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ssaeri · 2 years

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we fall to ashes

☆ tags: alex x gn!reader, he finds something that he never expected to see on your farm, this was going to be angst with an angst ending, but then my sister begged me to not write a sad ending, so have this relieving happy ending instead, LOTS of alex spoilers! ☆

Alex stretches his arms over his head and breathes in deep. In the distance, he hears chickens screaming—a sure sign that he's getting closer to your farm. The walk from his house isn't short, but while his grandparents would complain about the distance, he finds it ideal for cooling down after his harder work-outs. And he gets to see you at the end? He'd say that's a winner winner chicken dinner situation...out of earshot from your coop, at least.

"Hey there! Evelyn's boy!" Pam calls from his right.

He slows to a stop and waves. She sits in the driver seat of her newly repaired bus, window fully open, and takes another swig from her Joja Cola. Immediately, her face scrunches.

"Mornin', Pam!" he yells back. "How's that alcohol detox going for you?"

"Awful." She smacks her lips and holds the can up to her eyes, searching the ingredients for what makes it so fucking nasty. You often joke that it's the bitter taste of capitalism. "I could go for something stronger in this heat. You think the farmer has an extra glass of pale ale?"

Alex's smile tightens. Ever since Pam and Penny's trailer turned into an actual house, Pam's been doing her best to break old habits and he's glad for it—he can finally walk by her without the reflexive gag and hurried steps. You telling me I stink? she used to ask, angry in her drunken stupor, until she remembered why he showed up on his grandparents' steps nearly two decades ago.

She must read it in his expression now because she waves him off with a roll of her eyes. "I'm kidding, kid. Tell 'em I said hi. They're the only one who takes this damn bus anyway. I might as well take a nap." She slides sunglasses onto her face and reclines her chair until he can't see her anymore. "If I'm still here by the time you go home, wake me up."

Classic Pam, he thinks as he continues to your farm. Your dog is already running from the front door to greet him, panting and barking and disturbing your horse's peace.

"Come on, buddy," he laughs, shooing your dog until he can push open the gate. "I was supposed to surprise them."

Alex scratches your horse's ear as he passes its stable. Grape vines twist and sag on the trellises you've set up for the season, the structures nearly bursting with fruit, and he makes a mental note to stop by tomorrow to help with the harvesting. Maybe it could substitute for a work-out. He's helped you ship boxes of produce before and wondered how ripped he'd be after a month of your lifestyle. Between the trellises, the melons are just starting to come in. He doesn't know how long it takes for them to ripen, only that they taste really good when you drop off a basket for his grandma.

He calls out your name. Not in the fields, not in the pasture. Your new greenhouse, maybe? You were muttering something about ancient fruit last night. Or the mushroom cave, something he still can't believe is a feature on your farm. If Demetrius could add that, maybe Alex could talk you into installing an outdoor lifting station.

He walks past your workbench and active machines...

...and walks backwards again, hoping that his eyes are deceiving him. Crystalariums reproducing diamonds to sell, charcoal kilns working double time for enough coal, bone mills churning out fertilizer, geode crushers crunching rocks into pebbles, furnaces roaring as they smelt ores into bars—and right on top of the furthest furnace sits a wrapped bundle he's only seen in his (second to) worst nightmares.

He hears your content humming now, somewhere in the main farmhouse. Under normal circumstances, he would've called it cute, but the sound rings mockingly in his ears as he approaches the darkened flowers. A wilted bouquet. Fuck.

"Oh, hey there!" Alex called out as you got closer. He tossed his ever-present gridball into the air. "You here to catch fish again? I think you can find salmon in the river this time of year. At least that's what I heard."

Once you came to a stop in front of him, you shook your head, hands still behind your back. "I'm not fishing today," you said. "I actually wanted to give you something."

"Yeah?" His lips quirked into a grin. Another toss into the air. "Wouldn't happen to be a Salmon Dinner with extra lemon, would it? Those are one of my favorites, but I can never catch any salmon myself. Another egg would be cool, too. I've been adding your weekly deliveries to my workout meals."

You only shifted from one foot to the other, unable to take your eyes off his shoes, and a part of him faltered. You weren't intimidated by him, were you? Ever since you found him crying on the beach, he had been a little more flirtatious than usual, layering on the teasing and showing off. Maybe he came on too strong. Haley always told him that subtlety wasn't his strong suit. The grip on his gridball changed as he tossed it higher.

"You okay there? Did I do something...wait, this is—ow!"

The ball bounced off his head and landed in the grass, but he couldn't care less. He pointed to the bouquet in your hands. Not a regular bouquet, but the Bouquet made to order by Pierre. In a place as small as Pelican Town, there was no need for Pierre to have it in constant stock, so when the signature blooms made the rare appearance, they attracted everyone's eyes.

"...you want to get more serious?" he asked, incredulous.

Something in your expression changed, and you drew the flowers back to your chest. "Oh, sorry, did you not?" You gave him a wide smile, already stepping away. "I must've read the signs wrong. My mistake."

"No! That's not—I mean, you read the signs correctly. I, uh, I feel the same way." He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his face flush. "So I guess we're together now? Should I be asking you out on a date or something? Or wait, are you asking me out on a date? How does this work?"

You laughed, a genuine sound this time. "We can continue the way we were before."

And so you did, but some things changed for sure. He could hold your hand now as you ran errands around the town, carrying half of the gifts you handed out to the townspeople. He could kiss you goodbye at his door in the evenings, though George cleared his throat loudly every time. Alex remembered making some snide comment about his grandpa, who yelled out a gruff I heard that! before being shushed by Evelyn. When It Howls in the Rain was being shown at the town theater, you bribed him to a screening with the promise of Stardrop Sorbet, but as much as he loved the treat, he would've gone anyway—it was one of his favorite movies with one of his favorite people. Good thing he'd seen it before because he spent most of the time staring at your side profile, wondering when he could finally go pro and have you stare at him on a screen.

Your dog nips at his fingers. He pets it absently. He thought everything was going fine between the two of you. Just yesterday, you came over and had dinner with him and his grandparents. You told them about your mining adventures in the Skull Caverns and, to his horror, showed off your old stitches from Harvey. (George chided your reckless behavior and gave old-timey advice that you nodded along to.) You talked about the new farm you're setting up at Ginger Island—Ancient Fruit wine all year! you told them excitedly. It's a farmer's heaven!—and the Beach Resort you're trying to restore. (Evelyn hummed at your energy, asking rapid-fire questions about the flora there.) You even promised to bring over a season's worth of eggs and leeks as soon as you got your hands on them. (Alex's mind flashed to the old mariner and the mermaid's pendant he could see hanging around your neck in the future.)

So why is a wilted bouquet sitting here, right on top of your furnaces?

No point in guessing when he can just find out the answer right from the source. He takes the flowers and goes to your door, knocking twice. It opens before he has time to second guess his choice.

"Alex! I didn't know you were coming over," you say, beaming at him. He wants to immortalize this version of you: face full of dirt smudges and t-shirt collar soaked through with sweat, yet glowing in your element. Until your eyes drop to his hands. "Oh, that's..."

He sets his jaw. "Can I come in and talk?"

Your expression falters further at his cold tone, but you step back and lead him to the living room. Your dog trots in and settles by the TV, head on its paws, watching with blank eyes. Alex sits in his usual spot and you yours, and suddenly he hates how familiar he is with your space.

It's still silent.

You clear your throat. "So," you start, wiping your palms on your jeans. A nervous tick he knows well. "What did you want to talk about?"

He puts the bouquet on the coffee table between you.

"Right." You pause, likely waiting for him to continue, but he doesn't say anything. "Alex, can you at least be less mean about this? I feel like you owe me that much after all this time together." He says nothing. "Like, tell me what's wrong instead of sitting here stone-faced. Things were okay. Why are you breaking up with me—"

"Why am I breaking up with you?" He barks a laugh. "Baby, I found this outside on your furnace! I'm not going to beg for you to stay, but what the hell is this?"

Your forehead furrows. "What? I wouldn't."

"If it's not yours and it's not mine, then whose is it?"

"I don't know! Alex, I wouldn't—I never even thought about breaking up," you insist. "Why would I lie about that?"

After scrutinizing your stricken expression, his relief comes in waves. He sinks into your couch, hands rubbing at his face.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just—" He laughs again, the sound mostly air. "Yoba, that scared me. If someone left this here as a prank, I'm hunting them down tonight." He lifts his head to look at you and opens his arms. "Can you come over here?"

You wrinkle your nose. "I'm gross."

"You could be playing in mud with your pigs, and I'd still jump in."

With a roll of your eyes, you hop over to curl into his side and he buries his face in the crook of your neck. You stink, but so does he after a good workout. Now that he thinks about it, he's still in his gym clothes.

"You scared me, too," you tell him, gaze trained on the table. "Not the best thing to see on a Friday afternoon. But now I want to know whose this is. Did you check it for clues?"

"Didn't bother. Thought it was yours." His arm around your waist tightens as you lean forward. "Does it matter?"

But that doesn't stop you. You have the bouquet in your lap now, prying at the blackened ribbon and wrapping. "Look at this," you say, holding it between two fingers. "The ribbon isn't blue, and Pierre always uses blue. The wrap is pretty much disintegrated, but this corner—he always puts his store brand." You suck in a breath. "Oh, duh! Where did you say you found this?"

"The furnaces right outside by the workbench."

"Okay, so mystery solved. This is mine, but not in the way you think."

He raises an eyebrow. "Explain. Don't say you're breaking up with a secret partner because I don't think I can handle a second shock right now."

"I made a wildflower bouquet to put on Grandpa's grave a few days ago, but I totally forgot where I put it, so I made a second one. This one must've been the one I misplaced."

He blinks. "How the hell did you not notice it since?"

"I came back from Ginger Island yesterday and went to sleep right after dinner! The flowers must've wilted from the furnace heat."

"You," he says slowly, pinching your cheek and ignoring your squeak, "are the absolute worst. I can't believe you nearly broke my heart and it turned out to be a whoopsie."

#stardew x reader #stardew valley x reader #sdv x reader #sdv alex x reader #stardew x farmer #stardew valley x farmer #sdv x farmer #sdv alex x farmer #stardew valley scenarios #sdv scenarios #sdv alex scenarios #stardew scenarios #saeri writes;

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 2 months

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Every Episode of Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 Ranked (Part 2)

Part 1

(This site's stupid 30 images per post forced me to do this, so thanks for nothing, Tumblr)

#14: Transmission

I swear, I'm not doing these on purpose. This is just how I've been ranking the episodes.

Like I said in the last part, this episode just did not need to happen. The first half is cheap melodrama between Marinette and Adrien and the second half is a run of the mill Akuma fight with two different heroes. This is the story that seriously warranted two parts this season?

I just can't stand the fact that Marinette and Adrien gave up their Miraculous so easily here. Maybe if it was Season 2, Season 3 at the latest, I'd buy it, but near the middle of Season 5? They honestly view their love lives as more important than the battle with Monarch. If it was anything else like the stress or physical danger, I'd also be understanding, but Tikki and Plagg decide that Marinette and Adrien are so miserable that they need to be happy by losing their Miraculous without a fight. Remember, this was just two episodes after “Reunion”, which showed Joan of Arc was a Miraculous holder. So fighting in the Hundred Years' War didn't get so much as an ounce of concern from Tikki, but teenage angst is too much for her little heart to bear?

Maybe it's the benefit of knowing this won't be permanent, but the issue I have is how much the show draws this out for so long, as if the audience is supposed to buy it. “It's really happening, guys! Ladybug and Cat Noir won't be the stars anymore, we swear!” This kind of plot can work under the right circumstances. All you needed to do is at the very least, make it something they choose to do instead of their Kwamis taking their Miraculous away so we can see them weigh the benefits of giving up life as a superhero in ways that aren't exclusively about their love lives. I'd even buy it if it's something Ladybug and Cat Noir actually agreed on before quitting.

While I can sort of get Alya becoming Scarabella due to her experience with the Ladybug (even if she chose to give up using any Miraculous at the end of Season 4), Zoe getting the Cat just feels like the writers put a bunch of names in a hat and picked hers. The two just don't have as compelling a dynamic as Ladybug and Cat Noir do, because they don't get a lot of time to know each other. Alya and Zoe have almost never interact with each other, so the masks don't really shake up their relationship, because there's no relationship to speak of.

Also, the Akuma here was really forced. We know nothing about this new character while the show acts like we're supposed to know who he is based on some minor hints with Nora calling earlier. While I will give the show credit for arguably giving us the most powerful Akuma of all time due to being both a man and a bear, he's as forgettable as a villain as Kitty Noire is as a hero.

Just about nobody here comes out smelling like roses in this episode. The Kwamis are morons for caring about one ship becoming canon, Marinette and Adrien are selfish cowards for giving up their Miraculous with little hesitation, their friends are ignorant buffoons for thinking some random attempt to get Marinette and Adrien to talk will somehow seal the deal, and Alya and Zoe are idiots for not thinking that they should take off the shiny ring that tracks their every movement. It's a terrible episode, and the only reason why “Deflagration” is ranked higher is because it didn't irritate me as much as this one did.

#15: Determination

And now we're onto the really bad episodes this season.

This episode is pretty much what you've come to expect by Season 5. People keep forcing Marinette into situations she's clearly uncomfortable, and we're supposed to just laugh at her anxiety, because we still have eight episodes to go before the show decides to take her mental health seriously.

What makes this episode really sting for me is that it's Luka and Kagami that are forcing Marinette into these unfunny antics this time. For the most part, they never really stooped to this level and didn't try to force anything with their respective love interests until they had trouble in their relationships that required them to communicate. But now, even though one knows Marinette and Adrien are superheroes while the other is usually very blunt with her feelings (at least, before she became this season's next victim), they're going to try forcing Marinette and Adrien to spend time together even they both know they have feelings for each other and MY GOD, THIS IS SO STUPID! It's just a cheap excuse for more pointless shenanigans that stopped being funny years ago.

Yet somehow, that's not the worst of the Love Square drama this episode. It's here where we learn that Adrien fell in love with Marinette over a season ago, during a scene where she violated his personal space. In addition, Adrien somehow showed no signs of attraction to Marinette until the plot demanded it, and came right after another episode showing him falling for her. Why not make it the fake confession Marinette practiced with Cat Noir in “Glaciator 2”? The kiss Marinette gave Adrien at the end of “Heroes' Day”? I'd even take another umbrella scene callback like in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. But no, it's the statue scene that the writers decided on. It's like they noticed all the criticism Marinette got in that episode and were like “Joke's on you! Adrien actually liked being lusted over like an object!”.

And then the masks come on and make things even more convoluted. Adrien at least got to reflect on the events of a previous episode to explain his new feelings for Marinette, but what caused Ladybug to suddenly fall for Cat Noir after four seasons?

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The writers don't even bother with an explanation for this. Ladybug spontaneously becomes attracted to Cat Noir with absolutely no foreshadowing, buildup, or even callbacks to earlier episodes. The writers either wanted to complicate things one last time before Adrienette became canon, they wanted to bury the Ladynoir conflict arc from last season in the sand, or the most likely option, a combination of both.

The idea of the public turning on Ladybug was an interesting one to take, seeing how she's been universally beloved for the past four seasons. But despite hinting at it in “Multiplication”, this is the farthest is goes, and even then, guess who's behind it? You can't keep raising points against the main characters if it's only Chloe who does it. It doesn't open debate on the story and essentially tells the audience that they're wrong to agree with her, no matter what kind of point she makes.

As dumb as the way it happened was, Ladybug still screwed up and endangered the city by losing the other Miraculous, but we can't actually challenge children by acknowledging that the hero actually did something wrong and needs to grow as a person. We need to use a recurring character as a strawman to tell the audience that only bad people think this way! Way to remove any interesting internal conflict, writers.

The Akuma was pretty weak, just being an older Puppeteer, down to using wax statues like what happened in “Puppeteer 2”. The army of wax heroes could have been interesting, but there wasn't enough time to do much with the idea. The one thing I liked was how the Ox Miraculous' Resistance was used. It felt like an upgrade instead of a core power Manipula got.

This episode pretty much set the stage for a new level of frustrating Love Square drama this season, and it was one of the season's first outright awful episodes.

#16: Conformation

The only reason this episode isn't at the bottom is because the rest of the ones on this list are far worse by comparison. Make of that what you will.

Like most season finales, this one continues the tradition of being better at buildup than actual execution. Gabriel's plan is pretty decent, even if it's just Heroes Day on a global scale. He utilizes his public influence and business skills to plan out a plan to get almost all of humanity working for him. While I don't like the Miraculized, I still think Gabriel being on top works here, especially since he's not going out into the field like the last three finales.

But other than an okay evil plan, this episode is still pretty bad. Marinette being infected with nightmare dust only happens to get her to the Agreste manor because the writers forgot that Marinette learned Gabriel was Monarch last episode. It could have been a decent way to up the stakes by showing Ladybug not being at 100%, but like everyone else, she just fights off the nightmare dust and doesn't have a single problem during her fight with Monarch. In general, the nightmare dust isn't really utilized well, only being an excuse to bring out the Miraculized. It doesn't impact everyone fighting off the Miraculized, and there's no lesson or theme about fear that's conveyed here.

Speaking of nightmare dust, I'm pretty sure the only reason why it was introduced in the first place was to bench Adrien, which is still easily one of the dumbest decisions the show has ever made. While everyone else had no problem resisting the nightmare dust, Adrien is just physically incapable of doing so because of some half-assed character arc the show pretended happened. So either Adrien got a more potent dosage of the nightmare dust, or Adrien's just too weak to actually overcome his fears. “Sandboy”? Never heard of it! The fact that the writers also tried to claim they were being subversive with fairy tale tropes and cliches didn't help, since it devalues Adrien as a character even further. He's not a superhero and Ladybug's closest ally. He's just some damsel in distress who needs to be saved. Let me just remind you, if the genders were reversed, this would not be seen as some bold move, but the same overused cliche trying to be something new.

I already talked about my problems with Nathalie in “Passion”, and the stuff she does here isn't really different. Despite enabling Gabriel for five seasons, the episode has the balls to act like Nathalie always had morals and is appalled by Gabriel planning to sacrifice someone to save his wife. Just remember, “Passion” established that Nathalie had a history as a treasure hunter, so this is like Indiana Jones not knowing what the Holy Grail does. Nathalie only got dumber than in “Passion” because she somehow thought she could take on a supervillain with nothing but a crossbow and a body that already has one foot in the grave. And just like Felix, Nathalie can't even apologize to Ladybug for the aiding and abetting a terrorist thing. Between Nathalie, Felix, and Gabriel, does using the Peacock Miraculous just make you an idiot?

While the buildup is decent, it's just not enough to really get audiences excited for the second part.

#17: Representation

This episode is yet another example of the show's double standards.

Without going into detail too much, this episode came right after “Revolution”, the one that essentially portrayed Audrey taking control of Chloe's life as a karmic punishment. What happens in this episode? We learn Felix's father literally took control of his life and it's portrayed as wrong as child abuse should be. That's why this episode is still better than “Revolution”. It at the very least understands how serious child abuse is, and tries to tell Felix's story with as much dignity as two teenagers in white onesies can have.

With that being said, there's a reason why this episode is as low as it is. The Sentimonster play used to tell Marinette about Felix is just so stupid. The sets and costumes look ridiculous, it's hard to take the story seriously with Felix and Kagami doing all the voices, and most of it is unnecessary since the whole point is to tell Marinette that Gabriel is Monarch... something that the writers decided she needed to find out on her own in the next episode. It comes across less like Felix trying to alert Ladybug to who Monarch really is and more like he's just trying to justify his own actions. Hell, the actual reason he decided to tell Marinette about Gabriel was because he and Kagami were worried about their own relationship being ruined by him. And yet somehow, Ladybug lets him on the team at the end of the season.

