#before moving on to the plot (tm)

[shadowbends]

“When I did open that portal,” Mikey went on, cutting him off. “Do you know what I was thinking?” He heard Raph’s mouth click audibly shut and waited. When no guesses were forthcoming, he took a shaky breath and hid his face in his brother’s shoulder. “I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let the Krang out, but I had to help Leo, so…” And oh great, now he was crying too. Mikey sniffed, and forced himself to continue. “All I could think about was wanting you to come and make it better.”

The family sets out to find the ingredients for the elixir meant to help Leo, but is this really the plan? Mikey drags the truth from Draxum and gets more than he bargained for.

(This chapter is a long boy, good lord. The previous ones have all finished around the 12-14 page count, but this chapter's coming in pretty at a full 21. As a reward for all this exposition, Mikey is allowed one (1) f-bomb. As a treat.)

[evilminji]

Okay but... Imagine Arguing With A Ghost Elephant.

No. Really. IMAGINE IT.

Even STRONGER then in life, somehow SMARTER then in life. MORE single mindedly determined to Do The Thing(tm). Can phase through you and just IGNORE you.

Might have Ghost Powers now.

Can Fly.

Full size elephant. Nyooming along. Fuck your physics.

Asian Elephants live about 48 years. Less in Circus environments. Even if you take good care of them, it's just NOT a healthy environment for an elephant. Sitka, in all likelihood, would ALSO not have been a juvenile while Dick was a kid.

It's entirely likely Sitka died before being reunited with Their Human.

Elephants are on record as reacting to humans the same way we do Small Cute Animals. Where is Sitka's small cute child? The one who likes to sit on Sitka an sneak them treats and scratch their itchs? Where is Sitka's baby?!

Sitka is Upset(tm).

Sitka decides Fuck This Noise. No, they SHAN'T be dying. They are returning to THEIR BOY, thank you. Move. They have been patient ENOUGH. The baby gets upset without Sitka. Lonely!

This is unacceptable.

So IMAGINE. Literal Flying Green Glowing Circus Elephant in FULL Circus Regalia. Over Gotham. It's Tuesday. People would LIKE to say they are surprised but... yeah, this tracks, this might as well happen too.

Dick and Damian are VIBRATING with joy. Bruce is... Not. There is a HIGHLY VISABLE, Day Glow Green Elephant on his lawn. A DEAD one last time he checked. But that sure as SHIT, is Sitka.

Now there is an out of breathe TEENAGER... ALSO on his lawn. Also glowing. Asking about the Elephant. Is it THEIR Elephant? Are they aware the GOVERMENT wants to MURDER Dick's Elephant? The teenager spots Jason.

Oh, and ALSO HIS SON.

The government apparently wants to ALSO murder his Son. He hasn't even had coffee yet. His children are plotting gruesome death in their civies. There is STILL an elephant. Damian is now aware Supernatural Pets are an OPTION.

Fuck it. He's calling back up.

[bonefall]

Is Sandgorse still abusive in BB? If so does he still save Sparrow? Idk I think it'd be a neat thing for Talltail to brood on and move past once realizing the truth. Like just because your abuser did a "Good Thing tm" doesn't mean you have to forgive them or that all of a sudden it excuses their past a tion towards you.

Or did you remove this plot beat entirely? If so I don't blame you :P

Weird that Tumblr search isn't giving me all the stuff I tagged :/ hopefully after finals are done I can compile a 1st draft/The Story So Far for the rework of Tallstar’s Revenge

It's now called TALLSTAR’S COLLAPSE. It is actually a story I am rewriting with tragedy in mind. It's about Talltail fleeing WindClan with his starcrossed lover, Sparrow, only to eventually be drawn back to it where he becomes a perpetuator of all the things that made him leave.

To answer your question; Yes, and. Sandgorse is abusive and there's a LOT of nuance to this situation. I'm not sure if he still saves "Sparrow" though because I have waaaay more of a point in mind with Tallstar’s tumultuous relationship to him.

Summary of changes,

Tallstar's Collapse

Sparrow is the Clanmew name Jake takes when his group interacts with WindClan. His first language is actually a dialect of Townmew!

(Also Firestar has no known father in BB)

His group is nomadic. They go from place to place trading goods. I need a name for both them and their cultural "cluster" but in my head, Jake's family is the Algernauts because Algernon is the current leader

It's important the Algernauts are extremely endearing because leaving them is VERY painful

(and something i want to frame as the wrong choice for tallstar, emotionally)

WindClan is in a very sensitive period of its history. Before Tallstar was born, Heatherstar began the Mothermouth Moorland War, to take a very large parcel of land from ShadowClan. A good 1/5th of it.

Naturally this is a huge project and incredibly ambitious. Sacrifices Must Be Made

The sacrifice she has chosen to make is the death of tunneling. Because she's smothering it.

Tunneling is PEACEFUL, defensive at best. You can't dig them in a floodplain, they would be useless for holding the Mothermouth Moorland territory

Tallkit is born into a terrible position. Son of the head tunneler, mother in a terrible depression, and Heatherstar trying to pry a wedge between the "future" and the "past"

Im also planning to change his name. He was born Slowworm-Kit, which has a connotation of cleverness in Clanmew. To bully him, Shrewpaw calls him Wormtail, because Slowworms drop their tails if pulled. It means "you will get trapped in a cave-in, and when they pull your tail, it'll fall off"

But it doesn't translate well into English... so I'm not sure what his Heatherstar-given warrior name would be. Wormwing or Wormleap maybe, like he "defied fate" to become a wonderful moor-runner...

Or maybe the prefix is Drop? Droptail as the mean bully name and Dropflight as the warrior name...

Anyway, when he returns, Heatherstar welcomes back the extra claws and honors the lesson he learned with "Talltale." In Clanmew this is "Story-travelled," his leader name meaning "Tale-star."

Anyway. Back to the cat drama

Talltail (name pending) is in a tight spot. I kind of want to show everyone being a victim except Heatherstar herself, who has all the power in this situation.

Not that it excuses anyone

Sandgorse is watching something he loves dying, an ancient tradition passed down for generations. He is trying to force his son into a position he shouldn't HAVE to occupy, but his child is the one thing he might have any control over

(Until Tall breaks it ofc)

Tallpaw was just a kid. He needed to take out his bullying and the stress on something, and that was usually his mother and the concept of tunneling

Palebird has been completely neglected by her mate as he focuses on the person he WANTS his kid to be. She NAMED a Fading Kit, a serious social taboo, and even the support of the nursery and Woolytail can't pull her out before Tall's kithood is over

Heatherstar is using Tallpaw as a political pawn and Tallpaw is too young and hurt to realize it. He was given to her sister, Dawnstripe, and endlessly praised for his skill and talent in a time where he NEEDED positive feedback

Which is making his relationships with his parents worse

All the while, there's VIOLENCE. Regular raids and counterstrikes. Cats die and get injured, and it only escalates as Tall gets older and Cedarstar is reaching the end of his lives, hoping to end the conflict before then

And in all this chaos and uncertainty, there comes Sparrow.

Just a trader and an honored guest, there's been lots of these nomadic visitors since the time of Windstar herself, but they've become quite rare.

When Sandgorse dies suddenly in that collapse (TITLE DROP) Talltail has the push he finally needs. It's too much. He can't process this

Sparrow begs him to leave with them, they don't even need to confront anyone, just come!

IF IT SUCKS HIT DA BRICKS

I have tons of really nice little things planned for this part of the story. It's several chapters of Talltail being free.

He engages in the funeral rites of Wee Hen, asking if he may sit vigil for her. His new family is honored to allow it, Reena even tries to do it too and falls asleep

(Little sister energy)

They meet all sorts of people and go to many places. Talltail learns that the world is vast, and there's an endless amount of knowledge out here.

It all starts crashing down when him and Jake find a litter of abandoned kittens, and become parents.

They're a few moons old.. around the same age as his halfsibs back home.

It starts bringing back memories. He wonders how they're doing. If they made a nice grave for Sandgorse...

The sudden longing for his own mother strikes him like lightning.

For the first time in eons, he feels GUILT over leaving. He thought it was over-- he's living his own life now!

But what if they're hurt? What if there was a battle and he couldn't help? What if his mentor died and he didn't even know?

What kind of a horrible son doesn't even say goodbye?

The problems that made him leave seem so small now, and the homesickness is like acid leaking from his stomach, dissolving his guts and leaving him hollow

He's raising kits who will never know what it means to earn a title, or have a permanent home, or--

(Any of the other things he should have learned don't have meaning outside of clan culture. Things they wouldn't miss.)

He cherishes the memories he makes here, raising children with his mate, but something turns inside of Talltail. Like the groaning ache of a hundred stones on top of a decaying mineshaft

The REAL collapse is this. An existential crisis Talltail can't escape from.

And eventually, it comes tumbling down with one last, horrible nightmare.

