#Crosshair is breaking my heart every single episode

[apparentlyautistick]

"Tantis isn't a place I ever wanted to return to-" SOBBING ON THE FLOOR

CROSSHAIR

[burningfieldof-clover]

leaving. echo x f!reader

Here is my first fic written for Star Wars.

Warnings: SPOILERS FROM SEASON 2 EPISODE 8. THIS WILL BREAK YOUR HEART. Angst, established relationship, lots of raised voices, panic attack, fluffy maybe? The panic attack explained in the work below is a replication of my own panic attacks. Seriously my heart is broken and this is me venting.

word count: 2427

Echo’s off-the-wall choice suddenly throws your life off track. There wasn’t even a track to begin with.

Spoilers! You have been warned!

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“Best of luck, Echo.”

What? You looked up at Tech as he gave a small salute. 

Omega looked up at Echo, panic starting to set into her eyes. “Luck with what?” 

The world faded out around you, sounds made no vibrations and colors started to vanish. You tried to ground yourself, find something to bring you back to the present. The skyline was tilting. Your sight was dimming. Your legs were failing.

A jolt brought you back; Echo’s hand grabbed your upper arm and all senses came rushing back with a sharp whiplash.

“Cyar’ika, hey, hey hey hey, are you with me?” Echo fell with you to his knees as well, trying to balance you with his scomp link as well. 

Your eyes finally met his. His eyes were definitely showing the most concern, more concern than you’d ever recorded in them before. Your bottom lip twitched, making you realize your lips were parted.

Echo leaned downward and toward you, his head not quite level with yours but also not above it. His hand started to raise to your face to touch your cheek, but you instantly slapped it away. 

“Are you serious?” you muttered out. “You’re really trying to comfort me right now–when you made this–this–decision? Without considering me?!”

Echo sighed in defeat. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to–”

“Didn’t want me to what?” you exclaimed jumping to your feet and backstepping. “Is this really happening right now? You’re leaving the team–you’re leaving me?”

Echo’s brows furrowed. “Now listen here! I have a chance to help people! I have a chance to save my brothers! You want me to turn my back on them?!”

“No, I…” you trailed off, suddenly losing the anger and feeling the replaced emotion of fear. “Echo, I never, I mean–I don’t want that–”

“What do you want then? You should know better than anyone else my feelings here!” Echo’s chest was rising and falling quickly, his breathing so heavy and his expression the same scrunch you usually see in Hunter or Crosshair.

You were breathing fine… until now. You couldn’t find the oxygen to fill your lungs. You gasped in and out, increasing in speed rapidly. Echo’s entire demeanor changed. He recognized the panic setting into your body, and if he didn’t calm you soon you’d hyperventilate to unconsciousness. Tears fell from your eyes quicker than a faucet. Your nose was starting to turn a red color as it scrunched up on your face. You started sobbing between the gasps in your panic attack.

Echo approached you quickly and grabbed your left hand and placed it on your left ear, then his left hand on your right ear. “Mesh’la breathe, I’ve got you, just breathe with me. In and out, in and out.” You fell back to your knees. He knew putting pressure on your ears was one of your grounding techniques. Blocking out the sound of your own panic helped.

The hyperventilating breathing started to dull, but you were still bawling, nearly screaming trying to release the emotions.

“Echo, why? I’ll go with you. I’ll go with you!”

Echo sighed and moved his hand from covering your ear to touch your cheek, tilt your chin up. “I can’t let you come with us. It’s going to be dangerous.”

“Are you kriffing kidding me?” you sent sarcastic laughs through your sobs. “We put ourselves in danger every. Single. Day. Why is this different?”

He glanced down to where your hand fell into your lap. “Because… it’s only going to be Rex and I. When you’re with the boys,” he nodded toward the Marauder, “there are more eyes to watch you, more people that have your back.”

“Who is going to have yours?!” you cried out.

“Rex will. And the brothers we save along the way.”

The heels of your hands came up to your eyes and wiped some tears, wiped your nose. You were gross, you were raw. “You and I, we had each others’ back.” Hiccups were coming through your mouth now. “I covered you. I healed you.”

Echo was starting to form tears in his eyes. They haven’t fallen. “You’ll never know how much I love you for your role as a medic. As my technician. As my partner.” His last word cracked as the first tear was shed. “Mesh’la, you’re… you’re still so beautiful even when you cry.”

You threw a playful punch at his shoulder, reluctantly laughing. Echo chuckled too, a small glimmer of hope playing across his face.

Your sobs started to subside as Echo caressed your face and rubbed small lines with his thumb.

“So,” you whispered. “I can’t change your mind?”

Echo scoffed. “You could. You could talk me into anything. But I’m asking you to please honor me. Let me do this. I… It’s what… It's what Fives wanted to do. I couldn’t be there for my brother when he died. If I could even save just one of my brothers, I feel like he would smile upon me. He’d forgive me.”

Suddenly, you grabbed his face. “Darling, no, Fives never blamed you for anything. He loved you more and more each day, I just know it.”

“Thank you, cyare. You’ve always given me reasons to believe.”

Another bout of silence.

“You’ll come back, right?”

Echo pushed his forehead to yours a little too quickly. It could have felt uncomfortable, but you pushed back just as hard. “I promise I’ll come back to you. You have to promise to be there for me.”

While you both held each other's gaze like it was a staring contest in which the winner would be crowned the king, your pinky slowly raised into his peripherals. He linked his pinky with you quickly. You could feel a slight tremor in his hand.

“I promise,” you pouted.

Echo exhaled the weight of this situation. It wasn’t as heavy, it wasn’t gone, but it was manageable. A small smile played across his lips as they came closer to yours. You felt that smile form. Your breath caught in your chest. The butterflies hovered in your belly just like they always did when he was about to kiss you. The kisses were never quick. They always always had meaning. He has kissed you many times in your partnership and each one was new and felt like the first time everytime. 

His hand started to move through your hair and grabbed the back of your head so he could pull you into this deep kiss. Your tears fell silently, salting both pairs of lips as they clashed. Your arm rounded his neck and forced you both to stand on your knees and push your bodies together. Your other arm went under his to wrap around his back and dig your fingernails into his back through an opening in his armor. 

You both kissed as though if you ever stopped, you would perish. You couldn’t tell if Echo had let go of tears since your eyes were clamped closed. Tongues danced in the space created between your lips. His hand was tangling in your hair. Your fingertips were getting caught on snags on his blacks. The world began to disappear around you again, but in a good way. 

Echo could get lost at this moment. He was pouring his heart into this, his full attention, pulling every feeling and texture into his memory. He had no idea when he would see you again. He had even intention to return, no matter what. He would save his brothers, then save you.

You heard a silent yet desperate “I love you” whimpered into the kiss. The interaction started moving to cheeks, hungrilly to your neck and an attempt to do the same to him, but he stopped you, but not before kissing your forehead, your nose. You both pulled back to look at each other, breathing heavy and both tinted red. Your hands went to both sides of his face and your thumbs traced the pronounced cheekbones. 

“Echo, I love you. You do what you need to do, but you better come back to me. You comm me whenever it’s safe. I’ll keep our channel open, always.”

Echo grinned. “I know you will. I love you, mesh’la. I won’t let you down.” He rose to his feet, kissed the top of your head, then pulled you to your feet. “I wish I had time to show you, remind you of how special you are to me, how radiant you are.” He chuckled quietly. “Hell, if you and I ended up in that bunk right now, I wouldn’t be able to leave.”

You giggled. “I know, my love. I respect your desire. I know that you’ve been wanting to be a part of the bigger picture for a while.” Your forehead met his again while your hands grabbed his one hand. Both of you were tracing thumbs over the other’s. 

A silent pause. You felt the universe telling you that you needed to return to the ship. You needed to go be the medic to the most ridiculous, courageous, radical clones you’ve ever met. 

“Don’t forget me,” you whispered. 

Echo shook his head while still pressed against your forehead. You both had visions focused on the hands between you. “I’ll never forget you.”

You bit your lip, considering not even speaking the next thought: “Don’t forget what I feel like. Right now or in bed as we were last night.”

A small growl escaped from between his lips as a warning. “The same goes for you.” His hand broke free from the bind you had on it. He grabbed the back of your neck and forced your head to tilt upward with a small tug of your hair. “When I come home–” you let out a heated gasp at the word home “--whenever I’m able to stop kissing you–” he kissed one corner of your mouth “--all over–” he kissed the other side “--then I’ll remind you, just in case you forgot.”

Both of you laughed together briefly. You kissed his lips gingerly, then pulled away. 

“Come home soon,” you whispered, the tears beginning to form and fall again. 

There was nothing Echo could do to take those tears away. Your pain was valid. His was too. “Keep the light on for me.”

You both looked into each other's eyes, darting between each feature you could both drink in quickly. 

“I’ll see you soon,” you both said in unison. 

Echo grabbed your hand one last time, spun you in a circle and pointed your path toward the Marauder. You took slow, forced steps away from him, dreading the moment your hands parted. Your fingers hung on as long as they could, until his touch was gone. You looked over your shoulder as you kept walking away. His smile was the peace you needed, the last thing you wanted to see. 

You could tell you both were fighting the drive to go down your separate paths. You knew that this was how it needed to be, though. You needed to let him go, let him be the hero he’s been dreaming to be. He needed to let you go and care for his brothers and sister. He knew they would thrive under your care. 

You climbed the ramp to the Marauder and stopped at the top step. You turned around to look at him one last time. 

Echo gave a salute with his scomp link hand, and with a choked laugh, you returned the gesture albeit not as formal. You stepped back and pressed the button to draw the ramp upward. You had no idea you were holding your breath until the image of him disappeared. 

Tech leads the ship upward and off of the platform. You were still frozen to the spot you stood upon. The air and mood was stale, frantic, pressured. You had no idea how long you remained there, but when you turned around you first laid eyes on Wrecker and Omega. Each of them looked at you with sympathy. 

You waved your hand. “I’ll be okay. We all will be.”

Wrecker let out the breath he held. “You know it!”

Omega charged you and hugged your waist. She didn’t have any words since she was still processing her own feelings. 

Hunter entered the small area from the section of the ship that held the bunks. He pointed over his shoulder. “Echo left you something on your bed.”

Curiously you began heading that way. Pressing a button on the wall, the door to the bunks opened up. You couldn’t really see it from the doorway, so you approached your bed slowly as though you feared what you could find.

Your hands reached for the folded paper first. Unfolding it, you saw a quickly scrawled note.

I’ll always protect you, cyar’ika. 

A small smile showed up on your face. You heard Omega and Wrecker’s footsteps close in on the doorway. 

Placing the letter back down where it came from, your fingertips landed on the sheet that covered a large shape. You grabbed the thin fabric and pulled it away.

You broke into sobs again, probably not for the last time today. You were smiling despite crying so heavily. Your arms crossed so you could hug yourself. You knelt down to the ground. One of your hands caressed the set of armor that laid on your bed, but it remained atop of the shape of a handprint stamped in red against the color of black and white plastoid. 

Hunter’s voice spoke up from behind you. “He wanted you to have your own set of armor. He entrusted us to make sure you’re kept safe, so we grabbed what we could. I hope it fits.”

“Is this, is this his handprint?”

Hunter hummed in confirmation. 

At this point, Tech had the ship set to autopilot so he was able to join the crew. “I haven’t had a chance to quality check it, so when you try it–”

Tech was cut off by Wrecker’s hand over his mouth. Wrecker pointed at you with his eyes. Tech took the hint. 

Each of your teammates looked upon you. Your hand was still laid upon Echo’s handprint on your first ever set of armor.

Omega’s small hand touched your back. Hunter’s hand fell onto your shoulder. Tech’s landed on your other shoulder. Wrecker placed a hand on top of your head. 

It was then–you knew you and Echo would be okay.

[ellie-the-oracle]

The Bad Batch s2e12 Review and Discussion - The Breaking Point of Crosshair

Massive Spoilers Ahead!

That was by far one of the greatest episodes I think i've ever watched. I don't even know where to begin and I do not say this lightly - I have been thoroughly broken by this show. I am genuinely heartbroken at this point.

First and foremost, the music was on point. It hit every single emotion it wanted to convey and it complimented the themes of this episode perfectly. Kevin Kiner remains to be one of the best composers, in my opinion.

Secondly, the symbolism that was the lone ice vulture flying above Crosshair's head throughout the episode was just poetic. It really got the message across to the viewers that Crosshair is utterly and brutally alone. He is nothing more than something that is “expendable” in the eyes of the Empire. This episode made that evermore clearer to Cross.

Thirdly, the new clone introduced in this episode, Commander Mayday, was a perfect way to SHOW (and not just tell) Crosshair the tragedies, the mistreatment and the injustices that the clones are facing. Throughout the entire episode, both Cross and the viewers were reminded of just how poorly the clones are being treated. Mayday's inevitable death was the final moment for Crosshair; It genuinely broke him (and me, frankly). The lieutenant (I forgot his name because idfc) really rubbed it into Crosshair’s face about what the clones mean to the Empire.

The emotions that we get to see Crosshair experience throughout this episode really show just how broken his spirit is; he has reached his breaking point. He was left both physically and emotionally devastated by the end of his mission; losing yet another companion, another brother. Someone whom he was just beginning to confide in, especially to feel less alone. I also found it quite fascinating to see him express distress when the ship blew up and caused him a sort-of sensory overload. A bit of an ode to the Batches enhanced features.

 I appreciated the little details of him shivering in the cold as he and Mayday made their way back to the outpost; huddling together to survive. on top of that, his facial expressions really showed just how lost, distraught, devastated and broken he has become. Truly, what a masterful episode. Crosshair shooting the lieutenant by the end of the episode was his moment of “going awol,” albeit, in the most devastating and heart wrenching way. 

The ending of this episode was rather concerning. I literally have no idea what that lady poked his neck with nor do I have the faintest idea as to why he's on Tantiss but I'm very nervous about it. I hope he isn't being brainwashed again or [arguably] even worse, becoming the prototype of a dark trooper. Istfg If this happens, You’ll be hearing from my therapist and my lawyer, Filoni. For the love of all things decent in this world, please let him go home to his family. 

This episode, once again, cements exactly why I love Crosshair's character so much. Truly a terribly tragic character and I ate that shit up. I'm shellshocked.