The stuff with Adrien was also pretty dumb. It's cheap fanservice that reminds the audience of Cat Blanc when none of the characters should know who Cat Blanc is. You can call him Anticat all you want, but everyone can see that he's just Cat Blanc with blue hair. It's bad enough that this was what all the times Cat Noir almost Cataclysming people this season was meant to lead up to, but this is pretty much the reason why Adrien is benched during the finale.

This episode really shows how desperate the writers are to make people take this show seriously by showing serious topics like genocide and child abuse, as if the show didn't already ignore the horrible implications previous episodes (like the very last one before this) raised and will continue to raise during the season finale. So much of the episode is just dark for the sake of being dark. It's nothing too horrifying for children, of course, but the issue is how obvious it is that the writers are trying to raise the stakes right before the season finale and show how mature the show's writing is. For lack of a better term, it's this show's equivalent to “Ow The Edge”.

#18: Revelation

Get ready for the episode where the writers abandon all attempts to be subtle and create an episode specifically to attack people who think Chloe isn't the most evil character on the show. Because how dare they be optimistic and try to see the good in people! What do they think this is, a kids' show?

While a big problem with the Lila episodes was how stupid the class is, this episode made it so Marinette got to join in on losing brain cells too. Despite outright admitting to neglecting her duties as class representative (as absurd as it is to be in charge of notifying teachers about student progress they should be aware of), we're supposed to agree with her for not telling her teacher about Chloe cheating. Not only does this make no sense since you'd think Marinette would want to see Chloe get punished, but her claiming that all Chloe does is abuse her privileges loses any point to it because Marinette admitted to not doing her job as class representative, making her just as lazy as Chloe and unintentionally helping her through not telling the teachers. And that's not even getting into how many times Marinette has broken the secret identity rule despite also being the one to enforce it the most as the Guardian.

If the episode at least admitted to Marinette having personal issues that prevented her from displaying any form of professionalism towards Chloe (especially since this episode takes place after “Derision”), that'd be fine. Sometimes, people just can't let bygones be bygones and let their emotions dictate how they handle things. If she willingly resigned from her position by admitting she was just as at fault for Chloe getting as far as she did with her cheating, that would have worked. Instead, the episode does the same things it did with Adrien for the last few seasons: Go out of its way to vindicate Marinette's complaining and never even consider the idea of her being wrong in the slightest.

It's also hilarious to see Ms. Bustier act like an actual teacher for once and plan to work with Chloe to help make up her missed work, but portray it as a bad thing because in Marinette's eyes, that's not a punishment. Since the school year is almost over, Chloe will have to attend summer school at best and be held back or even expelled at worst. How the hell does that not count as a punishment, Marinette?

And don't forget how she gets not one, but two separate scenes insulting people for being idealistic and not wanting to write off people as beyond saving, the second one being copied from Astruc's Twittter.

And remember, this was right before a string of episodes where characters were able to change their ways, including Sabrina (Chloe's accomplice), Andre (Chloe's enabler), and Gabriel (Chloe's supervillain contact). How the hell is Chloe the only one being written off as irredeemable when she didn't pull off any of her evil plans without help? You can still punish Chloe. All I want is for the other characters to be punished as well.

But let's talk about the main event for this episode: Lila. In one of the most confusing “twists” in the show's history, she's now an identity thief who lives with three different mothers. Why? Because the writers have no idea how to hype people up for her being the main villain for Season 6, so they think just making her mysterious for the sake of making her mysterious is enough to build her up as a villain. It's like the writers realized Lila had absolutely zero resources of her own, so they felt like they needed to establish her as an evil genius to compensate. “Who cares if there's no logical explanation for how she's gotten as far as she has despite constantly boasting about her celebrity connections in public? We have to make her vague and mysterious, damn it! It worked for Judas Traveller and Kaine, didn't it?”

This episode takes multiple shots at fans and tries to make Lila seem more compelling than she actually is. It feels more like damage control than an actual plot-relevant episode.

#19: Illusion

Want to see the main characters acting like idiots for almost a half-hour? No? Too bad!

So much of this episode's conflict, the characters trying to investigate a possible lead related to Monarch, comes from everyone making stupid decisions. Nino tries to get one of the most influencial men in Paris akumatized, talks about it in public, falls for his trick, and lets him into his secret alliance. This season really cemented his role as the Zapp Brannigan of Miraculous Ladybug with how incompetent he is. If you really want to start portraying Nino as a tactical genius, maybe you should actually show him doing something smart instead of getting outsmarted by obvious tricks.

Of course, the other characters aren't immune to Nino's stupidity either. Marinette, Adrien, and Alya just go along with his asinine plan to get Gabriel akumatized, never question his logic, and ultimately still go along with the Resistance despite how obnoxious their leader is. The worst part is Ladybug not recognizing her own partner being stung by Venom... when they're fighting someone with access to over a dozen Miraculous. I know Cat Noir was born with glass bones and paper skin, but I don't think he literally freezes in terror when he's scared. And of course, Ladybug never questions the tiny invisible men who stunned Cat Noir after this scene.

The cafeteria scene is something that should really be cited as an example of how terrible this show is with acknowledging continuity. You thought there would be some compelling drama discussing the secret identity rule and all the double standards it has? NOPE! It's a funny joke about how confusing the identity stuff is at this point. The fact that Nino somehow doesn't understand the concept of secret identities in this scene is yet another reason as to why he isn't even qualified to lead an anime club, much less a resistance against Monarch.

The idea of Monarch using an illusion to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir was an interesting one, but it still had some holes. For one thing, what if the two heroes can't dodge one of the illusion Collector's attacks? What if they're fast enough to try tying him up, only to dispel the illusion? The entire plan pretty much relies on the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir are too slow to catch the Collector.

But one scene that has only become more questionable after the finale is Ladybug trying to reach through to the illusion Collector. Like several episodes this season, it comes across like the show is spitting on idealism and wanting to solve problems peacefully because Monarch tricked Ladybug into believing he willingly rejected an Akuma. Remember kids, if someone says they want to change, it's really a trick as part of an evil supervillain's plan to maintain his secret identity.

This episode is like a microcosm of everything wrong with Season 5. Poor morals, characters acting like idiots, shooting down any potential for plot development, and being told characters are right when their actions say otherwise.

#20: Confrontation

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the episode where the writers just gave up.

There is just so much that happens in this episode that the writers cram in. There's Marinette's “final” confrontation with Lila, the battle with Reflekta, Sabrina's redemption, Juleka's character development, Ms. Bustier's character development, Mr. Damocles' character development, and the reveal of Lila's true nature. I don't think I need to tell you that the writers struggle to make all of these plot threads work in less than a half-hour.

First off, Marinette and Lila. The previous episode implied that Marinette let Lila have this short-term victory because she had her own plan to expose her. This episode puts that plan into action. See, she has the genius idea of going along with submitting school application forms to Lila and Chloe with no actual countermeasure in place, waiting for Sabrina to have a sudden change of heart so they can work together to expose Lila and Chloe through a bathroom peephole. This is the kind of tactical intelligence that will be studied in the history books, let me tell you. There's just no weight to Marinette and Lila's final battle of wits because there isn't any. There's no series of gambits or scenarios that actually pit their minds against each other, so you don't get a lot of satisfaction from Marinette's triumph over Lila. It doesn't help that there's more focus on Sabrina than on Marinette, but I'll get to that later. Even the actual payoff is anti-climactic. Most of the class' apology to Marinette was deleted because Mr. Damocles using a Magical Charm shield was just too important to leave on the cutting room floor according to the writers.

This episode really shows just how Marinette's classmates are like NPCs in the Lila-centric stories. They don't second guess Lila's accusations due to their past experiences with Marinette, and as soon as Marinette's name is cleared, they instantly apologize to her and don't even think about how easily they were fooled by Lila and Chloe. The worst example is Alya, Marinette's confidant and someone who was trusted to temporarily use the Ladybug Miraculous last episode, falling for this and not trusting Marinette. My sister in Christ, your friend goes out and saves lives on a weekly basis at least. How can you fall for Lila's story? This is why I think the Lila episodes should have all been set pre-Season 4, so Alya falling for Lila's lies is a little more believable since she isn't already in on Marinette's biggest secret.

I also have to roll my eyes at how melodramatic the talk about everyone's “futures” is. Yes, I don't know a lot about the French education system (If there's anything I'm getting wrong here, don't hesitate to let me know), but I don't get why they're treating their high school choices like such a big deal. Maybe if it was college, I'd get it, but high school? Why can't you just transfer if it doesn't work out? But then again, this is the same show created by a man who thinks school uniforms are a sign of fascism.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES.

Speaking of futures, this episode also showed just how little the writers cared about Adrien at this point, with how a supposedly heartwaming moment is him having no plan in life other than Marinette. I know this might seem weird given my problem with him last season was his refusal to think about anyone but himself, but there's a difference between wanting someone to follow orders without complaining and giving them absolutely no motivation outside of their significant other. And once again, if you swap the genders, this becomes sexist as hell.

But the big problem comes in the form of how the side characters are utilized. I don't know why the writers decided to focus on developing characters like Sabrina, Juleka, Ms. Bustier, and Mr. Damocles with five episodes left in the season. This should have been done in earlier episodes, not in the middle of a major story arc. I'm just left not caring about the development because it takes away from the conflict between Marinette and Lila, to say nothing about how little Adrien and Alya contribute to the story.

To me, this episode feels like the writers had no idea how to make Marinette outsmarting Lila into an episode, so they crammed in all these half-assed character arcs to pad out the runtime. While “Revelation” personally upset me more, I personally think this is the worse episode of the two from a writing standpoint.

#21: Revolution

Given how often I've criticized the way Chloe has been handled over the years, I bet you're surprised that this one isn't at the bottom of the list. You'll be even more surprised to learn that I think Chloe is one of this episode's saving graces.

This episode (along with “Derision”) provide an example of the Chloe we should have gotten ever since Season 3 ended: A villain who's allowed to be a threat while still being funny. So much of the past two seasons have done nothing but portray Chloe as nothing but an incompetent joke, but here, near the end of the season, she's in a position of power and is taken seriously. The episode does a good job showing how tyrannical Chloe's rule as Mayor is while still making it funny and in-character for her. She uses her power on frivolous things because she's a teenage girl who doesn't understand the complicated issues that come with politics. It's also why her idea of punishment involves detention, because it's something she's more familiar with as someone in middle school. Of course, even the episode all about Chloe ruling Paris with an iron fist isn't stupid enough to actually let Chloe be a compelling antagonist. No, we need to constantly remind the audience that Chloe is being played, as if we're supposed to see her as nothing more than a pawn even though the show still wants us to see her as an irredeemable monster.

Putting aside that one speck of something interesting, this episode is still incredibly bad. So much of the story is dependent not on how smart the villains' plan is, but rather, how lazy the heroes are. Not only is there not a single moment where Ladybug and Cat Noir acknowledge that the whole reason why Chloe was able to take over as Mayor was their fault, they act as if Chloe abusing her power to make everyone's life a living hell isn't enough of a reason to stop her. What kind of Prime Directive bullshit is this? YOU JUST HELPED SOMEONE LEAD AN INSURRECTION AGAINST A POWERLESS CIVILIAN! HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT?! If there was at least something involving Ladybug and Cat Noir taking responsibility for what happened or at least showing that they played a part in this (especially since they “grow up” in this episode), I'd get it. Instead, because this is Season 5, our heroes are perfection incarnate, and can't ever be wrong. Even when they finally decide to get off their asses and stop Chloe, they didn't know she was akumatized, and nobody seemed to care before Chloe blurted it out, so Ladybug and Cat Noir have no excuses for slacking off.

The final battle is just a joke. Not only is it another excuse to force the Resistance into the plot, it shows Ladybug and Cat Noir unlocking the full power of their Miraculous in the most anti-climactic way possible. Even though they spent most of the episode caring more about their personal lives than actually stopping the obvious threat, somehow, this means they “grew up”. There's no buildup, no explanation, and no catharsis gained from this achievement. All of a sudden, Ladybug and Cat Noir are adults now. There's one decent scene with Adrien, but that's far from an actual explanation. What, did you actually expect an explanation for something this huge? Too bad! We need to have Marinette tell Chloe she's not afraid of her anymore even though she was never afraid of her prior to this season. Of all the things that happened this season, this is the one that makes it clear that Season 5 was supposed to be the end. There is no way Season 6 can happen unless the writers come up with some crap that undoes this, because Ladybug and Cat Noir have essentially unlocked god mode.

But I saved the worst for last, and you all know what it is: Chloe's punishment. I still can't get over the fact that there's actually a scene heavily implying we're supposed to be happy Chloe is going to live with her emotionally abusive mother in the same season that's trying to tell a serious story about child abuse. There's already been so much said about all the horrible things this implies, so I'm going to try and bring up something else. Specifically, how everyone is just okay with this. I can buy Ladybug given all the things Chloe has done to her, but it's pretty odd that Cat Noir, Andre, and Zoe all decide to wash their hands of their association with Chloe as if they never knew her. They don't even feel bad that it had to come to this, and feel absolutely no sympathy for her. Remember in episodes like “Malediktator” and “Queen Banana” that showed Adrien and Zoe still cared for Chloe despite all the terrible things she's done, teaching kids a lesson about trying to show compassion to your enemies? The writers sure didn't, because Adrien and Zoe don't get to say a thing about Chloe after she's defeated. Way to establish connections between characters and do nothing with them, writers!

This episode had so many things wrong with it, and it only got worse the longer it went on, to the point where the ending is essentially condoning child abuse. It's disgusting, but at the very least, it means we're not going to have to deal with Chloe in Season 6.

.....

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#22: Adoration

This is one of those episodes I honestly didn't think would hate as much as I did.

I think of all the episodes this season, this is the one that shows how frustratingly inconsistent the characterization is. Characters will either announce how much someone has changed or will take a complete 180 while the show makes it clear this is how things have always been. Not only does the show say Zoe has somehow changed and suddenly developed feelings for Marinette, but Chloe's view of Sabrina has gotten even lower, to the point where she calls her an underling to her face. Because actually showing character development and changing interpersonal relationships is too hard for these writers. It's like that rule everyone knows: Tell, don't show. That's how it goes, right?

Before anyone gets on my case about this, I'm not trying to say that Zoe having a crush on Marinette was a bad idea. The issue is more how it comes across like the show is trying to earn brownie points with LGBT+ audiences with the reveal. The issue is that this major revelation isn't about Zoe, but rather, Marinette. It's from a Marinette-focused episode all about her heterosexual feelings for Adrien while Zoe's coming out story is nothing more than a cautionary tale to get Marinette to finally try kissing Adrien. I'm not saying Marinette should have dumped Adrien to be with Zoe. The point I'm trying to make is if you want to show something as huge as a character coming out as sapphic, maybe put more focus on that character's struggles than the struggles the straight main character goes through. Maybe instead of being an afterthought in the story, make the episode about Marinette helping Zoe confess her feelings to a girl she likes.

This was also the episode that laid the groundwork for Andre and Sabrina's “redemption arcs”. Normally, I wouldn't mind something like them changing, but it's less to show a character becoming a better person and more to vilify a different character. Andre went from a corrupt politician who abuses his power to please his daughter to an honest politician who is forced to abuse his power to please his daughter. Sabrina went from Chloe's loyal friend who chooses to help her make people miserable to Chloe's underling who is being forced to help make people miserable. Both of them were perfectly willing to go along with Chloe's acts in the past, and as we saw in “Revolution”, being a pawn didn't excuse her from being punished, so by that logic, they shouldn't get a free pass either. It's also strange how this wasn't the episode where Andre and Sabrina officially cut ties with Chloe, considering they already had issues with them. There wasn't really a reason to wait if they already made their issues clear, especially Sabrina. Somehow framing Marinette here is okay but doing it a few episodes later is too much for her?

Also, Lila served no purpose in the episode. Just like in “Collusion” and “Revolution”, all she does is tell Chloe to do things she was perfectly capable of doing in earlier episodes. We're supposed to see her as a mastermind, but I don't get why she has to hold Chloe's hand here. Why can't Lila come up with her own plan or manipulate different people from behind the scenes? It only further highlights the double standards because while Sabrina being a lackey to Chloe earns her sympathy, Chloe being a lackey to Lila doesn't for some reason.

I am getting really tired of the whole “Nobody believes Marinette” formula that every Lila episode relies on (Chameleon, Ladybug, Risk, Revelation, Confrontation). It's the exact same story. Everyone who has known Marinette for the past four seasons suddenly loses all trust in her, only instead of instantly believing Lila, it's Chloe. CHLOE. This is worse than Lila, because she's at least in good graces with other people, but this is the same season that solidified the idea of nobody liking her at all. They seriously take her words at face value over Marinette, someone whose friends know has tormented her for a year at least (Derision)? Put aside how I feel about Chloe, this is a story that depends on trusting someone nobody has any reason to trust, and it makes no sense.

There are just so many minor issues in this episode that pile up enough to really piss me off. It's like a death by a thousand cuts.

#23: Collusion

I normally don't try to get political on this blog unless I absolutely have to, and talking about this episode is one of those occasions.

If you've been around since the early days of this blog, you'll remember that Astruc once compared Chloe to Donald Trump, and not too long after the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building at that.

Even before that thread, Astruc made a joke comparing Trump to Chloe less than a week after the attack.

Whether you agree with Astruc's views on Trump or not, the point is that he kept up with American politics and strongly opposes him. So anyway, let's get to the episode where the heroes let someone lead a small army to storm the mayor's office and force him to resign, which is totally different from what Trump did.

I cannot get over just how confusing this episode is. For a show created by someone who usually keeps up with American politics, this is such a tone-deaf episode. I get that the story is trying to lean into French history, and I'm not sure how far into production the crew was when the attack on the Capitol happened, but given how Astruc was aware of the drama, he and his team should have at least considered the implications this episode could raise. The problem with the discussion around January 6th is that the supporters see it in as righteous a light as Miss Sans-Culotte is. As far as they know, what happened wasn't a violent invasion of government property, but a peaceful demonstration. Sure, none of the talking balloons said “Hang Andre Bourgeois!”, but it still brings similar imagery to mind.

Something that also harms the French Revolution narrative is the fact that all of Miss Sans-Culotte's supporters are helping her against her will. Much like countless Akumas throughout the show's history (Darkblade, Kung Food, The Puppeteer, Princess Fragrance, Despair Bear, Befana, Zombizou, Malediktator, Gamer 2.0, Mr. Pigeon 72, Hack-San, Revelation, Confrontation), Miss Sans-Culotte brainwashes innocent civilians so they can help her cause. This goes against the idea that she's speaking for the people, because her victims don't have a say in this. She's not reenacting the French Revolution, she's reenacting Order 66!

Also, this is something I've neglected to discuss. Why make Miss Bustier pregnant at all, much less akumatize her while pregnant? Outside of her students telling Chloe not to make a scene because the stress caused from dealing that is bad for the baby, Ms. Bustier's pregnancy adds nothing to the story. Seriously, the story thinks Chloe annoying the class is more dangerous for Ms. Bustier's baby than Ms. Bustier herself running around and getting into fights with her baby inside. It could have made for some interesting drama where Ladybug and Cat Noir are hesitant to hurt a pregnant woman, even if she's been akumatized. While the writers do try to work around it by giving her minions to do the fighting (as much as it mucks up the themes of this episode), it still doesn't explain why she needed to be pregnant during this episode in the first place.

