#I once had this long fic idea with her and Rex where she was kinda

[foundfamilynonsense]

Being the victims of mass genocide is not failure.

And I think any character that says so should be a villain. So of course Ahsoka says it. I’m getting evil ahsoka headcanons again.

[abominable-space-they]

One of my first Steddie fics was Steve going punk. I have a lot of feelings about Punk!Steve, so I am really pleased to see the fandom getting excited about it.

I was thinking about an Au in which Max discovers The Runaways & has a sweeping personal epiphany, gets into punk & starts playing the drums. She loves how cathartic it is, also that it's to loud for anyone to talk to her.

She starts teaching Eleven too as she learns. It turns out that once she's been exposed to the idea of making music, El has a gift. She picks it up with with an almost supernatural ease. Eventually they want to start a band, its the summer after 8th grade. Eleven switches to bass, bc she can, they recruit Erica who was absolutely scandalized to hear that no one knew she played piano & guitar. But they had a small problem when they wanted to do gigs. There was only one place, the hide out & they were extremely minors. In order to play, they had to have "a responsible adult".

There was no way any of their parents were gonna work for that duty.

Steve was the obvious answer to their problems. When he said he wasn't gonna spend every weekend sitting in a run down little bar, they offered him a spot in the band... which was a little unconventional but it was punk so whatever and actually Steve was perfect for a front man. He could talk to the crowd right? (Steve does not love the idea but sure fine he could do that maybe)

The thing is, these kids have worked so hard to make this happen, Steve can't actually say no... & If he was being totally honest with himself, he kinda loved being included. So he says yes to being a vocalist, co-vocalist.

He encourage them to also yell if they wanted... Erica has immediate ideas. The band progresses surprisingly well. When they decide they're ready Steve easily books a gig. Max & Erica are both massively annoyed it was so easy for him when it was their band and idea. But whatever they have their first gig planned

They argue about the name of the band for so long they have to emergency name it the weekend before the show so they can put up flyers. Max & El wanted to call it Mommy Issues, Erica had gotten really into X-Ray Spex & wanted to call them The Wrex. It got a little intense.

Steve in desperation suggested Cherry Rex... because it referenced The Runaways song Chery Bomb, and had the aesthetic energy of The Wrex & X-Ray Spex

To his shock they actually agreed on that.

Their first gig was on a Monday, to nobody but one very belligerently drunk guy who might have passed out in his booth. Of course they expected that more or less. It was more ok then they thought though, the girls had a blast... and actually so did Steve.

A month or three later and they'd slowly worked up the live band tenure and were getting their first Friday night slot. There would be four bands, two punk, two metal; Boondock Boyfriend, Death Vision, & Corroded Coffin. Cherry Rex were playing the opening spot being the newbies. Steve thought Corroded Coffin sounded vaguely familiar, but couldn't figure out where from. He wasn't to worried about it though, he was here for Cherry Rex.

Getting the parents permission to take the whole party to a borderline dive bar (he left that part out) had been one of the most trying experiences of Steve's young life, but in the end he got it done, and everyone was super excited.

------

Eddie always came early on the nights Corroded Coffin played, he liked supporting his fellow musicians, many of whom had only played parties and basements before they could get in here. It was a point of pride for him to not be a snob about it. He supported anyone and everyone who wasn't a bully or a bigot.

This weekend they had a whole new band, playing. He'd heard that it was a group of preteen punk rock girls, so of course the rock bros were grousing. He would have none of that though. He remembered when he first got into music as a preteen, the way it let him process feelings he was to scared to otherwise. He would definitely be there for their first weekend gig

So imagine his surprise when he finds Steve Harrington on stage. He introduced everyone Max on drums whom Eddie recognized from around, as well as her maybe? girlfriend?, who's name was apparently the number Eleven, on Bass. And Erica, who actually exhuded rock and roll energy, on guitar. Steve called himself their token adult. He spent half the time singing, but also dancing, sometimes being hype man for whomever was singing that particular song.

He was wearing a Hawkins High Tshirt that he'd scrawled The King is Dead across in Sharpie. Also light wash jeans, which Eddie had laughed about at first, but when he cut them off at the knee while they were still on his body, during Erica's song about self reliance, identity, and D&d... and he had fishnets on under them? He was completely won over. They were pretty good...and Steve Harrington, a punk? He was genuinely so fucked. So so fucked

(does Vecna & the upside down exist here? I don't know)

[localplaguenurse]

Do you think there is/was a cult that worship the Regina Sanguine to an obsessive degree

Like yk how the overzealous religious cults go

Oh probably. I started to kinda explain everything about how wifey as a goddess worked last night to @crystalflygeo but I put like a Lot of thought into it so I can say yes they did absolutely have a cult or two worshipping them.

I'm supposed to be finishing dad fic but I'm counting this as a little brain break to just info dump. This gets long, I have been quietly insane with this knowledge for a while.

Also spoilers for As Gold as the Ginkgo Trees but that is a given.

I already touched on it in the fic but I'm gonna go more in depth here. Regina Sanguine, or the Blood Queen, is in reference to the fact they are a mortal being of flesh and blood compared to Rex Lapis, the Rock King, a being made of geo. It is also tangentially related to the fact that Morax is the Warrior God and deals out punishments to those who break contracts with him.

There are three aspects of worship in regards to wifey. One is their "role" as a loving fertility goddess. Another is their role as Mother of Arts. The last is them being an omen of vengeance and punishment.

The fertility goddess is simple enough. Their lore stems around the idea of marriage and families, so naturally they are associated with those things as they become a more prominent figure. It's why I had ginkgo tree and silk flower imagery become important to weddings in the lore of the fic, because their actual dress looked and smelled like a silk flower, and they grew up in a monastery with ginkgo trees. (And thanks to a certain ginger, we also know that wifey was... really into practicing fertility *wink wink nudge nudge gets shot*)

The Mother of Arts, again pretty simple. When you have 2000 years to practice art, you're gonna get good at it eventually and perhaps have a hand in several art movements. Not just that, but they would give "blessings" to struggling artists (aka actually really handy advice and encouragement), so they are appreciated in that sense.

Now, the omen of vengeance and punishment, now that I have been waiting to be asked about.

Wifey has taken inspiration from two Greek myths; Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and more modern interpretations of Medusa. The Persephone parallel is more relevant to how they were worshipped, but their connection to their motherly figure and also being literally taken from their old home by their husband and brought elsewhere was slightly inspired by that. The Medusa comparison is the main one.

So first and foremost, I want to say this myth is not necessarily the actual story of Medusa. She and the other gorgons were already established characters before this particular story came about. However, this is the more largely known iteration of the story which is where I got the idea.

So if you know, Medusa was a worshipper of the goddess Athena, and had an eternal vow of chastity. During a visit to Athena's temple, she is assaulted by Poseidon, or is otherwise tricked by him, and as a result, she is cursed with her more snakelike appearance, and that anyone who looks at her will turn to stone. Depending on how you read into that myth, it can be interpreted as Athena unjustly punishing an abuse victim, or it can be seen as Athena trying to bless her in a way that would seem unsightly to other men, by altering her appearance and literally making anyone who so much as looks at her turn to stone.

Now obviously you can guess which scene was inspired by that specific myth. The Abbess has made wifey's life hell, and after physically assaulting them and attacking Wei Jin, she is first impaled and then turned to stone for it. This story of course spread throughout Liyue once wifey became more established, so much like how the Medusa head was used to ward off evil and is a common symbol for assault survivors, wifey is a symbol for abuse survivors as well. The reason they are specifically an omen and not an actual goddess is because they did not hurt the Abbess, but their husband certainly fucking did.

So onto the actual question of did they have cults-

I'm just gonna link this video here because 1. good channel, I love their trope talks series, and 2. this is where I got the main Persephone inspiration from. Also for some reason Tumblr won't let me put the actual video into this sooooooooo yeah. I'm not gonna make you watch a 20 minute video for like one reference so I'm just going to poorly summarize the relevant information: One of Persephone's believed names was Despoina, in reference to a mystery cult in Arcadia that worshipped her and her mother. It's largely accepted that they're the same goddess, but we don't have exact confirmation because mystery cults and Despoina's main thing was her real name was a secret unless you were actually initiated into her followings. The other thing about Persephone is she is a Cthonic goddess, and the thing about Cthonic gods? You did not want to get their attention and saying their name was a very good way to do that.

Now, did I have wifey's name become "forgotten" aside from the title of Regina Sanguine so I could avoid putting a (y/n) in the fic? Yes, but it also ties into the idea of them being worshipped as a terrifying omen of vengeance and punishment. If you say their name, you get their attention, and if you have their attention, you have Morax's attention as well, so you had best be on your best behaviour and showing your appreciation to his wife.

Being worshipped as a fertility goddess... yeah honestly you can take a wild guess how that turns out. As soon as you said cults I honestly flashed back to when I was playing one of my few rounds of Fear and Hunger and stumbled across the bunnymasks in the backyard. I'm just exploring and I come across a hidden corner with a bunch of people in bunny masks getting it on for their goddess Sylvian, who is also behind the "marriages" in the game.

So like, yeah. Wifey had a couple cults here and there, and was worshipped both as a symbol to abuse survivors, an artist, and a fertility and marriage goddess. They were predominantly worshipped as for the fertility part and so their specific cults were... very fertile.

Tldr: Yes.

[mrpenguinpants]

would you,, kindly consider dainsleif x ganyu? ok i promise there’s an explanation, he sounded genuinely worried about her in his narrative so i was like “omg hello imaginary chemistry between two characters who likely will not have any canon interaction whatsoever”

Of course^^ I will write any rare pair since I know how absolutely crippling it is when you love a ship but there are no crumbs. (I’m a hard scaracmouche and albedo simp. Don’t ask me how it happened. It just did and I will feed myself if I have to). 

Once my request box is open again, feel free to send it in! I just ask that you give me some sort of scenario or prompt since it might be hard for be to picture it or I’m not sure what you would like. 

Alright anon, you’ve triggered my brainworms. I’m going to go watch Ganyu’s trailer again and I’ll come back with content. 

So minor spoilers for the Dainsleif theories

Okay, the way Dainsleif says “the loneliness of an "inhuman" living in the human world”. I can feel the crippling suffering in how he says loneliness. I fully believe that Dainsleif isn’t human either so he can definitely relate to Ganyu in some way. I know that Ganyu has been alive for a long time but her mannerisms do remind me of someone young and bright, just trying to find their way through life, ya know? And in a sense, that’s kinda who Ganyu is. 

If I had to write this right now with no context whatsoever then something like this:

Ganyu feels incredibly lonely despite being surrounded with her fellow adepti and the Liyue Qixing. While Rex Lapis was still alive she held some comfort in his presence but now with his “death” and the disappearing bodies of adepti in Liyue. She’s conflicted in her identify of being half human and half adepti. Whether she belongs in the human world or with the celestial bodies. 

Hailing from Khaenri’ah, Dainsleif understands the loneliness of not belonging in your own home. The person you held comfort in suddenly disappearing without a trace that you’re left standing on your own. While he chooses to not interfere with the human world and the traveler’s adventures. He’s... genuinely worried for Ganyu. He may not like the adepti’s but Ganyu is still a person that deserves support. 

While Ganyu throws herself into her work to try and stray away the dark thoughts, she feels as if she’s being watched. Her hand is always ready to fly to her bow in any signs of trouble but nothing ever appears. Her suspicious arise even further when she is gifted strange flowers. She likes eating them but no one should really know that besides the Qixing. She still shudders in embarrassment at Ningguang catching her. Perhaps she’s being tested? 

While Ganyu and Dainsleif aren’t the best at expressing themselves. There is some type of solace they find in each other. Both being inhuman in a human world. Dainsleif see’s his travel companion in Ganyu, from her sense of duty to protect the contract she made but also finding some charm in her forgetful nature, and genuinely enjoys her calming nature. To Ganyu, Dainsleif’s reminds her a lot about Morax. She feels safe when she’s with him, a second pillar of support but mostly a friend. 

She gets a bit shy when Ninngguang asks where she’s been and if there’s anything interesting that’s popped into her life. She supposes she has been taking a few more breaks to see Dainsleif but it shouldn’t have been that noticeable. It becomes even worse when Xiao of all people suddenly drops in and questions her about the mysterious man she’s been conversing with. She ends up stuttering in both cases before she’s running out the door saying that she has important work to do. It’s only when she’s somewhere isolated that she calms down and cups her cheeks and tries to will away the pink flush. What’s happening to her?

This is “I literally just woke up” brain food but that’s my interpretations. But let me know anon what your hcs are! I’d love to hear it (maybe its a lot fluffier than mine haha). I honestly love hearing rare pair ideas and why people like them. It’s a lot more interesting (I mean, keqing anon and I have a 190k word fic in the back haha) 

[coyotesongwriting]

Home - Ch. 7

Chapter 7  - A Ring

Chapter Summary: You know what they say about assumptions...

Word Count: 2530

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for reading this story and I hope you enjoy it. I’ve tried a new writing style for this fic and I can definitely say it’s not my cup of tea but I love the story anyways!

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters so don’t sue me please. I just really like them haha

Previous Chapter              Series Masterlist

It was the longest two weeks of your life before he came back. You didn’t tell the boys the truth about their father, instead you merely began to teach them about the Winter Soldier. Of course over the years you’d talked about him some, how could you not. Once you knew he was back though, you talked about him daily, telling the boys all about him, what’d he been through, and what he was like after. Every day they asked you for new stories about the winter soldier, and you were more than happy to comply.

When you’d gone to Kalispel with James to pick a dog, he’d fallen head over heels with a rottweiler puppy he’d seen, but the pup was still too young to leave his family. You’d have to go pick him up in a month when he was 10 weeks old. James couldn’t wait, and to be honest neither could you. The idea of a new pup in the house gave you something to focus on, something reliable to look forward to.

At the diner, you found yourself more distracted than usual and sometimes you struggled to focus on what was going on. Luckily you had an amazing staff and they were able to step up and help you out, never pushing you for answers you couldn’t give. Word had spread around town about that day, but no one dared to question you about it. You’d always been a private person, and they trusted you’d talk about it when you were ready.

The first few nights, Ty basically moved into your house and crashed on the couch. You’d worried him when you explained why you had decided to hide your true identity and connections, and he couldn’t help but worry someone would find you in the night. Eventually, you managed to convince him to go home after proving you could kick his butt in a fight and promising he would be your second call - your first call would be to the Avengers.

Every day you waited anxiously for Bucky to appear, and every day you were disappointed when he did not. Every fiber of your being called out to you to hunt him down, but you just couldn’t do it. What if between his time with Hydra and the time spent apart, he fell out of love with you? What if you went after him and someone found the boys while you were gone. No, you had to sit and wait and hope he’d come back. For the first time, you truly understood how Sam and Nat must have felt when you’d disappeared the last time.

On Thursday afternoon, after the lunch run but before the dinner rush started, the familiar bell of your door rang and you immediately whirled around like you’d done every time for the last two weeks. This time though you weren’t met with disappointment.

Bucky stood in front of you, his long hair tucked back behind his ears, and his eyes lingered on you. Time seemed to stop as you stared at each other, truly taking the time to take the other in. His eyes were the same gorgeous shade you’d always loved, but there was a new wall up, he was guarded, unsure.

As he stood there, you slowly began to move towards him, every step was calculated, terrified he’d run away again. But he didn’t move, just watched as you approached. When you were a mere few feet away you paused before racing at him, your arms quickly wrapping around him, your face burrowing into his shoulder. For what seemed like forever, he didn’t move, stiff as a board. But when your tears began to wet his shirt, his arms found their way around you. You clung to each other like a desperate man fighting to hold onto the life preserver.

You fit together like two puzzle pieces, and with his arms around you, the years faded away. It was like he had never disappeared, like you’d never fled with his kids. For a moment, everything was right with the world. Like all good things, it didn’t last long enough. Too soon for your liking, you found you both pulling away, your eyes searching one another for something. You searched for forgiveness, but you couldn’t tell what he searched for.

