#and once I figured out the perspective this was oddly fun

[charmwasjess]

Okay, I finally finished The Living Force, and as promised, I have thoughts. These are just my musings as a fan and a reader - if you enjoyed the book more than I did, I'm really glad! If you hated it, good for you too! Let people like things, let people not like things. <3 My feelings with this book were somewhat down the middle. I'm interested in reading it again in a couple months and seeing how I feel.

Overall: a fun, engaging read, genuinely hard to put down once the action starts going. The book isn’t afraid to be funny. SO MUCH GOOD JEDI CONTENT! Miller takes on a huge task trying to write perspectives for all twelve Council member characters and does a pretty good job bringing them to life. Mace and Depa steal the show. I had a hard time with some of the meta plot and overriding messages about the Jedi Order.

Andddddd the long version:

The entire conceit of the book comes about when Qui-Gon goes head to head with the Council, who are bogged down in committee red tape Senate paperwork disconnection, and challenges them to “help one person.” So inspired, the Jedi Council in its entirety goes to the planet Kwenn to help close down a hundreds-year-old Jedi Outpost. 

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan serve as the book’s inciting incident, our quest giver NPCs, who hang around close enough to the action to keep the readers who bought the book only for them engaged. It reminds me a little bit of a spin-off TV show where the fan favorite character from the original series shows up to boost ratings, saying their classic catch phrase while the live studio audience goes crazy. Look, Qui-Gon is Being Kind to Pathetic Lifeforms! Obi-Wan drops a “hello there” in the first scene! Oh, them!

Lest you think I’m being shitty, let me say that it was actually great to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on the eve of TPM working together well and having a blast. Both in Padawan and Master & Apprentice, they are still very much figuring out their relationship, and now it’s clearly evolved to its final magnificent form. They’re utterly corny together - I love that for them. This is the same pair that gave us “the negotiations were short” and the baffling “there’s always a bigger fish!”

I’ll talk a little bit about Sifo-Dyas because of course I will. He appears only in mentions, but so many of them, he's a huge part of the subtext of the book as he's recently left (been fired) from the Council and been killed - he's apparently on everyone's mind. I’ve posted about this before - I love the Seeker Sifo addition, and further, letting him be a rightful problem, a true pain in the Council’s ass and who ultimately got himself fired for not following the rules. Of course I have sympathy for him: this is a person who is beyond desperate to save his world and willing to try anything at this point in his life. And I think it’s worth mentioning that this is well within Cavan Scott’s characterization of him as a natural born troublemaker. I mean, he’s on screen for about two pages in Dooku: Jedi Lost before he just fucking literally steps on Yoda. Apparently, he never stopped. 

The book is oddly complimentary of him in weird places. Canon is inconsistent about Sifo-Dyas and how much his visions were impacting his judgment or even his simple ability to function. The last we heard of him in the Yoda comics, Sifo-Dyas was so routinely incapacitated by them that he was traveling with Lene full time. So it was cool to see that he had apparently gotten in control of them enough to be a super crucial member of the Council. Mace complains about Sifo’s absence and how that has directly impacted their entire ability to perceive the future, an acknowledged blind spot that comes up quite a lot in the prequel films and Clone Wars. Yoda goes on and on about how what a powerful Jedi he was.

...I don’t think the scene where the ENTIRE FUCKING Council round robin style takes potshots at Sifo-Dyas for *checks notes* rescuing some orphans was particularly successful. Of course, accuse me of bias, he’s a favorite character of mine, and it’s rough to see his colleagues - who are also his only friends and family - sitting around talking shit about him (to a bad guy no less!) for a page and a half, when he literally just got violently killed. (And they know he’s dead, at least, if not the circumstances. Killed on Felucia was the official story reported to the Council per wookiepedia.) Just tonally weird.

But really, I think what actually bothers me about that scene is the treatment of the baddie, Zalestra’s motivation as in any way legitimate, credible, or worth an apology by the narrative. Wow, the villain had a good point! To be clear, her issue with Sifo-Dyas taking her friends away to be Jedi is not that it changed her situation in any meaningful way in terms of care provided. It was a crime of omission. And these friends were so dear to her that she goes around indiscriminately killing Jedi of their exact generation? I suspect Miller liked his cool Nautolan Pirate Joker OC and wanted to give her a sympathetic excuse for why she was going around torturing and murdering Jedi (and just random people, including children) for fun, and “I got separated from my friends as a kid because of a Jedi” was the best he could do. Of course, it sets up Depa for a really beautiful line about not using other people as a canvas to paint grief on. 

The question of Attachment is a strong theme. Depa seems to be Going Through It - about attachment in particular, but also generally in the book. She’s shown relying a little too firmly on the no attachment cause in the wake of grief for a lost student. For example, she is quick to volunteer that Zalestra’s friends who were brought into the Temple together would be immediately separated so as to not form attachments - without pointing out the rest of that, that this separation would be specifically into Creche clans so they could bond with other Jedi kids and grow up in a community. Mace’s reaction to Depa’s attitudes make me suspect this is a Depa character growth thing, not something we’re supposed to take as a face value fact about the Jedi Order. Indeed, she ultimately overcomes her fears about this and decides to take a Padawan. And the final lines of the book include Qui-Gon defining for us that it isn’t attachment that’s a problem for Jedi – it’s indifference. 

Mace and Depa are the clear stars of the book. The Shatterpoint lineage vibes are immaculate. I’d read that the Living Force is supposed to set up an upcoming novel about Mace, and I am legitimately thrilled for it after reading this. Anyway, their dynamic is fantastic. Mace treats her 100% like a respected colleague, no cute Padawan infantilization tropes, even when he is put in situations like rescuing her after weeks of prolonged torture. Instead, he gives her his lightsaber to use, since hers has been taken. A really powerful and beautiful moment of support, while still recognizing her strength and agency. 

That said, if you’re looking for a deep dive into more obscure members of the Council or an EU/Legends junkie looking to see your favorite backstory pulled from the fire, this book might not be it.  With his five wives and seven daughters in old EU, Ki-Adi-Mundi might be the least likely Council Member to be the comedic butt of a bit revolving around awkwardness around women, but Miller goes for it, and there’s no mention of his family situation. 

Another odd reference, this time to current canon: the civilians the Council are working to help are mentioned as being the relocated survivors of the Protobranch disaster. It’s an ironic choice to frame the narrative of “the Jedi have been too focused on the big picture/the future at the expense of their duty to ordinary people” and then set the story in a community of people that the Jedi literally saved after getting a vision of the future disaster. The fact that it was our problem child Sifo-Dyas’s vision, and the rescue only happened after he and Lene outright defied the Council to get the gears moving is never mentioned or addressed, despite its seeming supreme relevance to the other themes in the story. 

For a time, I thought the narrative tension there between those two truths - that the Jedi should be concerned about ordinary people and living in the moment, but that this doom future is truly about to be a huge problem for the Jedi Order and the galaxy - was intentional. Having now finished the book, it doesn't seem to have actually been. Maybe someone else has a different perspective.

In truth, I didn’t understand what I kept reacting negatively to about with some of the meta themes of the book until the literal last page, John Jackson Miller’s author’s note where he says it outright. He talked about the other Star Wars books he has written over the last decade - how they all have depicted (Jedi) characters who are off on their own, away from the Order, “loners like Luke Skywalker,” and how his depiction of the Jedi Order from that perspective has been very critical. With this book, he decided that ALL Jedi couldn’t be bad, and that “Qui-Gon Jinn was the greatest symbol (of diversity of thought in the Order)” so he wanted to explore that. 

I closed the book and gently placed it in the trash can.

No, I’m kidding. Kind of. You know that I love Qui-Gon Jinn, he is my first favorite character, but this take exhausts me. That he is the magical exception to all of Jedi’s problems leading up to the prequels, and that if he were somehow not a direct product of that same Jedi Order, which encouraged him in his particular way of thinking almost to a fault, starting with Dooku.

In the final scene, with a magical twinkle in his eyes, Qui-Gon explains his own “defiance”of the Council: “I’m not insubordinate. I’m unorthodox. The insubordinate are ignored. The unorthodox are heard - grudgingly.” So the book finally resolves for us the narrative confusion in the difference between Sifo-Dyas’s bad future-fixated rulebreaking, which is shown to create villains and piss off his colleagues alike, and Qui-Gon’s good Living Force-serving unorthodoxy, which creates friends for the Order and moments of spiritual understanding for the Council. 

...Smashcut to six months later when Qui-Gon himself is outright defying the Council’s decision on Anakin and sidelining Obi-Wan because he’s convinced the Chosen One prophecy is just that important. 

Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, 6.5/10 stars, would have been 7 if I hadn’t read that asinine author’s note and gotten all mad again. 

[idolish7imagines]

Hiii, can I ask for some Tenn x fem reader fanfiction where she's a singer and she often takes part in their concert and they have like really good dynamic, like you can feel how good are their relationship and how they know eachother (they're together but their fans don't know). Beside fans perspective - I would like to see I7 and trigger ones too

Keep Your Eyes On Me :: Kujo Tenn x Reader

A/N: sorry i made this needlessly angsty lol

.::.

Ryuunosuke was so happy for Tenn, practically watching you guys from afar practicing on a song together and exchange tips and opinions about how they should go about it.

Gaku was watching as well, though not as intensely as Ryuu. Tenn's fellow group member was happy for him, sure, but couldn't help but wonder why you and Tenn clicked so quickly and easily. Not that he was jealous or anything, it was just something that left him a little curious.

You had even managed to make Tenn of all people let out a genuine laugh every once in a while.

Though, maybe it had something to do with how you both were obsessed with professionalism and performing things the best to your ability. However Tenn seemed a smidge less prissy about things when around you and more relaxed and able to have fun rather than stressing about the assignment.

The first time the IDOLiSH7 members see you is at an afterparty of a concert. The two of you were woefully tired while Anesagi generously passed out water bottles. On the way to the party, the idol seemed actually a bit..nervous?

Tapping on his arm, you quickly try to figure what's wrong. The concert went great---better than great, and he should be proud of himself, so what could possibly be the matter?

Ryuu and Gaku were a little too excited to drink and recount their time on stage to notice that the two of you were lagging a bit behind them.

"Tenn, is something up? You were amazing as always." Gently, you slide your hands into his, looking in his pink eyes.

"..My brother's in there." He states, trying to look not as bothered as you know he is.

"Oh yeah, he's in IDOLiSH7 right? The center?" A smiles comes upon your lips in an attempt to quell whatever's ailing him right now.

Tenn nods without further input.

Being able to put 2 and 2 together, you realize he might've been nervous about him meeting you.

"Oh, I get it, you're worried he won't like me?" "No, I'm sure he will." He quickly responds this time. "Its not that I'm worried about."

"Then..what is?" Your hands subtly grip his soft ones in concern.

The idol goes a bit quiet again, shaking his head. "We can talk about it after the party." He takes your hand, walking into the room the party was being held. The noise from it was already clear to be heard from the hall.

.::.

You didn't think you'd find fans in the form of IDOLiSH7.

Hitting it off pretty well with the members since they already recognized you, you were kind of swept away with them during the party.

Mitsuki takes a playful jab, half-drunk. "Hey hey, is it true you and Kujo are dating each other?"

"Oh yes, we are." You smile, being significantly less drunk than everyone else, therefore not catching his tone as anything noteworthy.

That side of the room goes a bit quiet, having heard you. The atmosphere grew awkward and you frown, feeling like you've said something you shouldn't have.

Riku's eyes light up with joy. "Uwaa~ Tenn-nii's dating (Y/N)-san? That's amazing, congratulations!"

Tenn clearly heard that from the other side of the room, choking on his drink. He was planning to tell him himself once the party died down. It didn't help that their managers were there as well.

"I oddly feel a bit proud." Yuki snarks, running a hand through his hair. Re:vale had mostly been talking amongst themselves and Ryuu and Gaku while you were preoccupied with I7.

The pink-haired idol's eyebrow twitches, wondering what that's supposed to mean.

"Damn I didn't think he'd like..have it in him to date someone instead of finding a way for it to be the entirety of his fans." Yamato remarks, holding an empty beer cup in his hand.

Once again Tenn has a slight knee jerk reaction, glaring to Yamato next. Couldn't there have been a way to do this while they weren't drunk?

"I knew it! Tenn Tenn always smiles harder when talking about them on TV!" Tamaki grins as if he's solved a mystery.

"(Y/N)-san's quite talented and serious about their work, so I suppose I could've seen it sooner." Iori says.

Riku soon bombards you with questions, which Yamato and Iori have to shut down eventually since maybe he's prying a bit too much.

A few more teases are shared with Re:vale, Ryuu and Gaku before its time to leave. You exchange rabbitchats with everyone before you go.

.::.

"How do you feel about Riku?" Is the first thing Tenn asks on the drive back to his apartment

You turn to him with your usual smile. "He's nice. Not too different from how you described him, haha!"

"Right." Tenn says dryly, looking out the window.

Your smile fades a little, putting a hand on his thigh. "Something up?"

"Nanase Riku charms everyone no matter where he goes." Your boyfriend folds his arms.

A beat of silence comes between you, trying to process that.

"I mean yeah, that seems true." You nod.

"Right.." Your boyfriend was typically blunt and straightforward, making assumptions wasn't something you usually had to go through with him because he made his thoughts and opinions loud and clear. But there was a thought nagging at the back of your head.

"..Are you concerned about me getting along with Riku a little..too well?"

it was true that you had taken an interest in Riku, he was Tenn's brother after all and was considered a notable talent among the idol industry, but there was a slight ping in your chest that made you feel bad if Tenn were getting jealous.

On the other hand, jealousy isn't exactly the word Tenn would use to describe it. It isn't like you both don't already have thousands of fans. (who had already been speculating about the two of you dating on social media. Some were in denial while others treated it as if it were confirmed already) In fact, not being nice to Riku would be a dealbreaker for him.

Its simply that Tenn has spent most of his life trying to do things to appease Riku and keep him happy (which in itself turns into a mess from time to time) and he didn't want you to be wrapped into all of that. He feels a bit selfish over it, but its hard to deny now that you've met Riku.

He feels what the two of you have is special and dear to his heart, and doesn't want anything to come between you.

Instead of elaborating further, he simply tilts your chin up towards him, leaning in.

"Keep your eyes on me and only me. I'll show you something promising."

[rosebloodcat]

Who Finds Wally and Starts to Unravel What’s Happened?

That’s an excellent question that needs to be addressed too. I’m honestly not sure how it would go. If it would all fall on one character, or if multiple would end up tackling the mystery from different angles without knowing. But I can think of at least 3 good starting points for it all.

Let me go over them

One option/perspective is Barnaby: being Wally’s Best Friend means he would have a very large Wally Shaped hole in his day. He may shrug it off for a day or two (maybe, before all the Script stuff started, Wally was the sort to need “Me” days or just quiet days where he wanted to be alone and Barnaby still remembered that fact), but a whole week? With no one in town seeing him? Now that was just weird.

Plus, when something happens to the main character, it’s up to the Best Friend to fix it and find out what happened.

(And the feeling of a Watcher, one that was very intense at his back would break the illusion for Barnaby. No matter how well collected he’d been before then.)

Something that was urging him to find his friend and quickly, yet also telling him to be funny and make jokes at the same time. (He’s the comic relief, he’s supposed to keep the tone light) How was he supposed to be funny when his best friend was missing? Missing people was a serious thing!

The contrast in tones that were being forced on him would be what finally made Barnaby self-aware and snap him to “reality” for their neighborhood.

It would be a… distressing discovery. Even for someone who was as relaxed as him.