Putting aside how unlikable Miss Sans-Culotte is in this episode, you can't even enjoy seeing Andre getting kicked out of office because this is the same episode where the writers really want us to feel bad for him. Look at how sad the rich white politician is. Let's ignore the fact that he's a big part of the reason why Chloe is as bad as she is, has abused his power multiple times, and is all around the cause of his own problems. But even though this is a show that tries to take an anti-capitalist stance (which I'll get to more in “Emotion”), we're supposed to side with one of the biggest symbols of everything wrong with capitalism and political corruption. Even then, Andre is framed for corruption instead of the several instances he actually abused his power, as if they're trying to say he was never a corrupt man. He just loves his daughter. Is that too much to ask for? His daughter herself? Eh, who cares? You really need to support the rich white man. Are we sure this show was created by a liberal?

But the biggest issue is the moral. It's impossible to frame Miss Sans-Culotte storming the mayor's office as a peaceful protest because she's clearly inspired by one of the bloodiest and most violent revolutions in history. If she was supposed to be a violent warrior who needed to learn there was a better way, that would work, but instead, the show downplays how dangerous she is... when she has a guillotine blade for a weapon. You can't claim Miss Sans-Culotte is non-violently protesting Andre's administration when she brainwashes innocent civilians, storms into the building, and demands he resign without any question. Even taking all that into consideration, the moral ends up backfiring because forcing Andre out of office caused an even bigger problem with Chloe taking over, and the very next episode threw the non-violence message out the window.

Whether or not you want to consider the political implications here, this is still a terrible episode with a terrible moral.

#24: Pretension

I've always had issues with Felix, and after the trainwreck that was “Emotion”, let's just say this didn't exactly do anything to raise my opinion of him. Just like his other appearances for the last few seasons, he did absolutely nothing to help Ladybug, focused on only doing things that benefited him, and making everyone's lives worse due to his incompetence. And somehow, this idiot is the one who moves the plot along the most.

The entire conflict happened because Felix kidnapped Kagami without even coming up with a plan. Even when he believes that Kagami is a Sentimonster (I apologize for saying that word Felix hates, but once again, the show provides no alternative to it), he doesn't think of Tomoe being able to track her or command her to leave even at a far distance. He doesn't even try to explain himself to Ladybug and Cat Noir and spends more time running away from everyone who wants to kick his ass. But by the show's logic, he just needs friends, even though his entire deal is that he works alone to get what he wants.

It's bad enough that Felix has to screw up everything he touches, but now he's dragging Kagami to his level. Kagami has cemented her role as Felix's lackey/girlfriend and nothing more. People give Marinette crap for the way the behaves around Adrien in and out of universe, but Kagami knows nothing about Felix, yet a single conversation about his past is enough for her to fall head over heels in love with him. She went from someone not willing to take any bullcrap from Marinette and Adrien to believing Felix's story in a fraction of a heartbeat. This season really likes ruining the few likable characters the show has left.

I also have to roll my eyes at the conversation Marinette and Gabriel have about fashion. For one thing, it's one of the few times the entire season remembers that Marinette wants to be a fashion designer and doesn't really factor into her rivalry with Gabriel. This season made their conflict revolve around how to treat Adrien, not their views on fashion. It feels like they only brought it up to remind viewers that Marinette is still into fashion. Well, that, and also to take a stance on artistic integrity... supposedly.

And on that note, it's amazing how the writers display little to no self-awareness during this scene. The show that embraces sticking to the status quo and rejecting almost any attempt at keeping consistent continuity is now trying to teach children about the importance of being willing to take risks when creating something. This is like Hannibal Lecter trying to promote veganism. I get the message, but the messenger's history is keeping me from buying it. It doesn't help that for a scene trying to point out how outdated certain views are, the show ultimately chooses to take the side of the man with the “wrong” mindset by the end of the season.

The pancake metaphor really confuses me too. It's meant to be a running gag that the only thing Gabriel knows how to cook is pancakes, but A) Nothing is really indicated to show how terrible they are as a metaphor for how bad his outdated views are other than Marinette's verbal assessment of them, and B) We later learn Gabriel used to be poor, so either he never knew how to cook prior to earning his fortune or being rich somehow made him forget basic living skills. I'm just saying, when an episode of Sid the Science Kid manages to better convey someone doing a terrible job making pancakes, you might need to put in a little more effort to show how bad Gabriel's pancakes supposedly are.

Finally, Tomoe. This episode didn't really do much to show her as a compelling threat, given all she did was nag Gabriel and try to shoot her daughter when she didn't even try commanding her to fight back when she was kidnapped. She's nothing more than a female Gabriel and is another example of how overstuffed this show's cast is,

This episode is awful, plain and simple. It took aspects from previous episodes that were already questionable, and doubled down on them while acting like there weren't any problems at all.

#25: Derision

And now we're onto the really, REALLY bad episodes this season. One of the reasons why this post took so long to make was that I wasn't sure how to rank these last three episodes. Thankfully, I managed to find a way to rank them based on the morals are executed. With that being said, let's start scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Ah, “Derision”. You're the only episode that makes the backlash caused by “Chameleon” seem like a pleasant breeze. It's incredible to see just how much negative a reputation this episode has in the fandom. Virtually nobody likes it because it manages to upset everyone with its poor characterization. I'm talking Marinette fans, Adrien fans, Chloe fans, Kim fans, and pretty much every other character's fans. I've only seen a few die hard fans defend this episode, and they're the people on Tumblr who defend pretty much everything done this season.

I have just one question to ask about this episode: Why did it need to happen? We didn't learn anything new that we didn't know already. We know Chloe is mean, and we know Marinette used to be more timid and had no friends. We didn't even need that much of an explanation for why Marinette acts the way she does around Adrien, seeing how it was usually played for laughs

Speaking of which, let's talk about the fact that the episode tries to shame the audience for laughing at the jokes about Marinette's reactions to Adrien. You know, something that was the show's primary running gag ever since Season 1? A running gag the writers ran into the ground by the end of Season 3 but still chose to go with it? Now we're not supposed to have laughed at it, assuming we laughed at it all. Way to insult even the small portion of viewers who didn't get on your case about this, writers.

I only have about two positive things to say about this episode. For one thing, Chloe actually served as a pretty decent antagonist in the flashbacks. Much like in “Revolution”, when the writers actually let her be a villain on her own without being made a pawn, she can be somewhat entertaining. If this was the Chloe we got after Season 3, I don't I would have been as upset at the direction Astruc's team took with the character.

In addition, the thing that saves this episode from being at the bottom is that unlike the next two, it actually understands that what the antagonist did was wrong. They don't make up excuses for what Chloe did and she actually gets called out as a result. It doesn't lead to anything major, but it's something.

Like with “Queen Banana”, there's not much else I can say that hasn't already been said. There's plenty of retcons, the characterization for everyone is off, it attacks the audience, and the message about trauma got fumbled by the show's usual double standards. It's been said over and over again, and it's become a symbol of how much the show's quality has degraded.

#26: Emotion

I think if you've kept up with my reviews of this season, you should know by now that I don't exactly like Felix, and most of the problems I have with him can be attributed to this episode. In fact, for a while, this was going to be my choice for the bottom slot.

It's clear that the writers want to make Felix this wild card who's only in it for himself, but like most of the show's antagonists, they want to show Felix as this devious mastermind... but he's also not really evil, and you should feel bad for him. For most of the episode, Felix does nothing but make everyone's lives worse during his first outing as Argos. He smears his cousin's reputation yet again, tricks his girlfriend into dancing with him, condemns some rich kids for the crime of being rich when he's just as rich, and eventually wipes out all life on the face of the earth. But he's just doing it for his cousin, we swear!

While Felix has understandable motivations for what he does, wanting to free Adrien and Kagami, the way he tries to achieve his goal makes it hard to sympathize with him. If the whole point was that what he did was wrong and that he needs to find a different way, that could work. Instead, we're supposed to see him as this tragic figure who was forced to do terrible things when the episode shows him happily singing while causing chaos. It's the same problem with Gabriel, wanting a sympathetic character to do unapologetically evil things. The fact that he has to be told that genocide is bad doesn't make us want to sympathize with him when he breaks down crying. It paints a picture that he's crazy but the show wants to act like he isn't.

Even putting all the crap with Felix aside, the episode is still unbearable. The stuff with Marinette was poorly executed and was just done to get her involved in the plot, and later become the first one to excuse Felix for betraying her. Other than the dance scene, you could easily just have Marinette swing in as Ladybug when Argos starts his rampage and nothing would really change. The episode tries to make jokes about how unnecessary this is, but as usual, its attempts to be self-aware come across like its saying “What we're doing it wrong, we know it's wrong, but we're gonna do it anyway!”

Speaking of the dance scene, I can't stop rolling my eyes whenever Felix tries to be all “We live in a society” to Marinette. Forget the corrupt politicians, corporate moguls, human traffickers, and despotic rulers of foreign nations. The absolute worst section of humanity is composed of the teenage children of the 1%. Sure, you'd have to break my legs before I'd agree to supervise them at this party, but I don't get why these are the people we're supposed to see as irredeemable monsters. Do the writers think because these kids associate themselves with Chloe, we'll automatically hate them? Newsflash, but if I had to choose between hanging out with some annoying kids and a mass murderer, I'd stick with the annoying kids.

Rewatching this episode was what helped me finally realize just what my problem with the show's anti-capitalist message is. How the hell am I supposed to hate the villains on this show for being rich when several characters are rich or at the very least, are successful thanks to their connections to the rich? Think about it for a second. Putting aside Adrien and Kagami, you have Marinette, the daughter of two of the most popular bakers in Paris and earned the respect of multiple celebrities, Alya, the daughter of a chef who works at a five-star hotel, Nino, someone who got to DJ at a major fashion show, Rose, who is friends with a literal prince, Luka and Juleka, the children of a popular rock star, and Max, the son of an astronaut with access to cutting-edge technology. Somehow, these people are supposed to be poor? They make Monica from Friends look like Oscar the Grouch. It's why I can't take the message seriously. You can't write a story about a class struggle when both classes are shown to be pretty well-off.

The only thing that saves this episode from being at the bottom of the list is the fact that despite committing genocide while singing, Felix at least gets what he did was wrong and makes up for it. It doesn't fix everything else he did in this episode, but that's better than nothing. As for the villain featured in the episode that's at the bottom of this list? If you've been keeping track, I think you know who I mean.

#27: Re-Creation

I'll admit, I'm sort of cheating here. I'm judging this episode more as a finale than an individual episode, but I'm making an exception because the plot is tied to wrapping up all the loose ends this season.

I'm mentioning this because for a season finale, the stakes just feel so low. The fight between Bug Noire and Monarch doesn't have any weight to it because they've barely interacted at all for the last five seasons. These are supposed to be two mortal enemies, but you can't really buy the enmity between them. It ultimately cheapens the moment of Bug Noire triumphing over Monarch in the end... before Monarch triumphs over her not long afterwards, but we'll get to that.

The stuff with the Miraculized doesn't help either. We already know that the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are in the Agreste manor, so the Miraculized's goal is impossible to achieve. It's never even explained why the Miraculized don't go back to the manor to help Monarch beat Bug Noire, since they should still be able to track the Miraculous. All of the fights with them just come across like filler, and there's no real sense of danger or hopelessness to be found. Whether the Miraculized win or lose is irrelevant. Nothing will happen either way because the important stuff is happening in the Agreste manor.

This extends to the part where all the heroes appear to help. It doesn't come across as an Avengers-esque moment for the climax, because it doesn't change anything. The episode never explains what any of these characters were doing prior to the events of this episode and why only now they're helping out. The United Heroes are the most egregious example because unlike Fei or Su-Han, they're a major organization whose members include the president, and they didn't do a damn thing when Monarch stole all of the other Miraculous. Speaking of, there is no way in hell that Su-Han taught Mirakung-Fu to three random people over Ladybug and Cat Noir, much less that those three people are actual masters after about two months at best. Maybe they got to train in Bunnix's Burrow? After all, she's not doing anything else to stop the end of the world other than sending four people over to Paris. This whole sequence really highlights how bland the other heroes of this universe are. If they're not slacking off when they're needed, they're criminally underdeveloped because there's a slim chance they'll get spin-offs to flesh them out.

But I think the biggest issue me and other people have with this finale is the resolution. In what is easily one of the most baffling decisions the show has made, Bug Noire doesn't defeat Monarch, and Monarch gets to make his wish. I don't care how many times the writers technically say she won because she beat him in a fight. Gabriel backstabbed her at the last minute and got her Miraculous to make his wish. Yeah, he died, but he succeed in achieving his goal, never faced any real consequences, didn't get any closure with his son (much less apologize for abusing him), told Marinette to lie about the monster he was to him, and was turned into a martyr with a statue made of the same things he used to control the world.

This ending infuriates me because it not only makes Marinette out to be a terrible hero for failing to do the one thing she was chosen to do (get the Butterfly Miraculous back), but it also ultimately makes Gabriel out to be a decent person even though he destroyed and recreated the world. All Marinette did was take credit for saving the world, and even then, Gabriel got more celebration in the end. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! She got outsmarted by an abusive parent and didn't even get a new statue in her honor!

But the most damning thing of all this is the fact that this finale retroactively makes everything that's happened over the last five seasons completely pointless. If Gabriel making a wish wasn't as bad as it was supposed to be, why didn't Ladybug and Cat Noir let him borrow their Miraculous? Why make the stakes this high if you're going to downplay the impact of a madman recreating the world in his own image? Follow-up question: why make the stakes this high if the wish being made is ultimately shown to have huge benefits for society? In an attempt to wrap things up with a happy ending, the writers accidentally made the conflict completely meaningless.

That's why this resolution is the ultimate example of the writers refusing to allow any major changes to happen. If they're willing to treat the end of the universe as less important than Ms. Bustier becoming mayor, why should we assume they'll ever take their story seriously? For God's sake, every character you know and love is essentially dead, and we're supposed to act like that isn't a big deal? That's how you wanted to end the show originally? Then again, at least they tried to resolve something, unlike the Love Square. We still haven't gotten a reveal, and I don't think we ever will at this point. These writers will drag out the story until the show stops becoming profitable, which won't be for a long time.

And with that, I am officially done with Season 5. Honestly, after having to rewatch this season again, I'm not sure if it's even worth giving Season 6 a shot. There's nothing to look forward to, and Lila becoming the main villain isn't really appealing to me. At the very least, I have the movie review to look forward to, meaning I can watch something good for a change.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt

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carionto · 4 months

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Not "Party Hard" Enough...

As the Galactic cruise ship "Vinogradova" exits hyper space, the wealthy guests congregate at their viewing stations for the scheduled milling about in fancy dress and secretly getting wasted while some tour guide recites Galactipedia about whatever planet they're orbiting now.

"Here we have the illustrious Nestrall'anwa II, a most unique ocean world due to it's near perfect stillness. Eons ago a cataclysmic event destroyed it's only moon, creating a temporary ring around the planet, which we can see in this holographic recreation."

A massive array of projectors from the cruise ship emanate around the planet itself, creating a literal holographic debris ring. A most spectacular sight indeed.

"The tectonic activity is unusual as well, the plates are all moving in roughly the same directions, a sort of secondary spin cycle if you think about it. The planet spins around its axis, and the crust rotates around the mantle. Though this will become more chaotic in about six million years when one of the smaller plates will catch up and start creating underwater mountains. It is estimated that one day this planet will be incredibly mountainous and likely be able to support life."

Suddenly, the ship was being hailed by a signal coming from the water planet. After the automated system verified it is a valid source, Human no less, they opened the channel. Instantly, they were greeting by loud and obnoxious Human music, Rock'n'Roll it is called.

"Sup dudes! We saw that light show you guys put up earlier, could you do it again? That shit was sweeeeeet! Surf up!" The audio message was followed by a strange single hand gesture emoticon with the first, second and fifth appendages extended, and the third and fourth bent inwards.

Upon complying with the Human's request, the crew decided to go into manual mode and check what the fuck was going on here.

Apparently, the Humans had set up a series of floating platforms on the planet, using typical resort and amusement design patters. The Humans were mostly engaged with consuming various colorful liquids, undulating in strange patterns on a colorful floor with a mirror ball drone floating overhead, and many more were on colorful boards of some kind. Standing upright and trying to keep balance. On waves.

Wait.

Uhh...

There's three moons now.

Um, Humans?

"Sup brah! Yeah we brought the moons over. This place looked dope, we were hoping for the perfect surf world, but it was so boring when we got here a few months back. But then my bro remembered he worked on one of those space experimental projects or whatever, but after running out of funding, they had some spare moons just lying around Jupiter. So we figured, 'Hey, nobody is using these, this planet needs some juice, win-win.' Amirite!

And, um, did the Coalition approve of the moving of celestial bodies into neutral systems, per the Jimothy Law?

"Pshaw, nah bruh. Paperwork is for the computers, we're meant for the thrill, dude or dudete or dudit. Dudethem? Dudio! Dudorama... wait, is it Deuteronomy? Dudada!"

The Human continued to count variations of the term for the next several minutes, perhaps inebriated by some kind of mind altering substance, though it can be hard to tell with some Humans.

The captain of the ship decided that it's beyond his pay and they're just gonna continue the tour. Some of the Human tourists and even a couple of heavily intoxicated others did decide to cut their trip short and visit this newly tidally active world with it's Human introduced activities. Surfs up!

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are deathworlders #humanity fuck yeah #carionto

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abbonation · 1 year

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Kinktober Day #9, Din Djarin

WOOOOOO!!!! The largely uninspired Abbo returns with a 2.3k cockwarming fic 😍😍 literally unheard of! Any whoosies, yeah. It's hot, it's explicit, what else do we want from Kinktober, anyway?

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY!!! Cockwarming, AFAB!Fem!Reader with little (Or a lot ;) of chub <3) the crest DIDN'T DIE,

He had tried to restrain himself, he really had, but when he watched your eyes as you lowered your robes down your shoulders and onto the cold floor of his ship, he knew this wouldn’t last long.

You’d traveled in the Crest with him while he was without Grogu and then became somewhat of a caretaker to him when he returned from training with Luke. You had seen the very near destruction of Crest on Tython and, now, you were all back together again; living and traveling through space on the never-ending journey that was his life.

Through the nearly two years of close proximity, you had grown close. He knew your quirks and you had grown accustomed to his- and, despite his best efforts, he had developed rather intense feelings for you. Never acted upon, never spoken of but you had to know. By the way your look lingered on him both in and out of battle. By the way your head turned when he talked with others, it felt like you were two magnets hovering against the others’ pull, never close enough to click together.

Then, you encountered a beast that the local planet-dwellers later told you was called a Boma. He knew you shouldn’t have gone separately but he really needed some time to be alone and splitting up under the guise of catching your quarry faster would allow him time to do what he needed to keep his sanity. You agreed to meet back at the Crest before sundown and use the comms only when necessary to conserve their power- however, when he hadn’t heard from you and started to notice the darkening sky, he worried.

“Hey- you okay? On your way to the Crest yet?”

"—"

After a few moments of silence, he tries again, “Are you there? It’s gonna be really dark here really soon.”

A shrill scratching sound chirps through the speaker on the comm and, instantly, he knows he needs to find you. When he does though, after racing back to the Crest and turning around to follow your trail instead of his, it’s been nearly an hour and he finds you walking towards him, pulling behind you a creature nearly the size of yourself.

He jogs over shouting, “What the hell happened to you?”

“Well, I guess I can tell you the whole tale. If you’ll carry this thing the rest of the way,” You smile and shrug up at him and he feels his stomach clench as he realizes just how anxious he’d been to find you, and how much better he feels now that you’re here.

“So it just ran up to your legs, smelled your cape, and started attacking?”

“That’s what I said, right?” You deadpan.

“Why would it wait to attack you until it could smell you?”

“Mando, I don’t know, can we just get some food and get back to the ship, my ankle fucking hurts from where I fell.”

In the small town is where you learned of the nature of these “Boma” . They were just your run of the mill beast, but apparently they had a real liking for eating Mandalorians.

“Well, at least I know it wasn’t my stench that he didn’t like,” you joked to him over your dinner.

