount of conflict.

As for the Lights, Dr. Light was always very optimistic, but he had a strange feeling about his daughter’s new alleged ally. Not enough that he would refuse fixing her (he’s way too nice to do that) but definitely enough that Blues decided to look into who built her. That search wasn’t going very well… Until Dr. Light got a good look at Piano’s systems, and realized just how similar they were to Roll’s.

This was weird to him for several reasons:

Internal systems often look very different from Robot Master to Robot Master.

Roll is a first-generation Lightbot, making it strange for someone would copy her design - there have probably been many advancements in technology since her creation that would be more efficient, but Piano’s systems look almost the same as Roll’s.

Roll is a Helper robot/Child, making it weird that someone would copy her design to make a combat robot. While the public may know her as the heroic Super Fighting Robot, Roll wasn’t built with that in mind, hence her childlike design. Piano also has a childlike design, but she identified herself as a robot built for combat (making design choices like a child’s face and robot hair very strange).

So. Someone very likely copied Roll’s design. And that Someone knew how to do it and knew how to design a core strong enough to support a robot like Piano, and knew how to build weapons similar to Roll’s Mega Buster. And guess who fits that criteria and is a serial plagiarist?

——— This next section is just breaking down Blues’s List of People Who (Probably) Didn’t Build Piano (at least, the candidates he listed aloud.)

Cossack Robotics Laboratory: He looked into them first because Dr. Cossack did build a combat robot in the past (even if it was under duress). I decided to go with one of the few things I know about the Megamix/Gigamix continuity: the whole thing with Skull & Ring Man’s functions. I went with Skull Man being the only CossackBot made for combat, while Ring Man was made to be like a detective (though he hadn’t been activated as a detective - his first time waking up was with Wily’s programming installed). Unlike that version of Skull Man, though, Sibling Shuffle Skull Man was repurposed once Kalinka was safely un-kidnapped - now he’s like her bodyguard (just to be sure she is never re-kidnapped). (Credit for that last idea.)

Geoworks International: His investigation into Geoworks was probably the quickest lol. He kinda just called up Tempo and was basically like “Hey, you get any new sisters since Rhythm? No? Yeah, I didn’t think Dr. LaLinde built her anyway.” (He didn’t want to speak to Dr. LaLinde directly, so called his best friend instead lol)

The Military: The energy consumption of robots with independent thought was a bit high** for the US*** government to want any. They have plenty of Joes, instead. Sniper, Gunner, Hammer, Rider, Apache, Cannon… and those have been getting the job done well so far. If it ain’t broke, you know?

———————

Footnotes:

*The events of the 6th Game. I can’t imagine that with the sponsor of the tournament gone (for all intents and purposes) they would keep it going another year. And with Wily breaking out of jail & causing a ruckus so often, I assume even if making more fighting robots wasn’t illegal, it would be very much frowned upon/side-eyed nervously

**Blues himself serves as an example. Granted, Robot Master technology becomes more and more efficient as the timeline progresses, but even then I think the government would be… hesitant to implement technology that Dr. Wily consistently reprograms.

***This assumption is based on this map from Megaman 8, which implies Light Labs to be somewhere in America.

————

I’ll try to get the next Minicomic out in a good amount of time. (Might answer questions / comments in the meantime? Idk)

[psychicthepsychic-daily]

hope he likes it

—————

The small paper bag, white tissue paper peeking out and masking the gift and card inside, feels unnaturally heavy as it dangles from his hand. Psychic tightens his grip and lets his arm fall to his side.

His master, only a few feet away, is awkwardly, cheerfully, graciously accepting his daughter’s gift. Psychic discreetly makes his way next to him, quietly taking in their smiles, her easy laughter, the way she hugs her father and leaves his office to find her boyfriend. His chest tightens. A little pang in his core whispers condescendingly, how out of place you are, how hopeless. How endearing.

It’s a bit late for that song and dance now. His master has already turned to him, with questioning eyes.

“It’s…nice to see you two smiling like that again,” Psychic begins awkwardly, not entirely sure why he has to start with that comment on the increasingly weird relationship between them. His master has all but given up by now on trying to get rid of the girl’s boyfriend, and though the previous anger has subsided into something smoother, Psychic can’t tune out the tension in the air. Still, today seems like proof that they’re getting better. It’s getting better.

His master smiles at him too, then, and the nervousness in his core doesn’t settle. It only spreads to his stomach and his legs like a virus. “I suppose. It’s nice to see her happy, if anything.” It’s resigned, almost tired.

“It is. Um—” Psychic tries not to stumble over his words, quickly lifts up the bag far too high before dropping his hand to what he thinks is a normal height. Hopes to God that he’s doing this right and that this is appropriate for him to do at all. That he can be allowed to partake in this little thing, just to show that he’s grateful. He is grateful. He gets to be here, serving his mentor, stuttering like a fool in front of the man who gave him everything, because he wants to show that he’s happy. That he knows he was taught well. “Um, I— I have something for you, as well. Not— not for any specific reason, I just…” He trails off, silently cursing his utter lack of grace. “I wanted to…give you something.”

He shifts and avoids looking up as his master, surprised, takes the bag. The weight, gone from his hand but not from his chest. His master glances inside and, Psychic thinks, silently puts it together.

It wasn’t that hard, anyway. There’s only one reason Psychic, who hardly celebrates anything, would go out of his way to give him something on this day. To the man who raised him. He briefly wonders if his master being able to read him so effortlessly really is out of pure skill and perceptiveness, or if Psychic has just always been this horribly awkward and predictable. Does it even matter anymore?

He braves a look at his master’s face, and a tiny bit of that weight eases, even as his core is still practically vibrating throughout his body. He’s a little relieved; his master at the very least isn’t as weirded out or uncomfortable as Psychic had feared he would be. He…he looks pleased, even. He’s still surprised, but…

His master touches his shoulder. “Psychic, thank you.” There’s a realer smile on his face now, unexpected joy.

“I— you’re welcome.” Psychic mutters, ignoring the way his stomach flips. “Happy… Happy Father’s Day, sir.” The sudden boldness of saying it leaves him even shyer, but he can’t stop an almost-smile, a psychomancer-smile from overtaking his face.

“Thank you, Psychic,” his master repeats quietly with all the more delight, a hand resting on his shoulder like it’s at home, and Psychic is fully, certainly a mess and his master knows exactly what this is supposed to be. And for now, for what it’s all worth, Psychic is okay with that.

[sunshinemoonrx]

GoGoV 31-36

AH...WE REACHED IT...

I suddenly kind of wish Daimon was the weird black sheep of the family who did "rescue work" as a wandering martial artist of justice rather than a cop with this on the side, because he's very memorable here.

Anyway, I really enjoy the gradual arc of Salamandes stepping out from his siblings' shadows; there's no single big moment of usurpation, he just loses his patience more and more. Even when their mom declares "okay lil bro's in charge now", he's already been yapping about that for a bit, and the other siblings don't really listen anyway.

I really like 31 including this bit about the importance of having an actual good relationship with your siblings, cause a lot of TV does just kinda assumes family automatically loves each other deep down. Also nice to see them really paying off the parallel between the hero and villain families. The core family relationship is a huge strength of the show! All the ways they help and annoy each other are really believably layered and mixed together. You really get that "one moment I love this guy, the next I need to punt this guy out the door" you feel with real siblings.

Also: They got the Metal Hero chaos dimension in this show!!!

My beloved.