In his dream, he came home only to find the sandy camp abandoned, the dens decrepit, full of musty scent and cobwebs.

Sandgorse was there. And they talked.

His dad was gruff as always, disappointed. But he didn't say anything the real Sandgorse would say.

The nightmare said, "You really did turn out like me. We both left your mother when she needed us. Turned our backs on our leader. And now we're both dead to WindClan."

Tall wakes up crying. Jake is there to comfort him, but the conversation they have is sad.

Jake tries to tell him that's all not true, and even if it WAS his dad, his dad sucked and would only say that to hurt him!

But... Tall can't believe it. Jake's right but also wrong. He IS all those horrible things.

And...... how can jake ever Understand? He does not know the Bonds of a Clan cat

(thought terminating cliche. Outsiders Cant Understand Our Bonds.)

He stays a few more days, but that nightmare was the end. And everyone sees the change.

The kits are apprentice-aged. He stayed until they would be old enough to keep up with the Algernauts.

And he says goodbye. He won't ever leave without saying goodbye ever again.

Jake says it doesn't have to be goodbye, he'll always love him, and they can visit! They can see each other again!

And Tall says yes. That this isn't the end. It's... see you later, my love.

(...but they both know how violent it's getting between Wind and Shadow. It isn't safe to visit.)

It is the end. But neither can admit it.

But after Tall is a fair distance away, one of his kits tackles him.

POSSIBLY Post-Tallstar's Collapse

Not sure if I'd put these in a novella or still make it part of it, but these are all directly related to the fallout of Tallstar's Collapse

Most likely is that there would be overlap between this and Brokenstar's Cataclysm, so the same events would be seen in different perspectives.

The kit's name is Fly. Tall has to wait for him to catch his breath and stop crying before they can talk.

Fly already lost parents before. He says he knows he can't make his dads stay together, "But PLEASE, papa, let me choose where I go this time!"

How could he say no? How could he send his son away after a plea like that?

He told him it would be hard. That he would be trained. That there would be dangerous fights.

Fly didn't care, he said he could be strong. He could do anything he needed to.

So... Tall took him to WindClan, where he became Flypaw. He became the warrior he promised he would be.

And Tall didn't notice how much the kid was changing until it was too late. Flytail took to it as if he was Clanborn-- but had to work twice as hard, fight thrice as viciously.

Though Talltail was graced with an Honor Title and open arms, he'd adopted his greatest rival.

Fly and Tall started competing for deputyship as soon as they finished training apprentices; Heatherstar had a fondness for the two of them.

In the end, Talltail won the spot by springing into action and saving Heatherstar's young nephew, a little golden tabby, from an adder.

Flytail continued as one of the more aggressive warriors in the Clan, surviving increasingly violent and bitter battles, until it came to a head in Heatherstar's Last Stand.

Her final battle as an old leader was a gruesome, definitive curbstomp in the last strategic point ShadowClan held above Carrionplace.

One of the losses was Lizardstripe-- neck snapped in Flytail's jaws.

Runningnose, and by extension, the oak-tree to his long-shadow, Brokentail, remembered this. Especially when Runningnose's father Mudfoot collapsed later that year.

As Talltail took leadership from the dying Heatherstar, a familiar regretful guilt wormed into his belly.

His son Flytail stood with a bloody mouth, eyes wet with sorrow, looking down at the leader Talltail once loved almost as much. Appreciating her sacrifice.

(secretly he didnt choose Deadfoot as his deputy just for his honor title or the battle move he invented... he chose him because there was a shocked, sorrowful look in his eyes at the fallen shadowclan cat. Sympathy seems more honorable in this moment.)

Tallstar is a wise leader... but his fatal flaw is naivety. How could he think he'd bring his son into WindClan, and not see the boy grow into a ferocious Warrior?

And naivety is what he displayed when he offered Raggedstar a peace deal. WindClan would keep the land, but they would pay a small tax of rabbits over the winter.

It was unprecedented. It was merciful. It was stupid.

When the winter was over, what would stop them from pushing further south?

Would they trade back the frogs and the flax, come summer?

On the blood and bones of so many warriors? As if giving up was ever an option?

Brokentail killed his father to prevent him from taking the deal, and reawakened Ripplestar's War Tactics.

BURN the peat. KILL the prey. OFFENSE is defense. A dead warrior is 10 less claws. A dead apprentice is 1 less warrior.

Stolen kittens are 1 more warrior on your own side.

Tallstar paid the ultimate price for letting Flytail follow him home that day. On the night of the massacre, Flytail went down fighting alongside a mate and a daughter. Dogpiled by Tangleburr and her squadron in revenge for Lizardstripe and Mudfoot.

Tallstar's granddaughter Stoneclaw, made a warrior and sitting for her vigil on that night, was the sole survivor of the little family.

The event stopped her from speaking again, like she's still sitting vigil.

Tallstar is a character who almost broke free of the control of the Clans. For a brief moment of his life, he was free.

He thought maybe he could change things a little, protect his Clanmates from the battles by being part of them, have the Mothermouth Moorland and protect the peace at the same time. But you CAN'T.

You can't fix broken systems without fundamentally changing them. He thought he could be a nice warlord and that would work on the Clan whose territory he had inherited. Power acts through people just as much as they act through power.

And that's Tallstar. He who travels the world, yet is never able to go far enough. Always falling just a little short of the point, believing that love and mercy is enough while blissfully ignorant of the pressures of pride and power.

Into this role, as a successor to this leader, Onestar is unwillingly thrust.

[lunar-wandering]

things about the Boboiboy series that drive me NUTS (this list is written solely from memory)

the fact that the first three elements, Wind, Earth, and Lightning, didn't really start out as having different personality's from Boboiboy himself (at least, not by much/it wasn't extremely noticable) but then, Lightning, after being split for too long, losing his memories completely, and achieving tier 2, becoming Thunderstorm, suddenly goes all Edgy(TM). and then Wind eats a mood-changing potion and goes manic, and not only does that unlock his tier 2, making him Cyclone but that becomes his personality. like. hello??? the implications.... and then later on, Fire, Water, Leaf, and Light manifest WITH their personalities pre-set. what??? the vague implication that the elements are sentient and the personalities started becoming more obvious when Boboiboy's mind started slipping/letting them have freer reign haunts me every day.

speaking of Fire's manifestation. he initially manifested from the stress of exams and walked around accidentally burning shit down in the middle of the night. what a mood tbh.

if the elements are sentient, the implications of Retak'ka stealing them from Boboiboy and using them- without having his personality change, is INSANE. like bro. he used them as a weapon instead of letting them be actual people..... and then later on in the comics Thunderstorm gets taken away AGAIN and is trapped in a sword, a literal weapon, and is used. again. HELLO????

both of the first times Thunderstorm gets summoned (both the obvious first time and the first time after they all got reset to tier 1 due to Complications) involving his phobia kills me every time why the FUCK did they do that. they didn't even address it the second time around but they animated Lightning looking like he was in distress anyways. WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO HIM. i know he's the fave but like. was this necessary.

BOBOIBOY JUST DECIDING "Y'KNOW WHAT??? I'M GONNA INVENT FUSIONS NOW HERE WE GO" IN THE SECOND MOVIE AND PROCEEDING TO ABSOLUTELY WIPE THE FLOOR WITH RETAK'KA

i could list so much Thunderstorm stuff tbh he's definitely the fave they give him so many cool bits of animation. he does the "teleports behind you" move SO OFTEN and it's SO GOOD

Leaf's deadpan "Fashion Tragedy" line

that one time Boboiboy split into Fire, Wind, and Leaf, and EVERYONE agreed he shouldn't have done that and should never do it again cause those three have negative braincells when in a group together

the songs??? like. the opening songs. the insert songs used in the movies. the OST. why the hell are they so good. i mean i know i personally like em cause they tend to use rock. but like. its SO GOOD.

Yaya and Ying being arguably the two most powerful/capable members of the friend group as they should

that one time Thunderstorm and Fang fought and they paused right before hitting each other and the objects behind both of them exploded from the force of the other's attack

in the first movie when it hinted that we'd see Boboiboy without his hat for the first time ever throughout the entire movie and then it FINALLY HAPPENED when he caught a giant hammer right before it could hit him and punched the dude away with a blast of energy. he has a white streak in his hair and it's visible in the series from this point onwards.

I KNOW IVE SAID A LOT OF THUNDERSTORM SCENES BUT THAT POINT IN GALAXY WHERE HE WAS USING TIER 2 BEFORE HE SHOULD'VE BEEN USING IT AND HE KEPT SWAPPING IN BETWEEN BOBOIBOY AND THUNDERSTORM THROUGHOUT THE FIGHT??? THAT WAS COOL AS FUCK I LOVED THAT

i could list so many of the really cool shots from this series tbh. that one time Light slow-mo backflipped over a bunch of debris and then activated laser eyes to shoot at the villain is a highlight.

literally everything about the fact the plot of this show went from "aliens come to earth to steal chocolate" to "boboiboy nearly fucking dies on an almost daily basis"

[vivifrage]

I think with Lightfall like. It's fun. I had a good time. A blast, even! Especially with the gameplay, even when I got frustrated because I was playing Legendary and I'm not a good gamer.

