#and I’m v much a ‘I don’t see them getting much of mandalorian culture even if the trainers had tried to teach them’

[mutalune]

my clone culture headcanon is that they have almost no traditional mandalorian ties, they picked up almost nothing culturally/linguistically from the mandalorian trainers, but the one thing they DID get were endearments/affectionate and-or comforting words/etc.

b/c 1) that was the only way the trainers could somewhat express affection for their favorites without getting dinged for being too attached to them since no one there actually spoke mando’a 2) kaminoans would be Unhappy if the clones expressed affection openly so secret language words were the only way to safely verbalize caring and loving, so they picked up on those few kind words VERY quickly

(The way I see it working is that the trainers had favorites, would occasionally say something like “chin up, hang in there, good job kiddo,” and said favorites picked up those terms without actually ever getting Direct Translations of what they mean. So they get the words and some context but have to jumble it together themselves and pronunciation and meaning change the further away it spreads from the original favorites - because all of this is spread in private, quietly, until it grows its own legs in different iterations with different battalions imho

like they know adding -‘ika to a name is affectionate and feels like a diminutive but they don’t know what it means exactly and sometimes plug it into names in grammatically odd ways, so instead of “Trap’ika” you get “Trapper’ika” which sounds more like “Trapperka” when you’re talking fast.)

(i’m just a fan of gentle soft pet names and showing affection quietly and how love finds a way and how the clones can take what little scraps they were given and make it their own)

[supernaturalgirl20]

All’s Fair in Love and War

Part 3

Pairings: mob!boss Din Djarin x reader

Warnings: Smut 18+, p in v smut, oral (female receiving), angst, fluff.

Summary: you meet his son and some truths are revealed causing mando to pull away slightly.

*Comments and reblogs really appreciated*

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Y/N, I’d like you to meet my son Grogu.”

Your not sure you’ve heard him right! Did he just say son? Your speechless, stood staring at them both. Mando notices and places Grogu down before taking your hand in his.

“Hey, are you ok?”

“I didn’t know you have a son? Is his mother.. forget I said anything, it’s none of my business.”

“I’m not his biological father, I found him alone, outside the club. No family, no one, so I adopted him.”

Your staring at him again, only this time it’s with adoration. He looks like a hardened killer, but under all that bravado, is a kind man, who,as it would appear helps those in need.

“That’s amazing. Your not how I imagined.”

He has a slight smile on his face, “what did you imagine?”

“Honestly, I thought you would be a brute. That you would chain me up and use me until you had your fill and then toss me aside.”

His face turns serious, “I wouldn’t do that, not to you.” He turns to Grogu, “come on little man, let’s get some food, yeah?”

“Yeah food food!”

He picks him up and walks away.

What just happened?

***

You’d changed into a cute little floral dress, grabbed your book and made your way outside. Siting by the pool, relaxing for most of the day, you haven’t seen Mando since this morning. You know he is avoiding you, you angered him with your comment, but he had asked what you had imagined he would be like. You were only being honest. Quill arrives beside you, tray of food in hand.

“Oh thank you, you really didn’t have to.”

“It is no bother at all miss.”

“Have you seen Mando, I have not heard from him since this morning?”

“I’m afraid the Mand’alor is away on business, he will not be home until late into the night.”

“Oh, ok thank you again.”

“It is no trouble, if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you.”

The rest of the day passes without much incident. When evening comes you run a bath and soak in it with a glass of wine. Once out and dried you go to the bookshelves Mando has in his room, fingers running over the spines as you choose one to read for the night. Settling on one that goes into detail about mandalorian culture you crawl into bed. It fascinates you, mandalorians are a fighting people, but they value family and children above all. Your mind goes to Mando and Grogu, how he cares for the young boy and it set your heart fluttering. You can feel your eyes growing heavy with tiredness, so putting the book on the bedside locker you snuggle into the duvet. Once your head hits the pillow it doesn’t take long to succumb to sleep.

***

Later that night your woken from sleep to a weight settling on the other side of the bed. Rubbing your eyes you turn to see Mando is stripping out of his clothes.

“Your back.”

He doesn’t answer you, instead he walks around to your side of the bed, pulling the duvet from your body.

“Get on your knees, now.”

Still groggy with sleep your movements are slow, too slow for Mando so he flips you onto your stomach and lifts your hips to meet him. He rips your lace panties and tosses them on the floor. He doesn’t waste any time, lining himself up at your entrance, filling you completely with one thrust. His pace is brutal, pounding into you without abandon. Your grab at the sheets feeling the heat forming in your stomach. He grabs your hair pulling you so your back is to his chest. He grabs your breast and squeezes hard, making a moan slip from your lips. The new angle is hitting that sweet spot and your body is alight with pleasure, shaking with the force of your orgasm. Mando groans as he follows you over the edge. He pulls out and you feel empty without him. You go to stand but your body is still shaking in the aftermath of your bliss and your legs give out. He catches you and lays you back on the bed.

“I have to clean up.”

“I will get a damp cloth, stay here.”

He arrives back and gently cleans you up, before tossing the cloth onto the floor. He gets into bed beside you and lays down facing the ceiling. You can make out the outline of his face from the light of the moon shining through the curtains. He’s so handsome.

“I’m sorry about earlier, I meant no offence.”

He still doesn’t say anything, continues staring at the ceiling. You need him to look at you, you don’t know why really, only that your staring to like him.

“I only meant that I was terrified comping here, I had heard all these awful things about you and my father just gave me to you for sexual pleasure. What was I supposed to think? Since I’ve arrived though you have been so kind to me,” you move your hand to rest on his arm, “I see the way you threat your staff and how you were with Grogu, that is the sign of a good man, even if you don’t think so. He turns to you now, he looks over your face as if trying to memorise every detail. He runs his fingers down your cheek to your chin, pulling you towards him. He kisses you gently, savouring the taste of you on his lips.

“I’m sorry if I was rough with you tonight, I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“You didn’t, and I like it a little rough,” you say with a sly smile.

He lets out a small chuckle before kissing you again. It’s more heated this time and he slowly lowers you back onto the bed, settling between your legs. In one swift motion he is inside you. It’s slow this time, almost gentle like he’s making love to you. Your still sensitive from your last round that your coming in no time. He trails kisses down your neck to your breast, sucking on your nipple. The sensation sends you over the edge again and you come hard moaning his name. You know he’s close as his thrust are less controlled, “where…where do you want me?”

“Come inside please…I want to feel all of you.”

That’s all he needed to hear, sending him over the edge as he releases himself inside you.

“That was amazing, your amazing.”

He doesn’t pull out this time, just lays his head on your breasts as you run your fingers through his hair. His breaths become shallow as he falls asleep on you. You kiss his forehead as you continue to massage his head.

“Goodnight Mand’alor.”

Previous/Next

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[alpineglowx]

I'll Do The Same {Din Djarin x OC} Chapter Two: Names

pairing: din djarin x female oc

warnings: none

* * * *

Thell paused, weighing her options, before simply turning around to face the man. Air caught in her throat when he finally came within sight of her, stepping close enough between the couch separating them so she could see the moonlight glow silver off his armor.

She knew of Mandalorians through childhood stories, through holos, but she had never seen one in person. He was almost beautiful, would have been stunning in that suit of Beskar steel had he not been pointing his blaster pistol straight at her. He was a large man, a good foot taller than her, but his face was concealed by a mask, and she could only stare back at the V slit where he was glaring at her from.

“I said,” the Mandalorian growled. “Put him down.”

The child muttered against her cloak and Thell glanced at him hesitantly. Was the child his? Was he stealing it from wherever it had come from on Bespin?

“Is he yours?” Thell asked.

“He is. Now give him to me, or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

Panic shot up her veins, and before she could really think anymore, she slowly lowered the child to the ground. It looked back at her with wide, endearing eyes before waddling back over to the Mandalorian, who gently scooped him into his arms. Thell knew then that he was his, from the cautious way he held him to the way his shoulders relaxed once he held him again.

Thell blinked, feeling a bit more at ease once the man lowered his weapon.

“Did you kill him? Darand?”

“No.”

“Oh,” Thell murmured. “You’re not killing him?”

“It won't be me that does it. I'm just here for the bounty.”

Her blood ran cold. “You’re a bounty hunter... You’re taking him.”

“That’s right.”

“He’s just a businessman... He... Why are you taking him?”

The man stepped one foot closer, hand on his holster. “His head is worth more credits than you’ve ever seen. Now, do yourself a favor and get out of this place. It’ll be looted by the end of the night.”

He turned to go, and something deep within Thell, that dream to be free, rooted itself in her heart.

“I don’t have anywhere to go.”

The man stopped mid walk, and the small child peeked at Thell from over his shoulder.

“What are you, a servant?”

Thell fought the urge to roll her eyes. “More or less.”

“Not my problem.”

“You don’t understand,” Thell pressed, taking another brave step forward. “I’m alone here.”

“What do you want?” The Mandalorian grumbled, throwing her a sideways glance. His tone felt more threatening than she had expected, and suddenly she wished she hadn’t spoken so freely.

But maybe, somehow, in these crazy circumstances, he was her way off this planet, her way to freedom. He was traveling with a baby after all, one that it seemed he cared for very dearly.

Suddenly embarrassed, Thell shrunk back, flickering her glance to the wide window in the room.

“I want to come with you. I want to get off this planet,” she said, with as much courage as she could muster.

His tone was almost gentler. Almost.

“Not going to happen. Nice try, kid.”

Thell blinked, and watched them disappear back down the hallway the Mandalorian had appeared from, with one last long look at the child he held over his shoulder.

Dread filled her until it was nearly overwhelming. Her master, the man that had practically raised her after her mother’s death, was gone, and with it, his entire fortune and reputation. The house would be left to crumble and be ransacked by desperate looters. Others would come, looking for the servants, and sell them off to other masters, or worse. And she didn’t want to be here to witness it.

As she stood in the silence and wreckage of her once home, the words of Thell’s mother came back to her.

You stand for your own. You make your own path.

So with a quivering breath, she took the blaster in one hand and raced down the hallway towards her own chambers. Her belongings were small, even with her large pack, so by the time she had tracked down the Mandalorian at the landing pad, he was only just releasing the drop ramp of his ship. It wasn’t large by any means, but looked comfortable enough for someone like him.

Sweat was beaded on her forehead from her rush to get things together and run after the Mandalorian, so she stopped several yards from him, allowing ample distance for the two of them to remain comfortable. The stars were bright overhead from the lack of lighting outside, but the wind was nipping against the bare skin around her neck. She pulled her cloak tighter, containing her warmth as the Mandalorian stopped in his tracks. Even from here, Thell could hear the sweet burbling sounds of the child, and even see him and his large ears poking around the Mandalorian’s arm.

She swallowed before she spoke, and hoped that her words would allow her wishes to be fulfilled.

“My feet have never touched grass.”

The Mandalorian turned, slowly, one hand resting on his holster and the other wrapped around the green alien.

“What?”

Thell sighed, and threw her hands down beside her. “I’ve never touched grass. Or dirt. Or, or a natural stream of water, or leaves on a tree. I’ve never touched any of it; I’ve rarely seen pictures. And you walk around with all your credits and your fancy ship like you don’t have a care in the world, because I’m sure you don’t. You get to walk on the earth everyday but I’m sure you’ve never thought twice about those in the galaxy that don’t.”