Most of the rest of this batch were pretty good--32 was goofy, 34 was intense--I would have a lot more to say about it, from the intense and nuanced emotions to the sick as hell final fight scene, but @biomic 's liveblog of it kinda has everything covered as so frankly just check out such posts of these:

And 35 and 36 were entertaining zany high-concept spy/heist and martial arts dramas, respectively.

33 was...weird? (and not in the good way, like Milk Judo Piledriver). It could have been an all-timer (a monster gets magic'd into being comically shy around girls, defects from the villains in exchange for confidence lessons from the heroes, you know their eventual battle is going to be tragic), but then it spent quite a bit of time on that old chestnut, "how cute high school girls are", which c'mon, man. It then kinda dials it back by showing he's also shy and falling over around like, old grannies and toddlers, so it's clearly not just a sexual thing, but the emphasis really threw me off enjoying the episode. I dunno, Matsuri even does some ~sexy disguise changes~ and they're mostly not even actual sexy costumes. Speaking of which, further weird moment in 35 where Matsuri sees the crystal they're guarding that's this super important new energy source and repeatedly not listening to this is all "uwaaaah but it's so prettyyyyy" because, idk, girls are frivolous and like shiny things? It's really out of line with her characterisation so far. (This stuff is what caused that previous post where I was like, checking under rocks for Arakawa, but he was apparently nowhere to be found here!)

Still, big upside is 35 did have Dinus as a cat burglar seemingly just for fun? Like, she eventually goes after that super important crystal, but not before doing a bunch of other heists of just random shit. And good for her. The first scene where it keeps cutting between narrated comic panels and live-action footage is really fun, makes me wonder if this is a tribute to some manga that was big at the time.

Meanwhile 36 I admit I kept thinking everyone was tricking everyone else based on similar episodes I'd seen before, and then it turns out everyone was just being honest and sincere, and frankly the episode was much better for it. The monster really did leave the villains for the pursuit of ultimate martial arts knowledge, Daimon's old master really did take up the monster as his new student, and so on.

What's really important, though, is all the "mooks in fun costumes" content we got this batch.

I didn't keep a Dinus Gallery as I went along this time, but she's been pretty highlighted lately, so I have been well-fed.

I like looking at her : )

[cintiri]

Does anyone have any "hear me out" SV pairings? Mine is Sha Hualing × Little Palace Mistress.

Okay so this works for both SV and PIDW versions of the character, but I first got it into my head while working on my post Bingge v Bingmei PIDW fic from the wives perspective.

The Little Palace Mistress and Sha Hualing both come from nobility, their homes run by a powerful man. The Old Palace Master is obviously a piece of shit, and in a lot of fanon Sha Hualings dad isn't so great himself. But they both clearly grew up in very different situations.

For my fanon, the LPM grew up very sheltered and spoiled, with very little real connections to others her age. In canon, LPM has no mother in the picture, the OPM is never mentioned to have a former wife or wives, but he IS known to prey on female disciples. The OPM is old as balls. The LPM is around Gongyi Xiao's age.

Huh. Weird.

Also, the little palace mistress' birth lines up weirdly well with the OPM's obsession with Su Xiyan, and for obvious reasons she can't be SXY's child, so what actually is going on here, OPM??? Did he have a bizarre, fucked up rebound about a disciple who wasn't interested in him at all? What is going ON here??

Anyways.

LPM grows up sheltered, spoiled, and expected to marry who her father tells her, first Gongyi Xiao, then Luo Binghe, because you CANNOT tell me the OPM did not push her towards LBH once he appeared. And in PIDW? She does. She marries Luo Binghe, the most powerful man in the world, and joins his harem. His very, very big harem, filled with hundreds of other women, whom she has no idea how to interact with, and she has been told her entire life her worth is based around men's favor, and her husband hardly pays attention to her unless she raises hell.

Recipe for disaster #1.

Now, Sha Hualing. For my fanon, she grew up with a LOT of siblings, all vying for her father's throne, and in order to win against them she had to become the absolute best. She became the demon saintess younger than anyone else ever had, at only sixteen, and while her invasion failed, it was still impressive that she managed to break into and cause damage to the strongest sect humanity had to offer. But her father still didn't seem to care.

Jianhong-Jun still seemed to favor her older brothers, which frustrated Sha Hualing to no end. Couldn't he tell she was the best? She had killed two of her brothers and a sister already! She had become a demon saintess! She had invaded the core of Cang Qiong, Qiong Ding itself! But apparently, all her hard work could get her was the role of a powerful and useful bride!

Fine, her father wanted her to get married that much? She would marry a heavenly demon, and help him destroy her father! She would rule the harem with an iron fist, lead his armies, be the best first wife he had ever-

Who the hell was Ning Yingying? What is Liu Mingyan doing here? THREE HUNDRED WIVES????

Recipe for disaster #2.

So, with this we have established two self-centered disaster women with complexes about being the best wives and daddy issues and a penchant for solving their problems by creating bigger problems for everyone else. So why, do you ask, do I think they should kiss?

It would be really funny.

Plus, I headcanon SHL as a bit of a Playgirl, who has messed around with at least half the harem, and the LPM as surprisingly inexperienced, considering how sheltered she's been, though with her experiences with LBH and SHL she has gotten into some... More interesting stuff.

(airplane didn't give her a whip for no reason)

Anyways I think they would be absolutely horrible together. LPM would be waaaay too attached, to both LBH and SHL, while both of them actually don't have that much investment in her. RIP LPM. This could also lead to an insane breakdown and screaming fit from the LPM at some point.

My fic is endgame mingling, rip LPM, but if we wanted to take this a more wholesome route, it would be interesting to see the dynamic of them both going "oh no I fell for this absolute bitch HOW" and both of them coming to terms with loving someone not for political gain, but just for themselves.

But really I'm here to see who breaks up with who, and who does the Xianxia equivalent of keying the other ones car.

[imthatpowerful]

a lil yapping lowkey 😪😓

also i know im not the only one w these experiences, i think it’s something everyone experienced actually so please share ur experiences if u have similar ones cuz i’m intrigued.

i was thinking n shi and i js realized ive been a master manifestor and shifter and allat since i was a kid before i even knew the name of what i was doing 😭😭😭 i manifested a couples things like my height, 🍒 size, me moving to the US and prolly a lot of other things and all i did was persist in the idea that one day i was gonna have those things. sometimes id pretend i alr had those things. i didn’t even know what i was doing was manifesting and when i got exactly what i wanted i was shocked 😭 lowkey regret manifesting those so imma undo those but anyways that’s not the point.

i also def shifted and astral projected as a kid as well. i have vivid memories from when i FIRST gained consciousness at 3 they’re kinda vague but i can remember the feeling vividly. i remember this one night i was sleeping and suddenly i was out of my body and floating to the ceiling, i felt like a balloon, i was attached to my body by a string, i saw myself sleeping. and i kind of went through the ceiling. i was really scared and didn’t know what was happening and i wanted it to stop, and then it did. and i don’t think it happened once. i remember this VIVIDLY. it’s a core memory, not sure if it was a dream tho bc that whole era where i was newly conscious was kind of like weird but i bet on my life it was real and i astral projected that night.