“Hey, Buck” your voice was a soft whisper as if afraid speaking up would break the spell and he’d disappear.

“Hey, Doll.” The familiar timbre of his voice seemed to echo through the air, and you felt tears begin to flow down again.

Silence lingered for a moment, you were too caught up in the moment to even register that you should respond, but Bucky spoke again, “So, uh… where’s the guy?”

You couldn't quite decipher the unusual tone in his voice, “What guy?”

Bucky looked down at the ground, refusing to meet your gaze, “Ty.”

“Ty?” you questioned, eyebrows drawing together in confusion, “Ty’s at work. Why? Do you need to talk to him or something?”

“No, I - I just needed to know.”

“Are you okay, ba - Buck?” you caught yourself as you spoke, the old familiar nickname almost slipping from your lips.

“I’m alive. You?”

“I’m okay” you paused for a moment and when he didn’t speak again you did, “Steve told you about the boys, right?”

Bucky nodded, “You were pregnant? I mean, when I was taken? What are they like?”

A soft smile crept across your face at the talk of the boys, “They’re brilliant and fun and sometimes downright terrifying, and god they remind me of you so much it’s insane.” “Steve said you named them James and George?”

“Yeah, I named them after you and your dad… We’d never talked about we’d name a son so I just kinda guessed what you’d want”

Your hand subconsciously reached out for his, your fingers intertwining like it hadn’t been years since you’d touched. Muscle memory is a hell of a thing, and you didn’t mind when it came to touching Bucky. Feeling him served as a reminder that he was okay, he was alive and there. Buck didn’t pull away at first, but after a long moment, he slowly pulled his hand from yours.

“What uh… What are their middle names?” Bucky seemed awkward, uncomfortable asking.

“James Samuel and George Steven” you smiled nervously, waiting to see his reaction.

It was a moment before he spoke, and when he did you could hear the emotion in his voice, “That’s. Those are perfect.”

“I’m really glad you like them. I figured if I was using my best friend’s name, I should use your best friend’s too. I - I kinda always imagined those are the names we’d pick if we each got to name one of the boys.”

Bucky cleared his throat before speaking, “The names are perfect, [Y/N], really. What do they know - about me I mean.”

You found your gaze locked on your feet as you spoke, “I couldn’t tell them the truth Buck, I’m sorry. I couldn’t risk them telling another kid who’d tell another and then we’d have to run. As far as the boys know, you worked in a mine and died saving someone’s life. It seemed the closest to the truth that I could get without putting us at risk” your voice wavered at the end, worried how he’d react.

When he didn’t answer, you glanced up at him only to find his eyes closed and you suddenly second-guessed every decision you’d made. You should have told the boys once you knew he was alive, you should have come clean. But how would they have taken that revelation? George was never the best at keeping secrets and word would have spread around the school within the day.

“I’m sorry Buck, I didn’t know - you were dead, and then you came back but you left before we could even talk and all anyone would tell me was that you needed time and I wasn’t sure you’d ever come back” you admitted, voice breaking.

A throat clearing behind you drew you out of the emotion and you turned to see Anna, your waitress, watching it all unfold. She’d been on break when Bucky had come in, and apparently, you hadn’t noticed her come back in.

Anna shot you a small smile, “Why don’t you guys take off. We can handle the dinner rush.” when you opened your mouth to argue that you couldn’t abandon them like that, she held up one finger to stop you, “Go.”

“Do you want to come back to the house, Bucky?” you chewed on your lip, worried that he’d take the chance to run again.

When he nodded, you turned back to Anna, “Thank you. Seriously. If you need help please call someone else in. If no one answers, call me please.”

“Of course, now get out.” Anna tossed you the keys from under the counter.

Without a word, you and Bucky wandered into the parking lot. Bucky approached a little black car and offered to follow you home. As you pulled out of the lot in your truck, your eyes remained on the car behind you. Every few seconds you double-checked in the mirror that he was still with you, and when you pulled up in front of the cabin a few minutes later you waited anxiously until he’d turned off the car and climbed out. You kept waiting for him to run away again, to leave.

As you led the way inside, Rex greeted you with a low bark, he’d stayed at home today, not quite feeling like making the trek to the diner. Bucky followed you inside, his eyes wandering over the house. In the kitchen you brewed a cup of coffee while Bucky explored, his eyes tracing over the framed photos of you and the boys that covered the walls. You’d documented every important moment in their lives, and the pictures on the wall told the tales clear as day.

When the coffee finished brewing and you’d poured it into two cups, you followed him into the living room. Bucky had picked up a photo you kept on the table by the front door. It was one of your all-time favorite memories. You’d taken the day off at the diner, and Ty had closed his shop for the day. It was the hottest day of the year and you’d packed up the truck, driving up to the remote beach on the northern part of the lake you’d unofficially claimed as your own. You’d spent the day teaching the boys to fish, splashing each other in the cold mountain water, and when night had finally rolled around you’d had a campfire under the stars. The picture had been taken for you the next morning by a passing hiker. George was holding up the fish he’d caught while James gave him bunny ears and you laughed in the background. Ty’s hands rested proudly on George’s shoulders.

Your voice eventually broke the silence as you took a seat on the couch, “How’d you find me?”

“Rex.” the old german shepherd picked his head up as his name was called, his tail sweeping along the floor where he lay.  Bucky took a seat on the couch next to you, his knees brushing yours as he thanked you for the coffee.

“How?” Of all the things he could have tried, you never expected his answer to be Rex.

“Steve told me you picked him up in Texas, and about when you picked him up, so then I started calling around to different vets in the area. Turns out most of them don’t keep their records. One of them did though, and they had record of you bringing him in under your previous name. They had his microchip number on file. I know you, you wouldn’t leave him unregistered. So, I called the microchip company and they wouldn’t give me the information. Tony had to break into their system to get your information”

On one hand, the realization that you’d been tracked down from something as simple as Rex’s microchip number left you facepalming. How had no one unsavory caught up with you if it was that simple! On the other hand, you knew how many vets there were in texas and how many he’d probably tried before finding the right one.

Before you could speak, the kitchen door flung open with a loud bang, and Bucky jumped to his feet as George and James came racing into the house. They didn’t even seem to notice Bucky’s presence as they raced up the stairs, yelling at each other about some new television show that was supposed to be on right now. As Bucky watched them race by, wide-eyed, you couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hey [Y/N], whose car is that -” Ty followed the boys in, stopping at the sight of Bucky standing frozen in front of the couch, “Oh uh hi, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, it’s fine. I should probably go” Bucky quickly offered.

“No, stay. I should probably get home anyways. If I don’t fix that leak tonight the house is probably going to flood.” Ty shot you a quick smile before retreating out the door. When he’d walked in, the tension in the room had skyrocketed but the moment he was out the door everything had gone quiet again.

“Home? He doesn’t live here?” Bucky looked down at you, curious.

“Why would Ty live here?” you raised one eyebrow.

“Isn’t he -  Aren’t you?” for the first time, Bucky looked down at the ring on your finger. It took him a moment before he recognized it, and his gaze jumped up to your face as soon as he did, “That’s my ring. That’s - You’re not married to Ty?” for the first time, he sounded like the Bucky you’d known before.

“Ty? Married? God no! He’s my neighbor and good friend, but that’s it. He helps out at the diner, and he’s helped me with the boys, but not because we’re married. His wife died a few years back and we bonded over the whole widow/widower thing, and he gets along with the boys so we kinda just became fast friends.”

When Bucky just stared at you, you glanced down at the ring and thought back to the first time he’d walked into the diner, “That’s why you left the diner, isn’t it?”

When Bucky nodded, you let out a soft chuckle as you got to your feet. You placed your hands on his shoulders as you leaned in to look him in his eyes, “Bucky, there hasn’t been anyone else for me. You’re it.”

His eyes searched yours again, but this time he seemed to have found what he was searching for. His metal hand came up and gently cupped your cheek as he leaned in, capturing your lips. The kiss started slow, but it wasn’t long before you were pressed tight against him, his hands roaming over you as you tangled your hands in his long hair. You lost track of time as you kissed, too busy getting reacquainted with each other to notice when the boys came downstairs. That is, until one of them spoke up.

“Mom?” James had his hands clamped over his eyes, as if trying to erase the memory of his mom making out with a man he’d never known, “Who’s that?”