Thell let out a deep breath, one that simmered away any remaining anger or frustration she had. Now she was just embarrassed, digging the toe of her shoe into the platform while the Mandalorian remained completely silent just a few feet from her.

“I’m sorry,” Thell said quickly. “I didn’t mean for it to come across like that.”

“What do you want?” The Mandalorian asked.

Thell’s head shot up, and she could only stare back quizzically at the masked man. His question had no remorse, no bouts of anger threatening to rise up. He had asked her the same question before, but in a completely different manner.

Clearing her throat, she readjusted the bag at her side and kept a tight grip on the strap.

“I would like to come with you.”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere but here.”

“Hm,” was the Mandalorian’s simple response. “And what should I expect in return?”

Thell raised a brow. “Sorry?”

“Do you have payment?”

Thell gulped. She had feared that the question was coming, and suddenly felt lighter with the lack of credits in her pockets and satchel.

“I’ll work for you, do whatever you need me to. Fixing up your ship, cleaning the carburetors, rinsing blood off your weapons, whatever. Watch after the ship while you're away. I’ll do the dirty work, whatever work you don’t want to do. I’ll get a job somewhere and pay you back... double! I’ll even help with the kid, if you want.”

“Doesn’t sound like much.”

Thell breathed in deep, took one step forward, letting her arms fall to her side. “I know it doesn’t. It’s... nothing, really. But it’s all I have. I can’t stay here.”

The Mandalorian stilled, keeping one hand on his holster, but he was silent, and Thell’s desperation grew. She took another step.

“I don’t have anyone left... please.”

Nothing.

Thell closed her eyes momentarily, trying to relax her tense joints.

“Please.”

It felt like a hundred lifetimes had passed before he had granted her that single word:

“Fine.”

Relief flooded through Thell’s system, and she sagged against the weight of her bag.

“But we have to leave now. I’m not waiting around.”

Thell wiped the sweat from her brow before nodding. “Yeah. Okay.”

And she followed after him, cautiously studying the jetpack strapped to his back, the array of small weapons attached to his Beskar vambraces, and the blaster pistol hanging from its holster in his belt. Even from what she could see, and the vast size of him, a whole foot taller than her, she knew he could take her down easily. She had watched him do it to the one guard, so that didn’t mean she was safe from him either. He was a bounty hunter, after all.

She had heard stories of Mandalore and the attacks on its city and culture that it had endured. Surely he wasn’t from there; the signet he wore on his right pauldron did not bear any resemblance to a Mandalorian clan that she knew. He was also larger, stockier, than any natives of Mandalore she had witnessed on holos inside Darand’s mansion. Her old master had been obsessed with Mandalorian culture, so in turn, Thell believed she had some knowledge of at least their history.

But she followed him into the ship anyway, but was stopped momentarily from entering when the Mandalorian spun to face her, and she nearly smacked her face into the chest plates of Beskar steel.

“Give me your blaster.”

He was much more threatening up close, all cold, rough edges and a gruff personality to match. Thell wondered if she would even survive the takeoff from the planet with a man like him. It was better than being sold off, anyway, or killed by looters. If she was going to die, it was going to be through her own decision.

So she passed him the blaster anyway, and her sack when he indicated he wanted to inspect it. She wasn’t allowed on until he had rifled precariously through her pack and stuffed her weapon into his own locked compartment. Thell slowly walked inside the cargo hold, glancing at the crates, the carbonite freezing system, the netting that held equipment to the sides of the docking station. The telescopic gate lifted up behind her, causing her to move forward and bump right into the Mandalorian.

“Sorry,” she muttered, tucking hair behind her ear and scooting past him. He made something like a sighing noise and walked to an upright ladder.

“Come on. We have to go.”

Thell watched him climb up first, and securing her pack behind netting in the cargo hold, climbed up the ladder next. She came to double doors that slid open in front of her and showed her into the cockpit, a modest space with two seats behind the one the Mandalorian sat, piloting the ship. She approached slowly, watching with great curiosity while his hand flicked over the control panel and seating herself in an adjacent seat. She heard a familiar noise and cocked her head to see the green child sitting in the seat opposite from her, holding a small metal orb in his small hands. He made a purring sound and cocked his head at her, to which she waved at shyly.

“You ever been through hyperspace?” She heard the Mandalorian ask without turning around to look at her.

“I’ve never left the planet.”

It must have shocked him, because the Mandalorian grew quiet, before he suddenly punched a few more buttons, and spoke over his shoulder,

“Strap yourself in. It could be rough for a second.”

As quick as she could, Thell found the straps and buckled herself in, holding tight to the worn material. The ship buckled momentarily, causing Thell’s feet to skid against the floor before the ship actually started lifting off from the ground, until she could see the whole city from the cockpit’s window, every light that glowed from the houses and mansions on Bespin, the city where she had lived her whole life.

But the initial sadness she felt of leaving the only place that had been home was suddenly replaced with joy, and thankfulness, because she was leaving Barand behind, and everything that she had once been. She could start over, start fresh. With what, she had no idea. But for once she was thankful for this large, gruff man and his strange green companion that had allowed her passage. Even if it wasn’t under the best circumstances, and she didn’t trust him fully yet, it was the best outcome she could think of.

The ship lifted until the Mandalorian fired the thrusters, and they sped upwards into space, until all that surrounded them was the blackness of the void of space, and the countless stars that twinkled past her vision. Thell could only admire them for a moment before the Mandalorian tugged a large control switch down, and she was thrown back in her seat. It only lasted for a moment, and then they were in hyperspace, flying through bands of blue and white, and the ship lulled peacefully like it was not even moving.

The Mandalorian suddenly moved, unstrapping himself, and turning halfway in the seat to look at the kid. He babbled happily, too caught up playing with the orb to notice the man watching him. But then his attention turned to Thell, and she felt the air catch in her lungs.

“You got a name?”

She blinked. “Thell Sei’Lya.”

“How long did you serve Darand?”

Thell shrugged. “All my life. I was born there.”

“Hm,” the Mandalorian grumbled, and turned back in his seat.

Thell bit her lip. “Um... Do you have a name?”

“People call me Mando.”

“... Do you, have a real name?”

Thell regretted asking it, because he went silent and even the child looked up at him precariously. She could only lean back in her seat and wonder if she would ever find out anything about this man, and why he was traveling with this strange green alien.

[luckyricochet]

I want you to answer A-Z on the fandom asks so I can peer into your psyche 👀

Wow I love you. This actually took around three hours since I wanted to think about the answers. See them under the cut!

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

From Hanyou no Yashahime — Sesshomaru and Rin

From The Mandalorian — The Mandomera’s been creeping up a little bit. 

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Honestly can’t think of one. I’m very set in my ships. 

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

From Naruto — SasuSaku. Sasuke was cute as a kid so I get Sakura having a crush on him then, but I think she would have gotten over it when he became a homicidal clown who abandoned the village and tried to kill her and her teammates multiple times.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

From Harry Potter — Ron x Hermione. I’ve always thought their personalities didn’t match and not in the good “opposites attract” kind of way.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

I only know how to write angst, drama, and introspective musings so no. 

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Over fifteen years in the Harry Potter fandom, but I’ve had to separate that from JKR herself in the recent years. 

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

“Have I ever had an OTP”? *laughs from shipping hell* 

From The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare — Nat and Kit were my first OTP. Read this book in fifth grade and was immediately loved them. Boy literally risks banishment from the colony to help prove she’s not a witch. 

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

I love visual media, so TV, anime, and film

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I’m not going to let tumblr dot com put me off of a particular show/book/etc. itself, but it has definitely made me think less of certain types of fans who are in a fandom. 

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

The...period drama fandom? More widely, the history fandom. They both create some of the most beautiful edits celebrating history and I love it. 

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

 From Avatar: The Last Airbender — It’s gotta be Prince Zuko

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

From Harry Potter — I think Ginny is a Mary Sue but I loved when she stood up for herself in Half-Blood Prince when Ron was trying to slut-shame her. 

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

From Parks and Recreation — Leslie Knope. Unending positive affirmations, thoughtfulness, and support!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

I don’t really have a main fandom but I haven’t mentioned Free! yet so let’s go with it for this one. 

1. Less Nitori because I can’t stand him.

2. More female characters! I get half the appeal is the boys, but I’d love to see a girls swim team in some capacity. 

3. More Haru and his family dynamics! Doesn’t have to be a ton, but I want to know what his relationship with his parents like, especially as an adult.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Salt and the Sea - The Lumineers. “From the destruction, out of the flame. You need a villain, give me a name.” Such an Odesta song. (Finnick x Annie from the Hunger Games)

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

For The Mandalorian — A historical AU set in early 1900s New York City where Mando’s just some government agent sent to “report” on slum conditions to satisfy some housing law. He goes meaning to write up a generic report but then finds the orphaned Baby Yoda abandoned in one of the tenements. Shocked by the conditions of the slums, Mando goes from being an apathetic, middling-level bureaucrat to being an anonymous investigative journalist reporting on the corruption in the government that allows for the city’s most vulnerable citizens to live in squalor, leading the government on a search to find who within their ranks is exposing them. 

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Sherlock, because it just took so long for the third series to come out. I had moved on to other fandoms by the time it did. Still have fond memories of when I was active in it, though. 

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

From Lord of the Rings — Aragorn and Legolas. This is played up a lot more in the films but I love it. 

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

For Lord of the Rings — Boromir definitely taught Faramir swordplay when they were little kids since their father didn’t want to. 

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

From Hanyou no Yashahime — Rin made the first move. Sesshomaru would be way too clueless to even know how to go about it. 

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

From Pirates of the Caribbean — James Norrington: Commodore in the Royal Navy during the 18th century, must I explain any further? Cool, calm, and collected on the job while looking v good while he does it but a nervous wreck in front of the woman he fancies. Tell me that’s not straight out of Austen.

From Star Wars (OT) — Luke Skywalker: An unapologetically good person in a crapsack world, doing his best to bring light into the world. A classic hero archetype who grows out of his naïveté to become a cunning—but still benevolent—Jedi. 

From Prince of Tennis — Yukimura Seiichi: His duality is *chef’s kiss*. Super scary and in charge on the court, gentle sweet boy who loves art and culture off the court. He struggled for so long but was able to overcome it all through his hard work and willpower.

Bonus favorite, because I couldn’t resist...

From Band of Brothers — Doc Roe: He’s doing the MOST for his guys but he really just needs a hug. Plus he’s got the accent.

V - Which character do you relate to most?

From Little Women — Jo March, especially as portrayed by Saoirse Ronan in the 2019 adaptation. Writer, holds grudges, opinionated, stubborn, eschewed “girliness” in her youth but is more open to it and romanticism as an adult. 

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

I’ve gotten to the point where even the hint of a love triangle tests my patience.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

It’s about the yearning: Longing Look

Also will definitely always ship the Brooding Boy and the Gentle Girl

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Anything in the MCU or general superhero content.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

I love fandom so much. I’m sort of facetious about being obsessed with people who aren’t real on my other social media accounts, but in all seriousness, being able to escape the real world to get excited over characters and relationships that face their own struggles, triumphs, and emotions is such a gift. So often they speak so powerfully on the human experience—How can you read, or watch, any of Tolkien’s work and not be moved by what he has to say about humanity and the power of good? Even if the stories are fictional, the messages they impart about life aren’t, which is what I love so much about them.

