#even tho it logically follows from what's on screen

[ladymajavader]

Just wanted to add to your excellent discourse (please ignore if your sick of it) that while clearly the show (really C*rina) wanted to give us the it's All Alex's Fault narrative in S1, 1x06 screwed that up for them. I think it was just a way to justify Alex getting involved in Jesse's alien agenda, but because the showrunner wasn't big on backstory, she didn't anticipate that all Alex's actions take on a very different flavor when he's viewed, like Michael, as a traumatized, abused adult.

it sometimes takes longer to regenerate the spoons to express myself, but the topic of Alex and *waves a hand* everything really is one I still have a lot to express about, so here goes.

I think you're right on the money that CAM didn't anticipate fandom's reaction to Alex. It's clear she didn't realize what Malex would mean to queer audiences, or she wouldn't have done what she's done with s2. Full disclosure, I realize there are queer fans who fully enjoyed it. I mean that for a lot of us, Malex was a first story of it's kind - a same sex Epic Destined Soulmates Shit. And it's partly why we've glomped so hard on it and consequently were horrified at how s2 tore that aspect of the story down (especially in the stark contrast to Echo's treatment). But just as importantly, I suspect she was quite (negatively) surprised at the reception of Alex himself.

She molded a lot of the RNM characters with a definite agenda (which I approve of, whatever her motivation), racebending and queering them etc. left, right and center. The issue is, she tacked on the various characteristics and backstories (insofar as she made them) without thinking through and realizing what consequences they would actually have for the characters, as in how they would inform their actions and our perceptions of them. The particular intersection of gay, disabled vet and CA survivor with PTSD, absent Indigenous mother and shitbag homophobic abuser father didn’t have any significant meaning to her, so why should it have to the audiences? It’s pretty clear from her interviews, that the teacher’s pet was Michael (and spoiler alert, not Trevino), the sexy bad boy whom she tried to mold into Dean Winchester formula, but made him explicitly bi and for more whump gave him more storied history of child abuse and queer trauma. Alex was supposed to be a backdrop for him, a make-out partner - it’s clear she never intended to explore his story or his point of view, didn’t even have the backstory on his time in the AF (cue his totally different rank in pilot vs rest of the series) or how he lost his leg (the story we heard in 308 is so criminally under-researched there’s no way they sat on it for 3 years; never mind that CAM openly admitted to not having backstories for characters at all just because). But if she wanted the audiences not to care (that much / more than about her darlings) for Alex, you are right, she screwed up.

106 did a lot of the heavy lifting here by exposing and accidentally hinting at the horrific abuse Alex went through. As you noticed, it made audiences view Alex’s actions through a different lens. We’ve realized for example what must’ve been his thoughts and feelings in 103, when he was confronted by his abuser, the same man who permanently disfigured Michael with impunity, now giving subtle hints how Alex just being seen with him is inappropriate... you get my drift. But! what’s fascinating, is that CAM didn’t. In one of the camsplaining tweets she mentioned that Alex was simply ashamed of Michael in this scene. And honey, you may have intended it this way, but just by giving a hint of this character’s backstory you’ve given us a completely different perspective, not our fault you can’t see it yourself.

106 backstory gave us the core of Alex’s motivations, making him a fascinating character we could start to understand instead of just a tortured gay lover #2 (the one who’s sole fault it is Malex doesn’t work out). Other episodes of s1 also showed us facets of Alex that complemented and filled out that silhouette, like showing us how the grown up abuse survivor confronts his abusers (forgive but not forget for Kyle, karmic retribution and stopping the harm with Jesse), how despite/due to his shitty family situation he’s the one taking care of the emotional needs of his childhood found family of Liz, Maria and Mimi (!), etc. etc. Notice that after s1, this branching out - Alex having storylines separate from Michael that show off his character - is severely curtailed if not stopped completely: all his interactions with Maria are about Michael, the entirety of Forlex is just a foil for Malex and so on. So I have a sneaking suspicion she (really, they) did realize they made Alex too relatable, too interesting, too bloody important to people, and needed to dial it back so this character could fall back into his predestined groove of the scapegoat for everything bad in Malex and in general. Because as we know, if in doubt, it’s All Alex’s Fault, but that’s a rant for a different occasion :)

[zeldasnotes]

UNDERRATED POWER PLACEMENTS

(According to me)

Cancer Moon

These people are so sweet and family oriented. But what Ive noticed with people with this placement is that they have that almost scary kind of cunning that we see in movies. This is a real ”femme fatale” placement. Ive had a lot of friends with Cancer Moon and they all had people fall head over heels for them. These women know how to use their femininity and societys view of women to their advantage. They know when to bring out Eve and when to bring out Lilith. This is the family matriarch placement. Ive seen the coldest of people fall for the charm of these women. And they dont need to do much, their energy does it for them. Think Marissa Cooper from The OC who constantly had people fight for her or Brooke Logan in Bold and the Beautiful who came from nothing and became the family matriarch of the richest family in LA. People want to be their knight in shining armour.

Virgo Mars

Mars is strategy and virgo is perfection. Combine these and we have a dangerous person who can make the perfect plan to reach a goal… or take you down. Aries Mars will beat you up and go to jail, Scorpio Mars will ruin your life and their own in the process, Cancer Mars will cry about it, Sag Mars will leave town owing you money but Virgo Mars? They will make the perfect plan and nobody will know it was them bc they are so cute and innocent. They have a purity in doing things so that people wont know its them, i think pisces and virgo have this in common. Being the puppeteer to not get their own cute innocent little hands dirty.

Moon aspecting Saturn

Yes this aspect can unfortunately make a person very insecure and horribly critical towards themselves. But they are also incredibly strategic. They think before they act and it comes naturally for them. These people can be cold as ice if they have to. They can turn off their feelings when needed, not saying that that is something positive or cool but in this world its sometimes needed. They are goal oriented and their often low self esteem (sorry) makes them incredibly perfectionistic and social climbers. These people are realists and use logic when making decisions instead of using their emotions. Because of this they almost always get what they want. Saturn is also all about social status and these people know how status works. They know how to behave to be taken seriously. In a room full of people these people know how to get noticed by important people.

Mercury aspecting Neptune

We all know these people have a good sense of fantasy so ofc they can be super good at coming up with ideas. But they also sound innocent and like they are less intelligent than they actually are, so people are not prepared for them. Nobody would think that cute guy with Mercury/Neptune who falls over words and pronounce words wrong on purpose could be calculating? These people know what to say to make you feel like shit just like Mercury/Pluto and Mercury/Mars but they will just do it in a nicer way. They also have soothing voices even tho its not as ”in your face” as Venus conjunct Mercury. Voices are actually proven to be very important when it comes to how people respond to you. A harmonious voice makes people want to believe you and it also makes people find you more attractive and more pleasant to be around.

Ceres conjunct Sun or Ascendant

Making people feel safe and nurtured around you is super beneficial bc there is nobody who can resist that. Not everybody fall for beauty or intelligence but most people will fall for someone who makes them feel safe and special. These people are just so soft and warm. Marilyn Monroe have Ceres in the 1st house and she had that plump look and comforting energy that ceres gives. It can even be felt through the screen. This makes these people attract a lot of admirers because you become addicted to being around them. People with mommy issues will follow these people like puppies.

©️ 2023 Zeldas Notes

[cloudycaffeinatedcryptid]

Which of the counselors would join fandom spaces, and what fandom would they join? :)

hrrrnng this is a good question, it makes the rusty cogs in my head squeak 🙃

right off the bat, Jacob dearest doesn't strike me as the fandom type, & Laura's prolly so busy that she wouldn't have time even if she wanted to. Jacob prolly has a reddit account tho, so take that as you will

Abi definitely has a tumblr, prolly post some of her art online & she definitely participates in fandoms - she's a bit more courageous behind a screen. 90% sure she reads fanfiction. i imagine she would be in fandoms like The Owl House & Stardew Valley & Legend of Zelda, but also stuff like Supernatural & old horror movies like the original Jeepers Creepers & The Exorcist. & also Scooby-Doo

Ryan obviously spends time in the fandom space of the Bizarre Yet Bonifide podcast & he prolly hangs out on the fanpages, swapping theories & answering questions. he's just vibing in the fandom with all his knowledge & special interest. he also like classic/old movies & he & Abi brainrot together sometimes about classic horror (& she makes him watch Scooby-Doo with her)

Emma lurks in her own fan spaces lmao. i believe wholeheartedly that she LOVES shows like Bridgerton & she posts about it as soon as anything new comes out. she also follows fashion week & the Emmys every year, & liveposts about it the entire time. her fans recommend her romance/romcom movies & sometimes she'll host a movie night on her stream to review it, other times she'll just post about it. most of the time, the fandom comes to her (when Abi visits & agrees to be on camera, they stream a movie night & watch scooby-do)

Nick is so bizarre he has a twitter account that he barely remembers & hasn't even finished fully setting it up yet & he doesn't check his notifications, but almost every time he posts something, ppl go crazy trying to figure out what the fuck he's talking about. so he kind of has his own little "fanbase", if you could call it that

Dylan's for sure a shitposter, but he also loves digging into the lore & secrets - especially of video games. he's a total Dr. Who nerd & he's prolly read the Sherlock Holmes novels. he cracks all that shit open like a cold one with all the other fans online & mentally red-strings everything he thinks about. Abi tells Ryan to make him watch Scooby-Doo, unaware that Dylan has seen all the cartoons & movies, & posts Scrappy-Doo hate

Kaitlyn & Max i feel like are both the type not to interact much online, also they do lurk from time to time. Kaitlyn's more likely to jump in if she sees someone being blatantly & snobbily wrong about something she knows intimately. Max tends to just reblog fanart he likes. i think Kaitlyn loves horror movies - Scream, Halloween, Final Destination, etc - & she throws popcorn at the screen when someone makes a dumb choice then goes to find complaints about the dumb logic online so she can agree with them. Emma forces her to watch Bridgerton, which she reluctantly loves

Max likes romcoms & has a soft spot for cartoons like Steven Universe, but he also gets into some crime dramas like Criminal Minds bc Laura likes them. a lot of art he reblogs online is pixel art, it's his favorite, but 80% of the time, anything with a nice color palette will get him. he also likes Scooby-Doo

i would love to hear others' opinions on this!

[route-to-eutopia-if]

I think quite a lot of "autors" are just looking for attention this way. A bit of fame. Create a blog, give a nice description of the upcoming WIP, collect compliments from excited fans, answer questions about ROs. And when they get bored, they disappear.

Fooling people like this to make yourself feel good is not okay. Especially, having patreon or ko-fi even though they haven't published anything yet 🤦

If someone seriously thinking about creating IF game, but it's still at such an early stage that there is nothing except plot idea and characters, maybe they should refrain from starting a public blog? This is better for both sides, imo - won't disappoint people who started following the project if doesn't work out and the author won't feel pressured to quickly please fans.

Fair points, Anon.

But then again, if the authors don't create public blogs to taste the water and see whether or not anyone would be interested in their work, there would be no point in writing/coding for hours and hours. So it goes both ways.

I'm not saying this to protect the IF writers, but there's a logic behind that scenario. As for Kofi or Patreon, it's simple. IF writers are human beings, they get bills to pay, rent and what not just like anybody else. If you're interested in their work enough to support them, then that's great. But there's no rules to say you need to pay for it if you don't feel like doing it.

I can understand the disappointment when a dev/author disappears into thin air without saying anything tho, but we don't know what happened behind the screens. And at the end of the day we are just strangers on the internet, we can only deal with our feelings and move on.

Focus on the present would be a good start.