You blushed as you sprung apart like startled teenagers, your hands subconsciously patted down your hair and you cleared your throat once, twice, before you spoke, “George, James, this is your dad..”

~~~~~

Next Chapter -> 

Taglist OPEN:  @he-is-chaotic-she-is-psychotic @queenoftheunderdark @redfoxwritesstuff​ @brokenthelovely  @collinsstanharbour​  @samsgoddess​ @redhairedfeistynerd​ @winterisakiller​

[sweetwriting]

TimKon Week 2020 - Day 1: What’s Going On?

Category: Gen or Pre-slash

Genre: Angst/Friendship

Fandoms: DC Comics, Superverse, Teamverse

Continuity: Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint & Rebirth

Summary:  Iris Force didn't really have visions, she just knew things. But tonight, for the first time, she had one. And it was about somebody who shouldn't be there. The TimKon part isn’t that big even if it hints at how bit it could be. As of this story they’re still just friends so it can be seen as platonic or romantic

Word Count: 3356

AN: A part of this is a WIP I had already posted here : https://sweetwriting.tumblr.com/post/165029401671/hello-this-is-a-snippet-for-a-fic-ive-always but to which I was never able to find fitting parts. This part stayed at least as an inspiration of the Vibe I wanted to give but ended up being put to the side. However this Prompt gave me an idea so I’ll try to see where it goes and if it does’n work well…It will be considered as a bonus :D There’s also a reference to Ruelle’s song “I will Find You” as this song is kinda linked to most of the TimKon Angst and general New Rebirth Plot.

Prompt:  Under Lock & Key - Future 

Can be read on AO3

A breath. 

Everything was dark. Were his eyes even open?  

Another breath. 

What was he feeling around him? It felt like a liquid. But how could he possibly breathe in a liquid?  

Another one. He extended his arms. Glass. Surrounding him.  

And another. Faster. 

He didn’t have enough place to extend them completely.  

Another breath. Panic. 

Who was he? Another one. 

How did he know he was a “he”.  

And another. 

What was going on?  

And another. 

Where was he? 

And another. 

Why. 

Another. 

How.

Another. 

Where. 

Another. 

Superman. 

That was his name. But it wasn’t. It was supposed to be his name. But it wasn’t. Why. Who was he? 

Paul Westfield.

That was his father? No. 

Alexander Luthor. Was he his father? No. Disgusting. 

Who? 

Why? 

How? 

Where? 

Was Superman his father? No. Brother. Clark Kent? Same. 

Names.��

So many names. 

Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Roxy, Rex Leech, Dubbilex, Tana Moon, Sam Makoa, Guardian, Hero, Matrix, Aura, Half-Life, Sparx, Empress, Arrowette, Secret, Red Tornado, Traya, Speedy, Green Lantern, Ravager, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Nightwing, Flash, Max Mercury, Wonder Woman, Troia, Agent A, Batman, Not Robin, Red Hood, Spoiler, Batgirl, Knockout, Lori, Simon, Ma Kent. Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Donna Troy, Diana Prince, Wally West, Dick Grayson, Jim Harper, Victor Stone, Garfield Logan, Koriand’r, Rose Wilson,,Sterling, Kyle Rainer, Mia Dearden, Victoria no Greta Hayes, Cissie King-Jones, Anita Fite, Donna Carol Force, Byron Stark, Lindsey Wah, Hero Cruz, Cassandra Sandsmark, Bart Allen.

Tim. 

Tim Drake.

He remembers. 

Names. 

His best friends. 

Bart and Tim. 

This is a pod or a tube or whatever.

He’s Superboy, Kon-El, Conner Kent. The Metropolis Kid, The Boy of Steel.

And he has to find his friends. To make sure Ma is okay.  He can’t abandon them again. He can’t abandon Tim again. How long was he in there? 

Panic.  

Everything goes completely white. 

- - - - -

Shortly before Flashpoint happened.

Timberton, British Columbia, Canada.

Iris Force woke up with a gasp. It was the first time she saw what felt so far off in the future and felt so entwined with the recipient of her vision. It was that boy, Superboy who had been one of her dear D.C’s friends back when she went to that horrible party place.

She suddenly heard her door open and the voice of her granddaughter, Anastasia, come to her.

“Granny Iris, I’ve felt you panic, are you alright?”

Iris felt her dear Anastasia settle next to her and help her sit by pulling her elbow.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” She answered, leaving herself time to try and sort out what could be happening.

Anastasia’s hands came to take her own in them in a reassuring gesture.

“Don’t worry, I’m honestly more concerned by the strangely strong reaction you showed to one of you visions. And especially since I’ve never known you to have prophetic dreams”.

Iris turned her head toward her granddaughter. She might not be able to see but she wasn’t going to be impolite.

“This is a problem, It didn’t seem to be a prophetic dreams yet it still was. It seemed to be happening in a far-off future but in the past at the same time. Distant and close at once. I’ve been trying to make sense of it but I can’t seem to be able to do that. And it’s something I’d rather have sorted out before I talk to Donna Carol.”

Anastasia startled and asked in a tiny voice why her sister was concerned.

“It’s about the Superboy. You remember, they were friends a few years ago. Even if they lost touch his death and resurrection had deeply affected her and I think this might too.”

- - - - - -

Prime Earth. Around the Time Red Robin’s future self came to the present.

Timberton, British Columbia, Canada.

Iris Force woke up with a gasp. It was the first time she saw what felt so far off in the future and felt so entwined with the recipient of her vision. It was that boy, Superboy who had been one of her dear D.C’s friends back when she went to that horrible party place.

She suddenly heard her door open and the voice of her granddaughter, Anastasia, come to her.

“Granny Iris, I’ve felt you panic, are you alright?”

Iris felt her dear Anastasia settle next to her and help her sit by pulling her elbow.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” She answered, leaving herself time to try and sort out what could be happening.

Anastasia’s hands came to take her own in them in a reassuring gesture.

“Don’t worry, I’m honestly more concerned by the strangely strong reaction you showed to one of you visions. And especially since I’ve never known you to have prophetic dreams”.

Iris turned her head toward her granddaughter. She might not be able to see but she wasn’t going to be impolite.

“This is a problem, It didn’t seem to be a prophetic dreams yet it still was. It seemed to be happening in the near future but in the past at the same time. Distant and close at once. I’ve been trying to make sense of it but I can’t seem to be able to do that. And it’s something I’d rather have sorted out before I talk to Donna Carol.”

Anastasia startled and asked in a tiny voice why her sister was concerned.

“I do not know, I just know it concerns a Superboy. They were friends a few years ago. No. They were not. I know the universe had changed but I don’t exactly know how. This is one of these changes.”

She knew Anastasia was frowning. She could not blame her as it was confusing even for her. She had told her family the universe had changed but since most of those changes were unknown even to her, and since their family didn’t seem in any immediate danger, they let it be and almost never thought of it again. Except for Donna Carol. She wanted to act. To become a hero. It was obvious but she had never acted on it. Probably due to the knowledge that a past she had lived had been erased. While it fueled her desire to help as a hero more than before it also scared her. The fact that her aunt had not left the family and as such making sure Donna Carol did not have an example to follow might have also helped.

Because yes, Iris knew Donna Carol had been a hero and Allure had left. But that was only because she saw the shift between then and now within the family. She could only see the very big changes when she met people concerned by them.

Just like she knew this conversation had happened before the shift. Maybe not the exact same but her other/past self had the same vision.

What was happening?

- - - - - - -

Conner awoke to a dark room. Or was it a cave? It was too dark to tell but he could not hear the telltale sign of machinery. No sound, no light. Nothing

He wasn’t sure. What he knew was that he was in a pod, in a liquid. That he had woken up some time before and gotten most of his memory back. The pod had fallen sideways on the ground and was the glass was cracking. He tried to push against it but he couldn’t.

Why? Why couldn’t he just burst though? Why wasn’t his TTK working? Where was he? What was going on?

So he screamed.

“HELP! SOMEONE HELP! BART! TIM! CLARK! CA…”

He was interrupted by crackling. And a sudden burst of blue light.

Right in front of him was electricity in the shape of a woman. He smiled in relief. He knew her after all, she was an old friend of his.

“D.C! Boy am I glad to see you! It’s been a while!”

The girl however didn’t seem to show the same joy.

“Wow Granny said I knew a Superboy in the old world but I half believed her. But you actually look that other Superboy who disappeared, and you seem to know me.”

Now Conner was confused. What old world? Why would she need Granny Iris to tell her they were friends? Why was he still in this thing?

“Whatever! Can you help me get out? I can’t seem to be able to use any of my powers.”

D.C shrugged and agreed. She fried the commands and opened the lid of the pod before lifting him then she promptly let him fall as she covered her eyes and turned around.

Conner fell on his butt, the floor was made of wood so he didn’t hurt himself much, but apparently he hadn’t retained his invulnerability.

“Hey! Why did you drop me DC?!”

D.C. had curled up in the air, her back still to him. She answered him in a small voice.

“You’re naked”

Conner looked down. She was right. It was luck then that the floor was made of wood and not a less smooth surface. He looked around. There wasn’t anything to cover himself as he was in a bare rectangular room only filled with cables. The door DC had opened seemed to show water as he could see the ripples reflecting the moon and stars in what would be a rather bleak night otherwise.

D.C ran toward the door with her eyes closed.

“I’m gonna go try and find you something more decent. Wait here!”

And she left him there. Well he didn’t have much shame but even he knew better than to walk around naked -if only to avoid unwanted attention when he was already so confused. In the meantime he would try to see what he could still do. So he tried to get up, and promptly fell down again.

“OK so baby steps…literally.”

Two hours later and he could finally walk almost normally. However he really couldn’t use any of his powers. He also wasn’t anywhere close to knowing what was going on. That’s when he heard the telltale sound of Sparx’s powers nearby.

She came in with her eyes closed and two pieces of cloth in her arms.

“OK so pants are harder to fit especially since I don’t know your size so I found a hoodie and a skirt, hope you don’t mind”.

She threw the clothes n the room and turned around. Conner Started putting them on as he answered.

“They definitely wouldn’t be my first choice but I don’t mind. At least the skirt is nicer than the dress I had to wear last time”.

“Wait.You really wore a dress?”

“Yeah, it was to be used as a distraction. Honestly it was fun even if I had my costume underneath. All right, I’m all done.”

D.C turned toward him.

“Hey it’s actually not that bad. Though the fact that it’s night and we can’t really see the colors probably help.”

Conner rolled his eyes. Of course he looked good in it. He looked good in almost everything. Granted he wasn’t sure what he looked like right now. Sparx coughed and he brought his attention back on her.

“OK so…this isn’t the most comfortable place to talk and I’m honestly not the best person to talk world heroics with so I’m gonna bring you to my family and especially my granny Iris. Don’t worry though they all…”

“Have powers, yeah I know I already met them, you brought us there remember?”

“That’s the thing actually, I don’t. I’m only here because of granny Iris”

“Oh.”

There was a slight lull before D.C started again.

“Anyway we should go, you can fly right?”

Conner shifted slightly.

“Yeah, actually, no. I seem to have lost my powers actually”

“Well it’s okay, I’ll just have to fly you there. We might have to take a few breaks though because while I’m not slow, I’m also not strong enough to go all the way there while holding you in one go”

Conner nodded and they left. As Sparx got high up in the sky, he noticed that what they left wasn’t a room but actually one of several train cars left on the side of a river bank. It seemed to have been separated from another part which was nowhere to be found. Moss had started to grow on it so it had been there for a while. He had been there for a while.

- - - - - - - -

It took them six hours to get to the Force family and they mostly spoke about the new tv shows that D.C. had found interesting lately so they would avoid any topic too heavy (apparently he had missed out on a hilarious cop show). Also Smartphones were so much more advanced as they were the last time he saw them.

- - - - - - -

Timberton, British Columbia, Canada.

As they landed in front of a house in a clearing surrounded by woods, a young brown-haired teenager came to greet them.

“D.C ! Mom said that you would probably need to rest when arriving so you need to show Superboy the guest room.”

D.C. undid her transformation and turned into a cute girl with short brown hair and dressed in a baseball shirt and jeans.

“No way! I’m not tired and I wanna know what’s going on!”

Ana smiled at her big sister and turned toward the house.

“Granny Iris said you’d say that and is waiting for you both in the living room”.

D.C rolled her eyes and grumbled a short “then why not invite us there directly?” before going after her sister followed by a nostalgia filled hero.

Iris Force looked as dignified as ever when, putting the cup of tea she was sipping back on the teacup in her hand, she greeted her granddaughter and her friend from another life.

“Hello Superboy, it has been a while. Though I believe you did get a few name since we last saw each other.”

“Hi Mrs Force. I go by Conner as a civilian and Kon El among other heroes now. Though you already knew that. It’s nice to see you again”.

The older woman kept her eyes closed as she smiled at him. He and D.C sat down on the couch next to Granny Iris’ armchair. Both had a teacup waiting in front of them on the table, filled with warm tea.

“You’re much more subdued than I remember young man. I would like to say it is nice to see you have grown up but as I know what some of it implies I’m afraid I am just saddened for you”.

Conner flinched at the bluntness and D.C almost got up to yell at her grandmother before changing her mind as Conner nodded at Granny. The older woman started talking again.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to fill in most gaps, you know our family doesn’t really get involved in heroics so we don’t have the same kinds of information you could get from those people. All I know is that a few years ago, I woke up with the distinct feeling that things had changed. I didn’t know what but when I saw Allure and D.C. I immediately knew what had changed for them. For you….I can see what you where but I’m not sure what you are right now. Do you have any idea what happened to you?”

Conner stared at the teapot in the middle of the table for a few minutes.

“I don’t remember how I got there to be honest. The last thing I remember clearly was being with my best friends, Tim and Bart. I’m…I’m pretty sure I was with Tim for a while but I don’t know where or what happened.”

There was a pause.

“Oh my God! I don’t know where he is! I don’t have my powers I can’t make sure he’s okay! What do I do?”

“Maybe just google his name, whoever “he” is.”

Conner turned to D.C who showed him her phone already put on a google page. He tapped Tim’s name in the search bar and found pictures of the Wayne family with basic information. He frowned. Something was definitely wrong and it was not just because of Tim’s height…Wait.

“That’s not Tim!”

D.C Looked on her phone and almost screamed.

“You know the Waynes? Wait. Why do you say it’s not him?”

Kon turned the phone fully toward her.

“Look he reaches Bruce Wayne’s ear and it say he’s 5’10” and that’s just wrong. Tim’s tiny. He barely reached 5’6” and his hair here is way too short so that can’t be him.”

D.C. looked at him with an unimpressed look.

“Seriously, that’s what you’re basing this on? The Tim Drake from this world could have simply eaten better food that helped him grow up or there was a light alteration to his genes that made him taller and maybe he just got used to having short hair.”

“Well it also says he just turned 17 and I remember celebrating his 18th birthday.”

“This could simply be a timeline issue”

“He’s just weird okay! And not just him. This picture kinda creeps me out actually”.

Conner gave D.C her phone back as he started pouting. He wasn’t good with words but he knew something was wrong. It was in the attitude displayed. There had always been a level of fakeness in these kinds of pictures if only because of Brucie Wayne’s character, but the affection never felt as fake or distant as it did in this picture. DC played with her phone for a few seconds before giving it back to him.

“Maybe it was just that picture, look here are some other ones”.

So Conner tried. He looked at them all but they all gave him the same vibe. He tried to look for Bart too but nothing came up. There was only Barry Allen. He gave D.C her phone back and shook his head while trying to stifle a yawn. He would look for Cassie and the others later. He wasn’t sure he could take another disappointment right now.

It’s at this point that Granny Iris intervened.

“I think it’s time for you both to go to bed. Donna Carol you’ve flown for a while you should rest. Conner will try to get in touch with other heroes later on. I believe the Wally West you know is around somewhere. But you need to rest a little.”

Both D.C and Conner nodded and D.C lead the not-so-much Boy of Steel to the guest bedroom for the night. Before they parted ways, she informed him there should be clothes for him there and that he better explain how they knew each other after breakfast.

There was a small bathroom linked to the room and Conner used the opportunity to take himself in. He was tiny. Well not really but compared to how buff he had gotten in recent times he was closer to how he was when he was born at first. He even had his hair back. Even though he had cut it short to try and avoid looking like Superman, he had to admit that he missed having longer hair.

As he settled in his bed the only thing he could only think of one thing. He would find them no matter where they were. He was not going to lose Tim and Bart. They could probably handle themselves but he didn’t want them to have to. He didn’t want Tim to be on his own again. He just wanted to be with him right now.

- - - - - - - -

Somewhere in Metropolis

“CLARK!”

Clark Kent woke up with a start. He tried to focus on a voice he thought he heard. But when he tried to focus on it he couldn’t seem to remember what it had been.

Maybe it was just a dream. He wouldn’t have lost it if it had been real after all.

He went back to bed.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

First Monday of the month, woohoo!

(And also kind of a NaNo roundup post because that was last month, after all…)

NaNo:

Sooooo I didn’t finish, lol. Not that I was…super expecting to, exactly, but I was hopeful! I think I just missed too many days in a row and lost all my momentum.

In terms of my goals, I was hoping to write:

1. 20-25k on Precipice 2. 20-25k on our faces like a mirror 3. 10-20k on Other Projects. 4. 50-70k total

In terms of what I actually accomplished:

