#ask-reset-rex

[namelessgakusei]

Noi! The Clara Dolls!

All Hail The Nutcracker Witch!

Mark Grayson x reader

Warnings: Death, Violence, mentions of suicide, Blood, Invincible War, Gaku's attempt at writing PTSD and Body Horror, Reader crashing out, another one of Gaku's looong posts

Mada Dame Yo (prev)

Sis Puella Magica! (cont.)

Notes: Just came home from school and Gaku's really, really tired. Nearly fell asleep before even writing this. Might proofread and edit when I wake up tomorrow. Angst first, fluff later. (Gaku, in fact, gave up and went to sleep)

Add. Note: Gaku of the next day here, still tired from uni, but I got home earlier than expected lmao. Accidentally posted this while incomplete OTL. I initially wanted this as an interlude but crammed the witching out by the end. Gaku's too tired.

@weaponxgames @sweet77kellia @starlightchildsworld

"Goodbye, hill of punishment."

Mainstream!Mark is kind. He's a bit shy but it's evident that he genuinely loves you. You bit your lower lip and forced a smile whenever he looks at your way. It was hard, at first, as you always remember him.

At first it was peaceful. Debbie's safe, which you noted that was quite rare, given the amount of times you saw her decayed corpse in the previous realities. Oliver's here too, a surprise that nearly broke you down. You only met him less than a handful of times, with him not even existing in the others. He's still the same kid that you grew to love and was your constant ally in every timeline that he's in.

William, Amber, Rex, Eve- Oh, god. Eve. You missed her. There were only a few realities that you were able to be friends with her. Mark kills her too soon, or she dies protecting Earth with you. You remember her being the first person you confided about your experiences, and when you thought to have hope when she expressed her understanding and desire to help, a version of Mark beheads her in front of you.

The memory makes you sick. You didn't dare to tell anyone about it after that, opting to work alone and involve little to no people with your business. You agreed to work with multiple Cecils just for a chance to wipe of the existence of Mark Grayson off the planet. But, alas, you end up dying or resetting time in the end.

Mark gets fidgety whenever you get too quiet, hanging into your every word like an overly eager child, desperate for acknowledgment. You let yourself wonder if he'll even kill himself if you asked to. At least then, maybe you'll be able to escape this nightmare.

But you're too in love with him to even live a second without him.

Maybe you had gone crazy too.

A sigh and a chuckle escapes your lips, confusing Mark, who was reading the newly released Seance Dog volume. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just, everything is peaceful. I like it."

This world isn't entirely without its own fair share of troubles and aliens and villains, but compared to the shit you've been through? This is fucking nothing.

You managed to help the Guardians in the nick of time when Omni-Man turned on Earth, revealing your abilities in this world for the first time. While the heroes were saved, you were not-so-subtly recruited by Cecil to join the Teen Team. You know how the man operates, having met at least a hundred different versions of him. You suppressed a laugh when he looks like he got his head running with contingency plans about you. Never change, Mr. Stedman.

Mark was amazed and invested in knowing more about your abilities. Trying to study you and "help" you understand your powers more. Why didn't you tell him? How long did you have it? How were you able to control time like that? You were so cool back there!

You want to tell him that you got experimented in Viltrum on the one time you told him about these strange abilities of yours. But you settled for saying that it's a long story and that you recently acquired them, not wanting to scare him off.

You think that he was simply ignoring what just happened with his father, opting to choose you over him in his mind. Coward.

It makes you sick.

You lay on his bed, rolling to the side while Mark went to get snacks. He seems a bit clingy in this world, or maybe it's because you look like you're on the verge of slipping away with how exhausted you always look. You sigh.

Your soul gem always look murky whenever you check on it.

It's an artifact that came with the ring on your middle finger, and appears at the back of your hand whenever you use your powers, with your clothes changing alongside the shield appearing on your arm. You don't know how or why, but even if you were beaten to a pulp, you don't feel anything. You're not even injured at the slightest. You know this, because you tried to take your own life once. Your body still functions even when your neck was bent, making you think that you were also immortal.

You weren't and you thanked your cursed fate that you weren't. That small gem you have in you was were your soul is at. You get hurt when it's touched the wrong way, and while you don't bleed, you feel excruciating pain. Your body is merely a meat sack now.

Does it matter?

No. But it sure came in handy when you were fighting against Mark after you figured it out, at least then, you don't have to worry about broken limbs.

You kept racking your brain about the cause of your situation, your powers and the looping timelines. You barely remember. Mark came back, pouting about the crease on your brows, before slipping in bed burying his head on your neck.

"What are you thinking about?"

"...Do you know an animal who can talk?"

Mark snorted and said a parrot but you shook your head, saying that it looked more like a white cat with red markings. He hugged you closer and mentioned that it might've been an alien.

Huh. Perhaps it was an alien. You remember it asking if you want to make a contract with it. Did you? Is that why you're trapped in this hell?

...Is it really one now?

For all it's worth, everything has been going smoothly in this run. Sure, Nolan's gone off the rails, but you saved the Guardians of the Globe! Oliver exists! Debbie's safe! Eve's alive! William and Amber are living normally! The Teen Team, sure still has problems, is still functioning! Cecil might still be a pain in the ass but with how many variants of him you spent time with, you consider him an old friend and even appreciate how he checks in on you.

Earth is not destroyed.

Isn't this the ideal world? Did you finally arrived at the best possible version? Will this finally end?

You look down and see the familiar tuff of black hair. The urge to run your hands through it is always within you, no matter if he's killing people or you, you really can't seem to loathe him enough to remove your feelings for him.

Will you finally be able to be happy?

You hugged Mark, burying your nose to his hair and inhaling his scent, earning a surprised sound from him. He doesn't protest nor ask, only reciprocating with a mumble of "Finally.", before humming in content.

This world, this Mark, they may not be the one you started with, where you originated and first loved, but it's slowly stared to grow on you.

Mark doesn't question it when you started interacting with everyone on your own accord. Initially, you only talk to others when it's necessary, making them hunt you down if they so want just a small conversation with you. But now, you're discussing something with Robot that made them back away from your smirking face. You're teasing them??

He thinks it's cute when you barely mask your excitement when you tell him that you'll be out with Eve and Amber for the weekend. You're even laughing with Oliver over some shows you two watch whenever you're babysitting him. He caught you and his mom gossiping about something that he apparently wasn't allowed to hear??? The hell?? He's the boyfriend here! He's happy you're finally getting out of your shell and not shutting the world out but he has his needs, mom! Boyfriend needs! Hugs and kisses!

He barely got you to agree to go out with him in the first place! You looked so disinterested and detached when he asked you out that he was so sure you didn't even want to be with him, it was only when you kept fussing and saving his ass that he figured out that you're really just the quiet type. But this?? He's hearing you laugh everyday! That's usually once every three months! (He is exaggerating.)

Though, he isn't complaining, smiling to himself even, as he watches you from across the room, fighting the urge to come over and cling to you. Your eyes met and you're... smiling at him. Not the forced ones that look too soulless to be convincing, you're genuinely smiling at him.

Mark buries his head on his arms and giggles, ears going red as his leg bounces excitedly.

The sight made you laugh at the other side of the room. It was... something. He's adorable. You don't know why you were so distant back then. He is nothing like them.

Nothing's like back then. Not anymore.

Not anymore. The thought still makes you nauseous, too reluctant to start hoping for the best. Who would blame you? Every time you start to have faith that everything will be better, that you'll finally have peace, you see his face—

No, this one isn't like that. Mark isn't like that. This is the one who quietly waited for you to open up. This is the one who never pried too much and lets you let him in at your own pace. He's the one who sat beside you when you wake up in cold sweat, riddled with nightmares. He's the one who let you use his shoulder to rest your head when you can't seem to sleep at night, who tucked the both of you to bed when you fell asleep.

He's kind. You give him that. Everytime you look at him, you slowly start to forget the bad memories associated with that face.

You don't see him anymore.

You see Mark Grayson.

...That is until Cecil called you.

Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson. Mark Grayson.

Everywhere you look, it's that damned face.

One with a yellow cape, one with a mohawk, one without goggles, one who wears the white Viltrumite uniform, one who looks like Omni Man, one who was a prisoner, one who hide his face with a hood, one who—

It's him.

Him again! Why? Why is he here? Why did he have to appear now?! Why? Why?! You... you just accepted your life here! You moved on! You have a life here! You...

Cecil orders you to subdue the Variants.

Subdue them. Subdue him. Can you do that? Can you even fight him? After all those times— Can you—?

They're everywhere. All over the world, bringing destruction with them. Showing you the same scenario that you lived through in all those realities.

Earth's destruction.

Mark tries to snap you out of it, telling you to go hide with Debbie and Oliver, that he'll handle it. He gave you a kiss before flying off to the Penitentiary. You saw a similar situation before. One where Mark told you that he'll fight off the Viltrumite Empire but ended up as a mangled corpse not a minute later.

Everything's going wrong again.

Cecil bark orders at you from your earpiece, but you can't hear it. Debbie's calling you from your phone, but you don't move to answer it. You move past the fleeing civilians, past the rubble and fire, and towards the veiled Mark in the middle of the street.

He's fighting off the heroes that surrounded him. He's all bloody but from how it looks like, with the heroes falling down the ground, it's not his.

"Mark."

Sheisty!Mark brightens up at the sound of your voice, despite the lack of visual on his face. Before he can zoom in front of you, you activated your ability and stared at his frozen form. His form looks like he's about to punch someone, taut muscles that peeks through his skin tight suit and the veil flew just the right way for you to have a glimpse of how flushed his face is. A lovesick expression is evident on his face.

Will you not be able to escape this fate?

You're tired.

When will the destruction and screams stop?

When will this end?

Your power runs out, continuing the flow of time. Sheisty!Mark pulls you to his bloodied chest, muttering words too fast for you to hear, all while running his hands around your body, like you aren't real.

You hoped you weren't.

Your use of power must've alerted the rest of the Variants, with them immediately flying to where you are, hovering just above to drink in the sight.

You were the sole reason as to why the eighteen Marks made a deal with Angstrom, after all.

And now, they can finally have you back.

Damned bastards.

You hear your named being yelled, but you don't know who it came from. You don't care anymore. Why should you? It all ends the same.

You're tired.

You're tired. You're tired. You're tired. When will this end? Stop this. Someone, anyone—

Save me, Mark.

The you in Sheisty!Mark's arms dissolved into a puddle, momentarily stunning the Variants around. Said puddle now expands throughout the asphalt road, coating everything in black until it reaches the sky. No more are the sounds of buildings crashing down from being destroyed nor are the sounds people who cry for help. One might say that the world became akin to the Shadow-verse. Until colorful shapes start to appear in the darkened world.

Buildings started emerging from the ground, destroying the roads and initial constructions. Laughter ran around the streets as paper doll-like creatures frolicked the desolate area, pointing and taunting the Variants.

Multiple arms reach out from the murky darkness, each out for a Mark. They can't fight it, no, they're incapable of doing so. They're in your world now.

With gentle hands, you cup his face and smiled. Wearing an expression so soft and speaking in a tone that he hadn't heard in a long time, Mark can't help but lean in, expecting something even in the middle of uncertainty.

How pathetic.

Your lips but ghost his', leaving him confused.

"I realized something during our time together." You started, still holding his face, eyes right into his own.

"You were always there for me, for better and for worse. You loved me throughout it all. It was always me and you."

"Oh, how I loathed that."

"How I hated you with every fiber of my being."

Your gem breaks, and your smiling face exploded on their faces, coating it with red.

Reality seemed to wrap around, changing the surroundings like how a theatre changes the set. Some of the Marks screamed in terror upon your "death" while some wiped the blood off and prepared for battle.

He once said that you were always full of surprises.

And now, you give them your final one. The blood from earlier suddenly shot out of them, forming something midair while a march is heard in the distant direction, heading to their direction. When your body was reformed, the small humanoid soldiers took aim and hit at you.

Your body convulsed from the barrage of bullets and promptly fell to the ground. Even as the Variants pummeled the soldiers down, their numbers doesn't dwindle, and soon what was left of your body is mutilated beyond recognition. FullMask!Mark and NoMask!Mark rushed to your side, and with trembling fingers, reached out on your remains.

Your head snapped to their direction, riddled with bullet holes, before your jaw snaps open and another you climbs out of it. With only half of your body out, you suddenly faced the sky and forced your jaw open, enabling another you to be able come out. The process repeats until a tower of your own body stands tall in the middle of the dark city.

The remaining soldiers ignored the Variants that still fought them, opting to march towards the grotesque tower, surrounding it.

"(Y/N)!"

You know only one who would call out to you like that.

"Ah... Mark..." You looked down at Mainstream!Mark and smiled longingly.

The last body to come out of your mouth screamed bloody murder, before being torn in half. Like a curtain being opened, a giant creature emerged from the bloodbath.

Bearing a likeness to you, with half of their head filled with red spider lilies and their wrists bound together like a prisoner, the Nutcracker Witch finally appeared.

[zahri-melitor]

I really enjoy your DC/Batman meta posts. I wanted to ask a couple of questions. Something I've seen repeatedly in discussions is that Damian wasn't trying to kill Tim during the t-rex incident. He was testing Tim's skill. Is that correct?

Has Damian ever called any of the Bats his brothers or sisters? I've seen him call them family, at least once. Thanks.

So, on the first point: I honestly suggest people who are curious actually read Batman #657, which is the issue in which Tim and Damian meet.

Determining intent, and what each of the characters are feeling and intending in this comic is very much open to interpretation.

Bruce is feeling shocked, overwhelmed and frustrated at the revelation of Damian's existence. He's got a surprise kid with an outsize attitude and trying to do the right thing with him on the fly while getting increasingly exasperated. One minute he's being patient, the next he's yelling.

Tim, who was literally only just adopted at the very end of the last storyline, three issues earlier, has just appeared after being offpanel for the last two issues to be confronted with Bruce's biological kid, and all of his attempted overtures of connection are sharply rejected. Tim's dealing with worrying about being replaced by Damian who is a 'real' biological kid and who has just disrupted their dynamic, without being given any warning. Tim trusting Bruce to adopt him is still very, very new, and while not as deep or longrunning a point of contention as Bruce and Dick's feelings about adoption, has been a story arc literally stretching over several years.

Damian is pure bravado and bluster packed into a scared kid who is acting out in a new environment as he has no idea what or where the boundaries are, what is acceptable behaviour, and what expectations exist. He has both poor communication methods and frankly, the personality of a little snot. He's testing the boundaries of a brand new environment where he doesn't know what the consequences will look like. Talia just dumped him on Bruce with no warning or notice and if that can happen to him, there's no guarantee Bruce will keep him.