Another potential perspective is Frank: People like him (me included) and he seems like someone who pays a lot of attention to small details and to routines. As such, he could notice that Wally didn’t seem to be following his routine all of a sudden and that Home seemed oddly distressed yet very reluctant to share why.

His urge to know facts, to know the truth, could probably push him to find out what was going on with the town’s resident artist.

He’d make lists, try to gather information from his fellow neighbors and build a theory/deduction from there.

(Since he’s friends with Julie, it’s possible she could get dragged in as well.)

But, slowly, as he searches and investigates, he starts to notice things. Strange things. Things that don’t quite seem right once he’s started putting them together and trying to find patterns to them.

People not reacting the way he feels they should to his questions. All of them oddly blase about Wally being potentially missing. (Except for Barnaby, who seems strangely… Jumpy? Stressed? He’s not acting like he usually does.)

And, thanks to his methodical approach, he figures it out.

Achievement Unlocked: Frank is now Self-Aware! XD

And the last one (which I think would be interesting/funny/potentially really sweet) is Howdy: The running gag is him having to defend his apples from Wally, so the idea that he notices something is off because he’s not having to do that is really funny. Like, “Where’s that little gremlin gone? He’s not bothering me, what is he doing??”

Or “Huh, Wally should have come by for his weekly grocery run by now. I wonder why he hasn’t yet…”

He’s also the one who seems to have the closest thing to an “antagonistic” relationship with Wally (mostly over his Apple theft and inability to tell a joke), which makes him being one of the people to notice that Wally’s gone really fun to explore.

(I also just like the funky caterpillar man and think that him finding Invisible Wally first and trying to slowly help him back to visibility is really sweet.)

He may not even realize the invisible person he’s found is Wally. Just that he’s found someone that can’t be seen and can’t seem to speak wandering around (maybe he almost trips over him), and decides to invite them to stay with him for a bit. If only so he can make sure nothing happens to them.

If no one could see or hear them, how would they get help if they got hurt? It’s his duty as a responsible person to help!

And, hey, maybe Poppy has heard of something like this before? She knows a lot of stuff about people’s health, there might be something she can do about it! It couldn’t hurt to ask her.

He’d ask Frank, but he’s really focused on trying to figure out what’s happened to Wally. And he doesn’t want to distract him, because he’s worried about where their resident artist went too.

But helping this mystery person is a good distraction. They seem nice, if almost shy, once he figures out a way for them to talk to him. (Sure, it’s mostly yes or no questions, but they’re getting there!)

It’s nice to be more than just “The Shopkeeper” with someone. To let himself share things he liked and spend time with someone who wasn’t a customer...

(Actually, when was the last time he actually tried to get to know someone? Or let them get to know him?)

[crystalelemental]

Legendary Gauntlet - Regirock, Latias, Uxie

Next Legendary Gauntlet is up, with Regirock, Latias, and Uxie.  So glad that Cresselia continues to consider us all beneath her notice.

General Overview

The good news about this Gauntlet is, your resource allocation has never been easier.  There's effectively no overlap.  Latias needs debuffer, Regirock needs flinch, and Uxie needs status.  It's really, really easy to set this one up.

Execution, however, is another story.  This Gauntlet is hard.  Uxie's the only one that's fairly reasonable, but Latias and Regirock are downright brutal on F2P budget.  It can be done, but it's not pretty.  And to be honest, I've been trying to prepare a run of 100 wins, and I'm officially giving up at time of writing.  I got 33 wins in against Latias, only to find most of my best tools are gone.  I don't want to do this.  Greater minds than mine can figure it out, I just wanted to have fun.

REGIROCK There are three broad gimmicks to Regirock’s fight.

First, Shrug Off.  Regirock is immune to stat debuffs, with one exception.  It will lose one stage of defense every time it is hit by a critical hit. This is the only kind of debuff it can be hit by.

Second is Iron Wall.  When it uses Iron Defense, it will not only gain +2 defense, but apply Crit Shield as well, preventing crits, and thus the removal of further defense.  It seems to throw this up three times: halfway through bar 1, start of bar 2 after Rock Slide, halfway through bar 2.

The final gimmick is that on sync, Regirock will apply certain effects.  In Bar 1, this is +1 defense, and sure crit next.  Nothing major if you have Vigilance on your main tank. In Bar 2, this improves to Self Cure, which will remove status. This is joined by Lessen Affliction 2, and Lessen Interference 3, which will translate to full immunity after a single recovery.  It also gains Demoralize 4, and Precision Rush 1.  Precision Rush 1 is just a point of accuracy, but Demoralize 4 is a -4 attack reduction on all foes.  So that…hurts.  Oddly enough, Bar 3 loses Demoralize and Precision Rush, and is just the other effects.  So Bar 2 is really the dangerous one for any unit trying to use physical offense, which is oddly what it’s weakest against.

What Regirock is weak to is flinch.  Regirock can be flinch chained in the entirety of Bar 1, and can be disrupted in Bar 2 one time before full immunity.  The same is true of sleep.  But I bring up flinch because Regirock’s weakness in bars 2 and 3 is Steel, and Iron Head Aggravation exists on a lot of them.  Most notably, Wikstrom and Molayne are F2P options that have access, while backup Aggravation flinchers like Acerola, Winona, and BP Morty can help as well.  But you really, really need to be on-point with your offense to finish the job, because once immune, Crit Shield is up, and you are on such a timer.

Team 1: Wikstrom, Marley, Acerola

A tried and true from the last time Regirock was around.  Wikstrom is very capable as an offensive unit against Regirock, but his gauge control is atrocious.   Marley fixes gauges for the entire team, which is an absolute godsend.   Acerola is here for an added flinch bot, because we have enough of those when aiming for only a ten-win streak.

Team 2: Molayne, Lodge Blue, Brawly

This team can absolutely wreck the rock.  Molayne's grid expansion is quite capable of handling the situation.  To give some perspective, Molayne almost one-shot Bar 2.  Complete removal of Iron Defense.  Brawly is, however, a necessity, for an inevitable flinch miss against Rock Slide. Molayne is incredibly frail, and that guaranteed crit chunks him to near-death from full.  If Regirock gets a sync in during Bar 1, you need to be ready to heal Molayne back to full or it's a loss.

Team 3: Solgaleo, Hop, Whitney

Hop and Solgaleo go together really, really well.  Hop can provide all the buffs Solgaleo needs, allowing it to focus on dishing out damage instead.  Whitney exists for the flinch rate, speed, and self-sustaining heals, allowing Hop to focus his Potions on himself or Solgaleo as needed.  Gauges are...iffy.  But there's been worse.

LATIAS Latias comes in as another 3v3 match, just like her brother.  Unlike her brother, Latias’ fight is actually intimidating.

Latias’ gimmick is Fluid Fortification, which reduces the damage it takes by some unspecified amount based on the number of buffs it has.  This does seem to grow into Invulnerable, where it will take 0 damage when you hit it, and that’s just how your life is now until it’s debuffed.  As a result, debuffs, or at least mitigation of buffs, is essential to clearing this fight.  Even leaving a couple buffs active can result in big problems, as Fluid Fortification does seem to be a big reduction.  As an example of the difference: this video from Imposter Oak has his Lisia partnered with Darach and Falkner, providing debuffs to attack and evasion consistently, but could not keep up with the other four stats.  As a result, his Lisia was dealing around 4k per Moonblast in the final phase.  I ran my Lisia on my grind run with Kimono Jasmine and Classic Elesa, debuffing all its stats except accuracy.  Lisia could deal around 17k per Moonblat.  It is a significant difference.While Fluid Fortification is part of that difference, the other part is a counter skill called Weakened.  If Latias is debuffed, you will increase your damage.  The more debuffed it is, the higher your damage.  There’s a break-even point somewhere, but I couldn’t confirm it, beyond guessing “If total buffs = total debuffs.”  Both skills activate, so who knows.  Much like Fluid Fortification can build to Invulnerable, Weakened can build into Vulnerable, which I would guess is full damage increase.

Phase 1 is pretty direct, though there are some things to look out for.  Good strategy is taking down the sides first, through whatever means you can.  They gain +2 in their offensive stat of choice with each attack, and get really dangerous if left unchecked.  Latias itself can debuff special defense with some of its moves, and has Defense Crush and Ripple Effect, so the whole team gets hit.  But worst of all is Mud Slap.  It will only use this once, usually right after first sync if no attacks were disrupted, so dodging or disrupting that, or getting it under half HP before then, is important.  Otherwise you’re all down one stage of accuracy, and that leads into the real nightmare.

Phase 2, Latias will start the evasion with a full +3.  Now you can miss, and if you took Mud Slap earlier, it’s worse.  See, the new gimmick here is, every time you miss, it gains another point of evasion.  If you hit, however, it loses a point in evasion.  Take your shot and hope for the best.  This is where Invulnerable usually comes into play, and it can snowball to a point even a backup team can’t salvage.  Throughout this second bar, it will spend turns using Calm Mind and Double Team to give itself +1 in special attack, special defense, and evasion.  As you can tell, if you can’t hit it or remove these buffs, it gets bad real fast.

Phase 3 then starts with +2 defense, special attack, special defense, and speed. Because why not.  It also gets the sure and crit next effects and uses Earthquake as its lead move, which can take you by surprise and absolutely blast a team that’s been operating on special defense.  From there, it’s a lot of dealing with whatever was left from last phase.  If you took care of buffs, it’s really not too bad, using mostly single-target special moves.  If you didn’t…one of those single-target special moves is Stored Power.  Have fun.

Latias’ fight is absurdly complex.  It is easily one of the most challenging battles.  Piercing Gaze, and especially Piercing Blows, are some of your best tools against this fight.

Team 1: Ghetsis, Lodge Cynthia, Tauros

"Why Lodge Cynthia?" you may ask.  Accuracy buffs.  Ghetsis' greatest failure is that Glaciate isn't perfectly accurate, and none of his grids realistically permit it to be.  Lodge Cynthia is, as far as I'm aware, the only real solution here.  Boost the special defense of the team for survival, and let Ghetsis do his thing.  It hurts to use a crit buffer outside of this, but man, Latias is brutally hard.  The problem with this team is it's brutally slow, so I'd recommend an eggmon like Tauros to grab the +2 special attack and max speed.

Team 2: Cyrus, Roxanne, Janine

Cyrus has the nice AoE sync, which is most helpful in these 3v3 matchups, as well as a Dragon-type sync that means he can actually stand a chance of taking out Latias before Mud Slap.  Janine is relevant because of her myriad debuffs. Her grid permits near-perfect poison rate, meaning she can very rapidly debuff Latias as needed.  Roxanne is used to give Cyrus needed offensive buffing without nearly killing himself.

Team 3: Sycamore, Brycen, Primeape

Brycen's Haze has two moments of grand utility, and one of them is here, against Latias.  Brycen is capable of removing Latias' stat bonuses at critical moments, while Sycamore is the god tank that can consistently heal himself.  He's even got solid damage without the need for crit.  But if you want it, Primeape is a solid eggmon for +2 crit and attack for Sycamore, which really improves his healing.

UXIE Uxie’s gimmick is status.  In phase 1, it gets 80% damage reduction unless it has a status condition (Poison, Burn, Paralyze, Sleep, Freeze).  In phase 2, it gets 80% damage reduction unless it has a status change (Flinch, Trap, Confuse, Restrain).  In phase 3, it gets 40% damage reduction stacked twice, needing both status condition and status change to remove all of it.  Note that this stack means it has 64% damage reduction, not 80%, so this bar is easier to just power through if needed.  It will recover from status at each half-bar and full bar, but only gains resistance at the half-bar transition.  It has Lessen 8 in most status conditions, with the exception of Burn, which it has Lessen 7.  It gains one stage of resistance on recovery, so you can get three applications: first half of bar 1, second half of bar 1, and first half of bar 3.  For status change, it has Lessen 8 on flinch, Lessen 6 on trap, and Lessen 5 for confuse.  However, it gains 3 levels of resistance on these, so the same rules apply, where it will become immune after healing in the second half of phase 3.  Therefore, a good plan is to try to line up your final sync to finish off bar 3 before the halfway point where it becomes immune.

Naturally, this means you need both status conditions and status change effects, which can be hard to pack into one team.  Role compression is huge here, with BP Erika and Lucy being notably effective options that provide Toxic and Trap, satisfying both conditions while also applying additional damage per action. Allister is another who can do both, as Restrain does count as a status change, although you’d want enough of his sync grid to allow for Restrain on sync to be part of his kit, or you risk getting only one application.

Team 1: Giovanni, Cheryl, BP Erika

The easiest clear you'll have all run.  Giovanni trucks this fight, Cheryl can tank everything Uxie throws at her just fine, and BP Erika covers both Toxic and Trap.  It's free lucky cookie.

Team 2: Lodge Elesa, Agatha, Lucy

I'm not going to front, this one is iffy.  Like, it worked, but I wouldn't call it clean.  The main thing to understand is that this is an endurance contest, without any direct healing.  Elesa can self-heal, and does a great job, but the other two are left with passive regen.  It's possible, but it's not pretty.  What you're really aiming for here is special defense drops from Agatha.  This is the key to success for the team.  The decision on sleep versus any other condition is largely down to whether you're needing to survive longer in early phases, or whether you're aiming to one-shot with sync later in the match.

Team 3: BP Morty, Helena, Charizard/Gengar

Helena's got the paralysis rate to check Uxie's status condition, while BP Morty's confuse is a nice status change that can be applied only when ready.  The Eggmon selection is to cap out special attack for her, reducing reliance on a setup phase

Team 4: Nita/Skyla, Blaine, Silver

"Does...does it have to be her?"  Kinda, yeah.  I couldn't do it with an eggmon, Maylene was too slow, and there's not really a good atk/spd buffer in the commons pool.  You can probably make do with Skyla, though.  Skyla does offer a lot of survival that Nita doesn't, including much-needed defense buffs.  The main thing to note is Silver needs to hit Burn, and Blaine has Trap.  I advise separating them out in the final bar, to avoid disaster when Silver doesn't quite get the KO he was hoping for.

Final Thoughts This Gauntlet frustrates me.  I dunno, I think part of it is just not being in the mood to deal with it broadly, but I found a lot of this annoying.  Uxie isn't too bad at first, but strictly F2P tools don't have the best options.  Latias is obnoxious, and F2P debuffers are rare.  Regirock just hits like a truck and becomes impossible to slow down once you hit Bar 2, so it needs a serious game plan to avoid dying, which often means Potion due to the AoE guaranteed crits being thrown around.

I don't like this Gauntlet.  It's easy enough to separate out what you need, but getting the job done felt harder than it needed to.  I dunno.  I think in part I'm just burnt out on this one.

[marshybear]

Here's the small list of content warnings and things about me:

I'm not lazy about blocking. That said, Minors DNI.

I used to write longer stories, but right now, I feel like it's much more manageable to write small posts.

I don't particularly lean one way as a switch. But the content of the blog might, depending on how fun it is to write about which perspective.

I read a lot of old romance novels if anyone wants to hear about that.

A few rapid fire kinks:

Dumbification/bimbofication

Denial/Edging

Free use (including free use laws)

Misogyny/Misandry

Manipulation/Gaslighting

Wax or Ice

I'm a trans guy, and many of my kinks revolve around playing with gender shit. That can range from soft gender affirmations to crossdressing to patriarchy/matriarchy to just loving the hell outta all the types of trans people and bodies out there.

