#but hey 'art imitates life' and all that amirite

[im-no-jedi]

MLWTBB: Master and Commander

Part 11 of the “My Life With The Bad Batch” series, a (mostly) canon compliant self-insert story set in “The Bad Batch”  

rated: T warnings: descriptions of food and eating, implied self-harm, gun violence relationships: Hunter/self-insert, Omega & self-insert (adopted siblings), The Bad Batch & self-insert chapter word count: 2000+ words

✨MLWTBB masterlist✨

summary: when Hannah’s already hectic life becomes almost too much to bear, Master Gildish gifts her a new companion to help ease the burdens, as well as give Hannah a new friend to live with. however, the Bad Batch are not so thrilled with Hannah’s new robotic ally, which causes major tension in Hannah’s relationship with Echo and Hunter.

notes: so I have a big family irl. we fight sometimes (although thankfully not as much as in the past). and through years of therapy, I learned that fights are both normal and an indication of a “real” relationship. being willing to get vulnerable with someone, either in a positive or negative way, means that the relationship is solid. obviously, if it’s a healthy relationship, then making up afterwards should be no sweat. as long as both sides are open and honest with each other, then it’s all good 😌

I wrote this chapter well before season 2 aired, so The Crossing hadn’t happened yet. I’m really glad we were able to see the messy side of family relationships in TBB, and I wish we could see more of it. but I guess that’s what stories like this one are for 😉

A/N: this story has not been proofread by anyone other than myself. so apologies for any uncaught errors 😬

previous chapter

Chapter 8: It’s Alright to Fight

______________________________________________________________

Cid’s Parlor wasn’t known for its cleanliness. Only since Hannah had started working there did it even pass for an acceptable place to spend more than a few minutes at. However, the mess that currently occupied the space was far worse than any dirt or grime that had been there before. The air was filled with the stench of harsh words and long-built frustration. Bodies sweating from tense muscles and clenched jaws stood littering the floor. Hearts pounding and lungs heaving so loudly, it deafened every other noise in the room.

Just your normal, average, everyday family fight.

“Would you two please end this bickering?” Tech pleaded with his brothers. He hadn’t moved from his spot in-between them both, even after one of them had been physically restrained.

“It’d be a lot easier if Wrecker wasn’t strangling me!” Echo exclaimed as he wriggled in his much larger brother’s arms.

“I’m not strangling ya!” Wrecker protested. “I’m barely holdin’ ya! And I don’t want ya tryin’ to take down Hunter once I let go either!”

Hunter let out an audible scoff that sounded more like a snicker. “He wouldn’t be able to anyway.”

“Oh, that’s real mature!” Echo retorted. “And here I thought we left Crosshair back with the Empire!”

An inhuman growl left Hunter’s throat, and his fists tightened at his side. Omega had a grip on one of his arms that held him in place, more so out of willpower than strength.

“Both of you, please! Just stop!” Omega pleaded with her brothers while giving Hunter’s arm a tug. Her desperate tone was almost enough to get everyone to drop what they were doing instantly. But not quite enough. Everyone’s tensions and emotions had gotten so high by then, it didn’t seem like anything could stop them.

Then finally, a voice came from the hallway that halted everything.

“What the hell is goin’ on in here?!”

The Clones all turned to see the only other person in the parlor besides them and Hannah standing in the doorway. A very disgruntled Cid stared them all down with her clawed hands firmly planted on her hips in condescension.

“I could hear the ruckus all the way in my office,” Cid continued. “Even with the door shut! What are you knuckleheads gettin' into now, huh?”

After a moment of silence out of pure shock, Tech was able to begin explaining everything that had happened after discovering Hannah’s new droid companion. Hunter and Echo’s visceral reaction to him had caused a huge disagreement to break out, which led to both Hannah storming off and the rest of them getting into a skirmish of sorts.

As if Cid wasn’t already looking at them disapprovingly enough, her lizard-like face grew even more condescending towards them. Her slitted yellow eyes stared up at Hunter and Echo so harshly, they could practically feel her gaze searing their skin.

“Wow. Never thought this day would come. Guess I was wrong.” Cid began to approach the group, keeping her focus on Hunter and Echo. “I’m disappointed in you boys. No, I take that back. I’m very disappointed in you. Especially you, Bandana.” She whacked Hunter in the chest with the back of her hand, just hard enough that he could feel it through his armor. “I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical of the thing when I first saw it too. But I swear, I’ve never seen Red so happy in all the time she’s been workin’ here thanks to that droid. The poor girl already works harder than I ask of her, so I don’t have a problem with her keeping it. In fact, I encouraged her to keep it if only so she doesn’t go crazy from havin’ to deal with all of you on top of this place.”