It's action movie fun. Which is what it intended to be, really, from all the tropes and the pacing of it. But it got bodied with sudden roadmap changes and Witch Queen as video game Oscar bait.

Yeah, I think it could have used a breather to bond more with Rohan especially, but there was in-game justification for going fast and I'm sure the format A Destiny Expansion(tm) limited the team. We saw it bad in Witch Queen's seasons, and Bungie acknowledged that yeah the seasons structure was limiting them. As someone who works in software dev, nobody likes having to make things worse. But it happens a lot. Sometimes in really bullshit ways that the software folks wouldn't expect to be that level of bullshit, let alone anyone who isn't working with the software day in and day out. And by bullshit I mean "massive overhaul of the entire system just to make one tiny change" kinds of bullshit. Again, nobody likes it. I promise you.

Back to Lightfall. It's a fun action movie. It's also the plot point we'd been hurtling towards since Witch Queen, and probably even well before that: The Darkest Hour. We're struggling to use this new power in time, the mysteries around us have unraveled but in the end it's too late for us to get the upper hand, and it nearly costs us everything. In the year beforehand, we'd been losing in one way or another at the end of the seasons: Crow kills the Psion, our rituals fail to stop Calus, Eramis gets away, Rasputin dies. The Witness accesses the Traveler.

What it also does is it sets up the rest of the year for our Triumphant Finale. We get a thread to follow - how to get into the Traveler - and chase it through the year, alongside other threads like what the Veil is and how we're gonna deal with Xivu Arath. As of the end(ish) of Wish, we've got our answer and are primed for The Final Shape as our finale.

But first we had to have The Darkest Hour. Which, in the short term, being what it is, is a bummer. No getting around it. It's also part of why comparisons to Witch Queen went awry, IMO.

Witch Queen is, as I said before, the Oscar bait, insofar as an MMO looter-shooter has Oscar bait. It puts the tangled web front and center instead of tracing one thread and then zooming out to show the whole thing. It's more philosophical in nature, sitting back and asking us whether we think we're special and what really separates us from one of the enemies we hadn't forged alliances with yet: the Hive. And, of course, if we'd noticed the puppetmaster behind it all. It ties up the question that's been going on since Forsaken: are we the bad guys? (No, not really, we're struggling to survive the way everyone else is. Which, nobody else we've been fighting is really "the bad guy" either.)

It's a really good storyline! I loved it, even if, honestly, I didn't like the gameplay as much as Lightfall. I think it's earned its good reviews and positive reception.

But it is the Oscar bait. And unlike Lightfall, its plot role didn't require the same downer ending. It could sprawl, and honestly? I don't think it would have worked as our Darkest Hour. Not without screwing up the story and making a jumbled mess. Seriously, I don't think Destiny's "everyone gets a second chance" philosophy would have carried well at all if The Darkest Hour was when the Hive got Ghosts. Instead it would have reinforced our misconception at the beginning of Lightfall - that we are the sole rightful Lightbearers and that the Hive getting the Light was a wrongdoing.

Destiny did need something between Witch Queen and The Final Shape. And they moved things - but announced it less than a year before Lightfall released. At their big press conference-y deal, but still. Limited time for folks to get the news.

And then it came out and it was an action movie, not Oscar bait. But it followed Oscar bait, so that's what the expectation was.

Personally, I'm fond of, say, Moonlight. Fantastic movie. Beautiful and heartfelt. I enjoyed it and I think it is worthy of its high praise. But if you ask me what my favorite movie is, I'll say it's a tossup between Pacific Rim and Mad Max: Fury Road. They fit different niches in the cultural ecosystem - Moonlight isn't a bad Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim isn't a bad Moonlight. Not unless you pit them against each other despite their vast differences.

Also I remember there was lots of complaining about how empty Neomuna was at first, but everything about the CloudArk and especially the lorebook is such early pandemic-era fiction.

Lightfall is a good action movie. Witch Queen is good Oscar bait. Both of them have their strong points and weak points. There are technical factors that limit things. There are other external factors that limit things (looking at you, upper management).

It's fair to critique a story but like, I dunno. Bungie's devs, writers, and artists aren't idiots or evil or out to get you specifically. Lightfall is fine but you can't - and shouldn't - expect it to be Witch Queen.

Please, for the love of everything holy, don't let us repeat the nasty bitchy maelstrom we got around Lightfall. Or I'll start shitting in ovens.

[antianakin]

I used to love Ahsoka as a character and I thought she was a really interesting foil/parallel to Anakin but at some point I started to disconnect with her character and be all ‘huh that doesn’t seem right’ and for ages I couldn’t figure out why/what it was specifically that was bothering me that wasn’t just *gestures at post-Wrong Jedi!Ahsoka as a whole*

From airing of tcw s7 onwards and also a little before that in some (but admittedly not all) parts of rebels she just doesn’t act like a Jedi.

Like we’re clearly supposed to think that she does and she uses the Force to do things and she uses lightsabre combat and sometimes she even listens to what the Force is telling her(!) but she doesn’t act the way a Jedi would or should most of the time. She doesn’t use or express their teachings or philosophies or act in any way according to them even when she says she does* or the narrative implicitly claims that’s what she’s doing

(*when she’s around Kanan this gets a bit less notable bc she does act more Jedi-like around him and I can’t figure out whether that’s deliberate or accidental or what it’s supposed to say or mean about them both if it’s intentional)

Before that she was fun and also flawed and I think if they’d kept those roots while either showing how she’d manage to overcome/learn from those flaws or that she hadn’t managed to move past them at all but was still trying her best then she would have stayed interesting! But instead her character gets flattened and her flaws get narratively erased (while still being very much there just not acknowledged in any way and/or presented as though they’re not flaws at all) in favour as propping her up as The Best Jedi TM and making her feel like a caricature of an ideal rather than a real character.

Like I am mid-Ahsoka show right now and she doesn’t even feel like the same character! Everything that made her interesting is just gone and the narrative constantly implies that she’s right even when she very clearly is not???

Writers challenge! Accept that characters have flaws and should have flaws to make them interesting and help drive the plot rather than making them perfect bc they’re your favourite!

Yeah, I don't even mind Ahsoka growing OUT of her earlier flaws (which are primarily the same ones that Anakin was given, like impatience and overconfidence/arrogance) and into different ones that reflect her new experiences and maturity. But it also would've been great to see how those flaws she started with, the impatience/impulsivity and the overconfidence/arrogance sort-of grew WITH her.

Like the way the Wrong Jedi arc shows her refusing to trust the Council LONG before she has any reason to do so and going off on her own to try to prove her own innocence which just makes her look more guilty and pushes the Council into more of a corner while also trusting ONLY the person who ended up framing her in the first place. The way that her more childish impatience and overconfidence has sort-of grown into the more dangerous impulsiveness and arrogance in the Wrong Jedi would've been so so interesting to look at if anyone writing it had been willing to acknowledge that she was in the wrong.

And you could keep going with that in later arcs and have her still be sort-of mistrustful of authority (especially Jedi authority), inclined to believe in her own superiority of opinion, and impulsive in her judgments. That's generally what we see in season 7, especially regarding her behavior towards characters like Mace and Obi-Wan. She believes she's right ALL THE TIME and this would be FINE if the narrative actually supported the idea that she WASN'T. Ahsoka can think she's right, but the audience should understand that she isn't. That's how her flaws got portrayed in earlier seasons of TCW and why I tend to prefer them to later ones. And this would've been a great place to follow up on her comment about not trusting HERSELF. Maybe Ahsoka has sort-of wandered away from mindfulness since she left the Order and so instead of continuing to look at the mistakes she made that caused the Order to mistrust her, she just starts blaming the Jedi for everything. And when she starts making accusations at Obi-Wan, have him point out that not only is she not being fair, but she's not being HONEST, with herself or anyone else. Because truly, it's not the Jedi she doesn't trust. It's not the Council playing politics that she's afraid of. It's her own flawed judgment leading her to her own destruction.

And there's SO MUCH you could do with that moving forward into Rebels, to showcase Ahsoka's continuing struggle with trusting her own judgment and how she's grown since Order 66 and into her place as a rebel where she HAS to trust herself more, but she still doesn't entirely trust herself to be a JEDI. Perhaps her uncertainty over Anakin's fate has a part to play in that. Instead, they just made her a spy despite the fact that a LACK OF SUBTLETY was one of her major personality traits in TCW and never once was she shown doing any kind of real spy work and we don't really see her doing any in Rebels either aside from a few conversations with Hera. We have no idea how she ended up growing into that role or WHY she took on that particular role rather than something that would've fit her existing skillset better. Ahsoka's position within the Rebellion is one of the places I think they really faltered with her because it could've been utilized to genuinely help her character move forward and develop her more as a Jedi survivor. Instead, she's just kinda... there and her entire narrative tends to revolve around Anakin, a problem that persists and actually got worse with the Ahsoka show.