Still figuring out how I feel about fakeboy. Hate shaving. Hate makeup. Hate my og chest. However, love when other trans men degrade me on the basis of not being 'masculine enough'. Also, the word "girl" just hits my mushy brain spot once in a long while. Idk 🤷

I'm married and super horny about my husband. So I might talk about irl things from time to time. We're poly and bi, but I'm not here on tumblr to add to the cule.

Not into:

Scat

Vomit

When people use titles/pet names for people they don't know

Bio/raised together sibling incest

Hentai, oddly enough

Feederism

Also, I'm autistic, which isn't too relevant because I can take my time to curate my posts. But it might come up because I'd love to talk about how that affects my play and hear others talk about it. Just keep in mind that I'm not an educator.

[omaano]

Commission art I made for @ribbonkandy and their amazing OC, Rahn. I had an absolute blast working on these, and all the designing and planning I got to do with the second one ^^ Thank you very much for trusting him with me :)

Commission's are still open :)

[zuc6]

HEY! 😎 im a new fic writer, well like- not new but this is my first time writing like a introduction kinda thing so: (not proofread ☠️)

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM FOR THOSE WHO'VE ALREADY SEEN THIS POST!! 😁😁😁

Hi, im vee. Just vee. Not short for any name or anything, my pronouns are she/they (afab🤙). i like to write oddly specific fan fiction that i dont necessarily see a lot 🦾

Im 17, 6'2 (the hoes gon loooove this), and here are some things im open to writing for

(ALSO feel free to leave requests i love other people's ideas)

Stranger Things

i WILL write for stranger things characters but im open to aging some up but if im uncomfortable im just like..not gonna...do it..

DEFINETLY open to writing like Joyce x Fem!Reader, since i havent seen that yet

Especially Milfs. Milfs 4ever.

CHARACTER POV'S, I've noticed in fics theyre usually from the readers perspective so its like only what the reader thinks of whatever character. Now while i like that i think itd be super fun to throw in what the character thinks of reader. like what they think of you, what they like, what the notice, shit like that!

The Last Of Us

WOOP i love the last of us. by the last of us i mean ellie williams and abby anderson

Im open to Ellie smut, Abby smut, Ellie AND Abby smut, whatever you want fr.

obviously not open to writing smut of minors so if you just so happened to let the thought cross your mind, no 😓

Idk how i feel about Joel x Reader shit considering Joel is like grandpappy but ive seen a lot of people open to it so dont lose hope if u were wondering

Euphoria

OK DONT BUG OUT im not like gonna write shit about underage characters like i said before

If you guys want euphoria shit tho im open to like angst or fluff mainly with like rue because obviously drugs rahrahrah

or like imagine being Fez's younger sister (only by like a year) Like fluff bond with Ash, showing him affection when hes not used to it, being close to rue bc drugs rahrahrah and like sister in law relationship with Lexi ykyk?

(i cant think of shit else)

Random shit ill write:

Reader listening to rock and being an epic hottie

Reader playing instrumentssss

I lean more towards Fem or Gn reader but i will do male reader dw

Reader being emo 😎 jk like metal lover reader

I will of course leave room for imagination but also include like Reader outfit photos

Reader having good sense of music, style, being shy, anxiety, panic attacks, angsty feelings, drama and trauma oooo

pet names

bold, punk, jerk or like asshole reader

Lots of aus, and like modern au bc im annoying

i was thinking of doing like a crossover of like Robin x Vickie but Vickies past is Anne with an E since theyre the same actor yk? it would be difficult to figure out since the timelines in each are so different

anything u want

will NOT write:

age play, baby talk, annoyingly cliche submissive shit, get that shit out of here

i wont romanticize domestic violence or make light of abusive relationship dynamics, hell noooo 🙅🏽‍♀️

Emotional whiplash, i want things to make sense

animal play. if you wanna be a bunny demon angel wolf hybrid please screw off 😭

Any kinks im uncomfy w (ex. piss kink 😦) ill let u know what im not okay with writing

tbp smut ☠️☠️

OKAY HI i wrote this and got extremely busy and just fucking like bonked out so here i am returning. i was gonna delste this account and make a new one because i didnt wanna like write this, disappear, and then come back and act like i never left sooo im back woop woop!

I HAVE GREAT NEWS THO! during my time away i found a new interest to latch myself onto and write about... and that isss...

THE BLACK PHONE

WOOOOOOOO I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! and rinney is so fucking cool. i love those little gays, man

rinney fluff and angst is needed so bad i love them with my soul, man

gonna say this once again, im not gonna write smut about kids so pLEASE if any minor hunters read all the way down here just for that, take this moment to consider jumping out of the highest window possible 🙏

fix-it au's and modern au's are gonna be my main go to when writing tbp content because i uh... suck...at writing fics that take place in the fucking 70's in denver ☠️

FIX-IT AU, like finney getting another chance is so good im foaming at the mouth. im currently obsessed with @starsthatlinethesky 's fic on that so (PLEASE) go check that shit out its so good!

brance, MAYBE, most likely. i love bruce hes so sweet and vance is cool so i probably will write shit about those little gay men

terrance and finney's mom place swap. i want to write about finney and gwen being able to be happy without terrance and his destruction so hes getting erased at least once or twice 😊

gwen pov fics since i havent seen a lot of that

stranger things x tbp crossovers are so cool. like finney/will where will moves for whatever reason w his dad after season 2 or 3 since itd make the most sense. i love that shit

not writing smut but i probably will age everyone up a bit once or twice 🤘

i dont know if im gonna end up making x reader shit but if i do, reader isnt gonna be a preppy giddy child, theyre gonna be a punk, an asshole, a badass, closed off and overall AWESOME. you're welcome 🤗

other than that its pretty much fine, if u have any other like show ideas i might be open to write for hmu in the requests babeee MWA MWA

-Vee

[thefanficmonster]

Good company for the end of the world

Sidney Prescott x Billy Loomis [Scream]

Warnings: SPOILERS for the first (1996) and second (1997) Scream movies, Mentioned Car Accident, Comatose state, Mentions of blood and killing

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance

Summary: Following a horrific car accident, Sidney is left in a comatose state under the operating scalpel, but she, oddly enough, finds herself elsewhere.

Not requested but dedicated to a friend I made recently! I'm not sure if they'd want to be tagged or not so I'm just gonna say that they'll know who they are when they come across this. If you read this - I appreciate you so much! Thank you for dealing with my ramblings, you're the best 😅 Love, Vy ❤

Note: The events of this fic take place some time after the second movie but before the third cause I'm yet to see that one so I apologize for any inaccuracies according to the events in that movie. XOXO, Vy

There's something so wrong about the feeling she finds so familiar. A feeling that used to give her comfort once upon a time but is now too out of place for her to find any comfort in it, especially when taken into consideration that she was in her car just a bit ago and then everything went dark.

She also doesn't remember Uptown Girl by Billy Joel playing from the radio...

Nor does she remember Billy Loomis sitting on a chair next to the bed in her old room - the bed she's, oddly enough, currently lying in.

Shh....you're ok. You can't move, I don't know why, but you can't. I promise you I have nothing to do with that. In fact, I'm sure you remember I like it better when a fight ensues. It's not fun without the tussle. Hey, hey, hey, easy there. It's my turn to speak. And trust me, I've been preparing this for a while now. How long has it been? Like, almost two years? Time is different on the other side. See, I'm full of fun facts and trivia, though you might wanna know that one since you're here now...you know, that might not be too good of a sign for ya. If you're here with someone who's no longer among the living, what does that say about you, Sid? Yeah, nothing good.

But hey, if we keep dwelling on that, I'll never be able to get to my point, so here goes nothing....

'Uptown girl', you know, this song always reminded me of you, of us. See, horror movies is not the only thing I compared our relationship to...

I digress again, my apologies. Uh, here goes nothing - the sequel!

Ok, so, I've come to think of death as a small world disappearing out of this big one we all coexist in. Like, poof! - they're gone. Why do I see it as a world? Cause everyone's got a different perspective, therefore we all see a different world. Another reason I've come up with in these two years looming at the back of your mind is that we all have a world in our minds! Thank you for helping me figure that one out, Sid. Wouldn't have done it without ya.

But you know me, one answer gives me a thousand more questions but there's one in particular I'd want to ask you, so listen closely, you'll answer when it's your turn: "If forever was a day, what would you do? If 24 hours was all it took till the end of time, who'd you spend it with?"

Now, I wouldn't be able to answer that question because every day for me is a different forever. And yet I spend each with you, almost like I have no choice. I could be reliving any other memory of my life in these two years and yet, in my mind, I can't pinpoint a time I've felt human other than the times when I was with you. I remember how much you made me laugh, how happy I was in the mornings knowing that I'd be seeing you at school....And then how angry I was at you for something you had no control or input over.

I often relive my last moments, with you killing me and all. But I don't mind....you're good company for the end of the world. My world.

I mean, I'm sure you'd rather spend your own apocalypse with anyone else. After all the hell I put you through, I don't blame you. Still, it's not like you can leave what we had at the door. Do you even want to? I know it sounds selfish, but there were some truly good times that I wouldn't give up for the world. I'd never want them wiped from my memory.

Right...stupid of me to ask that, ain't it? I bet you'd kill me again if you could.

However, if I'm being honest, if I could go back...I would've changed my mind. Actually, if I could go even further back I wouldn't have let ANY of that happen. But you're the final girl, not a wish-granting genie.

Huh, 'the final girl'. I used to be so clueless as to what that meant. When I asked, I was told the classic explanation: "When there's 20 minutes left of the movie and the girl finds the shotgun." That's not completely accurate though. I'd say it's more along the lines of: "There's 20 minutes left of the movie and the girl's had enough."

Now, THAT is you. Not 'A' final girl.

But THE final girl.

…..

Uptown Girl, huh? Makes perfect sense, now that I think about it. Except, you’re not just a backstreet guy, you’re a murderous lowlife. And as much as I wanna cuss you out and beat the living hell out of you, I’ll have an eternity to do so if I die, so I might as well play nice while I can. You know, just in case I survive. So, I’m just gonna be honest with you...

I owe a lot of who I am to you. Yeah, you ruined my life, but that taught me how to survive, prevail and all that bullshit. But then again, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now if it wasn’t for you, which makes me hate you a plenty. A plenty more than I already do, that is.

I can’t find it in me to understand you, Billy. I can’t find a reason to your blind rage towards me. My mom ruined your parents’ marriage, I get that, but you still had no fucking right to kill her, you sick fuck. And you sure as hell had no right to kill all those other innocent people. You didn’t have to put this whole thing in motion. Thanks to you, I’ll never find peace again, but that’s probably what you wanted, is it not?

And although you’re right, I am the final girl, you’re forgetting the crucial fact that I’m still a girl, a human, not made of steel, not bulletproof. I’m flesh and bone and I’m so fucking tired of it all, of all these people seeing a tragedy as entertainment, of Gale Weathers who turned the tragedy into entertainment, of myself because I’m taking it so poorly. Of my life.

It’s funny cause...final girls in movies are compared to cats with the whole nine lives and all, but that’s not true at all. Final girls have one life which they cherish truly only when they see it hanging by a thread before them. They only understand how fragile it is when it’s taken away.

I realized it looking at Tatum in the garage; I saw it when you were ‘stabbed’ right in front of me. See, now that I’ll also never forgive you for. I can’t forgive what you did, terrifying me to the bottom of my soul, making me care for you so much, more than ever before. And with what was to come, you didn’t deserve even a crumb of that emotion. You didn’t deserve my tears. You still don’t, you never did. And yet I....I feel safe here. Guess it’s true what they say: Better the devil you know than the one you don’t. But I don’t think I ever really knew you, Billy.

No, don’t contradict me - I didn’t fucking know you. I knew a version of you that you wanted me to see. That wasn’t you. The one that tried to kill me that night, that was you. It hurt like hell and I still couldn’t shake the feeling that lingered afterwards.

You made me hate myself so much. You made me hate myself for still loving you. You’re right, I can’t just leave what we had at the door, I’ve been trying to for two whole years now, but you’re still at the back of my mind. I’d like to think it’s because I can’t fathom the fact that...you did it so well. You pretended to love and care for me so well, while all you saw in me was your next kill for the body count. I’m sure you could’ve easily secured yourself a spot on the theatre team here at my college because that shit was ruthless. I wish we never dated, that would’ve made getting over the whole thing so much easier.

But things are as they are and the turnout has me questioning everything I’ve ever known.

You never loved me, not even a bit - don’t shake your head at me! And now it’s my turn to speak so shut the hell up!

Stu was never really my friend.

Randy’s dead...

Tatum’s dead....

The man I despised for the murder of my mother saved my goddamn life

An innocent girl died...

And you and Stu got your sequel.

Were you happy to see it happen? Don’t lie to me! You were happy to see me suffer! You were happy to see all those people drop like flies!

Oh, you weren’t? Is this a ‘if I can’t kill you, no one can’ type of thing?

So you didn’t mind when Derek was killed? I’m sure you didn’t, and I know why. You can’t fathom me getting over you and moving on with a different guy. A man who treated me well, someone who’d never even think to harm me! 

Get out of my fucking head, Loomis!

I was over you! I never compared him to you, he deserved better than that. He deserved better than someone like me. I don’t have any red flags in the regular sense, but with all the blood dripping around me, they were painted red. Wish he had seen them before asking me out.

No, I’m not gonna tell you how we met. No, I didn’t like him as much as I liked you - I liked him more. It’s only bullshit if you want it to be, Loomis. 

But still, if I’m being honest, you’re not the worst company for the end of my world either. I don’t believe we’ll find a common ground in the afterlife and no, I don’t think we’ll have a reunion either - Tatum and Randy would kill you again if that was possible.

Would I? Is that even a question?

I just said you’re not the worst company for my death, don’t get ahead of yourself.

Does it hurt? Like, did it hurt when I shot you? I know it probably doesn’t make any sense but....it didn’t? Ok...I wish it did. I bet stabbing you with that umbrella hurt though. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Nice scars, they make me feel accomplished.

I can’t believe it - you were my first ever boyfriend, the first ever boy I’ve ever loved that way and to that extent and then you became the first person I’d ever hate so fiercely. You got all the most complex and intense emotions out of me and for that I think I’ll never forget you, you know, apart from all the shit you did. I’ll remember you and that version of you I loved. I’ll keep you in separate spots in my memory: one to love and one to hate.

Regardless, I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.

The beeping of a heart monitor interjects with the softly playing Billy Joel tune, the picture before Sidney’s eyes starting to grow faint. The blond man is still sitting in the chair, not having moved a muscle, just his gaze daring around the room, never once having looked at her yet. But then, in the last moments of this charade, he turns to her, eye contact finally established after two years. 

Oddly enough, there’s not hate behind either of their eyes. There’s solemn longing, longing for what they used to be two years and a day ago. They miss the late nights, the sneaking out, the inside jokes. They miss the love.

I’ll always love you, even if it’s a tiny bit. I’ll always love you, Sidney.

His hand rests on her motionless one, his touch a ghost of what it used to be, but still warm as she remembers. Still comforting as she remembers if she can overlook that one night.

Her name falling from his lips echoes through her mind as her eyes fall shut to the scene and her vision fades to black.

That’s when her eyes open for real, the touch on her hand still there, but more prominent and lacking the hesitation Billy had. 

The sight before her is no longer her old room, Billy Joel isn’t singing anymore and she still can’t move. At least that’s a constant. But now her body aches agonizingly, making her wish she could go back to her room and talk to the blond haired boy some more.

The man holding her hand is Dewey who still hasn’t noticed her open eyes and is seemingly deep in thought, too deep for her to want to disturb him. She herself has fallen down the rabbit hole of overthinking, but there’s not much to think about here. She knows the truth.