“We’d better get back though, I’m… really tired.” You had this look in your eye though. One like you weren’t very tired at all. One like how you look right after battle.

So you thanked the bartender and made your way back to the Crest, confirming Grogu’s safety in his pram and fixing a couple glasses of Ne'tra gal for you and your Mando. He swallowed and tried to shove down the one thought in his brain since dinner. You smelled like him.

“Thanks for trying to save me. Even if I didn’t need your help.” You hand over his glass and sit on a crate across from him in the hold.

“I just didn’t hear you respond to my comm, I was worried,” He looks at the bottom of his cup.

“Yeah well, this bad boy here had my back,” You lightly tap your thigh a couple times where your knife sheath lies and his eyes zero in on the spot as he moves up his helm slightly to sip.

“I- know you can handle yourself. I just-” He trails off.

“You just what?”

“.. I just want you to be- protected.. From everything.”

You smile gently at his visor and he can feel his cheeks heating at your stare.

“You know that’s not possible, Din.”

He wishes he could show you the power you hold over him. He has to look away from your eyes when you say his name.

“Have I,” You swallow and steel yourself, “Have I ever shown you any of my scars, Mando?”

He looks up again, your face looks different now. You look more.. hungry?

The ale in your blood and food in your belly fuels your courage and you stand from your crate, walking over to stand in front of the Mandalorian. You place your hands on his shoulders and bend your knee up and place your foot on the ledge of the crate he sits on, inches from where his dick is imprinted into the fabric of his flight suit.

He says your name and looks up at your face, “I- what are you-”

“Do you want to see, Din?”

He realizes then, you feel it too. He’s been so blind and his head swims at the confirmation of this.

“Yes, show me.. please,” He places a gloved hand at your ankle under the hem of your robe and begins moving it up your calf.

You press on his shoulder to stop his hand and raise the hem of your robes up to right above your knee, down the skin right in front of his visor runs a jagged line of skin thicker than the rest.

“This one I received when I killed a man who was trying to stop me from leaving his bed.” Din swallows and looks at your face, he’s speechless.

You move your hands to pull the hem higher and stop again, right above your knife sheath, so that the fabric is caught in the crux where your thigh meets your hip and is tucked under your belly.

“These are from a cat on my home planet,” What looks like little claw marks blossom from the side of your thigh. He moves his thumb up to brush over them, and you smile at the memory of your friend from home.

“And, Din,” You step down from the crate and stand between his open legs. He’s aching to touch you now. Running his palms up and down his thighs to avoid doing something he’d regret. You move your fingers up to the buttons at your neck that fasten the robe to your body and unbutton each one carefully, taking deep breaths, “These will be a different type of scar. Ones on the inside, ones I won’t soon forget.” You drop your robe to reveal your body to him, your underwear the only remaining coverage. Din sucks in an audible breath from the vocoder and stands from his spot.

He chokes out your name, backing you over to the wall next to his sleeping quarters. “Do you know what you’re doing? Do you want this? If we do this, things will be different.”

“I know that- I want them to be,” You lean up to whisper into his ear. “You think I can’t hear you in your bed nearly every night. Rubbing yourself raw at the thought of me- of this?” You place your hand where his thighs join and he buckles, dropping his helmet down to your own shoulder and thrusting his hips into your palm. You reach your other hand from where it toys with the curls that peek out from under his helmet to cup his ass, pushing his hips forward into you.

“Please,” He moans.

You turn to his bed and pull yourself inside, moving backward into the dark space. “You liked that the creature smelled you on me, huh?” You chide him. He stands at the threshold as if deciding whether to make the leap. To change his life forever.

“You wanted to come save me from it yourself so something would know I belong to you, right?” He leans forward into his room, hands resting on the top wall, tent in his pants more than obvious now.

“Or were you just too busy jacking that cock in the forest to notice anything?”

The choice is out of his hands now, he’s not acting of his own volition. He kicks off his boots and crawls in above you, quickly closing the door and locking you both into silent darkness.

When he continues to say nothing even as you hear the ruffling of clothes and sheets as he arranges himself you whisper out, “Din?”

From mere inches above you, you feel his breath fan down on your face and realize he’s removed his helmet, his hand moves over your belly, between the space where your breasts splay out and up to cup your throat. “Yes?”

You shudder at his unfiltered speech. “Do you- are you-” Suddenly you’re the one at a loss for words when he leans his forehead to rest on yours, and runs the hand that was holding you down your side to your thigh.

“I did like that you smelled like me. I really liked it.” He punctuates his words with a thrust into your belly.

“I want to lay you in this bed and fuck you every day so that you never stop smelling like me.” Another thrust. “Would you like that, sweet girl? Would you like to lay here and be my cock sleeve? Just for me to use whenever I want?” You’ve never heard someone speak to you like this, much less the ever-reserved Mandalorian, you’re shocked into silence by his tongue and he continues.

He moves your legs to open for him and you reach down to stroke over his thighs where he kneels above you. He groans at your touch, “So sensitive, Din. C’mere.” He moves down to lay his lips on yours, he gets more comfortable the longer you lick and nip at each other, and he keens when you run your hands up over his scalp and give his hair a very light tug,

“Oh, please, do that again, mesh’la,” You continue running your fingers through his hair and move to lick up the column up his throat. His noises are free-flowing now, heavy breathing floating through the air in his bunk.

He lifts his head to make room between you and presses his crotch into your clothed pussy. You can feel your arousal making your underwear slick against your entrance, and clench to thrust up against his stiff dick.

“Fuck, that's- that’s perfect, sweet girl.” He does it again, setting you into a rhythm of humping while he rubs over your tits, rubbing your nipples between his fingers when you show him that’s what you like.

“Fuck Din, you feel so good,” You moan out to him and his hips stutter, “I’ll cum if we don’t stop, I- want you to feel good too-” So you slow your movements and move to push down your underwear, “Take off your pants Din, we’re gonna start slow, okay?”

You maneuver to be on top and line his cock up at your puffy entrance. “Do you feel that, Din? How, mmm, how wet you’ve made me?”

“Y-yes, I’m so hard for you,” He moans out.

You rub your clit with his tip a few times and notch his head just inside “I don’t wanna come yet-” he huffs into your ear.

“You won’t, I’m gonna slip down and then we’re gonna get you used to me, okay?”

A deep rumble leaves him when you start to slide down his thick length, stopping when your clit rubs into his pubic hair. “Jesus, Din- you’re.. fuckin’ big” You flutter around him unintentionally and he thrusts against you, holding onto your lush hips.

You lay down over him and he roves his hands over your back, resting one against the back of your head and the other ghosting over your ass.

“Can we just stay like this for a minute?” He asks.

“We can do this as long as you need,” You tell him, reveling in the way his pubic bone bumps against the hood of your clit. He stretches your walls deep, which you can’t say you didn’t expect- but to know you were right feels good. You sit up some when he pulls his feet up the cot, giving you room to lean back against the top of his thighs, and, with him still inside you ghost your fingers down over your breasts and belly to tease over your cunt.

“Are you touching yourself?” Din questions.

You clench at his voice, “Yes, Din. I’m– gonna rub my clit until I come around your cock and then you’re gonna come too, okay?” Your voice is much more high pitched and your usual level-headedness has obviously gone.

“Fuck, I wish I could see you, your tits bouncing in my face,” you feel his cock twitch inside you and rub two fingers around your clit, working up speed.

“You wanna watch my face when I cum, huh, Din? Wanna see me give in to your pleasure?”

“Ngh fuck yes, that's all I want, my sweet girl, my mesh’la.” He’s grasping at the sheets of his cot now, desperately thrusting up into your cunt.

“Mm, fuck, are you ready?” You whine out as you feel your walls start to flutter from the stimulation, “Are you ready to come for me, sweet boy?”

“Oh fuuuck, yes I’m gonna- I’m-” And he does. He pushes your hips down onto his cock to keep you still as he empties inside you, limply thrusting for another few seconds as you come down.

You move to get off his cock and he holds you still again, so you opt to just lay back down on his chest resting your face next to his.

“Can we just.. stay like this for a while?” You can hear the smile in his question.

#din djarin x reader #din djarin x reader smut #din djarin one shot #din djarin #the mandalorian x reader #the mandaloria/reader #one shot #kinktober #mandalorian smut #din djarin smut #x reader fanfic #reader insert #plus size reader #chubby reader #spankbank

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no-phrogs-in-hats · 5 months

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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Regina Mills x Fem!Reader

A/N: Hey bitchessss here's chapter 3!@#$%^ Don't expect a full come-back. I'm just high asf rn and wanted to write this small chapter for you pookies<33

Chapter 3: I’m a Troubled Teen (Going Up North to be a Lady-In-Waiting)

Many years ago

The Enchanted Forest

“Your highness, the King and Queen request your presence.”

Oh, God.

It was never good when your parents “requested your presence”. Most of the time it meant you had done something wrong. The last time this had happened, you had jumped off the side of a royal navy ship in your underclothes and satin slippers.

You shut your book and set it down on the side table in the library, standing up and dragging your feet as you followed one of the advisors. When you approached the door to the “good parlor”, as your mother called it, he knocked three times. You thanked him and after he shut the door a tense air thickened around you.

Your brother, Eric, sat at a chess table with your father while your mother sat by herself in the loveseat practicing her embroidery.

“What?” you said.

Your mother smiled. “We just wanted to know where you were.”

You looked around awkwardly. “I was in the library…Why did you ask for me?”

“We wanted to spend time with you,” your father said. “It feels like we haven’t seen you in ages!”

“What’s the real reason you asked me here?” you asked.

Still partaking in her embroidery, your mother smiled and looked up at you from the sofa. “We have some news…You remember King Leopold, right?”

“Sort of.”

“Well,” your mother said, continuing, “his wife, Queen Regina, is looking for a new lady-in-waiting…and they’ve asked for you.”

Your stomach sank. “What?”

“It’ll give you a chance to observe how a kingdom runs,” your father said. “And, it forms an alliance between King Leopold and our kingdom.”

“But–But, Eric is next in line!” you protested. “Shouldn’t he be doing the observing? He’s going to be ruling this kingdom within the next few decades, but instead he’s out on a ship sailing a–”

“Enough!” your father shouted. “This decision is final! The ship sets sail in a fortnight. Queen Regina, King Leopold, and Princess Snow are already expecting your arrival. I won’t hear any more protests from you. It’s time you learn some responsibility and this is the best way to do it.”

__________

Present Day

Storybrooke

You knocked softly on the door to Regina’s home. Waiting a moment, you glanced over to see a sliver of her finger parting the fabric curtain in the front window, just in time to see it quickly close again.

The deadbolt in the door clicked and the door cracked open slowly.

“Hi,” you said quietly.

Regina seemed stand-offish. When the door opened further, you could see it in her eyes that she had been crying.

“Can I come in?” you asked.

She nodded and let you in. You had only been in her home a handful of times–mostly dropping off Henry after school–but it was still as beautiful as you remembered. Instead of admiring the dark hardwoods and the tall ceilings, you focused on her–and now you were admiring much more.

There were still tears in her eyes and wrinkles sat scattered over her navy pantsuit. Everything was becoming so clear in this short amount of time–every dream, every vision, the vague images of your parents in your head. A part of you wanted to yell at her. She took so much from you, but, god, it was hard to be mad at her.

“Um, Regina,” you murmured when she closed the door. “I just wanted to say–”

And there was that feeling–her lips. They encased yours so perfectly. You could feel her strong hands grasp your biceps as you leaned into the kiss. You took a few steps back, bracing yourself against the wall when Regina pulled away. “What?” she huffed. “You wanted to say what?”

You searched her eyes. “Nothing, it can wait for later,” you said, grasping at her shoulders as your lips met again for the first time in 28 years.

#regina mills x reader #regina mills #lana parrilla #once upon a time

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theshadowsingersraven · 2 months

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It’s interesting to me that E/riels often bring up Elain’s agency, but overwhelmingly have no issue with the lack of agency Nesta had in her relationship with Cassian, or how Rhys and Feyre’s relationship started with a kidnapping. Or they insist Gwyn can’t have a relationship because she’s a rape survivor, but that somehow doesn’t apply to Rhys’s abuse by Amarantha. Fandom (and this is a widespread issue, not specific to ACOTAR) can never just say “I don’t like this ship” anymore. They always have to bend over backwards to make it problematic and immoral. I prefer Elucien because I think it’d be something new, while E/riel feels too close to Feysand and Nessian. That’s really it! I don’t see the need to insist it’s the morally correct choice, or to twist canon to paint E/riel as abusive and shippers as abuse apologists. Can we all just calm down?

I got this before Elaingate and forgot it was sitting in my drafts lol

EXACTLY. I feel like because of the prevalence of unspoken or sometimes fully spoken online morality litmus tests puts people in a mindset of "I have to have a reason to like/not like something or someone is going to say I'm wrong."

Which I don't fully blame people for, but I definitely would like them to be a bit more self-aware about it? Like...why are we bringing someone's actual personality to what they enjoy in fantasy? That's the point of fantasy, it's not real. It's a safe avenue to explore things you normally wouldn't in real life.

I think there's a unique aspect to this fandom that leans super conservatively and rigidly to canon. There's very little gay representation, and every time people try to invalidate Gwynriel based on Gwyn's trauma because "Az is kinky" without realizing that kink is not just Christian Grey's Room of Pain or whatever tf it's called. Kink can be very empowering for survivors and can help them heal through having very clear sexual boundaries, dynamics, and safe words. It's exposure to sex that stops when they want it to, and that can be so healing.

I think a big issue in this fandom is that people are trying to use real-life comparisons to fictional characters on a morality scale, while completely glossing over their psychological complexity. Especially to invalidate or validate ships. It's just giving half-baked arguments online with the equivalent of rumor-mill-level veracity information to people about characters that fans can't analyze thoroughly.

I just can't take a lot of people in this fandom seriously when they get so up-in-arms. People can just say "ship bad" and go on their way, but they definitely do not lmao.

#anonymous #answered #anti e/riel #antielriel #anti elriel #elain archeron #fandom wank #gwyneth berdara #azriel shadowsinger

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ladytabletop · 1 year

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have you done a d10 list of weird boats/ships before?

There are rings for oars, you think, but no oars aboard. There is a mast for sails, you think, but no sails to be seen. Still, the ship seems to be propelled forward, guided by unseen force despite its bare decks, devoid of crew and cargo alike.

The spiderwebbed rigging is the product of the arachnid that sits where you imagined the crow's nest should be. "It's her ship," the crew whispers, "we go where she bids. Her brood is in the hold."

The whole thing is made of glass, from bow to stern. You can see straight through down to the water beneath the hull. It's unsettling; moreso when you spot the shark-like creatures keeping pace with the vessel.

It's carved of teak, of all things. The shipwright was a demigod, they say, from a time when trees grew large enough for a ship to be carved whole from a branch - not even a trunk, a branch! No telling how long she's been asea, but she never wants for crew. Many a sailor would give up their greatest treasures to sail on her decks.

The flag it flies is known to no man. If you look away too long, its colors have changed again. It otherwise appears ordinary. But time goes a bit wobbly when that flag changes, the crew claims.

The churning turbines on its underside were torn from conquered mills. They kick up the silty riverbottom and leave whirlpools in the ship's wake. Its masts were the grists, the poles that did the turning, and its sails are flour sacks sewn together. What cause does a miller have to take to the water?

You'd never met a ship with a mindwright before, but that's what they seem to call the man in the brig. He could be sleeping, you think, but it is his will and his will alone tethering this ship to reality. By all rights it shouldn't exist: a hulk of bone and rot from a creature long-dead. The brig is to keep things out, not to keep him in, for if he is disturbed, the whole vessel will go to the drown.

Ebbs and flows, waves and still waters: the ship contains them all. You're unsure of the magic animating it, but you can walk on the deck and pull a line and turn the wheel just as you would on a mundane boat, albeit with wet hands and feet. The dampness chills your very bones.

Chains writhe around the hull with a horrible grinding cacophony. They crawl up the masts like ivy and weave in and out of portholes. That much weight might sink a ship, except the chain leviathan lurking beneath the waves holds it aloft. Those who set foot on its decks never see shore again.

You watch, incredulous, as the paper unfolds, and again, and again and again and again, into a four-masted vessel with trimmed sails and an origami figurehead.

all d10 lists

#d10 random list #the lady rambles #ships #boats #random table

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bronx-bomber87 · 9 months

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Happy Wednesday fandom :) I love this episode. The aftermath of 5x01. I remember being so very excited every week cause I knew this was their season. I was so giddy for every era we were getting. This ep started the hurts so good/pining era. Nothing better than having your ship on the cusp and getting excited every ep to see what comes next. Return of Genny in this one yay missed her. Imma need more in s6. Looking at you writers.

5x02 Labor Day

We start the ep with a guilt ridden Lucy bringing Chris home to her apt. We all know at this point that’s the reason they’re still together. She nearly cheated on the man for loophole sex with her best friend. Not only that but almost partook while he was dying in the process. Still glad it didn’t go down that way but guilt is the main factor here IMO. Lucy is getting him settled in when there a knock at the door. Love how this detective comes up and doesn’t even care she’s interrupted them.

Legend already haha Says her name is Detective Misha Porter. She teaches at the UC school In Sacramento. Lucy looks star struck saying she knows who she is. Mischa said she’s been doing recruiting and her name keeps coming up. Of course it does Lucy is amazing. Saying she’s worked several impressive OPs. That makes for an ideal candidate. That she is here to recruit her.

Lucy looks guilt ridden once again as she looks at stupid Chris. Just holding her back in so many ways it’s painful. She asks when classes start? Porter tells her next Monday. Saying it’s short notice but they had someone fall out. She’s sure her sergeant would approve it. Lucy lights up for first time at the mention of Tim. Knowing he would. He would do ANYTHING for her career. Something we will see of more at the end of this ep.

Lucy continues to hesitate. Porter sees this and says her classes will open up a ton of doors for her. Lucy tells her she knows. That Detective Harper has told her all about it. She hands her the folder. Saying every unit will want to poach her from patrol after this. Lucy tells her she will think about it…Oh my girl he is not worth giving up UC for. That guilt truly dominating all her decisions.

She returns to Chris and even he tells her to go for it. We see the stress and continued weight of what happened control her. Saying no it can wait. It’s almost like she needs someone else to push her in that direction...Also that someone else is the real reason she doesn’t want to leave. *cough Tim cough*

We see Tim pull up to meet Genny. What is it about him driving that big truck that is so sexy? Mmm. Also in civies. Yum take me now sir. Haha Love that smile of his when he looks at the house. Thank you to your wife for having you do this. It sounds like Genny is having an argument on the phone. Tim asks if she’s ok? She sweeps it under the rug like a classic Bradford.

She just needed his signature on some stuff before the open house. Tim looks so excited this is done and they can finally move on. Genny looks extra sad about it. Seems like it's more than just the house. Tim picks up on this and tells her not to get sad over this house LOL She should be excited they’re gonna get half a mill each for this place. He then is sweet and tells her to call him if she needs anything. Such a good brother ❤️

We return to Lucy at home with Chris. He’s going over her packet saying she has to go. I will give him this and ONLY this. He isn’t trying to keep her from UC school. Now he is trying to do the thing only Tim can. Which is talk her down and have her see some reason. Not gonna happen with you clown. You are not the one for that job. Lucy saying this is where she wants to be. It’s not though…

Lucy is still so angry as she talks about Rosalind. As she should be that’s some serious PTSD for her. Once again not the guy to help her through this anxiety. The guilt is eating away at her and nothing Chris can say will help. Because he is part of that guilt. She almost cheated on him while Rosalind got to him. That’s what’s really eating at her.