1. 9,241 on Precipice (Sooooooo....about half of what I’d hoped, a little less. But I still got a fair amount done/prepped for upcoming chapters, plus a couple chapters actually posted, even while doing other stuff, so...go me!) 2. 9,043 on our faces like a mirror (Again, a bit less than half of what I’d hoped for, but I got enough done for the story/etc. to take a real Shape in my head. ...ish. See the specific OFLAM stuff later on in the post...) 3. 10,601 on Other Projects (Hey, I actually met this goal! ...barely, but still! Mostly thanks to the Nikita/Rebels crossover, lol...) 4. 28,885 total

Original Fiction:

I got a decent chunk of a big backstory piece for Lux done (in the form of a “then” and “now” set of scenes/vignettes for the five Archangels)--that being said, I’m not sure I actually like what I have there, lol. I know more or less what I need to cover, but the details are fiddly. Also not sure whether I should refer to Lux by her current name, for consistency’s sake, or use a different name (either Lightbringer or just Lucifer) since she does technically reshape her name after being released when the main Apocalypse storyline kicks off…also debating whether Lux should be/present as female way back when--angels don’t really do gender the way humans do in this ‘verse, but the closest human term for Lux would be genderfluid, sooooo IDK. Also also, for the ‘Now’ part…ehhh, I’m not sure I should have this be the first thing I post involving Trixie…but I’ll keep poking at it and see what comes out.

(I’d also planned to work on the big Kesshare character study saturation for The Farglass Cycle this month, and maybe go back to my untitled first-contact story, but neither of those happened, lol.)

Precipice:

We’re in the home stretch! Kinda. So to speak. Probably three to four more chapters in Arc Seven, which I’m hoping-fingers-crossed I’ll finish by the end of the calendar year??? (But given how much other stuff I hope to work on (see Other Fanfic Projects for more details…)

At that point--and I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably put it in an A/N in the next chapter or so, but following the end of Milestones, I’m planning to break off into a second/sequel fic, working title Protectors. This is at least in part because length (over 200k wtf I was anticipating 50-75k, maybe 100k, for these seven arcs @.@), but also was sort of planned even without the Length issue, due to some thematic/structure shifts following a six-year timeskip. Which, if you do the math, you can probably figure out where that’ll land us and why I might be structuring it this way…

Anyway, I’ve increasingly realized that there’s some stuff I should probably set up that I’ll need for later arcs in Part 2 involving some Rebels characters, more with the Last Batch, plus a Sith Apprentice who needs to turn up and die (although the gap between Infernalis and the next apprentice I actually care about/have a name and some kind of Plot for is only about four years in my mental timeline, so maybe there isn’t an active Apprentice in that period*…hmmmmm…), some background about the Hands, etc. But I feel like it’s all a little too disjointed for an entire additional arc. So, Arc 7.5, tentatively titled Preludes, is also going to be a thing XD I don’t think I’ll have a fixed schedule for that vs. the main storyline--and, honestly, it’ll probably work more like a collection of one-shots taking place during the timeskip than a proper Arc, but a little more Relevant than stuff that goes in Bonus Content, if that makes sense? It’ll probably be posted alongside at least arcs 8 and 9. Which, incidentally, take place more or less back-to-back and cover a fairly short period of time, but there is A Lot of plot/setup that goes into them. Like. If I tried to do it all as one arc, it’d be at least twice as long as any of the other arcs I’ve done, possibly including Arc Four--certainly over twenty chapters, I think--plus there’s a good (and by good I mean Horrible) place where I can split the arcs, so…we’ll see how that goes.

(…still not sure what to do with Maul, lol. He may just be Sir Darth Not-Appearing-In-This-Fic, or he might turn up in arc 10/11/13, which are the sort of vaguest of the next seven arcs which make up Protectors, in terms of how much I have planned out…)

(*On a semi-related note, I’ve been asked about Inquisitors a couple times in comments lately, and…well, I’ll probably mention this when I reply to the commenter in question, but I figured I’d set it out here as well, in case anyone else was wondering the same thing but doesn’t read other peoples’ comments. Like I’m pretty sure I mentioned at the start, when I plotted out** the bulk of this fic, I hadn’t seen Rebels yet. I’ve since decided to integrate a few characters/plot points (Kallus and Zeb will feature prominently in a subplot in arcs 13 and 14, for example), but, as a rule, characters and plot points from Rebels haven’t been taken into account unless I Really Like Them and/or they’re a good way to fill in a plot hole in a later arc, as with Kallus and Zeb. So, for example, when I include Thrawn, I’m writing more towards Legends!Thrawn in terms of personality, though the two have blended a bit in my head and I do reference specific events in Disney!Thrawn’s personal timeline; and b) more relevantly, I hadn’t made any plans to include Inquisitors, and that…hasn’t really changed. So, I might have them in Preludes, but they almost certainly won’t show up on-page/be super-relevant in the main arcs of the fic, sorry :/ )

(**Loooool I say “Plotted Out” like I’m the kind of author with a Master Plan or at least an outline. But I did have a general idea of the Major Plot Points going in, such as when Rex and Ahsoka would turn up, Luke’s storyline with Lavinia, how many Apprentices I would need to make them work, etc., and I’ve had parts of Arcs 8, 9, and 14 written for like at least two years now, so I know more or less where I’m going--though they’ll be edited once I have more of the connective tissue in place, in case I’ve accidentally Jossed myself…or I change my mind, which is becoming A Possibility with a major event set to happen in Arc 14, so…we’ll see.)

Aaaaaanyway. Exciting times ahead, I hope!

Other Fanfic:

This month, I finally posted another AU outline, woohoo! …I mean, it was a super-niche Nikita/Rebels crossover with a handful of OCs thrown in but who’s counting XD (I do actually intend to finish Let’s Go Steal a Crossover and update the Ventress one at some point but…yeah).

I also put out a Kallus one-shot that I think turned out really well. May do more of those at some point, who knows…

I made some significant progress on our faces like a mirror, as mentioned above! But now I’m waffling a little bit over structure. Basically, the fic covers Bo-Katan’s backstory from the time Satine becomes Duchess, through the Civil War, and eventually leads to Bo’s eventual break with her sister to join Death Watch. It comes in two pretty distinct halves--what I call the Fugitive arc in my notes, which covers the Civil War, and the Breakdown arc, which is everything after her return to Sundari.

So, my original plan was--prologue covering at least part of the final Epic Screaming Match that leads to Bo’s departure; jump back to the Fugitive Arc; and then follow through until we catch up to the prologue, with a coda/epilogue with her and Pre Viszla. The problem is, there’s…really not a lot to connect the two halves??

I’ve got a couple options on what to do about this, but I’m not sure which would be best.

Option One: Keep the structure as-is and just let it be episodic.

Option Two: Keep the structure as-is and find some way to connect the two halves (i.e., a recurring antagonist; I do have an idea of who this could be, but the problem is, it takes away a good chunk of the focus from Bo and Satine’s relationship for the Breakdown Arc…which I don’t really want to do.)

Option Three: Remove the framing device and focus on the Breakdown Arc, and include the Fugitive Arc as flashbacks, since the Breakdown Arc can’t really stand on its own. (The main issue I have with this one is that, if I want to actually write out future chunks of Bo’s life later--meaning, her time with Death Watch, and getting her from TCW to Rebels--I won’t have these flashbacks and I don’t want to change the structure too radically for any eventual sequels? Also, I’m not sure how I feel about a flashback structure for this fic in general…)

Option Four: Remove the framing device and focus on the Fugitive Arc, ending the story with Bo’s return to Sundari. (Two issues with this one--I really do want to go into the Breakdown Arc; that’s where my interest in this story started. Also, due to the constraints of setting and so on, Bo interacts with…like…two canon characters over the course of the Fugitive Arc? And while I don’t really have a problem writing a story that’s essentially a Backstory Epic for a tertiary character, populated by about 90% OCs, I’m not sure anyone actually wants to read that, except as the lead-in to the Breakdown Arc??? But maybe I’m overthinking…)

…so, yeah. Any thoughts/opinions on which option would be Best? (I may make a separate post asking the same question later, but figured I’d lay it all out here, too!)

Also, I’m working on a Secret Santa project, and probably not going to use OFLAM for SWBB, which means I need to come up with and write a different plotline of some kind, so back to the drawing board on that one…

Also also, I do genuinely plan to get Distaff off hiatus At Some Point, especially since I’ve gotten some new comments/responses lately…but given how much else I have on my plate, writing-wise, that probably won’t happen until next year, alas.

Anyway, the long and short of it is--lots of writing planned for this month! Now let’s see how much I actually get done XD

What about the rest of you? What’ve y’all been up to/what do you have planned for next month?

[symphonic--chaos]

Hey I wanted a fic where maybe Rafe or Max gets kidnapped and Malec just loses it and tracks down the person who took their little blueberry or Rafe. Also a really angsty fic where they are just sad and pissed off and all. I mean they’re both trying to be strong each other but kinda end up hurting each other or pushing the other away/having an argument or something. A lot of angst. But happy ending in the end obviously with a lot of tears and fluff. (badass+angsty dads)

Going to a carnival had been all Magnus’s idea, he’d asked just once if Alec thought the boys would be a good enough age to let them go and enjoy one and, despite his mistrust of large crowds, Alec had eventually come around and agreed they could take them. They’d spent time researching different ones across the world, but eventually came to a mutual agreement that perhaps state-side would have been safer, both for Alec’s knowledge of where all the institutes within them were in case of emergency, and also because of language barriers with both Alec and the kids.

“Here’s some money for you and your brother, Auntie loves you more than any of your other aunts and uncles no matter what they say.” Izzy said with a grin as she handed a small panda change purse to Rafael after tucking a few bills within it.

“You really don’t need to give them money, I have money, Isabelle,” Magnus mused with an arched brow, only to be waved off by the shorter figure as she stood and ruffled Rafael’s hair.

“Of course I do, they give me joy, I give them money. It’s an aunt thing.” Isabelle replied matter-of-factly with a toss of her hair. Magnus had not once ever heard of aunts or uncles just giving kids money solely for bringing them joy, but he wasn’t going to argue with her.

“You’re all set with Chairman and where all his necessities are…?” Magnus checked once more, his hand brushing Alec’s as the dark-haired male passed him, that bright smile flashed back at him over his shoulder in response.

“Yes, cabinet, cabinet, porch. Food, treats, toys and litter. Plus the…sweaters in the closet, brush and fashion collars in the drawer.” She knew she wouldn’t be changing his outfit and collar every day, but she knew it would please him that she remembered where they were ‘in the event he needed to look his best’.

“Come on, we’re going to be late for the train.” Alec returned carrying Max, having helped him change into his favorite dark blue jeans and his red T-Rex hood. The small tail on the base of it swayed over Alec’s arm with each long stride he took as if they were big dinosaurs, the boy accentuating the cuteness with loud ‘Rawr’s.

“Ready!” The boy said to Magnus excitedly as he noticed him in the room, lifting a little blue fist into the air. Max promptly broke into giggles as Alec wiggled his fingers against the briefly exposed belly, squirming then to try and get away from him. They’d only been a family for a couple years now, but it always warmed Magnus’s heart to know how well the boys had adapted to the change in their lives.

Looking to Rafael with a smile, Magnus offered a hand to the boy who looked clearly confused by the panda coin purse, tucking it quickly into Magnus’s pocket before his fingers curled around his father’s hand. It was something that Isabelle couldn’t help but make an excited noise over, quick to pull out her phone and snap a picture of the two, then motioned for Alec and Max to join in. “Get together, say ‘Cheese’!” That was what the mundane’s usually said to earn their smiles, but it only earned a questioning look from Rafael, his brow arching and lip curling in the picture, clearly telling of the ‘Why?’ that had accompanied the look.

~~“Oh, look at these cute little toys.” Magnus cooed, bopping the nose of one of the plush dragons at the vendors stand. “I know who would love one of these…” He gave a knowing glance to Max then, who’s eyes were larger than saucers, fingers already reaching for the green one.“Me! I have, please! Please!” The blue child said almost desperately, his horns hidden under a too large hood but threatening to spill out. Alec held on tight, knowing that if he kept any looser of a grip the boy would have easily spilled out. “PLEASE, PAPA!” “Okay, okay! It’s okay, Max!” Alec said with a laugh as he adjusted the boy in his arms to instead move him onto his shoulders. “I want to get it…” Rafael said after a long moment of contemplation. “I want the money now.““Rafe, save the money Izzy gave you, we’ll buy it, it’s no iss-” Magnus started, only to see Rafe’s sure and stubborn face looking up to him as he quickly replied with a firm ‘No.’

Magnus let out a quiet breath, knowing that stubborn look all too well- not only had he come from Buenos Aires with it, but it had only grown exponentially due to a certain Shadowhunter.

“Okay, okay. Let me get the money.” Magnus caved, releasing his hand to reach into the opposite pocket, his free hand already holding the long jacket out of the way. “You know, I’m very proud that you’re spending your money to get M…..Rafe?” The questioning tone had Alec turning his body back to Magnus and their son, having turned Max around so he could poke at a lantern bouncing around in the wind. Magnus seemed confused and rightfully so, as Rafael was gone. Alec turned once more as he looked at the vendor, who was busy selling to other kids, and to their right, an empty space. Nowhere for Rafael to hide, no one around to be blocking their view.“Where is he, Magnus?” Alec’s voice was low, panic already seeping in. A light pat to his head had him realizing he was now holding Max’s ankles too tight, as if he were subconsciously worried that the small one would disappear as well. “Magnus, where’s Rafael?”“I-I don’t know, I let go just for a second so I could get the change purse out of my pocket. He was right here, practically leaning against me, I don’t know how…” He turned quickly, the boys name loudly called then, in a desperate manner that only a nervous parent could manage.

“Rafe!” Max yelled from Alec’s shoulders, immediately catching on that something was wrong and his brother was missing. It didn’t take long before the other two separated and followed suit, calling the boys name.

Using his powers to try and trace any types of footprints from the area they’d been standing had let him see that there was Rafael’s and another set that had stopped behind the small set. The part that confused him most was the fact that neither of them had seen anyone approach, and those steps were where all ended, as if they just… vanished. There was no retreating footprints in any direction, no hint of leftover magic from the spot, like Rafael and whomever had him had just disappeared into thin air. Magnus felt terrible. This was his fault and his throat felt like it was closing up just realizing that if he hadn’t let go of Rafe’s hand, he’d still probably be here. They would be walking and enjoying the carnival, eating greasy foods that they would normally never feed to the children, giving them mountains of cotton candy bigger than their heads and dealing with the sugar-high repercussions later, as if it wasn’t hard enough getting Max to bed.

Magnus had let go, even after all the times he’d promised that beautiful little Argentinian boy that he never would.

Alec weaved through the crowd, calling for their son, his eyes tracing quickly through the crowds as he studied faces and different areas that could possibly be used to hide, though despite what he wanted to believe, he knew that Rafael wouldn’t do this. He was sneaky, rebellious, certainly a terror sometimes, but he knew better than this. This wasn’t something Rafael would put either of them through, especially not Magnus or Max, of whom was still on his shoulders, using the height advantage to look over the crowd, occasionally yelling the other boys name. “Rafael!” He joined in, looking down each alley he passed as the Nyx rune granted him nightvision to see if the boy had perhaps hidden in one.

“RAFAEL!” Magnus yelled, his voice almost cracking, the glamour on his eyes flickering as the magic began seeping from his fingers. Every bit of composure he’d had about himself and managed to hold for decades beginning to crumble away as he felt his heart sink lower and lower. When was the last time his stomach ached like this? Like there was some small, clawed beast digging away at everything within him in a desperate attempt to escape. As Alec’s same yell echoed from across the large crowd, Magnus swallowed, knowing their boy hadn’t been found yet and it only caused his throat to feel thick as he felt dread overcame him.

That dread only grew as he came across a small dirty area with shuffled footprints and two small drops of blood that seemed to have a purple sheen to it- certainly not Rafael’s. However, what was Rafael’s, was the small shoe resting against the wall nearby.

He’d been kidnapped.

“ALEXANDER!”

~~

Magnus’s fingers toyed with the panda change purse in his pocket as he and Alec made their way towards the building they had tracked Rafael to using Alec’s tracking rune. He hadn’t been able to stop touching it, knowing it was the very last thing Rafael had touched other than his own hand, the same way Alec kept the small shoe in the large front pocket of the hoodie he wore. Every emotion that passed the younger’s face broke Magnus’s heart, knowing how attached he was to the boy that he’d worked so hard to protect, and here he was, the cause of his panic.

“Magnus.” Came the quiet voice as Alec’s feet halted, swift unlike the slight stumble that Magnus’s normally steady feet were. “Come here.” It was followed up by Alec’s hand reaching out, pulling the warlock into his arms as his lips rested in the crook of his neck for a brief and gentle kiss before he lifted his head to meet the others shining cat-like eyes. “I can read it all over your face, this isn’t your fault.”

Magnus’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried looking away, only for Alec to turn his face towards him once more, wanting him to believe him. “I mean it, Magnus. This isn’t your fault.”“I let go of his hand–”“You let go of his hand to give him something he wanted. How were we supposed to know someone…or thing, was following us? How were we supposed to know someone wanted Rafe? This isn’t your fault, but we’re going to make the person who’s fault it is, pay.” Alec’s voice had become lower in register, raw as if he were going to cry, though there was more anger in his eyes than sorrow. Not at Magnus, but at the kidnapper.