 20/10. Feelings have been hurt.

[neon-junkie]

Multitasking

Summary: Tech's job is to repair the ship. Your job is to test his focus by riding his cock.

Pairing: Tech x Reader

Reader Description: Reader is gender-neutral. This fic does not include any descriptions of their appearance.

Word count: 4.1k

Tags: Established relationship, Oral (giving), Smut, Cuming inside, Praise kink, sub!Tech, dom!Reader, Making out, Fluff.

Notes: Happy Tech Tuesdays!! I just had to write something for this specific shot in last weeks episode teehee

Being stranded on an unknown planet is one thing, but being stranded on an unknown planet with a broken down ship? Now, that's entirely another thing - a thing that the Bad Batch has been unfortunate enough to come across. Luck, nor hope, has ever been on their side, nothing ever goes to plan, but today's plan is simple: You and Tech are to stay on the ship and work on repairs, whilst everybody else heads out and searches for food, supplies, the will to live, and so on. And that's exactly where you are right now. Tech is currently suited up, helmet on, laying down on his back, working on the underside of the ships control panel. Most of your jobs are complete, and Tech urged you to have a break like the caring sweetheart that he is. You two have kept your relationship hidden from just about everybody, including the Batch, as you fear that it might cause a rift within the group. Although, you're almost certain they know. You've seen the glances Hunter and Crosshair make to each other when you and Tech are nattering away, and you've overheard Omega ask Wrecker and Echo multiple times if they're certain that you two aren't actually an item. The Batch knows, but the Batch doesn't officially know, and you both plan on keeping it that way. Alone time is a rarity. You'll be lucky to receive a kiss whenever you bring Tech a cup of caf whilst he's alone in the cockpit, or feel his hand in yours whenever you two are buddied up during a mission. You're both touch starved an unimaginable amount, and now that you two have some privacy, you want to make the most of it. Only, Tech being Tech, he needs to work. Tech wants to spend this time with you, just as much as you want to spend it with him, but the Marauder is in dire need of repairs, and only Tech has the ability to fix this ship. So, whilst on your break, you make Tech another cup of caf and bring it over, informing him of your presence as you settle down beside him. He thanks you, but his eyes remain glued to the underside of the cockpits control panel. Dare you say it - he looks inviting. Yes, he's busy working on the ship, and that's exactly why you're fighting the urge to hop on his lap right now. There's something enticing about Tech when he's literally buried in his work. Your mind has blanked out almost every single time he's attempted to explain something to you; you never understand what he's actually on about, but you always ask him to further explain, as the glisten in his eyes always makes you smile. But this? This is something else. You've seen Tech work on the ship so many times, but never in this position. He's lying on his back, hands and eyes fixated on the wires dangling above him, but the way his legs are casually spread is just so... oh. "Tech?" you question as you place a hand on his thigh, gently kneading at the fabric wrapped around him. "I know," Tech sighs. You're about to question what he apparently knows, but his sorrowful eyes meet yours, and he continues with "I want to spend this quiet time with you too." "Awhh," you sigh, giving Tech's thigh another squeeze. "I was actually going to tell you that your caf is there, and to be careful not to knock it over," you laugh, pointing to the cup beside him. Tech rolls his eyes, but from the way they're squinting, you know he's smiling beneath his helmet. He turns his attention back to his work, and you express your agreement with his comment. "But I also wish I was spending this time with you," you reply, and purr your words at the end, hoping that Tech knows what you're implying. "Stars," Tech sighs. "It's been some time, hasn't it?" "Tell me the specifics, Tech," you smile, and Tech's eyes happily meet yours. He's often silenced by his vods for 'blabbering' on about 'unimportant' details, but to you, his ability to remember so much makes your heart flutter. "Eighteen days, to be precise," Tech states as he continues working. "It's been eighteen days since we've had some time alone together, and four days since we've kissed." "I held your hand yesterday," you say with a laugh. "Yes, and I'm almost certain that Hunter saw that," Tech sighs. He stretches his hand out and makes a small grabbing motion, and you fill his palm with one of his tools. Tech shifts up onto his elbows as he looks at the tool that you've handed him, and he can't help but laugh. "I was motioning for you to place your hand in mine," he says as he places the tool down, and shuffles his way from underneath the control panel, sitting on the floor beside you. You laugh along with him, one hand still on his thigh, the other settling in his gloved palm. Tech gives you a comforting squeeze as he flicks his helmets' visor up, revealing his wide eyes, protected by his goggles. He speaks so much through his eyes alone, and you know him to a point where you two can speak without words, and right now, Tech's asking for more. Your hand slips from Tech's grasp so you can remove his helmet. His helmet remains in your grasp as you shuffle closer, and with a smug expression, you ask "do you want to change our four day count back to zero?" Tech nods his head as he softly laughs at your flirtatious remark. He shifts his goggles from his eyes, resting them on his forehead so they won't get in the way as he leans in and kisses you. Tech's kisses are always so soft and gentle, affectionate with a sprinkle of needy. One of his hands finds the back of your neck, simply holding you there as he makes up for all the lost time. Shuffling even closer to Tech, you debate asking a specific question, fearing rejection; you know that Tech wants the same, but he's busy with work, and work is always his top priority. You understand, and you understand that you two would have a lot of explaining to do if the rest of the Batch returned to find an unfixed ship, so you always allow him to prioritize his work. But Tech's kisses grow hungry, deeper and sloppier, and the whimper that he makes when you pull away confirms that he's just as eager as you are. "Do you want to reset our eighteen day count also?" you softly question against his lips, and your tone of voice makes him shudder. "I want to," he sighs, and gives you another kiss before continuing. "But I have work to do, although I estimate that it won't take me long to complete. Then, I'm all yours." "And what if the others return before then?" you pout. "They set off two hours ago. It's highly unlikely that they'd return in such a short time," Tech states. Smart, as always, but the Batch are unpredictable, and you worry that today might be one of those days. You ponder your thoughts, lazily kissing Tech as you weigh out your options. All of your work is done, and Tech doesn't have long to go, but you need him right now. He has the ability to work in an array of situations - under pressure, stressed, overwhelmed, and so on - but what about aroused? Yes, you've teased him on the odd occasion when he's been working, but that's as far as you've gone. Is it time to take things further? "Tech?" you sigh as you pull away. "Mhm?" Tech responds, half-lidded eyes meeting yours. "You still have work to do, but I don't. So, maybe I could start us off whilst you continue working?" you suggest, batting your lashes as you speak, even though you know Tech will say yes. To your surprise, Tech thinks about it, and quickly points out a negative to your idea. "I'm sure you're aware on how distracting your presence is, and... engaging with me sexually will distract me tenfold," Tech objects, moving his hands as he talks. "I've seen you work whilst distracted before. I won't be any different," you shrug. "I understand what you're referring to, but your presence can't be compared to the heat of the battlefield. They are two completely different types of distractions." "What I'm saying is..." you begin, and straddle Tech's lap as you talk, placing his helmet down on the floor beside him. One hand gently cups Tech's chin, tilting it to the side, leaving his neck open for you to begin kissing along. "You're a good worker, Tech, and you've worked through just about everything. So, you'll be fine with my presence, I'm certain of it." You can physically feel Tech shuddering in your grasp, turning into putty whilst you kiss along his neck, speaking against his skin. He lets out a groan when you nip at a sensitive spot behind his ear, and his hands find your hips, squeezing and kneading them. "What do you think?" you question, and wait patiently for Tech's answer. Tech stays silent for a while, minus his quiet mewls and moans. He's putting a lot of thought into this, possibly too much, but he eventually comes to a decision. "Alright," he gently nods. "You're welcome to engage with me whilst I work, but if you are too distracting, and I am unable to work with you around, then I will ask you to stop." "Of course, love," you reply as your kisses move up to his cheek. "I only want what's best for you." "You're what's best for me," Tech sharply exhales, and from the way his eyes turn wide, you know he wasn't meant to let that slip. "I mean... Uh, I shall return to my work, and you're welcome to... do whatever you'd like to do." Tech fumbles for his goggles, pulling them down from his forehead. You sneak in another kiss before his helmet is placed on, and just as Tech's about to lie down, he points something out. "I'd suggest that you shut and lock the door." You scramble up from his lap, shutting the cockpits' door, just to be safe. As you're about to lock it, Tech informs you of a different code to use, and explains why when you turn around and raise your brow at him. "It's a private code that I installed recently, just to be safe." "Safe from what?" you question. "Well, after the inhibitor chip situation, I wanted to install a code that only I know, so if something were to go wrong, say the Empire takes control of us and reinstalls the chip, then sends said person down to attack us, then we'd be safe from them in the ship." You're left speechless as Tech explains his bizarre, paranoid scenario. He notices your bewildered expression, and adds "hypothetically speaking, of course." As if that somehow makes things any better. "You and your paranoia, Tech," you sigh as you punch in the new code. "If it weren't for my paranoia, then we wouldn't now have this safely locked door, preventing the others from walking in on us, if they are to return early," Tech points out, motioning with his hands as he talks, before lying down and shuffling under the cockpits control panel. You roll your eyes whilst smiling, your heart fluttering over yet another reason why you've fallen for Tech. He goes back to work, leaving you to your mischief. Just like before, Tech has his legs partially spread, feet firmly on the floor with his knees slightly raised. As you settle beside him, your hand comes to rest on his thigh, fingers fiddling with the straps of his utility belt. You unhook the straps from his thighs, moving them up to his waist, giving you access to his codpiece. You know far too well how to remove his armour, and you find the hook that unlatches his codpiece, removing it entirely in one swift motion. Tech's already semi-hard, his cock straining against the tight fabric of his blacks. You palm over his erection, eyes peeking up to watch his reaction, and there is none, minus a soft sight. It's clear that he's attempting to focus on his work, and you're torn between wanting to be a massive distraction, and wanting to let him get on with his work. Sadly, repairing the ship is important, but you're certain that you can test his focus another time. For now, you're happy with slowly and lazily getting both of you off, waiting for Tech to finish so both of you can quicken the pace. Shuffling down onto your front, you free his cock from beneath his blacks, pumping it loosely whilst you find a comfortable position. Tech lets out another sigh when you swipe your tongue over the tip of his cock, swirling it around a few times, and then sinking down onto his length. You know by now exactly what makes Tech stir, and like the minx that you are, you go for those specific areas. Tech lets out a groan as you glide your tongue down the underside of his shaft, your hand lightly squeezing his tip. You spend a while between his thighs, earning weak moans, muffled through his helmet. One of his legs begins to lightly bounce, something his body subconsciously does when he's in deep though, and as of recent, something he also does when he's attempting to focus whilst distracted. With one hand around Tech's cock, you manage to slip your pants off, kicking off your boots in the process. You find the perfect balance between satisfying your partner, and preparing yourself, and although the position is slightly uncomfortable, the sound that Tech makes when he notices you prepping yourself makes it worth your while. "Copaani gaan?" you overhear Tech speak in his mother tongue. His eyes lock onto yours as he raises his head slightly, propping himself up on elbows, and Tech watches as you tilt your head in confusion. "Need a hand?" he repeats, and you mumble an 'oh' at his translation. "Shouldn't you be working on the ship?" you question. As Tech starts speaking, you slip his cock back into your mouth, completely malfunctioning his brain. "It's- I... the work- uh..." Tech stutters, and groans as he blurts out "mesh'la." A gloved hand rests on the back of your head as Tech lies back down, eyes scrunching shut, moaning softly for you. "So beautiful," he mumbles, and lets out a choked sob when the tip of his cock hits the back of your throat. "What were you saying about the ship?" you innocently ask as you pull off his cock. "It's almost fixed," Tech groans, followed by a heavy sigh. "Finish your work, Tech," you order, and your tone of voice makes Tech shudder. "Elek, cyar'ika," Tech whimpers. "Anything for you." The hand on the back of your head is removed, and Tech turns as much focus as he can to his work. You decide that you're prepped enough, as is Tech, and begin shuffling into position, straddling Tech's lap. His eyes flick away for a moment, watching through his slowly steaming-up goggles as you sink down onto his length, letting out a soft sigh once you're fully seated. Despite not being able to see Tech's face, you know he's struggling to hold himself together, especially from the noise he makes when you begin slowly rising and falling on his cock, taking your time with every thrust. "Your work, Tech," you comment as you lock eyes. "Y-yes, right..." Tech's words trail off as he attempts to finish up, moving wires and tightening bolts, putting together the final parts of the ships control panel. You keep your pace slow and steady, not wanting to move Tech's body too much as he works, plus the sensation of slowly fucking yourself on your partners cock is oh-so-satisfying. And from the sounds that Tech is attempting not to make, you know that he's feeling the same way. You two spend some time like that, Tech finalizing the ship as you slowly get each other off, tensing your muscles every so often to tighten your grip on Tech's cock. Wanting to see how Tech will react, you catch him by surprise by slamming down on his cock; Tech lets out a choked moan, the air from his lungs being pushed out, and he almost drops the bolt tightener that he's holding. He perks his head up, groans at the sight of you, and then lets it fall back again. His hands pause mid-air, uncertain if he should attempt to work, or enjoy a brief break. "Tech?" you purr, and his eyes lock onto yours through the tint of his goggles. "Carry on working, love, you're almost finished." "Cyar'ika, you're making this unbelievably difficult," Tech whimpers. Tech isn't always one for praise, unless you're reminding him of how intelligent he is, but maybe he'll accept a few compliments whilst he's literally beneath you? "You're such a good worker, Tech, you can continue with a minor distraction," you praise. Tech's eyes momentarily flick away, as if to question if he really can work in these conditions. You know he's accepted your compliment the second his hands move up, returning to the control panel. "See?" you smile. "Pretend I'm not here. Pretend I'm not riding your cock right now," you tease, and your smile grows when Tech lets out a deep sigh. "I'll get you for this," he threatens in his own, soft, Tech-like way. "I can't wait," you purr, and pick up the pace, positioning your hands on his armoured chest to give your body extra support. Your eyes fall shut just as Tech returns to his work, putting your focus into riding him. Your pace isn't perfect, but it's enough to get you off, and from the sounds you're hearing from your partner, it's enough to get him off too. You're so engulfed in pleasure that you almost don't hear Tech suddenly states "I'm done." For some reason, you instantly assume he's done with you, motioning for you to stop. "Huh?!" you yelp as your eyes snap open. "I'm done with my work," Tech states, unaware of your confusion, and you let out a heavy sigh of relief. He lightly taps your thigh, signalling for you to raise your hips, and with the tip of his cock barely inside you, both of you shuffle so that Tech is no longer pinned beneath the control panel. You slam back down onto his cock just as he props himself up on his elbows, almost collapsing down again from the sensation. Tech curses under his breath, and with shaky arms, he manages to reach up and remove his helmet, placing it down beside him. His cheeks are redder than ever, almost as bright as when you two shared your first kiss, and from the light layer of sweat over his face, you assume that he'll be needing a shower later, and no doubt, you'll join him. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" you cheekily smile, and Tech has the audacity to roll his eyes at you. "You're unbelievable," Tech groans as he shifts his legs, placing his feet firmly on the floor, hips slightly raised - the perfect position to begin thrusting up into you. Tech meets your hips halfway, finding the perfect rhythm within no time. He's no longer holding back, moaning and groaning freely, and treating you to the occasional whimper. Tech's hands are snugly sitting around your hips, and his eyes are struggling to stay open, eventually scrunching shut, his mouth remaining parted as he puts all of his focus into fucking you. Your hands grip onto his chest once more, thick plastoid armour pressed against your palms, steadying your weight whilst both of you chase your orgasms. You know Tech is close when he begins stuttering, his mind becoming hazy, but Tech manages to whimper "I'm close." "Inside," you quietly state, and all Tech manages to do is nod. You beat him to it, tightening around his length as your orgasm hits. The sensation of you squeezing his cock has Tech sputtering, mewling beneath you whilst he pulls you down onto his hips and holds you there, his cock twitching heavily as he fills you up. You rock your hips back and forth gently, just enough to milk him, and Tech's grip on your hips tightens as he begins panting; his eyes slowly open, pupils blown, gawking at the sight of you. "T-too much," Tech eventually stutters, so you ease up, coming to a halt. Both of you spend a moment to gather yourselves and catch your breaths. Tech's hands move from your hips so he can prop his goggles up on his forehead, wiping his face with his palms, attempting to snap himself out of his post-orgasm haze. "Good?" you simply question, smiling when Tech nods in agreement. "Yes," he sighs, "so good. I think you'll agree that we both needed that," Tech comments as he pulls his goggles back on, and props himself up on his elbows, looking up at you, still sat on his lap with his cock slowly softening inside you. Tech takes a hold of your hips again, keeping you firmly on his lap as he sits upright. His soft eyes remain glued to yours, and a sweet smile appears on his lips when you playfully rub your nose against his. Tech wraps his hands around your waist, holding you in his lap, enjoying the sensation of your bodies being pressed together. Neither of you speak, but you don't need words to express the connection that you're feeling right now. You cup his jawline, holding his head steady whilst you enjoy some slow, sensual kisses. The taste of sweat is light on Tech's lips, but it's not enough for you to pull you away from him; if anything, you're enticed by how he tastes, parting your lips slightly so your tongue can glide across his. An unknowing amount of time passes as you two remain tied together, catching up on those lost moments; the nights where you can't be in each other's arms, the kisses you've missed due to lack of privacy, the gentle touches that are always kept private. As you move apart, you motion for Tech to tilt his head to the side, revealing your favourite place to kiss. Your hands slide over his shoulders, fiddling with the ends of his short hair, and you plant kiss after kiss on his faint scar, hidden beneath his short, buzzed hair. Tech smiles as you kiss over that area, and once you're done, he presses his forehead against yours. Finally, one of you speaks up. "Would you like to join me in the refresher?" Tech offers. "Of course," you smile, and place a kiss on his nose before shuffling off his lap. Once both of you are dressed, and Tech has tidied his equipment away, you go to make your way through the ship. As you open the locked cockpit door, you're both met with an extremely grumpy looking Hunter. He's sat with his arms crossed, tired eyes, and the only thing he asks is "are you two finally done?" "T-the ship is repaired, if that is what you're asking," Tech replies, struggling to maintain eye contact. "C'mon, you know I'm not on about that," he sighs. "You're lucky that the others wanted to stay outside and enjoy the sun!" Both of you stand there awkwardly, gawking around the ship, looking at everything but Hunter. He lets out a long, defeated sigh before saying "both of you, go and clean up, please. And leave the cockpit door open, it stinks in there." With that, Hunter rises from his chair, and makes his way off the Marauder, leaving the ships' door open to let fresh air flow through the ship. At the same time, Tech and you lock eyes, sharing an awkward expression. To your surprise, Tech states "that went rather well." "You're joking, right?" "It's been a long time coming," he shrugs. "Anyway, are you still joining me in the refresher?" You let out a laugh, but shake your head in agreement. "Lead the way!"