Another reason I’m glad it didn’t happened. Would’ve tainted their time together. That would’ve been a painful hill to get over. So no thank you. I’ll be forever grateful it unfolded the way that it did. She is putting off UC for one reason she can’t tell Chris about. Would only add to never ending weight on her soul currently. I wanna hug her.

Oh how I love this scene with Angela. First off I adore him giving her half his burrito ha besties. Second she truly is a cheerleader for Chenford. Also for Tim’s happiness. She just wants to see her grump of a friend be happy. Angela knows that answer is Lucy. It’s been her forever. So she does a little poking around in this scene. Fishing to see what answers she can get. Starting off asking Tim the question that’s been on her mind since Vegas. Even more so since Chris got attacked.

‘How’s Lucy?’ We all know this question isn’t as innocent as it appears. Because well Lopez. He’s out of his damn mind if thinks she gonna let any of this go. I adore this friendship so very much. We notice how Tim likes to surround himself with strong women. His bestie is one of them. His wife another. Only ones he allows to talk to him this way. Heh. I love it. The teasing she does early on in this season is amazing. We were all rooting for her doing this.

Calling him out trying to get him to face his feelings. Do something about them. Angela is as perceptive as they come. And they are as blatantly obvious as two humans could be. Even Nolan knows LOL Tim starts off with a standard answer. She’s shaken but taking time off with Chris. Angela doesn’t care about the Chris part. Asking why he was even there in the first place to find him? Her instigation makes me laugh so hard. Trying to get a real answer out of him. Tim deflecting as he attempts to hold it together for the moment. Just saying he was dropping her off after Vegas. Lies lies and more lies.

Angela’s face is everything. Her 'Mmm-hmm' Calling Tim on his BS answer with her facial expression alone. This is so funny. Tim catching onto what she is throwing down. Asking what she’s implying? When he’s knows EXACTLY what she’s implying. Because babe you almost did what she is suggesting here. You’re just upset cause you're getting caught in that suggestion. I love her throwing back ‘What do you think?’

She is trying so hard to get him to cop to what almost happened between them. Tim goes back to his platonic answer of ‘Just dropping her off. ’ Although his voice gets a little higher in pitch when he does,. Angela’s second ‘Mmm-hmm.’ Is everything. She isn’t buying what you’re selling Timothy. Not for one second. Angela Lopez is a QUEEN. I love her sfm. Man is lying to himself and she just wants him to realize that.

Poor Lucy is desperate for another opinion. So she seeks out her UC mentor. She is so cute when she says Harper is glowing haha I love her sfm. Lucy is asking everyone except the one person she knows would have her answer. So she is hitting up a very pregnant Harper LMAO Who is in no state of mind to be helping her out.

James basically ushers her out of the house. My girl. She needs advice so much and isn’t getting what she needs from those around her. Trying to find someone to validate her skipping for Chris. Thing is she isn’t going to find that. No one is going to validate this guilt of her's like she is seeking. Once again just wanna hug her.

We see Genny waiting in the parking garage for Tim. She called him earlier in the day about offers. Saying they had a developer who wanted over asking. But also a sweet family who wanted it for asking. Tim telling her to go with developer. Cause he doesn't care bout the house. So he makes a crack when she shows up about selling it to a sweet family for 100 bucks ha Such a brother things to do to her. Genny says no.... She has another reason for meeting up other than the house. It’s here we learn about why Genny has been stressed all day. Her and her husband are getting a divorce. Tim tells her how sorry he is. He has most definitely Been there.

Tim asks about the house and who they’re gonna sell it to? Asking if they’re gonna pick the happy family? Genny says no the highest bidder. That divorce isn’t cheap. HA That’ll it’ll soften the blow for her financially being a single mom now. Tim asks if her husband is moving out? She says no she wants to move. Here actually. Asking Tim if that’s ok? He lights up. If there’s anything he needs right now it's family. Especially with all the messy stuff with Lucy atm. It’s so sweet how excited he is. Also their hug is also very adorable. I just adore them so very much.

They nailed casting for his sister. They have an excellent sibling rapport. Good chemistry in that way. Also they do look like they could be related it’s unreal. I love the smile on Tim’s face as he hugs her. My heart. Family is so important to have around. Especially when you’re close to them. This is what Lucy wanted for him out of 4x08. Them to not be torn about their dad but be there for each other like this. Getting me all emotional cause what I have with my baby sister. You know he’s excited he will get to see his nephews more and such too. I love it.

We finally reach their first scene of the ep. It’s a doozy everyone. But such a good one. This is the stage I like to call it 'Hurts so good.' I will always take good productive angst. Well written angst. It’s the BS teenager angst I cannot stand. These people are in their thirties. They don’t got time for that crap. The secret child or breaking up for no reason other than just to make the miserable. Nothing makes me angrier than useless angst just for the sake of having it.

This right here is the good stuff. They did a damn fine job with their angst. It leads us right into that good pining era as well. There is a knock at Lucy’s door. It’s Tim looking mighty fine if you ask me. Says he’s checking in. Asks Chris how he’s feeling? He replies Lucy is taking care of him. The sweet almost sad look to his smile gets me.

Knowing first hand how caring she is. She cared for him long before he was ready for it. When he didn’t appreciate like he would now. This moment is their breakup before they even got together scene. Because that’s basically what it is. We all know Tim included why she’s really holding back from UC school. Her front is Chris. When really it’s Tim and everything they haven’t untangled from Vegas. They haven’t talked about it whatsoever. Tim is there to clear the air.

Lucy is a little bristly with him at the door. He doesn’t let it deter him. Asking her if he can talk to her? She says yes and follows him out into the hallway. Ahh this hallway where so much happened last time. The context and situation so much different this time around. Tim being straight with her right off the bat. Saying he hears she’s on the fence about UC school. She has been hunting down opinions all day long. The one she needs the most comes to her. I love this sfm. Kudos to the writers for setting up this scene so well. Lucy is shocked Chris called him.

Tim says yes it was unexpected..but he wanted him to talk to her. Interesting how Chris could know Tim would be the voice of reason for her. But can’t figure she’s in love with the man and vice versa. Lucy telling him it’s not the right time. Tim won’t stand for this answer. That she owes it to herself to go. Lucy has been the voice of reason for him many times. There to absolve him of his guilt when he blamed himself about Mitch and Caleb. She couldn’t stand him bearing a burden that wasn’t his.

The beautiful part of this heartbreaking scene is he is now doing the same for her. He came not only about UC school but for her guilt. The guilt she is wearing like armor at the moment. About Chris, about what almost happened between them while he was dying. Tim telling he’s going to be fine. That what happened to him ISN'T her fault. Telling Lucy what she used to tell him. Stop weighing your soul down with guilt that isn’t yours to carry.

Lucy brings up what they were about to do. ‘We were about to..’ The way she says that line there is some longing in there. How yes, she’s still with Chris and the guilt that exists with that. But her desire for what almost happened is still there. She doesn’t want to ignore what almost happened between them.

Tim following up with ‘But we didn’t. We didn’t.’ Gah some longing in his voice too. He too is sad they didn’t. The softness in his voice as he delivers that line. Gah it’s so good. Part of him still wishing they had. They had this awakening of their feelings mixed with UC. Then Chris almost dying throwing a nasty wrench in it all.

There is so much subtext behind the lines they’re saying to each other. Lucy then notes the thing she’s been clinging onto. Being his go-fer. Asking if he’s getting rid of her as it? The hurt in her voice *heart clutch* It's written all over her face. Last thing she wants is for Tim to push her away. It’s why she was avoiding UC school in first place. She doesn’t want to lose working with him if she can’t be with him. It’s the closest thing she has to that and now he’s proposing taking that away.

This feels like a breakup because well it is. Their work dynamic/relationship is a huge part of who they are. It’s how we got to this place we’re in. It’s a sacred thing to both of them. Tim is trying to ease her hurt with his reply. Telling her 'No…he’s just trying to look out for her.' The emotions in his voice as he says this. I wanna cry. They both have pre-tears in their eyes. Tim knows this is the right thing to do. Nothing and I mean nothing is more important to that man than protecting her career. Protecting her. Look how far he has come.

Was almost rabidly against her doing UC. Now he’s encouraging it because he knows it’s what best for her. Even if that means leaving him behind. Tim refuses to jeopardize her career in anyway. It’s why he fought her being his aide at first the way he did. Didn’t want anyone to question her or why she got to where she is. Didn’t want any hand in people thinking less of her when it wasn’t true. That even if it hurts them both he is going to look out for her first and foremost.

Lucy can't believe what she's hearing. It's all over her expression in that first gif above. The hits keep coming with this scene. Tim telling her it’s time to move on. When he’s really saying is about them. They had their shot and now it’s time to move on. That they have to accept it's not going to happen for them. Gah kills me as I’m writing this. Took the man years to realizes he was in love with her. Now that he does he can’t have her. So he’s willing to do the honorable thing. Step aside and put his feelings on back burner.

Set aside what he wants for what she needs. Because he knows Lucy. How selfless she is for those she loves. He refuses to let her give up her aspirations for him. Lucy is crushed with his retort of moving on. They’re both so vulnerable in this scene. It’s what makes it hurt so damn good. Props to Eric and Melissa once again. Conveying so much with their words, eyes, and expressions. We are truly lucky to have them as our ship.

Lucy does some double talk of her own. Saying some time away would be good. Really meaning she can’t be around him especially after him breaking this off. That if she can’t be with him better to be away from him. That this far too painful for her. For them both really. Tim trying to build up her saying what a great opportunity this will be. We know how hard this conversation is for him to have. But it shows the depth of growth in him to have it.

This is so very hard on him to give up. Lucy can’t even say more. Her heart is breaking in this moment. Her person is sending her away from him. All she can muster up is ‘Mmhmm..’ because if she speaks any further she’s going to cry. Tim most definitely won’t be able to handle that. Tim with tears in his eyes telling her she should go for it. Even if it’s killing him inside to be apart from her. To walk away from their potential romantically.

Tim feels the best thing he can do for her is distance himself. He is going to fall on his sword to make sure her future is secure. Now that is love. My goodness. The way she is searching his face in the first gif. Oof. She looks so hurt and angry at him for this. She also is trying to keep her shit together. It breaks my heart. This entire scene does. Then our boy walks away and she looks devastated. He has a smile on his face till he turns away from her. Then we see the heartbreak evident on his beautiful face. Ugh.

How she can go back in Chris after that I don't know.. After this scene I knew this season was going to be a hell of a ride. This was the perfect productive angst for them. Hurt like a SOB to watch. A true gut punch to your feels. But damn so well written and acted. I loved it sfm. Oh my lord I love this season.

~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Nyla’s entire birth SL is hilarious. It’s an insane ride that I love. ‘It’s a girl’ LMAO LEGEND

Thank you thank you to all you amazing readers. Wouldn’t have gotten this far without you all. Your likes, reblogs and comments fuel My soul to write. Shall see you all in 5x03 :)

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simonalkenmayer · 9 months

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There’s a small story I haven’t told, about when I first came to where I currently reside. If you’ve read some of my short stories about my life history, then this would follow directly after “The Suits”.

Back in those days, the place I currently live was almost entirely devoid of women who weren’t already married. It was a very manly man place of wild forests being logged, natives being colonized, and all sorts of hurdy guedy. A man by the name of Mercer began a transplant of women, who were to be educated and married off to the men of the area, so as to “civilize” the place.

After that plan was enacted, women began doing this in their own. And incentives galore existed, including reduced fares, housing, sheltering so forth. When I came up, I switched genders, because of this advantage. I had won myself a deed to some property here, in a poker game. I then pretended to be my own sister, sent to set up the stead and “marry myself off”.

So I came as a woman, and set myself up in a residence hall for young ladies. Why? Because of the proprietress, who kept a secure and tight ship for propped “gels”. I wanted that security, as there is no watchdog better than a large woman with a rolling pin looking out for virtue. My room was essentially Fort Knox. But I didn’t move around town as a woman! Heavens no. Such would be impossible, especially given the condition of the city, which was mud half the time and not set up for skirts.

I worked out of the lumber mill. Dressed as a man. I made friends with a batch of German and Austrian immigrants, because I could understand them. One in particular seemed very taken with me. Probably because he wasn’t much of a talker and I was mute. But then one day he turned up at the boarding house, and I realized he had figured me out, perhaps because he’d followed me home from the drinking hole we all frequented.

I suspected he’d come to the conclusion that I was a woman masquerading as a man to obtain employment. I suspected I’d have a difficult moment ahead.

One night he came to my window at the boarding house, after I’d just quitted the nightly meal. He was drunk as a skunk, and singing love songs at me. I knew the lady of the house would beat him stupider, so I dragged him inside. Then I noticed he was covered in blood. Apparently hed injured himself on the rough fence outside.

Imagine me, dressed in proper female dinner attire, bodily proppping a giant, German man against a wall, as he gibbers and bleeds at me. I shushed him, and told him he had made a terrible mistake. He said he hadn’t. That his life till then was a mistake. I was brave and wonderful and pretty in all the ways. I told him to stop talking rubbish. He realized he was bleeding and fell onto my bed. I say him up with some difficulty, as he extolled my many virtues. “How amazing,” he sang, “that you can push logs and look so fine.”

I offered to push him into the sea off the nearest cliff. He called me mysterious. It was a very lopsided conversation. I set about patching him up. Which led to the following events.

He, seated on the end of the bed, no shirt, facing away from the door. Me, kneeling in my gown, making plaintive noises. Of a sudden, there came a frantic cry and a bashing sound. In crashes the lady of the house, in her shift and pantaloons, her house dress open and flapping like the wings of a harpy. Her face was a red contortion as she smashed a hole into the wood. Jack Nichlson could have taken a lesson from her as she shrieked out a curse through the splinters.

She got the wrong impression from what she saw. It was an impression that unfortunately led to even more frantic mangling of the door. My gentleman caller hurled himself bodily through the window, chased by the very embodiment of Victorian internalized misogyny, screaming bloody murder. Literally.

I evicted myself. I went into the woods to my property and set up a cabin, where I lived to upset the logging and train operations. I went feral.

My man friend, later was injured in an accident, and died. It wasn’t until I spoke of this series of events with some of you, that I came to a different interpretation than I had all this time. I now believe that he actually thought I was a man, dressing as a woman to obtain housing. The things he said while intoxicated make far more sense if that was his assumption. I now realize I broke his heart in a different way than I’d even realized.

Perspective sometimes comes decades later. Sometimes you don’t even know your own past so well without the future.

I gain perspective like this almost constantly, and I realize more and more that I have never taken in all the information I could have. I’ve viewed the world you made through your lens. Silly thing to do, but how was I to know? It’s not as if I had the genius of Frankenstein’s creation to teach myself the truth of all things with a bible. No. Some of us had incompatibility with humanity altogether and couldn’t make sense of it without your biases.

I think about this often.

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dumbbitchenergy17 · 1 year

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Clan of Three - Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Prisoner

Plot: A Mandalorian, an infant with a history of the jedi, and a teenager with similar powers with an undiscovered lineage. An unlikely group to travel the galaxy together.

Word Count: 6.5K

Pairing: Father Figure!Din Djarin x Platonic!Teen!Reader

Warnings: fighting/violence, father-daughter duo (they are so iconic)

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Traveling through the galaxy had allowed you to visit many different planets and systems all within the Outer Rim, just a speck of the vast galaxy that was begging for you to explore.

“Where did you say you put it?” You call out from the doorway of the cargo hull, the relationship you had formed with Mando didn’t have an exact label for it. Sure he was watching after you protecting you from the empire, but you weren’t his ward. He had formed a dynamic with you, and following Tatooine, it became clear you could protect yourself with some training. But you had learned how to handle a blaster, Mando teaching you how to properly use a rifle when you explained the recoil had knocked you right off your ass, you could handle a knife skillfully, your hand-to-hand was too shabby, add that with the 9 years of teaching yourself to steal and your decent knowledge of ships and technology you had become less of someone to look after but a partner.

“Look for the big box on the left side it should be beside it,” Mando yells out his focus on the open panel of the ship as he needed to replace their processor, the last planet they were at got fried dealing with the inhabitants that quickly drove you off their planet. You look around the hull spotting the box on the left heading over seeing a metal case, opening it to see the core processor, pre-galactic that makes you roll your eyes. Grabbing it you leave the hull seeing Mando with his arm shoved into the wall holding the old fried processor in place. It would need to be a quick change from the old one to the new one without damaging the ship further that was traveling through hyperspace.

“You should just upgrade this rust bucket. You can scrape this for parts and buy a much better ship.” You say this hadn’t been your first and definitely not your last time pushing him to get a new ship. You could feel his side-eye through his helmet that has you throwing your hands up. Moving towards the child who is playing with the ball of the lever he lets out a small sound of laughter when you rub your fingers along his ears. The ship shakes slightly as the processors are swapped and Mando comes back out from the hole in the wall putting the panel back into place.

“I’m just saying, new ship. Wouldn’t have to change the processors every 6 weeks.” You say spinning the knife in your hand and he waves you off as the ship jolts exiting hyperspace and there’s a beeping sound coming from the cockpit. Mando heads over while you grab the child placing him in his bed as he lets out a yawn. You couldn’t complain about sleeping on the floor with a small cot and blanket while Mando had his own equally small room that he shared with the child. Climbing up the ladder to the cockpit seeing a space hanger grow closer to you.

“Get dressed.” He says and you nod heading back down grabbing your small pack and bringing it into the fresher. You were grateful to get new clothes, your other ones growing ripped and distressed with everything going on. Fixing your hair before leaving the fresher your blaster and the knife Mando gifted to you tucked into their respective holsters finding Mando in the cargo hull bringing down the ramp.

“What are we doing here?” You ask as the ramp comes down the two of you walking off. Now in the large docking bay, multiple ships there as people milled around. But these people seemed to be the kind of crowd Mando would hang around.

“Just let me do the talking.” He says as the two of you come up an older human man, he hand long greying hair with an impressively long beard. The man doesn’t notice the two of you communicate with another but when the person he is speaking two stops seeing the Mandalorian before him the older man turns.

“Mando. Is that you under that bucket?” The older man says dismissing the other man coming over.

“Ran.” Mando greets him and Ran nods looking surprised seeing him,

“I didn't really know if I'd ever see you in these parts again. Good to see you. You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me,” Ran says and you glance over at Mando, why would he need his help? “You know, 'cause I... I hear things.” Your hand rested on your blaster acting casually but you couldn’t help but be nervous.

“Like, maybe things between you and the Guild aren't workin' out.” He says and Mando seems so calm right now.

“I'll be fine.” Ran nods, glancing at you slightly and you return a stoic look,

“Okay. Well, you know the policy. No questions. And you, you're welcome back here anytime.”

“So, what's the job?” Mando asks as Ran.

“Yeah, one of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So, I'm puttin' together a crew to spring him. It's a six-person job. I got four. All I need is the ride, and you brought it plus another. Though don’t know how a kid is supposed to be useful.” Ran says looking down at you and you glare at him.

“The ship and the girl weren't part of the deal.” Mando disagrees he was more than capable of doing a job of two.

“Well, the Crest is the only reason I let you back in here,” Ran says giving him an ultimatum.

“Mando it’s fine.” You say your hands tucked in your belt as you stare down Ran, “I’m sure I can show I’m plenty useful.” Ran lets out a full-body laugh clapping his hands together.

“Now where did you find this one at.” He says when he spots another man, “Hey, Mayfeld.” The man comes over he’s human bald, with only a red beard. Weapons and guns strapped across his back.

“This is Mando, the guy I was tellin' you about. We used to do jobs way back when.” Ran says patting Mando on the shoulder and you could see the disdain coming off Mando being touched. Mayfeld looks at Mando almost sizing him up glancing over at you and you give him a look back.

“This is the guy?” Mayfeld says, “Who’s the girl?”