I don't truly mind that Ahsoka is perhaps not acting much like a Jedi, at least not all the time, because that could be a really easy way to give her a journey BACK to being more like a Jedi. Much like the Kenobi show had Obi-Wan acting very out of character and unlike a Jedi in order to have him go on a journey to reclaim that identity and become the wise Master we all know and remember, they could've done something similar with Ahsoka. Let the narrative embrace that she's not acting like a Jedi as an intentional choice so that she can move forward from there and BECOME a Jedi again. This is also an arc that Kanan himself is sort-of going on, so it would've been pretty easy to parallel them a little in Rebels if they'd been willing to represent Ahsoka as anything other than a literal angel come to earth.

The problem with the Ahsoka show is that it DOES give her flaws, but the flaws it chooses to give her are the opposite of what they should be. (This paragraph might get a bit spoilery, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers until you finish the whole show, just skip this paragraph.) Instead of showing Ahsoka as impatient/impulsive and somewhat arrogant, they show Ahsoka being too UNFEELING. Ahsoka's primary flaw in the Ahsoka show is that she's too detached because her feelings regarding Anakin's fall have apparently caused her to pull away from connecting to anybody on a deeper level or something. And they choose to show this by having her literally recite Jedi philosophy of non-attachment and have Sabine push back against it. So now it's not just that Ahsoka is too unfeeling but that she's too much like the Prequels Jedi, the BAD Jedi who FAILED. And only once she lets go of those Jedi philosophies holding her back (and instead explicitly chooses to emulate ANAKIN, the dude who let himself be consumed by selfishness and greed and betrayed everybody and threw an entire galaxy into tyranny) is she able to move forward in her relationships. Instead of recognizing that Sabine is impulsive and arrogant and letting that shine a light on Ahsoka's own flaws so that they can BOTH work on them more, it just chooses to justify Sabine's impulsivity and arrogance instead and Ahsoka needs to accept Sabine as she is and support her completely no matter what horrifically selfish bullshit she does. Moral of the story, never hold your loved ones accountable for anything they do wrong!

Long story short, I think Ahsoka was 100% at her best in her bratty teenager phase in early TCW when the narrative actually was willing to admit she HAD flaws that she had to work through and her character has been completely flattened ever since they decided to pretend she no longer has any flaws and is just always right about everything (except for when she's acting TOO MUCH like the wrong kind of Jedi).

[lgbtlunaverse]

Hero vs villain: Jin and Hawks

So, the anime is here, and with it will most likely come the second phase of Hawks Discourse TM, but right now, I am much less interested in anyone's personal opinions on if what Hawks did is right, if twice deserved it, if this would be morally permissable if these characters were somehow real people, etc, and focus on what the NARRATIVE thinks of this fight. And in particular, the visual framing during it.

So, if you hadn't noticed, whatever you yourself think of this situation, the STORY thinks what Hawks did is wrong. Not the characters in the story (Though I must point out, Hawks himself calls Jin a good person even after he killed him and does not think he deserved to die) I mean the story as its own entity with themes and messages. 

And the story is not on Hawks' side.

It undercuts Hawks' victory on several accounts. The most important one is giving Toga Jin's blood, effectively undoing Hawks' primary justification for killing him. He wanted to make sure the villains didn't have double, an immensely powerful and dangerous quirk, on their side? Well, too bad, they still do! Congratulations, you played yourself.

But that's the plot, the story's in-universe events making Hawks' actions have more negative effects than positive, thereby painting it as the wrong choice. What I actually want to talk about is framing, specifically the way the fight itself is drawn.

Because this?

This is not how you draw a hero.

And interestingly, once you look at the Hawks vs twice fight in isolation- especially its first stretch before Dabi bursts in- without the larger context of the story behind it, it is drawn and written like a very classic hero vs villain fight where Hawks is the villain and Twice is the hero.

Let me tell you a story, it's probably one you've heard before.

Our Hero has recently made a new ally.

Some of their other allies are still wary of this new friend, because of their past loyalties, but our hero is trusting, perhaps too trusting for their own good. And the side this new ally used to belong to treated them badly! Our hero wants them to find happiness here.

But then one day, there's an ambush. Their home is attacked, their allies and friends are pulled into a battle they're not prepared for, and this happens:

Their new ally has betrayed them. They never truly changed sides, and were feeding information to the opponent the entire time. They isolated the hero with a false promise, and when they got them alone they immediately put a weapon centimeters from their skin. Our hero hasn't even moved yet, doesn't understand what's going on, but they're already fractions of a second away from death.

The ally, turned villain, is framed in shadows, only their narrowed, almost glowing eyes are visible, as they stare unmoved and unflinching at the hero.

Our hero tries to plead, still hoping there's another explanation, but the villain doesn't let them speak. They monologue, monotonely, about what a threat the hero is to their side, how they had to be eliminated. They mock them for not figuring out the ruse, for being so trusting. They tell the hero to surrender.

And our Hero?

Thinks about their friends. About how their caring nature had gotten one of them killed before, and now it has brought them in danger again. They break down in tears. The villain's eyes watch from the darkness, silent and unaffected.

The villain looms over them, still shrouded in darkness, as the hero thinks back on another friend, a mentor figure. Someone that saved them when they needed it most, someone they went through hell to save in return not so long ago. They think back on what they said about trust, and they lament that they failed.

"Well, thanks" the villain says dismissively.

But then.

Some of the shadows that envelop the villain's face fade away, they think back on their real moments with camraderie with the hero.

Not even villains are immune to emotions. They don't dislike our hero, they don't necessarily want to hurt them specifically. In fact, why can't the hero join them? They could do so much together. (And this is classic villain monologue stuff, isn't it? Straight from the golden age of american superhero comics mha loves to pay homage to. Join the other side! And it’s always based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the hero that the villain just can’t grasp, which is.. exactly what happens between jin and keigo.)

The next panel pulls away, and the rumbling outside reminds us, the readers, exactly why the hero can't. 

Their friends. Who are still out there, possibly being slaughtered by the villain's side. Friends are everything to our hero, they can't just abandon them. (And this is that misunderstanding. Hawks thinks twic eis the only oen in the league who is capable fo being saved. But you can’t save Jin if you can’t save the league. I won’t get into it here but this is why izuku, shouto, ochako and their respective villains are so important) 

So the hero refuses.

It’s of note here what exactly our two sides look like going into this battle. One is crying, in pain and betrayal, ready to sacrifice their life if it give their friends a chance at safety. 

The other? 

Resigned. Eyes narrowed. Weapons ready to strike. Not showing any emotion on purpose because showing emotion is showing weakness. 

And that unevenness, that contrast, persists throughout the fight. Our villains does not move a single inch as they slaughter a dozen clones of their former friend apart. Everything on the page moving, desperate, violent, except for them. They comment on our hero’s skill dryly, not even out of breath. 

Generally as readers we sympathise with effort and like conviction, and repression of emotion is seen as a negative trait. Such an obvious difference in visible effort (No doubt thawks is ACTULLY putting in a lot of work to get his feathers to be so fast and precise, this can’t be easy for him. But it LOOKS easy) also creates an underdog narrative, and we tend to naturally root for the underdog.

And then comes the line that sums up this entire fight:

“I could never allow mere sentiment to trip me up,” 

Because ultimately, this is not just a fight between two people. It is a fight between human connection and duty. It is a fight between someone who refuses to hurt the ones they love and someone who will. Who is, in fact, doing so right now. Our hero fights because they refuse to give up on people, our villain fights because they already have. 

And if you wanted it to be any more obvious, here are the physical manifestations of all our hero’s friends, being mercilessly sliced apart! How’s that for heavyhanded symbolism? Though, really, if you come to a superhero comic for subtlety, you might as well go to the beach to wash out the sand in your clothes.

So we’ve been looking at this fight ignoring the context, that the hero in this scenario is not twice. He is the villain of this story, even if he is not the villain of this story within that story. 

For this next page, that context will come crashing back in. So I want to ask you to read these lines while mentally erasing the word “villain” and “hero” from your mind.  What do they sound like now? 

“Why do you think I prioritize speed when taking my enemies down? Because it’s the ones who don’t give up that I fear the most.” 

In not just superhero comics at large, but the shounen action genre specifically, tenacity, hardheadedness, and never giving up on one’s friends are the classic traits of a protagonist. They’re basically staples of the genre. (Hell, deku, the actual protagonist of this very manga, fits into that mold perfectly) Speaking outright of fearing and hating those who never give up, who have genuine conviction they are willing to die for, is something so classically villainous i’d call it cheesy if it was played straight. That’s cartoon villain shit. 