[thewriterowl]

Some general tips. But I would like to know like how to construct trust between two characters that barely know each other, how would they act to gain trust. And also how to describe action scenes because I’m terrible at that xD

Okie-dokie!

So, general tips...I have no idea? XD I think a lot of writers can say that. We just look at ourselves, our writing, our schedules, and just go WTF? You just gotta write whenever you can. Always have a project up. Try not to let it guilt you...but just don’t let yourself forget that it’s there and needs you to complete it.

Now, characters...so, characters are things i just really love to write. I’ve always been super character focus on anything I write, read, enjoy. So I have been writing with that for years now (and still have so, so much practice to go through). Always take a step back and think about a scene relatively realistically in the world you are building. 

So, we’ll take Din and Luke here. You know what their characters are like, so you know what they would need to gain their trust (for Din, it usually means protecting Grogu and respecting his culture. For Luke....have a pulse and he’ll probably trust you on some level). So we have a story, maybe in the Jedi v. Mandalorian war, where they are mega enemies....how do they trust each other? You gotta throw them in a situation where they have to provide temporary trust (say they get cornered by a third enemy, Luke saves Grogu and is bringing him to the Jedi temple and Din stops them, they’re stuck in a cave, etc.) and where they almost have no choice but to have a conversation (to me, that’s bigger than the action--but an action would be necessary to ensure that they have to listen to each other).

If you are gonna go for slow-burn, then go for it. Lay out their conversations. Even simple things like them talking about the weather can actually be crucial because it is them reaching to each other as people. Allow it to be awkward. Allow the audience to know there has been silence. 

For me, personally, I like knowing what each is thinking. For the most part in multi-chapter stories I don’t want a single POV.  go ahead and switch back and forth. I think that can help because you can really dissect how they may talk to each other with the next bit of dialogue.

But yeah, dialogue is key to building the trust in my opinion!

Now action....er...I honestly feel like I am terrible at action XD But cause I watched SO much anime growing up I just think of things via anime battles. Maybe watch clips of anime fights or Marvel fights and try to describe what you see to yourself. It’s not easy :/ action, kinda like horror, is almost something that needs to be heard and seen and not read...it can be super difficult to get it right.

I would say keep most of the movements general. Just say “ready position” or something similar (unless you go hardcore into Jedi POV and figure out some stances to throw in as a title--but don’t necessarily have to describe). Do more details on the bigger actions, maybe the striking or the release of power. Don’t feel like you have to go in too deep with those and just try to make the moment feel intense, if that makes sense?

[vaguely-gestures-to-the-void]

Hindsight: My thoughts on Loki (2021)

Welcome back folks. Read the innocence dying inside me as I accept that this show eats my expectations for lunch and leaves me like it's going to buy milk.

As a side note from what I said in my first review, here’s an interesting article. Apparently I was clowning because the Gobi desert scene was filmed (probably? idk) with the tech from the Mandalorian. I think the studios were the same. Oh well. https://www.atlasofwonders.com/2021/06/loki-filming-locations.html

Episode 4: THE NEXUS EVENT

Pre-title scene

The new perspective of Asgard is incredible.

Oh baby Sylvie, what did they do to you. Also, RAVONNA??

The TVA through a child’s eyes is heartbreaking. The mixed use of shots that were familiar (the feet walking into the TVA) and new (the TVA logo on the floor) convey how though routine, this is an alien experience for Sylvie.

She too wants to help the man being dragged in. Maybe Sylvie was a better person than Loki, the TVA taking her away was what changed it.

We don’t see Casey, but iIt’s the same ‘sign here’ guy. The changing perspective and music really alters the mood created, contrasting the whimsical procedure we followed in episode one.

She hadn’t even said much in her life. They knew how to influence the audience’s emotions, that's for sure. Props to the actress, I felt genuine concern for her before I remembered that she’s acting.

TVA

Ravonna probably underestimated Sylvie as a Loki, a mistake that cost her greatly.

The golden doors.

Ravonna looks tense and a bit fearful.

Scattered throughout the episode are eyes watching. George Orwell’s 1984, anyone?

Big Brother is watching.

Mobius! He’s a good friend to Ravonna, but there’s a power imbalance.

Ravonna is shaken. Her past failure is haunting her.

Someone edit the “What? How?” into “Wow.” It’ll be a service.

Lamentis - 1

Loki’s apology and Sylvie reflecting on her childhood are the conclusion to the previous episode. Faced with death, Loki realises that her goals were hindered by his actions. His apology is the first time he acknowledges he had something to do with it. Sylvie’s offering her emotional vulnerability in the form of memories. Her mind and experiences are her most prized possession because they’re all she has of the person who she was as Loki, her childhood and what she was supposed to be. Her glorious purpose, what really makes a Loki a ‘Loki’ was her life.

THEY TRUST EACH OTHER. THIS WAS WHAT CAUSED THE NEXUS EVENT.

C H A R A C T E R D E V E L O P M E N T.

Ravonna pointed out that Loki will always be a “lying scourge” but they went against this. In any timeline, this could cause a nexus event. They found a middle ground.

“That should be setting off alarms if someone steps on the wrong leaf.” I had a whole idea about entropy and the timeline being an isolated system but I struggled to define an isolated system, and thus I couldn’t use the whole irreversible process causing entropy to grow causing a br- if you have a clue of what I’m going on about, or want to know more, I’ll explain my thoughts. I can understand why this isn’t scientifically accurate and I’m no physicist.

The unbranched timeline means all the things that were speculated - Wanda’s kids, what happened on Saakar, all of it - is gone.

“Any news on C - 20?”I called it! B-15 is having doubts! Her subtle unease building up throughout the ep is perfect!

Most settlements have a street design that can be from space. Sharru doesn’t.

“No. We may lose... ...you’re amazing!” Damn it literally took the end of a world for Loki to change as a person.

“Their smiles. If that isn’t people accepting their deaths I don’t know what is. Man, I just want both of them to be happy.

Please don’t let that be the love theme, it’s so pretty.

The music fading into the TVA theme as they get separated is so sad.

Time Theater 25

Back to square one in terms of trust with these two, but now they have history and hurt feelings too!

Oh Mobius.

Cycles are a part of who Loki is within Norse mythology (from what I know, correct me if I’m wrong). This scene is conflict.

Loki needs both Mobius and Sylvie to incite change. One can empathise whilst the other believes in him.

Mobius believes in Loki like no one else in the TVA. He treats him like an individual, they developed a bond in episode 2, so his disappointment and anger were genuine. This is reflected in their dialogue.

Even when Loki was going through all the Feels in ep 1, he didn’t shout at Mobius. It makes it more heartbreaking when Mobius laughs and dismisses him after the “TVA is lying to you” thing. His laugh was so bitter, it’s like his belief that Loki would be the variant to prove that variants were individuals had been shattered. What Mobius doesn’t realise is that Loki was genuinely trying to warn him. The trust between them was fragile but Mobius needed to come to his own conclusions before he could see that Loki had broken out of the mold the Time Keepers set for him.

“Just kind of an asshole and a bad friend.” Y’all, Mobius doesn’t rise to Loki’s baits. He’s so hurt.

I can’t be the only one that thought Loki was going to be brainwashed when they saw the red door. Turns out it’s just a time cell.

I love Mobius but he makes me feel so conflicted. Oh shit, he’s my problematic fave.

Watching Loki get his ass handed to him by Lady Sif shouldn’t be this funny.

This particular memory reflects what Mobius will talk about later, Loki being abandon by the people around him.

Putting Loki through a memory that was physically and emotionally painful was nasty. If you hear something horrible, over and over especially from a friend it would take a toll on your self-perception. Mobius was hurt by Loki leaving him, he’s getting revenge whilst doing his job and getting into Loki’s head.

Ravonna’s office

Ravonna has hang ups from failing with Sylvie. Who she is and what she knows is going to be interesting.

Heck I just realised are Mobius’ lapels not real? They look fake.

I wonder whether the “mastermind” thing was foreshadowing the next ep.

Am I the only one who thinks this isn’t the first Loki Mobius has dealt with? Could that mean there’s a reunion next ep?!

“Variant pet.” There’s a culture of dehumanising variants within the TVA.

The cuts showing both B-15 and Mobius’ faces reminds me of ep 1, but now there’s a new angle to things. B-15 certainly sees things differently.

Time Theatre 25

Lady Sif would kill with short hair. Or long hair. It’s Lady Sif, she’s a badass.

Loki’s exhale reminds me of how he tenses before a fight.

Notable things about this scene:

Heavy use of metaphors to trade jabs.

The lights are shifting in a consistent pattern, scanning the room almost.

Shots are constantly moving and cutting.

Loki’s speech pattern changes when he’s lying. Nice touch there.

When they start arguing in earnest, the shots are close ups of their faces, not circling around each other.

Loki was at first willing to talk to Mobius if he was treated with respect, the way they engaged in episode 2. He also wants to trust that Mobius won’t kill him. Mobius dismisses him (rightly so, his trust is gone) and Loki’s pride about ‘not working for anyone’ gets in the way rather than listening to each other. Loki’s behaviour is cyclic and his lying about Sylvie affirms Mobius’s understanding that Loki won’t (or maybe can’t) change. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Mobius is a Loki, the man’s uncannily good at reading him. He deduces that Loki and Sylvie have a bond and unsettles Loki to get answers out of him, because he knows that’s the only way he can force Loki to reveal his cards. He definitely wasn’t expecting Loki’s earlier admission to be the truth. What Mobius did was not right, but it sure was effective.

“No. Not partners.” I believe this. They had an understanding, but their goals differ. Maybe just give Sylvie her own show.

“Guess you don’t do partners.” MOBIUS WHY ARE YOU SO BUTT-HURT? Probably to make Loki feel bad ik, but it’s still funny to think Lightning McQueen is salty.

That memory really hurt Loki. He stuttered.

Loki fixates on Sylvie rather than his own freedom. This was the cue to Mobius to start interrogating.

Bruh, the feeling they were experiencing better be friendship.

This made me uncomfortable because I was so sure we weren’t gonna get a romantic subplot that I related the characters to my actual family relationships. Marvel. Why?

The music combined with Mobius’ subtle shift in demeanor from irritated to mockery was very unsettling to me. I never realised how good an actor Owen Wilson was.

“Our interests are aligned.” Once Mobius tells him the truth, Loki does the same. I really hope this is the extent of their relationship. Just let them recognise one another as equals. Please Marvel.

Mobius’ hands twitching, the slight swallow. Yeesh, he certainly doesn’t think Loki’s lying, but he’s not about to accept it.

Loki’s head shake is sad. He knows he can’t convince Mobius.

“That I can respect. I mean the lies you tell yourself.” This was the best writing imo. Loki doesn’t make any final attempts to connive his way out of the situation because telling the truth to someone he’d trusted had failed. He willingly walks into the Time Cell.

Time Theater 47

B-15 being unable to support herself, having to rely on the structures around her to stay upright. This woman deserves so much y’all.

WE NEED HER NAME MARVEL.

You better appreciate her beyond shipping her with Sylvie or istg.

The music is so mournful. It just emphasises how much everything changing is going to hurt not only the main characters. Lives change because of the TVA and the events of this episode, it’s not overlooked by the writing or music.

The poster and the 1984 parallels. Exquisite!

Sylvie not sitting straight made me snort.