“She’s with him, careful she’s smart as a whip,” Ran says and the two men look over at the girl decades younger than any of them. “We were all young, tryin' to make a name for ourselves. Yeah, but runnin' with a Mandalorian, that was… That brought us some reputation.”

Ran looks over at the silent Mandalorian, “Oh, yeah? What did he get out of it?”

“I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando?” Ran nudges Mando you can practically feel his annoyance radiating off him.

“Target practice.”

“Target practice!” Ran laughs again clapping him on the shoulder, wiping away fake tears, “We did some crazy stuff, didn't we?”

“That was a long time ago,” Mando says stepping back from Ran standing closer to you.

“Well, I don't go out anymore. You understand? So, uh, Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on this job.” Ran says and you can tell Mayfeld was nervous against the very intimidating bounty hunter.

“You good with that?” Mayfeld asks hesitantly.

“You tell me,” Mando responds, and Ran laughs again which was starting to get on your nerves.

“You haven't changed one bit.” Ran says before moving towards Mayfeld, “Yeah, well, Mayfeld, he's… He's one of the best triggermen I've ever seen. Former Imperial sharpshooter.” He says as if that was such an achievement, any stormtrooper with a decent shot was seen as a marksman.

“I wasn't a stormtrooper, wiseass.” Mayfeld says looking over at the ship you would be traveling in, “Don't take long, does it?”

“Razor Crest? I can't believe that thing can fly.” Ran says thinking back on the fond memories with that ship.

“Looks like a Canto Bight slot machine,” Mayfeld says and a hulking devaronian towers over all of you making even Mando look up slightly. ”The good-lookin' fellow there with the horns, that's Burg. This may surprise you, but he's our muscle.”

“So, this is a Mandalorian.” Burg says not hiding that he was sizing him up scoffing, “I thought they'd be bigger.” Mayfeld points over to a protocol droid.

“Droid's name is Zero.” The droid looks over the two of you analyzing you.

“I thought you said you had four,” Mando says

“He does,” A feminine voice calls out as a Twi’lek slinks out from the shadows walking over to Mando with an exaggerated sway of her hips almost making you laugh. “Hello, Mando.”

“Xi'an.” He huffs not happy to see her and when she pulls out a dagger your hand instinctively reaches for your own but you see Mando’s hand telling you not to.

“Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?” She hisses the blade lightly tracing the beskar but it doesn’t scratch it.

“Nice to see you, too,” Mando responds flatly and she giggles.

“I missed you. This is shiny. You wear it well.” She openly flirts with him eating him up with her eyes making you gag slightly.

“Do we need to leave the room or something?” Mayfeld says and Xi’an pulls away giving one last look up at him.

“Ugh, kriffing gross.” You mumble under your breath.

“Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group,” Ran explains and you look over at Mando giving him a look. He couldn’t have seriously been with her?

“Aw. You gonna be okay, sweetheart?” Mayfeld says and Xi’an wipes the fake sadness off her face glaring at Mando,

“Oh, I'm all business now. Learned from the best.”

“All right, lovebirds. Break it up till you get on the ship. Right now we don't have much time.” Ran says and they all start heading for the Crest, you see Burg looking down at Mando scoffing before walking onto the ship

“Tiny.”

You look at Mando as the two of you follow after the group to the Crest, “We’re seriously working with them?” You say and Mando just sighs boarding the ship.

“No something I’m happy with either.”

Mayfeld holds a datapad showing a hologram map of a ship, “So, the package is being moved on a fortified transport ship. Now, we got a limited window to board, find our friend, get him out of there before they make their jump.”

“That's a New Republic prison ship,” Mando points, “Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate. He was arrested.”

“So what? A job is a job.” Ran says and Mando shakes his head,

“That's a max security transport and I'm not looking for that kinda heat,” Mando says, if the New Republic catches them he wasn’t even thinking of himself. What would they do to the two of you?

“Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up. The good news for you is the ship is manned by droids.” Xi’an says twirling a dagger between her fingers and looking at Mando through her lashes. Maker this was so gross. “Still hate the machines, Mando?”

The droid appears coming from the cockpit, “Despite recent modifications, the ship is still quite a mess. The power lines are leaking, the navigation is intermittent, and the hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3% efficiency.” You give Mando a look hearing the diagnosis, see just get a new ship. He could tell the look on your face choosing to ignore it, “We have much better ships. Why are we using this one?”

“Cause, the Razor Crest is off the old Imperial and the New Republic grid. It's a ghost.” Ran explains.

“Yeah, and we need a ship that can get close enough to jam New Republic code,” Ran says a plan formulating, “So when we drop out of hyperspace here, if we immediately bank into this kinda attitude, we should be right in their blind spot, which will give us just enough time for your ship to scramble our signal.”

“It's not possible. Even for the Crest.” Mando says, to sneak on to New Republic transport was going to be hard but completely off the grid was impossible.

“That's why he's flyin',” Mayfeld replies pointing at the protocol droid. You didn’t feel so reassured either.

“Mando, I know you're a pretty good pilot, but we need you on the trigger. Not on the wheel.” Ran says trying to convince the stubborn bounty hunter.

“Don't worry, Mandalorian. My response time is quicker than organics. And I'm smarter, too.” Zero says and you both frown taken slightly off guard by the bluntness

“All right. I... Yeah. That's good.” Mando says hesitantly.

“Forgive the programming. He's a little rough around the edges. But he is the best.” Ran says moving towards the ramp of the Crest and Mando turns to him.

“How can you trust it?”

“You know me, Mando. I don't trust anybody. Just like the good old days, Mando. Huh?” Ran says pressing the button on his way off leaving you with his crew. Guess you were stuck with them. Zero taking control of the ship takes off you all leaving Ran’s space station off to your mission.

The usually open ship felt crowded with this many people, you were sat in a corner your hand clutching your blaster a small cloth polishing the weapon. You enjoyed the silence that came with being with a Mandalorian who doesn’t conversate and a child would just make small noises.

“Will you sit down?” Xi’an says to Burg who is pacing on the ship having nothing better to do. He knocks the dagger she was holding between her hands and she hisses at him. Mando was up in the cockpit leaving you with these strangers, just until this is done with. You see Mando coming from the cockpit making you relieved. You see Burg fiddling with something and he opens up Mando’s gun cabinet right as he arrives. His hand slams against the door shutting it and glaring at Burg who holds his hands up,

“Hey, okay, I get it. I'm a little particular about my personal space, too.” He says and you see Mando take a step forward invading his space when Mayfeld comes between the two of them.

“So, let's just do this job. We get in, we get out, and you don't have to see our faces anymore.” Mando scoffs stepping back and leaning against the wall beside you as you look at him. Do we seriously have to work with them? He sighs looking away and reading the look on your face.

“Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian,” Burg says sitting himself down on one of the large crates.

“Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say.” Mayfeld says looking to Mando as his gaze is set straight forward.

“Then why are they all dead?” Burg says making them all laugh minus you and Mando. You glance at him quickly reading his body language. That was probably a sensitive subject. You had only known stories of the Mandalorians and how they were the strongest warriors in the galaxy, known to never lose. Until they were all eradicated during the rise of the empire.

“Well, you flew with him, Xi'an. Is he as good as they say?” Mayfeld says looking over at the woman and she smirks.

“Ask him about the job on Alzoc III.”

“I did what I had to.” Mando’s voice is cold and sharp you’ve never heard him speak like that. Xi’an grins knowing she hit a nerve.

“Oh, but you liked it. See, I know who you really are.”

“He never takes off the helmet?” Mayfeld says looking over the beskar armor that covers him, not a speck of skin was in sight. You also had no idea what he looked like. Was he even human, you didn’t even know his name.

“This is the Way.” He repeats the words of his creed and Mayfeld chuckles

“Huh. I wonder what you look like under there. Maybe he's a Gungan. Is that why you don't wanna show your face?” He looks over at Xi’an, “You ever seen his face?”

Xi’an shrugs, “A lady never tells.” You wanted to gag with how obviously she wanted Mando, was she blind as well to see he was uninterested in her? And you could sense it, she’s never seen his face from the rapid beating in her chest.

“Aw. Come on, Mando. We all gotta trust each other here. You gotta show us somethin'. Come on. Just lift the helmet up.” Mayfeld pries at him and you could tell he was feeling uncomfortable.

“Just leave him alone, you’re like children.” You spat from your corner and you see the four of them look over at you, the three of them almost forgetting you were there.

Burg steps closer a grin on his face as he leans straight into your personal space making you lean back. “So does that mean you’ve seen his face? I would too for a pretty thing like you. Mando didn’t take you to like them young.” A click fills the room as Burg feels two blasters press against him. One right against his head the other in a more sensitive spot.

“Make one more comment and you won’t have a bloodline to continue. And I’m seventeen, jackass,” Your finger rest on the trigger glaring straight into his eyes while Mando presses his blaster further into his temple.

“Better not test her,” Mando says the hull dropping several degrees. While they had only heard rumors or had experienced the Mandalorian ruthlessness, they had no idea what they were dealing with when meeting you. You could throw him across the room with the flick of your fingers but you settled with possibly maiming him.

Burg steps back standing on the other side of the ship not wanting to deal with the wrath of the Mandalorian and this child. He hits a panel and it opens up revealing the child awake from his nap looking up at him with wide confused eyes.

“Whoa! What is that?” Burg says the past interaction is completely forgotten by him. Mando holsters his weapon giving you a look. You nod at him letting him know you were okay as he moves over to the child.

“Wait a minute. Did you two make that? Huh?” Mayfeld looks between Mando and Xi’an who shakes her head, “What is it, like a pet or somethin'?” Mando says pulling Burg away from the child.

“Yeah. Something like that.” Mando says and Mayfeld looks almost surprised.

“Didn't take you for the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft.” Xi’an says not expecting him to have any real connection to anything.

“Me, I was never really into pets,” Mayfeld says looking at the child and Mando, Yeah, I didn't have the temperament. Patience, you know? I mean, I tried, but never worked out. But I'm thinkin' maybe I'll try again with this little fella.”

“Dropping out of hyperspace now.” Zero’s voice calls out, “Commencing final approach, now. Cloaking signal, now. Engaging coupling now. Coupling confirmed. We are down. And relax. Commence extraction now.” The ship jerks to a halt making you all trip up. Your hand slams against a wall to stop yourself from falling and you hear a cry come from the child.

“Useless droid didn't even give us a proper countdown,” Xi’an says standing up and wiping the invisible dirt off her. You see Mando grabbing the child calming his tears before putting him back into his cradle.

“Z, are you sure they can't see us?” Mayfeld calls out to the cockpit.

“The Razor Crest is scrambling our signature and I am inside the prison system. It's impressive that this ship had survived the Empire without being impounded.” Zero calls out, and you all prepare.

“All right, we got a job to do. Mando, you're up.” Mayfeld says as Mando crouches down opening a hatch on the bottom of the ship showing another that lets them enter the New Republic ship.

Mayfeld climbs down checking around before motioning down the rest of you, Xi’an then Burg followed by yourself then Mando all climb down now in a hall of the Republic ship. The empty halls, floors, and ceilings are pristine and clean.

“Zero. Get us to the control room.” Mayfeld says through his comm and Zero responds,

“Sublevel three. Disabling onboard surveillance.”

“All right, we're on the clock. Second, we engage those droids, they're gonna be all over us.” Mayfeld says as you all begin to travel through the halls.

“Bio trackers activated. I've got eyes.” Zero says having hacked through the surveillance system of the ship. The ship was quiet as you travel through corridors of the prison ship, passing by doors containing both humanoid and alien prisoners.

“I don't like this,” Mando says and Xi’an looks over her shoulder.

“You always were paranoid.”

“Is that true, Mando? Were you always paranoid?” Mayfeld asks not expecting the bounty hunter to be like that.

“Approaching control room. Make a left at the next juncture.” Zero calls out as you all make a left at the juncture, weapons ready for anything. They expect droids to be there but instead just a mouse droid scurrying around the hall. Burg puts his blaster behind his back slowly stepping forward as if to tame a wild animal.

“What? It's just a little mousey. Come here, little mousey.” “Burg.” “Mousey, come here. Come here.” “Burg!” Seeing the droid trying to flee he growls pulls out his blaster and shoots it. The loud bolt from the blaster sends the droid flying.

“No! Burg, what are you doin'?” Mayfeld says having failed at calling him back

“What?”

Turning just around the corner comes six N5 sentry droids, “Intruder alert. Open fire.”

They quickly take shelter from the blaster bolts at the edges of the corridor but the droids were only getting closer. “We're too exposed here,” Xi’an shouts out.

“If they get a signal out, it's not gonna matter,” Mayfeld yells back pulling out a blaster that was attached to his harness. Looking back to see what the Mandalorian was doing to see both him and the girl gone. Those damn cowards. Mayfeld’s thoughts are quickly ended as both you and Mando ambush the droids from behind.

You slid on your knees slicing one of the droid's feet off and making it topple over, spinning on your knees to face them you throw your dagger making it dig into another of the droid’s chest. Mando shoots down one of them before one droid grabs him hurling him against a cell door where he engages in a fistfight. Dodging a blaster bolt rushing towards the one with your knife stuck in its chest you drag it across its chest slicing off the arm holding the blaster. Kicking it in the chest making it crash into the wall.

“Mando, let's go! You're supposed to be somethin' special.” Mayfeld yells out as Mando breaks free from the droid turning towards you and holding his hand out.

“Down!” He yells and you drop down as his flamethrower burns two droids as they melt together. You stand up your blaster firing at the droid he was once fighting in the head, while he shoots at the droid you cut the foot off. The six droids lay dead around you, oil and parts surround the two of you. The cheers from the prisoners witnessing the fight. “You good kid?” He looks at you silently checking you for injuries and you nod.

“I’m fine Mando.” You say as the three people working with Mayfeld walk past you. Xi’an gives you a look and you roll your eyes. Was she seriously jealous that you were fighting alongside Mando? Burg glances at you and you glare at him and he looks away.

Mayfeld walks past the two of you, “Make sure you clean up your mess.” You roll your eyes as you follow after him.

“Thank you both for winning the fight we were clearly losing.” You mumble under your breath glaring at Mayfeld’s back. Mando was lucky to have his helmet on as it covered the small smirk that grew on his face hearing your mumbles. You continue your way through the halls not coming into contact with any more droids as you grow closer to the control room. The door to the control room lies in front of them as Mayfeld pulls out his comm.

“Z, open the door!”

“But I'm detecting an organic signature.” Zero responses but Mayfeld ignores it.

“Yeah, okay. All right. Just open the door!” The doors are already opening right as you sense what’s behind the door.

“Stop!” The New Republic soldier stands there his blaster between his hands pointing it at all of you, “Just stop right there. You put down the blasters right now.” You all slowly stalk into the room the roles being reversed until he’s cornered by Burg and Xi’an as Mayfeld heads toward the controls.

“Nice shoes.” Burg comments looking over his pristine uniform, “Matches his belt.”

“Put down your blasters.” The soldier demands still holding it out.

“There were only supposed to be droids on this ship,” Mando says looking back at Mayfeld and the very human soldier.

“Hang on, hang on. Let's see here. Uh...Cell two-two-one.” He finds the location of the cell retrieving the information before coming over to you all and the outnumbered soldier. “All right, now for our well-dressed friend.” A blaster is aimed at Mayfeld who puts his hands up, “Whoa, whoa. Hey, hey. Easy. Easy, egghead. Put that down. Put that down. Come on. Easy. Put it down now!” Mayfeld’s calm voice grows harsh as his blaster comes out and Mando steps through.

“Easy. Nobody has to get hurt here. Just calm down.” Mando says holding his hand out and the soldier grabs a small device.

“What is that thing?” Burg asks and you see Mayfeld’s eyes widen.

“It's a tracking beacon.” Mayfeld says his grip on his weapon tightening, “He presses that thing, we're all done. A New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Put it down!”

“Are you serious?” Xi’an says anger flashing across her face.

“Yes, I'm serious,” Mayfeld yells back his gun pointed at the solider,

“You didn't think we needed to know that tiny little detail?” Xi’an spats back and Mayfeld yells back.

“I didn't think we'd get to this point.” Xi’an scoffs her daggers clutched between her hands,

“Yet here we are.”

Mayfeld looks back at the Twi’lek, “Are you questioning my managerial style, Xi'an?” “No, sir.” You step in front of the blaster aimed at both Mayfeld and the soldier, holding your hands up showing you were unarmed.

“Hey. Listen to me,” You say calmly holding your hand out, “Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me, okay? Look. Hey. Put it down.”

“Are you crazy?” Mayfeld yells at you but you stay focused on the soldier who had fear in his eyes. “Put it down.” He demands.

“What's your name?” You ask

“It's Davan. Davan.” The solider, Davan says and you nod,

“We're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life.” You say promising him.

“No, we won't,” Xi’an says and Mando looks over at her.

“Hey. You realize what you're gonna bring down on us?” He says while you keep your focus on Davan.

“You think I care about that?” Mayfeld disagrees.

“We're not killing anybody. You understand?” Mando says and when Mayfeld tries to grab you when a blaster is pointed at him by Mando.

“Get that blaster out of my face, Mando,” Mayfeld says and Mando shakes his head refusing,

“I can't do that.” “Get that blaster out of my face, Mando!” You see a hesitant cross Davan’s face.

“Just give me the beacon.” You say and the weighing feeling covers you and you see Davan’s shoulder’s relaxing slightly his grip on his weapon faltering and his hand begins to rise with the beacon. A dagger jabs his neck as he collapses to the ground. You whip around seeing Xi’an holding her hand out a knife no longer in her hand.

“What is wrong with you!” You shout stepping towards her and she steps forward challenging you. “I had it under control.”

“Yeah. Looked like it.” Your hand moves to your blaster while her to her knives. A hand latches on your shoulder pulling you back and you look seeing Mando.

“Was that thing blinking before?” Burg says and you all look down at the blinking beacon lying in the dead republic soldier’s hand.

“Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld.” Mayfeld instantly grabs his comm yelling into it.

“I've detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately 20 minutes.” Zero responds and curses but Xi’an is already out of the control room.

“We only need five.” She says and you all rush after leaving the dead body behind. The halls were empty until you run into a large black hover security droid. Burg hurls the droid to the floor with brute force, and when another appears just around the corner he hurls the first fallen droid. The two droids collide before making a loud explosion and bursting into flames. You all hurry through the halls Mayfeld leads you all as you reach a prison cell.

“Z, open it up.”

“You have 15 minutes remaining.” Zero reminds you all as you hear the mechanisms work.

“Come on, come on. Open it up!” The door opens and you can’t see who’s inside standing to the side checking for any security droids.

“Qin,” Mando says as another Twi’lek male steps out looking at Mando.

“Funny, the man who left me behind is now my savior.” He says and all of a sudden Burg's body slams Mando into the cell Mayfeld slams the door closed.

“Brother!” “Sister.” Qin and Xi’an hug, brother and sister reunited as you stand silently in shock. They betrayed Mando…they betrayed you all.

“Mayfeld, I’ve learned some interesting information. Y/n L/n a high-valued bounty…for the Bounty Hunter’s Guild.” Zero’s voice comes through Mayfeld’s comm and the four of them slowly turn to you as you look back at them.

“KID RUN!” Mando shouts through the bars and you instantly take off dodging blaster fire from Mayfeld and knives from Xi’an. You shoot at one of the control panels for the door as it slams shut behind you and it dents where Burg slams into it.

“Damnit find the kid and quick! Attack’s on the way.” You hear Mayfeld’s voice through the doors as you run through the halls. This place was like a maze and without a map or guide telling you, you weren’t sure if you were going to run into Mayfeld and the others or get back to the Crest. Peeking around a corner and seeing no droids you make your way through the halls your blaster gripped between your hands.

“Kid..kid can you hear me.” The comm attached to your belt comes through and you grab it.