Our hero has no time for this speech either, they start to say “Shut-”

-”Up.”

They don’t even get to finish their sentence. 

The shadows are back. Notably, our hero is all dressed in black, but their face is illuminated. While the villain’s clothes are all drawn in light colours, but their face is hidden in darkness. Some very nice traditional color symbolism here. 

And what are our heroes last words as they face their imminent death? 

Their friends, especially the little girl they’ve grown closest too these past months. They know the villain doesn’t care, but it’s more like a need when they tell them that this girl they dismissed is kind, that she took care of them. This girl, that the world can see only a monster in, they have to affirm, even to a person who won’t listen, that she’s good. That she deserves to have someone be willing to die to protect her. 

“I’ll be sure to tell the league that.” 

Is it mockery? genuine? Do they even care enough about anyone else in the league to bother to follow through, or is this just a casual dismissal? 

It doesn’t matter. 

They don’t have to.

And if this were one of those classic superhero stories, or an early more traditional shounen, then the arrival of this friend would have spelled the end for the villain. This whole fight has been about he power of human connection in the face of cold and uncaring order. And what better way to end it than by having the hero’s friend prove him right? Especially the one who’s been rude and distant this entire time, who was the other one to bring this ally-turned-enemy into their ranks, who’s been constantly denying that their friends are even their friends to begin with? But they came, in this moment, and that’s what matters. 

But this is not a classic story. Twice is not our hero. And this friendship does not save the day. 

It ends with a high five

And a stab in the back. 

And a girl’s smile fading. 

And, no matter what you think of this fight in context,  EVERYTHING on the actual pages of the manga depicting the fight itself is trying to tell you that Hawks is doing the wrong thing. That Twice- regardless of his overall morality- is RIGHT to stand by his friends and not give up on them. Even if those friends are villains. Even if he is also a villain. According to the story, Hawks is wrong, and Twice is right. 

[thewayuarent]

So the question I have is: Boston, why?

Like what was the point of this whole mess in the end of episode? I’m not complaining, I love mess, but I genuinely don’t understand. Especially the moment that he revealed the information about photos of Mew and Ray - to Ray. Wasn’t the smartest thing to do I would say.

So we see Boston in this episode being fine. Like he’s spending time with Nick and chilling and doing nothing dramatic. Even when Mew and Top come across - he does that bombastic side eye thing

But ten seconds later he’s totally enjoying his time with Nick and doesn’t seem bothered at all

We have Mew calling him with existing news TM and okay Boston is not happy there. But later he’s again totally fine with Nick, asking to stay over for the first time and it doesn’t look like he’s plotting something.

Even when he catches Sand and Ray he seems surprised but not in a bad way.

Well, until Nick brings up the fact that it’s not the first time those two having quality time together

And than they partying their shit out and having fun until what? What triggered Boston so hard? Nick asking SandRay about their relationship status? SandRay being clingy? Ray asking to stay over?

Like he shifted from this

to this

without any reason?

And okay, Jojo’s explanation here is fine - that’s how Boston is, he hates seeing people happy.

But it’s not like Sand and Ray were that happy of a couple? I mean they were clearly wasted and enjoyed each other a lot. But so as Boston with Nick? And it’s not like SandRay have something Boston hasn’t. He literally has the same relationship with Nick - even better, because these two actually discussed their status. And while Boston doesn’t know about Nick’s obsession and him recording the car scene - from his perspective they are all great. So it’s not about jealousy. These two are way messier from his perspective

Okay, Ray moving forward from Mew wasn’t part of his plan - but his plan already failed? So it’s not about TopMew thing. And anyway Ray wasn’t that important part of a plan in a first place.

And Boston seemed okay with Sand before, why hurting him? The whole “Sand has a right to know” topic is hmm okay but it’s not like Boston being real about his feelings towards Top with Nick so. Not about justice also.

So is it somehow about Ray? Like really Boston just doesn’t want his alcoholic suicidal friend (can I use this word or) to have some happiness in his life? That’s just cruel and also unreasonable. Or it’s just Boston being drunk and high and not controlling himself very well? Those situations can escalate quickly it’s a fact.

Can please someone explain to me what was his thought process here? Any assumptions please?

Side note but if somebody looked at me like Sand I would be really scared and shut up immediately

In conclusion, Boston, go to your room and think about that behavior

[canonicallyobserving911]

Eddie Diaz: 7x7, 7x9 and 7x10

Eddie Diaz is my favorite character but I still don't like the storyline they gave him for the end of the season.

(Full disclosure: I did a similar post about Bobby's storyline but before 7x9 airs, I decided to do one about Eddie too.)

It's been a couple of weeks since the plot or whatever TM (showrunner) is trying to do with Eddie's character was revealed (man is obsessed with his deceased wife's doppelgänger but he ignores the woman who's been by his side the entire time) and I still HATE it. Therefore, I'm not looking forward to whatever this raggedy "Vertigo" storyline is supposed to be for multiple reasons.

The main reason why I don't like it is because IMO, Eddie's storylines have always taken a backseat to those written for other main characters and the truth is he hasn't had a storyline all his own since he was involved in the illegal fight club in season 3. All of his other storylines were made to be about someone else or they weren't given adequate room to be developed, i.e., the shooting, his PTSD and his return to the 118 at the end of season 5. His breakdown was shoved into the last 5 minutes of 5x13 then he went to therapy once afterwards but the audience didn't see any more of his sessions.

Also, if his storyline didn't take a backseat, he was sidelined for the majority of a season (for most of season 6, he was treated like a side character with nothing to do for 13 out of the 18 episodes and the ones they gave him in 6x7, 6x14, 6x15, 6x17 and 6x18 were lackluster at best) and they were treated like "This will do" for his character while other mains got-well thought-out storylines that didn't make the audience dislike them.

Three things that have been magnified about Eddie since 7x5 aired is (1) people who already didn't like him (it's possible they're jealous of him because he's so beautiful and Buck's in love with him) despise him even more without a valid reason; (2) people who hate cheating storylines have already dismissed him and are now classifying him as irredeemable and for whatever reason they don't think he deserves redemption or to work through it even though others (Hen and Buck) have cheated too; and (3) those who shipped Buddie before, no longer believe Buck should wait around for Eddie since Buck's in a relationship with a discount dollar store version of Eddie. I mean let's be real here for a minute because the show literally wrote the character of T*mmy to be a cheap bargain basement version of Eddie Diaz.

Aside from him emotionally cheating with his dead wife's doppelgänger 🙄, it appears there was no real thought put into his season 7 arc and for those who've seen the movie "Vertigo", they might be interested but I am not. I get it, he's grieving the "relationship" he thought he could have had with Shannon but wouldn't it have made more sense to let him deal with his grief in therapy LAST SEASON WHEN THEY DIDN'T GIVE HIM ANYTHING ELSE TO DO?

YES! They could have used those 13 episodes to allow him to go to therapy so he could have already worked through this situation with his deceased wife instead of shoving it into the end of an already robust and limited season. Or was the F*X network against letting him move past it too? I think it was poor planning and lazy storytelling but that's just me. Also, why is Maris*l still around? Eddie's storyline could have worked without her so what's the real goal here? It's unclear if his storyline will end the way it did in season 5 with him sliding down the firefighter's pole and rejoining the team like everything had been fixed but hopefully that won't happen this time and he'll get the help he needs.

Finally, as a Buddie shipper, I WILL NOT SETTLE FOR A KNOCKOFF VERSION OF A RELATIONSHIP FOR EDDIE OR BUCK BECAUSE THEY BOTH DESERVE BETTER. Therefore, why should Eddie or Buck settle for something that doesn't compare to EVERYTHING THEY'VE BUILT TOGETHER FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS?

IMO, they shouldn't and it's time for the show to stop delaying their CANON love story. I for one don't want to sit through another season of LIs being thrown at them like javelins and hoping one will stick. This is EXHAUSTING just like season 5 was and I'll watch the episode after it airs so I can fast foward through the parts I don't want to see.

I ONLY SHIP BUDDIE!

[second-axis-point]

din djarin x reader where they’re like- work frenemies with bounty hunting but one day while they’re competing for the same bounty, reader is ahead of Din but is ambushed or something so hes badly injured and din finds him, takes him back to the Crest, and patches him up? din being a worried and stressed dude TM and maybe confessions and cuddling?

thank you so much and have a great day! your writing is freaking great :D

Pairing: Din Djarin x Male!Reader

Warnings: Slight blood and injury

Content: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, No use of Y/N, reader has a nickname, Din being a worried and stressed due ™ 

Love the enemy to lovers plot. Din being a worried and stressed out dude ™ is probably my favourite to write. Sorry if this is a bit too long, thank you for the request!! 💚

Partners in Crime

No one ever knew your real name and you had always kept your face covered. You had been given the nickname Jackal due to your agility and sheer hunting abilities. You wore light armour and a dark cowl that hung down to the back of your knees as well as a jet black mask that looked similar to a flattened death trooper helmet.