I’ll always care about you, even though you don’t deserve it, even though I shouldn’t...I’ll always care about you, Billy. 

[just--another--daydreamer]

How they realize that they are in love

» Katsuki Bakugo // Shoto Todoroki // Izuku Midoriya x gn!reader (no pronouns used)

» Genre: Fluff & Angst » Summary: Just some HCs about Baku, Todo & Deku (seperately) and how they realize that they are in love » Warnings: fighting, death, injuries & swearing (Bakugo) implied abuse (Todoroki) panic attacks, overthinking & mentions of fighting (Midoriya) » Words: ~1.7k » Author's Note: These were fun to write, if you’d like to see them for any other characters, feel free to ask! This was inspired by @/costellos, check their stuff out

You can find a link to my Masterlist etc in my bio and pinned post

⋘ ──────── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──────── ⋙

» Katsuki Bakugo:

Bakugo realizes that he is in love with you when you put yourself in danger to help him

Usually, Bakugo would be furious if someone else saw him as a person in need of help and tried supporting or even protecting him in a dangerous situation, but this time it feels different

Instead of anger boiling deep within Bakugo, close to making him explode, he feels an unusual numbness at first, while he watches your body fall to the ground after taking a hit for him. Even though he is often unable to identify his own feelings and is out of touch with them, he notices that change withing himself

The numbness quickly gives way to fear. He tumbles forward as he screams your name. For the first time in a while he is not sure what to do; he wants to check if you are alright, if you are alive, if you are still with him. But he also wants to charge forward and rip the person who hurt you to shreds

He feels helpless, unable to decide and unable to push those sudden overwhelming feelings aside. Instead, shock is freezing his whole body, only allowing his arms and legs to tremble. His mind is racing and screaming and calling him weak. Weak for needing your help, weak for not being able to protect you, weak for not killing this damn bastard in front of him

“Bakugo!” Your voice is feeble and barely audible over the sounds of the fight, but he can still hear you. You reach him through the clouds in his mind, through his own voice in his head tormenting him

He regains control over his body and it only takes him a few blows to knock out the enemy

In the next moment, he is cowering next to you, pulling you close, checking your vitals. Once again, his fingers tremble. You are alive, but in dire need of help

Bakugo hates being afraid and he pushes the feeling down with full force, trying to let his anger take over once again. The anger that numbs his senses, makes him care less about the people around him, makes him unapproachable and lets him keep everyone at a distance

“You damn fool!” His voice cracks. “I didn’t ask for your fucking help!” You look up at him with half-lidded eyes. “Baku-” “Shut up!” The pain in his throat from screaming is a welcome one. “Just shut the fuck up! I didn’t need you to save me, dammit!” A lump forms in his throat, taking his ability to speak. He can feel tears in his eyes, but he wipes them away before they can fall

Bakugo leans down and puts his arms under your body to carry you to an ambulance. Under his breath, he mutters, “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  » Shoto Todoroki:

Todoroki realizes that he is in love with you when you are patient with him

Most people in Todoroki’s life expect a lot from him, if not way too much. His father expects him to be the perfect hero and successor to him since the day his quirk awoke, UA expects him to always be one step ahead of everyone else and he puts those expectations on himself as well. Even though it is not hard for him to be all those things at this point in his life, having someone around who is patient with him and does not care if he fails or lets himself go from time to time is a relief

Like on most days, Todoroki and you walk home together after class, since you have to go into a similar direction. Most of the time both of you walk in silence or you try making conversation with Todoroki only to be met with silence or short answers

Todoroki knows that he is not the best person to be around at all times, that he does not always get jokes or acts distant with people – he just does not know what to say and how to react to certain things

Having friends is hard for him. Either he overshares about his past or keeps people at a safe distance. Todoroki needs time to figure out this new thing called friendship for himself. Can he even call his classmates friends? Can he call Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka friends? Can he call you a friend? What do you and the others call your relationship from your perspectives?

He has known you for a while now and you walk together every single day and you talk and you text, so you are his friend, right?

“Todoroki?” you catch him a little off-guard. “Hm?” “Would you like to hang out some time?”

He looks up at you and tries reading your expression. A friendly smile, waiting for his answer. It is his decision. You are not deciding for him, you are not demanding anything from him. Not many people have ever asked him to decide things for himself in the past. Everyone always decided in his place, especially when it came to big things like becoming a hero. It is a simple yes or no question over a small thing, yet Todoroki has trouble coming up with an answer

You seem to notice his hesitation. “It’s totally fine if you don’t want to hang out,” you calmly tell him. There is no undertone in your voice, only genuine kindness. “You can take your time deciding, you can take your time getting comfortable with having friends, or even just the idea of it.” Did you have another secret quirk that allowed you to read minds? Todoroki pushed that thought away. “Take your time. I promise that whatever you say, I won’t be mad or hurt by it. Alright?”

Even though you do not say anything to compliment or embarrass Todoroki, he feels himself blushing. Just a little, but he turns his face away to not let you notice. You are patient with him. You want him to be comfortable with you, you do not want to push anything on him. A warm feeling spreads through his body and for a second, Todoroki thinks that he is losing control of his fire quirk, but he quickly realizes that it is something else – something nice and good

“Yes, I’d love that, actually.” “Okay, great! I’ll text you then?” “Yeah.”

The two of you part ways but the warm feeling stays

  » Izuku Midoriya

Midoriya realizes that he is in love with you when you comfort him

Whenever something goes wrong during a mission or a patrol, that he goes on during his internship, Midoriya is quick to blame himself for what happened. He himself and everyone around him makes him think that he needs to be a perfect hero even though he is only an intern and a student

It starts with overthinking his steps, replaying the scene in his head again and again, and sometimes even ends in panic attacks. Most of the time he tries to deal with those things alone and disappears in his dorm room, but over time you have learned to see the signs that Midoriya is not doing well and you have been trying to find ways to comfort him

You both sit on his bed as Midoriya talks about what happened earlier. The civilians that got hurt, the villain who got away, his own inability to save everyone and stop the bastard. His voice is weak, tears run down his cheeks and sobs shake his body every now and then

He goes on and on about the mistakes he made until you interrupt him

“Midoriya.” Your voice is soothing yet insistent. “Not everything that happened today is your fault. Maybe even nothing. You are still in training, there are adults who are responsible for you. Putting someone as young as you and me out there is a risk, because we make mistakes. But that’s a way to learn. We learn from our past mistakes and become stronger. The next time you are in a situation like this, you’ll be able to handle it just fine.”

Some more tears run down his face, so you pull him into an embrace. Midoriya appreciates your words. He really does. But for now, he has lost his ability to speak

“You are not alone with this. And it’s not your fault.”

Another choked sob leaves Midoriya. He hugs you back, clings to your shirt and buries his face in the crook of your neck. The way your hands draw patterns on his back soothe him until he eventually stops crying. But he does not want to let go just yet

“Thank you,” he whispers after a while. “Thank you so much.” He is not alone. He knows that he can talk to you about this, about anything. He just wishes he had the courage to open up more often

You stay like this until it gets dark, until all the other lights have gone out. Until everything is silent and Midoriya can only hear your and his own breathing. He feels oddly warm and safe in your arms, so he hopes that you will never get up to go to your room, but he knows that you have to, eventually

Suddenly, one of your hands is on the back of his head, your fingers running through his hair. Midoriya has a hard time stopping himself from leaning into your touch more. “I hope you know that I’m here for you, Izuku.” You never call him by his first name. Midoriya’s heart skips a beat and heat rises to his cheeks. He is glad that you cannot see his face right now because he is sure that it is as red as a tomato

“The same goes for you.” And he wholeheartedly means it

You linger there for another moment before finally pulling away. Midoriya does not want you to, he wants you to stay there, with him, forever. But he cannot have that. Not yet at least. And even though the circumstances that lead to this are not the best, he wishes for this to happen again soon

[escape-from-arcadia]

Ladies, gents, and everybody in- and un-between, let's make some noise for your favorite little punk rocker: Maggie Hartt!

This is Maggie Hartt.

She's 21 years old, demigirl (she/they). Oddly enough, Maggie is actually a nickname from a nickname for her chosen name (Madeline -> Maddie -> Maggie), but she's cool with any of the above names. She'll usually just introduce herself as Hartt.

Maggie is a little chaos gremlin. Upbeat and sociable, they're big on jokes and making people laugh. No one takes them seriously, which they're not as big on, but they figure that if they can at least get people happy and excited, that counts for something, right? That means they have a purpose- a meaning- a role to play? Right? They're more intelligent than people give them credit for.

They're in their own band (Heart x Beat!) where they're the drummer and composer. Their mom was also in her own band and their dad was a music teacher, so they grew up learning all sort of instruments, but they're a big fan of the drums and guitar. Drums give them a place to steady their beat and focus their energy. They also like it when they know people trust them to take them seriously and rely on them for keeping rhythm. To be honest, they just like the guitar because it give them an excuse to look cool.

Maggie 100% human, but both Douxie + Zoe+ Archie and the Wizard Council have had an eye on her for the sheer amount of feral wild witch energy she radiates. Then ADP learns that the magic energy she's got is from spending too much time with her girlfriend who's the actual witch :) My OC Selene (she/her) is her girlfriend. Maggie did once also date Zoe, but they decided they'd be better off friends; it was actually by dating Zoe that Maggie met Selene.

My personal hc to explain the next bit: Magic is not necessarily in blood; all people have an inherent ability to perform magic. Prolonged exposure increases the person's potential to perform magic. There are other factors that go into being able to perform magic and how well you use it (emotion, book studies/training, experience, experimentation, but that's my hc. And so, Mags has tried to perform magic before while dating Zoe, but things didn't end up really well. But Selene has seen a future where Maggie was involved in something magical so she and Zoe have been slowly trying to get them to focus their energy into magic. This meme actually is footage of Selene taking Maggie to see Zoe for their weekly lessons.

Appearance-wise, I wanted to give her a lot of angles and patterns in contrast to Selene, who is flowy and minimalistic for the most part. The bright colored hair was picked to contrast Zoe and Douxie's (and they'll jokingly insist it's 100% natural). They're the only one of my TOA OCs who has grown been in Arcadia their entire life. Out of some relatively normal character designs, I wanted them to embrace the fantastical and chaos that Arcadia is home to.

I don't think I can write anything for them at the moment because I'm going to be drowning in work until May, but I can draw some fun art with them interacting with TOA characters. I could write some flash fic or drabbles from time to time, but wooo!! Maggie!!

Organized short information template under the cut.

Basic Info

Full Name: Madeline Hartt

Nickname: Maggie, Maddie, Mags, Magpie, Carrotsticks

Age: 21

Gender/Pronouns: Demigirl (She/They)

Nationality: American

Profession: Drummer and composer for rock band, Heart x Beat!

Appearance (I experimented with this section and wrote it from the perspective of Zoe.)

A familiar face with bright green hair, streaked with orange and tied up in messy pigtails, walked though the shop door. Correction: they tumbled through the shop door, more whirlwind than person. Her amber eyes glinted with mischief as she bobbed towards the counter, bouncing her head to the music blaring over the speakers. Each step they took seemed to take them off the ground, as if they were a little weightless, unable to be controlled by the laws of physics.

She was only a little taller than me, dressed in a long-sleeved striped shirt, a cropped and sleeveless jean jacket layered on top, despite the heat outside. Their ripped black jeans jangled with the variety of key chains and charms tied around the belt loops. Their grin was so wide, it would more be actually described as 'a showing of teeth.' "'Sup Zo!"

-

Personality

Maggie is a little chaos gremlin. They're honest and have a tendency to just say things as they come to mind. She's incredibly upbeat, energetic, and sociable. They live to make people smile and be happy by telling jokes (and pulling pranks). Very few people take her seriously, thinking that it's impossible for Maggie to be calm and serious, but she's more intelligent than people give her credit for. They work hard to reach their goals, especially when they know people are counting on them or that their actions can help others. They have a funky need to feel needed and like they're making a contribution, a side-effect of people not taking them seriously (and often cruelly telling them that).

Likes: Video games, bright lights and colors, music, visiting the aquarium

Dislikes: The countryside, walking home alone at night, not being taken seriously

Strengths: Tiny but strong, strong affinity for magic, honest, sociable

Weaknesses: Reckless, maybe a little bit too feral, need to feel depended on, self-esteem issues.

-

Family: Addison (mother), Markus (father), Sam (sister)

Friends: Selene Acies, Zoe Ashildr, Hisirdoux Casperan, Claire Nuñez, Toby Domzalski, Krel Tarron, Cayden Tran, Raizri, Zelos

-

Misc

Other info:

Maggie is a lesbian.

She tends to tap her fingers or feet

When they're anxious, they bite their nails

She's the only one of my OCs to have been born and raised in Arcadia Oaks

Their nails are painted in alternating green, orange, and black

She's big on knocking on surfaces around her (walls, countertops, railings)

They graduated with a BA in Sound Design and BFA in Music Performance from Arcadia University (I made that place up. I made that up just now).

She'd 100% be a gnome bard in a DND campaign.

The more I think about it, the more I realize they're probably neurodivergent.

Their Story: Living life to its fullest, embracing chaos, giving yourself credit where credit is due, and learning to love yourself.

-

How They Fit in the TOA-Verse

Usually I'd include the character's backstory, but since she's so new, I don't have one fully constructed for Maggie yet. But I do have some ideas as to how they fit into my gang of TOA OCs

There's an entire plot going on with my TOA OCs where they go through their own journey that is concurrent with the events of TOA, so to show Maggie's role, I'll give this quick run-through of all of my OCs:

Cayden Tran (they/them): A cryptid investigator who has a small rivalry with Eli (at least that's what Eli thinks). They're the one who meets all of the other characters and unite them together, acting a bit like Arcadia Oaks' secret keeper.

Alaraizrilados/Raizri (she/her): A troll who has lived a very sheltered life but yearns to explore (very 'Little Mermaid-). She explores Arcadia a lot a night to gather ingredients for her business of making magical herbal medicines for trolls. But things go awry one night when she finds a mysterious plant, and whoops now this troll looks like a human and needs to find a way to turn back into a troll before people mistake her for a changeling, even though she's been nothing but nice her entire life. :) She's the healer/therapist of the group.

Zelos (He/They/It): A Blank-bot turned assassin, who was originally took orders from a bounty hunter group out to capture the Tarrons. His ship crash landed and his wires got a little fried. Now they're trying to find purpose without taking orders and become their own person, discovering their identity while debating on whether or not they should capture the Tarrons. It's the most trained fighter of the group and the most left-brain leaning on, despite not having a brain...

Selene Acies (she/her): A divination and cosmic witch born in the late Victorian-era. She's met Zoe when she was a kid and met her and Douxie again in the 1920s. She's obsessed with the stars and gets random prophecies. Some are helpful, other are not, but all are true. She does get one about the end of the world and how to stop it! That's neat! :D Selene is the most trained in magic (though not really for combat) and is the future-seer of the group.

Maggie Hartt (she/they): A normal human who shouldn't have any business being involved in magical matters, but gets roped in after dating Zoe and then Selene. They bring wildcard energy to the group and tries to make everyone feel less sad (because honestly Maggie is the least fucked up after Raizri out of all of my OCs, which is saying something).

If you read this far, props to you. Have a cookie. Thanks for listening to me ramble about an OC I made at 2am. Also, yes, I did not proof read this post before posting.

[selinakidreams]

Hello my love can i please request that you follow up on this lovely work of art you deposited in my ask box? Ty ty

oh oh oh what is this? the lovely carter (and val- in spirit) dropping in my inbox and requesting for me (???????) to write,,,,,,,,,,, I’m honored and will happily accept.