[kendrixtermina]

Giving Doctor Who a New Chance, Part 3: The Giggle

It's nice that they're bringing back some classic villain, but I really wish they had the Toymaker butcher some other language. The gag is just not funny at all when you actually speak German

Ok, that's an illustrative montage of a mightyfine chaos

IDK what I think of this - set it up in a way that it can be reset again.

oooh, Mel is back! As a 6th Doctor fan, I appreciate this. Did not expect that. She still got that perky way of talking.

Having seen the eps he was in, slipping over a bottle of Vodka is exactly like Sabalon Glitz would die, but hey, at least he lived to a ripe old age.

Donna just landed herself a new job. I guess there's that duality in human's fluctuating confidence levels again cause she glibly asks for double but looks ecstatic that it worked

so, Donna doesn't remember in detail, but she got a rough glimpse

the guy playing the Toymaker IS pulling off the creepy clown act pretty well tho

I really liked that scene between Donna & the Doctor in the infinite cabinet with the Doctor re-evaluating his life choices.

That's another thing that's been missing, that fucking Chibnall didn't get - that the point of him, at the end of the day, is that he's just some guy. Somewhat wiser & tougher than a human, maybe, but still fundamentally just dude with wits & confidence. A trickster, a flawed person trying to do the right thing that through trickery ended up with this fearsome reputation. I used to think of RTD not getting it as much as Moffat did cause he did like overly savior-archetype-like plots sometimes whereas moffat emphasized the 'just a madman with a box' angle, but RTD gets it in this scene where we see the Doctor cringing at his past self for things he couldn't have foreseen & now he doesn't know what to do in a world that doesn't follow predictable rules

Because that's what they don't tell you about getting smarter, wiser or even just older - the price you pay for knowing better today is cringing at the awareness you used to lack. thats very real. you end up thinking you should somehow have known or done better even if you couldnt have.

there's certainly some thematic rhyming with the 'narrowmindedness-plague' afflicting the earth

Donna's dad is actually right. Good for him to be wary of the Hot Hand fallacy and its ilk. Missed a chance for an epic nerd reference

I dunno what to think about the concept of 'shift to fantasy', i wouldnt have done that & really turned more to harder & concept fanfiction, but i suppose it keeps thinks fresh without being repetitive (they cant keep destroying and un-destroying gallifrey all the time...) & the show has always been the very softest of sci-fi anyway - at leasts its set up in a way that it can be reset again or let future writers pick whatever they want. though i suppose it depends on how its done like, if possible without wholly throwing out humanist values. You can absolutely be a trickster in a fantasy story or fight crazy things with logic; Infinity train did it to great effect. I mean, the classics had far wonkier stuff like actual Vampires & whatnot.

i appreciate Donna rhyming while defeating the puppet

"jingsaw out of your history" thing imply that the timeless child thing was an in-universe retcon of sorts? Oh please. I mean I could kinda sorta accept 13 is she literally wasn't really the same character.

between this & the last episode it's pretty close anyway to the "every single backstory is true because of timey wimey ball" thing from the expanded universe fixed, on-screen canon. That I could live with. It's potentially deeply interesting that by virtue of getting tangled up in all the timelines the Doctor has in some ways been to many possible futures & possible versions of reality.

Former companions werent affected by the giggle thing cause it was a retroactive change made by the toymaker upon getting free

It's kinda sad that we'll never get to see the battle between the Master and the Toymaker because that must really have been something. Like two Jokers or Phantoms of the Opera fighting.

this is like when Q showed up on the bridge of the enterprise. Only much deadlier. I appreciate that the scene never stops feeling actually menacing.

I like how Mel also comes in to hold his hand, too, she's for realsies. (I guess this is how she makes up for making him drink all that carrot juice)

The "Alons-y" is a niftly little contrast/ bookend with 10s exit

My headcanon is that bi-generation absolutely WAS a myth, but that this is an extension of the whole breach in the logic/edge of reality storyarc being set up here, or really just the Toymaker thinking it would be fun to double them infinitely

I like how the Doctor mocks the Toymaker's fake accent with 'the ball' thing

The advantage with the ball game is, of course, that Fifteen has already seen it. He's fabulous alright.

I appreciate how they climb on each other at some point

I don't envy Kate, watching this absurd thing... humanity already got somewhat good at taking Sci-Fi threats on their own, but this they don't have context for. Maybe UNIT is gonna need a vault of magical artifacts now. I suppose you can play with that for a few seasons. Like how a contrast of fantasy & sci-fi elements worked in Madoka.

I like how Donna is casually putting her arm around 15

I guess 15 has reached that point where rather than cringe at your younger self you're able to have compassion. That's a good arc, actually.

aaand of course there's the obligatory sequel hook for the Master's return, to the surprise of no one

I like how the years with the lost memory weren't completely lost but Donna still learned something from them that allows her to send this message now

Soo Fifteen is basically taking advantage of the cartoon logic still being in effect until the end of the episode to duplicate the TARDIS. I bet it only worked because he picked the silliest possible hammer.

I appreciate how 15 makes sure to get one last Donna hug.

I do like that it kinda came down to self-love, self-compassion & knowing when to take a restorative break & all that. That's an important message these days.

So, the Nobles just deadass adopted the Doctor & Mel. Makes all the sense.

I always thought of Mel & the Doctor's dynamic as sibling-like (as opposed to Peri & the Doctor having a 'tsundere couple' energy & Ace who of course had a teacher/student thing), so I feel vindicated.

Also I appreciate how an older woman who didn't have kids but spent her life traveling & adventuring & doing what she wanted, & then ended up feeling a bit lonely because of it here simply ends up not lonely by finding friends / found family. Cause that's the fucking annoying gotcha they always hurl at you "Oh if you don't have kids & live the life you want you'll be lonely!" As if you can't have friends. Also, plenty of ppl who do have kids wind up lonely because the kids end up hating them.

I'm all for the Doctor catching a break. Very touching, honestly. & he's like actually a point where he wouldn't just run off & get side-tracked or brood on the inevitability of its end. (like he would have when spent those years with River)

Also sets an interesting background for 15 of course, as he'll be coming out of it 'fully rested', in a sense.

So, yeah, I do think I'm looking forward to what 15 will get up to. It was sort of a great way to introduce him in such a way that ppl will instantly like him for how he comforts his past self here.

It's also probably the ideal ending for Donna, cause, much like Rose & Clara she wanted to stay forever, & maybe now that she has a daughter & other responsibilities she won't want the big danger all the time, but the Unit Job & living with the Doctor in a house? That's prolly what she would have wanted.

(I wonder if they'll end up running into Martha & Mickey at her job, since Donna & Martha were buds that time they met. )

[dingergum]

(Characters are from @canisalbus)

Something very different from what i usually draw and from my last Vaschete fanart. I love those guys so i really wanted to make more fanart, but i didn't know what to draw exactly.

Here, i tried to paint Machete, Vasco and Smollchete in the style of the character portraits in Disco Elysium. I don't think i quite achieved that effect, but i still liked the end results.

Smollchete is further away from the usual character portraits in DE, but it was on purpose because i wanted to emphasize how he's just a little guy. And the little guy gets smaller and smaller...

In retrospective (because i finished this art a few days ago) Disco Elysium's style of painting doesn't really seem to mix the colors, which i did a lot here, specially on Machete. Also not a lot of gradients like i did on Vasco. They also shade with much more wild and different colors.

I'm going to put all the rest of my madman ramblings below. It's long and your mileage may vary if you played Disco Elysium or not (no spoilers tho.)

---

Okay, so... As i had the idea of making these disco elysium style portraits but with the gay catholic dogs, i had just beaten Disco Elysium. And so, as i was doing my things in my day to day life, waiting for the opportunity to actually draw them, i kept thinking about skill interactions with the boys, like if your main character talked to them and had enough points in the skill.

Things like Half-light identifying Machete as a brutal and hardened survivor just by looking at his eyes, but Physical Instrument doesn't believe that because Machete looks like just a spindly noodle. And Half-light would be like no bro, trust me, this guy is hardcore.

Shivers or Spirit-de-Corps would tell you how Machete is treated among his fellow bishops and how he's either vilified or seen as a tool. And at that Inland Empire would pipe in saying “He is treasured. But not here.” because yeah we love him. Despite almost everyone in his world hating his guts

Also yeah Reaction Speed clocking Machete as super paranoid. Specially considering maybe in this universe you'd be investigating one of his assassination attempts or maybe even something sinister that Machete had done.

Reaction Speed: “His eyes dart across the room, checking if you have any backup. Then, a twitch of the ear, followed by a sideways glance." Logic: "He is making sure he isn't being flanked.” Inland Empire: “But he's all alone...”

I also feel like Rhetoric would have a field day with Machete. Like, finally, a worthy opponent.

Empathy would get the feeling that despite his reputation, that there is someone else behind Machete's bug eyes, someone other than Machete, the pale eminence. If you have enough points in a skill, it would try to pipe in saying who they think it is, judging Machete (e.g: Authority: "A man superior to you."; Pain Threshold: "It's just sweet pain all the way to the bone."; Half-Light: "A survivor."; Encyclopedia: "The inside lining of the eye is covered by special light-sensing cells that are collectively called the retina. It converts light into electrical impulses. Behind the eye, your optic nerve carries these impulses to the brain. The macula is a small extra-sensitive area in the retina that gives you central vision.") concluding with Drama: "No one he'd want you to know, sire."

That would trigger a dialogue option for an Empathy white check to try and see who's actually behind Machete's eyes and see beyond his reputation and demeanor. I'd imagine you would get a +2 if you talked to Vasco before. And if you pass the check, the screen would go white and Machete's model and portrait would change to Smollchete and you'd be able talk to him for a moment, the little guy, and learn a little bit more about his backstory, stuff that he hides behind the Machete persona. That's why i painted Smollchete too. I don't think Empathy has this same kind of metaphysical effect like others skill in-game, but i thought it would be cool.

Talking to Vasco for the first time would just straight up heal you 1 morale. No skill check necessary. Here, have some free morale.

Your Encyclopedia would recognize his coat of arms and maybe deduce that Vasco is a diplomat or a politician. Then your Composure would tell you straighten your posture and put up your serious face, Suggestion would tell you to flatter him while adressing him strictly formally, but the two of them would be thrown off-kilter as Vasco starts acting very casual and down-to-earth. Maybe Authority would judge his attitude to be unfitting of someone in such position. Idk. This is all random ramblings that were bouncing in my head that i needed to let out.

Hope this isn't too weird, i just had a lot of time between having the idea to draw this and actually sitting down to draw it, so these ideas were just popping up in my head. I wish i could've just put those in the tags, but it waaaay exceeds the tag limit.

[sainamoonshine]

Re: Murderbot tv show

Okay so. I hope nobody gets mad at me for this post but given the following facts:

1) TV adaptations are like AU fanfics, they often have to change stuff for various reasons and while the bad ones just change it and keep the rest as-is, the good ones do the work of asking « okay but what impact does that change really have on the rest of the story tho? Let’s really explore that. »

and

2) we haven’t had a casting announcement for Overse and Volescu yet

I am thinking about a scenario in which the characters really have been cut from the story and how I would do that if I were them. (Not saying I think that’s what’s happening, I mostly think the characters just don’t have enough lines or screen time to count as « main cast » according to the rules of the industry so there wasn’t a press release abt their casting.)

So, cutting Overse from the storyline of ASR is fairly easy, she’s more of a background character until Network Effect. But Volescu? Now, Volescu can’t just be cut, he has to be replaced, because somebody needs to get talked up the side of that crater by MB at the beginning. (And then he only has a few lines and isn’t in the following books at all, so yeah he would be a logical character to remove, sorry!).