i remember a BIG airport looking place i was in before i was born or before i was conscious it was orange tinted my mom was there, i was a baby, and there were other babies and mothers there. it was like a baby airport or something idfk and mothers i think were picking up their babies, but i was alr w my mom so i didn’t know why we were still there. i think that was my spawn point. i also remember a big green grass field and a big windmill w red blue green and yellow fans and a farm (all based off this ad i saw on tv) istg i was there either in a dream or irl but it was def irl bc some of my earliest dreams i remember literally were so simple like a woman in a red dress and a man in a suit running and the ground breaking beneath them or this vampire movie we had on dvd as a dream but 10x scarier, plus i was rarely (actually never) a character in my dreams when i first started dreaming. i also remember playing w my brother and suddenly i was in his pov and i could see myself. def shifted on accident. could’ve also been a dream. there are also other occurrences like when i first started watching nursery rhymes etc. any arab moots know exactly what video im boutta describe. it’s that video of nancy ajram i think and she’s a fairy and she’s saying not to scribble on the wall i think it said shakhbat shakhabeet. that was like one of the first medias i consumed as a kid. i remember being in the village for the nancy ajram mv istg, like i was there it felt so real my memory is so vague but i remember seeing a fairy and being in the middle of the village and a forest that’s all i remember but i remember the feeling. and there’s def more times ive shifted. but like i could yap on and on about if i remembered but it’ll be too long.

i also think i’ve lucid dreamt but can’t remember any specific core memory or occurrence.

like overall i think i naturally knew all of that and then when i got old enough to learn religion and stuff like that’s when i stopped being able to do allat. i remember being bummed out to find out allat wasn’t real and i actually lowkey refused to believe in my religion at first i remember my granny and mom telling me to say the thing that would make me a member of the religion and i crossed my arms and refused and they told me not to do that. ever since then i let go of any belief i had of the supernatural. deep down though,i was a lil agnostic and i carried doubts that the supernatural wasn’t real bc i knew what i experienced, but i was scared of going to hell (now ik that what u believe and assume happens after death is what manifests) so i fought those thoughts. all those memories of me doing those things were burried, and since it was an early memory i convinced myself it was prob a dream. but again what 3 yr old has VIVID dreams that feel real. now that i believe in this stuff again i know i used to do allat. and it was so normal for me. so glad these things found me again though. maybe that’s why i didn’t hesitate to believe in this stuff or question it when i rediscovered it.

having to unlearn what society conditioned me to believe has been a really long journey but i can feel myself becoming that little girl again who literally was shifting and astral projecting like it was nobody’s business.

if u made it this far thank you i love you 💗 here’s a cookie. and js know you WILL shift and have everything you ever wanted. heck you already have it now!

[zwy01]

Blood Moon AU!! Part 2 - More werewolves

Second part (continued) of my second major AU, Blood Moon AU. The nobles and werewolves basically have a race swap in an almost brand new setting.

For more info, check out my first two posts where I explained the general lore and setting of this AU (highly recommended for a better understanding):

The characters.

Ladybug: Father of Cloudy, whom he had with an unnamed werewolf woman. Many people mistake Ladybug for a dangerous, evil person due to his creepy appearance, but he’s actually a pretty nice dude. The sockets of his eyes are just very deep and people can’t seem to catch a glimpse of his irises no matter how hard they look, hence the assumption that he’s about to suck every passerby’s soul and transfer them to himself to extend his lifespan. Doesn’t help that he’s always smiling. It almost looks like he’s sneering. Ladybug doesn’t mind. He’s too old for this shit. He’d just chuckle and go along with it. He’d strike a menacing pose and bare his fangs, and they’d all run away screaming. Haha, that was fun. Felt great, might do it again.

No one knows how old Ladybug is. It seems like he’s been around since forever ago. The werewolves even call him a living fossil. He takes it as a compliment because it means he’s wise and timeless. Ladybug would be minding his own business and he’d happen to eavesdrop on some werewolves talking about an old story, and he’d spook them by appearing from behind a bush and saying “Oh? Didn’t know the things I did in my youth are being told as Mother Moon’s tales now. Care to recite from the beginning for this old man?” Once again they run away in terror. Oh, poo. Tsk tsk, young pups these days are so sensitive and can’t stand humor at all. At least his daughter understands him and fully embraces his weirdness.

Ladybug lives with his daughter Cloudy, whom he had as an old man. Cloudy’s mother is alive and well; she just doesn’t live with them. Ladybug raised Cloudy for the most part, who is very attached to him. As a retired warrior, Ladybug does farming as a hobby and grows a variety of delicious crops because Cloudy doesn’t eat meat. He breeds special types of vegetables, fruits, and grains for her to enjoy. Currently, his goal is to create the perfect crunchy, tangy sweet berry because his daughter likes those very much. He can’t wait to bake a delicious pie for her with these ingredients and see her smile.

Ladybug’s favorite color is green because his daughter’s eyes are green. It’s also the hair color of his daughter’s mother, who was his lover.

Ladybug is not your typical werewolf warrior. He is also a master of magic, and you can always count on him to know the specific spell to your specific issue if you need help from him. He can both harm and help you, if he chooses to. There’s probably even a proverb that says “if you get fleas up your buttcrack on a full moon night, Ladybug will hunt you down and cook you in a stew” or something. Yikes. Probably made up anyway. Eh, still giving it some credit because it’s a good way to scare the kids and get them to quiet down and go to bed without making a fuss. Lord Peach’s adopted daughter Rosemary is a student and fan of Ladybug. She calls him “Teacher Buggy”. He is extra nice to her because she is part of Cloudy’s core friend group and his daughter always talks about how nice “Rosie” is. Usually, he would reject those who come to him asking for magic lessons, but he gives private lessons to Rosemary. Dang, she must’ve bribed him, lol. Thanks to Rosemary, Ladybug has learned about a certain noble streamer named Zivon Tradio aka “GlitterDream KittyPaws”, who is also a magician. Ladybug isn’t his fan, but he sometimes watches his streams just to criticize his spells. Rosemary thinks it’s hilarious.

Ladybug has no other living relatives aside from his daughter.

Grub: Son of unnamed werewolves. Unlike Ladybug, who just seems creepy but really isn’t, Grub is creepy to the core. It’s just him being… him. 100% original Grub guaranteed. He’s either lying still with his face planted to the ground and mumbling to himself, which can last for hours, or he’s hyper and jumping from tree to tree and finally off a cliff. Once he even tried to dive into an active volcano. There’s rarely any in betweens. It’s okay if he gets hurt, he’ll heal up in no time. It even feels good to get hurt. Fractures, burns, external and internal bleeding, almost-decapitation… he has a new to-do list everyday. He’ll even feel itchy on the inside if he doesn’t let himself bleed every now and then. That’s what the werewolves’ superior healing is for, and he’s totally abusing this ability. He would just shrug it off when people point out to him that he’s basically addicted to self-harm. It’s just called having fun! He would then cackle and squeal and bark back and forth on a crescendo and decrescendo like a total maniac. The werewolves would just assume that he’s under Ladybug’s curse or something, because he clearly isn’t in his right mind. Oh well, it’s not like they have to be friends with him. And who knows if it’s contagious or not, so better leave quickly to be safe than sorry.

Grub’s current self has something to do with his childhood. He was born into a big family, as his parents had many children back to back, litter after litter. He’s just one of the dozens of children. Grub is a quintuplet and the runt of his litter. Initially, his parents wanted to abandon him, as it would’ve been a waste to feed him since he would just die anyway. But little Grub cried and squeaked and howled for milk, as if he didn’t know what giving up was. Then his parents changed their mind. Perhaps they ended up giving him a chance because they were entertained. Sure, they’ll be generous this one time and see how things turn out. If he dies, they’ll just eat him. They even named him Grub out of spite; crawling on the floor on his hands and knees and struggling for life just like a grub. Befitting of such a weak, unimpressive pup.