“You’re right. You’re… Of course you’re right. He’s still here, right?” Magnus finally caved, motioning to the corner store they were outside of, looking like it had seen better days and had been abandoned for years. He could feel magic coming off of it in waves, no doubt there were wards littering the walls, which could only mean it had been a warlock that had taken Rafael.

“Yes, he’s still here. Max, do you remember what to do if anyone comes near you?” He asked the small boy holding his hand, who looked up to Alec with a determined nod. They’d been working on his magic once he’d proved he could reject advances of a demon, starting small with defensive maneuvers that were easy to master, especially with a tiny bit of help from ‘Bapa’.

The trio made their way into the building, Alec’s arm tight around Max, whom he was now carrying to make sure they stayed together. Their attempt to create a portal to get him to safety with Izzy had been something they didn’t want to do out of fear of losing him like Rafe, but it had also been something Max didn’t want, the small blue one screaming like a banshee and clinging to Alec’s arms. “I help save brother! I HELP!” This was the outcome of what it had led to.

“Ah look, your saviors finally found you.” A lisped voice called from a higher area, Alec’s gaze rising to the stairwell to the right overlooking the area they stood in. “He was expecting us,” Magnus said lowly, just enough for Alec to hear, “There are wards everywhere, we shouldn’t have been able to get in if he didn’t think we’d find them.”

“Give me my brother!” Max yelled, an angry growl following as he glared up to the man above them, only to look more than insulted when the man laughed at him and came out of the shadows one step at a time.

“How cute, you brought another one.” The man on the stairs mused, another voice following his from the corner of the room as Rafe was pushed out in front of the lithe figure, his hands bound behind him. This voice was higher pitched and questioningly female, their face perfectly androgynous with the sharp facial features and hawk-like nose, though their hair fell in long, well cared for curls around their shoulder. “The blue one could fetch a pretty penny in the market.”

Magnus could feel the air around them shift, this was the one the wards were created from, this was the one behind Rafe being taken. However, it wasn’t just their presence that caused the tension, he realized, as he heard the ragged inhale beside him from Alec, Max slowly lowered to the floor behind them. Magnus’s hand shifted, magic swirling and weaving tightly to his fingers, only bits sparking back to create an invisible wall behind them to ensure there wasn’t an ambush or anyone to appear behind Max and take him as well.

Alec’s voice changed then, in a way Magnus had never heard before. This voice was so much more than the authoritative leader voice he carried with the other Shadowhunters, this voice was a raw, deep and threatening voice. Something about it sent chills up Magnus’s spine, goosebumps hidden by the fine jacket covering his arms- something that perhaps in a bedroom setting would be enjoyable, but here… this voice was terrifying.

“Give us. Our son. Now.”

It was that voice that had the fear in Magnus’s body shift, all that worry about how this could all go down where they weren’t just dealing with some Mundane or simpler Downworlder, morphing into pure, unadulterated rage. Like someone who poured gasoline on wood before igniting it, Magnus’s powers began forming not only on hands, but traveled like flames all up his body. He was ready for anything and he felt Alec shift beside him, his legs parting in a stance that was ready to attack, one he knew well from the training Alec had given the boys almost every night.

“If only it were that easy. Your kind, you shadowhunters, killed people we loved. We took him as payment, an eye for an eye, ya know?” The androgynous one said in their strange tone, which Magnus finally realized sounded as if two people were speaking at the same time.

“We considered making him a slave, but that’s too good. Bait was better. Now we have all of you. Two Shadowhunters in one room, and two more warlocks. One that can be trained by me.” The voice once floating above them was now level, the man looking past them at Max as his hand came to rest on Rafe’s shoulder.

The bow appeared in Alec’s hand the minute the man touched Rafe, and even from his side Magnus could see the way Alec’s hand shook when nocking the arrow. The bowstring was held but not drawn, his patience small, lingering, but still there as he’d been trained to have. Magnus shifted his hand over, resting it lightly on his arm in a ways to calm him, hoping that just reminding the Shadowhunter that he was there with him, that it would help.

“The only person that will be training Max, is myself.” Magnus said quietly, his voice dripping with the warning of every threat that could have possibly been flung. “It’ll be okay, Rafe, I promise. I’m sorry.”

Briefly, Magnus’s gaze had dropped to their son, wanting to assure him that nothing would happen to him. The glow of blue in his hand only grew as Rafael was roughly pulled back, pushed into a chair and quickly enchanted so he couldn’t escape. What may have been something to bring kids to tears was nothing to Rafael, though the boys chest heaved and his mouth was gagged, his hands bound so tight Magnus knew he’d have to heal him, his eyes were clear of tears. If anything, they reflected the rage his parents had, that anger something that Alec remembered when they had first met in the Shadow Market. Rafael was keeping his calm, staying cool and collected and waiting for his moment like Alec had trained him in emergency situations.

Patience, unlike Alec, was not something he could find in himself when those he loved were threatened. The minute the man stepped forward with a glowing sword in hand, Magnus’s magic had already grown in hand, the ball quickly flung in his direction to disarm him. The androgynous one seemed to be ready for it, diverting it into the wall to their right, easily shattering the doorframe and quarter of the wall there.

It was queue enough to Alec who drew the bowstring and aimed his arrow at the warlock, only halting from releasing it due to Rafael being directly behind them. Alec’s breath escaped short and sharp, but the small boy seemed to understand and with a muffled yell, he threw himself sideways, causing the chair he was on to tip. It was less than a second before the arrow was released, hurtling in the air towards the warlock that had looked back to see what the movement behind them was. There was a thud as it landed in their shoulder, a howled shriek of pain leaving them as their fingers quickly moved to rip it free.

Magnus had wasted no time hurling everything he had in him at the male by the stairs, balls of sparking magic and energy chasing him along as he dove to avoid being hit by each. “Max, get ready, baby.” He called back to the little one, finally stepping forward and away from him to go after the man. Max was careful to stay where he was, knowing the protection Magnus had put up around him would keep him safe enough unless it was destroyed, though it was clear in his little face that the boy wanted to go to his brother.

“Vena, take out the warlock!” The man yelled to the one now tossing the arrow aside and forgetting about their hostage behind them and instead running at Alec and Max, their own magic beginning to travel up their arms and shoulder, causing the platinum curls to begin to float as a frustrated scream began forming in their chest. A blast curled it’s way towards Alec like orange tentacles on the air as his arrows, shot in rapid succession, fell out of their way. Magnus glanced back and focused one hand towards the barrier around Max, quickly working out the beginning of a spell to strengthen the ward, his attention failing him just enough for the ringleader to take advantage, rushing him and throwing his shoulder into Magnus’s chest. The taller of the two went down with a grunt, his barrier flickering as he shoved the man off of him, his fist going out and connecting with a stubbly jaw, his second going in a follow up right hook.

“NO!” Max shouted as he and Alec were approached by Vena when Magnus went down, his own little amount of magic feeding and surging off of the guard that Magnus had put up. A protective bubble of purple energy forming around himself and lifted him into the air, the defense and attack mechanism he and Magnus had worked on for months on end to perfect. The warlock lifted a hand to try and grab him through it, only to hiss loudly in pain, their hand smoking as it pulled back. Alec’s seraph blade was in his hand, glowing and flying through the air within seconds of Max’s yell, and not long after, Vena’s freshly severed hand was falling to the floor.

“Don’t touch my fucking kids.“ He panted as he regained his defensive stance, Max moving to float beside his father. “Max, stay in there, do not come out. Go stay by your brother.” He said as he turned the blade in his hand, pacing at Vena’s side as they writhed in pain on the floor, holding their stump of a wrist. “Come on, you wanna go after them, you’ll have to take us out, first. Get up.” He said as he lifted his arm and wiped sweat off his forehead, his body tense and ready. “Magnus, you alright back there?”

“Great!” Magnus called back with a loud grunt as he was shoved into a wall, feeling stronger now that he didn’t have as much going on in protecting Max. “So,” he pinned his opponent against the wall, his magic swirling around his neck as the flame-like magic reached his eyes. “Very,” the magic tightened and the man gagged, his feet lifting off the ground. “Great.” He finished as the man was slammed against the wall, knocked unconscious by how hard his head hit. Magnus’s attention turned then to Vena, lifting themselves up from the ground and cradling their lack of hand to their body.

“Are we done here? Have you learned your lesson?” Magnus asked as he tried to catch his breath, standing between Vena and their children. “We have a parade to go to, I’ve spent far too long planning this for you to ruin it for my kids, or anyone else’s kids.” He looked back as Rafe forced his arms around his legs, bringing them to the front and pulling at the cloth in his mouth as he tried to get free. “Stay in there, Max.” He followed up with Alec’s earlier words, not wanting to risk anything until everything was cleared.

“By the authority of the Clave, you’re both under arrest.” Alec’s grip tightened around the hilt of the sword, knowing fully well that they both wanted to do much more damage just for the trauma they put the kids through. Magnus harnessed what he had left of his energy, a portal opened beside him and moments later a few guards from the local Institute stepped through, grabbing both Vena and the unconscious man nearby. Before they had gone to find Rafael, they had made sure to get in touch with the nearest institute to have them on the ready. Alec watched them and looked to the one whom he’d spoken to, knowing he was the head of their Institute. “Make sure they go straight to Idris, straight to trial. Tell them to not show any mercy.”

Once they had gone through and the portal had closed, Alec let out the breath he’d been holding in, the seraph blade dropping to the floor as his hands rested on his knees and he bowed his head. Magnus moved immediately to Rafe, undoing the bindings around his wrists and legs, untying the fabric from around his neck where it had once been in his mouth. Max dropped out of the bubble and rushed towards Alec, who quickly scooped him up, his face burying in the small boys neck as he hugged him tight to himself, a relieved sigh muffled by Max’s sweatshirt. Rafe’s arms immediately went out to wrap around Magnus’s neck, the worry heavy on his face and Magnus knew that it wasn’t even for himself, but for he and Alec. His sassy, stubborn, selfless boy.

“I’m sorry. Lo lamento mucho, mi amor.” Magnus whispered, his arms wrapping tightly around Rafael as if he was afraid to let him go again, as if they were still around and about to take their boy away from him again. Rafe’s fingers curled in Magnus’s shirt, his breathing quick but stabilizing as he calmed in the elder’s arms, the tension leaving both their bodies. Alec’s arms soon joined as he dropped to his knees beside them, Max trapped (happily) between all three, squirming in between Magnus and Rafe then to hug his older brother.

“Do you want to go home? We can go home if you want. We don’t need to stay.” Alec asked Rafael before his lips rested on top of the boys head, pressing one, two, three kisses to the sweaty mop of curls.

There was a long moment of silence as Rafe looked between Magnus’s many necklaces, at the blood that had dripped down from his nose during his fight with the man earlier. They shifted to the side, to the rune covered arm wrapped around Magnus’s back, the other behind himself and keeping him close. Finally they rested on Max, his little face full of worry over his silence, the hood having fallen away to reveal the horns beneath as he looked up at his big brother. He took a deep breath and shook his head, trying to offer a smile to Max.“Max should see the parade. Sea feliz.” He said up to Magnus, who’s face softened as he offered a small smile and a nod.

“Okay,” Magnus started, then paused, “only on the condition that you let me carry you. Please?” It wasn’t that he didn’t trust it not to happen again, he would have held tighter to his hand, but now he just wanted to keep him as close and safe as possible.

~~

“A DINOSAUR!” Max yelled happily over the loud music played by the passing marching band, a large dinosaur balloon passing by as walkers held the strings securely. Rafael held onto the green dinosaur they’d been looking at earlier, keeping it close to himself as he silently watched everyone passing by, Magnus’s hand gently stroking his back as his free arm supported the boy sitting on his hip. They had come to the agreement that if at any time Rafael wanted to leave, there would be no questions or hesitation, they would portal right out.

“Want to get some cotton candy?” Magnus whispered to Rafael as a vendor approached with his cart. Rafael’s fingers moved to his pocket, carefully pulling out the panda coin purse that Alec had stashed there earlier, offering it up to Magnus.

“Keep the money, Rafe. We’ll always take care of you.”

[armorbirdpress]

Armor Bird Reviews: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - A One-And-A-Half-Year Retrospective

If you have been following my writings and ramblings and original works and DeviantArt favorites for long enough, you'll know that I am unashamedly a dinosaur fan - I never outgrew the phase because despite what people have told me both online and off, palaeontology, like other sciences, is not specifically a child's thing - obviously dinosaurs are cool, but there is a lot of technical stuff that you'd need college degrees to understand in the field, too. While I certainly am a stickler for accuracy when it comes to dinosaur portrayals, however, I am also not ashamed to admit that I have a love for fictional portrayals of them as monsters, too. Jurassic Park, which was - for its time - pretty much a reconciliation between the "prehistoric monster" imagery of dinosaurs in popular culture and the latest discoveries about the actual fossil animals during its production, is my favorite movie of all time, partly for this reason and partly because there's a lot of depth and sophistication to it as well - a sophistication that modern movies seem to be utilizing less and less. Even the Jurassic Park franchise itself was not immune to this trend, and although it still remains my top favorite franchise of fictional media, the changing conceit of what audiences want in an entertaining film has dragged it along for as much of a long and bumpy ride as just about everything else Hollywood has to offer. Still, even in spite of it all, there are a lot of things to like about the sequels we got since that groundbreaking original - I'm admittedly one of those people who actually enjoyed Jurassic Park III, though in fairness I was too young upon first watching it to really pick it apart and analyze its numerous flaws, and I also heaped a lot of praise on Jurassic World upon my first review of it... in hindsight, perhaps a little generously. Although I won't pretend that everything since The Lost World (including TLW itself) is flawless and that the complainers are wrong, even the infamously controversial JP3 had some enjoyable moments in its own right, despite being seen by many as the worst installment of the franchise by quite a margin.

Which leads us to the most recent film of the franchise, 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

I had intended to review this movie for a good, long while - back when I was a more prolific writer I used to write film reviews shortly after seeing the movies in the theater, though schedule concerns have obviously made that too difficult. But there's a silver lining here, in that by not reviewing a film I've seen until much later (...well, much, much, much later as the case may be), I have the time to really sit down and think about what made the movie tick or not, and oftentimes have come down from my rush of excitement by the time I actually get off my tail and write the review itself. There are exceptions, of course, with certain films actually leaving me disappointed as soon as I left the building, but these cases are mercifully rare. I'm happy to say that despite being horrendously imperfect, Fallen Kingdom wasn't one of those cases. I was genuinely entertained by it more than 50% of the time - which is, for better or for worse, the highest compliment I can give the film because, as we shall see, in some ways it really is quite terrible.

As always with my movie reviews: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

I watched Fallen Kingdom twice since its release - first in the theater at my home town, and then on rental DVD - and both times, my impression was the same: this movie, in retrospect, plays out much like a big-budget, cinematic fanfiction of the Jurassic Park films or even of Jurassic World (the latter of which I actually consider darkly hilarious for reasons that are highly specific to me exclusively, which you'd only understand if you know what I've written in the past - I'll get to that shortly). This is perfectly understandable, seeing as the director, screenwriter, and production crew have changed considerably from the team that helmed the original trilogy during the ten-year gap between JP3 and JW. Even if the work is canon, it's essentially someone else taking a look at the original franchise material, picking out what they liked about it, and building an original story off of it, oftentimes borrowing characters from the original work and inserting them in (most notably Rexy, and yes, I consider her as much of a character as the humans she menaced in the original movie). Across the board, in all kinds of franchises, this approach tends to fall flat if you don't know about the original work, though I do have to say that there was one very notable exception in the case of Jurassic World, that climactic fight scene with the Indominus rex, which is my favorite part of the movie even if it isn't entirely perfect. Now, I realize that I'm being a bit of a hypocrite by saying that these films are imperfect, because almost a decade ago, a friend and I co-wrote a megacrossover fanfic where Jurassic Park was the most prominent franchise by quite a margin (and didn't even start out that way to boot - my own selfish preferences caused elements of the franchise to slowly bleed in until a recycled plot of the second and third movies took over the whole thing). What makes it truly embarrassing to me is that the fic didn't even need the series' involvement in the first place, and my choice to shove it in anyway was one of the numerous factors that led to it going completely off the rails and turning into a tremendous tangled mess of clumsy writing and mishandled characterization, not just with JP itself but with almost all of the dozen other continua that got dragged in as well. Obviously, the fact that Fallen Kingdom is restricted by its very nature as a sequel to the one franchise only thankfully precludes the sheer absurdity of what my co-writer and I had inadvertently wrought back then, but upon rewatching the film I couldn't help but notice that in a few ways, it does ironically come off as being quite similar to my own old shame, albeit coincidentally, though it still earns points for choosing to be a Jurassic Park/World film and sticking with that conceit, rather than an entirely different film with JP elements shoehorned into it. I've harped on my stupidity as an immature fanfic writer back in the day for long enough, I think, but I felt this was worth mentioning regardless, because like the fic I touched upon above, this is a work I only started having issues with long after the fact, but these days I can't unsee these issues now that I've considered them.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me regarding Fallen Kingdom was that no matter how you slice it, it was trying to be two films at once, and had less time for both than most would have desired. The first half of the movie concerns Isla Sorna being destroyed by a volcano, and everyone trying to get the dinosaurs off of it before they are rendered extinct once again, with another island being noted as their new sanctuary (though of course, one of the antagonists quickly screws that plan over, but more on that later). You could easily make an entire film out of that - exploring the island one last time, dodging potential threats from both the volcano and the dinosaurs themselves, and coming to terms with the fact that not every creature can be saved, and that the end is coming for everyone eventually. The scene with the Brachiosaurus being overtaken by the eruption, with its plaintive wails and iconic rearing silhouette, is proof that such a moral could make a solid closing for this kind of movie, and heck, you could even have the subplot with the executives hoping to exploit the dinosaurs bleed into the movie until, at the very end, you get a scene where their true intentions with the animals are revealed as a sequel hook, rather than being resolved over the course of like half an hour or so in a rushed manner that gives people too little time to consider the implications. And this brings me to my next point.