Anyway so you can’t replace Volescu in that scene with Mensah, because she’s coming in with the chopper. I want to see Ratthi almost get killed going back for the equipment so I wouldn’t consider him for the scene either, and I don’t think Pin-Lee would freeze like that.

A decent option would be Arada — who then could namedrop Overse for some fanservice that would make everyone angry, I guess — but I think the juiciest option, story-wise, would be Gurathin. Because then it would make all the viewers so fucking pissed that even after MB saved his life he still doesn’t trust it. Imagine the drama! The betrayal! You could really set up a lot of strong interpersonal conflicts and story arcs right there.

Aside from the obvious MB and Gurathin drama, would could have Pin-Lee replace Volescu as the one who helps him look thru MB’s code but she chooses to trust it instead; you could compare MB saving him at the beginning with it fishing Ratthi out of all those mud pits and how Ratthi decides he wants to be MB’s bff; etc. It would also set him up as a sort of « antagonist » that would explain why his casting was announced as playing « against » Skarsgård.

Anyway just thinky thoughts. Also I think it would be hilarious.

[jgvfhl]

The Number Lads Commit Homicide

I'm back!!! Thank you all for your patience while I took a small break and got my groove back. Now, the Jedi know Palpatine is evil... but now what?? Sixes knows that most people would leave it to the Force-wielding professionals, but since when has Sixes ever been most people?

Words: ~7400 Warnings: Some blood, not too much tho Link to Master List of Chapters on tumblr Link to the full story on Ao3

Reminder of the Chaos Batch screen names:

Nero = mayhem_man

Bacara = beefcara

Sixes = Grim Reaper

mayhem_man: okay so what’s the word, boys

mayhem_man: i say boys since thire is probably still unconscious

beefcara: Chancellor is evil

Grim Reaper: Yeah, Palpatine is worse than evil actually

mayhem_man: huh

beefcara: I want him to die

mayhem_man: right but you want several people dead so

Grim Reaper: Nero, you run a hit man contracting service

Grim Reaper: ON TOP OF BEING A COMMANDER IN THE ARMY

mayhem_man: okay?? so cara wants people dead but i actually do it and it’s a problem??

beefcara: Unfortunately, murder is frowned upon, even if you get paid for it

mayhem_man: ugh… society…

Grim Reaper: As for the chancellor, the Jedi won’t let us… assist in dealing with him

beefcara: Annoying, but logical. He can mind-control us.

mayhem_man: yeah… got that idea. but the jedi are gonna kill him or smth, right?

Grim Reaper: Or something.

-scene break-

In Sixes’ personal opinion, it took far too long for the Jedi to reach their decision. He and Echo were left to their own devices outside the Jedi Council meeting room for almost forty minutes while the debate raged on. Granted, it probably wasn’t raging—these were Jedi, after all. If it had been clones or Mandalorians, it would have been a faster and more violent matter. He wished it was a faster and more violent matter. Sixes could handle that. These long stretches of uncertainty and inaction had always been somewhat foreign to clones.

Echo had sat down on a bench a little ways down the hallway to rest his leg. Sixes would have ordered him there eventually. There hadn’t been any more word from Sevenset or Fives over their comms, but Bacara had assured him that everything was quiet at the Clubhouse. So, they just had to wait.

Finally—again, after far too long—the Council room doors slid open. All those present filed out, clustering in the corridor with Windu, Yoda, Kenobi, and Ti in the front.

“Commander. Echo.”

Echo picked himself up off the bench to stand beside Sixes when Windu addressed them.

“Thank you for waiting,” Windu said. The Jedi looked harsher than usual. All of them did. “We have no further questions for you, and we would advise you to return to whatever location will keep you safest.”

“No pilots?” Sixes could still hope….

“No pilots,” Yoda said with a small smile and a shake of his head.

“And no Mandalorians,” Windu added before Sixes or Echo could ask. “The Jedi will handle this ourselves.”

Sixes had suspected they would. He wouldn’t dispute them on their own turf, so he bowed his head in acceptance. He respected the decision, even if he didn’t like it. The chancellor, by all accounts, could be ridiculously powerful, and the Jedi were offering to confront him with the little knowledge that he and Echo had provided to them.

He laid his right fist over his heart, bowing ever so slightly. “Oya, jetiise.”

Most of the Jedi appeared to understand. Not entirely surprising when he considered how long they’d been serving with his brothers, and that most of the Alphas were fluent in Mando’a.

“Someone will show you out,” Windu said. “Thank you again. Please, look after each other.”

“We always do,” Sixes answered without hesitating. Echo nodded his agreement.

“I know,” Windu smiled.

The vast majority of the Council followed Windu and Yoda back down into the sprawling sanctuary in the Temple below. They left General Koon with them, presumably to lead them back up to the landing pad to the shyyyo speeder.

The Jedi gestured up the hallway towards the staircase. “I’ll see you off,” he said.

They followed him silently until they reached the landing pad. Sixes appreciated the silence. His thoughts were moving faster than he preferred, and he needed the space to sort through them all. When they reached the speeder, they bid the Jedi farewell and climbed in without another word.

Sixes didn’t start it right away. He sat in the driver’s seat, hands on the steering columns, as his thoughts continued to swirl around his brain.

Echo shifted in his seat, no doubt debating how long was too long sitting silently without moving.

Fortunately, Sixes didn’t let him stew for that long. “How’s your leg?” he asked.

After a second to process the question, the ARC shrugged. “Not terrible. The rest helped. Why?”

“I can’t just check in?”

“You never just check in, sir.”

So the ARC had learned. He gave a vague grunt in reply.

“What are you thinking, sir?” Echo asked, his tone cautious but not without genuine curiosity.

He was thinking a lot of things. “I’m thinking I’d like to see a headline about the chancellor dying from a shotgun blast to the chest.” That was one of the things, anyway.

Echo snorted, slipping his helmet off and setting it in his lap. “Yeah? Is that better than the headline about the Jedi Council cutting him into little pieces?”

“Sounds better to me.” He raised his comm, preparing to call Bacara. “And I still know where to get a lot of slugthrowers. Hey, Bacara?”

“Yes.”

“The Jedi are going to confront the chancellor,” he told him. “They were pretty adamant against including any troopers or Mandalorians, so they’re on their own for now.”

“Understood.”

“They believed us, though,” Sixes said, glancing over at Echo. “They’re on our side. You can share that around with the others.”

“I will. Are you coming back?”

Sixes again looked over at the ARC next to him, hesitating slightly. “Yeah, eventually. Don’t worry about us.”

“I will elect not to share that with the others.”

He smiled. “Sure thing, Cara. I’m out.” He ended the call and started the speeder’s engine.

Echo was quiet, clearly thinking over something as they lifted off the landing pad and zoomed over a couple lanes of traffic before settling into one. Sixes let him think. Eventually, Echo flipped his helmet around so it faced him, staring at his reflection in the visor as the lights of Coruscant whizzed by outside.

“You know… Domino Squad wasn’t exactly known for following orders very well,” he said at last. He looked up, finding Sixes’ gaze for a brief moment before he had to look back at the flight lane. “With Fives out of the fight, I feel like I’d be letting our batchmates down in spirit if I kept my nose exactly where it was supposed to be.”

Under his helmet, Sixes allowed himself a smirk. He’d never admit it, but the Numbers group had always felt a lot like his batch had when they were younger. Echo was demonstrating why that was. “So you’re not going to mind if we happen to fly by the chancellor’s office on the way to the Clubhouse, then,” he said, fully aware the chancellor’s office was nowhere near to being “on the way” to the Clubhouse.

Echo shook his head, looking ahead at the traffic. “No, of course not.”

They got a couple kliks closer to the chancellor’s office before something went… well, it didn’t quite go wrong, but it wasn’t exactly what Sixes had been expecting, either. There were a lot of Coruscant Guards around. More red and white lined the streets and skylanes than Sixes had ever seen. Mainly, they seemed to be redirecting traffic around the block containing the chancellor’s office. He could see the building from where they sat, slowed down to a maddening crawl by confused civilians.

“What the hell is all this?” Echo said, mostly to himself. He leaned forward, moving side to side to get a view ahead of them. “Did the chancellor do this?” he asked, now looking over to Sixes.

Sixes shook his head. “Dunno.” He glanced at Echo, his eye landing on the signature blue handprint on his chestplate. “Cover your handprint,” he told him as they approached the blinking red and white lights of the Guard’s speeder. “No need to have more identifying marks visible than necessary.”

Echo shifted his helmet, holding it to face his chest and up high enough to block the handprint. It didn’t look natural, by any stretch, but it would do.

When they were alongside the Guard, Sixes stopped and lowered his window. “What is this, trooper?” he demanded, putting as much authority into his voice as he could without being overtly rude.

“It’s a temporary detour, sir,” the Guard answered.

“Why? On whose orders?”

“Chancellor Palpatine, sir. He’s ordered a lockdown perimeter around this block.”

Oh, had he now?

The Guard went on, gesturing with a lit red baton. “If you could just go around this way, sir.”

Sixes narrowed his eyes, aware the expression was lost behind his visor. When he turned his head back to the flight lane, he just caught the tail-end of Echo slipping his helmet over his head. Sixes reluctantly turned right, following the Guard’s instructions.

“Wait, Commander–!” Echo hissed, reaching a hand out, but not touching him. “The office, look.” He pointed to their left.

Sixes kept the speeder steady with one hand and careful practice while he trained his HUD to magnify on the chancellor’s office. Against the backdrop of Coruscant’s brightly lit skyline at night, the change was hard to notice. But where once the office had cast a pale yellow light from its large window, other colors were breaking through. Green, blue, and some other colors not as easy to separate at this distance.

“The Jedi,” Sixes said, resetting his HUD and looking back to the flight lane.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the commotion around the chancellor’s office increased. Even through the speeder’s body, there was an audible rumble in the air they both recognized.

“Uh—” Echo said as three transport shuttles appeared in the sky around the office, their floodlights trained on the room at the top of the building.

Sixes pressed a couple buttons on the speeder’s control panel. Nero had (of course) outfitted the thing with communications interceptors for just about any signal found on Coruscant. Thire mainly used them to listen to weird music broadcasts, but, with the right tuning, Sixes might be able to listen in on the Guards.

“—General Yoda, sir.”

“Negative, trooper. Just keep him away from the office.”

“He’s too fast!”

The chatter increased, starting to overlap. From what Sixes could make out, the transport ships had been deployed to keep more Jedi from getting to the chancellor’s office. It seemed Yoda was giving them more of a challenge than his size might have suggested. But, from the sound of it, the Guards were more interested in deterring the other Jedi than harming them. That was good. That gave them time.

Sixes followed the detour for a short while, listening intently to the overlapping voices the transmitter was picking up. It was hard to know what was important or not, but he would rather have very little warning than no warning at all if something bad was happening.

Just when Sixes was preparing to jump the flight lane entirely and gun it for the chancellor’s office just to be sure they couldn’t do something, the broadcasting communications went eerily quiet. The overlapping voices thinned out into one or two at a time, delivering curt orders, the voices sounding a mite too calm for such a situation.

“What just happened?” Echo asked, looking at the control panel. Luckily, he knew better than to go poking at it.

“He wants them put down. This is an act of treason.”

“Blast them!”

“Nothing good,” Sixes replied, switching off the transmitter. “Hold on.”

Echo immediately latched onto the door handle and the armrest, and Sixes kicked the speeder into higher gear. They lurched up and over the speeders and other vehicles in front of them, then veered sharply to the left across relatively open air. It took long, sluggish seconds for the Guards in the area to react. By the time their red and white lights were blinking in the rearview mirrors, the shyyyo speeder was tearing ahead of them.

“I’m guessing you and your batch built this thing, yeah?” Echo asked, his voice raised slightly in apprehension.