Exactly where your strongest empathy lies in this situation is going to vary from person to person.

I'm going to be frank. Whether or not Damian intended to kill Tim here, he had already killed a character (The Spook), decapitated him, and brought the head back to the cave with a grenade stuffed in his mouth.

"In the League of Assassins, we showed our enemies no mercy. Now that I'm here, he doesn't need a surrogate son. We killed anyone who got in our way."

That's a threat. It's a pointed explicit threat to Tim, from Damian, saying he perceives that Tim's position in the family (as Bruce's child and as Batman's Robin) to be what he, Damian, wants and sees as his right, and that he thinks Tim is an obstacle to being recognised and acknowledged as Bruce's son.

Now. I will also point out that the blocking and art of the next page (where the head hits the ground, the pin falls out of the grenade, and everything explodes) shows that this was not Damian's exact intention - he was not expecting the grenade to go off, and it's pretty easy to read this speech as partial bluster from Damian's own worries about Bruce rejecting him and his perception of Tim as a rival that he needs to unnerve and push off balance.

However, Damian then takes the explosion as the opportunity to attack Tim with his sword, leading into the fight on the dinosaur.

(Tim had offered to spar with Damian at the start of this conversation as an opening to reset and try introductions again. Damian responded with the threat. Their expectations for what sparring looks like here are clearly different)

If Damian was a highly skilled and well trained martial artist, then he would be expected to understand his own capacity and what is dangerous and what is not. Bruce says that to him explicitly only a few pages earlier, as an explanation for why he took Damian's sword away.

Damian's actions all the way through this comic (sneaking out, stealing back his sword, going out to hunt down the villain he heard Bruce and Tim mention earlier to 'prove' his skills, sparring with a live weapon, disregarding the safety of a situation multiple times) pretty clearly show that regardless of his physical capabilities, Damian is not mentally demonstrating his skill and maturity as a martial artist.

Do I think Damian is grandstanding for a lot of this? Yes. He's repeatedly shown by the narrative, particularly in the art rather than in his dialogue, to be out of his depth and shocked by things not working exactly how he expects. And Tim can actually tell he's blustering to a degree, because Tim to my eye keeps reaching out and trying to connect through the entire comic. Tim is good with kids.

If Damian is just 'testing' Tim's skill, he's being extremely reckless in his disregard for the consequences of his actions, and he's clearly surprised and shocked by those consequences.

Tim is also keeping up just fine with Damian and has hauled him out of trouble on the dinosaur and tried to talk with him again right before Damian punches him in the jaw with sharply pointed brass knuckles, knocking him off the dinosaur and onto Jason's trophy case.

There's also this detail where Damian has already tried to get Bruce to fight him in the opening scene so he can 'prove' himself and Bruce outright told him he wasn't good enough, if he needs brass knuckles to attack someone.

Damian, choosing in this moment to punch Tim with those brass knuckles?

It's another demonstration of the petulance and desperation from that earlier scene. Damian's been told he can't have his sword or the knuckles if he wants people to take him seriously and spar with him. However, even if you read the Tim and Damian scene as Damian accepting Tim on his offer for a spar by acting on it, Damian actively chooses to use those weapons in the fight.

I, personally, think reading this whole issue as Damian trying to 'test' Tim is an extremely Damian-focused read of the situation that doesn't grant Damian any agency over the outcome of his actions. Damian might be telling himself here that's what he's trying to do; however he's already been explicitly warned that such behaviour is not acceptable, yet chooses to act this way.

I don't think Damian wanted or was expecting to kill Tim. But he made an explicit threat that he intended to (however much it might be bluster on his part), his actions immediately after that threat were negligent enough to risk both their lives, and he had a reckless indifference towards Tim's safety and the harm he might cause.

(Sue me, I work in a legal field, and we are absolutely playing around with the sort of mental processes that need to be considered around murder and manslaughter here)

It's not really a situation you can lightly brush off as "oh in the League of Assassins this is how people test and secure their standing, Damian can't be held accountable for thinking that was how it worked with the Bats and trying to prove his superiority over Tim".

If that was a true fact, Damian should and would be aware of the consequences for not winning such a challenge in the League, if their contests are at this level of violence. That's still pretty clearly a threat. And if Damian thought those consequences for losing wouldn't occur among the Bats, then he's got enough awareness that the base behaviour is also not how things work.

I think Damian's behaviour is understandable as a traumatised kid here. I do not think it's acceptable.

In terms of Damian referring to his siblings as his brothers or sisters? It's not a stat I personally track. I can't think of any explicit occasions off the top of my head, and I just paged through a couple of possibilities to check to no avail, but part of that is because Joshua Williamson was Damian's primary writer from 2021 to 2024 and Williamson notoriously is weird about the status of the adopted kids, and then a bunch of the other major scenes of Dick with Damian in particular in a sibling-like manner are written by Tim Seeley and Seeley doesn't tend to put this sort of stuff in words.

(Damian has called his deformed clones his 'brothers' before, as well as Respawn. Ahhh, writer priorities)

[drafthorsemath]

Home

A/N: I still want Tech to be alive so I’m making it happen and all working within the scope of canon. Here we have old man Tech and Phee.

Warnings: disabled Tech, talk of his fall and the aftermath, discussion of broken bones and almost bleeding out

Word Count: 1.534k

There was a lot of hustle around the rebel base. Several pilots were headed out, but Tech was more concerned with who was coming in. Omega had comm’d to say she left Pabu and was on her way. Tech sighed. Just as she was coming he would be going. More than that, while he and Phee stopped by so they could use their skills to fix up an old ship for a new crew, Omega would be out in the thick of it and he was worried for her. He knew they were all worried about her, but just as he respected Echo’s choice and Crosshair’s choice in years past, he respected hers as well. She was as ready to be a rebel pilot as ever, very much in part to the lessons he gave her back on Pabu.

“Hey Brown Eyes,” Phee said with a hand on his shoulder. “Ready to go?”

“Nearly,” he replied, smiling as she ran her hand through his graying and still thinning hair.

He reached for his spanner on the side of his hoverchair and continued to work on the power booster in front of him. He flinched just slightly as he made some adjustments. The arthritis wasn’t making it any easier. Still, he was pleased that while there he and Phee showed some new recruits as many skills as they could.

He put his tools back in place along the side of the humming hoverchair and took a breath. Phee smiled down at him. He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. She was as lovely as ever. Gray streaks in her hair and small wrinkles forming on her face, but no amount of time dulled her spirit. He could never forget the day he finally made it back to Pabu and the relief he felt to see her and his family. Echo was off with Rex, but he was assured he was safe. Omega and Crosshair were home and Wrecker and Hunter had started easing into island life. 

“Better late than dead?” he asked the first time he saw Phee after stumbling off a ship.

She threw her arms around him with tears in her eyes and despite the pain he was still in, he embraced her warmth.

“So much better late than dead, Brown Eyes.”

His body had been through so much. Bones had taken months to mend and he knew that some of them hadn’t healed properly. He went through the painful process of a doctor rebreaking and resetting them. Phee sat with him through every procedure and he knew for sure that he wanted her in his life for however long it was. He woke up in agony after the worst of it, his lower back and legs in braces. She sat in a chair and rested her head on the bed near him. He softly smiled and put a hand on hers. 

During his recovery they started running low on med patches. She flew into imperial territory just to get more for him and to restock the supply on the island. It was during that time he was able to catch up with Crosshair. Both men were relieved to see each other and it didn’t take long for them to find their way into a comfortable mix of conversation and shared silence.

“How did you do it?” Crosshair asked. “Survive?”

“I thought that was probably going to be the end of me,” Tech admitted. “But I was able to change the angle of my fall and thankfully I hit the edge of a body of water and softer ground. The impact probably would have killed me otherwise.”

He went on to explain that all he could remember was trying to take his helmet off because his comms had died and his helmet cracked. Somewhere along the way he lost his goggles and slowly realized a piece of broken armor had pierced his abdomen. He kept it in place to reduce the risk of bleeding out as he stumbled along, but the terrain quickly became the familiar stone they saw poke above the mist. All he remembered was passing out and waking up briefly on a ship. When he got to this part of the story, he recalled Phee warning him not to run off with any pirates. Of course it was the pirates who saved him. Granted, they thought they could get some money selling his armor and possessions and were unable to get the elaborate set up off his body with his chest plate twisted as it was, so they just took all of him. One of the pirates couldn’t stand to watch him bleed out and so got him some minimal medical treatment that ended up being just enough to save his life. He spent months trying to get back to Pabu and contact his brothers, but the Empire was everywhere at this point and he had to focus on not getting caught since he couldn’t very well run from them. His best bet was to be friendly with the pirates and help them in an attempt to help himself. He knew the coordinates to some useful planets and knew how to fix just about any broken thing put in front of him. He essentially hitched a ride around the galaxy while his body tried to mend.

Tech looked at his brother with a bit of a grimace.

“I decided if they want to use me for my skills then fine. It kept me alive and I used them as transport in return. Eventually we made it close enough that I knew I could probably get here without a major medical event. I took a small ship, left while they were out drinking, and finally made it to Pabu. You know the rest.”

Crosshair put his hand on Tech’s shoulder just as his brother had done with him countless times.

“We survived and we’re here now,” Crosshair said. “That’s all that matters now.”

It took weeks for Tech’s body to heal the rest of the way, but this time he had hope and real help. Even on days when he could barely move, Phee and his brothers helped him get up and down, made sure he had something to eat, made sure he had something else to keep him occupied, and helped him in and out of the refresher. Once he was ready, Tech accompanied her on trips to recover artifacts. Phee was extra careful, knowing that his soldiering days were very well behind him and never wanting him put in too much danger. Still, he had a few tricks up his sleeve and was very creative when it came to making technology work for him even when his body struggled. More than that, he simply wanted to be with Phee any way he could.

Unfortunately as time went on, his old injuries made it difficult to walk very far. He crafted his own hoverchair, but could still go from the chair into bed or another seat. He still walked short distances, but the chair supported him for the most part. He was not-so-secretly fond of asking Phee to sit in his lap and taking her for “a stroll” around the island.

When Echo got word that the rebellion needed help rebuilding a ship, Tech’s face lit up. There was no stopping him. He and Phee would be back to Pabu after this one last job. Just one more ship to rebuild and then he could rest. Of course Phee knew better and shook her head. As much as his body was giving out on him, his head would never rest and it was one of the things she loved most about him. He always kept his mind occupied, exceptional as always.

They finished loading some items onto their ship, but stayed to greet Omega when she landed. He embraced his sister before grilling her on piloting procedures only to be met with a familiar pair of rolled eyes and an affectionate smile. Omega invited them up to see the upgrades she made to her ship. Tech greeted Gonky and was satisfied as he looked around. They said their goodbyes and Omega promised to come back and visit when she could.

“I still don’t know why she insists on keeping my old goggles with her,” Tech said as he and Phee boarded their ship.

“Because it reminds her of you,” she replied.

“Not one of our fondest memories,” he said, gazing up into his beloved’s eyes with a sad smile.

“No, but it’s all we had to hold on to for months as far as physical items,” Phee countered. “You know Omega. She brought Lula with her. She likes having those things to hold on to.”

“I know,” he said. “You’re right.”

Tech lifted himself from the hoverchair and gingerly moved to the co-pilot seat. Phee was right there ready to lend a hand, but he still had enough strength to move himself. She parked his hoverchair right behind them and pressed a kiss to his forehead before sitting in the pilot seat and punching in the familiar coordinates to Pabu. It was time to go home.

[danceswithsporks]

Awake- Part 9

Crosshair x f!Innkeeper Reader

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

*not canon to season 3*

Authors Notes: Hey so remember when I told @motte-the-goblin that the next part would be up within the week, yesterday? Yeah so apparently I meant today lmao.

I am…so unbelievably sorry for how long this took and how short it is. Lots of stuff went down since the last update and I’ve just been trying to rebound. As for the short length of this chapter, I wanted to get through everything and get them moving onto recovery but I just couldn’t find an organic way to do it. So instead this chapter came out of it.

As I did last year, I’ll be taking the next month of to reset my brain and prepare for Clone x OC week and

KATSUCON 2025! Let me know if any of you will be there! I’d love to meet up and chat clone wars/bad batch with you all!

Chapter Summary:

You wake up to a distressing call and find yourself called to duty.

Awake, once again you were lying awake in your bed, alone. The warmth that you had gotten used to was gone and in its place was empty coldness. Outside, a storm could be heard raging. On nights like this you’d usually have the door open to your private garden where you’d enjoy the smell of the rain and the cool breeze it brought with it. But not tonight. No, instead you kept everything closed and buried yourself beneath the blankets of your far too big bed as you waited for your com or datapad to ring. 

Five months, he’d been gone for five long months. The two of you spoke every once in a while. It started close to three times a week but as the weeks turned into months, it dwindled to once or twice a week. Now it was once every two weeks or so. You’d asked him a few separate times what was going on, but he never told you. 

“Takin’ care of some business.” He’d told you a few different times. 

You hated it, you hated him. Not really, but slightly. Things had finally gotten better. He was opening up to you and you’d never felt closer. But then he was gone. Just hours after finally opening up to you, he’d left. 

You thought you’d be okay. He was just a guy. A paying guest in your inn. But after the first week, you found yourself missing his scent. By the second week, you were missing his warmth and by the third week, you were just missing him. You found yourself pacing around your apartment hoping he’d knock on your door suddenly. After a moment, you’d call him in and he’d join you on the couch. You’d read your book and he’d look through his datapad. Then you’d go and lay in bed, your head on his chest, his hand stroking through your hair and the two of you would exchange more stories about growing up. Maybe he’d apologize for being gone for so long, maybe he wouldn’t say anything at all. You wouldn’t mind either way. 

A long groan left you as you rolled over and buried your face into his pillow. It no longer held his scent and that upset you. It wasn’t fair that he’d done this to you, to your heart. Rolling over away from your datapad, you nuzzled deeper into your bed and tried to force yourself to sleep. Stupid, Crosshair. Even if he did call you tonight, you’d ignore it. 

*pling pling pling* 

You practically dove for your bedside table and grabbed the datapad. “Crosshair?” You didn’t even bother to look at who was calling. It had to be him, right? He would be the only one to call you this late at night. 

“Is this Doll?” An unfamiliar gruff voice spoke carefully. 