Ravonna Renslayer’s office

More Theremin music! This time I’m pretty sure it’s Carnival of the Animals, XIII. Le Cygne (the Swan) : Le carnaval des animaux: No. 12, Le cygne (arr. For theremin and piano) by Clara Rockmore.

Fun fact! Clara Rockmore influenced theremin music and the instrument and was a virtuoso of the instrument. Give her a google, it’s worth it. Also look up Leon Theremin, he was (among other things) a Soviet spy. There’s a great Wiki spiral for anyone there.

Mobius was probably being lined up for a high position in the TVA. Damn.

TemPads are personal, or have different levels of clearance.

Mobius didn’t stop interrogating Ravonna throughout that scene. He knew that she wasn’t telling him the whole truth.

Sleight of hand wasn’t shown how Loki and Sylvie do it, they didn’t use misdirection.

Ravonna knows something is up with Mobius. Maybe he hasn’t been around for long if this is his ‘career case’.

The pacing becomes really fast like in the end of episode 2 as conflicts get resolved. Buckle up comrades.

2050 Roxxcart Disaster

I don’t have much to add, it’s a powerful scene.

They use close ups whenever a truth bombshell is dropped.

The music varies considerably between these scenes, each one has a different tone.

“We’re the same.” With what she knows of B-15, Sylvie knew not to be smug when delivering the news about B-15’s life.

B-15 crying in the rain hurts.

“I looked happy.”

TVA archives, Time Cell, Time Theater 25

The floor opposite Mobius is FE3, above it is 3FG.

Oh Mobius.

C-20 deserved better, I'd love to see her later in the series.

The music goes from mournful to harsh and we’re left in silence when it cuts to the Time Cell.

“You told me to shut up.” Loki can be salty sometimes.

“Do you really think you deserve to be alone?” Mobius is rattled, he wants to unsettle Loki.

The music starts to build somewhere between “...your connection... “ and Loki saying “‘WE?’”

The faint tinkling reminds me of the Avatar (blue people) score.

“How about the word of a friend?” This is Loki’s olive branch. When he admits Loki was right, their trust is tentatively reinstated.

The music is finally back to that chaotic theme we know. I think it’s the TVA’s theme.

“You can be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean just in case anyone ever told you different.” Mobius corrects what he says in the first ep.

They are friends y’all I’m so sad.

Mobius can lie through his teeth like it’s nobody’s business.

Pruning hurts, Mobius’ face is in agony.

Loki’s tears. GIVE THEM ALL JETSKIS.

Ravonna takes a moment to compose herself.

Time Keepers (the final smackdown)

Why are the last 10 minutes always so insane?

Loki’s eyes only show hurt. I’ll leave.

Ravonna’s so sharp, she instantly catches Sylvie’s wet hair.

All of our expectations from the trailers always get yeeted out of a window because the scenes are never really what we think they are. I get that that should be expected but it’s refreshing that the writing is never what we think it is.

Did anyone else notice the egg timer/infinity sign murals on one of the hallways to the left of Sylvie?

Ravonna is so cold (and yet I’d simp for her).

The M.C. Escher staircases I see you set designers/CGI folks.

B-15 just gets knocked out. They better not kill her for no reason or I riot.

I’m pretty sure that Sylvie ripped off one of Ravonna’s TVA badges (or buttons) when she fought her.

Sylvie’s the better fighter, she’s had to use it more often though.

The elevator doors stay open.

It would be so funny if we get an elevator scene where Sylvie is just dragging Ravonna somewhere.

They really led us on with the Time Keepers, particularly the middle one. I was somewhat convinced there’d be something more to it. I’m interested to see where it goes.

Ep 4 review

I really don’t have much to add with these last two episodes. I’ve definitely come to appreciate that no matter whether you liked the writing of the show or not, it’s never what you expect. Is that a good thing? I guess that that remains to be seen. Nonetheless, I appreciate how much effort went into this series. It’s been a fun romp, I’ll be back with my reviews of the final episodes. I’ll also stop posting Loki content to my blog because the Gods know that my followers don’t read this lol.

I’m just going to survive until the season is over and then hopefully keep my sanity together until the next Marvel content or at least Dr. Strange.

Here's the link to my episode 3 review.

Thank you all for being here, you're wonderful my loves.

[makeyourownmyth]

best seen in 2020.

My usual caveats from previous years are still applicable here: I don’t watch most of the major nominations the years they come out, and I’m usually not much for theaters and/or current TV. However, due to the pandemic, we watched a loooooooot of content. Here’s just a list of movies that I watched or rewatched this year, that were neither terrible, nor great, but I want to make note of:

Toy Story 4, The Brothers Bloom, Happiest Season, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Moana, Mr. Right, Moulin Rouge, Ocean’s Eleven, Spring Breakers, X-Men: Dark Phoenix (this might have been the worst movie I watched this year?), Widows, Gattaca, Black Klansman, Primer, It 2, Shazam (this maybe should have gone on the Honorable Mentions - it was fun), Training Day, Parasite (OK, now I have to update my Honorable Mentions), The Green Book, Strange Days, Elf, Love & Basketball, Above the Rim, Coach Carter.

That being said, there was some bad stuff, and I try not to shit on any artist’s creations too much, because I know no one sets out to make something bad, but these didn’t work for me. 

Anti

Uncut Gems - It’s not that it was BAD, it was just too stressful for me to enjoy.

Brick - It wasn’t even close to enjoyable on a rewatch that I encouraged my partner to take on for the first time. I felt bad. 

Hereditary - Neither a scary movie, nor a good movie.  

The Witch - Same, but maybe better made?

Under The Skin - Jesus, this was terrible. Maybe I’m not artsy enough to get it?

Now, however, let’s get to the good stuff. 

Honorable Mention TV

Avatar - I can’t legitimately put it on the Best Of list, because I’m not done yet, but I’m on Book 3, after finally actually getting started. I think I tried to start this in 2016, and i know all my nerd friends have been yelling at me for a long time because I haven’t gotten to it yet, and as someone who’s almost done, I can say: they were right! It’s great. 

Ozark - S1 was great. It fell off a fucking CLIFF after that. Ignore people who tell you that you HAVE to watch this. They’re wrong. It’s fine. 

The Last Dance - I know the world is obsessed with Michael Jordan, and I’m glad it came out when it did, but really, all it did for me was confirm that he’s an asshole who was very fortunate to play when he did. And also that the Bulls were fucking phenomenal. 

His Dark Materials - Neither as bad as some of my friends think, nor nearly as good as the books (obviously) but also not good enough that I’ve even started S2 yet, so....I guess it’s fine? 

The Mandalorian S2 - I think they know what they’re doing, and it’s super enjoyable, and I loved the ending, but I’m also curious as to where they’re going now. 

Fargo S3 - Given how good the rest of the series is (other than my distaste for S2, dealt with below, and out of step with pop culture) I thought this one was a misstep, 

Orphan Black - I cannot believe how late I was to this, and how good it still was. It really fell apart toward the end, but the acting was incredible, and the fact that they got to tell the story they wanted to was amazing. 

Best TV

7. All the Smoke with Kobe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3KIyEgCgc) - Maybe it was just his death, but it hits hard, and I miss him. Does this even count as TV? 

6. Looking for Alaska - It felt like gratuitous masochism to watch this and enjoy it, being 20 years older than when I fell for it, and feeling ashamed of the young person I was, but even knowing what was coming, I was weeping when it happened. Even knowing that they were ultimately going on a fruitless search and yelling at the TV while the Colonel and Pudge were searching for “signs” and hating them for it, I remember feeling like everything HAD to happen for a reason when I was this young... So yeah. It’s pure nostalgia for me. I’d be super interesting in hearing how kids responded to it. 

5. Locke and Key - I get that some people feel like they don’t need old shit in a new medium, but for me, I’m always up to try it out. If it’s fun, I’ll stick with it. And this is. It’s fun, it’s got some of the old shit, it’s got some new shit, and it’s a treat to see my favorite comic of the last decade in a new medium. Haters need a new bit. 

Fargo s1 and s4 (I didn’t love S3) - I know that I’m in the minority here, but I think 1 and 4 are the best and 2 was good, and 3 was fine. I literally watched all of this show this year, though, so I didn’t have the same time to digest as others. But I think that’s a benefit in some regards? 

4. Magicians s5 - One of the saddest conversations of the last year to two was when a nerd friend of mine said he didn’t like The Magicians because all of the characters were whiny and self-indulgent. For me, that was almost literally the point: they shoved Q into the corner and told the story of the others (at least one episode quite self-referentially so) and it was so much better for that. I wish it hadn’t ended, but I’m glad they left it where they did, because it was so good.  

3. Devs esp. The beginning of e5 - Jesus. The show of the year? Except for the fact that Watchmen came out at the tail end of last year, and I didn’t have it on my 2019 list? I mean, honestly, is there a show more tailored to me? I’m not gonna get into any spoilers, but it’s a quick watch, and it’s fucking fantastic. Watch it, have your mind blown by the concept, especially in the beginning sequence of E5, and then stick around for the subpar ending where basically all of the threads are resolved in the least good way. 

2. Watchmen - This deserves multiple re-watches and all the praise that people heaped upon it. 

1. The Good Place - I know, objectively, that Watchmen was a better show than The Good Place. But this is my list, and I’ll be damned if anything overtakes my favorite sitcom (maybe of all time?) for best of the year. I know it barely just ended this year, and there’s plenty of acclaim to go around for this show, but honestly, every time I talk to anyone about it, it feels like they kind of laugh it off. This show is not only worth your time, but should almost be considered must-watch material. If more people watched this show, we wouldn’t need the insult “sophomoric” to describe people who’ve just had their minds blown by Philosophy 101, and we’d be better off as a species. 

Honorable Mention Movies

In this order, and you can take the comedies and make them the only honorable mentions, if you’d like to make a nice, even top 10. (Until I saw Tenet the night before I posted this.( (And then I looked back at the playing cards that we use to randomly choose movies and I found that I needed to modify the Honorable Mentions and the Best Of lists.) 

21 and 22 Jump Street - In general, I’m not a fan of comedies. So I’m happy I watched these, thanks to Nathan Zed, and they’re funny. Good work guys. 

Palm Springs - Apparently there’s now backlash against Groundhog Day? I dunno, man, it was fun, and all the actors seemed like they were having a good time, and I was down for it. 

Parasite - I can’t add anything to this that hasn’t already been shouted from the rooftops, so let me just briefly say that I thought it was great, but it didn’t quite make the list of best. The combo of genres was great, the cast was fantastic, but what I loved the most about it was how quiet it was.

Best Movies

10. Blinded by the Light - Way more resonant than I thought it’d be from the previews, and I already thought it was gonna be stellar. I didn’t take into account TIME along with place, and that made a hell of a difference for this movie. 

9. Shoplifters - Yeesh. What a tough watch, but so good, and so necessary. For me, I think we watched it back to back to back with Parasite and I, Tonya, and this one just stood out so much more. The storyline was softer all the way through, but really had gravitas simultaneously. 

8. Tenet - It was fucking fun! I don’t get the hate! I liked it, I’ll like it more next time I see it, and I wish I’d seen it on the big screen, but I’m super glad I could see it on my TV! 

7. I, Tonya - Geez, what a powerhouse of acting. Not only did they get me to feel good about the villain of my childhood, they got me to feel good about Margot Robbie, who I’d only thought of as a hot lady before. Superb acting from everyone else, too, and what a great pick up to be like, yeah, this is the story we’re gonna tell. 