[simplysummers]

Breaking down Hunter and Omega’s relationship: pt 4.

Hi everybody. My biggest apologies for the delay on this series over the past two weeks, I’ve had a lot of medical issues going on, alongside a big decision in my life I had to make before the end of September taking precedence. However, with a little more time on my hands and a new team of proof readers behind me, I’m hoping to be back on track soon enough! I hope you enjoy my analysis of ‘Cornered’, and please always feel free to reply/reblog/send an ask with your opinions and discussions! I love to hear and reply to them! 💛

(Pasted paragraphs: I would just like to add a disclaimer here. I am, in no way whatsoever, slating the other batchers for having differing relationships with Omega. I absolutely adore everything single one of the boys, and I think they all have wonderful and unique interrelations with her. Although I may point out these different approaches in comparison to Hunter’s, I am not stating these engages are wrong, just different is all!

I’m going to separate this into a little series- covering each episode in a separate post, which I’ll have tagged as the series progresses. Once I’ve tackled these two, as they’re my favourites, I’m going to move on to each individual Batcher and perhaps a few other dynamics such and Hunter and Crosshair, or Wrecker and Omega! Let me know what you guys would like to see!)

(Thank you to this weeks proof-reader: @very-depressing-waffel 💛)

Cornered: S1/E4

Although minimal, I absolutely love the small interaction between these two in the opening scene of this episode. While it would make sense for Hunter to take the chair, as he is navigating co-ordinates, instead he allows Omega to sit down and rest, the pure affection between them is particularly radiant in these moments. I’d also like to note that it is Hunter’s order to originally send them to Idaflor, where we can only assume he is heeding Cut’s previous advice given on the subject of ‘disappearing to start a new life’. By connotation, this essentially means Hunter was extremely ready to settle down with his brothers and both raise and protect his newly found little one. However this clearly becomes an evident concern of Hunter’s as Omega begins to whine, claiming she desperately wants to explore the galaxy instead of hiding away on an uninhabited planet. Although appreciating her enthusiasm, he insists they cannot risk it, not right now, showing he has all further plans to take her to see the universe whenever it may be safe to do so. Her safety has become his priority.

Also, another little mimic on Omega’s part is mentioned after Tech’s evaluates their situation- “Well, Pantora it is.” “Pantora it is :)”. This angel, she steals my heart.

Moving on slightly to the arrival of Pantora, Hunter’s civvies and Omega carrying his backpack for him, which is as big as her little torso might I add, makes the world spin. Notice too how her eyes never leave him for a moment, it’s a typical child trait when wanting to catch an adult’s attention for good behaviour. After Wrecker mentions the implications of sightseeing, which ultimately peaks Omega’s interest, Hunter is quick to diffuse the situation by insisting this is only a quick supply run. I strongly believe this is because although he intends to take Omega into the city with him, most likely recognising her desperation to explore, his main intention is to keep her safe and protected, I personally spy a compromise here. Finally, regarding this little interaction, when inviting Omega to join them, he calls her ‘Mega, ‘MEGA!!! Hunter is the first member of the batch to nickname her affectionately, and her little excited cheer in response says it all!

When strolling through the busy marketplace, I noticed that alongside drinking up all sights she can set her eyes on, Omega continues to perform the aforementioned ‘smile at parent because I am both well behaved and very excited’ technique, breaking away from her awestruck staring to give Hunter a cute grin, which he affectionately returns under the realisation that her purity and innocence has erupted through something as simple as a marketplace, another endearing trait his charge has displayed. I’d also like to shed light on the protective hand-on-shoulder movement Hunter uses after the squad of troopers pass by him, Omega, and Echo. His wary stare and protectiveness is an extreme diversion from his usual headstrong attitude, which we know is correlated to his need to protect his charge. (Hand-on-shoulder, AGAIN. Comforting Dad alert!!)

When offering to trade with the Gran merchant, I noticed that whenever Omega picked up a new item to inspect or show off to Echo, Hunter glances over his shoulder to observe her. I have reason to believe he might not only be watching her explore, but keeping an eye on her after the incident on Cut’s farm. I can practically see Suu’s words of advice ringing in his ears, and he wants to make sure she stays out of trouble. And after she does inevitably knock something over, although he scowls a little in her direction (as any parent would), Hunter swiftly turns his look of annoyance towards the Gran as he begins to scold Omega, once again showing his protectiveness in her regard, and in all honesty, he has every right to respond this way, we’ve already established this salesman is stubborn and conceited.

The entire plot of this episode is centred around Omega’s inevitable separation from Hunter and Echo as she ends up running off to chase a voorpak, who has stolen her new doll. We cannot fault Omega for her behaviour, it was a little juvenile at most, but we must take into account this would be her first time in such a situation, and she has never been taught otherwise. Hunter’s immediate faltering smile as he realises Omega is missing is honestly gut wrenching. He has just received 3,000 credits, a hefty sum for what they’re in need of, and now he’s lost his ward, and the pain and concern is fully mirrored through his halting eyes.

I’m moving ahead slightly to add a little character-action comparison! Now, this may just be me nitpicking, and I mean no hate to Fennec Shand (I actually ADORE her), but did anybody else notice the difference between her hold on Omega and how Hunter holds her? Fennec’s fingers lay beneath the nape of Omega’s neck, almost curling into her tunic’s collar, and so while it may seem protective, it actually holds very possessive and controlling connotations. Whereas when Hunter places a hand to Omega’s shoulder, his fingers are quite loose, and it only ever rests up her upper shoulder, allowing the girl freedom if she so much as wishes it. It’s extremely docile. Furthermore, I wanted to briefly comment on Hunter’s tenderness when retrieving Omega’s new doll, most likely using it to track her recent movement. His hold is very gentle, considering he is now clinging to the last piece of Omega he has contact with, and a noticeable shred of panic holds his upper body rigid for good measure. It’s very nicely animated.

Coming ahead swiftly to the brief ‘positive’ interaction between Omega and Fennec, I haven’t seen this mentioned before but I personally see the discussion concerning the need for protection when travelling the galaxy as a small nod to Omega’s newly found connection to the boys, and Hunter specifically. Omega insists it’s a good thing she has her ‘friends’. Noticeably, she is still very hesitant to label them as her brothers, as she most likely feels excluded to an extent (bearing in mind the boys were raised together with the exclusion of Echo, no matter her previous ties to them, Omega was always going to feel isolated to some extent), but not enough to deny she has an attachment to them, and vice versa. Hunter has already shown on multiple occasions (Kamino, Saleucami, the moon from episode 3) that he would do whatever it takes to protect her, but it’s nice to see Omega’s perspective on the newly found emotions too.

Finally, Hunter is able to catch up to both Omega and Fennec, and the sudden change in his demeanour and her aura of innocence is extremely present here. Hunter drops the worrisome parental act fairly quickly, and it’s replaced with the familiar soldier we all know and recognise, he needs to exhibit such strengths to assert the extent he is willing to go to protect Omega. Equally, upon realising Fennec doesn’t quite have her best interest at heart, Omega wastes no time jumping (recklessly) into action to save both herself and Hunter anymore trouble. Of course, being a weightless little girl, she isn’t able to do much, and Hunter ends up in a physical altercation with Shand, where he actually ends up taking his eyes off the assassin to address Omega directly, insisting she run. This not only shows just how much he cares about her, but how desperate he was to ensure her safety by putting himself at risk by not only getting into a fight, but exposing a vulnerability by taking his eyes off of her. (Her worried little face as she flees too, poor girl 😔)

(This point doesn’t have much to do with the relationship between these two, so feel free to skip over it if you want, but I did want to briefly comment on Omega’s timid exterior as she runs to Wrecker in the maintenance tunnels. It truly helps to perceive her genuine age and immaturity, the way she cowers into his neck and sits in his arms especially.)

After Tech informs Hunter of Omega’s current predicament involving the maintenance tower, it’s easily noticeable that when questioning Tech’s information, his voice mirrors the exact tone and edge it held when berating both the former and Echo after their ship was impounded in Saleucami. To me, this shows a clear connotation between the dire situations, and how quickly Hunter has taken to his new role in Omega’s life, and his job as her primary carer. Not to mention, she is literally hanging mid-traffic lane, and in desperate need of assistance. Alongside this, we see previously in this episode that not only was Hunter worried about attracting unwanted attention, after receiving such a thing and accidentally allowing Omega to hang in the balance (pun unintended), he actually steals somebody’s hoverbike in an attempt to rescue the little one, seeming to not care he is attracting even more unwanted attention. There is no hesitation on his end.

The look of absolutely HORROR that crosses this man’s face as Omega drops from the tower and just about hits the hovertruck below. We haven’t seen a look like that cross Hunter’s features since Crosshair’s ‘betrayal’, another indication to his immense worry for the newest member of his family. Equally, this is mirrored by Omega’s wide eyed, petrified stare as she momentarily watches Fennec shoot straight for Hunter’s bike, realising both she and the closest thing she has to a parent are still in serious peril. We need to take into account that this little girl has never experienced something this grim before, and the internal panic is evident for both herself, and Hunter especially.

This brings us down to the “HUNTER!!” comment from Omega as she dangles from the hovertruck. I personally believe her first initial thoughts were not to warn Hunter of the oncoming Shand, but instead a desperation to cry out for help from her guardian. This escalated as she notices Fennec approaching, and her eyes even widen as she calls out for Hunter to watch out, giving further evidence that her first thoughts might not have correlated to her eventual dialogue. It’s also important to note that despite her incredibly tragic situation, Omega is still much more worried about Hunter’s predicament than her own.

(Slightly unimportant, but I love the way Hunter leans in to take Omega in his arm before Shand knocks him out of the way. It’s very parental.)