Even though she was mostly addressing Hunter and Echo, all of the Clones felt a sense of shame at hearing Cid’s words. Even Omega, to a certain degree.

Cid looked between each of the Clones as she continued. “I honestly couldn’t care less about your personal problems, so I’m gonna keep this real simple. Knock off the hostile behavior towards that droid, or don’t bother comin’ back. And if you won’t do it for me... do it for her. Unless you really don’t care all that much after all.”

Nothing else was said as Cid walked back into the hallway towards her office. The Clones were left to try and absorb her words, as harsh as they were. But she was right, and they all knew it. Especially Hunter and Echo. Their looks of shame mixed with the heartbrokenness they shared over upsetting Hannah was enough to get Wrecker and Omega to finally ease up their grips.

After the silence lingered for a moment, Tech once again was the first to say something. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually agree with Cid. My analysis of the droid aside, it was clear that Hannah holds the droid in high regard right from the start. Though I see where Hunter and Echo were coming from, it’s unfair to place the same stigmas on droids as sentient beings. They are only machines, after all.” He gave a quick adjustment to his goggles before continuing. “The thing I’m most surprised by honestly is the sheer visceral response you both had towards Hannah. Although it’s not as surprising for Hunter, considering you two have fought before on several occasions already.”

Hearing that only made Hunter feel even worse about the situation, and he turned away from everyone, shutting his eyes tightly.

Now free from Wrecker’s grip, Echo sighed loudly and shook his head, holding a hand to his temple. “You’re right. I... I dunno what happened. I guess I got so caught up in my rage that I didn’t even realize what I was doing.” He let out a slight scoff and looked at Hunter, who was still turned away. “And I’ve been the one always gettin' on your case for bein’ a jerk to Hannah... some friend I am...”

Omega looked between her brothers solemnly, then stepped forward to speak. “You know, I used to get worried whenever I saw Hannah and Hunter arguing. Or when any of you argued or fought about something. I told Hannah about it one night during a sleepover, and she said it’s actually healthy for people who are close to fight with each other. She said it means you’re willing to get vulnerable with that person; that it makes the relationship more ‘real’. Cause otherwise, you’re just putting on a face, really.”

“Huh,” Wrecker pondered as he scratched his head in thought. “Ya know, that actually makes sense. At least, it makes more sense for us!”

“It’s how most families are, according to Hannah,” Omega continued. “She said her family used to fight all the time when she was younger. And somehow, it made them even closer. I guess because they were always willing to work it out in the end.” Her eyes shifted between Echo and Hunter as she finished speaking, and she gave them both a reassuring smile.

Hunter turned around just in time to catch Omega’s smile, and he returned it with a half-smile of his own. Then he looked over at Echo, who was giving him a sheepish look. “We really screwed up this time, huh?” Echo said to him.

“Guess we did,” Hunter replied. He gave a small sigh and walked up to Echo. “And I dunno what I feel worse about. Takin’ my feelings out on you or...” A small lump began to form in his throat, but he quickly swallowed it. “Or on Hannah.”

“Yeah...” Echo rubbed the back of his neck solemnly and looked at the floor. “Though after callin’ you out on Hosnian Prime... I think I know which one I feel worse about...” He scoffed through his nose and shook his head. “I’m not sorry for that droid, though. I can’t be. If he’s just a machine, like Tech said, then I shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells for him.”

“Perhaps just a smidge of restraint would do you good,” Tech interjected. “You know, for Hannah’s sake. Not the droid.”

“Hey,” Wrecker said, looking around the room. “Where is the droid, anyway?”

Tech gestured to the corner of the room Clank had been at, saying, “He’s right over—oh.”

The corner was empty. Not a soul was in sight. 

The Clones all quickly began scanning the room for the droid, but to no avail. Omega even checked behind the bar counter, but there was nothing.

Hunter was the first to pick up on what happened, unsurprisingly. His well-trained and enhanced sight caught the subtle tracks of a robotic entity walking towards the door.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Echo lamented angrily.

“He must’a slipped out while we were fightin’!” Wrecker exclaimed.