“Who?” You looked at the information on the datapad and realized you didn’t recognize it. “Umm, yes. It is.” 

“Good. My name is Rex. I work with Crosshair. I received your information from Echo.” Rex wondered what the time was where you were. Perhaps he’d woken you up? 

Oh, Stars. Why did you suddenly have a pit in your stomach? ”what’s happened?” You were sitting up now, your heart in your throat. 

“Everything is okay.” He paused. “Well, kind of.” 

What did he mean by that? “Where is Crosshair?” 

Rex looked over his shoulder at a sound. “He’s here. But…” 

“But what?” This was it, he’d tell you Crosshair was seriously hurt, or worse! 

The former Captain sighed. “There’s been an incident. How soon can you be here?” 

Where was ‘here’? “I don’t know where you are. I don’t have a ship.” 

“There is a ride waiting for you. Please come soon.” 

The call was quickly disconnected leaving you slightly confused. There was a knock on your apartment door and you rushed to it. You found Echo waiting on the other side. “Echo?” 

Echo nodded. “How soon can you be packed?” 

-*-

You weren’t sure where you were going. You’d asked Echo a few times during the six-hour trip, all he’d told you was that it was secret. The two of you talked casually about what had been happening. How he was settling into his new role as History of the Galaxy professor at Omegas school and the few missions he’d gone on since the return of Tech. 

“He’s thinking of proposing to her, ya know.”  Echo checked over the readings of his ship as he spoke. 

You looked up from your datapad quickly. “Tech is?” 

The Domino twin nodded. “Yeah, showed me the ring today. Made it out of the crystal from his blaster.” 

A surprised sigh left your lips. “How romantic.” His blaster, the thing that protected his life. 

Echo chuckled. “Guess it is. Think she’ll like it?” 

“He could give her a rock and she’d love it. She’s head over heels for him.” You sat back in your seat and stared out the window. “What about Wrecker? Think he's planning anything?” 

“He may have asked for some advice on how to propose,” Echo smirked at you, earning a laugh. “You’re not gonna say anything, right?” 

“And ruin the surprises? No way.” You winked at the clone before looking back at your datapad. Both your friends would be engaged soon. It was hard not to be jealous. They’d found the perfect men and you were still struggling with your own feelings. You shook the thoughts away quickly earning a confused look from Echo. Clearing your throat, you decided to change the topic. “So what’s going on? Why do I need to go to you guys?” 

Echo chewed his lip, trying to think about how much to reveal. “I can’t reveal too much. It’s not my place to. But what I can tell you is that some things went sideways and you’re the only one who seems to get through to him.” 

“Echo.” You reached over and grabbed his scomp. “Is he okay? Is he hurt?” 

He looked down at your hand before looking up at you. Your eyes were filled with worry and it was clear your nerves were getting the best of you. “Physically he’s fine. I promise.” He watched as you visibly relaxed. “It’s mentally that we’re worried about.” 

Mentally? “Why?” Why was he being so roundabout about this? 

A long sigh left the domino twin. “Rex will explain it better than me.” He checked over the information on his screen. “Sit back, we’ll be arriving soon.” 

-*-

Echo led you into a large structure that had seen better days. Walls were crumbled around you and there was a clear draft. In the center of the room was a holo table with many clones around it. A blonde one stepped away after seeing you enter the room. He walked over and extended his hand to you. 

“You must be Doll, I’m Rex.” He took a moment to look you over. You were a cute little thing. Bright eyes and a nice figure. 

You shook his hand gently. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. I’ve heard a good amount about you.” 

Rex glanced at Echo. “So have I.” He motioned to the men around the table. “This is Howzer, Gregor, Kix, and Cody.” Each man raised a hand as Rex said their name. 

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You nodded to each one. It was odd seeing so many clones in one place. Not only was it the ones around the table, but also a few others walking around the room moving crates. Now that you saw so many together, you could see the way they all looked the same. It was almost a shock compared to how the batch looked. “Where is he?” 

“This way.” Rex motioned towards an opposite door. 

You followed the blonde clone closely. “Can you tell me what happened?” 

Rex paused and turned to face you. “The target that we’ve been tracking has vanished.” 

“Oh.” Why would that require you to come here? 

“He was a high-priority target for Crosshair. He’s not taking it well.” A loud sound came from the room nearest your group. “Echo, you should make sure the room is safe for her to enter.” 

Echo nodded, but before he could move, you reached out and stopped him. “It’s okay.” You stepped around him and reached for the door panel. 

“If anything happens, call out for us,” Rex spoke sternly. He’d protect you if need be. 

“Echo!” Kix ran towards the domino twin quickly. He stopped in front of Echo slightly out of breath. 

Echo turned to face the medic. “Kix? What’s going on?” 

“Gregor thinks we found her. Come on.” He motioned back towards the main area. 

“Dove?” When Kix nodded, Echo felt the air leave his lungs. Finally, they had a lead on her. He looked back at you quickly and when you nodded, he took off. 

Your eyes returned to the door in front of you. Taking a deep breath, you pressed the mechanism in the door and it slid open. You gasped at the sight before you.

The room was an absolute mess. Clothes had been flung everywhere. A chair was overturned against the wall and even the cot had been flipped over. Crosshair sat on the side of the flipped cot, his head in his hands. 

“Crosshair?” You carefully stepped into the room. He didn’t react to your voice. Rex cleared his throat loudly behind you but even that didn’t grab the sniper's attention. You carefully walked over to him and placed your hand on his shoulder. “Crosshair? It’s me.” He jumped at your touch. 

He lifted his head from his hands and turned to face you. “D-Doll?” Why were you here? No! No. No. No! You couldn’t see him like this. 

He’d changed a lot since the last time you’d seen him. It had been nearly two months since he’d holo called you. His hair was longer now and so was his facial hair. A full beard was now visible. It was clear he hadn’t been sleeping, the bags under his eyes were massive. “Oh, Crosshair.” You moved your hand from his shoulder to his cheek. 

“How are you here?” He’d forgotten how beautiful you were. The holos on his datapad did you no justice. His eyes shifted to Rex behind you. “You brought her here?” 

“No, Sniper.” You kneeled next to him and took his hand in yours. “I asked Echo to bring me here. I haven’t heard from you in a while. I began to worry.” Pulling his hand up to your face, you placed it against your cheek. “Why didn’t you contact me?” 

Touching you was like being home. He sighed and pressed his forehead against yours. “I’m sorry, Kitten.” A few tears ran down his cheek. “I’m sorry.” 

You took a deep breath. This was worse than you could have expected. Your free hand slid behind your back and you motioned for Rex to leave the room. After a moment you heard the door slide shut. Standing, you released Crosshair’s hand and walked around the overturned bed. Once in front of him, you sat on the floor between the bed and the wall. “Come here?” 

Crosshair didn’t hesitate for a moment to fall to the floor next to you. He moved to bury his face into his hands but was stopped by you grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into you. He buried his face into your shoulder and began to shake. The tears that burned his eyes fought to break free, but he couldn’t let them out. You couldn’t see him like this, weak and broken. He felt your hand press against his back before moving up and down. He waited for the questions to come…but they didn’t. Instead, you simply held him. 

You’d wait as long as you needed to until he was ready to talk. For now, you’d simply hold him and let him know you were there. 

-*-

Two long days passed by before he was ready to talk. You’d spent that time switching between holding him, cleaning, fixing the room, and feeding you both. Meals were brought three times a day to both of you by Rex or one of the others. You hadn’t seen Echo since the day he brought you here. 

Howzer, the one with teal on his armor, had been kind enough to bring a second cot for you to sleep on. The moment he’d left the room you’d pushed the two cots together. You held Crosshair each night, keeping him close to you. The only time you heard his voice was when he spoke in his sleep. It was hard to understand what he was saying. Only a few words were clear. 

“Hunter, duck!”

“Tech, on your left.” 

“Easy shot” 

“Hold on Mayday, hold on.” 

Mayday was mentioned a lot during those first two nights. Crosshair had told you very little about the man, the topic being a sensitive one for him. 

On the third day, your curiosity finally got the best of you. Crosshair was still deep asleep when you woke up. You would have stayed by his side and waited for him to wake up like you had the last two days. But today, you just couldn’t get Mayday out of your mind. You carefully removed yourself from his arms before slowly getting off your cot. You slipped on your boots, pulled the only long-sleeved shirt you’d brought over your head, and prayed that the pants you wore would be enough to keep you warm. You’d been in such a hurry to pack that you hadn’t even bothered to ask Echo what the weather would be like. You’d simply packed two outfits plus the one you were wearing when you arrived. Two of those outfits had short sleeves while only one had long sleeves. The only reason why you’d stayed relatively comfortable these past few days was because you’d been as close to Crosshair as possible. The clone and the blankets on the cots were enough to keep you warm. 

The door opened with a quiet whoosh as you exited the small room. While inside with him it didn’t seem that small, now that you were out in the hall and looking back into the room, you realized how little it was. Crosshair shifted on the cot and you worried he was about to wake up. But when he settled once more, you sighed and let the door shut. It took you a few tries to find your way back to that main room you’d been in when you first arrived, but after a long fifteen minutes, you found it. You hadn’t realized how early it was when you were in the room. But now that you stood in the almost empty control room, you realized just how early it truly was. 

“Howzer?” The teal clone stood by the holo table with a mug in hand. Steam swirled in the air above it and the familiar scent of coffee filled the room. 

Howzer looked away from the holo table in surprise. He hadn’t expected to see you this early and without Crosshair. “What are you doing up this early?” The Captain looked you over before catching the way you shivered slightly. 

“Couldn’t sleep.” You shifted as he walked to the side of the room and picked up a dark bundle off one of the crates. He crossed the room over to you and held the bundle out to you. “Thanks. You?” 

“One of us is always on duty at the table. Just in case someone contacts us.” He watched you unfurl the bundle and look it over before pulling it on. “Trouble sleeping, huh?” He stepped closer to you and tugged the robe gently. Adjusting it so it sat better on your shoulders and didn’t pull on your neck. The Jedi that had owned it before would have been happy to know it was being used again. 

The robe was so warm and comfortable, that you sighed softly as warmth began to spread through your body. You nodded as the clone in front of you adjusted the garment a few times before stepping away from you. “Got a lot on my mind.” 

Howzer motioned towards the other side of the room. “Like what?” 

You followed him around the holo table and towards a steaming pot. The scent of caf was becoming stronger and stronger. “Well…” you chewed your lip in thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to breach the subject. “I was wondering something. Were you…part of the Empire too?” 

He froze at her question, the clean mug in his hand shaking slightly. “I was.” 

“What…was it like? Did you know Crosshair then? Did you also have a Jedi?” The questions seemed to race out your mouth before you could stop them. You took a long breath to try and stop the rest. “Sorry” 

Howzer shook his head and fought off the urge to laugh, you were cute. He finished pouring you a cup of coffee before answering. “It was different, I did, and yes, I did have a Jedi.” He passed you the mug. “Drink this, it’ll help ya warm up.” 

You blushed slightly before taking the mug. It felt nice in your cold hands. “Thanks.” You took a small sip of the warm drink and visibly recoiled slightly. That was some of the worst tasting coffee you’d ever had. 

A chuckle left Howzer as you took your sip. “Not the best tasting stuff in the galaxy. But it gets the job done.” He motioned over to a set of crates set up around a larger crate. “How about ya start at the top and I’ll answer what I can.” 

“What was your Jedi like?” You sat on one of the crates and placed your mug on the larger crate that seemed to act as a table. 

“He was a brave and caring man. Don’t know how far my men and I would have made it without him.” He stared down at his mug for a few moments. “We lost him a few weeks before everything changed.” Howzer looked towards the holo table. “How much has he told you about what happened?” 

You took another sip of the warm drink before answering. “He told me about Order 66 and what it entailed.” 

Howzer gave you a softened look before shaking his head. “You honestly shouldn't know about it. Not the type of things civs should hear about.” 

“Civs?” Your head tilted to the side. 

“Civilians.” Another voice echoed across the empty room. 

“Cody.” Howzer nodded to the ex Marshal Commander. “Doll had some questions that were keeping her awake.”

Cody nodded and stroked his growing beard in a way that Rex had told him reminded him of Kenobi. “I see.” He walked over to the two of you as Howzer stood and grabbed another mug of caf. “Like what?”  

“What it was like being a part of the Empire. What his Jedi was like. If he knew Crosshair then.” Cody was the one in orange. You could clearly see small spots of gray poking through the paint, probably best you didn’t ask about that. Your nails tapped against the ceramic of the cup in front of you. “Could I ask the same questions to you?” 

“You can.” Cody settled on the crate and watched Howzer bring over the coffee. “I worked in the Empire for a while as well. Even worked side by side with Crosshair. Never seen a more skilled sniper in my life. The last mission I did was with him.” 

“What do you mean the last mission?” Your hands gripped the mug in your hands tightly, the warmth of it finally getting to your bones. 

The once Marshal Commander took a long sip of his drink before speaking. “Soon after that mission, I tried to walk away from it all. I’d seen too much and been through too much. I couldn’t take it anymore. Someone higher up heard about my plan to go AWOL. I was captured before I could even try to leave and taken to Tantiss. The same place Crosshair would later be imprisoned at.” 

“Oh.” You swallowed. Maybe it was best to change the subject. “Did you have a Jedi you worked with?” 

“Yeah, he was an amazing General. Saved my life more times than I can count.” And yet he’d killed him. Shot him down mercilessly. He remembered the feeling of seeing his body move on its own and fire at him. The way he fell from that wall. “Wore a robe just like the one you’re wearing.” He motioned to the garment wrapped around your body. A part of him wanted to reach out and touch it, to feel the familiar material against his fingers at least one more time. 

“This was a Jedis robe?” You looked down at the dark brown garment. A Jedi had worn this before you. You looked at Howzer quickly for verification. The teal clone nodded to you before looking away. “I feel honored then.” 

The three of you fell into silence for a few minutes. Simply enjoying the silence and the company. Cody was the first to speak. 

“Something tells me there’s more to why you couldn’t sleep.” You awkwardly shifted across from him and it was all the answer he needed. “Ask away.” 

You took a long breath. “What do you know about a clone named Mayday?” 

-*-

You sat on a crate outside on the landing pad deep in thought. The robe was still pulled tight around you. The sun was up now and slowly warming the air. Thoughts on what you’d learned about Mayday ran through your head. You knew he was dead, that was something Crosshair had told you. It was how he died that had taken you by surprise. If what you’d read was true then poor Crosshair had been through so much more than you realized. 