I never noticed this before, but as Hunter catches Omega’s hand and hauls her onto the bike, he actually scans her over briefly to check for any injuries, before insisting she hold on tight. Notice how his voice isn’t scolding or harsh, he’s very calm despite the dire situation, doing his best to remain neutral for Omega’s sake, especially considering the day she’s had. It’s also important to note that this is further improvement from the situation on Saleucami, another example of their ever-growing relationship.

The WAVE of relief that rolls from Hunter’s entire demeanour as he places the backpack down in the Marauder cockpit, knowing he can finally rest now that Omega is safe, while simultaneously anticipating the flurry of issues about to storm their already hectic lives with a bounty hunter after the kid. His eyes are exhausted, his shoulders are only slightly slacked to insinuate his rough exterior, and yet he still does his absolute best to comfort Omega as she begins to get upset over the prior events and the unknown future.

And, finally, a small action but important nonetheless. I noticed that Omega’s eyes quiver slightly as she begins to get upset, and in her final moments on screen, they direct towards Hunter. This may seem unimportant, but it provides further evidence to the notion that she seeks him out for protection specifically. She’s upset and frightened, so she looks to him because he protects her. It is set up as if she’s about to toss herself into his arms, because she needs him right now.

I hope you liked my analysis of Hunter and Omega’s relationship in episode four of The Bad Batch! Of course, I’d love to discuss these two with anybody who might be interested, so please feel free to drop me an ask or a DM, and if you’re captivated enough I’d totally recommend looking out for my future posts on the topic!

As always, much love to our ‘Megs and Hunter, thank you for reading! 💛

Part One: Aftermath

Part Two: Cut and Run

Part Three: Replacements

[din-djarins-riduur]

*Ahem* This weeks episode and my thoughts : Ep 12 Rescue on Ryloth

Crosshair :

I’m not going to lie, I was actually a bit sad and hurt that the boys didn’t get Crosshair. I still have hope and don’t feel at all that they’ve completely given up on him. I just know the Bad Batch feel guilty and a part of guilt is avoiding the situation all together. I’m sure Omega will bring that up in the next episode or two. I feel like the side mission episodes are over now. We have enough character development and the story line was pretty heavy and serious these past two episodes.

I think it’s safe to say that Crosshair’s chip isn’t working as strong as it is. This look alone between Crosshair and Howzer shows that they both are starting to realize things aren’t as they appear with the Empire. They’re being used as tools. (We all know clones don’t take that lightly) To me at least, this looked like a secret plea - from the true Crosshair - for Howzer to help his brothers.

Also, something that was really curious to me was that Crosshair is obsessed with going after his brothers. I think deep down, the real him is fighting against the chip to get as close as he can to his brothers.

The audience can totally see it in his face towards the end that he’s hurt and also upset that once again his brothers were nearby but had escaped. Once again, Crosshair was left behind. I think that facial expression he showed as he watched them fly away was a glimmer of the real Crosshair. For sure, his chip is damaged. He’s starting to think more independently.

Howzer and the clones :

This part made me so hopeful. I loved too though that it wasn’t every single clone that dropped their weapons. This scene alone shows that the clone Rebellion will not have everyone on board and honestly it’s pretty heart breaking to know that the clones are going to fight one another.

ALSO WTF IS CHOPPER SO DAMN LOUD LIKE DUDE QUIT YELLING AND GOING “BWAH! BWAHAHAHAHA!” WHEN YOU HAVE TO DO THINGS QUIETLY LOL

[a-lil-perspective]

Really not trying to be a pendulum of emotions over here but I am very bothered by the current trajectory of things and there’s no other way for me to make sense of it then to talk it out in good ‘ole ramble.

I don’t even know where to start. To say that I am hurt by the events transpired—transpiring—is an understatement. I am frustrated and beyond saddened. I don’t know what I expected from the series, but it wasn’t… this. Whatever “this” is.

To be clear, I’m not one of those people who hate on a show that just started. I’m not hating on it at all, actually. I’m just trying to make sense of it. Because I truly don’t understand it. Subtlety is an art until it’s a headache.

And right now, it’s a goddamn migraine.

Fans should not have to jump through hoops to scrupulously analyze every single scene in order to make sense of it and create some pseudo-development that probably isn’t there but goddamnit if it isn’t our wonderful, wishful thinking. As the show progresses, I get the increasing feeling that there wasn’t much forethought applied to the narrative. It’s already nine episodes in and we’ve made, by my accounts, no headway whatsoever. I think that’s a pretty profound indicator right there; especially given the overt themes on display: i.e. ‘Dad’ Batch, Imperial!Crosshair—there’s no fine distinction between the two. They’re both pretty clear (though bland) and established at this point. And that’s where my problem lies.

I like this show, I do. It’s nice seeing the boys in different settings, but I can’t be the only one who’s left ringing a little hollow come the roll of credits. Everything was set in stone right off the bat: Crosshair is bad, Hunter and Co are good. I keep hoping for, anticipating, a building momentum that will be glorious once it peaks, but a larger, more perceptive part of me says that we won’t get that; at least not in the way I envision.

My mind wanders a lot to several paths this show could veer down; I theorize a lot on each character’s individual fate and their fate as a unit, a family.

It’s painful to think about.

At this point I can’t confidently predict how this will all pan out, but from what I do suspect, there will be a large rift and division. Division between brothers, between loyalty (willingly), between family.

It makes me utterly heartbroken to think about.

Because when it all goes down, all I can think about is Crosshair, once restored his mind and freed from the inhibitor chip, walking away from his brothers. For good.

How could you stay with people who were so quick to discard you for something you had no control over?

You wouldn’t.

Crosshair wouldn’t.

They’ll call it “independence”. “Character development”. Crosshair trying to “find his way”. Mark my words.

It’s breaking apart a family.

How is that fucking character development.

Sure, maybe it’ll all turn out fine and Crosshair will be reunited with the bunch, they’ll make amends and heal, it’s all good.

But it will never be the same.

That’s the thing. No matter what happens from here on out; there will always be a void, a missing link, a part of Crosshair that knows he was left behind by the only people he thought never would. And there will always be a part of Hunter that knows he is responsible at large.

Look. I’m gonna say it: Angst is overrated. I’m sick of it. Truly. I’ve gotten to the point where my brain doesn’t like to process it, can’t process it, because I’ve had my own real life exposure to it for such an extensive length of time that it’s absolutely fucked with my cognition and it’s something that is a constant struggle for me to work around, everyday.

No, I’m not saying everything should be sunshine and rainbows, or that it even remotely is. I don’t live in a fantasy (and the ones I do, like all my Dad Batch glory, I can set aside a sec for the larger picture) and I fully realize life is full of aches and trouble.

But that’s the thing: life is full of it.

When is enough, enough?

When is there going to be happiness, healing. Why is pain glorified for shock factor time over again.

It’s getting old, fast.

Words of advice from your fellow trauma victim: You don’t have to experience suffering in order to grow. You can absolutely learn through healthy means. You deserve to.

Crosshair deserves to.

The familial connection at stake here is what bothers me most. (Not to be personal but) As someone who has never had a semblance of stability or a whole, healthy family unit, I crave that more than anything.

I thought I found that with the Bad Batch.

All I want is families who come together. There is so much rich nuance that comes with healthy relationships; I don’t understand why it isn’t explored more. To me, that’s where it’s at. Unity, stability, support. Sticking it out when things get rough. Growing together, becoming better, healing. When will that become normalized the way heartache and gut-wrenching angst is. I’ll never understand it.

My heart really hurts tonight.

[contrispos]

Episode 12 - Rescue on Ryloth

[Star Wars: The Bad Batch]

Okay, so I know this is very late but I’ve been up to a lot of stuff, but here it is!!!

—

RAMPFUCK

HOWSER😘😘😘

i hate rampass with my entire being

YES TELL EM ELENI

BOSS ASS BITCH.COM

I love Howser

I HATE RAMPASS

CROSSHAIR IS COMING AND I KNOW IT

CHOPPER!!!!!!!!

THAT is my man crisscross

Crosshair, arr you suggesting you won’t leave without your brothers right now??? IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING

THE BATCH

GONKY

GONKY IS A DEFECTIVE UNIT

I LOVE IT

I LOVE THAT THE BATCH NAMED THEIR GNK DROID GONKY BTW

ITS MY FAVORITE THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD

HOLY SHIT ITS TECH

MY BABYYYYYYY

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YEA DONT WORRY GONKY THEY ARE DEFECTIVE TOO

ITS SO CUTE I CANT

TECH MY BABY

I HAVE MISSED YOU DEAR

IS THIS TECH BEING A DAD

IS TECH WORRIED ABOUT THE MISSION

MY GOD HES BEAUTIFUL

yeah baby tell him

omega is the fucking best did you know that?

damn tech stop flying so fast u gonna die brother

MY CHILDREN ARE SO BEAUTIFUL

omg I fucking love chopper

HOLD UP

WE ARE GETTING TECH AND CHOPPER TOGETHER IN THE SAME SCENE

THE DOPPELGÄNGERS ARE UNITED

this post btw

AH the little shoulder grab my heart

awwwwee tech is so excited

why so cold hunter? ya need a blanket or something

how exactly did free ta survive a shot to THE FUCKING HEAD BUT FIVES DIDNT SURVIVE A SHOT THROUGH ARMOR

🎶four bros, chillin on a mountain, zero feet apart cuz they’re not actually gay just very close brothers who fight battles together and are like a family🎶

oooooooh another face off?????

why do i love the hand signs?

WHY DID WE NOT GET TO SEE MY BEAUTIFUL BABY TECH?????

shit

that’s a probe isn’t it

hunter is gonna save the day:)

bonk

stabby stab

oh tech my darling boy, please do a stand up show

crisscross is comin for ya!!

OH

MY

GOD

TECH AND CHOPPER ARE WORKING TOGETHER ON THE SHIP!!!!!!

WHY IS THIS THE CUTEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN??????

WHY IS DAVE DOING THIS TO ME?????

hunter is a little(very tall) bitch

HUHHHHHHHH

OMYFUCKINGGODTHATISTHECUTESTTHINGIHAVEEVERSEENORHEARDINMYENTIRELIFE

OMEGA LITERALLY JUST TOLD HUNTER SHE SEES THE BATCH AS HER FAMILY

I AM CRYING

HUNTERS FACE

wait are they just gonna leave omega there????

holy shit

wait

why are you bullying my child RAMPASS

HUH?

YOU WANNA FIGHT??!!

crosshairs scar is no easier to look at

my child is hurt!!!!

OMYFUCKINGGODTHEREMYHEARTGOESAGAINCANOMEGASTOPBEINGSOFUCKINGADORABLE

HE IS HER BROTHER🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

THEY ALL ARE🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

CAN I CRY NOW? WILL YOU ALLOW ME TO CRY??????

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

OOOFFFF omega i love you

howser is baby

HOWSER IS DEFECTIVE I KNEW IT

AHHHHHHH

I CANT

I LOVE CHOPPER SO MUCH

I LOVE THE BAD BATCH SO MUCH

YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONAL STATE I AM IN RIGHT NOW

OMG TECH IS BEING A DAD

HE IS BEING A DAD

I REPEAT

TECH IS BEING A DAD

HE HAS DAD ENERGY

HE IS PROTECTIVE

HOLY FUCK I COULD GO ON ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE DAD!TECH FOR HOURS

SSHHHIIIIIEEEEETTTTT

CHOPPER MY CHILD YOU ARE SO SMART I LOVE YOU

CHOPPER SUPREMACY YESTERDAY PLEASE

I CANNOT EXPLAIN HOW MUCH I LOVE IT WHEN CHOPPER HAS HIS LITTLE ROBOT ARMS OUT

“a little help?” echo, fives is very proud of you right now

“i won’t tell if you don’t” holy fuck i live my children

WAIT

ARE WE ABOUT TO WITNESS HERAS FIRST TIME AS A REAL PILOT??????

OMG GUYS THIS IS A LEGENDARY EVENT RIGHT HERE

THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE WILL CHANGE THE GALAXY FOREVER

TECH

HELLO DEAR

there is something about the fact that tech is talking about his rebels parallel character that just sits right with me

OH MY GOD

DID YOU HEAR THE SLIGHT PANIC IN TECHS VOICE

HE THOUGHT OMEGA WAS GOING TO FLY THE SHUTTLE WITHOUT ANY TRAINING

MY BABY

WHY DID HE SOUND SO MUCH LIKE A DAD

HE WAS SO DAD-LIKE IN THE WAY HE SAID OMEGA

OH MY GOD THIS RIGHT HERE IN MY FAVORITE SCENE IN THE ENTIRE STAR WARS FRANCHISE

TECH IS SO FUCKING GOOD AT FLYING AND I LOVE IT

HOW IS HE DOING THAT

AH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

LIKE I AM ASEXUAL BUT LIKE THAT IS SEXY AF

TECH

I AM NO LONGER ASKING

I DEMAND YOU PUT YOUR COMEDY SHOW ON THE ROAD

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD TECH IS GORGEOUS

AH

MY HEART

MY EYES ARE BLESSED

DONT GO THAT WAY HUNTER

YA GONNA DIE

hunter so knows that howsers chip is dead

OH MY GOD

TECH IS SO FUCKING GORGEOUS

I—

I CANT

HE IS SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL

oh no

stop

omg

regular clones breaking orders??

THIS IS WHAT IM HERE FOR!!!!!!

YES HOWSER

BUT LIKE GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE CAUSE YOURE ABOUT TO DIE

WHY DOES CROSSHAIR MISS EVERY SINGLE SHOT???

IS IT HIM FIGHTING AGAINST THE CHIP TO NOT SHOOT HIS BROTHERS????

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME WATCH MY CHILDREN BEING SO SAD

A HIGH FIVE!!!!!!