“Well, what the hell would he do that for?” Echo exclaimed back.

“I couldn’t possibly surmise,” Tech dryly replied with an eye roll.

After internally cursing to himself about the whole situation, Hunter quickly headed to the refresher to get Hannah. Fight or not, she needed to know. “Hannah?” he called out after knocking on the door. “You need to come out here!”

“I can’t,” Hannah replied, her voice muffled from the shut door. “I’m allergic to jerks.” Though she put effort into it, it was clear from her tone that she’d been crying a lot, and Hunter’s chest physically ached from hearing it.

“It’s serious,” Hunter added, trying to mask his own pain.

“So am I!”

If it weren’t for that damn droid causing another problem, Hunter would’ve forced the door open if only to apologize directly to her face.

“Hannah, the droid is gone.”

Almost immediately, the refresher door slid open to reveal a red-faced, puffy-eyed Hannah. Her expression was a mix of terror and rage, and her tone matched it. “What. Did you do?”

“Nothing,” Hunter eked out, almost too stricken with emotion to speak.

Hannah didn’t wait for any more explanation and pushed her way past Hunter to get into the parlor. Her eyes scanned the room to confirm that Clank was truly gone. The truth of it nearly sucked all the air from her lungs, and her whole body shook out of fear.

“Where is he?” she managed to say, finally addressing the others in the room.

“We don’t know,” Omega replied solemnly.

“He’s not here,” Tech added. “Hunter was able to find tracks leading out the door, but that’s all we--”

Before Tech could even finish his sentence, Hannah had bolted to the door and was making her way up the stairs, calling out Clank’s name.

Hunter came back into the room just in time to catch Hannah running off. He shouted out to her to wait, but to no avail. There was no stopping her now.

“What the hell is going on now?!” Cid was now back in the room too, looking as disgruntled as she had been earlier.

“Clank ran away!” Wrecker answered.

“Who?”

“The droid,” Tech added.

“Oh. Wait, what do you mean ‘ran away’?”

“He ran out of the parlor while we were fightin’!” Wrecker answered. “At least, that’s what I think.”

Cid scoffed. “Yeah, well I’m not surprised considering what happened.”

Hunter came up next to Cid and said, “Hannah ran out to look for him; we need to go after her.”

“Yeah, you do!” Cid exclaimed. “And bring that droid back with you too if you wanna continue doing business here.” She gave Hunter a good shove back into the parlor, then returned to her office, grumbling to herself about how ridiculous the day was going.

After a quick prompt from Hunter, everyone was outside the parlor, ready to begin their search. Hunter would have little trouble tracking either of them down, but he wanted to prioritize Hannah above all else. Maybe with luck, they’d find the droid already with her. No matter what, they were going to find her, whatever it took.

[next chapter]

[jjinomu]

how did you get into editing pmd models? you're super good at them, and i'm considering taking it up. i was wondering, how/where did you pick it up?

oh boi oh geez where do i even begin omg (long post so i chucked the rest under the cut)

first thank you for your compliment hehe i really appreciate that!! but hmmm well- i started editing pmd/pmx models like aaaaaages ago i dont even remember much but generally for most beginners, lots of people tend to recolour (i mean i did it too when i first started hehe shout out to my zatsune model edit of animasa miku phew gud ol’ days) which is totally okay especially if you’re just figuring out how like colours/textures work and the whole material panel/subsets/i’m saying-weird-terminology-that-you-probably-don’t-get-yet pretty much all the tools and what they do that’s totally okay hehe once you poke around it for a while, you’ll get use to which tool does what and that’s all gud (i recommend getting the english translated version of PMDeditor (or PMX- i use PMX) because that’ll save you a lot of time (i use the japanese version because i’m weird and dumb and i’m still trying to figure stuff out myself to this day)

after that phase of recolouring (normally i wouldn’t recommend staying in this for long like, i recoloured 1 model and moved on straight away HAHA) at this point one of the most common and main styles of editing for starters is taking editable (or ‘legal’) parts from other models that allow editing (make sure stuff is editable before you do anything or you could get in trouble), and then piecing it together to form your own cool new model edit yeyeye, there should be plenty of tutorials how to do this and how to avoid glitches with joints/physics/bones and stuff so if you want, just hmu privately and i can quest for some for you, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to find!! 

usually lots of people generally stay in that area of editing which is totally chill as well, with practice and constant improvement you could like reach some good levels of work from just part-editing itself, ive seen it happen many many times!!