“Mando! This place is a maze I don’t know which way is to the Crest or how to get back to you!” You say turning down another hall barely dodging a group of droids passing by.

“I’m alright, don’t worry about me. Just worry about getting to the Crest, whatever you need to do.” You hear him say and suddenly the lights go out all around you before the emergency lights come on flashing a deep red, “Don’t hold back kid, you hear me.” He knew what he was saying with not holding back. He knew you were capable of looking after yourself, especially with what he’s seen you do that he’s only seen one other person do and that child being on the Crest.

“You have a potential problem. He has escaped.” Zero says to the group of them as they travel through the halls, they were trying to get back to the Crest while also looking for the girl. The money they would get for the bounty would be unreal.

“I told you we should've ended him.” Xi’an hissed turning to Mayfeld who glares back.

“I know.”

“This is your fault!” “I know!” The four continue through the halls before they hear a rumble shake the ship making them grab something to not fall over.

“Is it the Republic?!” “No, we still have time!” The lights go dark before the emergency lights come on flashing a deep red. The four go back to back looking around, this had to be Mando’s doing. But what caused that deep tremor? The sound of footsteps and they look forward to seeing appearing under the flashing lights.

“It’s the girl! Burg grab her!” Mayfeld says seeing her without a weapon in her hand as she looks at the four of them. Burg steps forward a smirk across his face when his legs become cement and he freezes in place. The others look at the man confused why he wasn’t moving.

“Move Burg!” Xi’an hisses and Burg tries moving his body paralyzed.

“I can’t!” He growls out and Mayfeld looks forward his blood running cold. The lights flash red then darkness but he sees you. You hold your hand out concentrating on Burg as he’s frozen in place.

“Shut the door!” Qin yells and Mayfeld pulls out his blaster when you flick your wrist and his blaster goes flying across the hall sliding right in front of your feet. The four of them look at you with confusion and fear in their eyes. You smirk slightly pushing your hand out and both Burg and Xi’an go flying into another corridor right as the blast door closes separating them. Mayfeld and Qin look back at you but you’re gone.

The halls are silent, all of them split up across the ship, both the Mandalorian and this child picking them off one by one. Mayfeld walks through the halls his blasters in his hands the other attached to his back. He looks through the halls looking for danger, he would rather deal with droids than you or Mando. He had never seen anything like that and had no idea what you were. Turning around the corner he approaches an open blast door the flashes of red light to darkness didn’t help his growing nerves. The sound of footsteps makes him freeze and turns towards the sound shooting out the blaster bolt lighting further down the hall. Silence fills the halls again before he hears footsteps again this time coming much faster heading straight toward him. He sprints away shooting at the control panels making the blast doors close behind him but the loud sound of metal bending makes him run fast. Shooting at one more control panel and the blast doors come down completely Mayfeld sighs in relief unaware of the other person in the corridor with him.

Qin was able to find his way back to the ladder leading to the Crest just about to climb out of it when his limbs freeze in place on the ladder. Appearing from the shadows is Mando a blaster pointed at him, “Qin..” Mando says and the Twi’lek regains the feeling in his body as the girl they were after appears from behind Mando, and the bounty hunter can sense you standing beside him.

“You killed the others.” Qin asks and Mando is still staring at him, “You know what this kid can do?” He looks over at you and you’re silently watching him.

“They got what they deserved,” Mando responds. He hadn’t known exactly what you’ve could do but only caught what he saw on the surveillance camera what you did in the corridor with the four of them. It was only adding more information to an incomplete puzzle.

“You kill me, you don't get your money,” Qin holds his hands up when the blaster cocks back humming with energy, “Whatever Ran promised, I'll make sure you get it, and more. Come on, Mando….be reasonable.” Mando is silent as Qin tries persuading him, holding his wrist out willing to be detained if it bad the Mandalorian feel better.

“Huh? You were hired to do a job, right? So do it. Isn't that your code? Aren't you a man of honor?”

Zero finds the Child hiding in his room after looking for him around the ship. The Child raises his right hand ready to defend himself with a power he didn’t understand. A blast comes from the droid and the child looks at his hand surprised before the droid slumps over revealing the Mandalorian and yourself.

Entering the hangar on Ran’s space station, he looks surprised seeing the ramp come down and only Mando, Qin, and yourself are there. Qin and Mando walk down the ramp as Qin and Ran embrace.

“Where are the others?” Ran asks looking past him towards the ship expecting them to come out only meeting your gaze coldly looking back, your hand resting on your blaster.

“No questions asked. That's the policy, right?” Mando reminds him and Ran looks back nodding slowly,

“Yeah. That is the policy.”

“I did the job,” Mando says and Ran pulls out a bag of credits tossing it to him,

“Yeah, you did.”

Mando staring back just nods, “Just like the good old days.”

“Yeah, just like the good old days.” Ran returns the sentiment slightly reminiscing before Mando returns onto the ship closing the ramp but Ran couldn’t shake off the feeling of your gaze as the ramp closes before you turn away. Ran and Qin watch the Razor Crest power up and depart from the space station.

“Kill him,” Ran says out loud looking over at Qin before moving towards a panel and pressing a button. Lifting from below a gunship already beginning to power up.

Qin nods grabbing his belt feeling something, pulling it off seeing a beeping device, “What's this?” Ran’s eyes widen seeing the tracking beacon.

“That bastard.”

The Razor Crest narrowly avoids multiple X-wings exiting hyperspace. The three of you are seated as you leave this interesting mission behind. Mando unscrews the ball off the lever passing it to the child who happily accepts it.

“I told you that was a bad idea,” Mando says and you look over at him.

“You said? I was the one from the beginning!”

The child watches the two of you bickering as you continue your travels in the galaxy.

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #clan of three series #the mandalorian #din djarin x jedi!reader #din djarin x y/n #din djarin x reader #din djarin x teen!reader #mando x reader #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin

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nyuusayuri · 10 months

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Captain Koby x Reader

Unbreakable Bonds [Part 1/3]

Warnings: Upcoming smut in Part 2, slight swearing, mention of smoking

I apologize for upcoming spelling mistakes, but English is not my native language - hope you still enjoy it!

Everything was dark as my consciousness slowly seemed to return. My back hurts, as if I had fallen 5m and landed on a cold board. Probably because it was like that. Except that at the last second my fall was gentler than expected. Grumbling, I held my head, which was buzzing like it did after 3 nights of partying with Shanks and his crew. Still slightly dazed, I opened my eyes a crack and realized that I was in a dark, cold room with no windows to let in some light. Only the bars opposite of me, behind which I could see light and a lonely desk with a chair.

I sat up heavily and held my back the next second when a sharp pain shot through me, causing me to grit my teeth tightly to keep from accidentally crying out. Parts of my memory from yesterday flashed back to me and showed me how, after a fierce battle against the Marine, at some point I only saw smoke and was almost crushed under the wreckage when I tried to escape. But only almost. I can only vaguely remember the hint of something...pink. "What rubbish. Why did the damn Marine have to show up at exactly this time." To my right, I heard the click of a lock and decided to continue pretending to be asleep in order to perhaps find out more about my whereabouts.

"I'm sorry, Vice Admiral. Seems like the prisoner still hasn't woken up. I'm not surprised by the blow you gave her." "It doesn't matter. Sooner or later she'll have to wake up and talk. Those damn pirates are really nothing but trouble. We'll take her to Captain Koby's ship at the next port anyway. I have something else to do other than dealing with these annoying pirates. I'm sure he'll get something out of her,"came an annoyed voice, sounding so deep and rough, as if someone was inhaling nothing but smoke. But in a strange way it still sounded quite pleasant. "Ai ai Vice Admiral Smoker. We will inform the other ship immediately." The next moment the footsteps moved away again, but I stayed there until the door closed.

So Vice Admiral Smoker. It's a miracle I escaped with my life if he was the one chasing me. For all the hours that passed I tried desperately to find a way out, but unfortunately the Marine had thought these cells through really well, so in the end I had no choice but to give up and sit in a dark corner. "Then I guess I'll have to think about something while they try to transport me to the other ship." Sighing, I let my head fall against the wall behind me and stared at the ceiling. I still have these hazy memories of something pink, but I can't even think of what that could have been. "Hmm... I would be interested to know who I owe my life to. Even I would have barely survived a fight against Smoker." And so time passed until the ship finally seemed to dock at the next harbor. The only thing I noticed was the jerky movement of the ship as it was tied up, along with the hasty footsteps of the crew milling about on the deck above me, trying to prepare everything for a safe transport.

The next moment several Marines ran down the stairs and burst through the door. Everyone lined up, some seemed nervous and almost shitting their pants, while others showed no emotions and this was probably an everyday occurrence for them. A short time later he appeared in all his glory. Vice Admiral Smoker. Or how I liked to call him: Mr. Smoking hot. He looked at me grimly and I just responded with a mischievous grin. “Well, look at that. If that's not my good old Smokey." I slowly walked towards the bars and clutched them with both hands as I leaned closer to him. "I heard you wanted to push me away. And I thought we were finally getting closer." “Don’t even try it Y/N. That hasn't worked for me before and it won't work now either. We're transporting you over to Captain Koby's ship. He'll have more time for your little games than I do." Annoyed, he pulled the corners of his mouth down, at least as far as he could with two cigars in his mouth, before he gave the order to get me out of the cell and put me in chains.

On the way outside, after what felt like an eternity, I got some fresh air again and enjoyed the warm rays of sunshine on my skin. My eyes didn't seem too excited about the sudden brightness, though, so I had to squint them in order to not get blinded. "Smoker-kun!" A very bright and joyful voice came from a distance and seemed to be slowly approaching. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and I could finally see clearly where we were. Near another ship I saw 2 strange figures. One had long blonde hair and a... very strange chin. When I looked at the other one next to him my body froze and my eyes went wide. That pink hair. No! That can't be! It was him...who saved me? A Captain of the Marines? "Come on! Move, you miserable priate scum!" One of the soldiers behind me pushed me forward with a shove in the back, I gave him an angry glance and continued to walk.

We walked straight towards the other ship and I could see more and more clearly who was actually standing in front of me. Captain Koby smiled and greeted his superior and then turned to me. Even though he didn't give me a smile like he did the Vice Admiral, I still felt a certain tenderness on his part. "Don't worry, Smoker-kun. Leave it to me. I'll get her to tell us something about the scroll." I looked at him in shock. The scroll! So that's why they hired someone as high as Smoker to target me. I twisted my mouth in annoyance and lowered my gaze to the floor. This could get funny.

#one piece #koby one piece #coby one piece #coby #koby #captaincoby #captainkoby #xreader #smut #lemon #fanfic #fanfiction #reader #smoker #vice admiral smoker #koby x reader #coby x reader #x reader

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silverskull · 5 months

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Nobody asked me (i.e. the one Anon that has been going around asking EVERYONE "why Tim disrespected Lucy"), but yo. Show me you are emotionally immature, plotline inexperienced and have low critical thinking skills, without etc., etc.

Tiktok and IG are POISON. Like, neither of them are a community. Just rampant rumour mills and toxic takes. I miss the old days of boards and yahoo groups, where you had threads and categories and actual discussion.

I want the show to be popular. But the more people that have joined the fandom (however temporary they might be - and please, if you say you're going to go, then JUST. GO. I don't want you here.) the more awful the space has become. It's just anger, self centeredness and panic. And not even the fun kind.

I know I can mute and block, and I do - trust me. But it's not enough. The psychotic or infantile takes from one-line tiktok comments always makes its untraceable way back to my curated feed.

I used to be a baby in a fandom of elders. I had stupid ideas and childish notions. But I wasn't in an echo chamber and I had to read through threads and the wiser opinions of adults who had life experience (of life, of shows, of relationships - just experience) and I listened. I threw tantrums ("ugh, she's got boyfriends other than the one I ship her with, she's A WHORE") that were SO. BAD. Like, of their time, but so bad. But I couldn't help encountering reasonable opinions all the time, because of the nature of the group/board. And it not only developed my critical thinking skills far better than almost any theory I was studying at school, it calmed me and educated me on plotlines AND real life.

One line comments in a race to the bottom on IG or TT will never compare to that, and it's exacerbating the eternal panic element that exists in large fandoms. Those platforms are NOT designed for discussion or interaction, only for gathering numbers. The worst things will always get to the top and more people will see them

And then we all live with this constant edge of worry or fear, because where did that one weird thing I heard about come from??? What if it's right? Why does this stupid thought have to live in my brain now and how do I stop the nosedive?

And you can't. You can't find the original post and add your considered opinion. There is no room for that. TT and IG do not want your opinion. They want high-view content, and reasoned fandom discussion is NOT that.

Also, these phrases are IRRITATING AS FUCK:

-called it/calling it now

-just as I predicted!

-(actor) told me...

-"terrible writing"

-[the show creators] didn't expect this kind of fan reaction!

-if not X then I'm leaving! (doesn't leave)

Okay, peace.

#chenford #fandom #i want the youth to have what i had #but not if it ruins my experience

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three-headed-monster · 2 months

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brandt/luke: a primer

i'm gonna be super honest, there's nothing that's prompting this. it's quite literally self-indulgent for me to archive their interactions before i forget them all!

so hello ! welcome ! if you're here, i presume you're clicking because you're like 'what the fuck is this, luke hughes and who now?' and yeah that would be me too if i didn't know the background information

but it exists!!! and it has spiralled far beyond my wildest dreams and become an actual Thing that i would consider one of the ships i ride the HARDEST for!!!!!! that i have somehow convinced my closest friends to also ride for, which is the biggest accomplishment for a ship, as we all know

here's who the ship consists of:

luke hughes!

(sorry he looks cursed but this is not a post about how attractive he is)

he was the 4th overall pick in the 2021 draft or smth, no big deal, just comes from an extremely talented hockey family and plays with his brother in new jersey now. used to play at the university of michigan, which unfortunately is an important setting for many, many rarepair ships. don't know if there are really any fun facts about him but he used to model for american eagle and got made fun of for that

anyways here's the second person in the ship, brandt clarke !

(did i choose a significantly better looking photo of him for this than with luke? yes, absolutely, because it's important that you think he's attractive)

8th overall pick to the la kings, former don mills flyer with shane wright and brennan othmann, former barrie colts captain, friends with jack quinn, etc etc. you may actually know him from that time he tried to jump the glass and fight a fan in the stands, i think that video went p viral on hockey twitter. the most important thing you know though is that he has more attitude and swagger in his pinky finger than the majority of people have in their whole BODY

so let's venture back to 2022, and how this all started, with a conversation between me and @fifthovertime about the greater toronto area and its hockey connections

toronto, as many might know, is considered a hockey hotbed, due to its abundance of minor hockey teams. it's where a lot of nhl players come from, and where a lot of players call home and return to in the summers.

luke, prior to moving to michigan with his parents and brothers so quinn could play with the ntdp, used to live in toronto while his dad worked for the leafs. at this time, there were a lot of other young budding stars in the area, brandt clarke included. he'd moved down from ottawa to play on a minor midget team in toronto, the don mills flyers, which was rival minor hockey team to luke's. however, since the toronto hockey scene was so tight (and because brandt's older brother was playing with luke's on the same team), they would periodically see each other and play pond hockey together. as kids do.

don't believe me? hear it from brandt himself. timestamp from about 2:55 of the video to about 3:55.

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this is what i like to call interaction #1. of course, it's really just brandt retelling a story, but it's the first time i heard about any sort of friendship between the hughes brothers and the clarkes. very wholesome, you can tell brandt really has a hero complex for luke and jack, it's frankly adorable.

and if you go back, you can even see that brandt was a really supportive friend! he commented on luke’s commitment post to umich and luke liked the comment, at the time

but they’re not friends. no, i’d call them far from that. because slowly....you can start to see that hatred is building........because brandt starts to know he's good enough to go fourth overall. and he would love to go to a team with his brother on it.....but there's another brother standing in the way of that.

he doesn't speak about luke in particular in this interview, but he definitely talks about njd as if he doesn't think it's a realistic option for him

youtube

at this point then, the narrative is pretty clear. it was once a friendship, that slipped away from both of them because of distance, and although brandt once had reverence for it, he’s soured on the idea. he wishes he could be good enough to play with his brother too. he hates that luke hughes is good enough at hockey to do it. luke to him is less so an extension of his brothers, but an obstacle for brandt to overcome, an obstacle that stands in the way of everything he wants.

but so far it’s been pretty one sided…right? it’s all kind of just been brandt’s feelings toward luke, right?

behold, the glorious moment that lives entirely rent free in my mind, every. single. day.

i soooo wish i had the video for this (screw tsn for wiping their archives so often) BUT TRUST WHEN I WATCHED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME I AUDIBLY GASPED.

he said it with so much fucking snark, and an EYE ROLL. the inflappable luke hughes, who has seemingly never let an opponent get in the way of him and his friends having fun and kicking ass at the same time, is bothered by a dig from brandt clarke. that didn't even mention him directly! that was more about techniques of the game than it was about the usa players! "he can say what he wants", but he didn't even say anything about YOU

genuinely, i will thank mark masters for bringing this up with luke forever, he's so valid for that, he knew we needed this narrative.

youtube

what's even better is that THE NEXT DAY during the semi-final? guess who scores the game-winning goal. and guess who just happens to be flopping like a fish on the ice during it, trying to prevent it from going in.

and thus brandt/luke is born! as taylor describes it as, it is bitch ass cunt (luke) for cunt ass bitch (brandt). they are each other's equals and opposites. they're both cocky and sure of themselves and can give it as good as it gets, and what they like about each other is what happens when that is stripped away. they are undoubtedly MY favourite luke hughes narrative, and the only one i feel truly captures his narrative essence, away from his brothers. sure, others are cute and i can see where people are coming from, but nothing gets luke as much as this gets luke.

this is luke, unfiltered, and it's only brandt that can bring it out of him.

#primer brought to you by the okay princess gc #taylor and i were literally on something ELSE the day we created them #like they are so brainrot inducing #please join in the brainrot friends #brandt clarke #luke hughes #brandt/luke #primer #brandt/luke primer #please come chat with me about them if you so please!!!#Youtube

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unpredictable-probabilities · 23 days

Text

At a Blade's End || Chapter 4: Intertwined

Summary:

It's the day of the party at Roderick's manor, and Morpheus is displeased with the appearance of Robert and his son.

Meanwhile, Hob finds out a little more about Morpheus, and Robyn talks about his mother to his new friend.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Word Count: 4,262

Square/Prompt: C1 - Healing Touch | @dreamlingbingo

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human Alternate Universe - Medieval, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood Blood and Injury, First Meetings, Canonical Character Death, Each chapter will have warnings if it contains any graphic violence

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56571808/chapters/149085661

———

Morpheus turned to Alex standing beside him when he heard a sigh.

The party had started a few minutes ago, and guests were milling around greeting each other and the master of the house. Servants walked by holding trays of food and drinks, while Morpheus was at his usual station during public events: standing guard beside Alex. The Magus might care very little for his youngest son, but he would still see it as an embarrassment if Alex were to be harmed in his own premises.

“Randall’s not even here anymore and yet this entire party is for his birthday,” Alex said wistfully. “Father must really love him.”

“Your father did not neglect to give you a gift for your birthday,” Morpheus reminded him gently.

“A wad of money and an order to spend my birthday outside of his house?” Alex raised an eyebrow at him.

“I seem to remember you eating your weight in pastries and buying three new horses that day.”

Alex finally smiled. “Thank you again for accompanying me and Paul. Father would have been suspicious if it had just been the two of us.”

Someone was approaching and Morpheus instinctively turned to see who it was.

“Speak of the devil,” he said playfully.

“A drink, Master Burgess?” Paul smiled and held out a tray with a single wine glass to Alex.

Alex wrinkled his nose and picked up the glass. “I told you never to call me that.”

Morpheus scanned the crowd of nobles and businessmen, as well as the other servants going around serving food.