Grub was strong. He was resilient despite his circumstances. He managed to survive, but his growth is permanently stunted to this day. His childhood was less than ideal. When it was meal time, his parents left little to no prey for him, and he could only watch his brothers and sisters wolf down their dinner because he was too small and weak to even fight for the scraps. He filled his belly by gnawing on bones and whatever had been left over after his family had their share. He learned to break bones and suck on the marrow. Sometimes he’d crush and eat the bones too when he got desperate. Other than that, he’d stuff himself with dried grass, snow, and even dirt in order to stave off hunger. This is why Grub is short and small even in adulthood. Sure, he’s lean and compact, as he’s been eating well ever since he left his hell of a family and taught himself how to hunt, but his height is stuck at where it is now. He’s just a smidge taller than what would be considered a short werewolf woman. Perhaps the lack of nourishment during his vital childhood days had also done something to his brain. Either that, or he was born creepy. Or both. The werewolves are scared of him, but they also pity him. He didn’t choose to become like this anyway. Grub taking extreme measures to hurt himself is probably just his way of coping.

Grub is a warrior, but he isn’t allowed to spar without having many other warriors chaperoning the battleground because Grub doesn’t spar to train. He fights to kill. He disrespects the protocol and has no sense of honor, and won’t stop even when his sparring partner has yielded. There was a time when the warriors had to collectively restrain Grub and pry his fangs off the neck of his sparring partner whom he had defeated in a duel, because he just wouldn’t let go. He wanted to draw blood. More blood. Even more blood. To him, he’s not done until he crushes his opponent’s throat. To this day, the incident’s witnesses haven’t forgotten about all the bleeding and crying and the gruesome screams that had echoed throughout the mountains. Grub’s victim had retired from fighting ever since and went into hiding. And Grub? He never apologized.

Grub doesn’t really have any hobbies other than thrill seeking and self-harming. Maybe he just hasn’t discovered anything yet. Well, he should apply for a job as a communal alarm clock because you can always bet that he’d be screaming and howling by 4:00 am sharp. Even Mother Moon needs her beauty sleep. Grub disagrees.

Grub doesn’t have a crush on anyone as of now. Some werewolves doubt his ability to even recognize members of his pack as his own kind. Can he even see them that way? Hard to say. Grub isn’t dumb in the slightest, he’s just crazy... good for him, then.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for future posts!

[xylathesilkwing]

played the Time-Breaker DLC! confusing and both enlightening experience- spoilers under the cut below! It is my feverish ramblings and not professional at all, enjoy

-SAM LAAAAKE I thought you were evil Mr Lake but I only had you for a moment I miss you come back

-JESSEEEE JESSEE jessse hi. hi Jesse (insane)

-no fr though Petri Alanko confirmed that the music that plays during Tim (Shawn?? Jack?? I’m gonna say Tim) and Jesse’s introduction was supposed to be a 1:1 recreation of the music that plays in Quantum Break with Jack and Beth, and I just think that’s neat (going feral)

-the insane scribbling on the whiteboard in the trailer resembles the scribbling the real (original? currently dark place) Tim’s notes:

and since I think it’s confirmed that the DLC episodes are just attempts at Alan Wake trying to escape the dark place, did he see the OG notes and go “oh yeah, I could probably write something with that”? Did he predict what Tim would write that without ever meeting him? Is the multiverse real??

-also, “red headed woman” in both images. obviously in the DLC it’s Jesse, and probably is the same in the actual game (especially with the polyhedrons) but it’d be so cool if he also remembered Beth or those other versions he had seen

-this image alone down below?? listing off names??

obviously we’ve got Jesse, plus Dylan (Faden? possibly her brother?) and someone named Savage, but we’ve also got Lisa, Elisa and Liz being nicknames for Elisabet/related to it. Just sayinnn Beth could be part of that tooo (delusional) (hasn’t finished quantum break yet)

-anyways we continue

-the ocean view hotel is so freaky cool in this world??? The clocks leading you to different rooms, the FBC being present and posting notes on doors and cannonly being there, plus the ENEMIES? I’m afraid of the shadows in Alan Wake’s playthrough but these were also pretty freaky

-JESSEEE I’m sorry I’m just genuinely so insane about her im glad she returned

-while I can’t remember the name of the place she works for, i find it pretty funny she still works for a concealed/unknown agency involved with secret forces. went from supernatural events to the multiverse girl

-the time-sea-whatever outside?? insane. cool. wicked awesome

-“and another version of me got super powers” and it’s her lifting a forklift!! Love the control references, especially the Alien Guardian Angel one.

-“as you say, characters in a video game” METAA

-okay I had to put this here but Tim/Jesse shippers.. I see you. like I’m an avid Jessily shipper but genuinely I see the appeal

LIKE? Obviously this is most likely an homage to the fan theories of Jesse and Tim being echoes of Beth and Jack, but it’s also so interesting Alan-wake wise. I could probably make a separate post for this but like- imagine you’re Jesse and you’re seeing all these versions of a man some variant of you loved die gruesome deaths, and you’re feeling these feelings that aren’t actually /yours/, it’s. I’m insane it’s so freaky and cool and sad and ARGH

And for Tim!! your other versions were trying to find this girl and when you get there you realize that the feelings you feel for her aren’t actually yours either! just some version of you and some version of her that probably didn’t work out! I’m gonna go insane!

-the arcade game sequence was INSANE and I love it so much. I wish we saw more of that universe

-the universe with all the empty time-core-thingies?? insane, freaky, perfect.

-THE VOID? THE TEXT?

-okay so I might be weird for this but instead of thinking about The Master of Many Worlds I thought about the red headed woman I’m so sorry. definitely got caught off track but the way her name is LIS like the names list?? and she’s a DANCER? <—— I’m a dancer

-it was so freaky when all the text and numbers turned into Alan Wake at his desk?? but also so meta and cool?? insane DLC

-awesome DLC! North Star is my favorite so far but tbh this one was super meta I loved it

[rubin-therubix-loverofblorbos]

Hi, thanks for answering my ask, If it's not too hard can you tell me your race head canons for all the Mercs?

You're the best.

Engie: BLACK. He is not white. no. no don't look at the game. or the comics. or anything else related to engineer tf2. you cannot see that man at night. he's too much of a southern-black-mother-haver to be white. who cares about his dad, his MOM was BLACK. Polite, mildly violent when he needs to be, intelligent? His momma not white you can't change me.

Soldier: Native/Black. Mother Inuit and father African, OG last name Domoraud, got shortened to Doe through Immigration; OG first name was Amaqjuaq, but his parents had to choose a name on the spot. He has many identity issues, don't ask. Never takes off his helmet 'cause he doesn't like his monolids.Very touchy about the subject of race because where he lived was probably nearly as bad as Texas in terms of racism, feels he needs to devote every waking second to America or else he doesn't belong there. Yeah. He needs a bit of help. Has a weird accent but he hides it pretty well. Wow I rambled there...

Spy: Black/asian. Wow I really just dipped Tf2 into charcoal, didn't I? Didn't realize how many of them I Poc-ified until I put it down on paper. His mom was an asian woman, very stern, but she had a soft spot for her gender-weird kid. Dad was a black man, sweetheart, but he wasn't good at caring for people. Mother was a ballet star and taught him, he fucking mastered it. Broke his hip and disabled himself for life, but mastered it. Somehow he dramatizes it even more that it already was, and what actually happened was already halfway out a soap opera.

Sniper: Native. Māroi biological and Aboriginal Aussie Adoptive. He's Native on top of Native. Family spoke Antakarinya at home and he taught himself Māroi. Like Soldier, he has identity issues because languages and cultures get jumbled up in his head sometimes. Hates getting told he can't participate in Aboriginal activities because he isn't actually related to his parents. "BITCH? I WAS RAISED DOING THIS SHIT?" Is very passionate about his culture, especially his Antakarinya, because that is a language two breaths from death.