6. I Am Not Your Negro - I avoided watching it for so long because I was already depressed this year, and I didn’t think I needed any more of that, but it turns out I did, and I always do, from Baldwin. He’s a master for a reason. 

5. Hamilton - I know there was some backlash with the time difference, and I’m sure it was better to see it pre-2016 in the theater, where it’s meant to be seen, but I’m not a billionaire New Yorker, and I was plenty happy to see it when and where I could. 

4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor - I mean...what do you think? It’s so much exactly what you’re thinking it is, but then it’s even better, because it’s the real deal, and he was so good, and it’s so pure. Watch it. 

3. Her Smell - Elizabeth Moss has already gotten all the acclaim, but to play this different of a role, in a movie that felt as stressful as Uncut Gems, but pulled off an actual plot so much more successfully? I can’t believe this one didn’t get more pub, but then again, yes I can: it’s a movie about a girl band that rages against the machine, and she’s got severe issues. Small surprise that the people didn’t react well. Seek this one out! 

2. Arrival - Yes, I am going to totally cheat and put a movie that’s appeared on my list (sooooo long ago) as the #2 entry this year. You know why? Cuz fuck 2020, and this is a great movie, and it’s the movie that made me feel second best this year. It’s incredible, and I know people appreciated it in its time, but I feel like they should appreciate it even more. 

1. Moonlight - It’s not a shock, nor am I trying to appease anyone with anything. It’s just that I finally watched it, and it’s the best movie I saw this year. I don’t think I could possibly add anything to the authentic critics who have already heaped praise upon it, but I do have to say that it’s all due, and so much more. The acting obviously stands out, but the direction, from the color palettes, to the choice of when and where (and how) to break it up, are all masterful choices.  

[overcaffeinated-creative]

Solus Vetra, Modern AU

Title: I have the Best Work Stories Ever

Rating: T

Characters: Unnamed New Guy, Solus Vetra, Pre Vizsla, Akaan Kast

Summary: A new guy gives a first person run down of the wildest day in his blossoming Kyr’tsad career. Solus shows off what makes her a total badass. Assume they’re operating within an American HQ.

Notes: This was inspired by the introduction scene of Natasha in Iron Man 2. You know the one. There’s a lampshade for it.

Being the New Guy always sucked. If there is someone to be blamed for something going wrong it will be you. Food and coffee runs also became your job without your approval. The really sadistic bastards made up things for you to find on wild snipe hunts to supposedly find. No one cared if you have known each other half your damned lives (looking at you, Conner, who has shared my room for ever family thing since birth) because you are Fresh Meat. If leaving out key information could result in something funny they just had to do it. Because all that matters in the end is there’s a new di’kut around HQ to be tormented until the next batch arrives.

Take for example, no one telling me that Vizsla’s personal assistant was one of those vode. Basic warnings were given (because they’re all shebs but they’re not intentionally malicious shebs) about how things ran. Careful with the loud noises if her name is highlighted red on our intra-communication network, don’t mind the black Husky in the service vest (his name is Sen and they openly argue with each other), and the sweet black and silver Cadillac CTS V in the parking lot is hers. It was to be given a wide berth and never, ever startle her when she’s getting in or out. Things can (and do) go sideways with sparks.

Getting to their sheb quality was no one ever braced me for what she looks like. See, Solus Vetra is one of those bathed-in-the-blood-of-the-Ka’ra, born-in-a-fiery-burst-reeking-of-Mandokarla, my-loyalty-is-only-to-the-true-Manda’lor names. Anyone who knows their history knows Aliit Vetra was one of those old school families; as in ancient old school. The kind that is (still) dripping money, are very proud of being Mandalorian, and who have the past to make Renaissance Borgia look tame and never got caught doing any of it. So, this petite, smoking hot, white haired, Asian chick was not who I pegged for Solus Vetra. (In fact, I found out my pick for Solus Vetra out of seeing the Higher Ups was actually Bo-Katan Kryze...a different level of Traditionalist asskicker but not the PA) Every single time I had seen Vetra she was dressed to the nines, wearing labels even I know mean Wealth, and darting around with her face buried in a tablet and wearing this tweaked Google Glass display. Basically, I would have bought her as one of the Duchess’ people before Vizsla’s...well ever. There was too much Silicon Valley Tech Start Up in her look.

Assuming makes an ass out of you and me as the saying went.

Near a month into my tenure with the company was when the Day of Reckoning all went down. In the span of three hours she went from Pepper Potts with her unruly boss and love of art to Natasha Romanoff with everything you would expect of the world’s best spy. (Seriously, I want to know if we have a Black Widow Program and if that’s where we found her. Because she is scary.) First, came The Argument with the Boss that would have made a lesser man piss himself. Few hours later, she popped up in the gym sparking The Beat Down to her vocal heckler. It cemented her as Certified Badass in my mind and shot her to the top of my “Never Ever Fuck With” List.

The Argument was held in an adjacent meeting room to the fourth floor supply closet at 10:23 AM. I was down there looking for this weirdly specific ink cartridge for our satanic printer when this feeling of doom washed over me. I swear the room dropped ten degrees while clicking suddenly picked up. It was like gearing up for a boss fight in the wrong area of a video game. You just knew shit was about to go down and it was not going to go in your favor at all. Instead of some kind of insectoid monster making the noise it was the rapid fire click of $1200 USD, real python pumps (I got curious enough to Google how much her red soled kicks cost and the answer is more than my rent) beating down on the tile floor with a Purpose.

I have to say a Smart Man would have waited for the danger to pass and ran away. This is where I say I am not a smart man. Di’kut is the right title for me because I stayed to eavesdrop...and maybe a little (a lot) of stunned silence freezing me into place. See, she cornered ‘Alor in the recently emptied meeting room with this chilled civility. I heard the door close with this crisp professionalism (how is that even possible?) before she started reaming him. 

It turned out Vetra was a Smart Person because she had a lot of languages to yell in. I lost track of the clearly individual ones after the five mark. Whatever he did (I speak English and Mando’a with some passable Spanish to her rapid fire Everything) it had to have been bad if she was suicidal enough for this. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows Vizsla can be a giant kad when he feels like and he always feels like it. When he started yelling back I had the kneejerk reaction to go help her. Again, Vetra is Small and I am a Dumbass. Before I could move, her voice shot up a couple more decibels in the angriest (and I had Dred Priest overseeing part of my training) Mando’a to have ever been uttered. Then it was drop a pin and hear it echo for eternity silent.

Conner sent three texts while I was holding my post (and my breath) behind several stacks of xerox paper. Just to keep him from blowing my cover I shot back it was taking a while to dig around and he left me alone. It was a good thing because without their yelling-and with my luck-I would have gotten busted. Until this, I would have picked getting busted by Vetra...every time really. I knew what she looked like smiling in a good mood without someone dying. A’lor only smiled when things were going to shit for someone else. Now...now it was way harder. Since she had the gett’se to get in the Manda’lor’s face and live. But, he was not only a giant kad but one who could survive her wrath. I had no winning options except to hope for a mercy kill from a heart attack or something.

My internal strife stopped when I heard them pass by the closet door and they were...laughing? What in the hell had I missed falling down that rabbit hole? Twenty minutes ago she threatened to cut his gett’se off and parade them around with the stick he kept up his ass. Now, they were friends? What kind of fucking magic did he just pull? Could I learn it? Holy Shit. Pre Vizsla knew how to laugh? Without murder and chaos raining down around him? What kind of magic did she have?

Keeping it on the safe side I waited another ten minutes to return to my desk.

Witnessing The Beat Down was one of the best things to happen in my twenty years of living. Seriously, it came straight out of a movie it was so unbelievably awe-inspiring to see. Angels sang, the lights of the heavens shined down, and I watched the best ass kicking to have ever went down this year and possibly ever. A little digging around and the offer of enough uj cake even got me a full on video of the event. It makes the bad days better in twenty-five seconds.

Everything kicked off when I stopped by our gym when my shift ended at one. The shellshock from overhearing The Argument kept my head shoved pretty firmly up my ass. (I mean, that had to go down in some kind of history right? PA owns Manda’lor with words alone. It was going down in my history.) Conner picked up on something being off enough to leave my ink cartridgeless ass alone. I think he assumed I walked in something I shouldn’t see. Namely that nympho from Recruitment climbing some of the ground team guys...again. Why in the hell he was into men who could pass for hockey goalies, missing teeth and all, I would never know...fucking Canadian.

Somewhere between changing into workout gear and returning to the main room Vetra had shown up. Okay. I mean, I guess anyone could work out here and she was a Vetra? I had to assume she had at least basic self defense training. That had always been a huge part of the Mando Culture, especially with the Traditionalists. On second glance, I saw she was still in her outfit of the day. She even had her tablet with the intention of getting Kast to sign something. That made way more sense. Yeah, she would square off verbally with her boss but this would not be a verbal battle. Knowing how to defend herself was important; throwing the ground forces around moved away from that. It went more into the, “This is going to horribly wrong. Why are you brushing up the Basics with them?” because they could break her.

Remember, how I said I’m a dumbass and not to make assumptions? This is a good time to remember that I am one because I made the same mistake twice.

But, so was Akaan Kast.

See, Akaan Kast was a cycle ahead of me in training with a reputation for being both a bully and a show off. He thought because he was directly assigned to a company in HQ he was a Big Deal. “Kasts are always around the most powerful," he liked to brag, “Because we are the most powerful and recognize our own.” However, that did not get him an invitation into the Nite Owls or the A’lor’s personal company. Both ate him alive even if he refused to acknowledge it. (If I toasted the gods for that good fortune a few different nights no one had to know.) He also had this Thing for trying to impress Traditionalist girls. (Don’t ask me what it was because I tuned it out every time he tried to pontificate on the subject.) Plus, Priest liked the guy and that is all anyone needs to know.

Point was Kast was being up to his usual antics and Vetra was taking None of It. Everything in her body language screamed “Predator ready to maul a man’s face off” masked behind this stone cold smile. Picturing her with pinned back ears and bared fangs looked too right. All she wanted was him to sign something on her tablet but he was being Difficult. The last man who made her life Difficult was chewed up and spit out with words alone. This was going to be funny as hell to witness.

“Kast, sign,” she huffed while jabbing the tablet into his chest. “Then we both can get back to our jobs.”

“You can call me Akaan and I’ll call you Solus,” he started off in complete ignorance. Except not. He clearly knew he was riling her up. “What if we trade instead? You get a true combat lesson then I’ll sign.”

“Kast, do you damn job. Sign now. That’s an order.”

“Can you really give orders as a personal assistant? Thought you job was to fetch coffee and answer phones.”

All eyes were sneaking glances at them by this point but no one was stepping in. I was a little confused. Some of these people had to have been around when Vetra first come through. Some of them even looked amused at her being hassled. I knew Kyr’tsad had a Reputation but I thought taking care of their own was part of it. Letting Kast be a kad to their own wasn’t taking care of her.

“If I’m echoing an order of the Manda’lor I can.”

“Just a fifteen minute lesson? It's been a while since you've been out in the field. Wanna make sure you can keep that pretty little head on.” I gagged at this point. How disgusting could someone be? How could he thing this was even going to work in his favor? Was she supposed to be impressed with his only okay muscles and terrible (Ba’buir would call it Americanized) attitude? Did he really think insults would work?