Remember what I said about that dumb fanfiction I co-wrote having the elements I personally wanted more than my co-writer did slowly fester in true plot tumor fashion until they took over the entire story like literal cancer? As it turns out, what I witnessed in Fallen Kingdom wasn't quite as ridiculous, but kinda sorta similar in its own way. Obviously, Fallen Kingdom isn't so audacious (or ignorant of copyright laws and plain old common sense for that matter) as to let an entirely different franchise stage a gradual hostile takeover of itself, but the somewhat cliched plot of capitalist exploitation being the absolute worst roommate imaginable with a whole franchise's worth of temporally misplaced creatures that can and will kill you if you look at them funny - already done in both the original movie and TLW, and to some extent in JW as well, but still relatable in our current social climate even after so much repetition - still manages to... well, stage a gradual hostile takeover of the movie, and enforces itself in full force during the remaining third or so of the runtime. The antagonists, a pair of cartoonishly evil and somewhat flat executives, sabotage the plan so that the dinosaurs are diverted to the Lockwood Mansion instead of the sanctuary island, and then things escalate when the prototype Indoraptor is bought in and, inevitably, raises hell for everyone involved. As with my previous pitch, the idea of bidding wars over the dinosaurs and the moral debate over the ownership and exploitation of living creatures - something which does happen in the real world - could have made for something interesting, again, if the script wasn't so rushed. Continuing where the hypothetical sequel hook left off, we could open with a discussion between the villains about the implications of what they are doing, followed by the heroes having to deal with the ramifications of such actions along with the involvement of Dr. Wu, the Indoraptor, and of course Blue as a potential prize-winner. Of course this runs the risk of becoming the original Jurassic Park except on the mainland, and thus not really trying anything new, but it could at least give audiences the time to digest the film and appreciate the moments where it makes a genuine impact, even before the dinosaurs end up getting released into the mainland like what happened in the movie itself, complete with the insane amount of ramifications thereof. The Stygimoloch plowing its way through the bidders on its way to freedom was almost as cathartic for me to watch as the climactic fight in JW, and I wish it could've gotten more screentime, or even plucked up the guts to fend off the Indoraptor in a situation that doesn't seem forced, e.g. the hybrid and the Stiggy getting trapped in the same complex, or even Owen luring it over as backup (which is stupider but, given how he got it to bust him and Claire out in the movie itself, isn't entirely unreasonable). As for the Indoraptor itself, I feel like they could have done a bit better with its design, as even underneath the paint job and altered proportions it's still more or less "Indominus 2: Genetic Boogaloo", as I have called it at least once. Still, it has its own appeal as a monster design and, if it weren't for the presence of similar-looking creatures in previous installments of the series, it would certainly have made an impact as a monster. It's almost wolf-like in movement and mannerisms, even werewolf-like, which is intentional given the vintage horror movie homages the production team was going for. The way it menaces Maisie - who has her own set of plot-related craziness to her, but that's a can of worms I'd rather not open - makes you worry for her life, and even fear for Blue when she engages it in battle. I know I'm one of those who actually prefers antagonistic Velociraptors (the inaccurate variety from the films, not the smaller and fully feathered real-world version which I would absolutely take home with me if I could find a way to retrieve it from Cretaceous Mongolia and have it housetrained and okay I'll stop now), but Blue as always is awesome, and after seeing her actually manage to hold her own in her fight against the Indoraptor if only for a short while, there's no denying that anymore - even if that scene with her outrunning the explosion in the boiler room is a bit over-the-top even by the standards of this movie. There is of course no way a spectacle-driven, plaid-speed-paced romp like Fallen Kingdom could surpass the bar set by The Big One and the legendary kitchen scene, but on its own merits, the Indoraptor is a wonderfully serviceable and formidable threat that I just wish could've gotten more screentime and room to develop as a character, rather than just remaining as an unhinged killing machine that exists just to terrorize everyone before exiting the film (the same is true for all the dinosaurs here besides Blue, really, which is sad because, again, I much prefer when films develop monsters as characters rather than mere plot devices). With a little more design work to make him stand out more among the other critters in the franchise and more time to explore his nature, he could easily have become almost as iconic as The Big One as movie monsters go, or at least as much as the I. rex, though the latter bar is admittedly a good deal lower in the wake of how the movie industry has, ahem, evolved.

With that thought in mind, I will now spell out the biggest problem I had with this movie: the fact that it was trying to do so much in such a short space of time. Humorously and ironically, I know almost enough about the issues with my own writing to recognize the signs of that, with significant events being spaced too close to each other, too many characters at once (though admittedly, Zia and Maisie are a treat to watch, Franklin a bit less so but far from unbearable for my taste), and at least one questionable decision on the part of everyone at some point or another, up to and including the writers. There are a lot of things I liked, but not enough time for me to let them sink in, like I was being bombarded with one spectacle after another. It feels like overkill more than anything, and alas, far too many films in recent years have tried to shove that method into people's faces as though trying to say, "Here's your action, here's your fanservice, here's your whatever the whoopity-freaking-doo you consider entertainment, are you happy now?!" (Well, not quite as vitriolic and sarcastic, but you get the idea.) If the filmmakers and the owners of the franchise rights had been willing to accept four movies in the newer series rather than just three, and let Fallen Kingdom be broken up into two separate, slightly slower-paced movies, the problems with each individual portion would likely not have been as significant, and audiences would not have noticed them so readily. Sadly, though, the rapid-fire, dozen-blockbusters-a-year rush-job environment of the modern movie industry was not kind to this film, which is a crying shame. We need more movies that are more relaxed and subdued half the time, the way the original JP film was, and while audiences may have to take the time to once again get used to movies like that, I think it would be a welcome change of pace from the current influx of chaotic, nonstop slugfests and pyrotechnic displays we've become so familiar with.

In tl;dr form, it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is, in fact, the worst film of the entire Jurassic Park franchise, even more so than JP3 - though don't get me wrong, as with JP3, I still very much enjoyed it as its own movie, as clumsily handled as it was at times (though even then, the movie itself isn't entirely at fault for it). There's a difference between a movie being the low point in its franchise and a low point among movies in general, a difference which a lot of reviewers need to understand before taking an undeserved dump over movies that could've been so much better if Hollywood had worked just a bit differently. You have to actually try to make a work of entertainment media I consider genuinely terrible, and it was actually a relief to me that even the lowest points of Fallen Kingdom still ranked somewhat midway between "meh" and "shakes hand eeeeehhhhhh" from my own subjective standpoint. I truly hope that the next and presumably final JP film will turn out for the better, especially given that Alan, Ellie, and Ian are all slated to have major roles in it, but I'm not going to dismiss Fallen Kingdom off the bat just because of the issues I have with its writing. If nothing else, it's a perfectly decent popcorn flick with prehistoric monsters in it - and hey, that was pretty much what everyone was there for, wasn't it?

Grading Scheme:

96 - 100: A+

93 - 96: A

90 - 92.9: A-

87 - 89.9: B+

83 - 86.9: B

80 - 82.9: B-

77 - 79.9: C+

73 - 76.9: C

70 - 72.9: C-

67 - 69.9: D+

60 - 66.9: D

Below 60: E

Grades:

Writing: 6

Characterization: 6

Pacing: 7

Creativity: 8

Consistency: 8

Cinematography: 9

World Building: 7

Music and Sound: 8

Effects: 10

Engagement: 9

Final Grade: 78 (C+)

[freshlyjuicedbeetles]

Drakgo Fic - Gap

Drakken feels weird about how much older he is than Shego when meeting her friends.

Drew Theodore P. Lipsky AKA the infamous Dr. Drakken had overcome many obstacles in his life.  He fought Kim Possible more times than he could count (and he could count pretty high). He managed to evade punishment for his many dastardly deeds in the past. Even when he was captured, prison wasn’t that bad; a Hannibal Lecter-esque high tech cell that sounded alarms every time his back popped is quite cozy once you get used to the electronic hum. Although, meeting his wife’s best friends was one obstacle he wasn’t sure he could conquer successfully.

Drakken had already met Shego’s immediate family with mixed results within the first few months of them dating. Not that Shego cared if he met her family but she couldn’t deny how awkward it would be if the first time they met her husband was at the wedding (even if they did elope). Her brother Heath turned up the machismo and pulled the ‘if you hurt my baby sister blah blah blah…” Michael seemed annoyed that he was dragged into this and had better things to do. The twins Wesley and William didn’t care, just a quick hi and they ran off to play. Her mother, Kate, thankfully, seemed to be the only one with a good head on her shoulders and only a little intimidating. Her father, well, Shego hasn’t spoken to him in a long time. He was invalid in her mind. Drakken meeting her friends was an actual priority for Shego. It took some orchestrating since they went to different colleges and lived in different states but finally made it work for a long weekend together.

They were throwing a small housewarming party. For many years, home was a lab that happened to have living quarters for Drakken and Shego and barracks for the henchman. Now, the lab was across town. Global Justice didn’t like them on too long of a leash. They managed to get out many of their personal belongings from all the past lairs (after GJ checked them of course) before destroying the lairs. That didn’t stop Drakken from starting a new lab down in the basement…

He didn’t know what to expect at first. The Mothman? A Chupacabra? A pack of wild wolves? Drakken couldn’t imagine Shego having normal friends, especially when her life changed drastically at such a young age. So, he did some sleuthing. Okay, okay, he searched Shego’s friend's list on Facebook. If he had an actual lab at home, he could unleash his real computer skillz.

Savannah Coffman, 27, BFA in visual arts, working towards her Masters, both from CalArts; unemployed.

Jill Nesbitt, 26, BBA, owns her own business in New Orleans. One citation for yelling ‘come at me, bro!’ at a living statue street performer.

Okay, nothing too alarming.

As their arrival time drew near, Commodore Puddles was put outside in the fenced backyard with water and plenty of toys to keep him busy. He really did not like company. When the doorbell rang, he started barking furiously and running back and forth to each side gate and back to the backdoor. How dare those filthy humans not let him have his prey!

“Don’t be weird,” Shego whispered harshly, before opening the door.

“Stephanie!” Jill and Savannah screeched, excitedly.

They enveloped Shego in a tight hug. Drakken was surprised that Shego didn’t seem to mind, even reciprocated. She didn’t let just anybody touch her. There were times when she wasn’t crazy that he was hugging her.

Drakken stood there in awkwardly as they greeted each other, complimenting each other’s looks and remarking on how long it had been since they last seen each other.

“Guys,” Shego said, nodding her head towards Drakken.

“Wow, you aren’t what I was expecting,” Jill said.

“Thanks?” Drakken replied, not sure how to take it.

Savannah studied him, “Yeah, I guess I expected the tall and dark type.”

“Yeah,” Jill added, “You guys were evil and whatnot at one point. You kinda look like my dad, but on a bad day.”

“I mean, he has a scar…”

“He got it from shaving,” Shego said, barely holding back laughter.

Jill got very close to Drakken’s face, who tried to lean away “What’s with the blue veins?” She asked Shego.

“Okay!” Shego interrupted, “This is Drew.” She said as she pulled Jill away from him.

They exchanged awkward hellos. Drakken already wanted to find a cave and hide.

Shego quickly ushered them into the living room while handing Drakken the bottle of wine Jill had brought that was forgotten in the welcoming frenzy. He had always wanted to see New Orleans, he thought as he set out to make the drinks. Shego was more of a Jack and Diet Coke kinda gal.

“Shit Steph, you have an actual place. I practically live in a closet above my shop.” Jill said.

“Same.  Student Housing.” Savannah added.

“Don’t follow my example,” Shego warned, throwing herself on the couch with her legs across it.

As Drakken prepared their drinks, the women talked hurriedly and loudly in excitement and howled with laughter. It sounded like a coven of crazed witches planning their next ritual. He was just really glad that Shego was having fun.

He brought in the drinks and sat down next to Shego, moving her legs. She scowled at him as he did so but ignored her.

“Steph, look what I found,” Jill said, pulling out a worn, furry blue photo album.

Shego’s nickname hit his ears. She was very selective with who she let address her by her real name or any part of it.

She gasped in recognition as Jill and Savannah crowded around them.

Drakken peered over Shego’s shoulder. There were pictures of the young girls at sleepovers with butterfly clips in their hair, first days of school on sunny mornings, them pulling faces in a school hallway in front of lockers (Shego had braces?!), a group picture of them at prom and at graduation. A picture taken of the girls at a dance in line for the Cha-Cha Slide with Shego dressed tight jeans, focusing on her footwork. Shego was blonde at one point!? Shego with a purple streak in her thick, raven hair, Shego and her friends scowling at the camera with thick black eyeliner circling their eyes. Shego with alternative, teased hair, sticking her tongue out.

“No!” Shego howled, covering her face in embarrassment, “Burn that thing! It’s too cringey!”

Damn. Even some of his teenage photos were in black and white. Was their age gap that severe? Some of the slang Shego used sounded like a foreign language to him.    What if they had kids? Drakken didn’t want to senile before his child’s graduation.

Their age difference of ten or so years never truly crossed his mind until then. As much as they were opposites in personality, they agreed on many things. Just different enough to keep things interesting, similar enough to keep a relative peace. In fact, the only time age was an issue was with the radio setting, when Drakken wanted to listen to the 70’s or 80’s station and Shego would roll her eyes and call the music corny. That, or have no idea who was playing.

Drakken had long ago accepted the fact that Shego was way out of his league, that he was the picture of a flattered fool. Even though he was a scientist, and scientists are taught to question everything, he chose not to. He knew Shego loved him and that she was trustworthy. Still, things got to him.

“Hey, Doc, has Steph told you about the time she tripped during eight grade graduation and knocked down our entire line?”

“No, no, no,” Jill said waving her hand excitedly and putting her glass down on the coffee table. “Remember the time she projectile vomited all over Amberlynn in tenth grade and everyone called her puky-lynn until we graduated?”

“Well, she was being a bitch and I had the stomach flu. It was just good timing,” Shego replied casually, playing with her hair.

“You should have seen it! She looked like the kid from the Exorcist!”

“And she looked so proud of herself afterward!”

“I was proud of myself afterward!

They lost themselves in stories of teachers; the good, the bad and the ugly, field trips and other school memories. Feeling self-conscious, Drakken excused himself with little notice from the women.

Shego, however, noticed and could tell something was wrong. She gave him some time before slipping away while Jill and Savannah argued about who really stole Savannah’s rainbow gel pen in fourth grade. Spoiler alert, it was Shego.

She found her husband in the bedroom, “What? Do we have cooties or something?” She teased as she sat down next to him.

Drakken was lost in thought, not looking at his wife. “Am I really that old?” He finally asked, not exclusively to Shego.

Shego scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Are we really doing this?”

“Yes! I feel like I’m robbing the cradle!”

“You need to chill. Don’t put much stock into what Jill says. I’m not entirely sure she’s human.”

That got a chuckle from the scientist.

“Has anyone who we actually like cared about our age gap?” Shego urged.

“Well, Mother was concerned- “