The first time you met the Mandalorian was during a group hunt. There were several bounties and Greef told him that he could use the help. He protested, insisting that he can do it on his own. You stood beside Karga with your arms crossed, watching the argument silently. You noticed that you were an inch or two taller than him yet he still seemed more intimidating. The Mandalorian finally gave in and waved you along. You grabbed your rifle and clipped it to your back before following him to his ship.

It was an Old Republic gunship. One that you hadn’t seen for a while. He motioned for you to board first, not trusting you behind him. Once you were in the cockpit, you noticed a little green creature settled in the co-pilot’s seat. You cocked your head to one side and watched the small thing snore peacefully. You heard footsteps behind you.

“If you put one mark on him, there’s no place you will be able to hide from me.” 

The Mandalorian threatened you. You turned and put your hands, signalling that you were no threat to the little beast in the seat.

“Take it easy Mando, I wouldn’t even consider it.”

Your voice buzzed clearly through the modulator in your helmet. He nodded and moved to the little creature, picking him up and moving past you. You followed him curiously and watched as he put the critter in a hammock that hung in the small bunk. Once the Mando turned, he stared daggers at you and moved his hand up to the blaster that sat on his waist. You realise that you had accidentally sort of cornered him. You apologised quietly and shuffled back up the ladder.

You slowly pulled your rifle off your back and set it down on the floor, letting the fellow hunter know that you had no intention of using it against him. The rest of the hunt was a breeze. You caught the four bounties and returned with no hassle whatsoever. You had worked with him a few more times after that, forming a sort of friendship. It had been a few months since you last saw him and you were sort of starting to miss him.

—

Right now, you were sitting across from Greef and discussing the latest parameters of your latest bounty when the familiar Mando walked up to the table. You two exchanged a respectful nod before you finished your conversation with Karga. The mission seemed a bit riskier than you were used to but it didn’t bother you too much. As you were walking out, you heard him shout out to you.

“Jackal! Why don’t you take Mando with you?”

You turned and saw both Greef and the Mandalorian face you. You took a second to think. It would be nice to have some extra muscle if things went sideways. You nodded and the Mando followed you to your own ship. You were about to board when you heard the Mandalorian behind you.

“Why don’t we take mine?”

You stop for a second and shrug your shoulders. You turn on your heel and follow him back to the Razor Crest. You see the small green creature again, Grogu, you remember. You wave to the little guy.

“Hey buddy. I kind of have to sit there, would you mind hoppin’ down?”

Grogu babbled something before sliding down onto the floor. You thanked him and sat down. The Mando sat down as well and took off. You were in space for about thirty seconds before you felt the little one clawing up your leg. He settled himself on your lap and closed his eyes. You saw the Mando look back.

“Sorry about that. Grogu, leave him alone.”

You shook your head and laughed.

“He’s alright. He seems pretty comfortable.”

The Mandalorians gaze lingered a bit longer than it should’ve before he turned back to the front.

“Feel free to rest, we have quite a long way to the location.”

You leaned your head back and not wanting to disturb Grogu, crossed your arms. You nodded off for a few hours, only waking when the little one started knocking on your chestplate and a familiar voice scolding him for it.

“Knock it off Grogu, let him sleep.”

He stopped for a second before hitting it one more time, probably out of spite. You laughed, blowing your cover. You sat up and rolled your shoulders, groaning when you heard a crack. You heard the other man chuckle.

“Getting old, Jackal?”

“Shut it Mando.”

You feigned irritation and stretched your legs while Grogu still sat in your lap.

“Din.”

You perked up.

“What?”

He kept his attention turned to the front.

“Call me Din.”

You smiled under your helmet and nodded.

“Alright. Nice to meet you Din.”

He nodded and started to land the clunky ship.

Din found a friend to watch over Grogu while the two of you followed the bounty chit to a run down old Imperial base. Your target was an ex-stormtrooper who had been scampering around, screwing people over, and selling valuable information to the wrong people. It was overgrown and looked completely abandoned. You both slid your blasters from your holsters and walked carefully. You were treading in front of Din, keeping him behind you.

You heard a noise around the corner and the both of you raised your blasters. A rat ran from the shadows, distracting you from the tripwire that was pulled tight in front of you. You noticed too late, only able to shove the Mandalorian away before the trap went off. The explosion blew you back onto the floor. The ringing in your ears was persistent and brain melting. White hot pain radiates from your knee and under your bestplate. You couldn't move, eyes fixated on the dirty ceiling. Quick shallow breaths shook your chest, spreading the sting throughout your ribs.

You saw Din lean into your line of vision. He was talking but you couldn’t make out what he was saying. He then tried to sit you up causing you to scream in agony. You finally made out what he was saying as he leaned you against the wall, keeping his hand on your shoulder.

“It’s alright. I got him. You're going to be okay.”

He sounded frantic. He looked around before taking his hand away.

“I’ll be right back. I'm going to get the bounty on the ship and come back, okay.”

You tried to say something but all you could muster was a quick nod. He got to his feet and ran off to grab the bounty. This was it. You were going to die here. The Mandalorian was probably not coming back. He shouldn’t come back. You made a stupid mistake and now you were paying for it. If he had any sense left, he would take the bounty and leave you there. The thought of never seeing the Mandalorian again made your heart clench. You really started to like him. Your spiralling thoughts were interrupted by heavy footsteps. Din once again popped into your line of sight, bacta spray and medkit in hand. 

“Hey, you doing okay?”

His voice was uncharacteristically soft. He took off his gloves and placed them down next to your foot. You nodded, a lie, but he didn’t have to know.

“I’m going to spray your injuries down alright? I’m going to have to rip your trousers a bit.” 

He pointed down at the obvious gouge in your knee and you jerked your head up. He took the knife from his boot and carefully cut through the fabric around your injured knee. You watched as the gash was slowly exposed. You heard Din suck in a breath through his teeth. He picked up the bacta spray and held it up to your injury. He thoroughly covered it before looking over you again. He saw the bloody patch that had spread from under your breastplate.

“A piece of shrapnel bounced up and cut through your abdomen. This is going to hurt like hell but I need to lay you on your back.”

He barely gave you a moment to respond before he had his hands back on your shoulders and was laying you back. You ground loudly, not having enough energy to scream. He pulls up your shirt by the hem and tucked it up. Blood was running down your side. The hole in your abdomen was gushing and making you feel a bit lightheaded. 

He used his knife to dig out the shrapnel. The hallway spun as you felt the blade dig around. Din apologised profusely and finally got the piece of metal out. You would have blacked out if not for the constant of Din’s worried voice. He quickly stitched up the slash and sprayed it thoroughly. He let you rest for about a minute before he insisted on getting you back to the Razor Crest. You were dreading the thought of getting up but you knew it had to be done. The gashes in your knee and stomach were feeling slightly better but walking was going to be a challenge.

You reached up and he grabbed your hand, pulling you to your feet. An explosive agony shot through your entire left side. You screamed, ragged and raw. Uneven breaths rocked your chest. Din threw your arm over his shoulders and wrapped the other around your waist, being careful of your wound. You probably would have been more flustered about being this close to him if you hadn’t practically died ten minutes ago. He practically dragged you back to the ship and laid you down in his bunk. You finally allowed yourself to slip away from consciousness.

—

Waking up, the pain had severely lessened. You moved up with a groan. You realised that both your waist and knee had been wrapped up as well as all your armour had been taken off. All except for your helmet. You heard Din’s voice from outside the bunk.

“I thought that you would prefer it if I left that on.”

You nodded.

“Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.”

Your voice was hoarse and your throat was killing you. When you looked over, you saw that Din had also removed his armour. He had a worried looking Grogu tucked into his arms.

“He was really worried about you y'know.”

Din stated. He looked down at the creature in his arms and then back at you.

“And so was I.”

You felt your face and ears heat up. He was worried about you. You were glad you still had your helmet on, hiding your flustered expression. You remember that you were still laid back in Din’s bunk, taking over his space.

“I’ll be alright. Sorry for taking over your bed.”

You started to shuffle out of the bunk but were stopped by Din’s hand on your thigh. If you weren't flustered before, you sure as hell were now. He looked down and retracted his hand.

“Sorry. It’s okay, you need the rest more than I do. I'll just put Grogu in his hammock and sleep in the cockpit.”

He raised the creature up to his little swing but stopped when he started flailing. He reached his hands towards you, making small grabbing motions. Din looked down at you.

“Would you mind? I don’t want him to disturb you but I'm afraid he won’t sleep if I put him up there.”

You nod, hearing the exhaustion in his voice.

“Why don’t you shuffle in here?”

You take Grogu from him and tuck him into the crook of your elbow.

“Without armour, I’m sure the both of us could fit pretty easily.”

He hesitates and you take it as rejection.