“We built her up from a scrap heap, yeah,” Sixes told him, diving down to avoid a landing platform in their path. “Helped us wind down during leave.”

The ARC nodded, his fingers tightening on the armrest as Sixes took a right turn “aggressively,” as some would say. If it got them there faster, it was worth trying, in his opinion. He had the skills to get them there in one piece.

“Echo, push the Nova Corps-colored button,” Sixes told him as they neared the office building. The Guards were still tailing them, but they weren’t shooting, so that was a win.

Echo found it and pushed it, making it light up fuschia. After a second, Bacara’s voice filtered into the speeder’s cab.

“What.”

“Something’s gone wrong with the confrontation,” Sixes said, doing his best to stick to the facts as much as his anger and frustration wanted to add some emotionally fueled phrases as well. “The Guard’s gone weirdly quiet over comms, and I don’t like the tone I’m hearing from the ones still talking.”

A massive flare of orange and yellow light bloomed ahead of them, engulfing one of the transport ships and part of the building next to the chancellor’s office. Sixes cursed, turning a sharp left to avoid the worst of the smoke drifting through the air.

“Sixes?”

“Something just blew up, it’s fine,” he replied, easily righting the speeder in the air. He so wished he had his Z-95 right now.

“Should we do something?”

“If you can keep the Guard occupied and away from the chancellor’s office building, the Jedi could do their kriffing job a lot easier, yes!” he said, biting back another string of curses as more CG speeders appeared on their left. “Use a different comms channel, though. No telling what the chancellor’s been spewing to the Guards.”

“Understood.”

“Comm Maral, she’s on-world. She can get transport,” Sixes told him starting to circle the chancellor’s office. From this distance, the lightsabers were clearly visible. Green, blue, purple, and red.

“Copy that. Don’t die.”

Sixes scoffed. “Not planning on it. Out.”

Taking the cue, Echo pressed the fuschia button again, ending the transmission. “So what is the plan here, exactly?” he asked, keeping careful track of the CG speeders and transport ships in the area.

Sixes would never admit that he made up plans. He had been a commander for quite a while now. He had the benefit of experience and precedent to guide his thinking processes. So, he could… quickly fabricate a plan where one had not previously existed. “Land the speeder, hide the speeder, get to the chancellor’s office, help him on his way out of existence.”

Echo was quiet for a moment, then shrugged. “Alright. I’ve gone into worse with less.”

“Freak.”

“I prefer hazard to society, sir.”

Sixes swung the speeder out of its wide circle around the chancellor’s office. There were still too many transport ships and speeders surrounding it for them to risk getting too close. He flew back the way they’d come, rounding the top of the building across the flight lanes from the chancellor’s office. The ships were all still focused on the Jedi to notice them passing quietly overhead. Just another reason to fly black ships at night, as far as Sixes was concerned. He set down on a small landing platform on the other side of the building. They got out after he activated Nero’s absolutely overkill anti-theft systems, which was just as well, because a pair of what were probably security guards came running over to them as soon as they stepped out.

“This is private property!” one of them, a pantoran man, called out. They both had what appeared to be blasters, but Sixes recognized them, and knew they could only fire stun rings.

“Remove the speeder, or we will have it removed,” the other, a human woman added.

Sixes stared at them. “If you touch that speeder, you’ll both be dead,” he informed them plainly.

The guards raised their weapons. Right… that had sounded like a direct threat. Remy dropped out of the speeder, making a few disgruntled beeps.

“Remy,” he said. “Make sure these two don’t get in our way. Don’t kill them.”

He tapped Echo’s pauldron to get him to follow him behind the speeder to the trunk. He heard Remy’s jets activate, and several surprised noises from both security guards before he tuned them out. He entered the code on the back of the speeder and a panel popped open, revealing a portion of the weaponry they often stored inside. He grabbed two ascender cable attachments, thrusting one into Echo’s hands and clipping the other to the back of his belt. After that, he shed his right vambrace, letting it fall into the compartment while he slipped on a steel replacement that Nero had found “somewhere.” That usually meant he’d looted it off a corpse or he’d traded someone’s head for it on the black market. It didn’t matter much when it had a small shield generator inside of it.

He clicked it into place, then grabbed a second vambrace of similar origin. “Echo, put this on,” he ordered without looking at the ARC. “Flamethrower.” When he felt the bracer leave his hand, he grabbed a final supply of blaster charge packs for them both.

Echo tossed his standard vambrace into the compartment and took two of the offered ammunition packs. “I stopped hearing complaints about your parking spot a few seconds ago, so I figure your droid has done their job.”

“Good, let’s go.” Sixes closed the speeder’s trunk, making sure it clicked properly back into place.

When they rounded the speeder, sure enough, Remy stood between the two crumpled forms of the unconscious security guards. Sixes beckoned them to follow, then led the way to the other side of the rooftop where they would have a clear view of the chancellor’s office. They stopped at the rim of the rooftop, observing the scene.

At first, it didn’t seem like much had changed. They could still see a fierce lightsaber battle raging inside the chancellor’s office, and the whole building was completely surrounded by the Coruscant Guard in various vehicles.

Sixes called Bacara again.

“We’re on the way,” his brother said immediately.

“Good, you’ve got some work cut out for you,” Sixes told him. “The chancellor’s tower is completely surrounded. More Jedi won’t be able to get through without cutting through the Guards.”

“We’ll keep them busy.”

“Keep the window—” Sixes’ next sentence died on his tongue as he saw two of the transport ships and several smaller speeders suddenly turn around and start flying in their direction. Had they spotted them? How?

His concerns were only partially dissuaded by the sight of one of the Guard’s speeder bikes appearing in the night ahead of the other vehicles and aircraft. But the speeder bike had no Guardsman on it. As it whizzed past their building to their left, Sixes’ HUD caught the distinct image of General Yoda at the controls, his green lightsaber deflecting the smattering of bolts that came close enough to bat away. In a heartbeat, the Jedi and his pursuers were behind them, leaving a gap in the tower’s defenses.

“Sixes?”

He cleared his throat, drawing his attention back to his brother’s voice. “Heads up: General Yoda has the same plan as us, and he’s got two gunships and a few speeders after him.”

There was a brief pause before, “Oh, we just passed them.”

“See you soon,” Sixes told him.

“Affirmative.” The comm disconnected.

About fifteen or twenty seconds later, the rumble of a proper ship of some kind made them turn around to their right. He’d only seen Maral’s gauntlet starfighter back on Kamino, and always grounded. After all, being part of the cuy’val dar had its drawback of being largely confined to the ocean planet. Seeing it in motion was beautiful. Like Maral’s armor, the Moon Saber was carefully painted in bright colors against the gunmetal grey and dark blue paneling making up the body of the ship. The flowing designs of starry butterflies, huge birds, and solar eclipses lit up in the mottled lights coming from the buildings as it flew by. The starfighter easily took the remaining transport ship by surprise, pulling up over it and lowering the boarding ramp about halfway down.

Unsurprisingly, Sixes recognized Bacara hurling himself from the boarding ramp onto the transport ship below. The trooper following him must have been Fours, given the way they seemed to work together. Fours immediately swung into the open side of the ship while Bacara landed squarely on the main cockpit’s windscreen.

While the two Marines dealt with the biggest threat, the Moon Saber drifted over to the office building next to the chancellor’s tower. By now, the Guards on speeder bikes and other smaller transports had zeroed in on the new threat and were quickly moving to surround it. As they did, however, three more troopers emerged from inside the starfighter, all brandishing weapons.

“Gang’s all here, I guess,” Echo said quietly as they watched Do-si-do, Trees, and Loops engage the Guards around them.

“Looks like it,” Sixes added, silently grateful neither Mira or Saleha were visible. He turned his attention back to the chancellor’s office. The colors had changed, worryingly. The green and blue sabers visible earlier were gone, leaving just General Windu’s purple saber against Chancellor Palpatine’s red one. “We still need to get into that office.”

Echo raised his comm, still watching the other Numbers. Do-si-do had just successfully booted a Guard off of his speeder and onto a rooftop below. “Do-si-do, any chance you can fly over our direction? We could use a lift.”

“Hells yeah, Echo!” the pilot replied immediately.

They watched them look around until they saw Echo’s arm in the air, then sped over to them. They stopped just beyond the edge of the roof.

“This is a shit show, sir!” they said, a huge grin audible behind their helmet.

“Yeah, it’s a mess,” Echo agreed.

Sixes took charge before they could wait for him to do so. “Do-si-do, I’m with you. Echo, hitch a ride on Remy.” When Remy added their own opinion on the matter, he turned to them. “I don’t want to hear it, Remy. You only have to get him close enough to use the ascender cable. Now give me Reaper.”

If they could have rolled their eyes, Remy would have. Small mercies. Instead, the storage compartment opened on their dome, and the top of Reaper’s compacted form poked out. He grabbed it, hooked it on his belt, and stepped onto the edge of the roof. He cast a glance around the scene as he climbed onto the speeder behind Do-si-do, noticing that without the influx of Coruscant Guards, a few other lightsabers were visible approaching the chancellor’s office. They were still a ways away, though, and he wasn’t sure how long Windu could hold off the chancellor.

Regardless, Sixes wanted a shot at this piece of shit himself.

Maybe he had too much Mandalorian in him after all.

They took off, Echo and Remy not far behind them. As they did, the noise of more transport ships sounded to their left, bringing more reinforcements. He grabbed the ascension cable from his belt and locked it onto one of his pistols, holding it at the ready as Do-si-do dodged and weaved through the slowly increasing number of Guard speeders and larger hovercraft.

“When I fire the cable, dive down and get out of the area,” he told them, raising his voice above the air rushing by them.

“Yes sir!”

He raised his arm over the pilot’s shoulder, aiming for the outer wall above the chancellor’s window. He took a breath, silently appreciating Do-si-do’s skill at keeping the speeder bike level, and fired.

The cable caught and pulled tight at the same time that Do-si-do started their dive. Sixes leapt off the bike as much as one can leap off of an object traveling downwards. He let the cable ascender do its work, only having to catch himself from smashing into the side of the building once. It was not going to be a graceful entrance, that he could tell. But it would get him where he needed to be. He looked around until he found Echo mirroring him on his left, Remy long gone.

With his free hand, the ARC signed, “Cut audio,” and tapped the side of his helmet.

Right. Make sure the creep couldn’t control them so easily. It was a little tricky doing it one-handed, but eventually, as they were approaching the window, his HUD gave a little alert, telling him outside communications had been disconnected and deafened.

The window above them exploded outwards in a shower of glass shards. They glittered and sparkled in the light pouring from the office as Sixes and Echo rose up through the deluge. They instinctively ducked their heads, even if their helmets would easily protect their faces from the shimmering downfall.

Sixes grabbed the ledge of the window and clicked the disengage button on the base of the ascension cable. As it disconnected, he pulled himself into the room, rolling sideways over his shoulder to end in a crouch on one knee. Echo was in roughly the same position, both pistols raised, as they each took in the scene inside the office.

It was a mess.

All the chairs had been ripped from their bases and tossed around the lower part of the office. There were deep slashes in the control panels surrounding what remained of the chairs. Stone artworks that might have flanked the doorway lay in pieces, one of them clear on the other side of the room. Sixes allowed himself a brief moment of alarm when he took stock of the fallen Jedi around the room. General Ti lay against the far wall from the window, her face hidden by the sprawled hood of her robe. One of the broken artworks had evidently broken on Saesee Tiin, and there was no way to tell how badly injured he was. Finally, Ki-Adi Mundi’s head was visible in the far corner of the room, where the computer control panels blocked his view. Sixes hoped the rest of him was attached, but from where he knelt, he couldn’t tell.