otherwise the other option you could go down is what i generally do nowadays for editing- and that’s i guess, ‘modelling parts’ (which is what most people call it) or ‘meta-editing’- it involves pretty much, chucking a base into an external 3D program to build clothes/your own parts and then re-rig it entierly again in PMXeditor (i’m a lil tired asf but i have a tutorial tab on my tumblr page where i go more in depth on this and where to start if this is what you wanna do) thoUGH keep in mind, it’s probably best you get use to using PMX and all the terminolgy and such before anything or else it’ll be like what whAT WHat

personally i think that this ‘meta-editing’ method is almost the more easier and safer route, though when you’re starting out it’s like ‘MmMM shit’ but trust me it’s…. imo it’s easier than part-editing (because i used to do that too) mostly because 1. you just make your shit rather than find it (sometimes some parts aren’t even ever made) and 2. you avoid breaking rules completely because heck ur doing it 100% urself wat are rules (aside from obviously your base model’s rules haha)

i forgot what else i wanted to say um

oh yeah well- this is like the basic of the basic explanations, i need you to be more specific if you want me to teach you stuff but the least i can do now is give you a brief overview?? but das it ehe

otherwise some tips i’d like to mention as well which have nothing to do with the actual practice, are as follows:

#1 tip: that i donnn’t think i’ve ever preached on this blog before but i might as well start bc it’s important!!! try ur best to remain humble/modest watever- honestly i think….. if you start thinking you’re some God level editor or watever that’s when…… improvement kinda halts……. so even though it might be kinda ehhh, be a little harsh on yourself- you’re your own critic and it’s better to recognise your faults before someone else points them out for you (because that can hurt heaps, but i mean if u hate urself first nobody else can amirITE AMIRITE i’m kidding don’t hate urself)

i, for one am always very horrible to myself with my edits- like i dislike a looot of them which is actually kinda terrible LMAOO so i don’t recommend like hating everything you do because that ruins the fun- and sometimes it might even push you to stop entirely (i’ve known friends that have quit because they couldn’t get it right etc.) as long as you realise that whatever you do currently isn’t going to be as great as what you do later in life, then you’re like guranteed to improve no doubt about it- in a way, you’re not putting any limitations on yourself so you can grow from that! just continue to persevere, some people don’t improve until a looot later and some people improve like within weeks- so don’t let that get to you either!!! i’ve been doing this shit for like ages and i still am not as good as like actual modellers because i’ve just…. been too comfortable and improved only as an editor askdajsk

#2 tip: do not compare yourself to others especially when you’re first starting out- i’ve had…… quite a number of people compare themselves to me which is….. to say the least……. quite uncomfortable for the person you’re comparing yourself to??? because you gotta keep in mind how long people have been doing stuff (like this is my 6th year and literally everyday i’ve opened up PMX or metasequoia and i’ve toyed around for at least an hour) and idk just try not to compare yourself- because i know it’s kinda difficult not to but trust me, try to walk your own path you can create your own shit without necassarily comparing- unless you’re comparing to improve yourself whiiich leads me to my #3 tip

#3 tip: do not be afraid to mimic styles or toy with styles, i mean do not claim a certain style as your own that’s a HUGE nono, but it doesn’t hurt to like attempt to mimic someone who you look up to, and their style in order to help you improve and find your own style!! i personally mimic artists (rather than MMDers/editors) when i do my edits and then i started to develop my own kinda style??? like i still do a lot of imitation ‘edits’ which are those anime edits you see every now and again (like my yoi models or my binan models) and that’s fine!!! i think the most improvement i’ve ever had in terms of face-editing and stuff have come from me trying to imitate art of others (instead of just blindly going for my own style from the getgo) and this goes for drawing too!!! hell i still ‘mimic’ styles whenever i do any edits that have already an art design for?? i like accuracy first and then i play my style into it later and that’s totally cool too!! as long as you correctly credit and don’t claim as your own, you can’t really go much wrong (unless the person is like hey? can u pls stop? then ya don’t HAHA) i once had an incident back when i was a baby editor where i,,,,,,, kind of recreated someone else’s style of model edit line into like a different model style (in this case it was LAT so that’s how long ago it was) and then redistributed without their prior permission and ya that was bad don’t do that HAHA

and ya that should be it, i wrote this like 60 years ago and it’s been sitting in my drafts and i totally forgot about it until today so i hope that helps ya out!!