I am so so so so so sorry this took me so long to write,, it’s been sitting in my drafts for weeks,,,, I hope this makes up for it 🥺 I tweaked it a bit and I think it works,,, better now ? hopefully !!

warnings: this is smutty, SLIGHT voyerism,  dubcon turned to con, p♥︎rn with like.. a dash of plot ? maybe ?, fem! reader, thigh riding, uh riding dick right after, LIGHT MENTIONS of fwb! Osamu,, ah ha haa — NO INCEST.

Dinners with the Miyas: a weekly tradition since... before you could remember. Once a week, you and your family would gather at the Miya’s house for a homemade feast.

In hindsight, it was a really nice way for two life-long best friends, both of your guys’ moms, and their loved ones to get together and catch up after a busy week- but as a girl dealing with a pair of twins a year older than herself, it was absolute hell. 

At first, you used to despise having to get properly dressed just to eat dinner with your family friends. All that effort and for what? You see them all the time at school already, what’s so special about coming together for dinner once a week? And honestly, you were just going to get dirtied up anyways. Their beautiful blooming garden was calling your name and who were you to deny it?

You’d often find yourself frolicking among the tall blades of grass and colorful flowers, the wind swaying the plants to and fro. It was so calming to sit and watch the bees buzz around and pollinate. Needless to say, this is the boys’ cue to come into the picture; they always ruined your fun. The twins started growing into... boys, meaning they were an absolute nuisance.

It all started on a gloomy day; it had rained a few hours prior to the meetup and the Miya’s garden was- of course- muddy, but you just couldn’t resist. You tried to be as careful as you could, especially after the continuous complaints from your mother about how dirty you were when you showed up to the dinner table, but somebody decided to sabotage that.

A cold, wet slab of goop slapped you square in the face. With eyes growing wide, you turned to the culprit. An obnoxious laugh left Atsumu Miya’s mouth and in the same breath managed to call you ugly. You didn’t know what to do besides look down; you felt tears prick your lash line and you didn’t want that bully of a boy to see you cry. When you lifted your gaze to find the back door to run to, you paused upon seeing more mud flying through the air- only it wasn’t at you this time. It’s target was Atsumu- the launcher, Osamu. Finishing the embarrassing blow, the twin pointedly said the same phrase that was spat at you, before turning to you and apologizing for his idiot brother’s actions. Needless to say, after that Osamu Miya became your knight in shining armor.

As the years pass, they started to come over to your house more. When the boys were in your room, they (mainly the more wide-eyed, now blonde-haired, insatiably curious one) poked and prodded where their gazes didn’t belong. Osamu always tried his hardest to reil his brother in, attempting to put things back and apologizing every once in a while.it was painfully easy to realize that your perspective about him about him shifted; The politeness. The calm. The sensibility. He was kind and considerate. Your view on Osamu began to change into something of want, and oddly enough, it wasn’t pure.

You and osamu grew closer in ways you weren’t expecting; he was your first sexual everything. First kiss, first touch, first fuck- and with every intimate moment you both shared, the level of respect and maturity was extremely high. There was only one issue, whatever one miya wanted, the other wanted it just as bad.

Atsumu’s gaze on you lasted longer and longer, his tricks were getting more and more perverse- anything he could do to cause a little mischief and ripen the sexual tension he began to build between the two of you. But even the kiddie wrestling matches, flipping up your skirt, and lingering touches became boring; none of his little teases seemed to satisfy him anymore.

He was jealous. He had to be. Osamu never boasted, much less muttered a single word about what you two did when you were alone but Atsumu wasn’t dumb. He knew one of the Miya’s were getting their dick wet and it certainly wasn’t him. He was becoming impatient, but to you, he seemed really on edge- so much so, that one night you found yourself in one of the most compromising positions with the honey-haired idiot.

The three of you were chatting about the twins’ most recent volleyball match in your room, waiting for your moms’ wine induced giggles to subside and finnish the food already.

With lit up eyes, Atsumu was boasting about how they’d achieved their first quick when Osamu pardoned himself so he could use the restroom. 

“AWHH ‘SAMU, YOURE GONNA MISS THE BEST PART.” Tsumu loudly whined. 

“i was there, idiot. just keep telling her the story, i’ll be back.” he rolled his eyes before leaving the room.

He sucked his teeth before turning to you to continue the story only to find your eyes glued to find Osamu’s fleeting figure. You looked almost dazed out and Atsumu couldn’t believe it. Right in front of his eyes, you were eye-fucking his twin brother instead of listening to him.

Absolutely not.

Part of you should not be surprised. You looked away for just a few seconds- just enough for Atsumu to be annoyed that the attention wasn’t on him. Now you found yourself pinned to the floor, both wrists in one of his big hands, the other holding your hips down. You let out a squeal as you tried squirming out of his grasp.... that was until his knee firmly placed itself against your crotch in just the right place. You swear up and down that you didn’t mean to but there was a surprised gasp that shouldn’t have left your mouth. It almost sounded like... the thought stilled your body.

atsumu took note of this. 

In a low murmur, he leaned incredibly close and whispered, “how’s that pretty pussy of yers feelin right now?”

It sent a violent pink tinge to your cheeks and a bolt of arousal down your spine, your slick spreading against your underwear and the top of his jeanclad knee. A clench of your thighs meant this was going exactly where he wanted it to- his wait was over.

“ ‘m waiting for an answer, princess.” he tutted, his face only getting closer to yours while he applied more pressure against your throbbing vulva. 

It was never like this with ‘samu. This... was almost exciting for you. Something teetering the lines of flavorful and troublesome. The little voice in your head was screaming at you but the aching desire in your pussy was louder.

“Ah!- atsumu! what are you doing?” you whimper, trying to hide your face. There were so many thoughts racing through your mind, the logical part of you wanted to hear them all out but in the moment you were so overwhelmed. There needed to be control in such a situation; You tried to shift around to loosen his grip, accidentally applying pressure that was welcoming it the most, causing a breathy moan to escape your lips and your eyes to clamp shut.

“mmm well, you’re so focused on my brother, i thought i’d show you what you were missin if you started payin more attention to me.” You could hear the smirk in his voice and you whine. This position was so compromising.

He trailed the hand that weighed down your waist up the curves of your side and took your jaw in his hand. He turned your face and when you peeked open your eyes, your gaze was met with his.

“I want you to cum on my thigh.”

Eyes wide, you tried shaking your head to no avail. His grip was so strong. “Atsumu no!! Osamu’s gonna get back and dinner is gonna be done soon and just- no!” You squeal.

“Y’still have time,” he said calmly, “ ‘samu’s probably checkin on dinner... so yeh better start... or else. Y’know what? I could just continue this though dinner. Slide my hand up ye’thigh under the table...” he started, letting go of your face and ghosting his hand down your body. The thought of his big hands palming over your clit while a finger is dipped into your warm pool flashed in your mind. You clenched, and boy, he felt it.

“Mmm, did my pretty girl think about my fingers- fingers that could reach places yours can’t?” He grinned as he watched you follow his hand with your eyes. “maybe you’d like it if i play with your clit under the table, hm? right next to my brother-” 

“no no! here. right now.” is all you could manage to get out. your head was swimming with all that could happen, it only got hazier when you felt the pressure on your cunt lessen- you wanted it back. “Ts-sumu.. i..” 

“i know, i know... but first i want you to cum on my thigh if you want my fingers that badly. I want you whiny and desperate, rubbing that pretty cunt all over me. Moaning my name.”

That’s how you found yourself stuffed in your small closet, you desk chair pulled away from its rightful place,

With his throbbing cock fighting against the cage of his pants and heavy pants leaving his lips, his hands could only find relief on your waist- assisting you in your delishious movements.

His noises weren’t the only ones to be heard, you were trying so hard to contain them but nothing is coming of it. Short little high pitched whines rung in Atsumu s ears- but what really got him were the whimpers of “fuck tsumi,” when the angle hit your clit just right and the squeeze of his biceps as you threw your head back. As soon as he experienced that, he needed you to cum right then and there. And not on his thigh.

“Nope- fuck, we’re switching it up,” he mumbled as he stopped your hips from grinding down. Your mind was a mess but all you could think about in your extremely aroused state was that you needed to cum.

“Atsumu wh-“ before you could even finish your question, he unzipped his pants and uncovered himself from his boxers, his angry cockhead slapping his torso and smearing pre-cum on his skin.

“On- now, Princess.”

There was no need for protests; he was expecting one to come out but instead he felt your soft hands lightly grip his bulging head and give a few strokes before all he heard in that cramped, dark closet was, “you’re so .. big.”

Eyes wide, a garbled moan left his mouth and next thing he knew, you were repositioning till his tip lined with your sopping entrance. He couldn’t take it, he thrusted upward as you sunk down. A shocked moan ripped out of both of you and in the moment of silence that followed afterwards, you could hear the floorboard creek.

Apparently Atsumu did too because his actions stopped and one of his hands left your hips to presumably cover your mouth. You presumed wrong.

Your closet door slid open to reveal a wide eyed Osamu palming himself.

[girl-in-the-tower]

Idia and Vita 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 21

3. Describe their relationship dynamic.

I want to say that they’re a mix between a gamer couple and a goth one, haha.

Though more seriously, they’re the sort of stable relationship that gets stronger with time I would say, in that they both understand each other so well they function very well when they have to be in sync. They both consider the other to be that one person who gets where they’re coming from, but also to hold them accountable when they mess up. Idia knows quite well that Vita won’t let him get away with anything if she thinks he’s in the wrong, and neither will he hold back from criticizing her if he thinks it’s deserved. They exchange banter quite often. It’s not unusual to see them trash talk each other, even when they’re on the same team since they can be quite competitive.

They both push each other to improve in subtle ways. Because they’re both geniuses they tend to have a lot of conversations where they’re play-fighting ideas, trying to find the flaw in the other’s argument and this often helps them look at things from different perspectives. Their fields of expertise are quite different but they do make an effort to keep up with the other’s research.

Vita tends to be the more dominant one simply because she has a more forceful personality in general. She knows what she wants and how to get it and won’t let anybody get in her way, which usually means that she leads and Idia follows. At least on the surface. In private they tend to be on equal terms since they feel more at ease, but Idia doesn’t complain about letting Vita be in charge when they’re out in public. It means that he can avoid talking with other people, after all. Or at least that is what it should mean theoretically, but instead, Vita keeps nagging him about being more confident and self-assured. She is a proponent of tough love.

Vita also tends to be the more physically affectionate one between the two of them, though usually in private. In public, she mostly sticks to teasing him instead. Though Idia claims to find it annoying and unwelcome, he doesn’t really tell her to back off either and even returns her affections occasionally when he gets around his self-conscious nature. It’s quite usual for Larna and Ortho to catch Vita playing with Idia’s hair, or Idia massaging her shoulders when they’re gaming together.

Their online gaming friends usually joke that they’re a package deal - MoodySamurai and IronQueen. Their coordination is scary to behold since it almost looks like they’re reading each other’s minds, knowing exactly what the other needs even before they ask for it. They tend to share their victories and even other aspects of their gaming lives - such as both of them usually getting into the same types of games. Though when it comes to gacha games they tend to have vastly different tastes and get quite competitive with one another too.

Because they’ve known each other for so long, they find it easier to be honest with the other and as a result understand the other better than themselves at times. They take their status as equals quite serious too, though they do have one major source of constant conflict: Ortho’s existence. Vita is rather wary of the young boy which Idia finds distressing, but even though they agreed not to bring this subject up again it still continues to bother them. They know they should talk about it, but Idia’s aversion towards conflict, coupled with Vita’s tendency to default to supporting Idia in situations of such importance means that they haven’t resolved anything yet.

5. How would they describe each other?

Idia often says that Vita is like the villainess of an otome game: haughty, arrogant and needlessly cruel. She tends to look down on others and criticize them as she sees fit, though he also doesn’t seem to find that a bad thing either. Idia would also remark on Vita’s intelligence and drive, which he might criticize as too much for an otaku like him, but he does think her driven nature suits her well. He has admitted more than once that when it comes to knowledge regarding medicine and the human body she’s an expert. He also notes that she’s very attractive, often in comparison to himself, and would then follow up by saying that based on looks they’re not matched well at all.

Vita often defaults to praising all of Idia’s qualities - by which she means the things she herself finds attractive in him, such as his intelligence and devious nature. She is especially fond of his occasionally haughty outbursts and encourages him to be more open with his opinions just to catch a glimpse of it. She finds his interests endearing too, especially his enthusiasm for his games and idol group. It does come across that she holds him in high regard even if she does end up criticizing him a lot and she also makes no secret of the fact that she’s smitten with his odd, ghoulish appearance. Idia isn’t sure if he should be flattered or not.

6. What do they love about each other?

They both admire each other’s intelligence, to be honest. The fact that they can keep up with the other’s thought process and understand their motivations to such an intimate degree while other people might find them difficult to interact with means that their bond is very strong. Not that they would really say this out loud, since Idia thinks only normies are so open with their feelings and Vita believes there is no point in stating the obvious. They each appreciate how devious the other can be since it means they can test out whatever plan they are considering right now by running it by the other, though given that they often do this by stating it’s “just a thought” it might lead to some arguments regardless.

Idia’s stubbornness is charming to Vita as well. She admires strong convictions, even if she does not necessarily agree with some specifically, and adores it when he starts to speak his mind without holding back. She’s also professed several times that she is in love with his odd appearance, the strangeness of it having a certain appeal to her and she makes it a point to compliment him on it as often as possible. Idia always claims she’s just making fun of him but this doesn’t really deter her at all. If she wants to speak her mind she will, regardless of his complaints. She’s known him long enough to be aware that underneath it all he does enjoy being praised like that and is simply putting up a front after all.

For Idia, Vita’s strong will and confidence are very attractive. He doesn’t want to admit it out loud, and often will deflect when asked about what he thinks her qualities are, but he feels more at ease knowing he has a mentally strong partner like her. She’s not prone to falling apart or displaying clinginess and for a hermit like him, it’s comforting to know that they can live independently from each other even when they are in a relationship. He doesn’t feel suffocated by the attention and that makes him appreciate her more. He also thinks that her appreciation for the macabre is oddly cute, though he isn’t sure what exactly it is that makes him think so.

10. What are their love languages?

For Vita, it’s Quality Time and Physical Touch! As long as she’s in Idia’s presence she feels content and at ease. They mostly just play video games or discuss various matters, personal or work-related. But given that Vita generally acts very facetious towards others, she finds such moments where she can be unapologetically truthful very relaxing. It also helps that when they’re gaming, Idia is usually too distracted by what’s happening on the screen to actually notice that she’s moved closer to him and by the time he does, Vita has already settled in her new seat and has no intention of leaving any time soon. It’s really at times like this that he can’t help but remark how cat-like she really is.

Idia likes Words of Affirmation and Receiving Gifts! He’s got a bit of an ego hidden under all that self-deprecation which usually comes out when he’s praised and makes him get a bit ahead of himself, and as Vita is acutely aware of how much he enjoys being complimented she makes sure to always chime in with a comment or two. It really makes him feel better to hear her say such things even if a big part of him still refuses to fully believe it. However, when it comes to gifts he’s more straightforward. Since Vita usually gets him merchandise of his favourite shows and/or idol group he tends to be very picky when it comes to the quality and appearance. It can be quite a handful buying gifts for him due to how high his demands usually are, but Vita has him figured out already so it has become increasingly easy during the years.