“Doll?” A familiar voice called to you from the hangar doors. 

You turned and locked eyes with the man you’d been thinking of. “Crosshair.” 

He quickly moved across the landing pad as you stood up from the crate. The moment he was in front of you he pulled you into a tight embrace. “I thought you left.” 

“I wouldn’t leave without telling you. I just needed some fresh air and time to think.” Your face nuzzled into his chest. It was clear he hadn’t showered in a few days, the smell didn’t bother you too much. 

“Think about what?” His face buried into your hair and he inhaled deeply. Yes, this scent, your scent, you were his peace. 

You hummed softly as you listened to him inhale. Should you tell him that you were thinking about him? About what he’d gone through? About Mayday? “Well…” Your mom would tell you that honesty was the best policy here. “About you and what you’ve gone through and…Mayday.” 

“Mayday?” Crosshair pulled away from you and looked down. “Why would you be thinking about him?” 

“Because you’ve mentioned him at least thirty times in your sleep since I’ve been here.” You pulled away from him and walked past him. “I know what happened to him, to both of you. Or at least the details that are in the reports.” 

Crosshair turned and stared at you. “How?” 

A lump seemed to form in your throat. “I asked Cody and Howzer.” 

“What?” He stormed across the platform and over to you. “Why the hell would you ask them?” 

You turned and faced him, anger boiling inside of you at the way he was speaking to you. “Because you would never tell me!” 

‘Stop’  You thought to yourself. This wasn’t on him. What you had learned about that mission from the reports Howzer had found made it clear it was bad. You could only imagine how much worse everything was. A long sigh left your lips as you tried to calm down. 

“It’s been almost a year, Crosshair. We’ve known each other for almost a year now. I don’t expect to know every single detail about your life. But I would hope you’d feel more comfortable opening up to me. Especially now when you’re clearly going through something.” You stepped forward and raised your hands to his face. “Crosshair, please.” Gentle hands cupped his face as pure eyes stared into his. “Open up to me? Let me know the real you.” 

“You couldn’t begin to understand what I’ve been through.” Crosshair tried to pull away from your hands but found himself stopped. Instead, he shifted his eyes away from yours. 

As he looked away from you, you felt your heart drop. The past couple of days had revealed his weaknesses to you. The way he struggled to come to terms with whatever was eating at him had shown you just how deep it truly went. His was so much more than simple nightmares. Whoever this high-priority target was, they had a strong connection to Crosshair. Were they the source of his nightmares? Or just a small part? 

None of it mattered to you right now. All that mattered was him and how he was feeling at this moment. It was clear he was nervous about you learning something or worried that you wouldn’t understand and thus be unable to truly help him. But you’d do whatever you could to help him. You’d take him how he was, with all the baggage included, and make him whole once more. You’d push out the darkness and guide him to the light and be his everything. 

The realization of how much you genuinely cared for this man, this clone who’d started out as a stranger and a renter in your inn, was astonishing to you. In this moment you truly understood that the two of you were a part of one another now. All you wanted was to ease his pain and for him to be happy. You cared for him so much. 

You…loved him.

Your eyes shook as you moved closer to him. “ Let me try, Sniper. Let me be the one to listen to you and know you. Let me love you.” You cooed sweetly to him while stepping forward and pressing your body against his. “Let me be yours, Cross.”

There it was, out in the open finally. You wanted to be his. You wanted to love him and keep him close. To give him all of you and accept all of him. 

Crosshair felt like his heart was racing. This was everything he’d dreamed of. Even before he met you. “I…” he gripped your shoulders tightly and tried to push you away even though his heart was yelling at him not to. “I can’t. You can't know the things I’ve been through, the things I’ve done.” 

“Crosshair.” You followed him as he tried to push you away. “I want to know everything you’ve been through. Everything you’ve done. The good and the bad. All of it.” 

“Doll, you say that now. But once you know the truth there won’t be any way to take it back. I’ve done dark and terrible things.” He hesitated as his body began to shake. “I can’t…I can’t risk losing you. Not yet.” 

“Hey.” You reached up and cradled his face once more, making sure he was looking into your eyes. “Nothing you’ve done, and I mean nothing, will change how I feel about you or think about you.” You stood on the tips of your toes and pressed your lips against his. He hesitated at first to return the kiss but soon his arms were wrapping around you and holding you tight. His lips danced against yours in desperation. You pulled just far enough away so you could speak once more, your lips brushing against his. “I promise.” 

Crosshair fought the nervous energy racing through his body. He pressed his lips against yours in what he feared would be the final time. “Okay.” He truly hoped you’d be able to keep your promise.

 But deep down he feared you wouldn’t be able to. 

Tag list:

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[dangraccoon]

As Ever

Day 21 ~ time loop ~ (Alt. Prompt)

Fives

Word Count: 2097 Content: Bio Chip Arc, Fives dies, actually he dies multiple times, the time loop resets if he dies or gets reconditioned, so because time loops can get fuckin dark, so I'm saying a soft Mature 18+ (recommended), Sheev Palpatine is his own warning anyway

“The mission… the nightmares… they’re… finally over.”

“Fives? No, Fives…”

—

His eyes fluttered open, squinting at the harsh light of the medical room.

“I… what…”

“Do not worry,” AZI chirped brightly. “Brief confusion is normal when waking up after a surgery.”

“Surgery,” Fives repeated, his hand coming up to the side of his head.

The patch. From the surgery. The chips? “You removed the chip?”

“Yes,” AZI said, whirling around to pull the two slides from his drawer. “Identical in structure.” He held the slide up side by side. “However, it appears that the one I found in your friend had mal–”

“Tup’s chip malfunctioned, but mine was fine,” Fives thought aloud.

“That is correct,” AZI chirped. “There is no way of knowing what will happen to you now that we have removed your chip.”

Fives’ mind felt clearer in this moment than he’d ever remembered.

Hadn’t he done all this already? He could so clearly remember seeing the chancellor–you don’t forget when a seemingly kindly old man orders his guards to murder you–escaping, finding Kix in 79s, and talking to General Skywalker and Rex. Oh, Rex. The memory of his ori’vod holding him close, crying as the second of the shinies he’d practically adopted faded away. 

Is this what happens when you die? He thought bitterly as he scowled at the floor. You have to relive the worst parts of your life? What’s next? Umbara? The Citadel? Kamino?

“Are you experiencing anything out of the ordinary? Anything that could be a potential sign of the mental decline your friend experienced?” AZI broke him from his bitter thinking.

“No, no,” he said, waving him off. “I don’t… think so. Maybe–do you think he had deja vu?”

“There is no way of knowing what Clone Trooper Tup experienced before his death, however feelings of deja vu are not a common indicator of an impending mental break.”

Fives sighed, pushing off from the table to pace the small room. “I swear, it feels like I’ve done this before.”

“Like you’ve done–”

“All this,” Fives groaned, his hands gesturing vaguely. “You removed my chip, we go to the records hall. They take me to the chancellor, he–”

Fives went still, his mind working over his options. 

“ARC Trooper Fives?”

“AZI, I think this goes much deeper than the chips in our heads.”

—

“General, you have to believe me, I can show you–”

“You’ve gone too far, Fives.”

“Stand down, soldier!”

“No, Fives!”

—

“General Ti,” he said. The general came to his side. “The-the doctor injected me with something… I-I don’t feel well.”

“I’m sure it was just to help you relax, Fives,” she smiled sympathetically. 

“No, no,” Fives shook his head. “It… doesn’t feel like last time. This one… this one’s gonna kill me. Please–”

“Fives, I do not understand–”

“I…can’t see’i- ‘nym–”

“Fives? Fives!”

—

“Fives, what are you doing in here?” Shaak Ti questioned, still in her meditation pose. “You are meant to be completing the tests necessary to put you back in the field.”

“General, when we were cadets, you helped me and Echo find our place in our squad. You did us a huge favor and I have just one more to ask of you before I’m sent away.”

He could see the skepticism in her eyes, but she nodded. “What can I do for you?” 

“I need to know something about you. Something you’ve never told anyone before– something that you’d need to investigate if someone said it back to you.”

“Fives–”

“I know, General. But please, once I go back to that testing room, I’ll either be sent to the front to die or I’ll have my memory wiped. Either way, I know too well that I’ll be a dead man.”

Fives could feel something touch his mind. He let his eyes close, allowing the Jedi to prod him for answers.

“Something small,” he pleaded quietly. “Just something that would tell you to talk to me.”

As the general’s touch eased from his mind and she simply searched him with her eyes, he began to lose hope.

“Apologies, General Ti,” he said finally. “I’ll leave you to your meditation.” He gave a slight bow and turned for the door.

“Fives,” her voice reached his ears right before he opened the door. “Nannariums.”

He turned to look at her, finding a soft confusion still covering her face, but her eyes were curious. 

“They are my favorite flower. No one else knows this.”

Relief stole over him. He nodded his thanks to her, then walked to his seemingly inevitable death.

—

“Perhaps it would be best if clone trooper Fives and I discussed this without your presence,” the Chancellor said, his smile warm and sickly sweet. Fives fought the urge to punch him.

“Chancellor, I must object,” General Ti scowled.

“Please, Master Jedi,” the Chancellor cooed. “Trust me. I will not be alone.”

Whatever that aiwha-bait doctor dosed him with was fogging his mind. 

“N-no,” he protested, instantly sure that this must have been the pivotal moment. This is where everything went wrong. “General, please. Don’t leave me alone with him,” he pleaded, stepping towards the kind Jedi. “He’s not the one at risk, General.”

The General startled. “Fives, what are you–”

“This is obviously the delusional ramblings of a defective clone,” Se protested.

“On the ship, on our way here,” Fives breathed, all too aware of the glare boring into him from the Kaminoan. “The doctor injected me wi-with something and I can’t… Please just stay with me.”

Shaak Ti’s eyes scrutinized him. 

“You can… you could see if something was affecting me, couldn’t you?” he said, his eyes searching hers as much as she searched his. “Making my head all foggy?”

“Master Jedi?” Palpatine probed. 

He could feel the general’s gentle touch at the back of his mind.

Fives tried to calm himself, pulling only one memory to his mind. Too many would confuse her–he found that out last time.

A quiet meditation room on Kamino. The quiet confusion and curiosity on her face.

Her own voice.

“Fives. Nannariums. They are my favorite flower. No one else knows this.”

Shaak Ti gasped quietly, her eyes going wide. She thought for a moment. “If it would be a comfort to this trooper, perhaps it would be better if I stay.”

“Thank you, general,” Fives sighed, relief flooding his body.

“Of course,” Palpatine said, his voice still that of a kind old man, but his expression soured as he looked at Fives. “All will stay present, but perhaps we should all just let the man speak.” He looked to the general and the doctor, who both gave a nod.

Fives’ teeth ground together. “Thank you, sir.”

“Please, Fives,” General Ti nodded. “Tell us what is going on.”

Fives could feel his hands shake, his focus solely on the General. “There is a plot against the Jedi, General. There is a Sith in this–” his eyes nervously turned towards the chancellor. “In the Senate. They’re controlling this war from both sides.”

“This is lunacy,” Nala Se muttered. “Chancellor, this clone has clearly gone mad without his chip. He must be–”

“Doctor, we all agreed to let Fives speak,” the general said, fixing her with a stern look.

“The chips have… orders written into them to kill the Jedi. We would be forced to obey the order without a second thought,” he said, determinedly continuing to speak over Nala Se’s renewed objections. “It isn’t supposed to happen until someone triggers it, but Tup’s malfunctioned and it caused him to execute the general.”

Shaak Ti’s face betrayed her whirlwind of emotions. 

“Master Jedi, I find I must agree with the good doctor,” Palpatine muttered. “This is obviously a very, very sick clone.”

“General, I swear on- on nannariums, I’m telling the truth,” Fives insisted.

“I am taking ARC Trooper Fives to the Jedi temple for evaluation,” the general said suddenly. “He has made many… disturbing claims, yet I can sense that he truly believes them.”

The chancellor stood aghast, stammering “But Master Ti, I believe–”

“I will bring him to plead his case before the Jedi High Council and our temple’s best mind healers,” she said, her voice exuding confidence. “I’m sure we can all say that we want what is best for the Republic, yes?”

“Well, of course–”

“And what is best for the Republic is to learn the origin of this clone’s… delusions.”

Shaak Ti ignored the protests from the doctor and chancellor as she pulled Fives from the room by the arm.

“Thank you for believing me, General,” he practically gushed. “I don’t know how to tha–”

Before he could finish, Shaak Ti spun on her heel, her saber hilt pressed to his chest. “How could you know that?” 

“G-general?”

“That is something I’ve not told even my dearest friends,” she elaborated. “Clones are force-null; you cannot have seen it in a vision, yet the memory felt real.”

Fives’ eyes darted around the room. It was empty except for them, but he couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched.

“Take me to the Council, General,” he pressed. “Please.”

She fixed him with a hard look but placed her lightsaber back on her belt. “I will.” She turned back to continue.

He sighed. “Thank you, again, General. I’ve been–” 

She stopped, eyeing him over her shoulder. “Do not speak until we are before the council.”

He tensed and she looked away and sighed. “I have already been… biased, but the rest of the council must receive the full story.”

A chill ran down Fives’ spine. “Yes, General.”

He sat in silence as the transport took them to the temple. Over the last… oh maker, he’d lost count of how many times he’d been through this–this was the first time in a while he started to feel that tiny spark of hope deep in his chest–perhaps a little further down than where Fox had shot him about half of these days. If he thought about it too hard, he could feel that hole burning into his chest, he could hear Rex’s anguish. He’d do anything to stop that from happening again, to stop hearing that broken cry of his name spilling over his brother’s lips. If all of this was real and he was being given so many chances to get this all right, he’d do it for Rex, for Tup, and for all their brothers.

“Your thoughts are… quite loud,” the general hummed as they arrived at the temple, her eyes–filled with curiosity–meeting his for the first time since leaving the Senate building.

He felt his cheeks flush. “Oh! I’m sorry–” 

“No, no, it is alright,” she waved his concern off. “Perhaps I should not have been eavesdropping.”

“That’s okay,” he murmured. 

“While I find your… situation… to be perplexing, your dedication is commendable… and perhaps a bit inspiring,” she smiled as the doors to the transport closed behind them. 

“Uh, thank you, General.”

“Fives, you are aware that the things you have claimed are extremely unbelievable, yes?” she said as they entered the halls. Idly, Fives wondered how many clones had entered these halls before.