Mace Windu was still up, however. He stood between the the door and the lack of chairs, his focus now torn between the two troopers who had just appeared through the window, and the man he was currently fighting. Palpatine, unfortunately, was about three feet in front of Echo, red saber humming at his side. It was likely what had shattered the window.

Sixes couldn’t hear what Windu said, but it didn’t matter when his back was facing an open window several hundred feet above the nearest flat surface, and there was a probable Force-user mere steps away from him. He moved. He dove to his right, aiming for the far side of the control panels as he tucked and rolled out of his dive.

Muffled shouting that sounded like Palpatine wasn’t enough to stop his motion until he was rounding the other side of the desk. What did make him pause was a huge burst of flame from Echo’s gauntlet, aimed directly at Palpatine’s face as the ARC stood and sprinted to the other side of the room near the door. While not particularly graceful, the distraction was enough for Windu to step up and make himself the center of attention again.

Sixes kept moving deeper into the small office, holding both pistols at the ready. Reaper was too long for these close quarters. His boot nudged something on the floor. Looking down, his breath stuttered for a moment as he took in General Mundi’s arm, and just his arm, not connected to the rest of him. Fortunately, his head was in fact still attached to the rest of him.

Even so, Bacara would not be happy to see his general in more than one piece…

When he looked back to the chancellor and to Windu, the chancellor was saying something, but Sixes’ helmet only caught muffled noise instead of words. Whatever the reaction was supposed to be, the nothing that happened didn’t make Palpatine very happy. He lunged at Windu, the purple and red lightsabers clashing and whirling through the air. Palpatine was good—very good, if Sixes’ experience was the judge of anything.

He switched his pistols over to stun. Better unconscious than dead. The first few stun rings he fired disintegrated upon contact with Palpatine’s red blade. This guy was fast too. Alright. So they had to slow him down.

Sixes threw himself to the ground behind the control panels as a chair came flying towards him. It went a bit wide and smashed into the wall just behind him. Palpatine was powerful too. Fun. Where he crouched, he looked over to Echo, currently in partial cover behind an overturned chair near General Ti.

“Need slow,” Sixes signed, not bothering with sentence structure much. He indicated Palpatine. “Fast fast target.”

Echo nodded. He raised his hand to sign a reply, but they were interrupted by the lightsaber duel suddenly changing tack. The two combatants were coming towards the door that led into the main reception rooms in the chancellor’s chambers. If the deafened helmets weren’t a safety precaution, Sixes would have torn his off just to be able to hear the fight again. It was maddening to just wait to see what was happening.

Echo had a better view. Sixes watched him shuffled around on his knees until he could reach over to a chunk of broken rock near General Tiin. Just as the duel came into Sixes’ view, Echo chucked it at Palpatine. Granted, there was only so much accuracy that came with hurling an irregularly shaped projectile at a moving target with control of the Force. Still, the target was occupied. The chunk of statue struck Palpatine’s shoulder, hard. Echo was an ARC, after all. He had the muscle to back it up.

Sixes raised his pistol to get a few shots off while he was distracted. He cursed when Windu stepped in, too close for him to feel comfortable firing. Suddenly, Palpatine launched himself upwards, flipping up and over Windu to land between the Jedi and the door. While Windu had to change his trajectory to follow him, Palpatine’s unarmed hand shot out towards Echo. In one fast motion, the ARC trooper was swept off the floor and hurled through the doorway and out of sight.

“Echo!” Sixes shouted. Obviously, Echo wouldn’t hear him.

Windu and Palpatine, however, did hear him. Windu charged towards the Sith, his mouth moving like he was shouting something, but Sixes had no way to know at whom. He raised himself to his knees again, drawing his other pistol and switching it to stun. Maybe while Palpatine was occupied by the Jedi, Sixes might land a stun ring on his open back.

As soon as he had lined up his shot, Palpatine jumped again, twirling in the air like some messed up bird. Sixes didn’t see him land, mainly because something solid and solidly heavy slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling onto the smooth black floor. His pistol flew from his cybernetic hand as all his air was pushed out of him. What the hell?

He pushed himself up quickly, his head snapping up to lock onto the duelists again. A chair. A karking chair. Palpatine had pulled a chair from behind him and smeared him across the floor just to throw it at Windu. The air crackled with each collision of the lightsaber blades, and the wind rushing through the open window—

Oh kark. Sixes spotted his helmet a foot or so from him. The chair must have knocked it off.

Hopefully the creep hadn't realized it yet. It was his only hope as Sixes unhooked Reaper from his belt instead of going for his dropped pistol. Blue stun rings appeared from beyond the doorway. It was a good sign. Echo was conscious and still armed, wherever he had landed. Palpatine was still too fast, blocking or dodging the rings as they came, even with Windu putting up a skilled offensive. With the Jedi’s aggressive advances, the duel quickly left the room, vanishing from sight. Sixes swore and got to his feet, running to crouch beside the doorway. He leaned to peek out from cover, just in time to watch the pair spin as their sabers clashed brightly. Now it was Palpatine forcing Windu backwards down the wide corridor lined with what someone somewhere probably called art.

Not that Sixes was one to judge art.

Echo was at the far end of the corridor, just visible by the flashes of white on his armor as he aimed his pistol around the doorframe of the next room. He seemed unharmed, but Sixes noted he was using his uninjured arm. At least his helmet was still on his head. The fight moved quickly to the next room. Echo disappeared at the same time Sixes was up and running to follow. The next room, he was pleased to find, was much bigger. There was more than enough room to use Reaper here, if he so chose.

When the duel entered the room, Palpatine went off the walls—quite literally. With more room, he was leaping over and around Windu at any opportunity, like a particularly evil toad. Still, Windu was holding his own well enough. Sixes ran to the end of the corridor into the chancellor’s main visitation or reception room. Again, a huge kriffing window at the back of the room. In front of that, a large desk sat on a dais with four chairs around it. The lower part of the room had a couple computer towers of some kind, providing surfaces off of which Palpatine could bounce and spin. More stupid art.

Echo had found partial cover behind a large armchair to the left of the door. Sixes found a match to it on the other side and went for it. The problem was, the creepy piece of shit was spinning around so much, landing a stun ring on him would be next to impossible with the lightsabers flying around as they were.

The combatants paused more now, taking in the new space, reading the other for signs of fatigue or weakness.

During one such brief moment between crackling lightsabers, the chancellor said, “Foolish, Master Jedi, to bring clones.”

Windu couldn’t respond as the chancellor hurled himself forward, red blade humming through the air in a thrust. The Jedi caught the blade, bringing it up and around, locking the two sabers against each other in a momentary battle of strength. Both Sixes and Echo raised their pistols. There would never be a better shot at the chancellor then this.

Too late, Sixes noticed one of the chairs at the big desk start to move. It rose off the ground, slowly at first, tilting in the air. Remembering what had happened in the other room, Sixes had to abandon lining up his perfect stun shot.

“General, behind!” he called as the chair suddenly whipped through the air across the room.

General Windu shoved the chancellor’s blade and ducked, evading the flying furniture. The chancellor sheared the chair in two as it flew too near his head. Before it had even landed on the red carpet (Red? That wasn’t too on-the-nose, Chancellor Sith Lord?), Palpatine leapt up, flipping backwards—back towards Echo.

“Echo—!” Sixes shot up from his partial cover. He let Reaper fall open, the razor-sharp blade unfolding and the shaft clicking into its mid-length size.

For the second time that night, Echo was lifted off the ground by the Force. In a split second, he was dangling in the air between Palpatine and Windu. A human shield. The very idea made Sixes’ gut roil with righteous anger. Seeing it done to someone he knew very nearly shredded the self-restraint Kamino had so nicely trained into him.

“Let him go,” General Windu told him, demonstrating more control than Sixes would have. But, that was Jedi. He approached as close as he dared, but with Echo only a thought away from having his neck snapped by an invisible hand, there was only so close he could get.

“Execute Order Six—”

A bright orange burst of flame erupted from ARC-1409’s wrist-mounted flamethrower.

Lord Sidious yelled in rage, his concentration broken enough to allow the trooper to drop from the air.

Good soldiers follow orders.

CC-6666 unclipped his left vambrace, the one with his communications unit inside of it. He dropped it onto the red carpet and stomped on it. The plastoid shattered into odd chunks. He switched his pistol off stun (why was it off of stun?) and shot the communications unit.

Good soldiers follow orders.

Sixes blinked, watching Palpatine and Windu duel. The Jedi was doing everything he could to move the fight away from Echo, who lay on the ground practically under their feet. Sixes reached for Reaper, and found it on the carpet next to the blackened shards of his left vambrace.

What… the kark?

He looked again at Echo, unreachable through the blaze of purple and red as the duel raged. Palpatine may not have him dangling in the air, but Echo was still being used as collateral. Windu’s strikes were precise, careful never to sweep too low. Palpatine had a small but recognizably punchable smile on his face as the Jedi was forced to contain his attacks. He couldn’t see Echo’s face behind his helmet’s visor. The only way Sixes could tell he was still conscious was the tiny movements he made to avoid the feet stepping close around him.

The fight needed to get away from Echo, that much was clear. Sixes unfolded Reaper to its full length. The black blade reflected the purple and red flashes as the lightsabers whirled and clashed over and over. He had to hope ARC training was worth it.

“Hey, demagolka!” He moved quickly to a point behind and a little to the side of the general.

“Execute—”

Oh, hells no. Not that shit. Sixes couldn’t shut him up from this distance, but he knew he had to stop the noise somehow. Maybe it was the novelty of the threat. Maybe it was the tools he had at his disposal. Maybe it was Maral’s training coming back in an odd way. Regardless, Sixes did the first thing he could think of: he yelled back.

Maral had mentioned this slightly niche method of intimidation found among Mandalorian warriors a few times. Sixes and his batch—especially Bacara—had always enjoyed using it on the other command batches.

“Adenn a’den! Adenn a’den!” he roared, pouring as much burning hatred into the words as he could. To add to the noise, he planted Reaper on the carpet and struck his right vambrace against it. The metal-on-metal clanging set a clear rhythm, a heartbeat, for the words to follow. “Adenn a’den! Adenn a’den!”

Merciless rage.

His captain—his friend—had died from this man’s plans. His brother had been strung up like a puppet in their own mind twice. Sevenset and Fives had nearly died tonight. The Jedi could have been slaughtered at a moment’s notice. Thousands of his brothers died each day in a war this man had been profiting from for his own sick game.

Merciless rage almost seemed too good for him.

The chancellor snarled silently, whatever order he had intended to give never leaving his mouth. The split-second distraction gave Windu an opening. The purple blade flashed in an arc towards the chancellor’s side. He blocked the strike, his hand angling the blade down, its point only inches from Echo’s head.

The room held its breath.

Chancellor Palpatine smiled the coldest smile Sixes had seen since Umbara. “Ah, compassion,” he said. “A truly double-edged sword.”

Windu took his lightsaber away from where it sparked on his opponent’s blade. He lashed out with his left foot, kicking Palpatine’s shoulder. He swung around, moving away from the whole situation by spinning around until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Sixes.

“Your corruption will hurt you more than my compassion ever will,” Windu replied, his features still and calm as ever.

Palpatine didn’t like that. He lunged, the red blade slicing forward. Windu braced, already moving to parry the lunge in a circular fashion. Sixes angled Reaper’s shaft so the butt end of it was ready to jab into the fray while Palpatine was dealing with a counterattack.

But… neither strike landed.

With a strangled yelp, Palpatine fell, face-first, onto his own red carpeting. Sixes followed his form back to his feet, searching for what had tripped him.