Shego cut him of dismissively, “She doesn’t count. Look, we’ve been through a lot of stuff together. How many times have we been separated because one of us was in jail and yet we got right back to where we were like it never happened? Drew. I hate to admit these kinda things, but you are more mature and wiser than me. How often do I rush into something stupid and you pull me back, telling me to think?”

The time she wanted to spend a good chunk of her bank account on a new purse when what she really needed was a new pair of boots for her suit came to mind.

And the time she really wanted to go BASE jumping while she was recovering from a concussion brought on by Ron Stoppable.

And anytime she speeds or runs a red light.

Despite all the stress he felt worrying for her general safety, she did keep things interesting.

“Not just that, remember the time we decided we wanted to go see the Northern Lights on the spur of the moment and we just kept traveling for nearly a month? Or that mosh pit at the Ghost concert last Halloween? Naked Twister?  What about Rex the crocodile? She wouldn’t have survived if we didn’t take care of her for that month after she was injured in that hurricane. Tell me, would some broad your age go for all those things? I’m even including the crazy and exciting things we did and still get to do as part of our jobs!” She said.

Shego sat down on Drakken’s lap, wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes, “You aren’t the type of guy I’d date, let alone marry, but those guys were actual idiots. I don’t know how they’re still alive, whether from forgetting to breathe or staring at the sun for too long. I found out that I want substance in a guy and to have an actual conversation with my significant other. I found out that that’s what I want.”

Drakken smiled contently, “Thank you, Stephanie. I love you.”

“I love you, Drew.”

They sealed their proclamations with a kiss.

“You’re still a doofus though,” Shego said once they pulled away.

Drakken groaned. She could only be so nice.

“Are we good?” She asked.

Drakken nodded.

“Great, because Amberlynn lives around here and we’re gonna go egg her house,” Shego said, grinning deviously.

“I’ll drive and get my bat to knock over her mailbox!” Drakken replied giddily.

“See? We’re still a perfect team!”

[boopnootofficial]

The Gift of a Memory (Mòrag/Brighid Valentine’s Day fanfic)

Hi guys! A day late, but I wanted to write a Mòrag/Brighid fic. It’s really long (I might repost it in 3 parts because yeah it’s long), but I figured I might as well post it. Also, the month name is a joke because of Amathatober, haha.

The Gift of a Memory

On Fanruary fourteenth, Mòrag woke up earlier than normal in Anastasia’s. Brighid wasn’t even awake yet. She wasn’t tired, so she figured she might as well get out of bed and see if anyone was awake; she knew Nia got up around this time.

Mòrag walked into the lobby, where Nia, Kora, and Sheba were sitting. “Good morning,” she said.

“Oh, good morning Lady Mòrag!” Kora exclaimed. She bombarded the driver with a ton of questions. “Did you sleep well? Why did you get up so early? Is Lady Brighid awake yet?”

Mòrag didn’t answer, because she didn’t know how to answer that many questions at once. “I know Nia gets up this early, but I’m surprised to see you two awake.”

“I know, they’ve been talking my ear off,” Nia stated. “Been talking about some Valen-something.”

“Valentine’s Day!” Sheba shouted gleefully. “Kora was just telling us about it. Apparently, it’s a day of love, when people express their love for others with gifts.” She paused. “But we’ve never heard of it before. We were very surprised, considering our goal of sharing love with many beautiful women.”

“I didn’t know about it either,” Nia explained. “We don’t have anything like that in Gormott, or anywhere else in Alrest as far as I know. Kora, where’d you hear about it?”

“I don’t know,” the talkative blade answered. “I’ve just always known about it.”

“I think it might exist here in Tantal,” Mòrag said. “I feel like I’ve heard about it before.”

“We used to celebrate it,” Zeke said from the hallway. “Good morning, ladies!”

Kora jumped up. “Oh, hello Zeke! How was your night? Did you sleep well? Are any of the other boys up yet? And Tantal used to celebrate Valentine’s Day? Why did they stop?”

“Calm down, calm down! One question at a time, please.” He sighed. “Anyways, we stopped celebrating it because no one here can afford to buy gifts for their loved ones.”

“Why does that matter?” Sheba asked. “Shouldn’t it be about love, not gifts? We mean, extravagant gifts are ideal, but there is nothing more beautiful than the heart of a pure woman!”

“That’s true, but Valentine’s Day was never really about that in the first place. It was much more about spending money than love.”

“He’s right,” Adenine, who had just gotten out of her room, added. “I’ve read some writings found in chests in the Cloud Sea, as well as in Morytha. They say that Valentine’s Day was good for business.”

“That’s truly a shame,” Sheba stated. “Well then, we’ll just have to recreate Valentine’s Day. We’ll make it a day about love, not gifts. No, even better, we’ll purchase gifts for everyone in Theosoir. Then everyone can give gifts to their special someones.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to use our money!” Zeke argued.

Mòrag sighed. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to stop her.”

“I like that idea, Sheba!” Kora exclaimed. “I’ll help you choose the gifts.”

“I think it sounds interesting,” Dahlia, who had also just gotten up, said. “I’ll help with decorations. This town is full of ice and snow; I can make beautiful ice sculptures all around Theosoir.”

“Although I’m not so sure how successful this will be, I’ll contribute,” Adenine stated. “I can find some love stories and poetry to inspire people to tell their current and potential significant others how they feel.”

Gorg ran into the lobby out of nowhere. “And I’ll help with baking!”

Nia stood up. “Whatever, you guys have fun. I’m going for a walk.”

“Nia, may I join you?” Mòrag asked.

“Sure, the more the merrier.” The two left Anastasia’s together.

 Brighid awoke to the sounds of Kora and Sheba’s cheers and the smell of cake. She noticed Mòrag wasn’t asleep, and wondered if she had overslept. She knew something was going on, though, so she got up to investigate.

When she went into the lobby, she saw Adenine, Dahlia, Gorg, Kora, Sheba, and Zeke hard at work. Pandoria and Pyra were also awake, sitting down at one of the tables. “What’s going on?” she asked them.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Pyra answered. “People are supposed to express their feelings for someone they care about.”

“Isn’t it romantic?” Pandoria exclaimed. “I’m usually not a fan of this lovey-dovey stuff, but the thought of being someone’s ‘valentine’ is so exciting!”

“I think it’s interesting, too,” Pyra agreed. “I wonder if there’s anything I can do to help.” Leave it to me, Mythra said to Pyra. “Oh, okay.” She transformed into Mythra.

“Morning, guys,” Mythra said. “I didn’t want to get up this early, but I didn’t really have a choice with all that racket. I’m better at the girls’ talk kind of thing than Pyra, so I figured I should help out.”

“Speaking of staying in bed, where’s Vale?” Pandoria asked. “Don’t tell me she’s still asleep!” She got out of her seat and went to get her.

“‘It would be good if Vale got up, since she could design some fabric.’ That’s from Pyra. I frankly don’t care if Vale stays in bed; I’m kinda jealous.”

“Vale’s help would definitely be beneficial,” Brighid stated. “So, what do you think about this ‘Valentine’s Day’ thing, Mythra?”

“I think it seems like a lot of unnecessary work. I mean, the whole reason Tantal stopped celebrating it was because of how material-focused it was, right? But here everyone is, working hard on Valentine’s Day gifts. But I suppose if they’re having fun it’s fine.”

“Do you remember when Tantal used to celebrate it?”

“Yeah. You were here, too.”

“Yes, it’s in my journal. But I wasn’t very interested in it. I don’t think I’ve been in love that many times.”

“You had many admirers, though. I don’t think you payed much attention to them, though.”

“That’s likely. My journal doesn’t mention love that often. And I know they didn’t annoy me, because I would be much more vocal about people that annoyed me. So, I must’ve felt indifferent towards them.”

“‘People that annoyed you?’ Do you mean like me?”

“You didn’t annoy me, Mythra. I just saw you as a rival. I’m sure you had many admirers back then too, probably even more than I did.”

“I definitely had a few, but I think you had more. I usually spent Valentine’s Day with Addam. It wasn’t really a romantic thing; we’d just get each other gifts.”

“Aegaeon and I like to do that every once and while. We’ve been doing it through many generations. We’re just friends, though.”

At this point, Pandoria managed to drag Vale out of her bedroom, and convinced her to weave some textiles for decorating and gifts. Azami was also up, working on bouquets; the one for her driver was the largest, of course. Perceval had begun to write poems, but he wasn’t as good at love poetry as he was good at poetry about justice.

While taking in the atmosphere, Brighid asked, “So, Mythra, what about now?”

“Huh?” Mythra replied.

“Do you think you have any admirers now?”

“Oh. Maybe one, but I think he’s more interested in Pyra than me. I think he’ll get us both gifts, though. Pyra and I should get him something, too.” Brighid knew she was speaking about Rex, but didn’t tell her. “What about you, Brighid?”

“Well, there is someone I’m interested in. I don’t expect them to confess to me, though. It’s not that I think they don’t feel the same way, I just don’t think they’re ready to tell me.”

Is she talking about Mòrag? Pyra asked.

“I think so.” Brighid stared at Mythra. “Sorry, Pyra asked me something. I don’t think our admirer is ready to tell us, either. He’ll probably just get us gifts and not say anything about it. That’s cool with me, for now at least.”

In truth, Brighid was lying to Mythra. She had no clue whether Mòrag reciprocated her feelings or not; she hoped it was so, but her driver’s deeper feelings were harder to read. After all, why would the Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain, who almost became Empress, have any interest in her blade? They shared a close bond, but was it any more than that? Brighid wasn’t sure, and was too afraid to confess to Mòrag. What if their relationship was never the same?

Mòrag felt the same way as Brighid; she wanted to confess to her, but didn’t think her blade would feel the same way. With this discussion of Valentine’s Day, it made her more nervous about her feelings.

Nia noticed Mòrag’s nervousness during their walk. She stopped Mòrag, and asked, “Alright, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean, Nia?”

“You just seem off. I don’t know how to explain it. Does it have to do with that ‘Valentine’s Day’ stuff the blades and Shellhead were talking about?”

“Perhaps. I feel like today would be a perfect opportunity to express how I feel, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.”

“Oh, so it’s about Brighid.”

The Special Inquisitor jumped. “H-how did you know?”

Nia laughed. “It’s so obvious, Mòrag. No one else seems to notice, though. Maybe it’s because I’m in the same position as you, being too afraid to express how I feel about someone.”

“So, what do you think I should do?”

“I think you should tell her how you feel. Today is a perfect opportunity, as you said. You’d be a fool to let it go to waste. Just get her a nice gift and tell her. It doesn’t have to be in front of everyone, if that bothers you.”

“Thank you for the advice, Nia. But I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“When will you be ready, though?”

“You have a point.” It started snowing. “Let’s head back to the inn.”

“Good idea. I’m sure everyone’s up by now.”

 When they got back to the inn, Mòrag sat down at a table with Rex and Poppi. Nia wondered why she wouldn’t sit with Brighid. She had a feeling Mòrag was too nervous to do anything about her feelings, even though Brighid probably felt the same way. How could Nia get the two of them to interact?

“What are you thinking about, Nia?” Kora asked from behind, causing Nia to jump. “Your special someone?”

“Of course not! Kora, what should someone do if they see two people who like each other but are too afraid to tell each other?”

“That’s easy! Just play Cupid!”

“‘Cupid?’ What’s that?”

“I’m not sure who Cupid was. Maybe they were a blade. They had the power to make people fall in love, and were an important figure on Valentine’s Day.”

“Well, I don’t have that power.”

“Of course not! Just put them in a situation where they have to interact, and eventually they’ll be unable to hold their feelings in!”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“If it’s for love, of course! Just go on and try it.”

“Alright then.” How would she get Mòrag and Brighid to interact, though?

The smell of Gorg’s desserts gave Nia her answer. She ran into the kitchen and said, “Hey, Gorg! I just wanted to let you know Mòrag and I got back from our walk. Mòrag’s pretty good at baking. Why don’t you ask her to help you out?”

“Great idea, Nia!” Gorg ran to Mòrag, and requested her help in the kitchen. She reluctantly agreed, and began making cake batter.

Nia sat down at the table with Brighid, Mythra, and Pandoria. “Doesn’t whatever Gorg’s making smell amazing?” she asked, seemingly innocently.

“You’re right,” Brighid responded. “I wonder if he’d let me have a taste before everything’s ready.”

“Go ahead! I think Mòrag is helping him, too; she could sneak you something!”

“Great idea!” Brighid walked up to the counter. “Lady Mòrag, what are you making?”

Mòrag was surprised Brighid found out she was helping Gorg so fast. “Cake batter,” she answered coolly.”

“Can I try some?”

“Raw egg isn’t good for you.”

“I’m a blade, silly. Did you forget?”

“O-obviously not! I suppose there’s no harm in letting you try it, then.” Mòrag wondered why she was no nervous. After all, it was just cake batter. But she was nervous, so nervous that she was distracted from everything else. As a result, she didn’t notice that Gorg accidentally dropped banana peel on the floor a few minutes earlier and slipped, spilling the batter all over herself.

“Lady Mòrag!” Brighid exclaimed. She ran into the kitchen and knelt before her driver. “Are you alright?”

“I just slipped. Sorry for worrying you.” She paused. “I guess I have to start a new batter.”

“Well, it didn’t completely go to waste.” Brighid rubbed her finger across Mòrag’s face, and then licked the batter off of it. “Tasty. Make sure the next one is the same way.”

Mòrag’s nerves were heightened because of Brighid’s actions. She sighed, and stood up. “I have to go change first.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to change when you’re done baking?”

“You’re right. I’ll go wash my face, then.” She left the kitchen without her blade, who returned to her seat next to Mythra and Nia.

Nia didn’t know what to do. She thought her “playing Cupid” might have made things even more awkward between the two. However, she wasn’t about to give up. “Mythra, could you come with me outside?”

“Sure. We’ll be right back, Brighid.” The two went outside. “What’s up?”

“I’m trying to get Mòrag and Brighid together, and I don’t know what to do.”

“They’ll get together when they’re ready. No use forcing them into it.”

“Right, but Mòrag’s been acting awkward around her all day, because it’s Valentine’s Day. I feel bad for the two of them.”

“I guess there is something I can do to help, although I’m not sure how I feel about it. Pyra, you in?” Mythra transformed into Pyra.

“What are you two planning?” Nia asked.

“Brighid’s very competitive,” Pyra explained. “So, I’ll ask her if she wants to participate in a battle. Best fire blade wins. All you have to do is come in and say it’s not a fair match unless our drivers are fighting, too.”

“Ah, so Brighid and Mòrag will work together to beat you and Rex.”

“Their bond is always strongest when fighting. I think it should work.”

Nia grinned. “Alright then, let’s do it!”

The two got back in Anastasia’s. Nia sat with Tora and Vale; Tora seemed to be asking Vale to make a new outfit for Poppi. Pyra sat down with Brighid.

“Mythra decided to leave?” Brighid asked.

“No, I made her leave,” Pyra answered. “I was thinking about your talk with Mythra earlier, and I’m kind of jealous of the rivalry you two had five hundred years ago.”

“Oh? You want a piece of the action, Pyra?”

“Yeah, especially since my fire powers are way stronger than yours.”

“Is that so? Prove it then! Let’s meet just outside Theosoir, five minutes from now.”

“Great idea! It’s time to finally prove myself.”

“Wait a moment, you two,” Nia said before they left, causing more people to take notice to the situation. “Is this really a fair fight without your drivers? After all, your true potential is shown when with a driver. With drivers involved, we could really tell who’s the stronger blade.”

“I agree completely,” Pyra answered. “Rex! Let’s go!”

“A-are you sure about this, Pyra?” Rex asked.

“Of course I am. Let’s show her who the most powerful fire blade is!”

Mòrag finally finished washing off her face. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Lady Mòrag!” Brighid exclaimed. “Pyra has been insulting my abilities. Are you going to show her who really has the most powerful flames?”

“Why should we fight over this? We’re on the same team.”

“Come on, Mòrag!” Rex replied. “It’ll be fun. We haven’t fought in a while. We could learn each other’s skills and weaknesses.” Nia sighed. By making it about him and Mòrag, he was ruining Nia and Pyra’s whole plan.

“I don’t care about that!” Brighid argued. “We need to prove our strength, Lady Mòrag! After all, you’re the Flamebringer, not Rex. Are you going to let Pyra keep downgrading our power?”

Mòrag was suddenly filled with passion. “Of course not! To the battlefield, now!”

So, Brighid, Mòrag, Nia, Poppi, Pyra, Rex, Sheba, Tora, and Zeke walked out into the cold to be warmed by the two blades’ flames. The two drivers fought passionately. However, both were careful not to hurt the other. After a few minutes, the fight began to get out of hand. All of the snow was melting, and the two drivers were still fighting hard.

Beginning to worry about the situation, Sheba shot water at the four. Pyra, due to her ability to fight in water, managed to shield Rex. However, Brighid’s flames went out, and Mòrag was soaked. “Our apologies. We just didn’t see the need for this fighting. Today is Valentine’s Day, which may be a day of passion, but it is also a day of friendship! Besides, us women shouldn’t be fighting each other, but supporting each other! So, we knew this fighting between Pyra and Lady Brighid needed to be stopped.”

“While I appreciate you ending the fight, Sheba,” Rex replied, “Mòrag’s going to freeze out here! She’s totally drenched and it’s so cold.”

“The chap is right,” Zeke agreed. “We have to get Mòrag back to the inn.”

“I-I’m fine,” Mòrag said through her shivers. “Let’s just head back. There is still the gift exchange to go through.”

“Mòrag is right!” Tora exclaimed. “Let’s go back!”

The group walked back to Anastasia’s. As soon as Mòrag got there, she sat by the fire to warm up. Vale brought her a blanket to help her stay warm. The Special Inquisitor worried that Brighid would feel bad about what happened, but was still too nervous to confront her.

Everyone else began to exchange gifts. Zeke got Pandoria the perfume she likes, which made her happy; she got him a joke book, which he seemed happy with. Tora was surprised when Poppi got her a gift, but she said, “Masterpon is only Poppi’s driver and friend, but I believe that he still should have a present.” Tora gave her the outfit Vale made; he had his blade hide it soon after giving it to her, though. Pyra and Mythra got Rex chocolates, and he got them some tea from Leftheria. Nia got Rex a board game, and Nia received a book in exchange. And Sheba had gotten every girl in Theosoir a gift, using Rex’s money, of course.

After the gift exchange was over, Nia sat down next to Mòrag. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I thought I could help.”

“You were behind everything?” Mòrag asked.