Scout: Black/white. LIGHTSKIN. CHEERIO-LOOKIN' MOTHERFUCKER. LITTLE E-FUCK-FEMBOY ASS. Soon as he pull out that fried chicken he's in a chick's panties. No explanation because you don't need one.

Pyro: Black. Heavy Nigerian accent, even when their speech isn't muffled people can barely understand them at times. Doesn't have the best english pronunciation, but their voice is jacked up anyways, so it doesn't matter. Fluent in American and British ASL despite this. Big person, bigger heart. 6'7'' 265 LB person with a voice deep enough to hit the Earth's core skipping around in Kidcore Aesthetic™️ and putting stickers on everything.

Demo: Black. we all know buddy. Although I feel like the Scottish are so on a different plane of being that they should be their own race. Black/Scottish. Very smart and has multiple degrees in chemistry and he drinks so much his blood has turned into pure alcohol. Scottish behavior. He wears kilts often, but sadly wears pants under his most times because they're. yknow. on a battle ground. But I think it's a shame. Can you tell I am getting tired.

Medic: I don't fuckin know. German. His race is Germany. The whole country. You ask him his race because his skin is very swarthy so you can't tell whether he's a really tan white guy or a weirdly light black guy. He's a pacific islander/white mix, but he actually barely knows. He'll remember his mother was Polynesian and go Oh. I forgor [Insert skull emoji and a facebook minion meme about mortality}.

Heavy: Black/white mix. He got his mother's beauty marks and his dad's bulkiness. Weird genes, very light but he has very pronounced black facial features. Big nose, big lips, high cheekbones. He gets asked if he's albino more than you would think. People actually don't expect him to have such a heavy Siberian accent because you expect white Vodka twink or white vodka dad that sneezes real fucking hard to have that much of a accent, not the guy that looks like he came out of a Nella Larsen book.

OH MY FUCK I'M DONE.

[beevean]

I'm interested in your views on Sonic as a character. Which games or other media stay true to his core character?

Sonic is cool :)

And I don't mean just cool in a "totally radical" way, or in a "look how awesome his feats are!" way. It's just... he's a friend. He's supportive and optimistic and a full believe in the Superpower of Teamwork™, cocky yet polite, helping others because that's just what he wants to do. Sonic has no moral code, he doesn't operate on hero logic: he does good because he wants to do good, it ain't that deep fam. This is why IDW's portrayal of his as someone who has strong principles about freedom is just OOC - it's not a principle! It's not something that holds him back! He will kick your ass and imprison you in a lamp for all eternity if you proved yourself to be unredeemable! But then you contrast this with how he rejects Tikal's plan of sealing Chaos in the Master Emerald again because that won't make its anger vanish. giving him a super lobotomy to calm it down worked, though

Secret Rings, Black Knight and Unleashed have probably my favorite portrayal of Sonic. The first one shows well his friendship with Shahra, how he put himself in harm's way for her as soon as he met her and got cursed on her behalf, how he could empathize with her and her ambiguous history with Erazor Djinn and didn't hold it against her for not being able to let go of him; the second one is nearly unanimously considered to be the best Sonic of all time, because it actually shows the freedom and strong will of his character, how he's willing to be "the bad guy" in a story if that means doing what he thinks is right, and his surprisingly poignant views on mortality; and as for the third one, his line "Do I need a reason to help out a friend?" is just him in a nutshell :)

Also, I'm still not fond of how they relegated him to wooden secondary character in '06, but I can't deny his relationship with Elise is cute for what little we see - he meets this girl who has been forced into the role of the reserved queen since she was 7 and he teaches her how to have fun and let go of her worries! And Elise is so inspired that at one point she jumps out of Eggman's Egg Mobile to get away from him! Sonic is just this strong positive influence on other people and it's just. ugh. he's so friend shaped <3

Of all adaptations, Sonic X is the one who got the closest to capture this - not surprising, since it's the only Japanese adaptation we have so far and it was the most closely supervised by Sonic Team. It's not perfect, it has its weird moments like Sonic manipulating his friends because he really wanted to get off a boat, but he's overall nice and supportive as he should be. Episode 14 is a must watch to get Sonic.

The OVA is nice too? A bit more dated, and Sonic is just a little more prickly, but other than that I have no issue with his character - the ending is a standout.

Anyway. Sonic is the character of all time. I love my boy so much, I've loved him since 2004. I will protect him against adaptations who think he has to be an arrogant jerkass or a funny little penis man to give him "depth" and "appeal".

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

So I may have just realized your requests are open (my grandfather says I would be a terrible witness to a murder bc I am unobservant we love adhd lol) so here I am to beg!

I never see a ton (any?) fics exploring Din and Boba’s friendship and only that. Like, my blog IS the horny corner. Friendship fluff ain’t my usual reblogs but fuck it’s also like amazing??? Idk I just think Din and Boba and Cobb deserve to have time to be just guys being dudes and bonding. (I do love me some DinCobb tho don’t get me wrong) anyway, nothing specific other than learning more about how you see their friendship? They obvs respect each other and trust each other. I bet they have a lot of weird inside jokes.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Beskar Buddies [Mando and Boba Fett]

Warnings and Information: Not a relationship fic. This is just a silly, not-taking-itself-too-seriously friendship fic for Boba and Din Djarin. References to canon-typical violence, drugs (spice), alcohol, and some events from both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Minor Star Wars and real-world swearing. We're gonna make fun of Shiny Dad who doesn't know he's in Star Wars just a little bit. Din's helmet stays on. Narrative and stylistic use of italics. Minor proofreading and editing.

Word-count: 3,880

He's supposed to be here on Tatooine for a simple bounty - it's really nothing more than a glorified errand run for some spoiled little princeling who insists on only the finest Sansanna spice from the Outer Rim. But the princeling doesn't need to know that; he'll be allowed to believe that it was necessary to spend as much time as was desired for Din Djarin to acquire enough Sansanna for this young man's birthday celebration hosted on one of the Core Worlds,  if it means Din can cleverly lighten those pockets by a few more credits in order to provide for himself and the little one a little more comfortably, even if just for a while. 

Din only meant to spend an extra day here at most before collecting the requested goods and taking them back to his client. But when word made its way to the new Daimyo, and he knew that it would, that another who clads himself in the armor typical to Mandalorians is sniffing around Mos Espa, how could he refuse the request from the Master Assassin and second-in-command to pay a visit. 

"Shand." he greets her once he's calmed the slight tremor of his heart after being taken by surprise in an alleyway in the Worker's District of Espa, and reholsters the IB-94. "I didn't expect to run into you here. Conducting business on behalf of the Daimyo?" 

"Greet every woman that way?" Fennec Shand teases him with an indicative toss of her head to the holster. "Or am I just special?" 

"You surprised me." Din admits, repeating himself that he didn't expect to run into her by this point. He knows Boba is a busy man with a syndicate to operate, and what he cannot oversee himself, he often delegates the task to the bounty hunter standing in front of Din now. 

"Good. Means I'm not losing my edge." Fennec answers, a playful purr of pride in her voice. "Serves the Daimyo well if I can maintain the element of surprise when I am tasked to carry out his bidding on a busy man's behalf. To extend an invitation of sorts: Lord Fett would like an audience with you." 

"Very well." Din agrees, playing into the façade of formality - all part of the performance of power and command that is carried out in the halls of the Palace on the fringes of the Northern Dune Sea. He relays a short message to Peli Motto over in Mos Eisley that his return for Grogu may be a little delayed, first, for peace of mind, before Din will follow Shand back to the Palace. "Lead the way." 