Sixes saw and smiled.

Echo’s hand was clenched around the fabric at the hem of Palpatine’s long robe.

Windu’s blade leveled at Palpatine’s head. “Chancellor Palpatine, you are under arrest,” he said.

Kark that. “No he’s not,” Sixes said.

In the same instant that Palpatine attempted to push himself up off the carpet, Sixes switched his grip and whirled Reaper’s blade around in a flash of black beskar. The well-kept blade sliced cleanly into the chancellor’s neck at his throat. Another strong wrench of the weapon’s shaft yielded a wet rip and a dark spurt of blood until his head rolled away, detached.

There was a moment of silence. Sixes grimaced a little, noticing how much blood had gotten onto Windu’s robe. At least the carpet was red…

“That was gross,” Echo said, finally breaking the silence.

Sixes looked over at Windu. “Jedi don’t tend to kill people. Mandalorians do.”

The general sighed, but he didn’t look terribly upset. He deactivated his saber and clipped it back to his belt. “You are correct. He was Sith, however. Had it come down to it, I would have done what needed to be done to protect you both and the Galaxy at large.”

Echo pushed up to sitting. Sixes noted him carefully avoid putting weight on his right knee, and tucked that away to ask about later. “Well. At least we know which order your batchmate was intending to send us back at the Clubhouse.”

Sixes tilted his head, going back over the whirlwind of the past several minutes. He had no idea why he’d destroyed his other vambrace.

Then it hit him. He didn’t remember. Nero had said Order Six was nothing harmful. Thire and Fox had said they’d had no memory of the orders they’d been given by Palpatine. Sixes glanced at his destroyed comm unit. “Right,” he said, still struggling to acknowledge that Palpatine had successfully taken control, and he had no memory of it.

Whatever had happened, it hadn’t worked. Echo was alive. Windu was alive. Palpatine was dead.

He stepped over Palpatine’s body to offer Echo a hand up. The ARC eyed him like he knew exactly what would happen if he didn’t take the offer. When he got to his feet, Sixes’ suspicions were confirmed as he gingerly balanced most of his weight on his left leg.

“Are you injured?” Windu asked, his brow creasing.

Echo shook his head. “No, sir, it’s… it’s an old injury. I just need some rest and some pain meds and I’ll be fine. The other generals need more attention than me.”

Sixes looked at Reaper. It would do in a pinch. He passed it over and planted its base next to Echo’s bad leg. “Here. It’s not a crutch, but it’ll help.”

Echo took it, evening out his weight slightly with its assistance. Then he looked back up at the blade, still smeared with red along the edge. “Remind me never to get you that pissed off, sir,” he said with a small smile. “And did you actually shout at him to shut him up?”

Sixes rolled his eyes. “No. Technically, that was a very impromptu redalur be akaan,” he told him. “My trainer taught it to my batch. Mando thing.”

The ARC raised an eyebrow at him. Windu spoke up. “Dance of war?”

“I bet the Five-Oh-First would love to learn that,” Echo said with a wider smile.

Gods help them. “Not happening, freak.”

insert a .gif of the opening song from Wicked here, please :) He's dead, folks!!! I truly enjoyed writing Sixes and Echo together, what a fun little team-up this has been. Next chapter probably coming at the end of October? Anyhoo @23-bears @theultimatesandwich @rndmpeep @thechaoticfanartist @soclonely @501st-verified as always lemme know if you don't wanna be tagged, or if you DO wanna be tagged!

[youlackconviction]

had some fun on twitter today lol. a series stan came @ me with some of the above so i decided to compile them and other common genuine responses that i’ve seen to LOKI-series-critical meta and create a fun little game for y’all.

if you want to use this board go ahead, i’d appreciate a credit back this blog or my twitter @ulackconviction if you do use it, so i can follow your threads myself. just save the pic, mark which responses you’ve received from fans of the LOKI series, and reblog with your edited bingo card.

below i the cut will quote each one and my own response to each “argument”.

if you hate sylki then you are biphobic - no, i hate sylki for many reasons but alleged bisexuality is not one. how about, the toxic abuse dynamic sylvie sets up towards LOKI? let’s start there.

you don’t want your uwu emo boy LOKI to heal - incorrect. i’d love for him to finally get a chance to be heard and acknowledged, genuinely cared for and shown how to let go of his unresolved trauma. but that would require a compassionate person talking about it and showing it, none of which the series did.

it’s not incest they don’t have the same parents - they literally have the same father: laufey of jotunnheim.

it’s not self-cest that’s a made-up thing - well. hard to say really isn’t it? since the showrunners have both defined sylvie as “a LOKI” and as “not a LOKI” in the same breath. obviously it’s a fantasy concept, but people will have their opinions about that either way.

why don’t y’all just move on and shut up? - rude. why should we? LOKI is important to us and the series is hurtful and disappointing, and we will shut up when we feel like it. maybe never. cry about it.

if you don’t like it then don’t watch it - we like LOKI tho. and that’s who we were promised. that’s why we watched it. the damage is done.

y’all are just mad that lokius is not canon - lmao if there’s one thing to not be mad about in this shitshow, that would be it. mobius is just as toxic and abusive to LOKI as sylvie is, so it’s just as well.

LOKI is just a selfish villain - citations needed thanks. i’ll wait. not even the series managed to portray him that way so... good luck.

sylvie is not LOKI she’s her own person - ok... if she’s not LOKI why is she dressed like him? why does everyone in the series call her the superior LOKI variant? why was LOKI’s help enlisted in the first place to capture her? why does she say “we are the same person” to him?

sylvie is LOKI so genderfluid rep is on screen every time she is - wait what? she is LOKI now? hang on... i think i have whiplash. and more questions. also, an individual presenting and identifying consistently as a single binary gender throughout their entire appearance does not constitute genderfluidity representation.

mobius did not torture LOKI it was therapy - therapy. right. so physical violence, threats of further violence/death, repetitive physical brutality for the purposes of “softening up” the candidate (yes that can also be defined as torture), intimidation, and misrepresenting the truth for manipulative purposes (you killed your mother) is therapeutic. got it.

fluidphobia is not a real thing - genderfluid folks would disagree. let’s ask them?

go touch grass - one of my favourites, gotta say. for all you know i’m typing this on my phone while laying in a hay paddock lol.

misogynist, you obviously just hate women - again. the reasons i can’t stand sylvie are many and varied, and none of them have anything to do with her biology or gender. disliking one (1) woman because of her actions and personality is not logical grounds for such an accusation.

well tom loves the series so... - uh, good for him? i think tom loves tennis too... doesn’t mean i have to enjoy it, nor i suspect would he insist that it’s unreasonable for me not to do so. my brain is actually separated from tom’s by the entire molten core of a planet, so i can actually think my own thoughts about things.

LOKI is out of character in the series because he learned self love - okay so he learned self-love the instant he fell from the sky above that mongolian settlement? because that’s the moment when he ceased to resemble MCU LOKI in any way, shape, or form. hair, skin colour, mannerisms, personality, vocabulary, physical strength, intelligence, fighting ability, grace, wit, charm. wow. incredible. who knew it would be so easy? and who knew self-love would look so shitty?

LOKI is not out of character in the series compared to the films - um... actually he is, and it can easily be demonstrated with simple side-by-side comparisons of appearance, posture and body language, abilities, and speech patterns. see above.

LOKI is out of character in all the movies and now we see his real self - this is such incredible nonsense - it’s impossible for a character to be out of character in their seminal appearance(s). thor 2011 established LOKI’s character. this claim is right up there with “LOKI acts differently from the movies when he’s off camera.” um... what? hun, this is a movie. there is ONLY on-camera. there IS nothing else. are you confusing BTS footage of tom with LOKI?

series antis have no friends - one in a range of irrelevant and unsubstantiated personal attacks that series fans like to sprinkle into their arguments as if it somehow strengthens them, rather than revealing them to be three children in a trench coat hurling insults.

everything you think about LOKI is just a headcanon - no... the stuff that i know about him was told to me by the films, and by the writers and directors of the films, and by tom back when he was first engaged for the role. all of it is coherent and consistent. and that’s what i think about LOKI.

i’m not going to read/watch that! but you are wrong - incredible powers of deduction: to refuse to even engage with a piece of media or information and yet claim to know everything it contains, and be able to judge its accuracy. truly amazing.

LOKI isn’t going to fuck you - again, more absolute gold from a person who has literally run out of rebuttals. when you consider the barriers to such a liaison... crossing the boundaries of reality no less... lol imagine if this is how political debates were conducted in parliament or the senate. “the president/senator/prime minister/queen isn’t going to fuck you, you know!” lmaoooo.

LOKI is a narcissist to fall in love with himself - look up NPD, and then read this again. also, LOKI actually hates himself and goes along with others’ ridicule of him because his self-worth is literally in the gutter. he only likes sylvie because he describes her as being nothing like himself. he has no idea that he has any value.

your anti opinions are taking away my enjoyment - ok so... don’t read them? block me or mute me or whatever, and get on with your life? it’s not like you have any kind of past attachment to me like series-antis do with LOKI?

i never liked LOKI before the series anyhow - i mean that’s fine. but don’t even start trying to tell people who actually do know and love the original character, ANYTHING at all about him. don’t even start.

sylvie’s trauma is worse than LOKI’s - how do we even know? and why is that even relevant? how do you judge what damage a person has incurred by comparing it to some other different person with different experiences? fuck off with your trauma olympics. but since you made it a competition: LOKI wins. i care about him, i don’t care about sylvie. therefore his pain and opportunity for healing will always be more important to me. die mad about it.

even if the series hurt minorities, how many people even is that, tho - literally a remark one of my friends received when defending genderfluid folks on her blog. so apparently according to series fans, you actually can put a number on how much real-world suffering is okay for the sake of entertainment.

sylvie is not a narcissist to fall in love with herself - interesting, since in the show LOKI was explicitly labelled one for this exact reason. an “incredible seismic narcissist”, in fact. there wouldn’t be a serious double standard in play at all, would there?

no one cares what you think - well i have evidence to the contrary: both from people who agree with me letting me know; and from those who don’t being unable to resist coming at me and berating me for it. including the person who said this, ironically.

you just hate sylki cos you want to fuck your siblings - another incredible take by a series fan defending the canon ship. i really can’t follow their line of argument here... it’s unclear what message they want me to walk away with. surely if i hated the ship for incest reasons it would be because i DON’T want to fuck my siblings? (for the record, i do not). so that was a confusing one, but it was a real response, so it got included.

[thetwelfthcrow]

https://x.com/quickstopf1/status/1728009595908460780 Him tryna shade Lewis with the “he hasn’t won a race in almost two years” and SkySports putting Lewis’ incredible stats on the screen 5 seconds later is so 😭 He might’ve not won a race in two years but he still has 104 wins 😋

And I doubt he’s as friendly with Anthony as he’s making it seem like but if it’s true Anthony needs to stop chatting with his drama starting ass cause now everyone’s coming at Lewis for “not being loyal” “lying” and “not being able to handle not having the fastest car” when in reality Anthony hasn’t been a part of Lewis’ management ever since he wanted to stop Lewis from going from Mclaren to Merc so if Lewis really was considering RB I’m sure he would’ve sent his actual representative to do the talks

Last thing (sorry for the long ask) I find it strange that in this video Horner is basically just saying Anthony was asking about how it’s going with Checo even tho before that he was acting like someone particularly told him Lewis wants to come to Redbull.. To me it seems like he did have a conversation with Anthony but hugely exaggerated it and is now trying to backtrack by making it seem like it wasn’t that big of a deal even though he’s the one that made it seem like a big deal in the first place. God these team principals never shut their mouths do they

I LITERALLY WANTED TO SAY THAT TOO 'he hasn't won in two years' (graphic: lewis hamilton 7x world champion, 104 poles, 103 wins, 197 podiums)

transcript below the cut / link to the video (tweet) here

he's making it seem like him and anthony go out for high teas together. but yeah lewis and anthony haven't had the best relationship in the past few years so it'd be better if anthony steered clear from discourse like this lmao.

can people stop coming to lewis' arse for this. mans been nothing but transparent about what happened and he's really a victim to christian's bullshit chatting lmao.

no worries about the long ask! and yeah i've said before, christian's story has changed so so much and it's so impossible to follow lmao. i wouldn't take anything he says about this as truth.