“Kind of. I didn’t think you would slip on a banana peel or get soaked, though. I think I just made things worse.” She paused. “But you still should tell her how you feel! It couldn’t hurt.”

Mòrag sighed. “Because of how much happened today, I didn’t even have time to get her a present.”

“Does that matter? I’m sure expressing your feelings would be an even better gift.”

“I hope you’re right. But I want to do it once everyone leaves.”

“It looks like I have one more thing to do.”

“Nia—.”

“Alright everyone! Time for bed!” To both of their surprise, everyone listened; they were all tired after such a long day. Nia winked at Mòrag and headed for bed. Now only one person stayed besides the Special Inquisitor, and that was the one person she wanted to see.

The blade sat down next to her driver. “Lady Mòrag, are you alright?”

“I’m well,” Mòrag answered. “Thank you for your concern.”

“You’re still soaked. And I can do a much better job at warming you than that fire.” Brighid put her arm around Mòrag.

“First you were competing with Pyra, and now a fireplace?”

“This time, I’m competing to help you, not prove our strength.”

“I’m fortunate to share such a close bond with my blade.” She paused. “I need to tell you something.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“This is hard for me to say. Let me think of the words.” She hesitated, but knew she had to continue. “Brighid, I… I…”

Finally, Brighid realized what was going on. “Lady Mòrag, there is no need to say it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can tell you’re uncomfortable, so I’ll just say it for you. You like me, don’t you?”

���You knew?”

Brighid laughed nervously. “Of course I did.” She placed her hand on Mòrag’s cheek. You’re easier to read than my own journal.”

“Oh, I see. Then how do you feel about me, Brighid?”

“I feel the exact same way as you, of course.”

Mòrag was happy, but didn’t want to show it. “Today was so hectic I was unable to buy you a gift.”

“Same here. But this moment itself is a gift. This memory.” The two shared a kiss. “Are you warmer now, Mòrag?”

“You really are better than that fireplace,” Mòrag answered. “Thank you, Brighid. For saying what I couldn’t say.”

The blade smiled. “Let’s head to bed now, shall we?”

 Later that night, in her journal, Brighid wrote, “I cannot believe it. She actually felt the same way as me! I tried to act cool, like I saw it coming. In hindsight, the way she acted today made sense. But I was so nervous today, filled with feelings of her, that I could barely pay attention to her actions. I didn’t realize she had feelings for me until right before she was about to say it. Unlike me, though, she actually told the truth of her surprise. She has a reputation for being overly reserved, but this event makes me wonder if I am more reserved than her. A blade takes after their driver, after all.

“One day, she shall know the truth. I have never felt this way about anyone, let alone a driver. I imagine I will allow her to be the first person to read my journal, to know as much about me as I do. And then she will know that she surprised me just as much as I surprised her.”

[wendy-comet]

"Is it possible to love too much?" Jupeter (1 of idk yet) (have fun with all the prompts I'm gonna send you)

everyone is surprised, it’s the THIRD FIC IN THE JUPETER PROPOSAL SERIES. here is the first fic and here is the second one. they. still haven’t actually gotten married yet. but they will get there sooner or later I promise. this features rita and gross sappy jupeter flirting. hope you like!

walking the long road

Rita broke the lamp on her desk when Juno told her.

Or, well, that wasn’t quite how it happened.

He and Nureyev walked in the door to Juno’s office, draped over each other not out of the inability to keep their hands off of each other, but due to Nureyev’s very real weakness still left by the bullet hole in his side.

Rita took one look at them and gasped. “Mister Steel!” she exclaimed, and jumped out of her seat, almost vaulting over her desk, and jumped over to wrap both him and Nureyev in a hug. “Is this your boyfriend? Have I met him before? Gee, he looks an awful lot like that fella from Dark Matters who was here a while back, what was his name? Tex? Dex?” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, that’s right, it was Becks!”

Nureyev winced, both at Rita’s butchering of Rex Glass and at the amount of pressure she was exerting on his ribs. “Miss Rita, was it?” he got out. “I have a little bit of a gunshot wound I received protecting your employer, so it would be, amazing, if you could perhaps set me down?”

“Oh, of course Mister Becks!” She set both of them down with more gentleness than Juno would have previously thought possible. “Now, where were you two? I know you can take care of yourself, Mister Steel, but I was worried sick about you! And now you show back up with this guy who disappeared and broke your heart - don’t say he didn’t, you were moping for weeks! - and he’s got a bullet wound and you’ve got this really weird look on your face, am I being too loud?” Rita walked back over to her desk and jumped up onto it, sitting on the surface and waiting for Juno’s answer.

Juno shook his head, the ‘weird look’ on his face expanding into something that could maybe be called a smile. “Just glad to be home, Rita. Also, uh… ‘Becks’ here and I are going to get married.”

That was when she broke the lamp.

She almost broke Juno’s ribs, when she hugged him. And almost ripped out Nureyev’s stitches, when she grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him down till they were eye level and threatened to kill him if he ever left Juno like he did again.

It was kinda sweet, actually.

Juno finally convinced her to head home and get some sleep with the promise that he and ‘Becks’ would do the same soon, and that they would definitely talk to her about the color scheme for their wedding and let her introduce them to her cousin who was “seriously, so good at designing wedding invites, boss, you wouldn’t believe it!”

Once Hurricane Rita had left the area, Juno let his back fall against the wall and slowly sank to the floor. “You know she’s going to go home and look you up and realize that “Becks” doesn’t exist, right?”

Nureyev gingerly sat next to his fiance, put a hand on Juno’s shoulder. “You know, technically, none of my identities exist beyond the paper trail I’ve created for them. And Peter Nureyev adores Juno Steel, but he can’t exactly get married.”

“Yeah,” Juno sighed, and let his head fall to rest on Nureyev’s shoulder. “We should probably figure that out.”

“I mean, I could probably forge the papers for you and I under any of my names, if you wanted,” Nureyev mused. He twined their hands together, Juno’s calluses and rough nails contrasting with Nureyev’s smooth skin and smattering of freckles. “But I wouldn’t need a ceremony for that, and I like the idea of a ceremony.” He held their hands up, kissed Juno’s knuckles. “I want to show as many people as possible how much this matters, how much you matter, to me. To all of me, under Duke or Rex or any other name.”

Juno turned in towards Nureyev, burying his face in the other man’s shoulder to hide the flush spreading across his cheeks. “That’s the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard.” He wondered for a second if it was possible to love too much, too fiercely, because the feeling in his chest was so sharp and immediate that it hurt, and Juno could do nothing in the face of it. He’d do anything to keep this thief alive.

For now, Juno settled on carefully moving over till he was facing Nureyev and straddling the other man’s legs. “You’re an idiot,” he told him, and then, quieter. “You’re my idiot, and you’re not allowed to take any more bullets for me, okay?”

Nureyev laughed, and it didn’t turn into a coughing fit this time. “Anything you want, Junebug, but on one condition.” He slid a hand into Juno’s hair, tugging the detective down into a kiss. “You aren’t allowed to take any bullets for me, either. We’re in this together.”

Juno smiled, knowing Nureyev would be able to feel it against his lips. “Sure thing.”

They kiss again, and again, seconds melting into minutes that dragged on, extended by the sheer desire to have Nureyev’s lips on his for one more moment, to feel this incandescent emotion for just a little longer.

Nureyev had to pull away first, breathing hard and with one hand pressed to his ribs. “I’m fine-” he said, responding to Juno’s unasked question. “I just need to catch my breath.”

Juno sat back, gave Nureyev space.

Once Nureyev was breathing normally again, Juno started to lean in, only to be stopped by a hand on his chest. “I might have an idea as to how we can have a ceremony,” Nureyev said. There was a dangerous gleam in his eye, and Juno raised an eyebrow.

“Spill.”

“Alright, so remember how you said Rita wouldn’t find anything when she looked up Becks? Well, what if she did, because she put it there? Many of my other identities have… backstories of their own, already attached. But from what I hear of her, Rita is a very talented hacker. I’m sure you can convince her to draw up some new paperwork. Becks is a sweetheart, I’m sure. Fresh off the jewel of Saturn’s rings, ready to fall in love with a local, get married too fast…”

Juno shoved Nureyev, pushing him back against the wall. “Stop monologuing, you dork, and kiss me.”

“Gladly,” Nureyev murmured, and leaned in.

[phoenixyfriend]

Re; Ahsoka and Quinlan being the same age, now I'm picturing Ahsoka, Quinlan, and Rex eventually ending up in a weird sorta thruple where Quinlan comes in and out of the relationship but the door is kinda always open for him? And Rex spends a lot of mornings eyeing the tangle of orange and brown skin on the other side of the bed like he has no idea how he ended up here but he's (mostly) okay with that tbh

Context: Commander Buir in chronological order

YES okay so this is wild to me that people are invested in this but like half the time-travel fics with Ahsoka in the same age-group as Quinlan have me wondering if I should ship them. Let me just. Ho shit.

So, okay, I've explored a lot of possible dynamics but there's something really engaging about how Quinlan, trained as a Shadow before the Sith came back, could react to a War Padawan. Ahsoka isn't really infiltration material yet, she's very much a frontline fighter, but she's got a lot more experience with a kind of consistent dark atmosphere that most Jedi don't. They get exposed to plenty of dark stuff, sure, but not the kind of all-encompassing "this is my life for the last two years" thing that is usually reserved for the long-term field agents like Shadows and Watchmen.

The War Padawans, for all that they were supposed to be just normal Jedi Padawans, were living in the kind of consistently negative environment that's normally experienced by those Knighted Sentinels.

So Ahsoka, while still generally pretty young in these AUs, is a very odd kind of person to be around, because she's spunky and vivacious and snippy and affectionate and snarky and knows how to break every bone in your body from harrowing experience as the only thing standing between death and thousands of brothers.

And Quinlan, I imagine, really likes that about her. She gets it, and she's still an energetic and loving and trying to do her best to be a good person despite everything. He gravitates towards her and she... well, she's not blind. She can tell he's interested. And she's not upset about that.

ANYWAY, ONTO REX

So, Rex is... technically twelve. He hasn't exactly got a whole lot of experience with romance. He is also, up until the point of time-travel, legal property of the Senate and the Jedi Order, which means that Ahsoka, or at least her community, owns him. He was indoctrinated to serve her and that community. She also outranks him, for all that she usually lets him take the lead in the field due to experience. He's older than her physically and maturity-wise, but she's also had a grow-up-faster-than-you-should adolescence, and she has superpowers.

What I'm saying is, the power dynamic is fucked up.

(Unironically I spent hours last night realizing that it balances out a lot more than C*dywan does, which I'm censoring because by god do I not want discourse on this post. I like both ships, and don't want to argue about what's the most problematic. It's Star Wars. The only unproblematic ships are Bail/Breha and Owen/Beru.)

Here's the thing, though, because the main thing people seem to argue here is the age/maturity difference as a problem area:

The age difference in actual time is four years, which is smaller than the two main ships of the franchise (Han/Leia and Padme/Anakin, to be clear). The age difference in maturity is ??? We'll say that the clones started aging normally after they hit twenty, so the age difference in maturity is six years... which is still normal for SW ships.

(This is why I don't have any issues with the ship in a post-O66 context, once they've had a few years to move past the traumas and whatnot. The age stuff all evens out with time, they're a good team, and neither was grooming the other. It's not objectively any more problematic than most SW ships at that point, and I'm okay with that. They deserve to be happy if they want.)

But they get yanked away from all that structure of who owns what, who reports where, who has which rank, who's legally a person in the eyes of the Republic when they end up on Dagobah. Once they've registered when they are, the only remaining complications are:

He grew up in a cultlike environment and was indoctrinated to serve her (but has been replacing that indoctrination with genuine respect and affection for her as a person because they've worked together for two years).

She has superpowers (contextually not a big problem: we see several Force-Sensitive/Non-Sensitive ships that don't consider those powers a complicating element)

He's several years younger than her (canonically less of an issue than it could be: Cut got married and has kids) and has next to no experience with what a normal romance looks like except for hanging out on the edges of whatever the fuck his General has going on with the Senator

She's several years less mature than he is (...something of an issue)

So a lot of this is mostly okay. She feels weird about the fact that she's got more knowledge of romance and all that it entails. He feels weird about the fact that, despite her being older, he looks at her and sees someone that's still a little young, not quite a shiny. Except she is older than him, and he's seen her behead four people in a single move, and they've saved each other's lives more times than either of them can count anymore. He respects her, and the fact that she's babyfaced doesn't change the fact that, in terms of who they are as people and warriors, they're on a level playing field.

She still looks at him and mourns his lost childhood, and he still looks at her and takes a moment to see past the too-big eyes and adolescent proportions.

But they really, really care about each other, and maybe part of them is starting to recognize that there's a bit of a crush before they time-travel, but neither one wants to make a move. There's a lot of baggage on both sides, a lot of "but they're a child" and "but they're (literally vs functionally) below me in the chain of command, I can't take advantage of that" and all that fun stuff. It's the kind of situation where two people circle each other for ages without making a move, because actually making that move is terrifying on account of not knowing whether the other party knows they can say no, on top of the usual "what if it ruins our friendship?" thing.

What happens on Dagobah, though... is very tropey. They're sort of stranded until Ahsoka can fix the ship, and that takes time. The area is also very heavy with the Force, dense and heady with the energy it carries, and it's... actually really not great for Ahsoka. She keeps feeling like she's back on Mortis, and has nightmares from the trigger there, but also keeps hallucinating because she wasn't ready for the thickness of the energy (like Yoda) or still new enough to the Force that she couldn't feel how dense it all was (like Luke). She can't work on the engines as constantly as she'd like to get them out of there, and while Rex is a competent mechanic, he's not as skilled with it as the girl who jumped headfirst into lessons with Anakin.

Rex spends a lot of time holding Ahsoka and wiping her brow with a wet cloth while she's feverish and out of it. Yes we're going full Florence Nightingale romance here, let me have my fun.

They get the communications relay working earlier than the engine, find out the year is wrong, panic a bit. All is well. (It's not, but they're holding it together for now.)

Ahsoka keeps working on the engine when she's lucid. Rex keeps hunting up game and edible plants for them while she does. They cuddle at night, because it's not cold but it is empty of the people they care about, and they kind of want that reassurance of someone they trust and love at their back.

(Morai visits.)

(Daughter shows up in the nightmares, tells Ahsoka that age will not come for her beloved until the time is natural for it. The phrasing is dumb but she does manage to convey that the accelerated aging is no longer an issue, if it even was after they hit adulthood. Ahsoka is relieved.)

And, you know, emotions happen. She takes his hand while they're leaning up against each other. He kisses her forehead while she's having a bad spell. They cook together and tell jokes to keep sane and spar. They hug each other through nightmares and panic attacks. There is much blushing. There is much cuddling.

Once, they kiss.

They break apart, flushing and stammering and being very awkward about the whole thing, and make excuses to leave and panic about the fact that they!! Kissed!!!!!

A couple hours later they find each other again, and have a long and complicated discussion about why they like each other (war makes bedfellows, there's trust and affection and all that fun stuff) and why they're hesitant (age stuff, maturity stuff, prior indoctrination), and make the decision to take it slow. They cuddle, and kiss, and blush a lot because both of them are basically just dumb teens having their first real relationship.

They eventually leave the planet, make it to Coruscant, etc. It takes a bit for anyone except Obi-Wan to realize that something's changed between them. Most people didn't know them before, and Anakin's observation skills are currently at a very low ebb. But they sit together and hold hands, and flirt when they spar, and once or twice people find them kissing (both standard and Keldabe) in a corner while holding hands and then just smiling at each other like loons.

They end up rooming together because nobody has the heart to separate them after hearing about all the war stuff. Like yes attachment's bad, but these two do seem to understand loss of loved ones and recognize that they could lose each other at any time and death is natural and they won't lose their entire shit about it, and if even General Kenobi is anxious as hell about being separated from the people he fought side-by-side with for two years, then maybe it's just... really normal for those two to want each other's company, and everyone can just turn a blind eye to the romance happening.

They share a bed, but they only ever sleep in it. Like, there's some goodnight kisses and cuddles, but everything is very G-rated until they've had time to settle into being true equals instead of just the "well, I guess the power dynamics balance out? Maybe?" of before.

And just... yeah. Rex does not believe that he's in this good of a position whenever he has the time to think about it. He's got a girlfriend! A really pretty, smart, strong, skilled one! Who thinks he's a cool dude! How the fuck did a clone like him manage that? He wasn't even legally a person a year ago, how did he end up in bed with one of the most amazing people he's ever met? He spends multiple nights just staring at her while he tries to fall asleep, asking himself how he got here and just like... marveling at her. She's worth marveling at. He's in love and she's amazing and he has no idea how to handle it at all.

...yeah no I have a lot of feelings now.