12. What would happen if they never met?

I’ve talked about this before, but if these two had never met, I believe Vita wouldn’t really have had the drive to go against her mother. She’d have continued to act and behave according to her expectations which would have led to her building up a lot of rage and resentment with no outlet for her feelings. She’d also have lacked any semblance of support and encouragement, as though Idia is not particularly good at cheering people up, he’s never commented negatively on her pursuits in a serious manner. He’s always let her behave as she saw fit, which in turn made her more eager to reclaim her independence. Had it not been for him, I think that she’d grown up to be really the opposite of herself thus much colder, more formal, very ladylike in all her behaviour and extremely intolerant of others. She’d never have befriended Agatha or even stayed too much in Idia’s presence. For her, he’d simply have been the disgusting heir of the Shroud family that they’d have to avoid.

For Idia, I think that Vita gives him another rock to lean on. Somebody who has his back and will not falter in front of any possible difficulties they might encounter. I think that is something that he really wants in his partner since he does tend to be the type who gives up easily if he encounters too much opposition. Having Vita at his side, makes him feel a little more confident in himself as there’s somebody on his side, but also keeps him in check since she refuses to let him fall by the wayside.

13. Who dies first? How does the other one react?

I’m thinking Vita dies first, most likely of old age. Idia feels like the world is coming to an end since he never imagined not having her in his life, though with the support of their children and Larna he manages to pull through. He respects her wishes to bury her in the family crypt but asks Mors to hold off reanimating her until he passes away as well since he knows he wouldn’t be able to deal with seeing his wife moving about but not recognizing him at all. He spends a lot of his days as an old man working and talking to a picture he has of her on his workbench, and when he also passes away he’s buried alongside her. At Morta’s request neither end up being reanimated, but just preserved, since she feels it would be better like this for both of them.

15. Describe your favorite moment of that ship!

I think their whole childhood together qualifies! As childhood friends, and due to having been engaged since young, they ended up spending a significant amount of time with each other which led to their present-day familiarity. They’re not sure how, but they somehow both became fixtures in the other’s life and thus had shared quite a few moments with each other.

Among the most significant ones had to be when Vita received Larna as an engagement present from the Shrouds. The puppy was a Jupiter Conglomerate breed that had its typically violent nature suppressed and would thus serve as a faithful companion instead. Its strength made it quite a formidable bodyguard as well, and his friendly nature towards her really surprised Vita. She had not been allowed any pets before as her mother considered them dirty and high-maintenance, but even she couldn’t actually refuse such an extravagant gift without bringing shame to the family.

Vita ended up bonding with the hellhound rather quickly, as did Larna to her and the two were inseparable after that. To Idia, who was also interested in the idea of a cool pet like that, it seemed incredibly unfair that Vita should have one when he didn’t. He ended up feeling quite resentful over it for a while, much to Vita and Ortho’s confusion, who weren’t sure why he seemed so out of sorts whenever he came over to the Dies mansion or Vita and Larna came over to theirs. Larna had shown quite a lot of interest in Idia as well, so it wasn’t like the dog was ignoring him, but Idia still seemed rather content with casting himself in a victim narrative. Moreover, it took Vita a while to realize what his issue was and once she did she proposed to him that they could share the dog. She would be the mother and he could be the father, so it would be like they were playing house together and he’ll have just as much claim over him as she did.

Though Idia took it mostly as a victory since he obtained what he wanted, to Vita is was more like a promise that they would stay together for a long time as hellhounds like Larna tend to live very long and often past their owners’ death. Idia agreeing to have co-ownership to the dog meant that he was willing to keep them both in his life for a long period of time, which to Vita, who had recently come around to the idea of being engaged to him, became a very pleasant notion. In a way, it was their own version of reinforcing their engagement even if Idia wasn’t entirely aware of the implications. Or if he was, he didn’t want to admit to them.

16. What do other characters think about this relationship?

Most are surprised to find out about their engagement, I imagine, and out of everybody, Ortho is perhaps the most supportive. He sees Vita as part of the family already and it makes him glad to see that Idia feels at ease around her and is more open and confident. Together they often end up trying to convince Idia to go outside more and interact with others.

Vita’s family is against the relationship, however, mostly on account that Vita’s mother fears that their reputation as the Death Mages will resurface once again due to their connection with the Shroud family. She vehemently opposed the union back when it was proposed and even now forbids Idia any access to their house or even the mention of his name. She would rather pretend that this whole relationship doesn’t exist.

Idia’s parents and Vita’s grandfather on the other hand regard this relationship as a very good opportunity to achieve what each of them wants. In the Dies’ case, they require financial support and a means of preserving their family traditions through any means necessary and the Shrouds can provide, while getting in return the secrets to transmutation that the Dies guard very carefully against prying eyes. To them, it’s a very fortuitous union since both sides are being happy with their situation now to a certain degree.

21. What’s a really significant moment in their relationship?

Their fight during the Culture Festival at Night Raven College, I would say. Mostly because it is the one incident in which neither of them really backs down so it leads to a lot of tension and an exchange of words neither really mean, but can’t take back either. It causes a bit of a fracture in their relationship since they’re too prideful to admit that they messed up and once Vita says they won’t be able to see each other for a while it really leads to an even bigger misunderstanding between them, that only festers due to the events that take place in episode 6. Yet, in a way, this could have been a fortunate turn of events as well, due to the fact it means that both of them were forced to realize how much they care about the other.

Vita’s return home, made her realize that she misses the freedom she has with Idia, as well as the support he inadvertently gives her. When they’re together, Vita feels like she’s finally in control of her own situation and can conduct herself as she sees fit. She’s treated like an equal, like somebody who also has a voice and isn’t just a pawn to be shifted around at the behest of someone else. Without Idia, she feels like she’s lost her partner in crime and her support system.

Idia also realizes the many sacrifices that Vita has always made for him, and continues to make regardless. He’s always taken for granted the fact that she would be by his side, and now that he’s faced with the reality of it all, he isn’t sure how to proceed. Without Vita to keep him more grounded, he slips much easier into his tendency to disassociate with everything around him and indulge himself in his coping mechanisms. He hasn’t realized how much he needed and appreciated her presence and care until he had to do without it.

They really become more appreciative of each other after that.

[bugbear-y]

Maybe I'm dumb and everyone else has figured this out already, but

In Trigger Happy Havoc, we know for a fact that severe physical trauma, at least to the head but it is possible that deadly wounds in general would apply, can restore the lost memories because it happens. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume that a) only head trauma can result in this, b) that anyone who died by being hit on the head lived for at least a couple of seconds, even if it seems improbable, and c) that this also applies to Goodbye Despair and Killing Harmony. Now buckle in, because this is gonna be a long post and quite possibly a multi-part one.

First up to bat (pun intended) is Leon Kuwata. His execution was being pummeled by baseballs in a manner similar to stoning and eventually being killed after several blows to the head. Given that it would be physically impossible for a single baseball shooty thing to send baseballs simultaneously from multiple angles, we can reasonably assume that he got hit at least once before actually dying.

Therefore, it's possible that Leon, in his last moments before death, remembered that Sayaka, the girl who attempted to kill him and frame Makoto, and who he killed, was his and everyone else's close friend. Combined with the already brutal execution, dying with that knowledge and not being able to tell your friends? Poor Leon really did get screwed by canon.

Next up we have Chihiro, for whom I will be using they/them pronouns and ignoring any discourse regarding their gender. Chihiro is one of the people who is unlikely to have lived past the fatal blow, but Danganronpa isn't exactly realistic (*side eyes Junko somehow surviving up until the end of her execution*) so I can ignore that for the sake of causing pain.

Chihiro, one of the characters I project onto the most, died from a dumbell to the head. I do honestly think that someone as strong as Mondo probably did cause instant death, but let's say he didn't. How do you think Chihiro would have felt? To put this into perspective, they're dying, having had their brains bashed in by one of their closest friends, and either said friend or all their other friends are going to die horribly in the trial's aftermath. Do you think they knew or guessed how badly Taka would break down afterwards? Did they know that Mondo would do his best to hide their secret even in death? I hope they knew when they died that, in another time, they had been supported for who they were.

Now we know that Hifumi got his memories back and that Taka, having also got bonked with a mallet, would have regained his too if we assume he didn't die immediately, which he probably did not; let's face it, Hifumi with a wooden mallet is not equal to Mondo with a dumbell in terms of force, especially if you take height differences into account. Point is, Taka probably had time to remember and Hifumi definitely did.

So Taka remembered how close he, Mondo and Chihiro were. One of his best friends killed the other and now they've both died gruesomely, and he's about to join them (in an oddly similar manner to Chihiro— head bashed in, body moved around, someone framed by the manipulated circumstances, culprit(s) had weird hair, yelled quite a lot and wore makeup, and he deserved better). I don't think he would have reacted that much at the time. If he'd lived then sure, but Taka was so tired from everything at that point. He looked like he hadn't been eating, he was borderline catatonic for a solid day, then he went into Kiyondo mode and probably tired out his already weakened body. However he wasn't Kiyondo when he died, so I think he must have learnt something that drained that fight from him, and getting years worth of memories dumped on you would do that. Taka's situation was probably similar to Chihiro's with the conflicting emotions and knowing that someone they considered a friend was going to die and pretty much everyone they loved is gone. Fun times.

Pre-memory wipe, Hifumi must have been a lot closer to Celeste than he is in the game, because the Celestia Ludenberg we see in Trigger Happy Havoc would never have told him her real name. Hifumi is in the Chihiro boat where he's been betrayed by someone who doesn't know just how close they used to be but he did kill Taka and contribute to hiding his own death. I still don't know how he planned to get away with faking his death the coming back to life, but whatever.

That's it for THH, and damn, a lot of people got bonked on the head in this game. Compared to the 1, maybe a shaky argument for 2 in Goodbye Despair, that's a lot, though V3 has a similar amount of bonkage to THH so I guess SDR2 is the outlier. I haven't watched the anime or read any of the novels, so I can't compare them in bonkability.

[herinsectreflection]

An Episode Within an Episode: An Analysis of ‘The Zeppo’

The Zeppo is one of those episodes that so consistently shows up on fan lists of “underrated” episodes, that I don’t know if it can really be considered “underrated” anymore, but I think it deserves a little extra appreciation. It’s definitely an episode that takes a second viewing to appreciate, thanks to how oddly it is constructed, in a way that isn’t immediately advertised to the viewer. Other episodes with unusual styles such as Once More With Feeling or Hush very much wear their concepts on their sleeve; you can’t watch them and not immediately realise what they are doing. That’s not a knock against those episodes - part of what makes them so great and iconic is that they get right to the point and so can do interesting things with the concept. The Zeppo is just a quieter kind of unique. It uses the limited perspective of both the characters and the audience themselves to show a cracked-mirror version of the world. It’s an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer told from the perspective of somebody looking in on another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s fun and weird and I want to dig into it a little bit.

We start off with a very typical Buffy scene. In its third season now, the show is pretty aware of and confident in its own tropes, and trusts the audience to be too. We don’t need any build-up explaining exactly what Giles has found out and what spell Willow is performing and what these monsters are doing and exactly how Buffy and Faith know how to kill them. We’ve all seen an episode of Buffy before, and we can fill in the blanks pretty easily. This confidence in the show’s own tropes and what the audience expects of it is key to what makes this episode work. We know exactly how a typical episode of Buffy goes, so we can receive this barely-cliff-notes version of one and understand it perfectly. It’s an episode that can only be done in a show’s third year, when viewers have become fluent in the show’s language.

After the fight and exposition is over, Xander stands up from the garbage, as out of context as we are as viewers. As this is a Xander-centric episode, he becomes the audience identification figure. As the one character not supernaturally gifted or linked in any way (as the episode points out several times), Xander makes sense as the viewer stand-in. Xander comments on how he wants to be more involved in the fights but is firmly rebuffed - and it’s clear he wouldn’t be able to impact them anyway. All he can do is watch the fights and plots happen from a distance. In this sense, Xander is no different to the viewer, watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, unable to affect it in any way.

This is where the structure of the episode comes into play. The A plot is a fairly meaningless runaround with zombies, while the B-plot is a finale-worthy epic apocalyptic showdown. We only catch glimpses of it, but it seems to contain all the standard hallmarks of a Buffy apocalypse - an evil cult, opening the hellmouth, tearful Buffy/Angel melodrama. Specifically, it echoes the previous two season finales, with the final showdown apparently featuring both the literal monster from the S1 finale, and some kind of sacrifice that involved Angel (evoking the S2 finale). The very last bit of dialogue we hear during this plot is “Faith, go for the heart!” from Buffy, encouraging her to kill the demon in the library, which you could argue foreshadows the S3 finale, where Buffy will use the Mayor’s love for Faith to kill him in the library. This plot is a facsimile of a Buffy season finale, giving us everything we expect and have seen before, stripped of all context, the very bare bones of a story. 

What this achieves is that it alienates the viewer from this story-within-a story, forcing us into an intentionally uncomfortable position, where it feels like we’re watching an episode through a keyhole. It intentionally exacerbates the divide between viewer and show, to highlight our inability to fully perceive or at all impact this world we tune into each week.

Xander is very purposefully chosen as the POV character for this experience. He is feeling very insecure and ineffectual - unable to help with either brains or brawn, and not having a whole lot of impact on the story. He feels alienated from his friends, fearful that they will leave him behind. The structure of this episode highlights this feeling of ineffectualness. Xander feels so alienated from the events and people around him that he, like the audience, becomes separated from them. A character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer becomes an outsider to the story, watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We are encouraged to empathise with Xander because we are in the same position. We too have been robbed of our usual intimacy with this group of people, forced to perceive the shadows of an episode. This meta-emotion dovetails with the character’s internal mental state nicely.

I think my favourite instance of this meta-perception being played with is in the scene between Buffy and Angel, where we are dropped without context into a tearful, dramatic argument where apparently Angel’s life is in the balance, filled with declarations of love and poetic exaltations, backed by this sweeping orchestral score - and then Xander pops his head in. The music immediately stops, he exchanges a few awkward lines with them before realising they have bigger things to worry about. As he leaves, Buffy turns back to the melodrama and the sweeping music surges back in. It’s brilliantly funny - it feels like Xander put an episode on pause for a quick interjection, then re-started it where we left off. It’s a joke relying entirely on the audience’s expectations of the kind of epic melodrama we might get from Buffy and Angel, and it works really well. In this moment, Xander completely becomes the viewer, peeking in on these two actors, observing through glass.

The Zeppo is very concerned with meta references, TV, and the act of watching. Obviously the title is a reference to Zeppo Marx, and there is also a running gag likening Xander to Jimmy Olsen. We are encouraged to think of Xander in relation to his narrative function as a fictional character, and so to watch this episode through this meta lens. One key shot just after Faith and Xander sleep together shows the two of them literally reflected in a TV screen. We are literally seeing a distorted reflection of reality in a TV screen, which on one level is essentially all we do whenever we watch any television show, but is also what we are seeing within this episode - a fuzzy reflection of a Buffy episode within a Buffy episode.

There’s another shot later that I like, of one of the zombies pausing during the final chase scene to look through the library window at the demon emerging from the hellmouth. We see him looking through the glass at this apocalypse monster for a couple of seconds before continuing on with his chase, like a channel-hopping viewer taking a brief glimpse of Buffy, momentarily enraptured, before switching back to what they were watching before.

One thing that stood out to me on this rewatch was how the villains are described. We purposefully get very little on the group, but what we do get is telling. “’Sisterhood of Jhe. Race of female demons, fierce warriors...' Eww. '...celebrate victory in battle by eating their foes.’”