“Yes, sir,” he nodded, adding that “it was unbelievable to me too, the first dozen times” under his breath.

She took him directly to the High Council Chamber, telling him–and the pair of guards by the door–to “stay put. I mean it, Fives. Do not lose this opportunity” before entering the chambers.

He glanced at one of the guards. “I’m not going anywhere, but if I don’t move my legs right now I’m going to lose my mind.”

The guard didn’t answer save for a small nod. He thanked them and began pacing.

“You’re not the first to wear down the floor out here,” Plo Koon said, the chamber door closing behind him. He couldn’t be sure, but Fives was fairly certain he was smiling beneath that mask. “And I am certain you won’t be the last.’

“General Koon,” Fives chirped automatically, standing up at attention. 

“At ease, Trooper,” Koon answered. “If you are ready, the Council is ready to hear your story.”

Suddenly, the weight of everything happening to him seemed to hit him. Not just his own fate, but the fate of all of his brothers rested squarely on his shoulders. The fate of Tup’s honor sat there, as well. If he could prove that what happened with General Tiplar wasn’t Tup’s fault…

“Fives?” Shaak Ti whispered. He hadn’t noticed her come out. “Are you ready?”

Fives took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, General.”

« Previous Day Next Day »

Thanks for reading! - River

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[tealmist55]

May I ask for a nervous kiss for Echo/Cadence? I would love for sweet Echo to get a kiss but feel like he would for once be nervous 😌

Thank you so much for this request! I've been working on Cadence's character for a bit now and this is the first time I'm posting content with her! Also note that this is not officially how they meet, just a fun scene to explore her character.

I hope you enjoy! 💙

It's also here on AO3.

--

“Hey, Echo!” Jesse bumped the ARC trooper’s shoulder roughly. “Are you paying attention?”

“Leave him alone.” Fives reached across the table and swatted Jesse away from his twin. “He didn’t want to come anyway. He can space out if he wants.”

Echo considered chiming in to defend himself, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Hardcase had already cracked a joke about something completely unrelated, capturing Fives and Jesse’s attention in the process. Free to return to his own thoughts, Echo tuned his brothers out again and reset his gaze on the far side of the room.

Senator Amidala had invited Torrent Company, along with their Jedi commanding officers, to a holiday party at her luxurious apartment. It was true; Echo hadn’t felt particularly keen on attending, but Fives had practically begged until he agreed. Jesse, Hardcase, Kix, Rex, and some of the 212th were here as well, so he figured it couldn’t be all that bad. The troopers had claimed a table when they first arrived and so far had mostly stuck together. Usually Jesse, Hardcase, and Fives would have already wandered off to socialize, but with the rest of the guests being primarily senators and otherwise upper class, it was easy for the clones to feel out of place.

Then a small group of women had arrived and Echo’s attention had instantly been drawn to one woman in particular. She looked shorter than average and wore a sleek, silver dress that fell to her knees. Echo couldn’t stop his eyes from following the tight fabric down her body and was relieved when no one seemed to notice that he stared at her thick hips for far too long. He quickly shifted his focus to her other features. She had bronze skin, like his, but maybe a shade lighter and wavy hair that just barely touched the top of her shoulders. He was having a difficult time telling whether her hair was brown or red, or maybe it was both. 

As he continued to watch her, it took only a few moments for him to spot several details that differentiated her from her friends. She was the only one who wasn’t wearing heels; which was probably part of why she appeared to be so short. When the other women beamed and laughed loudly, she didn’t join in; offering a small smile, at most. The most obvious difference though, was the silver BD unit that was hanging off her shoulder. Every once in a while Echo would see her turn and say something to the little droid, rather than participating in her friends’ conversation. It wasn’t difficult for Echo to guess that she wasn’t pleased to be here at this party, much like himself.

His eyes continued to follow her as she and her friends slowly moved around the room, collecting drinks and appetizers as they went. Eventually, they stopped in one corner of the room, just inside Senator Amidala’s wide balcony. While her friends continued to chat, the woman in the silver dress turned and leaned against the nearest wall, choosing to stare out at the Coruscant sky, instead of engaging.

Echo had the sudden urge to go talk to her, which wasn’t like him. At all. He actually couldn’t remember a time that he’d ever gone out of his way to approach a woman, but something felt different this time. He felt like he understood her, even though he had yet to speak to her. He couldn’t help but smile slightly as he watched the BD unit hop off her shoulder, so she could cradle it in her arms.

“Echo!” He turned to see that Fives was grinning at him; mischief sparking in his amber eyes. Echo knew that look. “See that girl over there?”

He turned and pointed at the woman in the silver dress. Yes, I’ve only been staring at her since she arrived. He decided not to say that, though.

“What about her?” he asked.

“Look where she’s standing.” Fives’ gaze shifted upwards and Echo followed it to the small, green plant that was hanging from the ceiling, almost directly above the woman and her droid.

“What’s that?” Echo raised an eyebrow at his twin.

“That’s mistletoe, di’kut.” Fives rolled his eyes. “If two people are caught under the mistletoe together, they have to kiss.”

Oh, no . Echo had an idea where his brother was going with this.

“So Fives is going to go kiss her!” Jesse finished, excitedly.

“Yes, sir!” Fives gave Jesse an exaggerated salute. Then he hopped out of his seat, patting Echo’s shoulder as he passed. “Wish me luck, vod!”

“Good luck,” Echo said, flatly. 

Fives didn’t seem to notice his twin’s lack of enthusiasm and began making his way over to the same woman who Echo had just been considering talking to. So much for that.

The woman turned towards Fives as he approached, without him having to say anything. Echo watched as she silently pressed two fingers to the side of her droid’s head. Then the BD unit hopped out of her arms and trotted away into the crowd of guests. Echo lost track of the droid as he turned his attention back to his twin.

“Hey-” Fives barely got the word out before he was cut off.

“Not interested,” the woman said, bluntly. She turned to fully face the ARC trooper now and folded her arms across her chest.

“But I didn’t say anything,” Fives protested, though he didn’t step any closer.

“You didn’t have to.”

“Okay…” 

Echo resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched his twin subconsciously rub the back of his neck. Fives wasn’t used to being rejected; not that quickly, anyway.

“You’re standing under the mistletoe,” Fives tried again, gesturing to the plant hanging above them. “Tradition says that if two people stand under it together, they have to kiss.”

“I guess we’ll just have to break tradition because I’m not kissing you,” the woman said, with an exasperated shrug. Suddenly her attention shifted until she was looking past Fives, directly at Echo. “I’ll kiss him, though.”

What?

“What?” Fives gasped, spinning around to see who she was talking about.

“What?” Hardcase burst into a fit of laughter and was quickly joined by Jesse.

“Wait, but you don’t know us and we look exactly the same!” Fives protested, his jaw still slack with shock.

“No, you don’t.” The woman raised an unamused eyebrow.

“Why my brother then?” Fives sounded genuinely curious now.

For the first time since Echo saw her, he thought he saw a hint of insecurity in the form of a light blush on her cheeks. “Because he’s cute,” she said, a bit softer this time. Her eyes met Echo’s for a heartbeat and then flicked away again.

“And I’m not?” Fives asked, his voice rising with disbelief.

“Not really.”

“I guess there’s no arguing with that.” The ARC trooper sighed with resignation. 

Then his expression brightened and he dashed back to the table where his brothers were sitting. Before Echo could react, Fives was pulling him out of his chair.

“Echo, guess what!”

“I heard.”

“That girl wants to kiss you, come on!”

Suddenly Echo wasn’t sure if he was excited or if he wanted to hide. He was still trying to figure out exactly what was happening as his twin dragged him over to where the woman in the silver dress was still waiting under the mistletoe.

“Have fun, vod,” Fives said, cheerfully. He patted Echo’s shoulders and then retreated back to their table.

Echo resisted the urge to grumble something at his twin and turned to face the woman in front of him. Her arms were still crossed over her body, but her now posture appeared more unsure than when Fives had been in front of her.

“Sorry,” she said, before Echo could speak. “I just really didn’t want to kiss him. I didn’t think he’d drag you over here. You don’t have to kiss me, if you don’t want to.”

Echo swallowed, unsure of what to say. A sudden heat was creeping up his neck and his palms felt unusually clammy. He’d been nervous in the past, of course, but this was a different sort of nervousness that he hadn’t experienced before.

“Did you mean what you said?” he asked, surprised by how steady his voice came out.

“Which part?” Her voice was quieter now, so he took the opportunity to take a small step closer.

“Any of it? All of it?”

“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” she said, seriously.

Now that Echo was closer to her, he could see that her eyes were gray; almost matching her dress, but not quite. He also noted the freckles that dotted her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Then his gaze fell to her lips. He definitely did want to kiss her.

“So, the part about me being cute…”

“Yeah.”

“And Fives—my brother—isn’t?”

She chuckled as she shook her head. “Nope.”

“And you wanting to kiss me?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was almost a whisper, but her response spurred Echo’s heart rate to double its pace.

“I, uh,” his voice tried to falter, but he refused to let it, “I want to kiss you too.”

Her eyes lit up and he couldn’t help but think how pretty her irises were as she stepped towards him, stopping only a few inches away. Now that she was standing right next to him, he realized that she really was short; the top of her head barely made it to his shoulder.

“I’m Cadence.” She had to tilt her head to look up at him now.

“I’m Echo,” he said, lowering his voice to match their new proximity.

“I know you were watching me,” she said, suddenly.

Echo’s heart skipped nervously in response, but he told himself that her observation wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“It was hard not to,” he admitted. He knew he’d said the right thing when a small smile formed on her lips.

“So are you going to kiss me?” she asked. “I’d kiss you first, but I can’t reach.”

Echo couldn’t help but chuckle at her comment. He’d never kissed anyone before and his veins were still pulsing with nerves, but something about her voice was soothing.

He was still smiling slightly as he leaned down and touched his lips to hers. He kissed her lightly, tentatively and his heart skipped when he felt her press against him as she kissed him back. He kept it short—they didn’t know each other, after all—but it was still the best sensation Echo had ever experienced. When he leaned back, the nerves in his veins had been replaced with exhilaration.

Their eyes locked as they broke apart, but Echo only had a moment to enjoy looking into Cadence’s gray irises before a barrage of shouts erupted from both sides of them.

Echo turned to see his brothers cheering from their table; Fives was the loudest, of course. He scanned the room as he turned back to Cadence and saw that her friends, along with several other party guests were applauding them as well. He didn’t bother to stifle his groan.

When he glanced at the woman beside him, she appeared equally annoyed.

“Hey,” he nudged her arm lightly. “Do you want to go for a walk or something?”

“Yup,” she grunted in agreement. Then she raised her voice as she called out, “Bettii!”

Less than a second later, her BD unit darted out of the crowd and hopped onto her shoulder.

Then, to Echo’s surprise and delight, Cadence grabbed his hand and completely ignored everyone else in the room as she led him towards the exit.

--

Mistletoe Drabble requests are currently CLOSED, but stay tuned for more drabbles that have yet to be posted! ✨

[quietbluejay]

Maximum Dinobots #5

okay let's see if I can get back into the swing of things with this. The thrilling finale of Maximum Dinobots!

Narration: because of me

Slag pushes Grimlock out of the way of a blast

Scorponok: you have ruined everything. But…I have moved on before, begun anew, and I will do so again

Scorponok: after I reduce you to subatomic oblivion scorp is definitely the kind of guy who quits his civ game when things go wrong to start a new one but he's also the guy who when he decides to quit, torpedoes everything

Shockwave fires and the Dinobots go flying

Shockwave tells Scorponok to cease and desist, HE's the one getting revenge here

Scorponok looks up as Shockwave hovers above him

"Vengeance? What do you know of vengeance, Shockwave? I always thought such emotional vagarities were beneath you"

Shockwave: I…learned. Evolved. A new sub-routine, birthed in combat…

"...forged in fire."

He fires a giant beam of purple light down at Scorponok from the sky

meanwhile, Slag argues that this is their chance to slip away, while they're arguing about whose grudge is bigger

Grimlock: No

Slag argues that Sludge got his circuits fried but that's part of the business, after all the one thing they never do is get all "band of brothers"

Grimlock: I know, Snarl, I know. More's the pity

man the dinobots really are a hot mess on all levels they went 4 million years of not talking about their feelings and now everything is happening at once

Grimlock: you go. take the others with you

Grimlock: I'm seeing this one through to the bitter end. It may be long overdue, but I'm finally taking responsibility

slaps roof of T-rex these giant robot dinosaurs can fit so much toxic masculinity in them

"…an accountable moment"

Grimlock looks up in what I can only call a classic Roche pose

Hot Rod: I let this get personal!

"Seekers 1 and 2 have been reacquired at the exact coordinates Shockwave supplied"

Red: status?

if you don't remember, Seekers 1 and 2 are Ravage and Laserbeak, i.e. Soundwave's minions

the person on the other side of the call tells Red they're fully immobilized

Agent Red: two down. What's the latest from Dallas?

"Shockwave has engaged with an unknown mecha in the Epsilon compound in Irving"

someone asks if they should transmit the disarm code since it's been almost 24h and yes they did in fact say "mecha"

Agent Red: hold off til the last possible moment. I want them all. A clean sweep. If it's done, let the cranial charge detonate. If not…reset i am once again wondering why optimus decided to surrender himself to these clowns' custody in the Costa run

I'm honestly not entirely sure what's going on here spark energy transplant??

and now over to Shockwave vs Scorponok

Shockwave is engaging in combat banter lol, he talks about how the Headmaster process increased Scorponok's reaction time by 60%, BUT

Shockwave: the organic contaminant knows fear, reducing your overall operational efficiency by point-three of a percent

Scorponok haltingly says he's more powerful than Shockwave

Shockwave tells him to yield

Shockwave: at this distance, a focused ion blast will penetrate even your armour plating. The creature at the heart of you will perish

Shockwave: as I have no overriding imperative to truncate your existence it would be logical to stand down your weapons systems immediately

it's Grimlock, in T-rex mode

he yells about how he might not have been able to save Sludge, but he can still avenge him

Scorponok smiles smugly

Scorponok: not today

Shockwave: That is what you cost me. That is the debt

Grimlock: yeah? well, the humans have an expression…

"...Payback's a bitch!"

he charges Shockwave

Sludge's eyes light up

and now we have a flashback to Shockwave and Soundwave's meeting earlier

Shockwave: that you find yourself locked in this most limited alt mode, courtesy of a weapon designed by me

Shockwave: but, no matter, soon both of us…

you'd never expect it, but Shockwave and Jann Arden have something in common I guess

over at Machination Central:

Hot Rod: wow

he's not wrong

Hot Rod: stand back. one good swing and it'll all be-

"-over," finishes Scorponok, who has snuck up on Hot Rod

uh oh it's scorponok back with a steel chair

meanwhile in the wreckage, the Dinobots watch Shockwave walk off

"this may not be much of a cause, but it'll have to do. Monsterbots we are not."