“You don’t have to obviously but-”

He cut you off by dropping a knee onto the edge of the bunk. He climbs in next to you, your back to his chest. He dimms the already soft light. You felt that it was okay to remove your helmet, he most likely wouldn’t be able to see you. So you reached your unoccupied arm up and pulled the helmet from your head. You set it in the corner and held Grogu closer to you. You felt Din shuffle behind you, probably getting comfortable.

You felt Din reach an arm around your waist and the other around your chest. He pulled you flush against him. You felt his breath on your neck. He had taken off his helmet too. You closed your eyes just in case. You knew about the Mandalorian creed and didn’t want to disrespect it or cross a line. You had just gotten close to him and you didn’t want to screw it up already.

“I thought you died when that tripwire went off.”

His voice wavered, unfiltered by his helmet.

“I thought that I would never see you again and it-”

He stuttered.

“I realised that I might be more attached to you then I originally thought.”

His voice was quiet and soft. You felt him nuzzle into the back of your neck. You raise one hand and reach behind you, brushing your fingers through his hair lightly.

“It’s alright Din. I’m okay.”

He pulled you closer and placed a tentative kiss to your nape. You’d never have thought that this is how your mission and partnership with the Mandalorian would have turned out.

[astraltrickster]

"I miss when AI was bad" is a sentiment I've been seeing floating around a lot lately, and it's one that I...half agree with, but I must point out-

AI is still "bad".

Sure, there are some pretty beginner-friendly models out there now, like Midjourney, that make it easy to get...something appealing on first glance pretty quickly with minimal skill or even luck, but contrary to corporate claims, no, you CAN'T just get them to pump out an entire passable novel with as little as "hey computer give me a 50k word lesbian space western" or even less "dear ChatGPT, please write me the next great classic show that will appeal to everyone and make me eleventy trillion dollars, love, Netflix". No, there is no Secret Professional Paid Model that makes this possible, either.

The work that goes into making something Good(TM) using AI is being very deliberately hidden from anyone who isn't using it to see for themselves that there is Work and Skill involved, because companies like OpenAI want people like the CEOs of AMPTP member companies to think it's that easy, because they're big money potential clients.

Furthermore, all these companies want you to think it's as easy as that shit on Black Mirror (whether they know it's a lie or not - they don't care either way), because they know that if you think that, eventually you'll wear down and watch their shit once they're the only new releases...and you will think nothing of the fact that the human labor is being erased, because, psh, human labor? What human labor? There definitely isn't a cubicle farm full of living humans being crunched even harder than they did with traditional methods to churn these things out, it's all the robot's doing, right?

I mean, hell, we keep complaining about ChatGPT essays full of hallucinated information; samey, dry novels and fanfics that can't keep their plots straight; and picture books that are full of glaring errors and can barely even keep the characters recognizable from page to page, and I just think-

So you agree? Creating a coherent, accurate, and/or meaningful image or piece of writing with AI involves creativity, knowledge, skill, and patience?

...in my honest opinion, those garbage-quality cash- and/or clout-grab pieces have an important role in the tech and art and media ecosystem: to remind people that this IS, in fact, the best that can reliably come from the minimal skill and effort that the companies are saying you can make masterpieces with.

What I'm saying is...I don't miss when AI Was Bad, because that era never ended.

I miss when AI was widely recognized as being bad. I miss when everyone knew that getting the image you wanted from a simple text prompt was something like winning the lottery. I miss when people not only appreciated the surreality of the shitposts and more that we made with it, but were broadly aware that most first iterations resemble those shitposts.

I miss before the Silicon Valley ghouls managed to convince people en masse that they'd created True AI that could actually viably replace creatives with no human input. I miss before the corporate media suckers bought that lie hook line and sinker, or at least found it convenient to pretend to believe because it would let them move more work to lower pay grades with the only backlash being about the conventional work getting replaced that they hope they can wait out, but NOT about the mistreatment and underpayment of the new workers, because the public will broadly think there ARE no new workers. I miss before it became an infohazard because corporations want you to think their software knows everything - and have successfully convinced several big name companies of this, or at least that they're close enough to all-knowing to replace search engines.

I miss when we were in the "roll out toys as proof of concept" era, not the "well, we've sunk enough money into running these things for the plebs, time to yank the rug and start lying to get some big money clients" era.

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

ORIGINAL OUTFITS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMING FULL CIRCLE INDEED

Going ALL the way back to their most iconic looks, that speak the most directly to who they are and who they were, and we can SEE the visible differences in their designs. Kurogane’s arm has been replaced, doubling down on his signature colour as he’s become the truest version of himself. And as a FASCINATING parallel to that, his sword is the actual one this time - not a copy or imitation, like HE was before. Haunted by his past as he was, he was a damaged echo of who he was when he was younger, but not anymore. Now Ginryuu is really here and it’s the actualisation of Kurogane BECOMING the Kurogane he was always meant to be. He’s fulfilled his family role by relearning the love his parents taught him, he’s regained his true name by healing from the grief their loss left in him, he has more family than ever before, and now he’s on his way to punish the one who took it all away from him in the first place. Kurogane is PEAK Kurogane. 

And FAI. He’s in his Seresu clothes, but he’s not displaying the damaging lessons Ashura taught him in order to manipulate him into doing what he wanted. Fai isn’t lying anymore - he’s not smiling, he’s not pretending to be happy, the entire facade is gone. He’s showing how he really feels - in a direct contrast to how Ashura taught him to fake smile as the only way to help them since he couldn’t do it with magic. Now he doesn’t even HAVE that magic and he’s helped the people that mean the MOST to him without ever touching it. Fai knows his VALUE now - he knows he is loved, that he loves them back, that that’s ENOUGH, that that ACCOMPLISHES more than magic itself ever did, and that he doesn’t need to fake anything in order to make a difference. 

Also his HAIR is longer. He’s no longer keeping his appearance the same as a facsimile to the twin he wanted to switch places with. He’s healed from that too, moving on as HIMSELF and not just as a living promise that he was manipulated into making in the first place. He’s his own person now, all the chains on him are gone, and there’s nothing in his past looming over every action he takes. He’s free now - and he’s chasing down the man who DID THIS to him in the first place, along with the people he loves. 

OH IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. 

And then Mokona outlines it for us in words too, because Mokona is still awed by the plot coming back around to the beginning and it’s utterly adorable. Because at this point ME TOO MOKONA.

MEANWHILE I SEE BOOTS AND A CAPE AND I THINK I HAVE THOUGHTS (tm) ABOUT WHAT THIS NEXT PAGE WILL HAVE ON IT

LAVA LAMP DRESSED AS SYAORAN

OH now THAT is interesting

On the one hand it’s a FASCINATING move to make. Because visually? YES, the Syaoran should dress like Syaoran in the beginning of the manga.

But we know now! It’s not the same! This ISN’T the Syaoran we started the manga with! Moreover Lava Lamp NEVER DRESSED THIS WAY. These AREN’T his clothes. He never looked like this! He didn’t grow up in Clow like Syaoran did - though he WAS apparently there, in his Lava Lamp, the whole time. 

And all of THAT is difference enough that we get no other visual signifiers of his growth. His outfit is the SAME because it’s the CHARACTER who’s different. Instead of the clone donning the identity of the original, now it’s the original donning the visual identity of the CLONE. 

And THAT’S an entirely different kind of circle, but I kind of love the inversion of it all. Especially since the last time Lava Lamp left the Clow Kingdom (where he was trapped) he travelled TO Acid Tokyo, in order to hopefully fix Syaoran’s soul. But now Syaoran’s soul IS fixed, and he’s travelling BACK to the Clow Kingdom to find a whole Syaoran instead!

… OH AND HIS EYE. He only has ONE eye in the reaction shot at the end, because that’s an echo of the link he had with Syaoran, and how he ALSO used to have all the single eye imagery that foreshadowed Lava Lamp watching through it his entire life. 

Lava Lamp is the reverse of everything that has happened - the mirror image of things coming full circle, but coming full circle all the same. 