OMEGA DID A LITTLE JUMP TOO

I CANT WITH THIS ADORABLENESS

ah- hunter resisting payment???? who’s this fella???

okay, let’s just break this down: hunter is breaking my heart with his fucking dad-of-the-group thing

wrecker is breaking my heart with his utterly confused look at what’s going on

omega is breaking my heart with her sheer cuteness

echo is healing me a bit by being the calm mom

BUT TECH IS FUCKING KILLING ME FIFTEEN TIMES IN THIS SHORT CLIP BECAUSE 1: HOW DARE HE BE SO DAD-Y TOWARDS OMEGA AND HERA AND 2: HOW DARE HE SMILE LIKE THAT??? HOW DARE HE BE SO GORGEOUS I LITERALLY CANNOT BREATHE RIGHT NOW HE STARIGHT UP KNOCKED THE AIR FROM MY LUNGS HE IS SO GORGEOUS AND I WILL DIE IN LIKE TWO SECONDS IF NOT LESS

HERA AND OMEGA ARE LESBIANS

I LOVE HERA AND KANAN BUT LIKE OMEGA AND HERA ARE SO CUTE

“keep an eye on your brothers” I CANT I LITERALLY CANT LIKE HERA KILLED ME RIGHT HERE AND NOW AND ALSO HOW DARE THEY SHIFT THE FOCUS TO THE BATCH WHEN SHE SAYS THAT

okay but hera literally thinks that they are brothers in the sense of how i have brothers or how she would have brothers, like they are a little family who grew up together and the batch are omegas troublesome older brothers when in reality they are clones, i think that is realky beautiful and i am crying so hard right now

OKAY BUT TECHS LITTLE SMILE AS OMEGA WALKED UP TO THEM I—

ah shiet

OH MY GOD CROSSHAIRS FACE WHEN RAMPASS SAID THE BATCH ARE HIS FRIENDS

HE WANTS TO GO HOME

no

nope

nuh uh

i dont want this

but i really do want this tho

NOW THEY CAN GET HIS CHIP OUT AND HE CAN BE WITH HIS FAMILY AGAIN

okay but if that’s not the face of a scared little boy i don’t know what is

like!!!

look at that!!!

HE IS SO SCARED HE JUST WANTS TO GO HOME

DAVE JUST LET HIM GO HOME

okay but i really did not need this much in one episode but like now they might actually save crosshair soooo, that’s good:))))

[shadowthestoryteller]

Oddest Bad Batch Headcanons I’ve Had

Since my brain has ceased to supply me with material for my Bad Batch fanfic for the time being, here I am introducing the oddest headcanons my brain has ever supplied me for the Bad Batch, yet ones that also make some amount of sense if I think hard enough.

I did quite enjoy this, so if anyone wants to send me any asks on the Bad Batch please do! I like these boys. 

Hunter: Spear Fisher/Survivalist

Aside from his joy of using stabby objects, he does sense electromagnetic pulses. That’s something sharks do to hunt fish, and while Hunter doesn’t have electromagnetic receptors (Ampullae of Lorenzini) on his face and wouldn’t have his head underwater (his hair might get wet) I still feel like it’d be very helpful in senses where fish were, even in murky waters. His name is also Hunter so… there’s that. He’s got a very “survivalist” feel around him and I think spear fishing would be something he occasionally indulges in whenever he takes hikes to recuperate from missions. Yes, he strikes me as the type to just yeet off into the woods for a few days and be one with nature for a bit. The man needs a break from the chaos personified that is his team. Let him merge with the moss.

Wrecker: Rock Collector

First off, who doesn’t like collecting rocks? Secondly, Wrecker is disaster incarnate but I feel he’s also a pure child inside and therefore cool rocks fascinate him. After emerging from the woods covered in mud and sticks like some sort of knife wielding cryptid, Hunter brings Wrecker interesting rocks he’s found. River pebbles mostly, but sometimes he’ll find a shiny one or even a geode. Wrecker likes geodes the best, because to get the pretty crystals he gets to first break open the rock. He also likes collecting rocks because he can also throw pebbles at Crosshair, which annoys the sniper. He has a stash of rocks on the Marauder and that is about the only thing organized in his life (Tech has to help him sort and identify rocks). Wrecker has named every single rock/crystal he has. One time he, somehow, found a Kyber crystal and that was the day Hunter thought he would finally be taken out via heart attack.

Crosshair: Climbing/Claustrophobic

First episode when they were sitting around with Hunter staring dramatically off into the distance, I noticed Crosshair was sitting up on that glass shrub thing (you know, right before he decided to be an ass). He’s also got a habit of perching on high objects whenever they’re available, so my brain said he likes to climb things so he can have a vantage point. Like a cat or something. Snipers often shoot from high places, so that’s something that has become ingrained into his personality. If he sees something that could give him a vantage point, his instinct is to climb it. Trees, rocks, a lamppost, doesn’t matter. On the flip side, if he cannot get somewhere high or cannot see for a long distance, he grows nervous and feels boxed in. Tight canyons or, stars forbid, underground tunnels set him on edge and he grows even more hostile to prevent people from seeing his fear.

Tech: Artist/Research Funding

Let’s face it, Tech boy is probably the most creative out of the bunch. Given his absolute love of knowledge and learning stuff about planet flora and fauna, I don’t think it would be too far of a stretch for him to be pretty good at drawing so he can retain information about a creature. They’ll be on some random planet who knows where and Tech will see some creature and whip out a sketch pad to get a quick likeness of the animal (until Wrecker scares it off). His drawings, while a bit messy, are pretty damn good and Tech will occasionally discover a new species or something and maybe he gets paid for “aiding in science” or something. He might even be a semi celebrity in the science community given the amount of new species he discovers (there may be a war, but science still sciences on). Maybe this is even how the Bad Batch gets some of their funding to aid in their shenanigans. There is a problem with this though. Since he likes things to be perfect, he often will get too close to the animal which eventually ends up in a research facility getting a creature sample that’s undergone impromptu dissection (aka Hunter stabbed it when it started chasing them). At least they have a drawing.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Serial Experiments Lain, Episodes 7-8

In which we discover the truth about Lain’s other self, her voice actor breaks my heart, and everything comes tumbling down.

The Other Side of Me

The first half of Serial Experiments Lain has been a lot of stumbling around in the dark. The constant barrage of trippy direction, unexplained visual symbols and mysterious plot swerves has left mountains of questions on the table in terms of what’s going on, who’s involved, how high the stakes really are and so on. So the second half has a big responsibility to fulfill; it has to find the right answers to those questions. Even if it chooses to remain abstract and obtuse, it needs to provide clarity on the biggest, most critical unknowns. That’s going to be the difference between Lain being merely fascinating and Lain being genuinely great. And if these episodes are anything to go by, it’s actually gonna pull it off. We pretty much just get the answer to a single big question, but that answer results in easily the best pair of episodes this show’s ever had. This is Serial Experiments Lain firing on all cylinders, and the results are truly fantastic.

Who exactly is Lain Iwakura? Who is Lain of the Wired? What, if anything, is the difference between them? The answer, it turns out, it darker than we ever could have predicted: Lain of the Wired was the real Lain all along. She’s the manifestation of the internet’s stream of consciousness brought to life. She’s everything anyone’s ever said online, true or false. She’s every rumor that’s been passed down the pipeline. She’s the observer and spreader of any and all information that finds it way into the great collective consciousness. Lain Iwakura is merely a body that allows her to bridge the bag into the physical world. Her parents? Fake. Her sister? Fake. She doesn’t even remember their birthdays, because they never had any to begin with. They’re the shells of a life built around her to fool her real-world self into believing she belonged there. But something happened to complicate that state of affairs: Lain Iwakura developed into her own person. The body Lain of the Wired used to cross the diving line between worlds isn’t just a hollow vessel; there’s a genuine personality living within it. And those two Lains are fighting for control over their shared identity, all while the knights try to weaponize Wired Lain for their own ends. There’s a chilling moment in the start of episode seven where I-Lain remarks that her Wired persona is becoming less and less like her by the moment. Whatever minor control she might have had over W-Lain is long gone; her digital self is ripping free of her constraints once again. And she doesn’t care how screwed up I-Lain’s life becomes in the process.

Trembling Eyes

That’s such an effectively nightmarish concept for internet-based horror. The idea that you’re losing control of your digital self is scary enough, but the idea of a person who’s online persona is literally the internet itself just brings things to a whole new level. Lain is forced to bear the consequences of all the ways the internet is affecting people’s lives. She’s forced to take the fall for every rumor that’s spread, every secret that slips out. And now that I think about it, Arisu and her friends were wondering if Lain was responsible for internet-based dirty deeds all throughout the show’s first half. She’s been in crosshairs right from the start, and now it’s quite literally stripping everything away from her. Her family is either replaced by mindless drooling fakes or was never real to begin with, the entire school is turning on her for her supposed crimes, and everyone on the internet is trying to drag her in a different direction. And the way everyone just silently stares at her throughout these episodes, blank and cold and unfeeling, the eyes of the entire world privy to her deepest discomforts and fears... god, it’s fucking horrifying. She’s being stripped bare and exposed to the entire world because she’s the vessel for a system that won’t stop until it sinks its claws into the entirety of society.

But you know what really sells how awful this all is? The voice acting. Kaori Shimizu was only fifteen years old when she performed this role, but in capturing Lain’s increasing despair and terror, she delivers one of the most gut-wrenching performances I’ve heard in a long time. The way she mumbles and stumbles over her words, the pitch of her voice slowly rising as her emotions heighten, the way her voice breaks and trips over itself as she gets close to tears... it’s a ten-gallon sucker punch straight to the gut. She sounds so vulnerable, so frail, like she’s barely keeping herself from shattering like glass. Listening to her try to keep from falling apart, desperately grabbing for any semblance of salvation, makes the most benign attempts at deflection lodge themselves in your heart and rip it to fucking shreds (”People say the funniest things sometimes, don’t they?”) Just listen to the desperation in her voice when she tries to reassure Arisu that she enjoys hanging out with her. The thought of losing that connection is so fucking painful that she can barely keep from bursting into sobs out of fear it’s slipping away. Never mind how her eyes tremble with overflowing emotion to just drive the stake even deeper in. It’s just goddamn heartbreaking. And it makes me empathize with Lain more deeply than I ever have before. I want her to be okay. I want her to escape this pain. I want her to find her happiness and hold onto these connections that mean so much to her.

But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t keep things from falling further and further apart.

Deleted

Which brings me to the end of episode 8, and the cruelest twist yet: in an attempt to delete everyone’s bad memories of her, Lain Iwakura ends up deleting herself from their existences. Her friends no longer notice her there; instead, it’s Lain of the Wire who rushes to greet them with open arms. It’s Lain of the Wire who eagerly suggests they hang out and dress up. It’s Lain of the Wire who steps into this friendship that’s been so important to her. And Lain Iwakura, in her desire to erase the infinite prying eyes staring at her, realizes she’s ensured that no one will stare at her now. No one will notice her. No one will acknowledge her existence. No one but the belching mechanical computer that’s taken over her room; only this digital world remains to return her greetings now. And something tells me we’re only going to get darker and darker from here. This is the point of no return; from now on, Lain’s path is going nowhere but down, down, down. And I am terrified for what’s still to come. There’s no knowing how bad the situation’s gonna get. There’s no knowing how much she’s going to suffer. There’s no knowing if there’s even a happy end waiting for her.

All I know is this: Serial Experiments Lain is really fucking good. And if this ending sticks the landing, it’s gonna be one to remember for years to come.

Odds and Ends

-God, it’s like the house is puking its mechanical guts out. Gnarly.

-And we thought the Virtual Boy sucked ass. This guy’s on a whole other level.

-Man, the way this show just hard-cuts out of soundtrack and scene never ceases to catch me off guard.

-Lol, this dude thought he was in a porn.

-Nice detail that we don’t see the suit guys’ eyes until out first semi-friendly encounter with them. Before they were faceless threats; now, they’re people.

-That symbol’s probably important, isn’t it?

-And that, kids, is why you don’t look at your phone while walking. You might just fall into a ditch.

-”A company that big wouldn’t do anything illegal.” LOOOOOOL WHAT A JOKE

-Okay but did the scriptwriter just really like Nightmare on Elm Street or

-oh god why are we going nuclear

-Wow, Lain, rude. Don’t you know kinkshaming is wrong?

Hot damn, what a great set of episodes. See you next time!

[gadgetgirl71]

Top Ten Tuesday 29 December 2020

Welcome to this weeks Top Ten Tuesday. Originally created by The Broke & The Bookish, which is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week it features a book or literary themed category. This weeks prompt is:

Favorite Non ARC Books of 2020:

Confessions of a Bad Boy by J D Hawkins

Confessions of a Bad Boy Episode 1: Never Commit

I’m the internet’s favorite Bad Boy – the guy who’ll tell it to you straight. No bullshit charm. No excuses. Consider it a public service, letting women know the truth about what guys are really thinking and teaching guys how to get what they want.

Yes, we were checking that girl out. No, you don’t want to meet her parents. And no, ladies, we don’t care what shoes you wear – as long as they’re up around our neck by the end of the night.

Life was simple, until fate brought me back together with Jessie. My best friend’s younger sister, who I just happened to have the hottest one night stand of my life with four years ago. Who calls me at 3 AM to get bailed out of jail. Who I can’t keep my hands off of. And who can never find out who I really am.

She’s off-limits, but I don’t care. And when I need a fake girlfriend to help me out of a jam at work, she’s the only one who can help. Now I’m stuck sharing a hotel room with her for the weekend.

A long, sexy weekend, one that I wish will never end.

314 (Widowsfield Trilogy #1) by A R Wise

Alma Harper has been trying to forget what happened in Widowsfield 16 years ago. She has a good life as a music teacher now, and might rekindle her relationship with her one true love. However, the number 314 haunts her, and threatens to bring her back to the day that her brother disappeared. When a reporter shows up, just days before March 14th, Alma realizes that her past is coming back to haunt her. What happened on March 14th, at 3:14, 16 years ago? No one but The Skeleton Man can remember.

Off Limits (Kings of Mayhem MC #5) by Penny Dee

I’m about to break the biggest rule of all.

RUGER: I was sixteen when she was born. The niece of my best friend. An angel with bright blue eyes and hair the color of night. Through the years I’ve seen her grow from an adorable dimpled cupid into a strong, independent beauty. Into a goddess. A temptress. Fate has brought us together. But she is off limits. I’ve got no business wanting her. No business at all.

CHASTITY: For years I’ve crushed on him. An older man who makes me tremble. A biker King whose arms I want to get lost in. Whose body I can only dream about touching. Whose lips I’m dying to taste. I shouldn’t want him. But I do. I shouldn’t lust after him. But tell that to my poor hopeless heart. I should stay away. But I won’t.