“Let us go to the gardens,” he said. “Far from prying eyes. Our presence is not needed here and would not be missed.”

“Indeed, Father probably already forgot that I exist,” Alex joked halfheartedly as they made their way out.

“Then that means you're free for the rest of the day,” Paul said lightly, holding the tray down at his side. “Though I’d need to get back to the kitchen soon.”

“They would not notice your absence for a few minutes,” Morpheus reassured him. “The initial preparations are done and other servants would be taking a break now as well.”

“A few minutes would be enough,” Alex said and gently took Paul’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “We can all just breathe here away from the party.”

Quick footsteps rounded the corner, and a familiar boy came running towards them while giggling.

He stopped when he saw Morpheus and smiled brightly. “Mister Morpheus!”

“Robyn! Hold on a moment!” Robert came jogging after the boy, slowing down to a stop and catching his breath.

His gaze landed on their group, and Morpheus saw Alex and Paul immediately let go of each other’s hands. Robert’s eyes followed the movement, and Paul took a step back from Alex.

Morpheus tensed, mentally running through a list of excuses as to why they were here, but he decided it would be wise to let Robert speak first to ascertain what was going on in his mind.

“My lord,” Paul lowered his eyes, his voice wavering and his face a shade paler. “I was just— Master Burgess was—”

“It’s all right,” Robert said gently. “There’s no need to explain anything to me.”

“My father isn’t a scary man!” Robyn nodded vigorously. “He won’t get angry about broken cups or holding hands with your friends!”

Morpheus instinctively looked at Robert, who returned his gaze with a small smile. Was that why they thought he ran out of their house two days ago? Just as well. It was an exceptionally idiotic decision on his part; at the very least they weren’t suspicious.

“My lord,” Alex said politely. “I’m afraid I don’t know your name. I’m not familiar with all of my father’s guests.”

“Robert Gadling,” Robert stepped forward and held out his hand. “I take it you’re Alexander Burgess?”

Alex took the offered handshake. “Yes, Lord Gadling. I welcome you to my father’s home.”

“Just ‘Sir Gadling’ is fine,” Robert smiled.

“And I’m Robyn Gadling!” Robyn puffed out his chest and held out a hand as well. “Pleased to make your acquaintance!” he added in his small high voice.

Alex smiled and shook the boy’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Robyn. You know Morpheus?”

“I do! He visited our house the other day to bring the invitation, but he broke a teacup and got scared and ran away.”

Paul and Alex looked at him questioningly; they wouldn’t believe that he would get scared of such a thing. An explanation would be expected of him later.

“I apologise once more, Sir Gadling,” Morpheus said. “As well as for rudely leaving your home in haste.”

Robert shook his head. “Like I said, it was an accident. Really, it’s all right.”

“See!” Robyn beamed at Morpheus, then looked at Paul. “And my father also won’t be mad at holding hands so you don’t need to be scared! My father has servants too and sometimes they hold my hand while we walk and cross the street.”

Robert chuckled. “Indeed. And you can still hold hands with people even when you’re grown-up,” he addressed his son but smiled pointedly at Paul and Alex. “No matter who they are as long as you both agree to it.”

“Well said, Sir Gadling,” Alex raised his wine glass in a toast, looking happier than he had ever since the party began.

“What’s your name, Mister?” Robyn asked Paul.

“Ah, Paul McGuire, Sir Robyn,” Paul tipped his head, his eyes lowered.

“It’s just ‘Robyn’! I’m not old!” the boy’s face was scrunched up.

Paul smiled and met the boy’s gaze. “Pardon me. Robyn.”

The boy grinned. “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Paul!” he straightened his posture and extended his hand.

Paul seemed taken aback at the offered handshake, and he wordlessly accepted it.

Then the boy turned to Morpheus with his hand still held out. “We didn’t shake hands last time!”

Morpheus shook the boy’s hand. “It is a pleasant surprise to see you again,” he said, even though it was far from pleasant seeing him and his father. “I had the impression that your father was not attending this party.”

Robert cleared his throat. “Robyn wanted to check on your hand after it got cut from the teacup. He’d been running around the place looking for you ever since we arrived.”

“You got injured?” Alex furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

“It is of no consequence,” Morpheus held out his left palm. The cut had mostly closed, though he was still careful not to exert his hand so much.

“Shouldn’t you put a bandage on it?” Robyn asked worriedly.

Morpheus had considered it, but the Magus would inquire upon any injury of his out of worry that it would impede his duties, and Morpheus would rather not speak of it.

“It will heal,” Morpheus simply said. He had had worse injuries before.

“Okay…” Robyn said, though he was frowning. “Oh! You two can hold hands again now!” he said to Alex and Paul. “We don’t mind!”

“Ah, duck,” Robert knelt on one knee to be eye-level with his son. “Remember what I said about how other people can be mean and easily angered? Those people could also get angry when they find out that people hold hands. So it’s important that you don’t tell anyone that you saw them do that, okay?”

Robyn’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?! Why would anyone get angry about that?”

Alex smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like us, Robyn.”

Robyn frowned and looked at Robert. “Pardon my language, father. But I think that’s very stupid.”

Alex looked terrified for a moment and looked at Robert. Morpheus understood his fear; he would have received punishment if he spoke to his own father in such a way when he was that age.

But Robert just laughed good-naturedly and ruffled his son’s hair. “It is quite stupid, isn’t it? And while those people haven’t sorted themselves out yet, it’s important to protect these nice people. Do you understand?”

The boy nodded. “I promise not to tell anyone,” he said solemnly.

“Thank you,” Robert smiled at him and stood up again.

“Are you friends with Mister Morpheus?” Robyn turned to Alex.

Alex smiled, relaxed again now after seeing that Robyn faced no consequences at all for his use of language. “I am. He’s a nice person, too.”

Morpheus frowned at him. Alex had known since last year what jobs he did for the Magus, even though he did not know who the targets were. How could Alex still call him nice?

But Alex just met his eyes and grinned. “Even though he would never admit it,” he said pointedly before turning back to Robyn. “For my birthday two months ago he accompanied Paul and I to the city. We had cakes and rode horses for the better part of the afternoon.”

Robyn’s face brightened and he looked at Morpheus. “I knew you were nice!”

Morpheus said nothing; his stomach twisted at how the boy was looking at him with so much trust, oblivious to what Morpheus had almost done to his father moments before he arrived in the dining room two days ago.

“Pardon,” Paul’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “But I’ve been gone too long from the kitchen. I should return to my duties now, Morpheus. Sir Gadling, Robyn,” he nodded politely to them before turning to Alex. “... Alex,” he said with a small smile.

“Paul,” Alex returned the smile, evidently pleased that Paul addressed him by only his name.

With another bow to everyone, Paul made his way back inside.

“As for myself, I shall return to the party,” Alex straightened his waistcoat. “Father would be displeased if guests start asking him where his son is.”

“I shall go with you,” Morpheus said, grateful for any excuse to move away from Robert and the boy.

“No,” Alex shook his head. “You’ve been guarding me since before the party started. You should take a break like some of the other servants.”

“Alex,” Morpheus frowned. “You know your father tasked me to stand guard at your side.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “And we both know that no one has ever tried to harm me, and no one ever will.” He lowered his voice to be quieter. “Everyone knows I’m not important to my father and they have nothing to gain from me.”

“What?” Robyn furrowed his eyebrows. “I didn’t hear what you said.”

“Duck,” Robert put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’re not part of the conversation, it’s rude to ask.” Though from the somber look on his face, he had heard what Alex said.

Alex smiled at the nobleman and his son. “It was a genuine pleasure to meet you both. May we see each other again soon.” He looked at Morpheus and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t follow me. Take a break.”

Had it just been the two of them, Morpheus would have said exactly what he thought of the young man’s audacity. As it were, all he could do was clench his jaw and watch Alex go back to the party.

He startled and turned around when he felt a small hand grab his wrist.

“Are you really okay?” Robyn was looking worriedly at the cut on his hand.

“Yes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I…” he trailed off at the sound of voices.

They were at the part of the garden behind the manor, and if there were people nearby they would be on the other side of the walls separating the garden from the terrace wrapping around this wing.

He recognised Burgess’ voice. More likely than not, he and his guests were just viewing the outdoors from the terrace without putting themselves through the ordeal of actually going outside. But if Burgess decided to go in this direction he would find out that Robert Gadling has a biological heir…

“Excuse you to do what?” Robyn was frowning up at him in confusion, still holding his wrist.

“Robyn,” Robert said. “I think Morpheus might have to be somewhere else now.”

Were the voices getting closer? Or was he just getting too anxious?

“I… was thinking of showing you and your father around the gardens, Sir Robyn,” Morpheus said to the boy.

Robyn gasped in delight and tightened his grip excitedly. “Really?”

“Yes.” Morpheus looked at Robert. “If I may.”

Robert looked surprised but he smiled. “Of course. We’d be happy to walk around.”

Morpheus used his uninjured hand to grip Robyn’s wrist and pull him deeper into the gardens, away from the Magus.

***

Hob watched Robyn pull free from Morpheus’ hold to run ahead of them, slowing to a stop to peer at a butterfly that had landed on a patch of flowers.

Morpheus, despite having initiated the stroll, seemed a bit tense. He walked stiffly beside Hob, his eyes darting from time to time to the direction they came from.

“Is everything all right?” Hob asked. “If you need to get back to your work now, you don’t have to accompany us. I’ll take Robyn back to the party.”

“No,” Morpheus quickly said. “Sir.” He looked over his shoulder again.

“What’s wrong?” Hob frowned in concern. “Are we… hiding from someone?” He recalled the voices he heard shortly before Morpheus declared wanting to show them the gardens.

Morpheus looked at him, then turned his gaze straight ahead as they continued walking. He seemed to be finding the right words. “Lord Burgess… is not fond of children, sir. I heard his voice among that group. I did not want Sir Robyn to be subjected to his sour mood.”

Hob’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. Not about Roderick Burgess being a grumpy old man who disliked children, he would have expected as much. But he didn’t expect Morpheus to consider Robyn’s experience at the party.

“Thank you,” Hob said sincerely. “For making sure Robyn is comfortable. Especially since you should be taking your break now instead of accompanying us.”

“It’s no trouble, sir,” Morpheus said quietly, still staring straight ahead as they continued to follow Robyn who was now running in a zigzag pattern around the flowerbeds.

Hob wondered why Morpheus still seemed tense even as they walked away further from the party. Maybe he was often like that in Lord Burgess’ house? Hob wouldn’t be surprised if all the servants were always on-guard for that nobleman. But then Paul seemed far more relaxed earlier than Morpheus now.

“Paul and Alex are lucky,” Hob tried to lighten the mood. “That they have you to watch over them.”

Morpheus looked at him, as if not expecting him to acknowledge it at all. “They are young, and deserve to be happy,” he said in his quiet voice.

Hob smiled. Morpheus seemed aloof for the most part, but he evidently cared deeply for people. Hob remembered the raven pendant that he saw that night on the balcony, and his gaze lowered to Morpheus’ chest where the necklace had been. There was no trace of it now, save for a glimpse of a thin metal chain near his neck. It looked like Morpheus usually hid the necklace under his shirt.

There was the sound of a snapping branch, a flash of alarm on Morpheus’ face, and a surprised cry from ahead of them.

Before Hob could react to the sight of his son falling off a tree, Morpheus dashed from his side and lunged, catching Robyn just in time.

The momentum made them both fall over, Morpheus landing on his back with a grunt and Robyn on top of him.

Hob quickly rushed over. “Are you two all right?” He held out a hand to help his son stand up.

Robyn scrambled to his feet with Hob’s help, and immediately turned to face Morpheus who had now sat up on the grass. “That was amazing! You’re so fast and strong!” he was practically beaming.

Morpheus looked up at Robyn, and Hob could swear that the hint of a smile was forming on his lips. “You must be cautious, Sir Robyn. You could have been hurt.”

Robyn wrinkles his nose. “Why do you keep calling me that? I’m not old!”

There was almost a fondness now on Morpheus’ face. “You are the son of Sir Gadling.”

“You didn’t call Mister Alex ‘sir’ even when he’s the son of Lord Burgess!” Robyn said stubbornly. “Is it because he’s your friend?”

Morpheus nodded. “He is.”

“Can we be friends? Then you can call me Robyn!” The boy grinned triumphantly as if he had just solved a particularly difficult riddle.

Hob chuckled. “I’m afraid this is a battle you can’t win, Morpheus.” He held out a hand to help him stand up.

Morpheus hesitated a moment before accepting it and pulling himself up. The man had more weight to him than Hob would have expected, and his grip was strong before he let go of Hob’s hand.

“Oh no!” Robyn gasped, looking at Morpheus’ other hand. “I told you to put a bandage on it!”

Morpheus lifted his left hand; the cut had reopened and was beginning to bleed again. “I must have landed on some roots when I fell,” he had a frown that looked more curious than pained.

“Is it my fault?” Robyn’s eyes were filling with tears.

“No,” Morpheus said immediately before Hob could say anything. “Not at all. Robyn.” He smiled, then. A small thing, but real and soft.

Robyn still looked tearful, but he managed to return the smile.

“Let’s sit over there and have a look at that wound,” Hob gestured to a large flower bed forming a low stone wall around some plants.

Morpheus looked like he was about to protest, but Robyn grabbed the wrist of his uninjured hand and tugged him towards the flower bed.

“Come on! We're friends now, right? That means you have to let us help!” Robyn looked up hopefully at Morpheus, who relented and let himself be pulled along.

Robyn didn’t let go of Morpheus even as they sat down on the edge of the flower bed.

“The cut isn’t too deep and fortunately you won’t need stitches,” Hob said, taking a small pouch from his coat pocket. “Why didn’t you bandage it before?” He doubted that Morpheus didn’t have the knowledge or resources for it.

Morpheus furrowed his eyebrows as Hob took out the contents of the pouch. “Do you carry a medicinal pouch with you all the time, Sir Gadling?”

“I’ve had to since I realised my son has a penchant for running around outdoors,” Hob chuckled.

“Mister Morpheus, my father asked you a question,” Robyn gently tapped Morpheus’ arm. “It’s okay if you didn’t hear it! Would you like me to repeat it?”

Morpheus looked at Robyn with a curious gaze, and Hob was about to tell his son that it was alright if people didn’t want to answer questions sometimes. Morpheus seemed like a man who valued his privacy even with the littlest of things.

Then Morpheus looked down at the cut on his hand and spoke quietly. “Lord Burgess would have questioned the injury if he had seen a bandage. I felt… embarrassed. To admit the cause of it. As it is a failure on my part. And Lord Burgess would not like to know that his trusted servant carelessly broke a cup.”

Robyn looked heartbroken and angry, and Hob spoke before the boy could say some choice words about Lord Burgess. “You’re not needed by his side for the entire party, right? Perhaps we can bandage it for now and you can just remove it later when you have to go see him.” Hob knew that that was the best compromise they could achieve.

Morpheus was quiet for a moment and nodded wordlessly, holding his injured palm out.

Hob began disinfecting the wound with the liquid from the small clear bottle, hoping to himself that Morpheus wouldn’t remove the bandage as soon as he and Robyn were out of sight.

“I’m sorry…” Silent tears were rolling down Robyn’s cheeks. “I shouldn’t have climbed the tree.”

“It’s not your fault.” Morpheus gently freed his wrist from Robyn’s hold so he could wipe away the boy’s tears with his hand. “I was much like you when I was your age, you know?” he smiled softly.

Hob normally attended to Robyn whenever he cried, but right now he felt like he should keep silent as his son finally seemed to be achieving his goal of befriending the “shy, scared man”, as Robyn had referred to Morpheus that morning at breakfast.

“Really?” Robyn sniffled.

Morpheus nodded, seeming not to feel any sting at all as Hob finished disinfecting the cut on his hand and began wrapping it with a bandage. “I liked running and climbing trees, too. I even had my fair share of falling off them.”

“Did you have someone to make you feel better after, too?”

Morpheus’ smile faltered for a moment, and Hob remembered the raven pendant again. The friend Morpheus lost. “I did. So you mustn't blame yourself. I caught you because I did not want you hurt. That is all.”

Robyn nodded, wiping away the last of his tears. “Do you still climb trees now?” he asked curiously.

“Not as much. I’ve had to stop since…” Morpheus trailed off, looking as if he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Since…?” Robyn pressed, eyes wide with encouragement.

Morpheus took a moment before answering. “Lord Burgess does not like seeing us climb trees.”

“He doesn’t like so many things!” Robyn complained. “You’re big now! You’re not small like me! You should be allowed to climb trees whenever you want!”

Hob suddenly remembered that Morpheus was taken as a servant when he was a child. And what Morpheus said just a few minutes earlier…

“Lord Burgess… is not fond of children, sir.”

The pieces seemed to click into place in Hob’s mind. Morpheus said himself that he was as playful as Robyn when he was a child, but had to be less so because Lord Burgess didn’t like it.

Was Morpheus just as friendly and outgoing as Robyn back then? What could have happened to make him how he was now? How did Burgess treat him as a child for him to be concerned enough to lead Robyn away from the old man as fast as possible?

No good answers came to Hob’s mind and he willed himself to remain calm. Bursts of anger were understandable from someone of Robyn’s age, less so from a grown man.

“You’re allowed to climb trees, are you not?” Morpheus told Robyn as Hob finished wrapping the bandage. “With enough practice, you will master it and not have to worry about falling any longer.”

“I wish you can practise more too,” Robyn pouted. “Why is Lord Burgess so mean!”

“He lost a son, shortly before I came into this house,” Morpheus said quietly. “Randall. It’s his birthday today, that is why we have this party now. He died young, and Lord Burgess must have loved him so. Losing a loved one can make people angry and bitter.”

There was a quiet weight to those words, and Hob couldn’t help but wonder just how long ago Morpheus’ friend had died.

“No!” Robyn looked even more exasperated now. “My mother died of sickness when I was four summers old. My father and I loved her very much, but we didn’t turn mean!”

Morpheus glanced at Hob at the sudden reveal of information, and Hob gave him a reassuring smile that it was alright for him to know. It was four years ago, and while it still hurt, he no longer felt like a broken man.

“Father said we grieve because we love her. And love shouldn’t make you hurt other people!” Robyn had grown so impassioned in his speech that he had now tightly laced his fingers through Morpheus’, his small tan hand a contrast to the larger and paler one.

Morpheus gave a small smile, though Hob could see sadness in his eyes. “You are very wise, Robyn. And… so is your father.” He glanced at Hob, his smile becoming more polite. “Thank you for this, Sir Gadling,” he held up his bandaged hand.

“It’s the least I could do for you reacting much faster than I did when my son fell,” Hob smiled back.

“When I grow up, I wanna be as fast and strong as you, Mister Morpheus!” Robyn grinned, holding up their intertwined fingers and moving them back and forth excitedly.

“Why are you calling me that?” Morpheus asked Robyn, his head slightly tilted to the side. “We are friends now, are we not? Call me Morpheus,” he smiled.

Robyn gasped and dropped Morpheus’ hand.

Then he threw his arms around Morpheus’ shoulders, holding him in a tight embrace.

Morpheus made a surprised grunt and nearly fell backwards into the flower bed before regaining his balance. He looked at Hob with wide eyes, his hands awkwardly held up to the sides.

Hob laughed, feeling a warmth in his chest at how happy his son was, and how Morpheus had grown much more comfortable around them. “It’s only polite to hug your friends back, Morpheus,” he said to answer the man’s uncertainty.

Morpheus relaxed and tentatively put his uninjured hand on Robyn’s back. Then he met Hob’s eyes, his smile more sincere now than polite. “I am glad you came to this party. Sir Gadling.”

My friends call me Hob, Hob wanted to say. But he held himself back and just smiled and nodded.

———

<- (Chapter 3)

(Dreamling Bingo Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

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