Boba Fett dismisses the people within the throne room of the Palace - likely members who serve as part of the gotra or those who had come to pay tributes or give offerings of sorts to one of Espa's influential figureheads - as Fennec returns with Din as she had been asked. 

He wears his armor and (most of) his notable weaponry while seated on the throne, save for the cool, dark green helmet which sits neatly on the armrest. Displayed, rather than worn, now. "I hoped she would find you. I asked if she could extend my invitation once I heard there was someone who did not tell me he would be paying the fair city of Mos Espa a visit." Fett is teasing him, he knows, but Din cannot help feeling the need to apologize regardless of that. There are only chuckles in return as Boba climbs from the lordly seating and moves to greet Din like an old friend. 

Warm and calloused hands find their way around the other's wrist as Din and Boba first behave as if it is a simple handshake, but remain linked for some time. Old and ancient ways of checking strangers for weapons have turned to displays of trust. The longer the link, the stronger a bond, some would say. 

There both is warmth and a mischievous glint to his eyes as Boba visually takes him in, almost inspecting the gleaming beskar for imperfection or pitting that would speak to a scuffle of sorts that might make for a good story, "Your armor gleams in the light of the twin suns, Djarin, of course someone will notice you trying to skulk about my territory. Are you looking for work?" Boba had offered him payment for a place at his side once. He believed the Mandalorian to be a respectable and trustworthy fellow; Boba would gladly extend the invitation for a stable occupation once more. 

Din shakes his head, slowly, calmly, in the dim light of the throne room. He's not looking for work, he explains, he is working. "Product for a client. Princeling who wants a small crate of Sansanna spice for a party before next Taungsday. Specified that he wanted it from Tatooine of all places." 

That explains what brought him here to the planet, at least. 

"And why come to Espa to look?" Boba asks politely, keeping the conversation flowing as he pours himself and his friend something from a carafe he's kept on hand. One that Fennec is partial to, so he is sure to offer some to her as well as a silent expression of gratitude. Asking the Mandalorian to come to the palace and entertain a silly notion was a long shot when he has a foundling in his care, so Boba had cautioned Fennec that in the event he did not agree to come, it would be of no consequence. (He would prefer what's in the decanter, but he has yet to procure more, so it is untouched as it would not be enough to split among three.) "There is not much to find of the Sansanna that once belonged to the Pyke's before it was… misplaced." Boba suggests with a mirthful smile. 

"I wouldn't have come asking the mighty Daimyo first," Din retorts after a polite sip from his glass of the contents of the carafe, replacing his helmet that had been inched just high enough on his head to drink and resetting the seal, "that wouldn't have been good business, for you, or me." 

"No indeed." Boba agrees, appreciative of Din's caution given his reason for being here. Din knew to act in just the right way; ways that would not tarnish a carefully crafted image Boba had made for himself since putting an end to Bib Fortuna and laying claim to all that was once Jabba's. "Did you tell your client how long it would take?" 

Din's helmet bobs. "I did." 

"And did you tell this princeling how long it would actually take?" 

The helmet remains still, but the mouth within it must have found an upward curve as the bounty hunter implies that he was not quite so honest with his client. "It might have slipped my mind." 

Boba chuckles, almost proudly. An old trick of the trade: mislead the right clients on the right details, and you can earn yourself a few more credits. Live a little more comfortably for a time if you wanted. 

While Din could be a uniquely honest and humble bounty hunter at times, he was still a bounty hunter. Clever, resourceful, and cunning. Just the sort of thing he was looking for. "Well, I'm certain a crate or two will turn up to take back to this princeling in the morning, and he'll pay you handsomely for the spice brought in from rugged lands to boast at his party, my friend." he suggests promisingly to Din, patting the shoulder-bell that bares the profile of the Mudhorn as he leads him from the throne room, and into other areas of the palace before he lays out why he invited the Mandalorian to come. "In the meantime, I'd like you to come with me. Out beyond Espa." 

The low hum in his throat before he speaks suggests Din feels hesitant or uncertain about this idea. "Where? And why?" 

"Call it something of an impulse; I have my business to attend to here in Mos Espa as the Daimyo of course, but recently I dreamed of camping under the stars, out in the desert - " Boba answers, bringing Din to an inner chamber that is guarded at all times, where once they have passed the guards, he shows to Din two crates of spice that are contained within a vault, " - and I have not been able to shake myself of the notion since. Could I convince you to join me, my friend?" 

Din understands that the spice is being used to sweeten him to the idea of sleeping out in the sand-sprawling seas of this arid planet, where temperatures can drop dramatically within a few hours of the suns' setting, here. Even if he declined, Din Djarin doesn't believe the spice would be withheld now when it was already offered to him. 

"Why not take Shand?" he asks curiously. "Or will she be staying here at the Palace to keep an eye on things in your absence?"

"I did ask Fennec, as a matter of fact," Boba replies with a bemused expression, carefully denoting the crates with one of the guards for a moment, "and she wasn't too keen to the idea the same way I am. And, yes, she has said that if I do this she would remain with the Palace to oversee matters, should anything happen tonight." 

So it appears that Boba wants to entertain this fantasy tonight. Not just "some time in the future", but now. That in and of itself isn't surprising, but Din hesitates for one reason. 

One curiosity has been sated. Another remains. "And if I don't know how I feel about the idea? I have a friend watching Grogu for me in Mos Eisley, and I didn't make any mention that I would be leaving him with them past nightfall at the latest." 

Boba seems to give something a little thought before he asks "And who is this friend?" 

"Peli Motto." Fennec replies from the threshold, watching the two men with a cool gaze that many would perhaps find intimidating if not for a simple smile. "I did a little digging while you boys were having your fun in the vault. She's a simple mechanic." 

"A good mechanic." Din finds himself insisting. He's not at all surprised that the second-in-command to the Daimyo had recalled the frequency to and found some way to find information on Peli, but calling her a simple mechanic felt like an insult to her character and he would not let it slide so easily. 

"And are you paying this good mechanic to watch the little one for you?" Boba wonders. "If you are worried about giving her adequate payment for minding your foundling, don't. I would gladly help you settle it with Ms. Motto." 

It takes a moment to explain that Peli will need to mind Grogu for him overnight, but Din promises to explain why in the morning. "I need you to watch Grogu for me until the morning. Something came up." 

Peli sounds worried. "Trouble?"

"Only if we make it…" Boba chuckles to himself in the background, and Fennec warns him to behave in a way that suggests this is not the first, nor the last time, she's heard him make self-entertaining remarks like this. 

"What was that? You say something, Mando?" 

Din dodges the question with some redirection. "No trouble; I just need to spend a little extra time in Mos Espa. I can explain when I come for Grogu." He hears the way the little one perks up at the sound of his name, a bright, cooing sort of noise. Peli must have pulled him closer to the receiver, because the next time he coos and babbles inquisitively, the sound is sharper, louder, but no less sweet. 

"Ha-bah?" 

"Grogu, can you behave for Peli for me tonight? I'll be back early in the morning, I promise." 

Boba makes no further jokes or commentary in the background while allowing Din to speak to Grogu until he is satisfied that the little one understands Din will not be back tonight, but he will be back soon. Phrasing and re-phrasing his brief explanation until with a little help from Peli, the diminutive, green lifeform seemingly makes sounds of understanding.

He can imagine the way Jango would similarly caution him and repeat himself in preparation for his absences when he was perhaps too young to accompany his father on a bounty. These are memories from so long ago, now, to Boba. At least, they feel that way. He's only entering his forties, he reminds himself. Slightly older than Din, to his belief. 