Off Limits is book five in the Kings of Mayhem MC series. It can be read as a standalone.

Primal Howl (Primal Howlers MC #1) by Piper Davenport

Orion: I’m the oldest son of MC royalty. My father founded the Primal Howlers and he expects me to wear his patch one day. The problem is, I don’t know if that’s what I want. Lately, I couldn’t give two sh*ts about anything.

Until her.

Raquel: I moved to Monument, Colorado to write my thesis and get some much-needed distance from my overbearing family. What I didn’t expect was to find is myself hung up on a biker who appears to have nothing to lose.

I, however, have everything to lose and I’m worried Orion just might be my downfall.

Primal Need (Primal Howlers MC #2) by Piper Davenport

18+ for language and sexual situations…

Sundance: I’m the president of the Primal Howlers out of Monument, Colorado. My wife was taken from me ten years ago, leaving me to raise our three children alone. I’ve been diagnosed with a disease that I’m not sure I’ll beat, and to make matters worse, I’m now in the crosshairs of a rival club.

But enough about the upside of my life, because Wyatt Bates just walked into it, her confidence enough to rock my world, but her sweetness might just be the end of me.

Wyatt: I’ve lost almost everyone who ever loved me. Cancer took them all, so the last thing I’m looking for is a relationship that will break me again.

Then I meet Thorne “Sundance” Graves and my world is turned on its head by the sexy as hell biker. Now I must choose between a chance at love or the risk of complete devastation.

Roommaid by Sariah Wilson

Madison Huntington is determined to live her dreams. That means getting out from under her family’s wealth and influence by saying no to the family business, her allowance, and her home. But on a teacher’s salary, the real world comes as a rude awakening—especially when she wakes up every morning on a colleague’s couch. To get a place of her own (without cockroaches, mold, or crime scene tape), Madison accepts a position as a roommaid. In exchange for free room and board, all she needs to do is keep her busy roommate’s penthouse clean and his dog company. So what if she’s never washed a dish in her life. She can figure this out, right?

Madison is pretty confident she can fake it well enough that Tyler Roth will never know the difference. The finance whiz is rich and privileged and navigates the same social circles as her parents—but to him she’s just a teacher in need of an apartment. He’s everything Madison has run from, but his kindhearted nature, stomach-fluttering smile, and unexpected insecurities only make her want to get closer. And Tyler is warming to the move.

Rewarding job. Perfect guy. Great future. With everything so right, what could go wrong? Madison is about to find out.

Minus (Burning Saints MC #1) by Jack Davenport

18+ for language and sexual situations…

Burning Saints MC outcast, “Minus” Vincent, has been summoned out of exile by the Club’s President for reasons unknown. Upon his return, he finds himself tempted by forbidden fruit of the past that has only gotten sweeter with time.

Christina “Cricket” Wallace knows exactly what kind of life she wants, and it’s far from the chaos and mayhem of an outlaw motorcycle club. She’s worked hard to get where she is, and she won’t let anyone keep her from getting there…especially her over-protective biker brother, or the sexy as hell Club rival she thought she’d never see again.

As Minus and Cricket pursue their own roads, they find their paths intersecting in a violent and passionate collision that will forever change their futures.

Clutch (Burning Saints MC #2) by Jack Davenport

8+ for language and sexual situations…

The Burning Saints Motorcycle Club is the only family Clutch has known, and violence his only stock and trade. Humanity has handed him nothing but pain and struggle, and he’s come to expect even less from it. As an orphan, he’s always found it easier to bond with machines than with people. Now his club family is in danger of losing its way, its identity, even its very existence.

Dr. Gina Gardner is newly single, completely unprepared to mingle, and as it turns out, cannot sing and safely operate a motor vehicle at the same time. What she craves is time away to figure out what she wants. What she just might get, however, is a detour to what she needs.

When Clutch and Gina find themselves at the same crossroad, will they speed by each other, collide in a fiery crash, or blaze a new trail together?

A Witch for Mr Holiday by Deanna Chase

Welcome to Christmas Grove, where holiday magic and matchmaking is in the air.

When Rex Holiday walks into the charming town of Christmas Grove, all he plans to do is to spend the season helping out at his buddy’s Christmas tree farm. What he doesn’t expect is for an overzealous matchmaker to slip a love potion into his cider. But the joke’s on the resident matchmaker, because not even a potent love spell can break through the walls he’s built around his heart. But when the girl next door catches his eye, some of his barriers start to crumble. Still, Rex Holiday’s time in Christmas Grove is only temporary. He can’t afford to fall in love. Or can he?

Holly Reineer is a powerful spirit witch who can see the future for everyone. Everyone but herself that is. And when Rex Holiday walks into her life, she sees his, too. He’s destined for a big corporate job all the way across the country. So when he starts to show interest in her, she knows it’s only temporary, and Holly’s not interested in a fling. She wants her happily-ever-after. But he’s very hard to resist… Can a love spell rewrite the future? If so, Holly will need to learn to follow her heart and, for once, trust what she can’t see.

A Witch for Mr Christmas by Deanna Chase

Welcome to Christmas Grove, the town full of love, magic, and holiday miracles.

Ilsa McKenzie has only ever loved one man. But eleven months ago, he walked out of her life, leaving her heartbroken and her life changed forever. After leaving the magical town of Christmas Grove to regroup and get her life in order, Ilsa’s back, ready to face her past and start her future with or without him. There’s only one question. Will Zach want to be a part of her life or will he run again?

Zach Frost doesn’t love easily. He’s loved and lost before. All he’s ever wanted was to run his Christmas tree farm and start a family. And once Ilsa arrives in town, it seems he’s on the verge of making his dreams come true. But his past is complicated and it’s about to catch up with him. Can he make peace with his mistakes or will he let history repeat itself and lose his chance with the one woman who can make him feel whole?

Until next week.

#JustForFun, #Top Ten Tuesday, #TopTenTuesday, #TTT

[sclfmastery]

// Special thanks to @pantherpause and @halorvic and @anjelia3 for the gifs and graphics. 

I’ll literally never be over the plot twist that is Rhys, in his debut episode, shooting his traitorous lover point blank and then sitting down with THIS FACE

to creepily look up Alice Vaughan and decide to pit the entire Kensington Firm against her, AND THEN BY THE SEASON FINALE, AND THE TRAILER FOR THE SECOND SEASON, HE’S BECOME THE SLIGHTLY UNSAVORY AND VERY MACHIAVELLIAN BUT ULTIMATELY RELIABLE BUDDY TO THE PROTAGONIST COUPLE. “LOL ALICE HEY BUDDY HEY BENJY’S MAIN SQUEEZE WHAT’S UP ALSO DID YOU KILL THAT DEAD NAKED LADY IN MY LIVING ROOM?” “LOL NAH BRO I THOUGHT IT WAS YOU!”  “LOL NAH FRIEND NAH!!” 

They went from “you’re a very dangerous potential enemy and I have my eye on you and I am willing to take you down at any chance” to “we both have the hots for Ben, and one of us clearly won, so let’s be united in our  love and loyalty to him, and maybe make some lucrative business deals in the process.”  

LIKE.  It’s BIZARRE? But I LOVE IT???? It’s like my favorite plot twist in the show????  And I think it’s largely due to what a hit John Simm was when his character, meant to be a guest appearance, became integral to the main cast (you’ll notice in his first two episodes, he’s listed as “guest starring” but by his third, he’s sandwiched in to “starring,” in the opening credits). But hear me out.  A lot of people are infuriated by this seemingly jarring character shift, but examining his episodes closely, especially in a series whose episodes are only ten per season, and very concentrated, it’s entirely plausible BECAUSE: 1) Rhys LIKED Alice from the beginning.  Rhys is peculiarly nonjudgmental, owing in part to his complete moral corruption, but also to a general jolly affability about others which makes him as likely to have tea with a potential victim as shoot them (all depends on the situation at hand and the shelf life of their usefulness alive). Either way Rhys is a hedonist, and either eventuality promises that he’ll genuinely enjoy the hell out of himself.  He sees nothing morally or logically incongruous about hanging out with an enemy even while they are still an enemy. Especially if they’re a gorgeous woman, given his notorious sex drive. Rhys also sees nothing deplorable about enjoying someone’s company, when he is able and willing at any point to double-cross them.  For instance, Alice clearly appeals to him, but he has no trouble threatening her life later on, in a foiled con, when he questions Ben’s loyalty, to keep Ben in line. 

2) Rhys came to also ADMIRE Alice, when he softcore “kidnapped” her (I loved this episode, because I was fully expecting him to do something sadistic, with the scene’s play-up, and then he ended up playing dress-up with her when she came out of the shower, suggesting attire but not forcing it on her, and then taking her out for coffee, like lmfao that was so tongue-in-cheek).  Not only did Alice herself wryly note that he was both casual and generous ( “your kidnapping skills need brushing up” to which he laughed and replied he “found it tedious”), she also showed him that she had been in control of the situation from the beginning (yas queen!!!!) with the gun she held at his crotch (LOL) from under their park table.  Though it was partly an act to maintain his sangfroid, Rhys made his respect plain in how he immediately agreed to plot with Alice to rescue Ben from his, and Margot’s, mother Sybil.  

Look at that face. You talk about “if you can’t  beat em, join em.”  

3) it can’t be clearer that Rhys is cruising through the con man life with only half his heart in it; what he really wants is a little adrenaline and a lot of freedom; Sybil (sewn into the end of the season to give a relative sense of evil, and make both Rhys and Margot seem a hell of a lot less so than dear old mum) even told Margot that she gave him the title of the next executive of the Kensington Firm because he “didn’t want it.” Rhys is inherently selfish, and watching him walk off the map at any opportunity to be free AND with Ben (the one character we can canonically say he genuinely cares for, and has an extensive history with), is perfectly in line with his character.  Given his flexibility to situations that revoke his control (just think of the episode when he single handedly rigged Margot’s sting with the cardsharp, feigning intoxication to get out and go make a more lucrative deal), and his ability to still come out satisfied and relatively on top, why would he mind if Alice, whom he both likes and respects, tagged along?  

I think people miss that Rhy’s affability toward the protags does not make him safe or any less “evil” than he was at the very beginning of his run.  Just because he’s on Ben and Alice’s side does not make him any less likely to pop off some innocent victim in the crosshairs (remember when he shot a rival gangster for putting a hole in Ben’s coat, and strolled away from the murder scene as if he’d just written a reprimand on a department store comment card, and nothing more? This guy is NEVER safe, even when he’s being warm-fuzzy to the people he ostensibly, possibly, maybe really cares about.). It does not make him any less likely to jump headfirst into an orgy, or to break every law imaginable (part of his humorous appeal is this casualness about being bad: “Oh man, nothing’s worse than early gangsters!” he mopes in the trailer, looking curtly at his wristwatch and at Ben, like some socialites are rudely early for cocktails, because con artistry is as everyday for him as cocktail parties are for other people).  That is what makes the character compelling: he can form emotional attachments and still feel unhindered in thrillseeking and moral repugnance.  He is still every bit a wild card, a driver of plot and suspense, and frankly, a refreshing bit of comic relief while he’s at it. 

**************** Of course....you DO know there’s another possibility, right? Though I still believe all of the above is true, Rhys might be making a long con and fooling us all.  

Because has anyone noticed that when he came to kidnap Alice, HE TOO was looking at the painting in her apartment, the one “someone” made an “anonymous tip” about, according to Margot on the phone with Ben?

Rhys is not as much of a silly fop as he’d have everyone believe.  He has used the dumb hot playboy card to his advantage before, while backstabbing an adversary quite competently. Let that one sink in. Rhys may have been Alice’s anonymous tip.  

[twxntrash]

Dance of Grey Ch. 3

Exposition, more characters, more powers, a training session, and Kotone being a little shit, with Best Girl making her appearance in the next chapter. This chapter was totally absolutely was in no way shape or form influenced by one of my favorite BNHA episodes.

Hercules is inspired by a mix of All Might, Superman, Hercules|Heracles (Obviously, but we’ll be seeing more of that later) and some other characters. I just like characters who are Too Strong For Own Good. 

It was nice having gotten to make friends with Dakota Andrews. Kotone hadn’t been lying when she said that his power was impressive, she had always found blood related powers to be pretty interesting and cool, and his Blood Control just opened the doors for so many possibilities. Though, he did need some work on the self-confidence department.

It didn’t hurt that he was kind of cute in his own way. Tall, long lanky limbs and just enough muscle mass that he was able to pass the intense physical part of the exam, but not as much muscle as the other boys in their class, and of course he had messy jaw length black hair.

She would be lying if she said the resemblance Dakota had to someone else wasn’t a big part in why she reached out to him. The two looked a bit alike, sure, but in personality they were completely different.

But that didn’t mean that Kotone had lied when she said she wanted to be his friend, she really did want to befriend him and get to know him. He seemed like he’d be a sweetheart once you got past his fifty layers of pessimism, anxiety and self-hate.

Of course, Kotone hadn’t hesitated to latch onto Dakota’s arm and take him down to join her for lunch in the cafeteria every day since. She usually sat with different classmates to get to know them, and had always noticed how Dakota sat alone for lunch. That was going to change. She planned to sit with him for lunch every day so he wouldn’t be alone. She knew how much being alone hurt.

But that stuff was just filler stuff because once lunch was over it was the best part of school.

The Hero Course.

Dakota had gone off ahead of her for class, mostly at her insistent as she had a phone call to make before the lunchbreak was over. She’d stayed outside away from prying ears for most of the call and was just now on her way back, phone still in hand.

“Things are going good,” Kotone said into her phone as she walked the halls of Garrick Academy, making her way back to her classroom.

She ducked under an older student on her way by, talk and heavily built with a second pair of beefy arms sticking out from his sides. “I’m okay. Trust me, everything is going fine.” “Honestly, she wasn’t a kid anymore. She could handle herself just fine out here. Sure, this was her first time living on her own, and she was pretty far from home, but she was managing just fine on her own, thank you!

But, his concern was touching. It always made her heart swell and flutter whenever he showed these little gestures of concern and worry, rare as they were, for her.

“My class?” Kotone repeated into the speaker, narrowing her eyes at the little crowd that was taking up too much space in the hall. So many extra limbs, tails, wings and other powers and mutations blocking the way for students trying to get by.