A race of all-female warriors sounds very much like Slayers. They apparently eat after battles too, which according to Faith is also a feature of Slayers. The villain in this story is kind of a representation of the central concept of the show, which makes sense since it deals with Xander navigating around a typical episode of the show. You could also read it as representative of Xander’s pathologies when it comes to women and specifically women who are stronger than him.

What I like about this episode is that it doesn’t conclude by giving Xander a big important role in stopping the apocalypse, proving his worth to the group. That’s what a lesser show might have done. I like that here, Xander never gets involved with the epic finale-esque plot. He carries on existing in the spaces around it, becoming instead the hero of the monster-of-the-week runaround episode he has found himself in. Xander cannot be the hero of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because he’s not Buffy. But he is still a human being, and all of us as human beings are the protagonists and heroes of our own stories. He can be the hero of his own life. 

S3 is largely about identity and forging one’s own path in life - obviously Buffy starts by having given up her name, then has to deal with facing off against her dark equivalent and making major decisions about her future. This season’s focus-episodes for the other characters reflect that: Giles is stripped of his role in Helpless, Willow rails against hers in Doppelgangland. This episode is all about Xander coming to terms with his narrative role within Buffy - as the non-powered comedic relief and occasional pep-talker. He could become frustrated with that, throw up his hands and let himself be at the mercy of his narrative function. But this episode allows him to find his own space, his own story. He accepts that he can’t colonise Buffy’s story, but he is still in control of his own decisions, and he can still have his own story. He can create a little one-off episode of Xander the Zombie Fighter that can co-exist peacefully with the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer happening at the same time. It’s a smaller, quieter story without the same world-shaking melodrama - but that’s OK. As Xander says himself, he likes the quiet.

As viewers, we can never shape the course of the media we watch. That’s part of the appeal - we don’t always know what we want or need - a problem Xander faces himself when he clutches at things like “being cool” or “a car” for things that might make him happy - but a good show gives us what we didn’t realise we needed. But it remains an eternal frustration, that we can connect on a deep emotional level with these characters, but can never help them or solve their problems. A good set of characters can feel like family, but a character can never love you back. When Xander faces up against this same uselessness as he observes an episode of Buffy from afar, it is the same uselessness the viewer feels. When he accepts this and inhabits his own story, it reminds us that we can do the same thing. Television can be a great comfort, but it is not our lives. Because we can affect our own lives. We aren’t in control of them, but we can guide and impact them, and we can each be the hero of our own individual existences.

[acesydneysage]

A Sydney and Eddie retrospective

@vablappreciationweek Favorite familial relationship: The Melrose Twins

Part 2, Books 4-6: The Heartbreaking Trilogy, Why Are You Doing This To Me This Is So Sad

Part 1 here

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney and Eddie definitely already love each othe like siblings. By the end of the book they prove that in the most painful way possible, but let's ge through some cuteness first while I steel my heart.

We get Adrian's perspective on this book, so it's nice to see Eddie talking about Sydney when she isn't around:

“Because it’s Sydney,”said Eddie from the backseat. In the rearview mirror, I could see an easy smile on his face, though there was a perpetual sharpness in his eyes as he scanned the world for danger. He and Neil had been trained by the guardians, the dhampir organization of badasses that protected the Moroi. “Giving one hundred percent to a task is slacking for her.”

When Sydney wants to soften Zoe's extreme opinions on vampires, she picks Eddie to be Zoe's driving instructor because she wants "someone approachable and friendly who’d show her not all dhampirs were evil creatures of the night."

When Sydney is being a sappy romantic and describes what love is to the group, Eddie is the one who lingers looking at her the longest, he can tell something is different about her. They really know each other by now. When Eddie let's Zoe drive outside of the parking lot, he knows Sydney so well that he knows what she's going to say, and what to say to make it better:

“I can’t believe Eddie of all people would do that. It’s irresponsible.”She nodded. “He said you’d say that and that I should tell you, ‘At least it wasn’t Angeline.’”I couldn’t help it. I laughed at that. “That’s true. He does have limits.”

Later when she tells Zoe frivolity might not be such a bad thing, they have a sweet little moment:

“Sometimes frivolity isn’t a bad thing.” Eddie, who didn’t seem put out about the dance, grinned. “Sydney, when we first met, I never would’ve thought those words could come out of your mouth. What happened to you?” Everything, I thought. I met his grin with one of my own. “We all need some fun. We should forget that dance and go out and see a movie that night. When was the last time we all did that?”“I think the answer is ‘never,’” said Jill.

When Neil comes up with his crazy plan to test the Stigoi vaccine, Eddie is very shaken up by the similarities to the event in Spokane that lead to Mason's death. While Sydney thinks that "if Eddie was involved, one Strigoi seemed feasible", what finally convinces Eddie to go is her magic. Although Neil puts her on the spot, she does ultimately make the choice to trust him with this dangerous knowledge about her:

Eddie wasn’t swayed, and there was a look on his face I’d never seen before. “I’m not denying the principles, but it’s too dangerous. And not just to you. I did something like this once . . .” A pain so intense that it tore at my heart crossed Eddie’s features. “Me and some friends. We thought we could take on Strigoi . . . and my best friend ended up dead. No matter how prepared you think you are, even against only one, the unexpected can happen.” [...] The more this got out, the more trouble I was in. And yet, as I looked into Eddie’s steady gaze, I was reminded of our friendship and all we’d been through. In a world of secrets and lies, there were few I could thoroughly trust anymore, but I knew then, without a doubt, that Eddie was one I could. Taking a deep breath, hoping I wasn’t being a fool, I held out my hand. A nervous glance around confirmed we were alone, and I brought forth a spark of fire in my palm that soon grew into the size of a tennis ball. Eddie leaned over and gasped, the orange flames reflecting off his face. “Maybe . . . maybe our odds have gotten better,” he said.

During the fight with the Strigoi they go after, we get a little more about their similarities, how they're both so dedicated to helping others, and they both seriously admire each other so much. You get a bit of that from Sydney's perspective,and how much she cares about Eddie:

I knew what agony Eddie had to be in because I shared it. We both wanted to help Neil. Doing nothing, even for a handful of seconds, went against every part of our beings. [...] For his part, Eddie was magnificent. It had been a while since I’d seen him fight, and I’d nearly forgotten that the adopted brother I joked and ate lunch with was a lethal warrior. [...] I had to act. I couldn’t just stand by and let Eddie be annihilated, not if there was anything I could do.

After the fight, Sydney is caught up in the euphoria of surviving a near death experience, and she makes pretty much zero effort to hide her relationship with Adrian from Eddie:

As soon as I was on the road with Eddie and Jill, I told them, “I need to see Adrian. Drop me off and take my car. He’ll give me a ride back.” Eddie looked totally surprised by that. “Why do you need to see him?” “I just do.” I didn’t feel like attempting an excuse, and Eddie wasn’t the type to badger me. The most I got was a curious look when we reached the apartment. His curiosity turned to panic when he realized I’d be leaving him alone with Jill. “Good luck,”I said as I got out, not entirely sure who needed it the most.

When Eddie figures out that they're together she tries to avoid the conversation, expecting condemnation, but he's very supportive. This is the last conversation they have before everything falls apart, and everything I tried to remove to shorten it felt like an important character moment, but the most relevant parts are bolded:

“Sydney . . .”Eddie’s light mood vanished, and even with my eyes on the road, his tone tipped me off that something serious was about to happen. “About that. About you going to Adrian’s . . .”I felt a tightening of my throat and couldn’t answer immediately. “Don’t talk about that,” I said. “Please.” “No, we need to.” Eddie knew. Eddie knew, and if the subject wasn’t so dire, I would’ve laughed. He was oblivious to his own social affairs, but guardians were trained to watch and observe. Eddie did that, and no doubt he’d picked up all sorts of little things between Adrian and me. We tried so hard to hide from the Alchemists, but hiding from our friends, who knew us and loved us, was impossible. “Are you going to lecture me?” I asked stiffly. “Tell me I’m breaking taboos that have been in place for centuries to preserve the purity of our races?” “What?” He was aghast. “No, of course not.” I dared a look. “What do you mean ‘of course not’?” “Sydney, I’m your friend. I’m his friend. I’d never judge you, and I’d certainly never condemn you.” “A lot of people think what we’re doing is wrong.” It felt strange and oddly relieving to acknowledge my relationship with Adrian to another person. “Well, I’m not one of them. If you guys want it . . . that’s your business.” “Everyone’s suddenly very liberal about this,” I said with wonder. “I just heard a similar thing from Trey and Angeline—about their own relationship, that is. Not about . . . other people’s.” “I think my ill-fated time with Angeline may be part of it,” he said, with more humor than I expected, considering she’d cheated on him. “She talked enough about her people that after a while, it didn’t seem that weird. And, well, my race exists because humans and Moroi got together and had kids way back when.”I felt a smile start to grow on my lips. “Adrian says it wouldn’t be fair to the world if he and I had kids, what with the overwhelming power of our collective charm, brains, and good looks.” Eddie laughed outright, not something I heard very often, and I found myself laughing too. “Yeah, I can see him saying something like that. And that’s the thing, I think . . . the real reason I’m not that weirded out by you two. It goes against all sound logic, but somehow, you two together . . . it just works.” “‘Against all sound logic,’” I repeated. “Isn’t that the truth.” A little of his amusement faded. “But that’s not what worries me. Or the morality of it. It’s your own people I’m worried about. How long are you going to be able to go on like this?” I sighed as I took the exit for the meeting spot. “As long as the center holds.”

Eddie thinks Sydney and Adrian make sense. Obviously I agree that they absolutely do, but on a surface level it doesn't look like it. You have to know them and have a better understanding of their personalities to figure out how they actually fit together. What he's worried about is the Alchemists. Of course, by this point, since the ending of TFH is a sadistically drawn out torture, we already know from the ending of the last chapter that she's about to be captured.

I made it the door first... and found Eddie. His clothes were dirty and torn, and the right side of his face was swollen and red. There was a wild, half-crazed look in his eyes I’d never seen before. A feeling of dread settled over me, and the darkness and despair and fear that had left me alone for so long began to rear their collective ugly head. I knew, even without Eddie saying a word, what had to have happened. I knew because of that terrible look of pain on his face, a pain similar to when he hadn’t been able to save Mason. [...] “Adrian,” he gasped out. “I tried, I tried. There were too many. I couldn’t stop them.” He came forward and gripped my arm. “I tried, but they took her. It was a setup. I don’t know where she is. She tricked me, damn it! I never would have left her if she hadn’t tricked me!”

When they figure out it's a trap and he tells her to run, her first instinct was that she couldn't leave him behind. When they're running together through the woods the Alchemists start shooting at Eddie, specifically. He's running at Sydney's pace and she knows he would never leave her, the he would die to save her. And she knows she could not let him die.

Eddie won’t leave me, I thought frantically. He’ll never leave me. They want me, but they don’t care about him. He can live or die, and it won’t matter to them. But if he’s what’s keeping them away, they’ll shoot him and destroy his body. “Eddie,”I said, panting. “We need to split up.” “Never.” That answer wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that out of all the things rattling around in my mind, Abe Mazur’s words popped up in the forefront:. Don’t think for an instant that I wouldn’t do terrible, unspeakable things if it could save someone I love. Because it was Abe, I’d naturally assumed he was talking about doing terrible, unspeakable things to other people. But as Eddie and I held on to each other, the words took on a whole different meaning. In that moment, I knew I would do anything to save Eddie—my friend—whom I loved. Even if it meant doing something terrible and unspeakable to myself.

The first thing established in the first paragraph of Bloodlines is that re-education is Sydney's greatest fear, literally her worst nightmare. But she faces that, she walks right back and turns herself in in order to keep Eddie safe. She tricks him into spliting up by claiming that it's part of a spell, and he believes her because he's seen her do extraordinary things.

“I tried,” he whispered. “Adrian, I tried. I never would have ever left her if I’d known. I would have stayed with her to the end. I would have laid down my life and—” I had to forcibly hit the pause button on my own feelings as I dealt with his. Eddie had lost another person. It was bad luck, that was all. He was one of the most badass , capable guardians out there, but he couldn’t believe that about himself, not when he kept seeing these failures laid at his feet. Looking into his eyes, I recognized the intense self-loathing consuming him. I knew the feeling well because I was carrying around a fair amount of it myself. “I know you would have,” I said. “There was nothing you could do.” He shook his head and stared off with a haunted look. “I was an idiot. I never should’ve bought into that spell stuff. After what I’d seen her do with fire, it just seemed so . . . well, real. I believed her. It made sense.” I smiled without humor. “Because that’s what she does. She’s trained to make people believe things. And outsmart them. You didn’t have a chance.” She also was willing to trade her own life to save her friend’s, but no one had trained her to do that. It was just something within her. Eddie wasn’t going to be swayed so easily, and I left him to his grief as I huddled with mine.

When Sydney's captured, Eddie feels like he failed her, just as he'd failed Mason in Spokane, and Jill when the rebels killed her. But still, he has faith in her, that she can hold on to herself:

“How much can they really change her, though?” asked Eddie. “I mean . . . she’s Sydney. She’ll be the same . . . right? She can fight them.”

In Silver Shadows,Sydney is in re-education, and she still finds it in her to be worried about her friends on the outside. Eddie's humiliation and guilt over having lost Sydney killed the kindling romance he had with Jill. There isn't much he can do to help find her at this point.

Once they find a lead on where she is, going to her rescue is very important to Eddie, but he also feels conflicted about leaving Jill with less protection. When the time comes, Jill convinces them to take Eddie because he needed to be part of her rescue, he'd been consumed by guilt this whole time, and that might be the only thing that would allow him to feel redeemed.

With some urging from Jill, he leaves her behind, and goes off to break into a prison again, to rescue a much worthier prisoner this time. After getting mostof the prisoners out, Eddie and Adrian go back into the burning building to get Sydney and the remaining people. After they bring her out to freedom, they have this moment where they hold each other and cry, it always makes me so emotional:

Eddie came last, and as we sized each other up, the tears hovering in my eyes finally spilled. “Eddie, I’m so sorry I lied to you that night.” He shook his head and pulled me to him. I heard tears choke up his voice. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them. I’m sorry I wasn’t protection enough.” “Oh, Eddie,” I said, sniffling. “You’re the best protection. No one could have a better guardian than you. Or a better friend.”

I hope Eddie did feel redeemed, because Sydney pretty much immediately tricks him, and gives him the slip again. She does take the time to try to nudge his love life again first. Then she goes off with Adrian, going against the plan, because she thinks the other fugitives will be safer without her.

"Eddie shot me one last parting smile that nearly choked me up again." “I never thought I’d see Castile brought to tears,” said Adrian as he started up the Mustang. “This really hit him hard. Hell, it hit all of us hard, but he really beat himself up for it. He never forgave himself for you giving him the slip.” “Let’s hope he can,” I said, putting my seatbelt on. “Because it’s about to happen again. We aren’t meeting them at the safe house.”

Eddie was furious about this, but at least this time she didn't get captured. And soon enough he had something else to feel bad about, since Jill went missing right after he got back to her. She disppeared without a trace in the middle of the night, and there's another failure laid at Eddie's feet.

He's not in a great state in the beginning of The Ruby Circle:

Eddie appeared in the doorway. Seeing him almost always brought a smile to my face. In Palm Springs, we’d passed ourselves off as twins, sharing similar dark blond hair and brown eyes. But over time, he’d truly come to feel like a brother to me. I knew few others with such courage and loyalty. I was proud to call him my friend, and as such, it hurt me to see all the pain he felt over Jill’s disappearance. There was always a haunted look about him now, and sometimes I worried whether he was really taking care of himself. He hardly ever shaved anymore, and I had a feeling the only reason he bothered eating was so that he could keep training and stay in shape for when he located Jill’s abductors.