“Fine.”

Anyone who has ever met another human being knows fine is past “Fuck You” on the Scale of Responses. But, Kast looked pleased with himself while Vetra pointedly left most of her belongings on a bench. Which was a lot of belonging to just be moving around the office. Tablet, Goggle Glass, ear piece, earrings, watch, bracelet, shoes, cell phone, suit jacket, and top shirt? I guess if I paid that much (I had no idea the real price but I could only imagine) for a button up I would avoid getting it dirty too. Course I’d never pay who knows how much for a shirt no matter how soft it was.

I edged closer to their makeshift ring to see what was going down. Fantastic choice on my part. See, Kast made some off-handed comment about the cutesy tattoo he could see through her undershirt. He asked what it was prompting her to offer a clear view; a colorful Barn Owl nestled on her hip. Here, Barn Owls had a special meaning because they were only for the Nite Owls. The Nite Owls, being Kryze’s personal team of unmatched Spec Ops ghosts who could probably destabilize an entire first world country over night or something ridiculous. So, Huge Deal.

I put several fragments of thoughts together all at once; Kast did not. He asked why she had that Mark of Honor. Made some vague comment about why it was important “just a personal assistant” could not just wear it around. As the cherry on top he even tried to lecture her on the rules and demanded it be removed. I could detect the jealousy in his voice. He wanted one of those tattoos and would never get one.

Have you ever seen a six foot, three inch wall of could have been Alabama linebacker get his ass handed to him by about five feet and some change of definitely could be a model? I just did. It. Was. Awesome.

Before he could finish his spiel she had him on the ground. Not with dirty shots, simple but effective basics, or even an unexpectedly lucky flail. Hell no. It was like watching absolute poetry in motion. A twist of the hand in front of her face, launching her body up and over his arm to flip him forward, with his neck trapped between her thighs and his arm pinned. That held down hand looked like it was really hurting with the way she had it twisted. Everything Solus Vetra did in that moment was built to show the fuck off. When I said Natasha Romanoff I meant it.

He tapped out and she waited a few seconds longer before releasing him to gracefully rise. “Your lesson got my suit dirty. I’ll have payroll deduct the dry cleaning costs from your next check. Providing there is one of course.” In a flash she popped back up while he remained sprawled in an undignified heap. Hands on her hips, red lips pulled into a feral smile she looked down at him, “I’m the Alii'alor of Vetra and a Nite Owl within Kyr’tsad. I earned my colors and you have earned nothing. You challenged both my honor and my authority. Good luck explaining that one to A’lor.”

I have no idea if I am in love or if I am going to be scared for my life from here on out...maybe both...definitely both. At least, Kyr’tsad is fun to work for if it is a hot mess.

[cienie-isengardu]

[Rebels] Heroes of Mandalore

I’ve stopped watching regularly SW: Rebels somewhere after first season, but I keep coming back for episodes about Mandalorian. The Heroes of Mandalore aren’t exception. Though most of times I wonder why the hell I still bother to do so.

To be fair, the newest episode(s) have interesting and beautiful moments, like:

new informations about mandalorian art (though I would like know more about Tojnun and the Pre-Exile Masters)

the reversed roles with Ursa (a female character; the wife & mother) is the leader & veteran warrior while her husband is the artist who, so far, did not show any combat capabilities (”My dad fights with his art”)

Bo-Katan is showed as capable warrior and leader and she is pretty good at what she is doing for past decade(s)

Sabine - and her past - once again is important part of the story

Fenn’s “show off” and in general, the evolution of his character

the ending scene of the first episode

Mandalorian for good now are visible diverse group insted of all-white TCW!version

A scene where three main female characters (all leaders & warriors in their own way) get together to discuss future of Mandalore. That alone is something pure and beautiful in so many ways, and I wouldn’t mind to get used to such scenes, really.

But though all of those points were great and fun, there is also a lot things that are, well, stupid. As in: pointless compared to the old canon/Legends. And yes, I’m biased, I know, but then again, new canon gives me time after time more reasons to be distrustful for its content. What means, I’m going to rant about Mandalorians.

The things tha pissed me off for good:

the whole Mandalorian without armor is no more than a common soldier bullshit. Seriously. You know what was great about Legends!Mando, beside how diverse they were? The armor was preciuos thing, sure, but it meant nothing, if person wearing it didn’t deserve the title of Mandalorian warrior. Just like that. Legends!Mando had saying about it: ``A warrior is more than one's armor.``

The armor is not what makes a Mandalorian. This is one of basic thing one must understands about their whole culture. Mandalorians were taught from early age to fight without it, without technology, without weapon to be strong and capable to survive if they were deprived of such things. There were even a time(s), when mandalorian ore wasn’t available to make new armours - or, like The Bounty Code mentioned: the armours were destroyed by New Mandalorian - so the warriors used other materials, like duresteel. And it was fine, no one really cared for such details. For Force’s sake, Boba Fett used durasteel armour, and even though he screwed up almost all rules of Mandalorian Code (what, btw, had only 6! conditions), he was still seen as Mando.

In short: you may deprive someone of armor, but it will not make someone less Mandalorian. Just no.

What makes the whole Sabine’s epic talk about her armour - how its part of their identity, how “it makes us, Mandalorians, who we are” is so... odd and impractical.

I’m ranting about this not only because of my bias toward New Canon, but seriously, Ezra’s question why not change armour for something different is actually smart and pragmatic thing to do - especially since the heroes planned to attack an Imperial forces who happened to have a weapon that will kill anyone with beskar’gam. This was desperate attack, to destroy weapon before imperials figure out how to increase its reach. It’s really laughable that Mandalorians didn’t change their armors for similar to those of stromtroopers what actually would minimize the threat of the superweapon in the first place, and thus, Sabine and Bo-Katan wouldn’t even be trapped later. Seriously, tactical increase of their own chances is not synonymous with change once for all their culture.

And frankly, it would be much better to see Saxon’s priceless face when he would learn that Sabine & her warriors actually adapted themselves to the new situation, that they put the survival and freedom of their nation above own pride to wear non-mandalorian armors for this mission.

What leads me to the second stupidity, the whole let a genius prodigy child to “fix” a weapon that was constructed to kill everyone Sabine loves. Like it was totally rational thing to do, sure, w h a t e v e r.

At this point, I once again lost faith in new canon. I mean, most - if not all - Legends!Mandalorians would just set weapon to self-destruct and died with knowledge that 1) weapon was destroyed and 2) enemy was killed with it. Sure, fine, Sabine is genius, she used it against Saxon - who shouldn’t be so fucking stupid in the first place. I can’t, I really can’t anymore, it was so obviously stupid thing to do, I can’t even find a proper words for that.

The third issue, much less important but still so irritating for me - the lack of mentioning Pre Vizsla, while at the same time constant talking about Satine, like she was some goddamn freedom fighter who lead Mandalore to its independence from Republic/Jedi/Empire. I’m sorry, but as much as I agree she wouldn’t like what Empire did to her people and the whole galaxy, I don’t believe she could do much about it. For the peace, she rejected oldfashioned ways of Mandalorian warriors, their culture & heritage and frankly, I don’t think her character did much in the TCW beside dying for Obi-Wan’s angsty sake.

I don’t really waited for lofty speeches in honor of Pre Vizsla, but it would be nice to see at least Bo-Katan mention him once or twice. Especially when Sabine presented her darksaber which Maul beheaded her friend / close ally (though I think her line “I am not the leader you seek” may refer to Pre, especially since she said that after seeing darksaber for the first time in a long time). Also, it would be nice to learn what happed to New Mandalorians, because I don’t think all of them became warriors or supported of Empire.

The most minor issue: calling Bo-Katan (or any mando female character) my lady? Why she couldn’t be refered as, I don’t know, a Mandalore, clan leader or something less gendered? Even if she was part of royal(?) family, such stuff aren’t important now. Sabine chose to trust Bo, not because she is sister of dead dutchess, but becase she is wise, strong and experienced leader that is already at war with Empire for more than a decade.

[izzyovercoffee]

Su'cuy, vod! I read through basically all your Mando'a posts and had some thoughts I wanted to share. I semi-actively work on a Mando'a-English-German dictionary, which opens a whole new chest of translation problems, but you gave me some great ideas, so I incorporated them into the dictionary. For example that whole sheath thing, for that I added a remark to the original word, to warn about it's connotation (didn't remove it, because 'real' dictionaries include slurs sometimes as well) 1/X

Only thing, where I differed from your idea on this was cab'gam, I used this as ‘protective case/cover’. Now some other things I thought of: On colours - you pondered about the connotations of yellow regarding ‘just/barely alive’ and its comparison to gold. I thought maybe it’s about flames/light - like a bright vivid flame is a bright gold, while the flame, when it’s only small and ->barely alive

Woo this is a long ask. I’m so sorry I’ve taken so long to get around to answering this, I’ve been very busy!! Also, I think I’m missing part 7? But I think I can extrapolate what was in it, unless you’d like to send it to me again if you still have. I’m so sorry again anon!

I’m good w/ defining cab’gam that way too, maybe as a general term for protective case, since we do technically need a general/generic word for that. So cool, that def works !! I’ll go back and note that on the original post.

Also, yeah. YEAH! You know, when I was working on that post, I didn’t even consider that it might have been referencing intensity of light/fire? But the way you put it, that may actually make more sense than the direction I was going in. I was definitely perplexed somewhat, like I was missing something. This sounds like what I was missing.

That could also apply for the heat of a flame, too. Like, referring to the intensity of the light, or the intensity of the heat, or both, depending entirely on context.

I’ll notate that in my personal references. I’ll probably come back to this in the future if/when I put one long complicated color references/resources post together again. 

Thank you for bringing that up, truly.

Meanwhile I also really like your thought and explanation on yellow and orange maybe being the same for Mandalorians. Another thing I wanted to tell you is sth you already found yourself, that saviin sounds a lot like Sabine, which seems very very likely to me, considering the long i (or rather e - from an anglophone perspective) and that [v] and [b] are very similar sounds, so maybe Sabine is like a basic transcription or a dialect form of Saviin. Regarding the meaning of the colour/name 3/X 

My etymology for it would be the following: “viin”/“bine” being a degenerated/shortened form (or even the root?) of kebiin - blue connected with “sa” - as, like, it gives “sa viin” - “like blue”, what is kind of a good description for purple/violet, implying the standard shade in mandalorian perception would be a darker bluish purple ALSO implying that the concept of purple cam up comparably late in the language, similar of the color orange getting it’s name rather late in germanic languages 4/X

Ohhh that’s such a good point! I was going color by color so I missed the connection in the effort to complete the post, which was an oversight by me sadly. But that’s such a great point ??? 

If anything it might also then directly connect the connotations of blue (reliability) with purple (adaptability, survival in adversity). They who are reliable can be depended on to adapt and survive adversity, or so on, kind of like orange (lust for life) from yellow, as thought about from above (the intensity of the flame). 