??: er, guys?

"What's going on?"

the Dinobots turn to look in shock

"Sludge?"

yes, it is he, he's not dead!

in his helicopter, Red orders the pilot to get him up there, he wants to see this firsthand...

he orders a tech to send the disarm code

once again putting in a panel because i think it's cool

Soundwave relays the disarm code to Shockwave, and Shockwave tells him how to get un-trapped

"Awaken!"

over with Skywatch, Laserbeak and Ravage tear their way through the techs, there's a decent amount of blood

Shockwave: our brief partnership is concluded, Soundwave, and so…is this charade also huh that's about as explicit as we've gotten re: human deaths (in the future, Soundwave will be mad at Shockwave for not keeping his word here. I'm not sure what he's on about)

Grimlock (in robot mode) stares quizzicaly

Grimlock: charade?

Shockwave: I care nothing for this inconsequential duel, Grimlock. Here, today, it served a purpose. But now I say...let it end

oh boy those yellow canisters sure look explosive

you guessed it, the place explodes…and a certain helicopter with Agent Red in it is too close and gets caught in the explosion

it's the rest of the Dinobots!

"You messed with the Dinobots. That's never a good move"

Scorponok: Halfwits. You should have run when you had the chance.

Hot Rod rasps for them to take out the head

Swoop: wow...that is ugly

can we call this a running gag if it only happened twice?

Scorponok screams as Swoop through his head (literally)

Hunter: Finish it! He deserves to die

Dinobot: works for me

???: No.

surpriiiise it's Ultra Magnus with the steel chair

Hot Rod: my message got through. You came

Swoop, who is holding Hot Rod up: Er, you here for him? Or us?

Ultra Magnus: I think…

Ultra Magnus: …we should purge this entire facility, gather up any and all hybrids affiliated with Scorponok, and get as far away from this planet as soon as possible

they all stare at him

Swoop: um…

surprise sunstreaker isn't actually dead because that makes sense

Hunter: it's strange. it's like half of me is…missing. I'm…not even sure who I am any more

yes they survived their cliffhanger, somehow (but yay they're here and reunited!)

also i guess the autobots made them clothing somehow this is tragic considering how they all end up ;-; but aw they're happy now at least

on ultra magnus' ship…

Ultra Magnus: thanks in no small part to you…

Ultra Magnus: warrants on the other Dynobots have been cancelled already

Ultra Magnus: y'know, what I can't figure out about your lot is, are you too tough or just too stubborn to die?

Grimlock: Both

Grimlock, thinking: Sludge

"Loyal. Resolute. Dependable."

"alive"

"Because of me"

and that's a wrap for Maximum Dinobots!

also it never answered the question about Sunstreaker's original body??? like, where was it??? how did IT stay alive for that long??? how did they find it again to add to his head???

[judedeluca]

For eggos-esper

An extremely late holiday prompt

@eggos-esper

Jay decided staying inside the Christmas tree was far better than having to mingle in the JL holiday party. It was a somewhat lazy attempt on the Big Three’s part to accommodate all the different leagues which existed over the years. When they could bother to remember most of them existed. He didn’t even know why he accepted the invitation. After what happened at Sanctuary, Blue Jay didn’t want to be anywhere near Batman, Superman, OR Wonder Woman. He'd gone to them for help and all he got was a computer inflicting mental and emotional abuse on him.

Still, part of Blue Jay thought it would’ve been nice to see his old teammates from Justice League Europe. He figured there were so many people who’d been on the different teams that the chances of him having to actually interact with Batman or the other two were slim.

Jay compared notes with Rex, Ralph and Sue on coming back from the dead.

“Oh sure, you two had it easy,” Rex quipped. “All you needed was for the universe to reset itself and BAM, instant comeback. Me, I had to come back the hard way.”

“Ralph and I still aren’t entirely sure if our deaths DID happen,” Sue postulated.

“But it definitely makes for a decent mystery, wouldn’t you say Suze?” Ralph asked, his nose twitching as it usually did when he smelled a mystery.

“I know my death happened, sort of,” Jay interjected.

“I thought Bug Girl swapped you and all the other schmucks out with clones,” Rex asked. “Or maybe you’re the clone.”

“DON’T start with that,” Jay warned. “On Angor I knew someone who dealt with clones and it messed up his marriage.”

“Speaking of marriage, I always knew Ted and Booster were bound to tie the knot,” Ralph laughed. “Did you ask their kid when they exchanged vows? Sue and I can help plan!”

“WE’RE NOT GAY!” Jay heard the Blue and Gold duo shouting from the other side of the room.

Jay figured they could Tora into the discussion, but she turned down her invitation. She heard Sigrid Nansen was going to show up and didn’t want to make things awkward between her and Bea. Meanwhile, Sigrid apparently turned THEIR invitation down because they didn’t want to run into Bea or Al Rothstein. After what Sigrid went through, Jay sympathized.

Jay couldn’t believe the new Crimson Fox had been shameless enough to invite herself. No one knew exactly how she was related to d’Aramis twins, but she figured that warranted an invitation.

“I am the heir to the d’Aramis cosmetics fortune,” Crimson Fox Part Trois said.

“Okay but HOW?” Jay asked. “Hal Jordan mentioned you said the exact same thing. Are you Constance and Vivian’s cousin? A secret triplet?”

“Excuse me I see Rex Mason. I’d like to ask him about my dear lost relations. Oh Rexy!” And with that she was gone in a haze of perfume.

For as many Leaguers as there were who cheated death, there were more than a handful of heroes who were still rotting in the ground. Rocket Red. Fel Andar and Sharon Parker. Linda Strauss (or was she stuck inside the Helmet of Nabu?). General Glory. Triumph. Mystek. That Mark Antaeus kid who killed himself after what happened in Kirai.

And Laura.

The memory of Laura Neilsen’s death still saddened Blue Jay. Somehow despite multiple reality shifts and timeline resets, the Silver Sorceress remained one of the few Leaguers who had not been lucky enough to snag a resurrection. Even the variants of her from the new version of Angor and her doppelgangers on Earth-8 were so distinctive it was obvious they were brand new people. Jay still didn’t understand how the cosmic forces jumped from “Silver Sorceress” to “Purple Rain.”

God the Multiverse really drove him crazy sometimes.

He’d been so lost in thought he didn’t even notice Superman was heading towards him, chatting with the robot Hourman and Tomorrow Woman. Not wanting to bump into the Man of Steel and potentially start a shouting match, Jay shrunk down and hid inside a nearby Christmas tree. Nestled in the branches (real, not plastic), one would almost mistake Jay for a partridge. The ornaments shaped like pears only made the comparison more fitting.

Jay waited for Superman to depart, but he seemed to be rather invested in a conversation with the two android heroes (was Tomorrow Woman an android still?). He recalled fighting alongside Superman when they were both abducted by aliens, but it was hard for Jay to get over what felt like a major betrayal of ethics. The only reason he didn’t want to cause a confrontation was that it was Christmas. The last thing Jay wanted was to be remembered as the guy who spoiled the party.

From his place in the tree, Jay had a decent view of the rest of the party. He was beginning to realize exactly how many members the Justice League managed to burn through since his time.

Over in one corner, he noticed Arsenal rejecting the advances of a drunken woman with gold skin. Jay couldn’t remember if her name was Lady Luck or Goldrush. Green Arrow (the second one) was chatting with the new Aztek about what it’d been like to work with her predecessor. It seemed like the party was in full swing.

Deciding not to feel sorry for himself any further, and because it was almost time for the gift exchange, Jay departed the tree and tried to mingle again. He found himself having a rather decent conversation with a heroine called Moon Maiden.

“I don’t remember seeing you at any JLE meetings,” Jay mentioned.

“Oh but I remember you, from Angor right?” Moon Maiden shuddered. “Those Extremists really were a bunch of total creeps.”

“You fought the Extremists? I never heard of that.”

“That was in the old timeline,” the moon-based heroine said.

“Let me guess, you were a founding member everyone forgot about because of time shenanigans?”

“Yes!” Moon Maiden nodded. “Thank you, I’m so tired of having to explain that to everyone I meet.”

“Well all I can say is you seem a lot nicer than Triumph,” Jay figured. “By any chance do you remember someone named Silver Sorceress?”

“Unfortunately no, my League only ever encountered the Extremists,” Moon Maiden shook her head. “Why? What was she like?”

Jay found it easier to talk about the good times instead of dwelling on the bad, and spent over an hour regaling Moon Maiden with exploits of Angor’s heroes and villains. He didn’t even notice when the new Black Orchid and Element Woman had begun listening to the conversation.

“-so then Laura says ‘any club that would have her as a member wasn’t worth joining.”

“No!”

“Well not to her face.”

“Actually, I did say it to her face. You just weren’t around for it.”

Jay felt his heart sink to his stomach when he turned around to find himself facing a familiar-looking, silver haired enchantress in a maroon costume.

“Laura?”

“Jay.”

“Is this a dream?”

“No.”

“A hoax?”

“Nope.”

“An imaginary story?”

“Not really.”

“How-?”

“Dunno.”

“Okay then.”

Jay turned back to Moon Maiden, Black Orchid, and Element Woman and introduced them to his old teammate.

“Oh, you died once? Me too!” Element Woman said. “Wasn’t it fun?”

“Who the hell thought it was funny to give me a bottle of diet root beer for Christmas?!” Power Girl shouted from somewhere in the room, causing Jay and Laura to start laughing their asses off.

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

[waters-and-the-wilde]

get in losers i'm yelling about Vanishing Act

CASSANDRA

god at some point please let her find out that the one trend she well and truly actually started was 'heckling Juno Steel and that dorky tall bastard about making big dorky smitten eyes at each other' and that he's still hung up on the guy

(I am not. entirely sold on the idea of them getting actual married as endgame for a variety of reasons but I do think about stuff like. Cassandra getting a wedding invite and showing up and going WAIT. HIM? FUCKING REALLY STEEL?? while Nureyev does a saucy little gay wave)

PETRUSHKA AURINKOVICH NUREYEV OF COURSE YOU FUCKIGN. RECREATIONAL LOCKPICKING STIMS.

FUCK. I LOVE HIM. GODDAMMIT. I NEED. TO. PUT HIM IN THE FLOWER PRESS BOOK. GET FLATTENED YOU FUCKING NERD.

tbh i love it when kabert will just. Go Off about the entertainment industry and capitalist executive meddling in art, is it heavy-handed? slightly. do i enjoy it every time? yeahhhhhhh

god this episode was just so fucking FUN and I think it's like 85% because Juno's in a good place and enjoying himself, like the atmosphere has a lot of what S1-2 had but extra rewarding bc of the skill and spirit with which he has clawed himself out of that which resembles the grave but isn't

OKAY THE PLAY THOUGH. YOU CAN'T TELL ME IT'S NOT FORESHADOWING FOR WHAT THE EXECUTIVES ARE DOING/GOING TO DO TO NUREYEV. STRINGING HIM ALONG AND MAKING HIM WORK UNTIL HE BREAKS. THE WAY HE'LL KEEP DOING EVERYTHING THEY ASK ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH AND THEY WILL NEVER KEEP THEIR WORD.

WAIT HOLD UP SONOFABITCH I BET YOU THE FORTISIMO LOCK IS A FUCKING METAPHOR TOO

IT SCARMBLES THE TUMBLERS IT RESETS THE CONDITIONS AS YOU TRY TO UNDO IT

'Carrie Gold' CARRIE GOLD?? okay like with 'Rex Glass' I did not actually track the pun until someone pointed it out but this time it was because i was too hung up on the fact that this lady is a BRAND OF BUTTER. KERRY GOLD. I FUCKINH ASK YOU

I never actually listened to Shaken in S1 but I accidentally traumatized my friend whomst i was trying to get to listen to the show and forgot to warn them about the horror episodes so they told me about what happens in that one and did not end up listening past it. in any case i see what they did there.

okay the bit with the Ruby and the feeling it's following to track Nureyev down and the bit from the Q and A about yearning. like tell me it's yearning without telling me it's yearning. i don't entirely understand what's happening here but it compels me.

GOD JUNO AND RITA WORKING TOGETHER AS MATCHED SET DO NOT SEPARATE PI BUDDIES YOUR HONOR I CARE THEM

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

||Caught within the trapped cells: part 5||

Hi there dears. I think I can try to add another chapter to this little mini drabble series today. Again, this is heavily focused on the inmates and officers so I hope you like. Also, the one reason I couldn't decide who to write next was thanks to writer's block. I was stuck on who to write for next. Though, I got stuck on who was next: Either being Terry and Sai, Ink and Denji, Yuji/Megumi/Kisho etc. But I guess I'll make a choice now. So! How about we give some love for Denji and Ink! They are next! <3

~~Chapters so far~~

First Cell: Officer Katsuki and Inmate vanguard

Second Cell: Officer Mills and Inmate Vin-Shia

Third Cell: Officer Nakano and Inmate Seon

Forth Cell: Officer Davion and inmate Knight

((Your reading chapter 5))

||Drabble Summary||

The officers were falling faster now to the pools of pleasure since Davion fell thanks to Rust. Now we move on during this event with morning coming again. Seems another pair is spotted. Who is next? Read to find out.

||Warning||

~Strong Sexual NSFW warning ((This is going to be present in all the chapters. If your under 18: Do Not READ!))

~Teasing

~Flirting

~Rough play

~Dom and Sub play

~Punishment

~demon corrupting an officer

~Chapters will or could be really long

||Muses in this drabble||

Van Ink the dragon and some others that will show in later chapters belong to my amazing friend @demon-blood-youths

While Denji Hayakawa is a muse that's from the anime series Chainsaw Man along with some others that will show in later chapters are from their anime shows but also to me due to having them as muses.

((Note: This drabble will have heavy grammar mistakes and errors but this was written for fun. I hope you understand but also enjoy please. Also as I warned: This will have heavy sexual themed content. If your under 18, please don't read. Thanks for understand and enjoy.))

The night carries on but it seems like most things are calm again. As morning comes about, the area was still in lockdown. Some of the officers were worried seeing that four officers were gone but it seems something must have happened.