Taking a deep breath, Kotone pushed herself up against the wall and tried to squeeze past them.

“They’re nice, energetic and lively. And so attractive it should be a crime,” she added as a joke, laughing a little as she imagined the face he was probably making at that comment. “Don’t worry, they don’t hold a candle to you. …I’m serious! …Lies! You’re plenty good looking! Who cares what others think, I find you pretty damn handsome,” she said, making a face. It was more at what he was saying than at the students she managed to finally break free of.

Adjusting her hold on the phone, she listened to him as he kept talking. At least he wasn’t trying to argue with the handsome part again. He knew better than to argue when Kotone set her mind on something. And, she was being honest, in her opinion he was a true Prince Charming.

“Yeah, my classmates are pretty strong,” she answered when he asked, reaching the stairs and starting the ascent to her floor. “Plenty strong with powerful powers this year. I was honestly impressed by what these guys can do. This defs adds proof to that whole theory that the gene mutation that gave us these abilities is growing more complex and producing stronger powers with each generation.”

A pause.

“Hey, what’s wrong with saying ‘defs’? It’s shorter and quicker than saying ‘definitely’, and it gets the same point across!” Another pause and this time Kotone sighed, shaking her head as she walked. “Fine, fine,” she surrendered.

A few more seconds passed as she listened to him talk on his end, reaching the door to her class and slid it open, “Don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye out for any potential recruits like you asked me to,” she assured him. “I’m sure you’ll be able to see what they can do for yourself when it’s time for the festival in a few months. Don’t worry, I’ll send you a list of possibilities for the agency later. I know you want fresh faces.”

She hummed and smiled as she reached her desk, slipping her bag off, “Yeah, talk to you later. Stay safe and don’t do anything too stupid,” she said with a laugh at his response before hanging up.

Kotone had barely put her phone away before a few of her other classmates, having heard the tail end of her conversation over the phone, were on her like she was meat in a piranha pool. She was forced to reel back as several hands slapped on her desk and a few heads got too close for comfort.

“What was that about, Kotone?” A sweet voice asked.

Elizabeth, Joseph and Casey were surrounding her with eager expressions, like they were waiting for the latest gossip.

She looked at them confused, scratching the back of her neck as she thought of what they were asking, “You mean my phone call?” hadn’t they ever heard of privacy? She couldn’t quite get why they’d be so interested, though.

“Duh,” Elizabeth spoke up again, smiling playfully. “You had this kind of glow to your face as you were talking. Who’s the lucky person, your boyfriend?”

“I didn’t even know you were into the whole romance thing. Girl you got to spill the deets,” Casey added with a laugh.

Kotone shrugged as she started to dig through her bag for her class material. “He’s a friend from back home, I’ve worked with him a lot on different stuff before I came to school here, family friend and all that. Not my boyfriend,” she said, glancing at Elizabeth as she said that. “He was just checking up on me, wanting to know how things were going now that I was here on my own.”

It wasn’t like who he was mattered for them, and she’d rather not put him in her classmates crosshairs.

“You mentioned something about recruiting and an agency,” Joseph mused as he tilted his head to the side, his blue hair moving with him like liquid in a glass. “Does he work at one of the Hero Agencies?”

When he brought that up, Casey let out a little gasp like she hadn’t considered it and Elizabeth leaned in closer, searching for some kind of answer on Kotone’s face, as though the idea he might work at an H.A. was more interesting than him potentially being Kotones boyfriend.

Which made sense when you thought about it.

These were students aiming to be professional heroes, most of them, if not all, were going to be going to a Hero Agency once they graduated. An agency was an office that hired and employed heroes. They were usually created by a single hero who’d gained enough popularity and financial assets to start one. Those who joined the agency were sidekicks or team members. Most were younger heroes who’d just started out, so the hero who ran the agency acted not only as a leader but a mentor, helping the new heroes get a feel for what they had to do.

Of course not all hero went into an agency, there were plenty who went off as a solo hero once they got their licenses. But, an agency provided a layer of security that a solo hero didn’t have. Teammates to fall back on if things got rough, PR agents to help keep the heroes image clean, easier to make connections with costume and equipment manufacturers. While an agency wasn’t necessary, they were a very big help.

Catching the eye of an agency early on at the academy was a good thing, and if her classmates thought she had some connection to an out of town agency, then of  course they’d want more information.

But, Kotone laughed a little and waved her hand at them in a playful manner. “Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t,” she said, watching their expression as she brought a finger to her lip. “But, he does plan to see just what this class is made of at one of our public events. Who knows, maybe he’ll take an interest in one of you.”

She saw their faces light up and the quiet cheers they let out at the idea of getting scouted as first years by some hero agency. A few of the students glanced their way but showed no sign they heard or cared for their conversation.

A chair was kicked over loud enough to catch her attention and Kotone looked over to where Carter was standing, the ginger looking pissed off as usual and staring right at them like they were insects he found crawling on his shoes.

“Who gives a shit if your friend runs a Hero Agency or not? It’s probably as second rate as you are,” he snarled, baring his teeth.

Kotone’s first thoughts of her classmates would always be that they were a very nice bunch, a bit weird, but nice, friendly and easy to get along with. And that was mostly true. Most of them were really decent people, the kind she wouldn’t mind hanging out with on her day off from school or  getting a late night burger with.

But, then there was Carter Schott.

He was the definition of anger problems, and his head was so swollen that she was surprised he managed to get into the classroom each day. Apparently his classmates from his old schools must have thought his power was the greatest thing on Earth and stroked his ego so much that the idea of it being anything but the best just pissed him off. He couldn’t stand not being the greatest and strongest all on his own.

The idea of relying on a Hero Agency was something he made clear that he hated. Believed that he was going to be the number one hero as soon as he got his license.

The class always laughed at that idea.

Honestly, his power wasn’t even as great as he made it out to be. It was strong, but there were more than a few in the school who had a power even stronger.

From what she understood, Carter was able to bring his blood, which had a different composition to it than normal blood, to a burning hot boil, and, using small pores in his hands to mix it with his sweat, that also had a different composition to it than others, he could cause bloody eruptions from his hands that had both a burn factor and an explosive factor to them. The more he used it, or the angrier he got, the hotter his blood became making the eruptions that much stronger. They were hot enough to cause serious injuries and destroy objects.

Of course, it meant that, like Dakota, he was using his own blood for these eruptions. However, unlike Dakota, blood loss wasn’t even a concern because of how little blood was required. It only took a few drops of blood for a nasty explosion, after all.

His main problem was heat. He’d get heatstroke long before he’d ever run the risk of blood loss. Carter would overheat himself if he used his power too much in a short period of time without giving him time to cool off in between. He’d even been taken to the nurse on the first day because he got so pissed over how much better the other students were then what he wanted, as well as used far too much of his power than he needed during the practice session, that he gave himself heatstroke.

Even more, Carter was just so unpleasant that Kotone could never see him becoming the ‘number one hero’ he claimed he would be, let alone one anywhere near popular. He cared more about fighting and beating others up then saving people like a hero was supposed to do, and his reasons for wanting to be a hero were selfish and greedy. For the money and fame.

Honestly, it’s guys like him that Kotone hated.

Thankfully, none of her classmates really took him seriously. His old classmates before entering the Academy may have thought him the scariest person out there, but class 1-B was hardly fazed by his attempts to assert dominance over them.

“Are you just jealous because you know there isn’t an agency out there that would ever accept you?” Kotone asked with a playful grin as she rested her cheek on a hand. Joseph let out a low ‘oooh, burn!’ at that while the other girls giggled.

She could see the skin on Carters hands turning pink as his blood heated up at the comment. “Why you!” He snarled, murder in his eyes, “Any agency would be lucky to have someone like me,” he hissed as he stomped his way over to her.

“You say that, but I’m not convinced,” Kotone said with a lazy shrug. “Joseph here has a better chance of being accepted into a fire-themed agency than you have in getting into any decent one,” and Josephs power was turning himself into water of all things, making him one of the last who’d get accepted into an agency for fire-related powers.

But, she could see the anger rising in Carters face and it just filled her with glee.

Come on, hit me, she thought. I know you want to.

Throw a punch at her so she could throw one right back at him with even more force. She had been dying to give him a black eye since day one, and self-defense seemed as good an excuse as any for it. Besides, it’d only be a matter of time before Carter’s verbal threats turned physical, so someone ought to put him in his place and for guys like him, violence was the only way to get through that thick skull.

The volcanic student ground his teeth and raised an arm, reaching out to grab her by her shirt and yank her up. “You’re really asking for it,” he spat at her, “do you want to fucking die that badly?”

“Not a very heroic thing to say, an attitude like that and you’ll be lucky if you even get a hero license,” she taunted. Oh, it was always fun getting him mad.

Before Carter could do much of anything else, though his eyes told her that he wanted to kill her where she stood, the door was thrown open with way too much force to be the hero Stone like it usually was after lunch.

The students turned their heads as the massive man walked in, ducking under the high door frame that was still a bit too low for him. He was huge, bulging muscles under a white button up work shirt and wearing a simple black tie over it.

Even outside of his costume, a black spandex suit with a golden armor chest piece and a lion-themed cowl, he was still easily recognizable. Dark brown locks of hair that reached past his shoulders, dark eyes, the scar over his right cheek and a smile that could light the world in place of the sun.

Hercules.

The number one hero nation-wide for the past fifteen years, worldwide for the past nine, and one of the hero course instructors at Garrick Academy for the past three.

Just his presence and the class, who had slowly edged back to their respective seats, were in silent awe while the other half were in excited cheers.

It went without saying, but the class was always excited when he was teaching them something. Because, A; it was a hero-course activity and that meant they got to get out of the classroom and do something active and training related other than the usual studying and lectures. And B; it was because Hercules was teaching the class.

Sure, Stone was a good teacher and all, and his training sessions were better than expected. But nothing could compare to Hercules. The hero with super strength even greater than his namesake. The Strongest Hero Alive who had never lost a fight and always went above and beyond to save and protect those around him.

It meant that whatever they were doing today for the hero session of class, it was going to be good.

Kotone couldn’t keep the grin off her face as the teacher made his way to the podium, coughing loudly to get the attention of the room as though it hadn’t all been on him the moment he walked in.

“I see you are all energetic today, good. You’ll need that energy for our training today,” he said, still smiling that obnoxiously wide smile that showed off those irritatingly sparkly white teeth. “You all ready for a little field trip to one of our training sites?” Hercules asked.

The class was filled with a chorus of ‘yes, sir’ and other sounds of agreement at the idea. The academy had ten different training sites scattered around the city, each massive in size, some held mini cities. Each had a different design from the other, with a different purpose in mind.

Kotone had only ever been to one of the training sites and it had been for the application exam. Even then she had been impressed by the structure. She could only imagine what the others would look like inside.

Hercules nodded and gestured for the door. “Well, in that case; change into your gym clothes and meet me at the bus by the gates and we’ll head to our destination,” he said and watched the students get up. “But don’t be late. We don’t want our time for training to be cut, now do we?”

As it turned out, they were going into one of the sites a little farther away from the school. It was a city structure one that had a variety of buildings inside the tall steel walls. Hercules had ushered them into one of the buildings that was set up with various monitors and speakers.

The purpose of this training was to get some experience in a real fight, to think like a hero, and more. Carter was, of course, excited about the fight part, making it clear that he was going to kick everyone’s asses. Hercules ignored him and explained how they’d be paired up at random and split into two groups. One team would play the role of a villain and the other was the hero team that had to stop them.

The hero team would be breaking into the villain teams hideout and try to reach a goal that was different for each group. They may be trying to retrieve stolen weapons, a powerful bomb, or just capture the villains. They were to fight as hard as they could with Hercules and the rest of the class watching from the base building. The teacher would step in if things got out of hands, otherwise it was all up to the students.

The hero team wasn’t going to know what it was they needed to look for until they started, didn’t know where it was going to be or what the interior was like. They were going to be at a huge disadvantage while the villains had the advantage of knowing where everything was while having time to make a plan.

Teamwork, strategy and communication was going to be essential for this activity, that much was obvious.

Kotone was eager for her turn, and was even more excited when she got paired up with Dakota. Out of all her classmates, she felt he was the one she’d work the best with, so this worked out in her favor.

“Ready to show them who the best team is?” Kotone had asked, wrapping an arm around his thin shoulders and pulling him down to her height. Seriously, why was he so tall? “Between your power and mine, no team can stop us.” Of course she was saying it quietly so that the others didn’t hear and try to pick a fight. For Dakota’s sake of course. She could handle herself in a fray of heated words and challenges, but Dakota was a nervous wreck who’d break down crying if the others started yelling at him.

But she did believe she and Dakota were the best team-up. One pair, Casey and Ian, she couldn’t think of how they’d work together. Casey’s hypnotic singing and Ians cat-like features weren’t the best match. Matt and Hector were another team she had her doubts about as well. Pain Manipulation and Spiderlegs, while interesting powers on their own, didn’t quite have a natural harmony together.

She wanted to laugh when she saw the Dae twins ended up getting paired up even though it had been a random drawing. Alexis was screaming over how that shouldn’t have been possible and how unfair it was that she had to “Be in the same womb as Alex for nine months and now I have be in the same team as him?” But, they had potential to be a good team, unlike the others those two had years of training together.

However, they were always butting heads so it was up in the air if they could actually work properly together or if they’d try to one-up the other like they did in class.

There were other pairs with powers that didn’t really work well with each other, but Kotone was starting to figure that was the point of the exercise. With the exception of the twins, none of her classmates had experience working with the other in some kind of fight or training exercise. They didn’t know how to work the others power, how to use them together to secure victory.

Part of the lesson was to try and learn how to work together. After all, a hero didn’t always get to choose what other heroes they’d be working with out on the field when responding to a disaster or attack.

It was going to be interesting seeing how well the others managed.

But then came the actual fights and, while the fighting was hardly anything to scoff at, and her classmates proved how deserving they were with their strength to be at the academy, their performance as villains were terrible.

Cody and Elizabeth had been the first villain team and had been the worst villains. They’d chosen a bunker as their layout and the target goal was a mess of explosives that would cause a sizable portion of the city to sink. That is, it would if the explosions were real and not just props.

But their impersonation of villains, while passionate… made her want to tear her ears off.