Sydney isn't doing all that great either, stuck in a hostile environment while she deals with her trauma and worries about Jill. When Sydney and Eddie sneak out of court to look for Jill, the power of Raptorbot can make him smile:

“It couldn’t have been that unexpected,” I argued. “I mean, why did he build a dinosaur body for her? Why not something more human? Or at least a more friendly animal?” “Because then there wouldn’t have been much of a movie,” said Eddie. “There’s still got to be a plausible backstory …” I said. A wry smile crossed Eddie’s features, and although the entire topic was absurd, I realized I’d hardly ever seen anything but a grim expression on his face since Jill had been taken. “I don’t think you can really sit down with a movie called Raptorbot Rampage and expect a plausible backstory,” he said. The attendant looked offended. “What are you suggesting? It was a fine piece of film. When the sequel comes out, people will be lined up out the doors to see this exhibit!” “Sequel?” Eddie and I asked in unison.

I love it when the twins talkin unison, even if they probably had opposite tones. And I really love Eddie being a fan of Raptorbot I'm sorry. He and Declan have matching Raptorbot pajamas, you can't change my mind. This is another exchange that screams siblings to me:

“We were probably his only customers today,” I remarked. “That’ll make us memorable—that and having someone who’s actually seen and liked Raptorbot Rampage.” “Hey,” warned Eddie. “Don’t judge until you’ve watched it.”

Later Sydney tries to tease him about it again, but he's focused on the search so his good humor doesn't come back. I think it's very sweet thet she saw something that had made him momentarily happy through the pain, and tried to press that button again.

Eddie is understandably very protective throughout this book. It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, they actually run into Sydney's family, while they're trying to stay off the Alchemists' radar:

“Then get out of here. Hurry—before he comes out. Both of you.” I was stunned at this complete reversal in her behavior, but Eddie didn’t need to be told twice. He took hold of my arm and nearly dragged me to the car. “We’re going—now,” he ordered. I caught one last glimpse of Zoe before Eddie shoved me in the car, where Ms. Terwilliger sat waiting for us. A thousand emotions played over Zoe’s face as we peeled out, but I could only interpret a few. Sadness. Longing. As we quickly got back on the road, I found myself shaking. Eddie was driving and kept anxiously checking the rearview mirror. “No sign of pursuit,” he said. “She must not have been able to see which direction we went to tell him.” I slowly shook my head. “No … she didn’t tell him at all. She helped us.” “Sydney,” said Eddie, in a stern-but-trying-to-sound-kind voice, “she’s the one who turned you in the first time! The one who started that whole re-education nightmare.”

He doesn't really belive that Zoe had a change of heart, and he tries to be so gentle with Sydney, while anxiously trying to get her away.

With how sad he is in this TRC (he even has broody beard to show it), the bits where he gets excited about things are really adorable. He's very enthusiastic about meeting Malachi Wolfe:

“Are the Chihuahuas really trained to attack?” he asked. I couldn’t help but grin. “That’s what Wolfe claims. We’ve never seen them in action, though.” “I can’t wait to see his nunchucks.” “Do not touch them,” I warned. “Or any weapon, without permission. If he approves of you, he might lend you something too.” [...] “Oh, man,” breathed Eddie. “There really is a herd of them.” I’d seen Eddie fearlessly face down an attacking Strigoi, but he took an uneasy step back at the sound of the canine charge. I grinned and turned toward the door, waiting for Malachi Wolfe himself to answer.

There's a lot of hugging after Sydney leaves re-education. Sydney and Eddie hug a lot, but just in general. Good for her it's what she deserves. "“Eddie,” Sydney exclaimed, running to give him a hug. He grinned back. “You guys okay?” "

When Sydney and Eddie are preparing to infiltrate the Warriors of Light as recruits, she gets a super strength spell while he gets super excited about it, and they have the cutest arm wrestle in history:

“And how much stronger?” asked Eddie eagerly. “Like lift-up-a-car stronger?” Maude smiled. “Sorry to disappoint, but no. [...]” She glanced between Eddie and Sydney speculatively, her smile growing. “I’d say you’re strong enough to hold your own with a dhampir in an arm wrestling match.” “I would kind of love to see that,” I admitted. Eddie’s face said he would as well. Sydney groaned. “Really? That’s so barbaric.” Eddie leaned over and propped his arm up on the table that had previously held the canteen. “Come on, Mrs. Ivashkov. Let’s do this. Besides, if you’re squeamish about arm wrestling, how are you going to handle going head-to-head with the Warriors?” [...] Ultimately, Eddie pushed his strength to its limit and finally defeated her, but not without her holding her own for a while. I held up her arm triumphantly, like a victor at a boxing match. “My wife, ladies and gentlemen. Beauty, brains, and now brawn.” “Awesome,” said Eddie, in a rare moment of delight.

He's really excited about human magic in general, such an adorable nerd. And again, they really do admire each other so much. Following Sydney's blackmailing the Alchemists: "I hung up, and Eddie regarded me with awe. “That was pretty badass. But do you actually think it’ll work?”"

In the epilogue, Eddie pulled strings to live with Sydney and Adrian as a Guardian, and he's one of the people who's in on Declan's secret. He even chooses to sleepin Declan's room.

I sprinted out of the room and up the stairs, to the bedroom that doubled as both a nursery and Eddie’s room. I had high enough royal rank to finally be assigned my own guardian, and Eddie, in that noble way of his, had pulled strings to be assigned to us. I’d initially protested because I wanted him to stay at Court and have a semi-normal dating life with Jill. Eddie, however, felt obligated to be with us—both out of friendship to Sydney and me and for all the times Neil had helped him. We’d offered to turn the house’s small study into Eddie’s own bedroom, but he always ended up sleeping in Declan’s room anyway.

I'm really glad they didn't get separated by the end, it always makes me happy to think about them living together.

[ace-oreos]

I know its impossible for it to have happened but I would like to see some Alpha vs Darth Maul. Like Maul would be like 'oh your one of kenobi's' and Alpha would be like 'i just work for the man but i will absolutely fight you'

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it one last time here: anon, you were so very patient and I can’t thank you enough for waiting all these months for me to finish this. 

I can safely say the funniest part of writing this was trying to figure out how to put together Maul’s Drama™ and... Alpha’s penchant for avoiding drama by any means necessary. It made writing the dialogue VERY fun XD

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added!): @dudewhynotthis @merspots @the-mandalorian-clone-lover @delta-the-mando @or-te-ka-ra @huitzilinthebudgie3 @a-lil-perspective

By all accounts, the Sith isn’t supposed to be here.

Just my luck, Alpha thinks, and sighs when he remembers Fordo offered to take this one off his hands. It wasn’t worth committing the full strength of Fordo’s squad to this assignment - or so he initially thought. They hadn’t gotten word of hostile Force-users until Alpha reported his findings. 

He’d been unpleasantly surprised, to say the least.

Maul and Kenobi have history, if he remembers correctly. Kenobi hasn’t told him the half of it and Alpha really doesn’t care one way or another. He wouldn’t, if he had already devised his own method for killing someone who can very likely predict his every movement. 

Really, the only way to get one over on Maul would be to cut off his connection to the Force. There’s no way of doing that, as far as Alpha knows, so this op will require a fair share of ingenuity and a healthy disregard for conventional means of warfare. Some more time wouldn’t go amiss either, but Alpha will have to work with what he has. 

So he lets Maul find him. Draws him out now rather than exert energy that could very well be the deciding factor later. He can’t say for sure that Maul is surprised, exactly, but whatever flickers across his face doesn’t look like anger just yet. 

“I wasn’t expecting you,” the Sith says slowly, all acid sibilants. 

“I suppose you were hoping for Kenobi,” Alpha dismisses. “Tough luck.” 

Alpha can put up just as much of a fight as any Jetii, but letting Maul underestimate him could work to his advantage if he plays his cards right. If Kenobi’s teachings are true, the Sith use their anger to guide them. Alpha intends to use that against him.

“So he sent you in his place, is that it?” 

“The general couldn’t be bothered with the likes of you,” Alpha is more than happy to inform him. “He’s beaten you once already. Why waste energy proving it again?” 

That strikes a nerve. The Force might not be part of Alpha’s arsenal, but he can read the rage in Maul’s expression all the same. Better to tread cautiously now; provoke Maul too soon, and the force of his anger will be too much for Alpha to redirect.

The Sith is examining him closely. “You must be one of Kenobi’s, then.”

Alpha shrugs. “Not exactly, but for our purposes - you could say so.”

“You feel no loyalty to him?” Maul asks slyly like that will get under Alpha’s skin.

“Depends on the day.” Alpha lets his hand drift casually to his blaster. “If you’re looking for a fight, I’d be happy to fill in. Like I said, Kenobi couldn’t care less about - ”

True to his intuition, Maul’s first attack isn’t based in the Force. He’s faster than Alpha anticipated, but he manages to dodge the headlong strike. Maul pivots, and a double-bladed lightsaber appears in his hands.

Maul is fast - Alpha just has to be faster. 

Evasion isn’t Alpha’s usual style, but he recognizes the necessity given the threat he’s facing. It’s no use trying to get a round past Maul’s saber; it would likely be deflected back at him anyways. 

And there’s no way Alpha can pull this off if he and the Sith are on equal footing. But if he can make the environment work to his advantage - if he can force Maul onto the wrong foot and seize that opportunity when it arises - he just might have a chance. 

Still, Maul isn’t sloppy enough that an opening will appear without some coaxing on Alpha’s end. It’ll mean sacrificing discipline for whatever works in the moment, but he decides it’s justifiable given the payoff. 

Even as he stays in motion he’s careful not to expend more energy than is strictly necessary. It’s just as well Jango was never one for fancy footwork; Alpha doesn’t get caught up in anything of the sort now. Eventually, however, Maul catches on and pulls back, eyeing him. 

“Kenobi’s lessons weren’t lost on you, I see.”

Alpha lets him talk, mind racing all the while. The compound’s labyrinthine layout could give him an edge - he’ll just have to do what he can to avoid getting crossed up along the way. But there’ll be risks no matter what; it’s just a matter of choosing the approach that will leave him the most room to adapt.

Just as Maul begins another pass with his saber, Alpha sends a few well-placed shots towards the Sith's feet and makes a break for a doorway just off Maul’s left shoulder.

Something collides with the wall dangerously close to his head, aided by the Force. Alpha ducks away instinctively but doesn’t look back. The first corridor is narrow; the second opens up to a catwalk that overlooks a wide hangar several meters below. 

He doesn’t have time to plant charges around the doorframe. It’s a shame, really - even the Force wouldn’t reveal detonators. But no use lamenting what he can’t have; Maul isn’t far behind. 

Alpha doesn’t much like the thought of getting caught on the catwalk, either, but there’s no other route out of this section of the compound. At least it’s stable; he doesn’t like to think what could happen if he didn’t have secure footing. 

He’s nearly halfway across, just starting to think he might’ve pulled this off when something slams into him from behind and he’s plunging towards the hangar floor in an uncontrolled fall, fighting blind panic. 

It’s sheer dumb luck that his rappel line catches something solid. He clutches at the taut line, muscles shaking with exertion and a fresh wave of adrenaline. Regaining a clearheaded state of mind is a conscious effort made all the more difficult by the realization that for all the Sith underestimated him, it’s painfully clear that Alpha badly underestimated Maul. 

With the catwalk no longer an option - he’ll only be walking straight into the onslaught - Alpha draws a steadying breath and lets himself fall. The breath is knocked from his lungs when he hits the ground, but he manages to roll with the impact. 

One glance towards the catwalk confirms Maul intends to follow him. Before the Sith’s feet hit the floor, Alpha fires. Maul is nowhere near defenseless, but splitting his concentration between fending off Alpha’s attack and manipulating the Force is the closest he’ll get.

The first shot clips Maul’s shoulder; the second hits home center mass. Knocked back by the force of impact, Maul’s landing is graceless and uncoordinated. Alpha presses his advantage, aiming for vulnerable joints.

Another round sears Maul’s arm. He snarls and switches his blade to his other hand. Despite Alpha’s best efforts, a few more steps and he’ll be too close for comfort. 

Alpha risks a glance at the catwalk. After Maul’s attack, it’s unlikely it’ll hold up under additional strain. He still has a few detonators on hand, and given their positioning…

The explosion rocks the hangar. Shards of metal pepper the hangar floor, and the catwalk begins to buckle. Sheets of metal tear away and plummet to the ground.

Alpha throws himself aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Maul isn’t so lucky. Another section of the catwalk crashes down, and the Sith disappears beneath the metal. 

The hangar is oddly silent now; the ragged gasps seizing Alpha’s chest are suddenly deafening. He half expects Maul to explode out of the wreckage, enraged, but there’s no sign of movement. 

Time to pull out. 

Traveling to the nearest Republic outpost will take the better part of a day, but they’ve got reinforcements and his ride out of here. And if the rumors are to be believed, Fordo and his squad are just a star system away. Navigating through Separatist-infested territory will no doubt be slow going, but if he has to he can hold out until - 

And suddenly a vice tightens around his throat and he claws at his neck instinctively, his free hand scrabbling for a hold on his knife, lungs aching as he struggles to breathe, and Maul proves to be very much alive, looming over Alpha, lightsaber in hand once again.

Even as Alpha’s vision threatens to fade - he can’t breathe - it registers distantly that Maul is within arm’s length. There’s a knife sheathed on Alpha’s belt - there’s a slim chance he can - if he could just -

Maul steps closer. 

Alpha drives his knife up and in and doesn’t let go until it sinks to the hilt. Maul is howling, the hangar echoing with the animalistic scream, and the blur of red at the edge of Alpha’s vision streaks closer - 

And then the pressure on his neck abruptly loosens. He curls into himself instinctively, coughing as he struggles to draw air into his lungs. The telltale hum of lightsabers drowns out Maul’s snarling; Alpha can’t help thinking that at least if he dies here, he’ll die on his feet. Not the death he’d have preferred, but -

“Easy, Captain.” A gentle pressure on his shoulder accompanies the familiar voice, and Kenobi’s face comes into view. He’s smiling, somehow, as though he couldn’t be bothered with the ongoing duel behind him. Of course Skywalker is here too; where his Master goes, he goes. 

There’s a story behind that, no doubt, but Alpha has a feeling everything will be divulged in due time.

_____________

“Well, you certainly took your time, General,” Alpha grumbles with a halfhearted attempt at exasperation after Kenobi is done detailing exactly how he and his Padawan ended up here when they were expected at the Temple.

“We made a few detours along the way,” Kenobi answers, flashing his Padawan a wry look that suggests those detours were likely not by their design. 

Skywalker decidedly ignores his Master’s remark and instead says, “So now what?” 

Alpha sighs. “Maul escaped, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“And?”

“And you’re not going after him,” Kenobi declares, correctly interpreting the look on Skywalker’s face and the set of his shoulders.

“We don’t know what kind of reinforcements he might have,” Alpha points out. “Or where he is now, for that matter.”

“And some of us need medical attention,” Kenobi adds with a pointed look at Alpha. 

“It’s nothing serious,” Alpha says, more out of habit than anything as he knows full well his protests fall on deaf ears.

“Alpha...”

“I’ve had worse,” he insists. “Sir.”

“Humor me,” Kenobi says with enough of an edge to his voice that Alpha understands the words are not open for interpretation. “I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of him.”

“Do me a favor, then, General.”

“Oh?”

“Next time you run into him, knock his shebs to haran and back.”

Kenobi smiles. “I’ll see what I can do, Captain.”