But roughly similar enough in age that neither of them feels any need to take separate materials for temporary shelters. Old enough and mature enough to tolerate the shared arrangement for a single night under a canopy of stars on a bed of sand where they would lay their sleeping sacks. Din has offered to start a modest fire since Fett insists he can pitch the tent on his own. He certainly sees the influence of the Tuskens that Boba spent time with after surviving a sarlacc pit in the shelter's construction once it is firmly staked in place. 

"Sturdy." 

Boba nods acceptively of the compliment, settling himself beside the fire across from Din. "I learned much in my time with the tribe of Tuskens that cared for me like one of their own before I became the Daimyo. They didn't teach me everything, but you can still learn by watching and observing." 

There's a knowing chuckle before the dark t-visor turns and looks off into a rather deliberate direction for just a moment. Freetown. They're not too far from Vanth's community, as it turns out. "Wondering how the sheriff's doing; will we need to pay a visit in the morning?" he offers half-questioningly to Din, trying to gauge and guess what is on the mind of the man clad in beskar before him. 

"Tempting. But perhaps another time." Din replies, beginning to remove a select few parts of his armor to make himself more comfortable. He did not opt to leave it behind in favor of more appropriate desert-wear, even when offered. Fett reasoned that much like his own armor, once belonging to his father in his case, the armor made of beskar carried its own significance to Din beyond a protective shell. 

"Feeling guilty for leaving the little one, again?" 

His companion shakes his head in answer as he carefully sets aside what he's removed. "Not quite. Just eager to complete this bounty and lay low for a time." 

"Smart. Have somewhere in mind?" 

"Yes." is all Din will answer. And wisely so. Telling Fett where he plans on going would defeat the entire purpose, no matter how much they each trust and respect each other. Because they do, a simple word is all the Mandalorian glowing in the light of the fire will find necessary to say. 

"Good. I wish you uneventful times when you make it there, my friend." 

They listen to the stillness of the desert together following Fett's sincere wish for Din and Grogu's safety; the crackle and muted roar of the fire, distant and slow gusts of wind, and once off in the greater distance, bantha. The deep bellows of the omnivorous quadrupeds were a strange comfort as the two men listened. 

"Have you ever ridden a bantha?" Din asks, noting the nostalgic smile evident on the other's face. The smile broadens as Boba answers. "I have. There was a bantha I once had for a mount, I think of them from time to time." 

The helmet tilts to the right with mild concern or surprise. "What happened to it?" 

"Oh, nothing bad," Boba assures his friend, giving a singular chuckle as he stokes the flame a little higher, "I simply set them free before I reclaimed my ship. Hopefully they are out there now, meeting other banthas and making baby banthas." 

"Heh. I see. Is that the strangest thing you've ever ridden that isn't a speederbike?" Din asks with a laugh, once more turning his head out to look beyond the light of the fire into the desert. Perhaps with his sensors, he could find these distant herds of wild or domesticated bantha

"That would be a rancor." 

"You're joking." 

"I'm not." Boba laughs with some insistence. "And what about you, my friend? Find a mythosaur to ride, yet?" 

"Funny… " Din replies somewhat slowly, "...there was an Ugnaught named Kuiil who claimed it should have been easy for me to learn to ride Blurrg because of my 'ancestors' who rode mythosaurs when he was trying to teach me." He grows quiet, and his body language becomes a lot less casual, less open and fluid. "I haven't thought about his remark in a while." Din admits somberly. His companion, the man who invited him for a night in the desert, under the stars, doesn't press him for anything more to say for a moment, letting the silence grow. 

"You've been busy." Boba reasons with him only when he is certain Din doesn't have anything to add. "Traveling the galaxy, collecting bounties… All while you care for the little one." The words don't seem to bring him any comfort. If anything, Boba suspects he's said the wrong thing. "Was he a friend?"

"Yes. Killed by Imperial scout troopers." 

"I am sorry, Djarin," he sympathizes, for a moment thinking to lay his hand on the other's shoulder in a gesture of comfort were Boba sitting beside him rather than across the fire. "To lose those we care for is no easy thing." 

The Mandalorian scoffs and, jokingly, asks Boba if he's certain he's as old as he claims. "You sound and look older." 

"Well, the profession ages you. And I imagine there are still a scattered few, somewhere out there, that would look just like me. Maybe even older." This is the second time Din does not seem to understand what he means judging by his silence. "Surely you've seen them. Heard about them at least, the clones?" Boba inquires, growing increasingly more confused by the lack of apparent understanding as the t-visor slowly wags in the firelight. 

"Djarin." 

The fire is smothered out with sand following the conclusion of something of a pseudo history lesson once Boba feels he's adequately explained to Din what exactly Clone troopers are. Were. (Maybe still are? Truly, he's not certain how many men who look just like him and sound just like him remain in the galaxy.) The sand is stamped down for good measure before both men enter the tent for the first time since it had been put up and prepare to sleep. The night grows stiller and serene in a way that is entirely unique to Tatooine. 

The desert planet is not for the weak-willed and those who will not be prepared to adapt. If you traversed the Dune Seas, you had different tribes of nomadic Tuskens to contend with (and hope they would let you pass through their lands in peace for small tributes), or the wild animals that were not as docile as the bantha that called this planet home. It took grit and gumption, or no small amount of necessary self preservation skills, to live in places such as Mos Espa and Eisley where you would expect to find yourself brushing shoulders with bounty hunters and crime families. Things could get messy. 

Boba Fett and Din Djarin are no strangers to the grime and filthier aspects of what the galaxy has to offer them. Bloodshed and banthashit that would make weaker men stumble and turn away from such a profession far sooner. Sacrifices and difficult choices have been made in each of their lives. 

Tonight didn't have to be one of them. A night of simple company and some time to catch up with a friend was a welcome change for both. Boots are carefully removed before each slip into their sleeping sacks after simple ration packs are eaten in silence - backs turned to one another even in the dark - and wrappers have been taken care of. 

"We'll start our return to the palace before first light," Boba explains, "that way you can return to Mos Eisley for Grogu before Ms. Motto would begin her workday after you've secured the spice for the princeling." 

There is a soft laugh under the modulator to his left, where he can make out the general form of his friend's body beside him and sees he's already laying down. "Thank you. Hopefully he will have slept well when I retrieve him." 

He certainly hopes the little one will too, for Din's sake, with a laugh. "I have not forgotten my offer to pay Ms. Motto either. And thank you, my friend, for entertaining this idea with me." 

"Anything for the mighty Daimyo of Mos Espa." he says in all seriousness he can muster for the moment. He can't maintain the composure for long, and thankfully it's Fett who laughs first, the two of them free to laugh as loud as they would like when it's just the two of them out here for miles as far as anyone would be concerned. 

Free to spend as much time as they would like "winding down" and talking in low, golden tones until they come to realize it is coming up on first light, and they have spent the whole night in conversation without meaning to. 

At least it may not be just Grogu who has not gotten any sleep tonight, they joke together as they come up on the palace, and Boba gives Din what he was promised. Two crates of Sansanna spice to carve a deeper hole in the pockets of his client, and many words of thanks from Boba follow after Din as he secures some transport to Mos Eisley. "Safe travels, my friend. Remember-" 

"Oh I will." Din replies with a mischievous inflection, giving Fennec Shand reason to pause and consider what unfinished communication is unfolding before her as both men, Fett once more clad in his own armor in order to properly send the Mandalorian off before assuming his seat at the throne for the day. "I take it you now have… inside jokes." she grins. 