(can't hear the first thing)

christian horner: it's amazing, the fuss that's come out of this. erm, so, look, it's not unusual for there to be an exchange erm, y'know i've known anthony hamilton for, for 15, 16 years, so. y'know, inevitably, there's, there's often an exchange, y'know during the course of a season. so, erm. but there's quite a lot that seems to be read into this.

interviewer (who's this actually? i don't think i've seen him before): so it was anthony? that texted you? cause doctor [helmut] marko just got onto sky germany and said that it was someone from, from lewis' camp that, that made the approach. was it--

christian: no no, look, i had an exchange -- well, anthony is a nice guy. he reached out, i think, erm, i can't remember, it was around - regarding around sergio - he just asked, i think, inquiring, a suggestive question. now i don't know what brought- what role anthony plays in lewis' set up, but - or, management, but he's got some form of relationship. i don't think he was inquiring about his, himself to come and drive.

naomi schiff: i made the analogy earlier that no matter how much you flatten the pancake, there will always be two sides. and it kind of got david a bit distracted, he might be off somewhere having pancakes now. but, ehm, honestly, is that an- is that an option? for your team to have a driver like lewis hamilton come in? i mean, if you seem happy with the balance, with an other driver in your team--

christian: we're very happy with the drivers that we've got, but of course, you can - you can understand, i mean, lewis hasn't won a race for almost two years. ehm, you can understand questions being asked. it's highly logical and normal, ehhm, for those type of things to, to happen. and as i say, ehm, you know i've always had a great relationship with anthony, he's a very nice guy and --

naomi: but if a seat freed up, (unintelligable)

christian: there is no seat available, so there's not -- it's really a non-story, i mean, i know we're at the end of the year and we're tryna drum(?) things up here, but this is, sorta (scraping the barrel?) a bit.

martin brundle: so who else? texted you? fernando?

christian: i've had lots of texts, martin. even from yourself. but do you wanna drive next year?

(i can't hear the end)

[risu5waffles]

Hark! The Rains SofTEN, or something.

One of these days i'm going to have to bite the bullet and stop trying to work TEN into my titles. But not today.

These levels took me _all_ the way back, no lie. The cream of the (at least English speaking-side) LBP crop putting together a set of levels to teach folx how to get logic to work in LBP1, back when everything had to be done wiv physical objects. A lot of these techniques still work fine, even if they can be a little fiddly to set up, and have been completely obviated by the addition of microchips and logic gates in 2. i think the only one i couldn't get working was the non-dissolve permanent switch from the Advanced Pack. i built it just like the object from the copyable level, same tweaks, but it just wasn't staying on. Everything else tho', it all works just like it says on the tin. i played a lot of these tutorial how to logic/build a level levels, and the way they made this one into an actual environment, wiv nods at a story, really made it stand out. Most times it'd be an empty create mode environment; which, to its credit, that style _did_ allow for more to be put in a level. There were some Jside levels i've played that did, at least, make a level-level to play as you learn. i wonder what happened to all the tutorial levels. i mean, you still see a few in the wild, and they were never the most heavily represented level-type, but even still, it feels like i barely run into them any more. To come back to these levels, and there's a break in the Intermediate Pack, so you can't see how they carry the framing device from it to the Advanced, and that just gets my goat. i wanna know why we've gone from this nice office/factory in the woods to getting airlifted into what looks like a warzone.

Ratalsoni1 has been a really nice creator to stumble across this late in the game's life cycle. We looked at Climbing the Mountain a couple(?) weeks back on LittleBite-sizedPlanet, and that was a real winner. This as a follow up is, like, yeah, this kid's not just a flash in the pan. Using the hairdrier is a bit fiddlier, and it does make the first run through a bit to get used to; but i found when i gave it a few plays to really get familiar wiv it that it really is an enjoyable level. And dang, but does it look nice. The environment, in general, is spot on, but there's also a really solid set of material choices here, and the use of layers really gives things a sense of depth. The whole thing manages to avoid that sense of emptiness in LBP3 levels that we talked about in the last TEN spot. The only fly in the ointment is dealing wiv those springbolts. It's more an on me thing, but i have _never_ not struggled at least a little navigating them, and adding the hairdrier to the mix... the first time through was _just a bit_ of a pain in the arse.

Why is Hillary Clinton in this level, tho'? Like, when the aliens are all "let's distract them wiv an attractive human female" and they put a picture of Hillary Clinton on the screen, and it's just... i mean, i get the dig, only weirdo aliens would find her attractive kind of thing, but... it's such an odd little joke to find at random in an LBP level. i should look up where she was in the public consciousness in 2009. Otherwise, this is a really neat level. Setting it up as a simple "shoot down these waves of enemies" style level, and then elaborating it out into an escape the base type of deal where the level would typically end was super cool. It's chonky (a little bit to its detriment, really. i was pretty ready for it to be over by the time it was over), and there's a pretty solid set of things to do along the way. You can see some of the LBP2 specifics added in the repub, but most of this was just straight-forward LBP1 building, and this one really shows just how big some of those levels could get.

i want to go back and thank past me for hearting Sci-Fi World 2 back in the day, 'cause i probably never would have run into it again otherwise. Also i want to tell her things will be ok, 'cause she was dealing wiv a lot. i love how you can see the progress in level design and presentation over the course of these levels. Like, just in presentation, you've got an environment in 4 that is much more of itself than the one we see in 1. i do have to say i cottoned to the setting in 1 a little more, but that's very much a me thing. The downside of that progress is the techniques mdaj learns and employs are very much dependent on the fiddly physics of LBP1, and, well, that just leaves 4 broken. 3 isn't even up on their planet anymore, so i have to imagine something went sideways wiv it after an update, and it just never got repaired/repubbed. Shame that. Still, what we have left is an absolute hoot.

Another mdaj jam here, and unfortunately another that's not been well served by changes to LBP's engine. The lighting is just **so** bright in some places, like glaringly so. Also the bit at the end that's just broke so you can't progress. Hate that. Watching the video and i was, like, bitch you can just drop down and forward a layer and get out that way. i felt like such a goober, i went and played it again, and thankfully, no, you can't actually get out that way, it just looks like you can. Even wiv the level being broken, it's still worth a quick play just to see mdaj's sculpting and presentation skills. Those dragon-y dinosaur-y things are super cool looking.

----------------------------------------------------

Dang, that is just a really solid set of levels there. Not a one of them is crummy. Spoilers: this trend will not, unfortunately, continue.

i'm feeling really torn over all this bullshite going on wiv YouTube recently. Like, if it works out that adblocker is rendered non-functional, i _can_ just stop watching videos. i'll be pissed that i can't directly support other archivists like @soupum and Myravrax, but aside from the LBP side of things, and @alicerulerofwater 's Gemini podcast, YouTube videos haven't been more than bgm for me for awhile now. But, like, how i can continue to put up my own videos on a site that i'm not willing to watch? That feels sketchy as heck. i honestly don't know, what things are going to look like going forward, and this puts a lot more on my mental plate than i really needed at the moment. i guess all i can do is keep an eye on the situation, and hope that uOrigins can manage to get things to a point where i don't need to be changing my filters and fucking around wiv things every twelve hours. What a fucking mess this whole thing is.

[stfu-im-thinking-abt-blorbo]

Thoughts about each TDI Reboot episode, starting at 1. SPOILERS UNDER THE READMORE.

Chris' new voice is certainly... a change. I don't mind it, and I think Terry is getting his acting and emotes for him right, but it's definitely gonna take some time to adjust and not immediately think it's Don.

"Hey, what's up I'm here to slay" from the intro is killing me in the best and worst ways. Rip the old intro song.

Also there's a very VERY small detail for the campfire. When Raj looks back to the screen, only one of his eyes follow. Either an animation error, or he has a lazy eye.

It's been 15 years since the beginning of the show in canon?? That means the gen 1 and 2 casts are roughly between 28-31 I think?? And yet Chris and Chef Hatchet don't look any different. Also since og Island premiered in 2007, this one is taking place in 2022 and NOT 2023.

Either way this gives me a good excuse to practice character design with a 15 years timeskip and make adult designs for the gen 1 and 2 casts.

Priya. WHAT. GIRL GO TO THERAPY AND GET AWAY FROM YOUR PARENTS. Also Owen cameo.

Bowie is gay like I thought he'd be. Now way he wasn't a reference to David Bowie. Getting some vibes of him being the new Heather tbh.

I, like many others, thought Ripper was going to be the new Owen. He's only a small bit Owen with a dash of Duncan, and a whole lot of Scott. Respect to Ripper for how spicy he likes his food, tho lol.

Chase and Emma are exes. Chase is a YouTube/Twitch personality T-T. Here's hoping that Emma broke up with him bc she's a lesbian. Really want her and Bowie to be besties.

Scary Girl's real name is Lauren >:(

Zee is both the smartest and dumbest character. I want him to be the blorbo of the season, but I'm getting the feeling it's gonna be Bowie.

Wayne: "What'd you think, Rajey?" 🥺

Nichelle is the only one to not get an audition tape. Interesting. Also a Madonna reference?

Julia called herself an influencer. She better be an early boot for that.

MK, Axel, Caleb and Damien are the only ones I don't have any comments about. Sucks 'cause I was hoping I'd really like MK and Axel.

Drone of Dispair. Somehow the worst idea yet lol. Can't wait for a joke about one of the contestants flying over private airspace and getting shot.

Ripper called himself the alpha male nooooo

EVEN BOWIE IS CALLING WAYNE AND RAJ GAY LMAO

And Bowie immediately goes to the girls' side of the cabin to talk shit about Chase with Emma. Love them sm.

Ripper: "Where'd you get the soda from??"

Zee: "...I have no idea."

Rip Bowie's heart glasses, hope cartoon logic kicks in and he has a million of then.

If Damien thinks they can't show Ripper's censored ass on TV, then I wonder what his reaction would be to a show like Naked and Afraid.

Emma and Chase didn't break up over lesbianisms unfortunately. But messing up her car's breaks and causing her to crash is still a valid reason for her to break up with him and be incredibly upset. Like, he could have killed her, other bystanders, or any of the puppies at the shop she crashed into. Yet I think the show is treating Emma as being unreasonable? It's just a prank bro.

Also MK calling Emma out for saying 25% of the money instead of half like she did when talking to Bowie earlier. Maybe there's more to the break up story?? Like she's lying?? But that still wouldn't make sense if the show is already treating her as unreasonable beforehand. Idk.

Bowie really do be like "are the straights okay? 🙄"

Raj: "Wayners" 😭

Also Wayne and Raj both have the same accent as Ezekiel.

Goodbye Caleb, we barely knew ya. Have fun hanging out with Staci and getting no character development like her. Maybe one day he can come back like Justin.

BOWIE IS THE NEW HEATHER, I WAS RIGHT AND HE IS GONNA BE THE BLORBO

Overall, fun first episode. Not a smash hit or anything, but a pretty good hook. Also the animation and character design is such an upgrade. I was hesitant about the new cast's designs, but actually seeing them in the show and moving makes it work so much better to me. After rewatching the first half of og Island, it is amazing to see how far this show and its animators have come from 2007.