(lmao this is so awesome tbh thank you for mentioning both !! I’m like vibrating from excitement from these two points !! is that weird to say lmao let me make this hard to read so I don’t embarass myself too much)

Then I wanted to ask where you got the words cingaanar and din'waadar, as they aren’t included in the dictionary I have, what confused me little, as I also only got search results linking to your very post about it. In another post you questioned the missing of a word for child of parents sibling or was it child of sibling? Anywy, I’d say the explanation is for both rooted in the way Mandalorian society is made up. As we know the ideal is a big clan living together kinda like a commune…. 5/x

so the words cinargaanar and din’waadar were pulled from mandoa.org dictionary, which is the most popular resource. it’s also in one of the editions of the mando’a dictionary that was released via spreadsheets back in the day from Karen Traviss’ site. It looks like those spreadsheets are no longer available to access, so take that with a grain of salt, but essentially mandoa.org was/is the most comprehensive of “canon” mando’a we have to date in easy access to the general person.

Going along the common phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” any capable adult is expected to participate in bringing up the kids, so while it’s known who’s whose child it doesn’t matter enough to be shown in language. So your parent-sib-kids are just your vode (remember, vode an!) and your sib-kids are “ade” as well as your own children, it’s consens that mando'a relies heavily on context, so speaking family internally context tells who your own childs are and who aren’t. Aruetiise.. 6/X 

view about love. For Mandalorians love isn’t really an emotional thing, that’s also why we shouldn’t take “kar'taylir darasuum” lit. as “hold sm. eternally in the heart”, but rather just as “knowing someone forever”. Knowing someone for so long (or so good/deep it feels like forever) that you can unconditionally trust them and you have a strong bond with each other, that’s the mandalorian meaning of “love” With having “love” as such a hard-to-achieve state of sentiment it isn’t surprising… 8/X

Okay so it looks like I’m missing part 7/X and I’m so sorry if you don’t have it around anymore. I think I can extrapolate the meaning/context though. Again, I’m so sorry for the delay in responding.

wrt children of my siblings, I can see what you mean by that for sure. If anything, maybe instead of inferring them as vode, maybe the “proper” way is to refer to them as if they are your own children? As you mentioned “it takes a village to raise a child,” I’m wondering, now, if it’s more like … because mandalorians are so community-centered / focused, if the polite thing is to indicate that these children are “your” children, as they’re just as much an aunt/uncle’s responsibility as anyone else.

We certainly see Kal Skirata refer to all children as kid/s, or his kids even if he has no intention of adopting them. Since he’s supposed to be a representation of appropriate parenthood (all of our issues regarding him notwithstanding), perhaps niece/nephew isn’t a specificity that is seen as necessary — maybe it’s considered an unreasonable boundary specifically when it comes to children. Notsomuch the adults, as mandalorians can divorce authority, but children are sacred and unnecessary boundaries may interfere with that?

It’s something to think about at least.

edit:: with some mulling over w/ @cassiansfuzzyjacket I’d like to note that it may be inappropriate to claim that one’s sibling’s child is “your” child, as a child’s parents still inhabit an entirely different role and space than aunts and uncles. it’s more likely KT never thought about it and thus that’s why it’s missing, but ultimately YMMV. 

wrt love, that’s definitely a possibility. I feel like love and its interpretations is contingent on … cultural … interpretations? Notsomuch in-universe as the general audience (like you and me) and what we bring from the context of our lives and perception and place upon difficult concepts such as love.

I’m definitely informed by my experiences, and so how I view love is dramatically different than maybe how you do (or the same!). and I feel like when it comes to defining love from a mandalorian point of view, we need to get into the perspective as its available to use.

what I mean is that I agree with you, when you put it that way. At least, for a good subset of mandalorians if not all of them, love may then require trust, or knowing not as knowledge but deeper than such, exactly as you said. 

it’s certainly how I’ve personally come to view love, and love as a bond that requires a foundation of trust and reliability as opposed to passion that may not be entirely well placed despite best intentions … but then again I have a difficult time myself with the conceptualization of love so I might not be the best person with which to develop words for it. 

It also concerns me bc mandalorians may have this deep difficult and complicated understanding of love, but then also culturally expect people to marry young and stay together … and we’ve seen many, many instances where this often leads to unhappy marriages, or even dramatic power imbalances within the relationship, maybe even rendering them inescapable. So how does one bridge these dramatically opposing ideals?

I mean context and culture already has, as divorce is a clearly supported thing across different power differentials so maybe the expectations aren’t restricted by law. Something to think about, in any case.

Thank you so much for your thoughts! You’ve given me a LOT to think about and mull over, and I deeply deeply appreciate it. Thank you. Vor’entye.

[ncfan-1]

K, M, and P for the meme please :)

This got long.

K - What character has your favoritedevelopment arc/the best development arc?

Ibelieve that one of the last few times I played this meme, I answered LondoMollari from Babylon 5. I still standby believing he has a fantastic character arc (And if you’re curious about Babylon 5, it’s a fantastic show, and he’sone of the best parts of it). A lot of people, I know, would put Zuko down forthis one. But having replayed KOTOR 2 recently, I think the Exile (when youplay Light Side) has a great character arc throughout the course of the game.Granted, this is kind of dependent on player choices even beyond being LightSide, and is kind of dependent on my head canon, but me, I play that game andwatch a broken-down, apathetic woman regain her sense of purpose, refuse to letgo of it again, and save the galaxy in the process. The whole game is heremotional journey, and it’s incredible to watch.

M - Name a character that you’d like to havefor a friend.

IdrilCelebrindal, and also her husband, Tuor, from the Silmarillion would both make very good friends, I think. Idril iswise and perceptive, and Tuor is optimistic and determined.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (wealways need more ideas).

(Thisactually happens to be a fic—or fics—idea I’m planning on writing eventually.)

Okay,after the events of KOTOR 2, the Exile—Kalani—goes looking for Revan. Atton’salong for the ride, because no matter what TOR or that novel have to say on the matter, the trajectory of the game wasdefinitely pointing towards him going with her. So it’s them in the Ebon Hawk, with T3-M4 and HK-47.

Theystop at Citadel Station to drop off everybody else, since as it happens,everybody else has other plans (Asides from rebuilding the Jedi Order, that is;it’s an important goal for them all—asides from Mandalore, and maybe Atton andMira—but secondary to their concerns right now). Bao-Dur’s getting back in withthe Telos Restoration Project. Mira’s heading back to Nar Shaddaa to settle oldaffairs there, and for other reasons that she doesn’t want to share with therest of them. Visas has hitched a ride with Mandalore and the Mandalorians backto Dxun; why, no one but her and Canderous really seem to understand. Mical isresuming his search of various Jedi Academies across the Outer Rim, and he’sbeen given clearance to enter the Temple on Coruscant, so he’s going to gothere and see if anything can be salvaged (He’s also planning on readying it asa base of operations for what admittedly is going to wind up being an extremely decentralized new Jedi Order).They’re also dropping off the HK-51 droids that showed up out of nowhere on theship after they were done on Malachor V, much to everyone (sans HK-47’s)relief.

Kalaniinsists on taking Atris with them in the EbonHawk. Atris isn’t really good to be left to her own devices right now—thoughKalani is more worried about Atris doing harm to herself than others—and needssupervision. There’s also the matter of getting her away from all of those Sithholocrons, and figuring out what to do with them (Kalani is seriouslycontemplating putting them in a box and letting them drift into the neareststar; it seems the safest way of disposing of them). Brianna is coming alongfor the ride, too. Atris had sent the other Handmaidens home to Eshan, buttheir family wouldn’t take Brianna, thanks to the stigma against children bornout of wedlock in their culture, and the fact that Yusanis is no longer aliveto shelter his youngest child. Brianna doesn’t really have anywhere else to go,so the Ebon Hawk and the search forRevan is her only real option.

Somebodyelse hitches a ride on the Ebon Hawk atTelos: Bastila. Carth can’t join the search, as much as he would like to.Revanasi is not part of my fic head canon, though I don’t mind the ship itself.Instead, I imagine their relationship as being rather like Marlin and Dory’s inFinding Nemo and Finding Dory, and a good quote for it would be Guinan’s from TNG’s ‘TheBest of Both Worlds’: “closer than friends, closer than family.” Carth ishorribly, intensely worried about Revan—whose post-brainwashing name is Jìngyī Yuen—buthis duties in the Republic fleet don’t allow him to leave to go looking forher. Bastila is also horribly, intensely worried about Jìngyī; she wants to findher, bring her home, and she feels that the bond the two of them share mightallow her to help Kalani in the search.

It’s…not a fun trip.

Atton,as you can imagine, is extremely tense with Bastila and especially Atris on board, worried of one or both of them digginghis past out of his head. He and Kalani have an understanding that what theyspoke of was between them, and Kalani agrees that it would be bad, really bad, if Atris found out, even asshe is now. Atton is okay with Kalani; he’s okay with Bao-Dur, with Visas andMira, even somewhat okay with Mical nowadays. But he is not okay with Atris and Bastila, especially as, to him, they’reboth the embodiment of the Jedi who could not give less of a fuck as the OuterRim burned during the Mandalorian Wars, but were more than happy to try to tearthe galaxy apart during the Jedi Civil War. He avoids Atris and tends to becool, bordering on hostile, towards Bastila.

(Thefact that Atris is his girlfriend’s ex doesn’t help matters. He knows thatrelationship is stone dead, but the fact that the two women still have suchstrong reactions towards each other, pretty clearly still have feelings for oneanother, well… Atton is both more than a little insecure, and more than alittle worried for Kalani’s well-being.)

Kalaniis still recovering from everything that happened with Kreia, and the idea thatshe is a Wound in the Force and may or may not be unconsciously psychicallydominating her companions is weighing heavily on her mind, even with Micaltrying to reassure her that the Council was full of shit and were so ready tochalk up every success of hers to her being a Wound in the Force that they didn’teven take into account that she is genuinely a very inspiring person withouttaking the Force into account. Her history with Atris complicates mattersfurther; all the old wounds there, the scar tissue slowly pulling open.

Andthere’s the fact that she’s dreading having to meet with Revan again. She knewRevan the legend much better than she knew Revan the person. They didn’t getalong very well, and there’s the fact that Revan basically set Kalani up to beeither killed or turned to the Dark Side at Malachor V; I feel like evenwithout HK-47’s comment about Revan ‘cleaning house’ at Malachor V, she couldprobably have extrapolated that. Kalani isn’t like Bastila. Kalani doesn’t knowJìngyī Yuen, redeemed; she only knows Revan, whom she once idolized, and whonow inspires mingled fear and loathing in Kalani. Kalani is trying to trackdown Revan because she believes that that’s what’s best for the Republic, butthat doesn’t mean she has to like it.She and Bastila, who was close to Jìngyī, after all, get into arguments aboutit from time to time.

I headcanon Bastila as having once been a student of Atris’s. I’ve noticed as I playthrough KOTOR I that she has some mannerisms in common with Atris—the way she gesticulateswhen she talks, for instance. Her tendency towards dogmatism, her (stronglyimplied) isolation from her peers, going far beyond what I would expect fromeven a Jedi, and the fact that Bastila is frankly the most tightly-wound personI have ever come across in a piece ofStar Wars media, have Atris’sfingerprints all over them. I imagine Bastila as having come under Atris’s careafter the Mandalorian Wars broke out and Kalani left to fight. Atris would havebeen a stern teacher even at the best of times, but after this happened, yeah,Atris was not the sort of person who should have ever been put in charge of a child, especially not a naturallyhigh-strung child like Bastila probably was to start with.