"Now what do we do? I don't see Bakugo, Rex, Davion, or Nakano. Do you think something happened?" Kisho was worried looking at the others that remain seeing this. Some was unsure on what to say about it but they were trying to figure out how much longer it was going to be before the lockdown was over. However, they were wondering what happened to the others?

"Alright, I got through. I'm going to check how much longer we have before the lockdown is over.." officer Winter checks while looking worried only to see it was...reset? "Huh?"

'Lock down has increased due to inmates trying to break out or provoke the timer.'

"Oh damn it!" she said. "Were still trapped in here." she said seeing some more nervous now. Given this ideal, we don't know what could happen now." Winter sees her team worried with some others not sure of what is happening.

"Calm down. As long as we stay focused we will be okay. We just need to be sure we stick together during the day.." Ryunosuke said but he knew this was bad. Given how violent the lower inmates are..even his own charge Matt. He'll have to check on him later.

"Well, we will be sure to do that. For now, what do we do? We can't get through to Mr. Henderson right because of this?" Izuku said.

"I don't know but for now, lets just focus on what we can do." he said as everyone else nods going to their posts for now. However, that's when the main four was going to return later that morning.

During that time later on, Rex did return along with Nakano, Bakugo, Davion, and Yuuka who were tired but the four were already corrupted thanks to what happened that night.

"Hey, you four are alright! What happened?" Denji asked but Rex sighed to look at him.

"We are fine. Lets just say we were trying to calm something down last night..but it's taken care of." he said with arms crossed.

"Y..Yeah, we are okay.." Yuuka said even if she was looking a bit tense now. But she was trying not to show it.

"Well, whatever happened you guys are safe so that's good." Denji said but Bakugo grumbles not saying too much. "Well, how about you four take a break or off for now-"