"Maybe." each reply in tandem. 

Boba smiles, nodding to Din. "Or-" 

"-Reminding me to get a little more sleep once I'm in a hyperspace lane." Din concludes, bidding them farewell once again. He was eager to return to Grogu, and Din could only hope the little one had gotten some sleep. But if he hadn't, then perhaps they would be napping together as they navigated hyperspace. It would certainly not be the first time Din would potentially need to doze off when he could when traveling with a child, or at least daydream while looking at the view from the cockpit of his ship. 

Nor will it be the last. Hopefully the same could be said for another opportunity to present itself for nights like last where Boba Fett and Din Djarin could simply spend time with a trusted friend.

Note from Frost: The title was a placeholder name, but then it grew on me; I'm callin' them the Beskar Buddies from now on. Ideas also changed direction on me in the course of writing, so apologies for the lack of Cobb in the end. :( I have not written anything for one of my first major Star Wars crushes in a long, long time. Probably since I was 16? Poor Boba. So this was a delight, and I had a lot of fun writing it. Thank you for making the request!

[Masterlist] [Requests: OPEN]

[alovelyburn]

Not gunna lie I'd absolutely //love// to hear even unfinished thoughts about that sequel idea you mentioned? ☕👀

And soon I'll be rereading everything again, cause time has passed enough for me to forget the wording and storylines for Maximum Effect lol

So, sorry if you get comments that sound exactly like ones I might've left before 😅

I hadn't thought that deeply into it since I didn't really mean to do it. But it kind of starts from the central question of how does Griffith go about seeking his kingdom in a world where he doesn't have Charlotte's claim to legitimize his rule. And...

Okay full honesty here, one of the main reasons I would be reluctant to do a sequel (aside from generally not doing them) is because I write NeoGriffith (Neo specifically) a certain way and I don't necessarily know that anyone wants to read that, lmao. Because he's not a black hat sadist the way Griffith haters would want to see him, but he can be Machiavellian, cold, ruthless and cruel in ways human Griffith wouldn't be. This doesn't come out as much in my normal stuff with NeoGriffith because they're usually from Guts' POV or they're all about the romance - I don't need to get into the chess game he's playing with the world because I'm just writing about him pining for Guts so it's not relevant.

So basically, the main thing he would need to do if he doesn't have Charlotte to legitimize his claim is find a way to remove her from the field. This doesn't necessarily mean having her killed - I don't really see Griffith (any Griffith) as someone who kills people just because it's easier than doing something else, so if there's another path then I'm sure he'd take it. But given that she's the rightful ruler of Midland anything he does is sure to be a major downgrade in her life's prospects even if she's alive.

And of course the other side would be him arranging to place himself in the position of "most desirable start for a new dynasty." Charlotte is the last of her line, and Midland doesn't necessarily exist anymore, so it makes sense to choose a new leader. That's the easier part - saving them from Ganishka would do it on its own, nevermind all the savior shenanigans and summoning souls and such.

The other thing is, the original Hawks are still out there - the ones who aren't dead anyway. They don't have any reason not to rally around Griffith - just like Rickert on the Hill of Swords was ready to do. And of course I'd need to explain what happened with Casca (whether or not she's dead).

So that's the main thoughts on the general PLOT, politics, war and the awkward mix of the old Hawks and new Hawks.

As for the other thing, you know, that thing -- When Night Comes Down was a straight up romance (at least as close as I ever get, being me), and I suppose the will they/won't they is covered at this point. But there's always interesting things to look at - immediately there's the question of how Guts, who even as an Apostle has a kind of insecure core - handles being next to the man who outshines the sun. Not to mention, Griffith is the destined master of all Apostles which is worth addressing if only before it makes for a seriously weird power dynamic.

Etc etc... just some rather raw unformed thoughts.

You know, it's interesting to me - I feel like a lot of the people who normally read my extremely rare writing were not enthused by When Night Comes Down, but at the same time I got some of the most effusive praise I have ever received from other people and that's kinda fascinating. CURIOUS.

[dubblephantasy]

episode 10 liveblog (yes we are back)

ACE AND TSUMURI ARE SIBLINGS? WHAT.

oh nvm it's ace's wish. sick freak. his greed sickens me

SHIT IS SO ASS NOT EVEN TSUMURI ACCEPTS IT LMFAOAOAOAOAO

(reacting to opening ->) OOOOOOH NEW PLAYERS??? ALSO THE POSSIBILITY OF MERY ACTUALLY BEING RELEVANT FOR ONCE??? WE MIGHT BE BACK GANG

omg he has a name. girori san my belove.d. my shayla, even

anyway this is lowkey funny but also a little scary.... justice for my girl tsumuri pls

BAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAJHGHJMJ imagine being michinaga chillijng and then right when u finish talking 2 someone fricking Ukiyo Ace stands in front of you. this is ridiculous /pos

OH SHIT DID HE FORGET ABOUT THE RIVALRY THING? GOD BLESS.... KINDA

i keep laughing out of embarrassment every time ace does soemthing corny . like why is he like that please sotp.

NAUURURRRR LHAAJOAOAO THIS SCENE IS SUPPOSED TO BE SUPER SERIOUS WITH MICHINAGA HAVING FLASHBACKS OF THE DGP AND THEN ACE'S DUMBASS SIGNS HIS SHIRT. I AM FILLED WITH RAGE /NOTSERIOUS

tsumuri dodgind ace's arm rest LFMAOAOAOAOO

michinaga: is this one of ur bizarre wishes? >:-\ tsumuri: *nodding fast* ^ best thing ever from this ep btw

his ass noticing neon... "she looks happy" RAAAAAAH. THE BRAINWORMS. they always had nice chemistry since the first round....

"do you miss her?" "not really" bro u gotta stop lying to yourself 😭😭😭😭😭😭

waitl . is that. is that girori san. AS THE GAME MASTER.

ok..... gm already chose his fave..... he looks a little twinkish but okay

HRLP I DIDNT KNOW HE WAS THAT ZESTY LOL

oh nevermind he's straight. and obsessed too. fuuuuuck

THE OLD MAN!!!! HE'S SO SILLY

oh god. win is gonna be punkjack???? FUUUUUUCK²

omg wait i think i switched mary and letter ..... the horns look different. maybe letter is just a goat? cuz mary way a ram i think

even geats got confused by punkjack LOL

ok now i feel bad for letter and zeilow.... they dk anything abt the game..... poor duds....

"sorry!!! my back!!!" THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!!!!

wait thats weird. back in the day buffa didnt even care for his teammates and only Now he's asking for teamwork? how strange.

OMG YES. YESSSS!!!! YESSSS NEON IS COMING BACK!!!!!!!!1 YESSSSSS NEON MY QUEEN I LOVE YOYUUYUYUU U UAUAUAAUAEKFKGKGNKNGGHKHGKGHKNGNG

AND SHE COMES BACK WITH THE MOST BADASS BUCKLE IVE EVER SEEENW????? WHAT THE FUCK NEON I LOVE YOU SO DAMN MUCH PLEASE BE REAL AAAHAHAHAHAHJSKKGHKNHKGHKHGKGKGKF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEAT BUCKLE MY BELOVED BTW. BEAT BUCKLE IS THE MOST ME CORE THING IN THIS SERIES AYAYAYAASUGUGHUNUJNHUJNHUGH

"now here's a rival i didnt see coming" JUST SAY I MISS YOU!!!!! ITS NOT THAT HARRRDUHHHHHHHHH

anyway uh. can you tell. can you tell i had many thoughts regarding this episode?