[seoafin]

I would .d literallyy gnaw awf my clit for some dead dogs are gone bad end au crumbs liek NOTTTTTT..!??!‼️‼️‼️ a fic or even a drabble but just liek... Any ideas or thoughts or character metas or plot points you have considered for such a scenario. Just any fuarked up ponderings and character dynamics you've made up/can forsee regarding a str8 up full on toxic/yandere ver of stsg/ripmc's relationship and what would happen I'm sorry it's just I NEEEED to see those 2 at their most eviil pls I need to know how u think of them when they oppa gaslight style (also low-key mindbroken ripmc makes me horknee like okaayyy mayve that's outta pocket but IDC ripmc becoming somehow even more brain-dead is just SOOOO cyuute ougghdh . .😭)

DEAD DOGS ARE GONE BAD END AU move over dead dove do not eat i've got something better. if i wrote a bad ending fic i would definitely name it dead dog do not eat dsjfndskjfns

hmmmm i dooooo kinda wanna keep the full details a secret until the chapter is like. published. but if it's not published in like 3 months feel free to take me out to the back and shoot me! 😊 i promise i will elaborate if the chapter isn't out in a timely manner but i guess i'll give you a little something something

yandere cw

so like i said when i was conceptualizing and outlining ddao there was a drastic change to a plot point in chapter 12 which is where it diverges from the og bad ending (tm) plot. but just know it turns stsg into full on yanderes. context soon to be added. ripmc is confined to an area of the estate, kept isolated. they just want to keep her safe. at least that's what stsg always tell her. the kids can see her freely but that's it, except every time megumi visits he gets angrier and angrier. not even shoko is allowed to see her whenever. i think stsg would...reward her with shoko visits. except it's not really rewarding because it's not like she really resists in the first place. stsg know that ripmc is absolutely miserable and slowly deteriorating but the memory of [redacted] always wins out. i think they'd also get paranoid she'd run except that would literally never happen which only results in a tightening of her leash. gojo makes it extremely clear that he and geto are only still jujutsu sorcerers because they know ripmc likes the people they are when they're helping others despite their insincere intentions. they're helping people! and ripmc is helping them! who knows what would happen if she wasn't there. think of all the people they've helped.

in the rare circumstance where either gojo or geto or both of them aren't at her side they're never far behind. geto's curses are there. the servants are always watching. stsg dress her, wash her, feed her, and treat her like a dependent doll and it's sickkkkkkk but geto takes a vested interest in dressing her which is ironic because it's not like the girl is entertaining visitors 💀💀💀💀💀 and yet. geto is there brushing her hair, dressing her in luxurious silk kimonos and dresses and anything else that strikes his fancy. he likes watching gojo tear it all off more than anything. all while ripmc is straight up in a dissociative state. then she stops talking altogether. before she can retreat too far into her mind, she's pregnant. geto says that he and gojo would like a girl but ultimately, they don't mind. they have all the time in the world.

[bad ending]

[kiribread]

Headcannon time?! >:)))

so uh since it's been a while since I've actually drawn edgeshot I thought I would do some general headcannons on him! I did a similar post to this when I had JUST started posting and may've done another one like it so if any of these sound familiar that's why.

Some slight manga spoilers ahead

I'm pretty sure it's obvious that's he's on the introvert side of things but I also feel like he's a huge people pleaser by nature.

Before he gave me a daddy issues now he just gives me general parent issues and undiagnosed autism

Emotionally absent mom perhaps?

He could be in a room for like 5 minuets with someone and can pretty accurately diagnose them with whatever mental/physical problem they have and encourage them to get treatment for it but he's one of those guys that refuses to get treated himself

Workaholic

a mom/therapist friend tm

I feel like he got really good grades in school (mainly for the academic validation) and even went to college

He went to college for some sort of medical training probably something like paramedics or ER doctor

While in high school him interning under Recovery girl gives me life <3333

During his 3rd year I could see him taking over for Recovery girl on occasion so she could have a well deserved break

Also, I don't know why but for some reason he gives me oopsy single dad vibes? Like a random baby that he knew nothing about showing up on his door step like" 🧍‍♂️ ok."

He loves that lil girl to death in back though <33333

He always knew he wanted kids in the future so he was pretty happy despite him thinking it was too early for him to be a dad (I'm thinking he was about 19-21 when this happened.)

He does feel pretty guilty often since he can't spend as much time with her as he would like to due to work (this didn't mix well with being a workaholic)

The decision to become a hero was a last second decision on his part he originally wanted to be a full time doctor

What could've changed his mind could be that he either was or he saved someone and inspired him to at least give it a try

I also think he could've considered therapy as a possible option as well

while he was genuinely impressed with Kamui woods during that raid with it being one of the main reasons for the team up one of the other main reasons was that he was a little lonely and thought he be a cool friend <3333. The only reason anyone knows that is bc he got hit by some confession quirk on duty... Kamui cried.

Him and mt lady i feel like sass eachother a lot.

Also probably help straighten her out a bit more.

Was perfectly ok with leaving the media up to mt lady. (Neither him or kamui were particularly fond of doing so.)

Definitely a good cook

I could just be biased bc i like salmon but i feel like he makes some GOOD salmon dishes.

Also definitely eats very healthy.

Won't pass up a good pizza though.

Before I thought that he'd be a huge naruto fan but now I think it'd be hilarious if everyone assumes he is but in reality he never seen a single episode.

He was thinking of watching it but got spoiled on pretty much the entire plot so he decided against it.

He met jeanist when jeanist noticed Edgeshot patching up his jacket during lunch time.

It was jeanist's idea to start the textiles club and Edgeshot was just dragged right along with it.

Many shenanigans happen there.

Edgeshot overall is pretty artsy and likes to try a bit of everything.

He particular likes pen & ink, ceramics, and digital art.

Also enjoys trying other hobbies out like gardening and hiking.

Participated in gymnastics till he got to ua were he used it to train.

Was really good at it but didn't care for the competition part of it.

used to be super cuddly as a kid but has moved away from that and is now picky of who touches him.

People he is close to he does allow them to snuggle up with him.

Likes flattening himself like a blanket and cuddling with people then.

[pokemonfangame]

Pokémon Litharreon

Litharreon - pronounced Lithe/Arr/Eon It is the fusion of Growlithe, Spearrow, Eeevee(well the eon for eeveelutions) and one of your possible starter Pokémon!

Embark on a journey throughout the region of Arboden - pronounced Arr/Boh/Den that has victim to the meddling mischief of the mythical Pokémon Hoopa!

Pick your partner, either Shroomish, Houndour, or Staryu and team up with either Growlithe, Eeevee, or Spearow for ultimate double battles throughout the game! Challenge 8 totally normal and not suspicious gym leaders and take down an evil crime syndicate!

On your journey you'll begin to question certain things and uncover mysteries regarding yourself and the Pokémon you are safeguarding! Where did this Pokémon come from? Why are there evil crime bosses fighting you for it? Exactly who can you trust and why do you feel like you don't really belong here? You'll be overcoming all of these challenges while battling against your friendly Rival! Your rival wants to unlock their partner's powers and understand the mysteries there are to explore in the fantastic region of Arboden! Catch and train Pokémon in a double battle oriented, aide various NPC's throughout the region, and discover the mystery that awaits in Litharreon, and what that is also!

Features:

Generation 3 Tileset

No day/night system - think vanilla FRLG

DS-era music

Double battles for all trainer battles

Know whether your starter will be shiny before you choose it

Custom triple triad duelists in major cities

8 custom Gym Leaders and a new Elite 4

Major crime syndicate being the main plot of the game

Hidden grottos - find eggs of Pokémon on nearby routes with egg moves, higher shiny rate, and higher odds for hidden abilities

Custom Sprites (Trainers, Overworlds, Pokémon, Icons)

HM Moves and TM Moves can be used unlimitedly, and can be deleted at any point in the game, and are registered as "TM's"

Brand new starters: Shroomish, Houndour, Staryu - Growlithe, Eeevee, Spearow

Unique mega evolutions

Boss battles with Legendary Pokémon with interesting rewards

Plans for fun and interesting Post-game content!

[ghostlyminer]

I don’t know if I’ve properly revealed how big a Project Moon fan I am, but I am a big Project Moon fan.

So much so that I’ve been doing some weird 4D Fandom Crossover Chess tm and I move my bishop to Midwest Angelica X Limbus Company

(Design context down below! 👇)

Context: I was previously working on a RPG maker game a while back, that revolves around a “Multiverse” plot. Since it was the first RPG maker game I attempted to make ever, it is a bit of a mess and currently is sitting in my laptop data taking up space. But while it’s not the actual game, I still really enjoy drawing art of some of the main characters’ identities! (Hence why there’s an individual twist that’s not exactly canon-complient)

-

Nerd Allusion explanation for Nerds: (I highlighted the allusions in orange)

Main depiction here is of Dr. Ray O’Connor, one of the main researchers in Midwest Angelica. The scene depicted here is actually specifically from the video Phantoms, though a more blatant example of Dr. Evan’s infection and behavior, since Dr.Evans’ coughing fits assumably fade by the time he arrives to the facility —most likely due to his completed infection—(this universe’s version featured as the giant blurry blob in the bottom left). It is also depicting Ray O’Connor’s infection, as in the video, the very-well-implied super-duper-infected Dr. Evans replaces the water cooler (after presumably tampering with it), and proceeds to hand Dr. O’Connor the innocuous cup of super-duper-infectious water.

This being a Limbus Company identity mock-up, I just had to do that custom UI! Limbus fans probably also know how base art and uptie 3 art are typically very different, “the calm before the storm” and “the hurricane”, and, well. . . Let’s just say that this is the base identity art. And that O’Connor undergoes some. . . life-altering experiences.