"Were fine. WE will continue our work but you guys can give me updates on what happened." he said seeing them doing that. However, Yuuka was quiet but she looks flushed. Why did Oblivion have to give her this for a punishment till tonight?

~~~~~~~~~Back to this early morning~~~~~~~~

"Good girl. You did well last night." Oblivion was sitting up petting her head but Yuu was dazed as she was shaking from what she went through. Her body never expected such a feeling of pleasure before that now she was hoping to get more. Oblivion noticed but she only sees her reaching that she takes her hand.

"I know, I know. It felt good and you want to feel it again right?" she asked seeing Yuu nod. "Well, how about this? I'll give you something and if your able to behave; I'll give you more...how about it?"

"R...You woul..would? Then w..what...i..is it.." she asked but sees something in Oblivion's hand. A vibrator.

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

So now she had to have this inside of her while Oblivion was messing with the settings to see if she can behave herself. For now, Yuuka was okay even if she was holding back her whimpers feeling a bit wet. She had to get through this before tonight. She just hopes no one else notices.

For now, everything was quiet for now but it leaves Bakugo grumbling that he was keeping his end of the deal if he wanted more of the dragon. "Hey Denji!"

"Huh?"

"...I think you should do guard duty with the inmate today. I'm..going to take a break for now after all this crazy shit."

"Ha?! Why? Scared that she'll drain you dry or something-"

"NO! I'm tired from last night so take over! Just don't do anything stupid." he said but Denji was confused seeing Bakugo heading to his quarters to rest.

"What was that all about.." he mutters but he knew Bakugo was flushed since he was hiding his heated expression. He did want to feel more but he would have to wait for now since he gave his word to get Denji to her. Get him to take over guarding Ink so she can corrupt him next. When getting to his room, he quickly locks the door and goes to sit. He was already hard thinking about her that he begins trying to calm down while looking down.

"Damn it..d..damn it.." he groans now stroking himself. He was going to be busy right now as the day keeps on going like nothing happened. True the inmates were to stay in their cells till the lockdown was over but some was still planning a way to get out or some catching their officers to play with. Four were already taken but another will be added as Denji was given the task of watching Ink for Bakugo or having his turn.

"Hey, you doing alright in there Vanguard. You seem happy this morning." Denji said by her cell door but she hums slightly to look at the door.

"No worries, I'm good. Just bored since were stuck in our cells because of this lockdown thing. How long till it gets broken?" she asked.

"Well, we still have a while due to another inmate trying to break it...so were still stuck in here." He sighed even if Ink smiled without Denji seeing it. Seems like this might work for her.

"I see. Well, that means we can hang out right, Officer Hayakawa?" she asked seeing him blink to look at her from his shoulder.

"Uhhhh hang out?"

"yeah, just hanging out and having fun! I heard from Bakugo you always like to have fun around here...right?" she sees Denji think about it even if that's true. He tends to do a few things to bring some fun in this place.

"I mean yeah, I don't mind that..but what are you getting at?" he asked.

"Ohhhh nothing. I just wanna have a little fun." Ink said smiling to him that Denji was silent to look at her seeing the Dragon sitting there in the cell looking at him. What was she planning here?

"Listen you, that's not allowed. I don't know what your going for but you better behave." Denji stays true to himself and keeps looking ahead. Their was no way he would lose to her and her cute looks. This got Ink thinking but remembering what Bakugo told her.

Even if Denji is known for his strength and keeping to his job, he's weak against cuties like her. Even better knowing she had the cutest features. Even if she was a woman, he still had to stay focused!

"Come on can't we hang out a little and have some fun?" Ink asked again that Denji sighed.

"Listen, I told you that's not allowed. You either behave or I'll be sure you get sent to.." as he turns to face her he tenses to see what was in front of him. Ink was right in front of him but she smiled tilting her head while gazing upon his face.

"You sure we can't play a little?" she asked softly to touch his cheek that Denji already feels her petting his head. Even showing he was seriously cute. He blushed red seeing up close she was cute.

"I..I umm.."

"Hmmm? What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" she teased. She reaches to poke his lips gently but as she did that, Denji moves away only for her to turn his head back and pulls him down to kiss him.

"Mffm!?" He twitched feeling the kiss but he grips her shoulders feeling Ink kissing him. She only blushed from the kiss that she even feels his hands shaking now. Her lips were really soft and it felt really nice.

She and him remains close kissing one another before she breaks the kiss panting softly against them. Her grey eyes were glowing to grip his uniform shirt to chuckle.

"You seem speechless....wanna another one?" she asked but he only panted to squeeze her shoulders but she only stops to back up. But Denji didn't let go to kiss her neck that made Ink shiver a little. His lips were warm against her skin that he was nuzzling and kissing her neck that he accidently bit her skin. She tenses feeling sharp teeth bite her but he felt his eyes widen.

Drops of her blood was tasted on his tongue that he shook.

'W..wait...her blood....no way..it tastes so warm, soothing, and smooth....like a creamy treat and creamy soda...s..so good..' he thought while pulling back licking where he bit her. Ink only shivers to grip the uniform more but she only feels him about to pull her closer that she pulls his head from her shoulder to look at him.

"H..Hey..."

"Come on Denji...why not come inside and have some fun..I won't bite...You can play with me all you like...and even have your fun.." she said seeing Denji only blushing worse. He could see her appearance to make him shake. She was standing there showing off but her body was pressed up against the cell bar door that he even saw her boobs showing to him.

"......" yeah, it was getting hard to when it comes to cute girls, Ink was one hot girl. Maybe he could get a-No no no! But he was going to reach to squeeze them but he shook trying to resist. Her lips were soft and she already was a tempting tease! That's not fair.

"......." The taste of her blood still remains on his tongue but he shook only to try shaking it off. Being quick, he was about to but stops to calm himself down.

"I..I can't..it's not right I.....damn it.." turning away he rushes off to take a break from his post leaving Ink. She sees him leave but she licked her lips with glowing silver eyes.

'So Bakugo was right..he's seriously cute....really cute..' she thought. "I almost had him...maybe a more physical move would have worked." she thought.

Later that afternoon, Denji was trying to get what happened out of his head but some other officers were unsure if he was okay.

"Uhhh Denji? You okay-"

"I'm good!" he said quickly to startle Kisho who had Rioto near by hearing this.

"Maybe he's sick.." he said holding a tray for his lunch but Denji only looks ahead holding a fork. The other claws wonder if he was alright but Bakugo knew or he was the only one that knew what was going on., He did guard Ink so she might have pulled a move on him. For now, others were quiet trying to stay calm even Officer brooks and Officer Niguredo who saw Yuuka remain quiet while eating her food even if she was flushed pink, legs squirming a bit thanks to it.

"...." Both were unsure if she was okay but they remain quiet to hope she was.

"Anyway, we should be fine. Lets just finish up lunch and get back to places." Ryu said but seeing that many nods only to keep on eating. However, he was still concerned about Matt he did check on him but saw he was resting up. Maybe later he'll recheck on him again. As for Denji, he was lost thinking about Ink again but he was getting excited wanting to feel and taste her more.

Oh boy, this was going to be hard.

[antoniakidman]

Toy Story 3

Plot Andy, now 17 years old, is preparing to leave for college. He has not played with his toys for years, and only Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, Slinky, Hamm, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, the Aliens, and three toy soldiers remain. As the despondent toys reflect on their future, the soldiers parachute out the window and leave. Andy intends to take Woody to college, and puts the other toys into a trash bag, to be placed in the attic; however, Andy's mother mistakenly puts the bag outside with the true garbage. The toys narrowly escape from the garbage truck, and, believing Andy deliberately threw them away, get into a donation box in Andy's mother's car with Molly's old Barbie doll. Woody follows in an attempt to bring them back, but is unable to convince the others of Andy's real intentions, and goes along when Andy's mother takes the box of donations to Sunnyside Daycare.

At Sunnyside, Andy's toys are welcomed by the other toys, led by Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear ("Lotso"). The toys (except for Woody) are delighted to learn that Sunnyside never runs out of children, and Barbie is enamored with a Ken doll. Woody attempts to return home, but is instead found by a child from Sunnyside named Bonnie, who brings him home and plays with him and her other toys. Bonnie's toys are shocked that Woody escaped from Sunnyside. Chuckles, a toy clown, explains that he, Lotso, and Big Baby, Lotso's assistant at Sunnyside, were owned by a girl named Daisy, but were lost during a family trip. When they made it home, Lotso found out that he had been replaced. Disregarding Chuckles' protests, the embittered Lotso lied to Big Baby that Daisy had replaced all of them. They rode a truck to Sunnyside, where Lotso took over, turning it into a toy prison. Chuckles was eventually broken and later found by Bonnie.

Meanwhile, back at Sunnyside after the toddlers play roughly with Andy's toys, Buzz asks Lotso to move the toys to the older children's room. Lotso allows Buzz to go, but when he insists that Andy's toys go as well, Lotso switches Buzz to his original demo mode factory settings, causing him to believe himself to be an actual space ranger under Lotso's command. Meanwhile, Mrs. Potato Head, through an eye she lost in Andy's room, sees Andy searching for his toys. They realize that Woody told the truth about Andy's intentions and try to escape, but Lotso's gang, recruiting a brainwashed Buzz, imprison them.

Woody returns to Sunnyside, where a Chatter Telephone tells him that there is now no way out, except through the trash chute. Later that night, the toys make their escape plan. After successfully incapacitating Lotso's night watchman, a Cymbal-banging monkey toy, they attempt to restore Buzz's memory, but Rex accidentally resets Buzz to Spanish mode. Spanish Buzz, still believing himself to be an actual space ranger, immediately allies himself with Woody and falls in love with Jessie. The toys reach a dumpster, but are cornered by Lotso and his gang. Woody reveals Lotso's deception to Big Baby, who angrily throws Lotso into the dumpster. As a garbage truck approaches, the toys try to leave, but Lotso pulls Woody into the dumpster. The rest of Andy's toys jump after him as the truck arrives, and all fall inside.

Buzz returns to normal after a television falls onto him inside the truck. The truck takes the toys to a landfill, where they are swept onto a conveyor belt leading to an incinerator. The Aliens spot an industrial claw, but are swept away while running toward it. After narrowly avoiding a shredder and rescuing Lotso, Woody and Buzz help Lotso reach an emergency stop button, only for Lotso to abandon them. The toys fall into the incinerator and resign themselves to their apparent fate, but the Aliens rescue them with the industrial claw. Lotso is later found by a garbage truck driver, who fastens him to his truck's radiator grille as a decoration. Woody and his friends ride Sid's garbage truck back to Andy's house.

Woody leaves a note for Andy, who, thinking the note is from his mother, donates the toys to Bonnie. Andy introduces the toys individually to Bonnie and is surprised to find Woody at the bottom of the donation box. Bonnie recognizes him, and though initially hesitant, Andy passes Woody on to her, and they play together before he leaves. Woody and the other toys witness Andy's departure as they begin their new lives with Bonnie.

In the film's epilogue, Barbie, Ken, and Big Baby have vastly improved Sunnyside and maintain contact with Bonnie's toys through letters. The toy soldiers parachute into Sunnyside, where Ken and Barbie welcome them.

watch movies

[ask-the-roadtrip-squad]

[askblueberrymuffin]

YAY! BLUE TO THE RESCUE!!!

Sans returns to his house with Martin. Entering, he sets him down carefully on the sofa. He has yet to say a single word after being hit and losing all his HP.

Suddenly.

He collapses without warning. With his nephew now safe, his determination could not keep him alive. He’s fading fast, his body turning to dust.

[masterjedilenawrites]

Hi! Am i able to request the clones and bad batch comforting their S/O who has lost motivation on something they love doing because they think there terrible at it?

Cody, Fox, and Hunter will insist their partner take some time off from their hobby. Disconnect or pack away any supplies or cancel any plans. Focus on other parts of life for a while. Spend time with friends and family. They hope the time away will help them reset their emotions and recharge their energy.

Rex, Fives, and Hardcase are always faithful cheerleaders for their S/O's pursuits. They would've already been supportive and encouraging, hopefully so much so that their partner never loses motivation. But if that feeling occurs anyway, they step up their game even more and ensure their partner's confidence comes right back. 

Jesse, Dogma, and Crosshair will be perplexed as to why their S/O stopped doing that thing they used to so clearly love. They'll gently urge them to spend time on it again, or ask what their next project could be. Little ways to keep it on their minds until their motivation comes back.

Tup*, Tech, and Wrecker freak out... in a good way. How could their partner think they're terrible at it?! They'll ramble on for days about their impressive talent, bringing up every example they can think of to show just how good they really are. They'll take no excuses until their S/O believes in themselves again.

Wolffe, Kix, and Echo would calmly listen to any concerns or grievances their partner has about how they're feeling. They won't immediately push them into re-engaging with their passion, but they will do what they can to show their partner they at least don't need to feel bad about themselves.

*Bonus: Tup would spend an entire week with whatever free time he could manage working on a secret project for his S/O. At the end of the week, he presents a collage of all the positive comments/reviews/praise he could find of his partner's past work. To show them not only how supportive he is, but how much others love their talent, too.

Clone Tag List: @damerondala, @marvel-starwars-nerd, @dangerousstrawberrypie, @pandora-the-halfling, @misogirl828, @darkangel4121, @sobstea, @rintheemolion, @dionysuskid21, @jesseeka, @hanbetired, @fallingforthem, @harleyevanstan, @imabeautifulbutterfly, @justanothersadperson93, @thatmultifandomdumbass, @sarahtanmarvel, @itsagrimm, @call-me-a-fool, @lackofhonor, @error6gendernotfound, @theclonesdeservebetter, @hannahhearttcw, @Techie-bear, @Lottemoppie13, @salaminus, @arctrooper69, @theroguesully, @clonesimps

+ Bad Batch Tags: @bowtiesandsandshoes, @softlymellow, @Disney_exe, @reading02

[vampiirex]

@robygoonn2 veeeery basic rundown bc im lowkey high off my ass rn and not braining :3

TW FOR VERY SLIGHT ABUSE MENTIONS nothing rlly srs but just in case

Rex Grullo is my sona! he's the fella with blue hair. (art by the lovely @vellichorom btw! i love how twinkie drew him here) also i refer to him in 3rd person but HE IS ME. he is my sona. that is me, i am him. though i fell in love the moment i saw the narrator, my sona has dif lore for the sake of it simply being fun

he's the head of the advertisement department, though he started off in his company as a graphic designer!

back when he was in his early 20s, he met a woman at a music festival. they both quickly became friends before falling in love and eventually getting married! the two ended up having a daughter together and everything seemed perfect. however, her family HATED grullo. his wife came from a higher-class family while he was dirt poor. over the years, they eventually got into her head and convinced her to see a "better" man. she ended up becoming distant and emotionally abusive towards him, and in secret, their daughter.

grullo stayed through the mental abuse for the sake of their daughter until he found out about her cheating. he divorced her, but because of her status, they bribed the courts and grullo lost nearly everything. he had to quickly move into a shitty apartment nearby his office to try and stay afloat.

the narrator in this story is an imp to me. he always hated working under higher powers (despite him becoming one in his game... cough) and he fell in love with storytelling and comedy on one of his many adventures. the narrator had to go and study humans in order to gather information on specific people to aid higher demons trying to take their souls.

now, you may be asking, why? well, why not? it's the stanley PARABLE, so i'm gonna add some religious elements. :p

anyway! the narrator one day had to go to an office to study a man, and he ended up falling in love with the cold, monotonous environment. it was such a contrast to his hot, chaotic life in hell. the narrator had previously used escapism through the idea of making games or telling narratives, but now he finally had a setting! over time, as he grew and his powers developed, the parable ended up manifesting into existence. it was like lucy from bungo stray dog's ability ^_^

the narrator ended up taking those he saw struggling into his parable to "fix" them. one day, when he was gonna trap grullo's boss, he saw grullo. he saw how grullo struggled to get through his daily life, and he decided to take him in.

grullo, of course, was horrified at first! he was practically kidnapped and he was being yelled at by someone he couldn't even see. not to mention, the environment was so similar to his actual office job. most offices look the same anyway. it was like his normal office, but so much more disorienting!

the narrator, on the other hand, was angry that grullo would not listen to him. i mean, why was this guy he SAVED not listening to him?! that's what he thought at least. grullo ended up not listening for the first long while, and they hated each other!

however, over time, they ended up growing closer due to forced proximity. they became friends and eventually fell for each other. the narrator was unaware, while grullo was hyperaware. one day, during the insanity ending, grullo ended up spitting it out right before the narrator got to the part where he read his mind.

the two ended up talking things out after that reset and ended up marrying. also, bonus bc im a vampire and the narrator's some nonhuman thing, they never have to worry abt death doing them part :3

i kinda wanna post abt my tsp sonas story n lore but idk if anyone gaf bc it's technically selfship/oc x canon instead of stanarrator 💔💔

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Digital Heart

Foul Legacy Childe x Reader Gender Neutral (no pronouns mentioned) Angst Warnings: Falling, fighting, minor injuries, nausea, breathlessness 

In which Genshin is an interactive RPG accessed through an immersive headset, and you find yourself pushed to play it by your friends.

~ * ~

It started with a game.

For thirty days and thirty nights, your friends have been pleading for you to play it. Genshin Impact it was called, an free immersive open-world RPG with hundreds of weapons, characters, and power ups. Accessible through a specialized headset that tracked movement, it had only been a month since the freely downloadable game’s release and it was already a success, garnering praise from the customizable main character and the interactive playstyle. Play it. Your friends beg. You’ll love it. We can play together. 

You refuse at first. The game might be free, but the headset isn’t, and you need to save that money to pay for food and clothes. Alongside your financial state was your schedule, a long list of work and chores that left little time to play games with constant updates like Genshin, so you told your friends- politely, as that’s how you were raised- that it’d have to wait. They agreed, quietly.

Then the next day, they ask again. You make an excuse- too much work. They agree, again.

The second day, asking. You’re too tired, you say. Of course, they respond.

Everyday, the same question. The same request, the same demand. It wears on you, amused exasperation drawing a sigh from you everytime you open your notifications.

Play it.

You can’t.

Play it.

You don’t have time.

Play it.

You need to focus!

Play it.

…

…Alright.

Finally, you cave. You create an account, a headset en route to your house. You clear an area in your house so you don’t accidentally hit anything. The headset arrives, and you insert the batteries, said to last up to an entire day playing nonstop, a stage you dearly hope you never reach. You pull it down over your head, cringing at the thought of your hair getting so mussed, and switch it on. A long and potentially worrying warning flashes before your eyes and you blink, not used to the in-depth cameras yet, as the screen goes white.

Welcome to Genshin Impact! Please name your character… appears, and you subsequently slip down the rabbit hole.

It’s fun, you find. Your friends were right, you did like Genshin Impact, although you thank your lucky stars that you weren’t as attached as some players were, as you still had work and life to attend to. The combat and story were enjoyable, and the characters were funny and diverse in personality and playstyles. The main character, who was also your customizable avatar, was quite literally you, the story explained, a traveler from distant lands who fell face first into Teyvat by mistake and tragedy. Of course you still haven’t gotten entirely used to the whole immersion thing, and sometimes shuddered under the eerily real programming of the NPCs and characters, but that was nigh unnoticeable when focusing on fighting monsters. Your deep love for exploration and discovery surfaces, and you take as long as you want exploring every inch of the wonderfully modelled map as you follow the main story, or “Archon Quests”. You calm the great dragon Dvalin and bid your friends at Mondstadt- Kaeya, Amber, Lisa, Diluc, Jean, and Venti- goodbye, Liyue sprawling out before you in wooded forests and cloud-covered mountains. A mysterious man runs across you at the Inn, the immortal Adeptus Xiao, although you would’ve thought he was quite young due to his short stature, and you encounter Zhongli in the Harbor, along with Lady Ningguang and her subordinates, Keqing and Ganyu. A member of the malicious-seeming Fatui also greets you and introduces himself as Childe, a name you don’t trust for a second, yet find yourself getting strangely attached too. The story progresses with you at Zhongli and Ningguang’s sides, the suspicion being pointed more and more to the Fatui, and you find yourself staring up at the elegant pillars of the Golden House, the mora mint building.

You gulp. You know this is where Childe’s boss battle takes place, and you’re not sure if your team is prepared, even if you stocked up on food right before leaving the Harbor. Inhaling a deep breath, you shove the enormous front doors open, and a cutscene pulls your fear tight against your throat. Everyone’s suspicions were right- he was here to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis, and you have to stop him. 

Easier said than done. The cutscene of your face shows a determined, fierce expression, instead of the nervous one you had in real life, and you almost laugh. You dearly hope your characters are strong enough, and step into the arena.

Phases One and Two are relatively short, as you quickly learn to avoid using Childe’s respective elements of his Vision and Delusion while his shield is up. The battle is fun and fast-paced, and you feel a thrill in your bones as you dodge another attack before swinging your sword in retaliation. Childe stumbles, and Phase Two ends with a cutscene. The corpse of Rex Lapis, something you considered a bit gruesome, is discovered to have no gnosis, and you can feel the raw anger in the Harbinger’s voice as the air crackles and hisses. A horrible, blinding light shines, and Childe is gone.

At least, human Childe is gone. In his place floats a monstrous version of himself, nearly 14 feet tall and complete with horns and armor, and your mouth drops open slightly as you gaze at him wide eyed. But your focus is violently shifted when the floor cracks and turns to dust, sending you tumbling down into the belly of the Golden House. You land with an unceremonial thump, thankful that the creators hadn’t been cruel enough to make you feel the damage you took in-game.

And Phase Three, the final phase of Harbinger Tartaglia, commences.

He has considerably more health, and his attacks can range from irritating to deadly, you just barely dodging the falling Hydro arrows that would’ve slaughtered your current character. Of course, it doesn’t help that you’re sneaking glances at your attacker every few minutes. Your mind wanders to the lore as you shield yourself from violet lightning. Does this transformation hurt? Where does it come from? Why does it look like a moth? Maybe one day you’ll get answers. 

Despite the raised difficulty, Phase Three also ends rather quickly. Your characters, it seems, were overleveled. The remainder of the Archon Quest passes, Childe reappearing once at the end, and it’s over. The screen blips off as you log out and place the headset on a table before laying on your bed and using the last few hours before bed to contemplate what you’ve just seen.

The next days quickly fall into routine. After completing all your work, you’d take an hour or two to play Genshin, leveling up your characters even more and going through various quests, Childe’s included. You see his transformation, dubbed the Foul Legacy form, again, and almost swoon before stopping and giving yourself a harsh scolding. You fulfill requests and tasks for various people around Teyvat, or at least the parts of Teyvat you can access, and improve your skills and stats. You have a talent for dodging, you find, and use it to your advantage while fighting.

And every Monday, when the clock resets, you re-enter Golden House to battle with Childe and claim your just rewards.

Of course you could do it everyday, but a squirming, guilty feeling in your gut stops you, making you feel like you’re hurting him, no matter how many times you try to tell yourself that he’s simply a video game character, a program in an electronic system.

This thought makes you a bit sad, you think.

The fights are getting easier, something you credit to your rising stars of characters, and you stand before the Ley Line Blossom quicker and quicker each time, something you expect to be no different today.

Phases One and Two are just the same as you take advantage of Vaporize and Overload, drowning out Childe’s pre-programmed sounds of pain with your own abilities. The battle pauses, and you’re transported to the same chamber underground, with its fiery walls and glittering arches, as the fight resumes. With the same attacks and characters, it’s becoming a tad dull, and you frown, wondering if you should try to get another character soon.

You’re lost in your thoughts when you slip and fall.

This you feel in the real world, having landed hard on your back and knocked the air out of your lungs. For a few moments you struggle to breathe, and Childe takes the opportunity to appear right over you, his spear flashing purple. You swear internally, bracing yourself as he readies his weapon.

But the strike never comes. You inhale desperately, oxygen finally flowing into your chest, and open your eyes. The graphics of your game are gray and fuzzy around the edges, framing Childe as he slowly puts his spear down and, to your amazement and slight terror, jerkily reaches towards you. Voice clips play overhead, pieced together to make not words, but a static-interspersed whining sound, much like a concerned beast. Your eyes widen, and Childe stops, withdrawing slightly almost as if he’s worried that you’re afraid, and you whisper his name once, as a tentative question.

Then with crackle and a ping, your game crashes and everything goes black.

You gasp and rip off the headset, chest heaving as you struggle to comprehend what just happened. You’re shaking, nervous and fearful, but curiosity runs strong through your veins. Your finger slides towards the On button, and you press it and slip the device back on.

You’re standing outside, the doors of the Golden House closed as if the battle never happened. The guards surrounding it look ordinary, occasionally repeating phrases you’ve heard and ignored countless times. Glancing around and trying to squash the nauseous bubbling feeling in your gut, you push the doors open again.

It’s different this time. Instead of being in the upper room, you fall a short distance into the Third Phase Chamber, your shoes clicking on the tiled floor. Childe floats in the center, his back to you, and you take a tentative step forward. He turns and looks you dead in the eyes, before flinging his spear to the side and rushing towards you on his feet, kneeling to your height. Instinctively, you jump away as he sits on the ground before you, letting out joyful chirps and trills, sounds you didn’t even know he could make. You approach him, sword held loosely in your hand as an extra precaution, and he tilts his head and coos as you cautiously sit with him. Your hands are trembling as you try to understand that this is real, he is real, all of this is happening.

And if it’s not, then it’s some damn good programming.

Questions start to fill your mind, one after another, and you ask him, responses coming as a nod or a headshake.

Is this real?

Yes.

Or programming?

No.

Could you always do this?

No.

Just today?

No.

Over a period of time. Yes.

How…?

The final question hangs in the air, and he shrugs slightly, then points at you. You did this. You woke him up, made him feel pain, sorrow, and happiness, all stemming from you, his love for you. From the minute the Archon Quests let you meet, he was vaguely curious, the most emotion he’s ever felt in his cold, empty programming since before. And when the code broke, he adored you, not like Childe viciously adored battle, but a soft adoration, one with all his digital heart could muster. You smile, and he purrs at what a wonderful smile it is.

Something flickers in the corner of your eye. Then another. And another. You turn and squint, then gasp as your surroundings begin to dissolve into colorful squares, the game taunting you as it glitches and lags. You and Childe leap to your feet, only to watch helplessly as the world crumbles away. You look down at your hands and see them beginning to break apart into pixels. Childe reaches out to hug you, to hold you close, but his hand passes right through you, a sickening reminder of how unreal he is. He wails in anguish as you both try to grasp each other, only to shatter more, the pixels covering your screen like rain on a windowpane.

Your game crashes for a second time, the only sound a desperate whimper that soon fades into an electronic squealing.

It takes a week to fix your device, the tech people saying that it was “overloaded”. Finally the repairs are finished, and you’re back at the Golden House, the doors already ajar. You slip into the room, expecting either a battle or, hopefully, someone to greet you.

But the room is empty. No one, human nor monster, stands in the center. Instead there is one lonely Ley Line Blossom, waiting, the final gift from an impossible love.