MyBastila actually left the Jedi Order a few months after the events of KOTOR I.She had a strong desire to proactively go good that she had no outlet for nowthat the Jedi Civil war was over and the Jedi were expected to file back totheir surviving Enclaves and Academies, withdrawing from the affairs of the galaxyat large. She had questions for the Council that they had no answers that theywere willing to give her, like why they’d been treating Bastila more like aweapon than a person over the last several years. And Bastila had noticed adifference in the way she was treated post fall and redemption, a differencethat made her feel even more isolated and alone than she already had.

Soyeah, Bastila left the Jedi Order, and proceeded to become the second personthat year to have a nervous breakdown/existential crisis in Carth Onasi’sliving room (I head canon Jìngyī and Bastila both as having crashed with Carthafter they, independently of one another, left the Jedi Order after the eventsof KOTOR I). Bastila’s feelings towards the Order are extremely complicated.She wouldn’t have left if she had felt like she had any real choice, if she hadeven the slightest chance for a life she felt like she could actually live with them. She has no lightsaber,and is no longer part of the Order, but verymuch still considers herself a Jedi. After a while of trying, to no avail,to find a job (life in the Order left her extremely ill-equipped for lifeoutside of it), she, with Carth’s help, gets involved with the planetaryrestoration efforts, and being able to do real, active good helps her come toterms, somewhat.

As forher relationship with Atris, Atris came down on Bastila pretty hard after herfall and redemption, but when Bastila actually left the Order for good? Then,the two of them had a truly horrific falling-out, nearly as bad as Kalani’sfalling-out with Atris was, minus the added complication of a previousromantic/sexual relationship. So for the two of them to have to be on the sameship at the same time is, umm, not pleasant for anyone.

Atrisis not murderous, and understands that what she did, regarding the Order,Katarr and Kalani, was wrong, but she is extremely brittle, extremelyshort-tempered, and just kind of broken. She rarely ventures out of the starboarddormitories, and just tends to sit on one of the beds, staring at the wall. Shecan be coaxed into speech, can be coaxed into ‘life,’ but something’s justsnapped inside of her—or, rather, something snapped in her a long time ago, andshe’s just now realizing it, just now feeling it. She’s not sure how to makeamends for everything she’s done, not sure if she even can, and this uncertainty leaves her paralyzed. She gets intobitter arguments with Bastila, into screaming matches with Kalani that leaveone or both of them in tears.

Briannais just sort of left to cope with her surrogate mother having completely fallenapart, and with her surrogate mother’s ex-girlfriend and ex-student being onboard and all of the messy baggage that comes with that. There’s also heremerging Force Sensitivity, and her desire to explore that clashing with thevows she swore.

Juhanimay or may not join the crew at some point. Yuthura Ban, too. This is really, really not a fun trip, and it’s only thedroids who aren’t dealing with baggage.

That’snot to say it’s unrelenting fear, tension and misery. There are a few softerspots.

Kalaniand Atton, with the events of their game taken care of, actually have time todevelop a romantic relationship. PDA freaks Bastila out like nothing else can,which is annoying, but it freaks her out in such an amusing way that they almost don’t care. Kalani and Bastila, whenthey aren’t arguing about Revan/Jìngyī, find common ground commiserating overtheir miserable relationships with Atris. Brianna gets kind of starry-eyedwhenever she speaks to Bastila and especially Kalani, and when the matter isbrought up, Atris is surprisingly okay with the two of them teaching Briannathe ways of the Force; Kalani and Bastila find further common ground inteaching Brianna. If Juhani’s on board, she and Bastila are of course friendlywith one another, and they support each other emotionally. If Yuthura is onboard, she actually gets on fairly well with Kalani and Atton both. Atriscan occasionally be persuaded to come out of the starboard dormitory and spendnon-miserable time with Kalani, Brianna, and/or Bastila.

Whenthey actually find Jìngyī, well… It’s a mess. Partially because Jìngyī is,herself, a complete, fucking mess of a person. Her memories are fractured; sheremembers that Revan found evidence of a Sith Empire beyond the Rim, but solittle beyond that that she’s just stuck searching worlds in Unknown Space fortraces of it. Her sense of identity is fractured. She remembers only bits andpieces of her life before being brainwashed and having the false memoriesimplanted; there are huge, gaping holes in memory. My Jìngyī basically fellapart after the events of KOTOR I, because with the Star Forge destroyed, therewas nothing to distract her from her crawling fears regarding Revan and her ownidentity. Her mental state can be best summed up by the phrase “afraid to sleepbecause every time she does she fears that she will never wake up again, butthat the shadow in the back of her mind will wake up and walk away wearing herskin.” ‘Revan’ feels more like a shadow to her than something, someone she actually was, once. It wouldhelp if her implanted memories had more substance to them, but they’re onlybare bones; they were designed that way, the better to avoid inconsistenciesshe might pick up on (And thinking about a life she never really lived ispainful and confusing anyways). She’s desperately trying to find traces of the SithEmpire almost more because she needs a distraction from her crawling fears thanbecause she’s trying to protect the Republic.

Kalaniwants to hate her. She is, when she finds her, genuinely extremely frustratedwith her, and loses her temper with her easily (Atton is genuinely surprised,but this is easily the angriest he’s ever seen her get). But she can’t hate Jìngyī, because she’s not theterrible, towering figure she remembers. She’s just a frightened, miserablewreck of a person who’s trying in her own fumbling way to do good. She can’tremember Kalani at all. She can’t remember using and using Kalani, and thenbreaking and throwing her away once she wasn’t useful anymore. Bastila has toexplain to Jìngyī who Kalani is and why she should know her. And it’s not goodbecause, oh, look, here’s yet anotherpiece of closure permanently denied to Kalani, but she just can’t bring herselfto hate someone so genuinely pitiable,and that’s just the story of Kalani’s life, having to find a way to move onwhen closure is denied her. Jìngyī is eventually wrangled onto the Ebon Hawk and carted back off toRepublic space. It’s easier than Kalani thought it would be.

[otakunoculture]

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Fan Expo Vancouver (FXV) is eight years old! This event began in 2012 and over the years saw plenty of ups and downs. It shifted from a February event to November, and now it’s back in its mainstay of late Winter. The latest event took place a few weeks ago, during this province’s Family Day last month and attendance was quite good. Pairing this event with a long weekend felt good, and to have this event run from Saturday to Monday may seem unusual to some, but it’ll become a norm for this event’s future. Children and parents had a place to play in! A corner was sectioned off for young wizards to sort Harry Potter style. There were bouncy balls and even a small area for costumed tykes to show off their best superhero pose.

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Ideally, the family section should be in a room of its own (cosplay contest included). When the organizers behind this show seem to be settling on using the biggest singular room possible, maximizing the space will be a challenge in the future. The huge food court area may get shrunk. Thankfully, sandwiches, doughnuts and sodas will keep attendees appetites sated. Wild Bill’s Old Fashioned Soda is looking to make a dent in the convention scene with its flavourful root beers. I couldn’t resist and picked up a souvenir cup ($40) which was freely refillable for a day. For $5 on other days, I could remain on a carbonated high. However, for those wanting something more hearty have restaurants outside the convention center to eat in, like the Tap & Barrel. Since this space stretches out to cover both stages on opposite ends, the choice is sound for those not needing a good seat for the panels offered.

Meeting comic creators in a pop culture expo is always a highlight. To name a few of the most well known talents, Todd McFarlene (creator of Spawn), Art Adams (Longshot), Michael Golden (The Micronauts), and Mike Grell (Green Arrow) appeared. McFarlene was only here for a day and he was the most popular! He signed comics (2 only) for free and truly spent time interacting with his many fans. It was a pleasure to learn McFarlene has not forgotten his Vancouver Island roots (where his family lives now) and visits on occasion. Previous years had wonderful talents which also included Bruce Timm! I felt sad that the table given to him was next to the 501st Legion, so he did not get the foot traffic he truly deserved. The variety changes every year, and some talents enjoy returning to the Pacific Northwest (they have booths at Emerald City Comic Con too).

Overall, the vibe is very different when compared to past shows. This year, new sponsors came on board. London Drugs is gone and I think this decision is for the best. Although I miss LEGO, I understand the marketing perspective of when they don’t have a new product to sell, there’s no point in being present. Hewlett Packard is gone in favour of local reps MSI and The Gaming Stadium for proper representation of e-sports. Even to my surprise was space for SHUX, a board game convention which takes place in October. This year, Fan Expo Vancouver offered pretty much everything this city has in fandom in its various aspects.

Representation from nearly all the past television shows and present was generally well received. They had Madelaine Petsch from Riverdale. From Star Trek: The Next Generation, Marina Sirtis and LeVar Burton made appearances. There was even Oscar Nuñez and Brian Baumgartner from The Office. Giancarlo Esposito from The Mandalorian was perhaps the biggest surprise, and he offered hints at what’s to come for season two. Most of that information has been speculated on, and we will learn how his character obtained the Dark Saber! He said filming is done and now in post-production; perhaps a tease will be ready in time for San Diego Comic Con!

Nearly a third of the cast from The Flash and Battlestar Galactica were present during the three days. Lineups to meet the stars were modest. Some seemed to have struggled, almost suggesting X-Files is past its prime but that did not deter talents like Nicolas Lea, Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis from sitting back and seeing what the fandom is like now when compared to when their shows were really popular.

One convention attendee I spoke to said that when film/tv crew also attends these events, they would rather see other talents who are not local. They can see and talk to them when at work, mostly in technical matters of recording, and I can see their point. I’m impartial, since I’m still waiting for more Stargate to appear in non-Creation Con shows. Not everyone can afford the “higher costs” of tiered seating just to see and meet their favourite actors/actresses. FXV teased fans last year with stars from Stargate: Universe, but to get the SG-1 crew may be tough. Richard Dean Anderson is a family man now. Amanda Tapping is working hard behind the scenes, directing a lot of fan favourites in Vancouver. Michael Shanks and Lexa Doig have their respective shows to be in, and as for where Teryl Rothery is, her work in the new Nancy Drew series will eventually bring her back. These days, Christopher Judge is lending his voice to the cartoon world.

Local television personality Thor Diakow served as host for the panels with the celebrities. He asked a few what are you doing now type questions before turning the remainder of the time to the lineups by the microphone. Nothing new could be gleaned about the latest projects, but one big plug was definitely with Brendan Fraser and Tom Welling‘s The Professional. It’s described as A-Team meets Oceans 11. Of the two, Welling was very personable and a fun spirited, enjoying the show. Fraser was in top form with his humour on stage. Fans remember him more for his early career and I’m sure he wants his current projects to be in the forefront. He doesn’t want to be typecast and nobody can blame him!

Bruce Campbell returns to Fan Expo Van with really nothing to promote this time around, and fans loved him still the same. Corey Feldman is still a dream and Chandler Riggs of Walking Dead fame has really grown up! Hearing Jesse Rath talk about getting the role of Brainiac V was the panel I had to investigate for Monday. A surprise appearance by Nicole Maines (Nia) made a lot of fans happy, and I knew there was a reason I had to be present for this day!

To note, the tenth anniversary is not that far away! As whether something big will take place or not, the organizers have not made an official statement. All I can hope for is complete use of a building rather than just one space in the building.

#FanExpoVancouver 2020 In Pictures & #Convention Report #yvr #yvrevents #popculture in the #pacificnorthwest #comicbooks #thecw #theflash #battlestargalactica #startrek #themandalorean By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest) Fan Expo Vancouver (FXV) is eight years old! This event began in 2012 and over the years saw plenty of ups and downs.