“BOW BEFORE US, YOU PUNY HEROES!” Cody screamed so loudly that even through the speakers Kotone felt her ears ring. “NO ONE CAN DEFEAT US VILLAINS! MWAHAHAHA! WE’LL BLOW UP THE ENTIRE CITY BECAUSE THAT’S JUST HOW WE FEEL!”

No self-respecting villain or criminal, no matter how batshit crazy they may be, was going to scream their lungs out and talk like that. It was like he was trying to be a walking stereotype. Just. No. The cringe was so real.

Elizabeth wasn’t much better, doing her best smug impression with the backhanded laugh you saw the conniving evil girl in an anime doing, sneering like she was some evil queen who knew she was better than you. “Do you pitiable men really think you can take us on?” she asked, her voice made a pitch higher for the act.

“YOU’RE GOING DOWN!” Cody added.

Kotone wanted to just mute the both of them.

But, to her surprise, they worked well together. Elizabeth’s smoke obscured the other teams vision and Cody’s long-ranged electric attacks kept them from being able to make any ground without having to get close to them. Kotone had to hand it to them, despite their despairingly over the top impression of what a villain was like, they were  good team.

She hadn’t expected them to win, but they had kept the hero team at the first floor long enough for the time to run out. Even though most of their work was probably improvised, their teamwork was spot on while the hero team was disorganized and didn’t have a plan or any communication.

Once they had finished up, Hercules picked two more teams and a location and goal would be set. Not everyone was as good as Cody and Elizabeth in the teamwork department, and sometimes the heroes won, sometimes the villains did. Most of the pairs were dysfunctional, unable to find some form of rhythm between them to work with.

As expected, Ian and Casey did awful as villains, but they were up against Alex and Alexis. But even then, the twins didn’t work as smoothly as others may have expected. They spent the first five minutes arguing over how to handle it before Alexis just froze the entire building without even talking it over with Alex.

Risky. She could have harmed the other classmates or damaged what they were trying to retrieve. Then Alex could have hurt them even more with the steam he produced when he melted the ice. Even Hercules had made a comment to them that they need to be more conscious of safety for those around them, had there been bystanders, hostages or teammates inside, they could have easily hurt them.

Carter just destroyed everything when it was his turn, gave no thought to the fact that he was trying to recover a stolen nuke as he used his boiling bloody-sweat mix to blow holes into walls and at his classmates.

Hercules pointed that out to him right off the bat that, even though he and James did technically catch the villains and get the nuke, had this been a real situation and not a training scenario, Carter would have caused the bomb to go off and destroyed the entire city in his recklessness, and thus the villains technically won. He then told the entire class to take Carter as an example, that they need to be more aware of their surroundings and can’t just destroy everything in sight as that could potentially make things even worse.

That pissed him off and Kotone relished in his rage.

But then it was her and Dakotas turn and they were  being ushered away by Hercules to get set up.

They’d picked an office building like some of the other students had. Much more space, more obstacles in the form of the buildings furniture and office cubicles. All the floors meant the heroes had to climb and search each floor, making them waste time searching ad giving her and Dakota ways to cut them off.

It was easy for them to choose the location. But the goal?

Kotone grinned as she kicked at one of the fake bombs. Whatever they chose to take into the office, Hercules was going to carry for them and help them set up for the simple fact that most of the props were as heavy as they were.

The bombs were too simple, easy to dismantle, destroy or deactivate so it’d be too easy for the heroes. A nuke was too troublesome, if the fighting got too close or too intense then it would risk going off, if it was real at least. Just let the heroes break in with no other goal but to capture her and Dakota, then there would be no fun, no risk or urgency for both parties. She needed something good.

“Hey, Dakota, how about this?” Kotone asked as she rapped her knuckles against the plastic head of a life-sized doll leaning against the wall. “Up for a hostage situation?”

Dakota wrung his hands as he looked at the dolls and then back up at Kotone, “Hostages?” he asked her curiously, “Like, they have to beat us and get those things?”

“Yep!” Kotone grinned as she looked at the doll and the ones beside it. “We, the fearsome villainous duo, have just kidnapped this high profile target and her family and are holding them hostage for ransom. Two heroes were dispatched to fight us and get the hostages back unharmed,” she explained as she slipped her hands into the pockets of her gym pants.

Hercules laughed as he listened to them from where he stood. “I think that is a splendid idea, he said as he watched the two. “We haven’t had a group do that scenario yet, but out in the real world, villains kidnap all sorts of people every day, not just the high profile ones, for a variety of reasons. It’s very common, right up there with robberies.”

“We can store them on the sixth floor, make it so the heroes have to do just a little bit more work, waste a little more time to get to us,” Kotone added as she looked back up at Dakota. “What do you think?”

Her friend offered a shy smile. “Well, if you think it’s a good idea, then let’s do it.”

With a fist thrusted into the air, Kotone was grinning like crazy. “Alright, let’s do this, then,” She cheered as she moved for Hercules to lift three of the dolls. He carried them effortlessly even though they probably each weight half as much as Kotone did. She was excited for this activity, even if she was the ‘villain’ of this fight. Honestly, she was going to show the others just what a villain was like. They were hardly some over the top loudmouth or a snarky queen bitch.

Even more, she was itching for a good fight. This was going to be her first fight against another student since entering the academy, and with all the strong students around her, it was bound to be good.

Leading the way for Hercules, dragging Dakota at her side, she began working with him on a plan. Well, she did most of the planning and he just agreed, but she’d help him work on that inability to voice his own opinions.

They were going up against Joseph, whom could be a problem, but if they got him to wear his power out then he’d be easy to take out. The real threat this match was going to be Kiera O’Connor and boy was Kotone looking forward to fighting her.

[soulcrazy2017-blog]

Computer code in film: hidden meanings or irrelevant nonsense?

New Post has been published on https://soulcrazy.org/computer-code-in-film-hidden-meanings-or-irrelevant-nonsense/

Computer code in film: hidden meanings or irrelevant nonsense?

Ever puzzled what those Matrix-style green holographic film codes that sparkle throughout computer screen in films without a doubt imply? You recognize, the ones reputedly sophisticated algorithms within the 5th Estate and unbreakable cryptograms in Physician Who? Nicely, programmer John Graham-Cumming has the solution.

code

“I used to be watching the movie Elysium, and a few coding came up as the space station is rebooted, and I motion: ‘That is certainly familiar’, so I tracked it down,” explains Graham-Cumming, who started coding at the age of 13 on his BBC Micro computer and is now a blogger and programmer. “It turns out that the system is taken at once from the Intel software program developer’s manual, which I found a laugh. So I tweeted that and got hundreds of responses.” Remaining Friday, he released a Tumblr to compile greater examples; by using Monday morning, it already had eleven,000 fans and Graham-Cumming became inundated with suggestions for film codes to crack. The technique of figuring out the resources of film systems is in reality pretty simple. Graham-Cumming takes a screengrab and without delay gets a feel of whether the code is probably valid or utter nonsense. If a unique individual or variable sticks out, the selections it out and Googles it. In most instances, whether the codes is purporting to manual a missile or rifle thru private databases, it is possible to be a quite mundane reduce and paste task.

There are a few real howlers. Graham-Cumming was tickled at the same time as looking Antitrust, a mystery about a wannabe Invoice Gates: “I cracked up watching those Pc nerds looking at code, nodding and announcing: ‘Whoa, This is the first-rate man,’ while it was clearly the maximum pure Javascript this is utterly meaningless.” in the Terminator, we see the sector via T-800’s head-up show, but the scrolling textual content accompanying the crosshair in his imaginative and prescient is the harmless assembly code for an Apple-II. But the sources for faux coding just get higher: in a single episode of Doctor Who, Matt Smith appears intently at a few hovering code, yet on closer inspection, it is the reference for a simple photo report – a picture of a lightwave – lifted from Wikipedia.

Laptop programmers need to snicker after they see characters in movies adjusting their thick-rimmed glasses, furiously typing, then watching at the code that in all likelihood most productive says: “Hiya world.” Graham-Cumming reveals it unexpected, though, that this info, which is probably relevant to a plotline, are rarely given extra thought, and attention through directors, especially as viable codes are so easy to locate through open–supply websites including GitHub and SourceForge.

But, there are some dazzling examples of programming detail. Jurassic Park becomes virtually ahead of its time: actors worked on solid, high-acting Silicon Pics Computer structures and in a single classic conventional scene, teenager Lex Murphy logs directly to the Laptop and exclaims: “it is a Unix device, I recognize this,” which relates to an actual working machine. More recently, The Social Network supplied a visually compelling, technically genuine narrative about the technique of programming. While Mark Zuckerberg, performed by way of Jesse Eisenberg, types the commands for “facemask” the usage of PerlScript, it’s far woven in with his clarification of the technique in pure textual content and HTML on his weblog. In David Fincher’s The Lady with the Dragon Tattoo, heroine Lisbeth Salander is depicted as trying to find files the use of the same method that real builders use. With the upward push of excessive-definition screens and display screen-seize gear, and with gadgets including Google Glass an increasing number of likely for use on screen, there will most efficient be additional opportunities for clever-ass code-studying. Directors take a word.

Subjects

computer

Every 12 months we pay attention the same horror story; that cinema is overrun by using formulaic franchise fodder, with nothing, however, superheroes and sequels on the show. But flip your attention far away from the monotony of the multiplexes, where the dreary Batman v Superman: Sunrise of Justice and the disappointing Suicide Squad might also rule the roost, and the photo is quite one of a kind. At unbiased cinemas around the UK, we’re constantly reminded of the lovely breadth and scope of modern films, way to movies including Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s electrifying Notes on Blindness, an important sensory experience, based totally on the audiotape memoirs of theologian John M Hull.

Notes on Blindness become merely one in every of several excellent homemade indie snapshots launched within the Uk this year. Different admirable oddities covered Stephen Fingleton’s stripped-down Northern Ireland mystery The Survivalist; Joe Stephenson’s Kes-like Chook; and Jane Gull’s My Feral Coronary heart, with its impressive, valuable overall performance through newcomer Steven Brandon.

My preferred movie of 2016 changed into the spine-tingling British manufacturing Under the Shadow from Iran-born, London-based totally creator/director Babak Anvari. The UK’s access for next year’s foreign language movie Oscar, this brilliantly smart chiller is about in Tehran, shot in Jordan, and filmed in Farsi. There are nods to Roman Polanski’s The Tenant and Guillermo del Toro’s The Satan’s Spine, but Anvari’s gem conjures surroundings this is its own. In compiling my Pinnacle 10 I’ve caught rigidly to movies that had been indeed launched within the Uk in 2016 (competition screenings and previews don’t matter), which means that such eagerly awaited films as Los Angeles L. A. Land and Moonlight, which don’t open right here till early 2017, aren’t eligible. My listing also functions some films that Different critics may additionally have included in Last 12 months’ lists – specifically, Room, Include of the Serpent and Son of Saul, which was launched in the US in 2015.

If 12 months can be judged via the great of the movies that didn’t pretty make the Pinnacle 10, then 2016 became super. I couldn’t discover room for Denis Villeneuve’s heartbreaking sci-fi epic Arrival, Ben Wheatley’s original version of JG Ballard’s excessive-upward push, or Colm McCarthy’s eerie zombie % The Girl With All the Items, all of which I fashionable substantially. It breaks my Coronary heart, too, no longer to had been able to consist of Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, John Carney’s Sing Street, or Stephen Frears’s Florence Foster Jenkins, which provoked laughter and tears on a couple of viewings. Different splendid omissions include Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Oscar-nominated Mustang (with its fantastic Warren Ellis rating) and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s brilliantly weird Evolution. Maneesh Sharma’s King of Comedy-style Bollywood mystery Fan changed into a robust contender, too – a twisted tale of a celeb and his younger devotee, each played through superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

films

A new Pc application could assist to calm civil unrest and discover new threats to public protection by way of analyzing postings on Twitter and assessing public mood, academics have said.

The gadget can examine up to two,000 tweets a 2nd to extract from every an instantaneous expression of certainly one of 8 real feelings: anger, disgust, worry, happiness, disappointment, surprise, disgrace, and confusion.

The team who advanced this system at Loughborough University’s new center for facts management said it could be feasible to use the sophisticated software program, named Emotive, to geographically map the emotional mood of the nation and its reaction to great activities.

Twitter has loads of millions of customers around the arena and, alongside Fb and BlackBerry Messenger, was criticized for helping rioters in setting up the unrest that swept England in the summer of 2011.

Teachers stated the usage of Emotive to geographically examine the mass mood could help police to tune potential crook behavior or threats to public protection, and may be able to guide countrywide policy on the excellent way to react to main incidents.

Professor Tom Jackson, who led the studies crew, said: “Following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich there was an outpouring of unhappiness and disgust through Twitter.

“across the USA people expressed their feelings at this unprovoked assault, with a few the usage of the incident to incite racial hatred in opposition to Muslims.

“Two days after his murder his family appealed for calm, pointing out that their son would now not have wanted his call for use as an excuse to carry out attacks in opposition to others.

“This attraction had an almost immediate effect, primary to an outpour of the nice sentiment.”

He said that public postings thru social media provide an entirely accurate real-time document of ways and what human beings are feeling.

“Twitter is a quite concise platform via which users explicit how they experience a particular event, be that a crook act, A brand new government coverage or maybe a trade inside the weather,” he stated.

“thru the Laptop application we have created we will collate those expressions of feelings in real time, map them geographically and song how they broaden.”

Dr. Ann O’Brien turned into a part of the research team that created the ontology, or structural model, used by Emotive.

She stated: “The philosophy we created takes the eight emotions and offers them a rich linguistic context so that we will chart the strength of feelings expressed in ordinary language and also in slang. For any incident, we will view how reactions grow and decrease over time.”

The system is presently only being used to analyze tweets inside the United kingdom, but it could without problems be scaled up to display tweets globally, of which there are 10,000 a 2d.

The crew has already secured further investment with a view to permitting researchers to expand another prototype gadget that could robotically stumble on activities, analyze emotions and extract greater precise information of significance from social media.

It’s also was hoping lecturers can discover the opportunity of predicting persona profiles from the herbal language used on Twitter and similar social streams.

The Emotive assignment becomes funded via the Engineering, and Physical Sciences Studies Council and the Defence Science and Generation Laboratory.