[wack-ashimself]

'Nope' is proof that Jordan Peele is the new M. Night Shyamalan. Spoilers (duh).

Is it good?

Sure. Better than 'Us' (just cuz that movie took a while to get anywhere good, and fairly, so does this one)...

But mostly cuz of that ONE big hook/twist.

What's the hook in this? <MAIN TWIST spoilers!!!>

The alien spaceship is actually a giant alien that eats everything organic.

The build up to that reveal and everything following were worth it (tho the side story of the ape going crazy and killing people seemed...redundant. A few more flashbacks to his dad telling him he can't tame wild animals/apex predators would have worked a lot better for the metaphor).

And I'm not gonna give anymore away cuz even tho the hook is a big pull, how terrifying that is (a flying being could suck you up and eat you at anytime) and how it's played out...actually scared me a little. It's hard to scare me. I always thought aliens could be evil/do evil, but to do the worst thing all they would have to do is...make you feel powerless (no technology can save you) and eat you alive. I mean, that alone is one of the darkest scenarios I could imagine: being digested alive. And, boy, does this movie cover that*...honestly, I think they could have been even more graphic. But then it would be a horror more than sci fi thriller.

Great twists and turns. I was pleasantly surprised more than once. And that is rare these days. So don't gloss over that.

I heard 'it didn't live up to the hype' but I think it did. People went in expecting a typical alien monster movie, and they got...one BIG alien. The OG.

Nope: 7.7/10. Worth the watch, but the build up and side stories didn't add all that much.

ps-fav part? There were so many. Top 3 (but these are SUPER 'omfg I didn't see that coming' spoilers.)

3-The whole TRUE history of the first film being a black jockey riding a horse, and all the nods in that direction. I knew of it, but I like how they incorporated that entire theme thru the movie, AND IT WORKS fluidly.

2-This is cuz his last two movies were downers in the end mostly, I thought for SURE he was going to kill off the brother to save the sister. NOPE. They BOTH lived. I was for sure thinking he was going to be a martyr. Only thing that bugs me is the monster sucked up bigger things from further so HOW he actually survived is....bull shit. No logical explanation. lol But I'm glad he did.

1-my fav part of the movie? The big twist was good, but...when the director they hired to film the alien monster (on a special non electrical video camera), out of no where loses his marbles, and films himself getting eaten. It makes SENSE for the character (he was looking to film the impossible and he, IMO, thinks he found GOD), but he KNEW it eats people. So....that's some fucked up shit.

*technically (off screen) this movie does something which is still forever taboo in shows & movies: they killed off young kids. I think even some babies. So in the scene when blood is raining...

[randomingoftherandomness]

I have mixed attitude towards c-dramas, i don't really like them, however there are such gems of a pairings sometimes - like Jiang Cheng and wwx, or scorpion and his yifu. They often have intrigueing premise and idea, and absolutely DON'T follow it through. The only chinese drama i enjoyed throughly, without ignoring a mess (because there wasn't any mess) is "Ruyi's love in the palace". It was amazing not because of brilliant acting, or costumes, even tho it did have all of that. It was amazing because every word had a weight, and every action had a consequence, every issue was addressed, and there wasn't even a hint of 'modern values'. characters felt real. real people of different time. And human feelings are universal. 99% of ancient puppets genre c-dramas fail to deliver that. I know they aren't historical they're fantasy at best and idol cosplay show at worst, but they don't even try to create athmosphere of 'old times'. I guess they really are made for teens, but when i was a teen i also couldn't watch it without cringing - they were too juvenile for my taste. They don't make me care about anyone as a viewer - any wounded will heal, any thousand years old evil will be easily defeated by rag tag team of boy band members, they bleeding from their mouths and go about their day. They constantly talk about immense sacrifices like waiting for a lover for billion years, meditating for another billion, but it's so unrealistic and impossible to take seriously especially when characters never deny themselves anything even on small-scale everyday level. 1)

MJTY is also guilty of this. FL is supposed to be villain protagonist yet they're so afraid for her to be treated like a villain. When she gets discovered her targets start defending and saving her? This craziness alone turned me off of this show. Yet GSJ and GYZ get accused of all crimes for breathing. They're doing and saying the right thing in majority of scenes but everyone looks at them like they are demons. The director loves BL and incest (considering his previous works) so it's given that shangzhi is his faves. So evil angle they get probably is for fetish fuel reasons, to make their hotness too hot to handle. And still, i hated that. They're treated like enemies in their own family for working hard on its prosperity and actual enemies get love and protection. YWS never openly renounced her evil ways, never asked for forgiveness, she just acted like nothing happened, her spy and killer nature is swept under the rug. It's a big fail of the show. All other characters are just fools who want to destroy their own clan. That's what it looks like. Now, as i gather from weibo, they're testing the waters for second season and milking the second cp. Obviously, there's nothing more stupid than to make qian someone's housewife, and as if shangjue will bring home such devious and morally corrupt person to play happy family with (the very home she worked hard to destroy, to the people she worked very hard to hurt). That's murder and disrespect of their respective characters. Betraying everyone and yourself for insane "love" is a good plot for a tragedy, but it has to be perfectly written. there wasn't love between these characters and they're both level-headed people so logical possibility of that storyline is zero. But they will be molded into meaningless happy end romance, with everyone cheering. In my opinion, the ending of MJTY is satisfying as it is. Does anyone really need baby drama and love brained shangjue? That's the opposite of what he's like and why he attracted fans in the first place 2)

My brain is empty because wow that is one wall of text lol

I'm not saying that this is a 'reason' or an 'excuse' as to why certain promising premise falls through in cdramaland, but honestly speaking, censors and cash play a VERY big role in what ends up on screens and this isn't something we can deny. How many shows and movies have filmed scenes/scripts/sequences/storylines that were completely dropped at the Nth hour for "reasons"? Profit pays a big role in what gets aired, and from the get-go, cdramas aren't the places to be if you're looking for morally grey/villain MCs that allowed to be morally grey/villainous/unrepentant (or in YWS's case, allowed to work for redemption). That's not the way it works. Which sucks, admittedly if you (like me) enjoy that kinda of stuff.

In response to your statements regarding 'Does anyone really need baby drama and love brained shangjue?', I may be kicking the hornet's nest here, but just as I was the intended audience for Word of Honor, I am not the target audience for The Untamed. And that's okay :) Your Mileage Will Vary when it comes to what's 'good' and what's 'bad'. Someone will enjoy the baby drama and love brained shangjue, though that someone will not be me and I am thinking it won't be you too.

And again, that's okay. As long as you're not going around being a dick to people who would and will enjoy that content, you'll be fine.

After all, as I've heard said by some people who say it with their whole chest with no regard to how entitled it can come across, variety is the spice of life :)

[daz4i]

T U B R & Z :) for the Ask Question :)

hi hi hi sorry for the late reply, and thank you for the ask!!! ^o^

answered t here!

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

bsd: gonna shock everyone i know..... nikolai :) his vibes are just impeccable. i love his whole view of life and what he does in hopes to achieve his impossible goal. i love that he's crazy cuuhraaaayyzeeee asylum but also is he. keeping us on our toes. and most importantly he is FUN every time he's around you can't help but have a good time even tho he's like, gruesomely murdering someone (i mean for me it's also part of the fun but eh)

fire emblem: ferdinand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is just. ough. he is so dear to me. he fills my heart with joy and warmth i can't explain it. he has such a good and lovely arc and despite suffering and losing so much he remains positive through it all and tries his best to help others. and he's also just! very fun! like with nikolai every time he's on screen is just enjoyable, usually p funny, or very touching :')

persona: akechi. he makes me insane. esp in royal he's a very well written and interesting character imo, his motivations are illogical in a logical way (as in. they're illogical but you can perfectly understand why), he is so so tragic. and once again like the last 2, he is just so so fun, esp in third sem where he lets loose and becomes more violent and vulgar and sassy :)

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

tbh i wasn't sold on fyolai at first (which is probably shocking to those who haven't followed me when i first got into bsd lol) but creantzy's art convinced me of it ngl :P also the anthology art bc i mean. yeah

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

dazai and atsushi........ hits me very deep in my soul........... it's so dear to me it means so much to me............ i can't even put it in words bc it simply makes me overflow with too much emotion at once

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

ig when it comes to fandoms. one big pet peeve i have is the amount of negativity ppl have around the source material?

criticism is valid and understandable and no media is free of it, but some people really spend almost all their time in a certain fandom doing nothing but hating it and its creator (biggest example is the bnha fandom is 2017ish. i swear most posts i saw abt it were hate posts from people who were still following the manga religiously)

not to mention the version of this that's like ignoring canon completely and making up new personalities for the characters in an attempt to make them non-problematic and such. pls just make ocs

like at some point i can't help but wonder why they're still reading it?? please move on to different things? if not for your own well being then for other fans bc i don't wanna see your negativity when i'm trying to be excited over smth i like 😭

(also true abt ppl who hate a character/ship and spend more time talking abt how much they hate it than talking abt the ones they do like, or worse, leaving mean comments on posts/fics made by ppl who do like it. yes that includes "problematic" ships or characters. complaining here and there is chill ofc but you gotta move on at some pointtttttt just block the tags or ppl who post a lot of it come on)

but fr it's mostly for you. esp if you're someone who doesn't have a lot of free time, why are you spending so much of it on something you're not even enjoying? i just don't get it 😔 you shouldn't take sunk cost fallacy into account when it comes to your joy i think

[sukifans]

aahhh I’m so excited I love your writing!!! your sokka “help me” fic is one of my favs ever I seriously think about it at least twice a week. in a similar vein, would you be able to combine prompts 10 & 12 for sokka x fem!reader? thank you!!! :)

SOKKA + “can i try that new chapstick? i wanna have a taste” + “i hadn’t noticed but my sweet, funny, goofy best friend is kind of hot, especially since they’ve been on this fitness kick”

⇦ 𝘔𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘓𝘐𝘚𝘛

“nastiest skank bitches” Group Message

loml: ladies, i need a girls night

loml: desperately

babygorl: god i’m down, this semester blows

fugly slut <3: i’m in!! always here for a girls night 🥰

loml: y/n??

you: gals. pals. as much as i would love to...

fugly slut <3: ughhhhhhhhh

babygorl: you better not be blowing us off for sokka again istg

you: 😅

loml: TRAITOR BITCH

fugly slut <3: HOES BEFORE BROS

babygorl: WHORE

you: bruh.mp3

you: he’s coming by after the gym to help me with my physics homework!!! I NEED THE HELP PLS I PROMISE ILL BE THERE NEXT TIME

babygorl: lying is a sin y/n

babygorl: sinner

loml: if sokka’s gonna b there maybe she’ll be sinning in........ other ways...... ahaha

loml: fuckboy_emoji.jpg

fugly slut <3: when you gonna tap that fr

you: NEVER LITERALLY NO EW

you: HE’S MY BEST FRIEND

you: UNLIKE YOU RATS

fugly slut <3: he do b kinda yummy tho liiiike 👀

you: STOP

loml: yeah he’s hot sorry queen

you: HE’S NOT HOT

babygorl: i almost hate to admit it but...

babygorl: his biceps 🥴

fugly slut <3 emphasized “his biceps 🥴”

loml loved “his biceps 🥴”

you: hey! i hate u guys! jsyk!

fugly slut <3 disliked “hey! i hate u guys! jsyk!”

babygorl disliked “hey! i hate u guys! jsyk!”

loml disliked “hey! i hate u guys! jsyk!”

babygorl: uh huh yeah sure

loml: yall hear sumn?

NEW MESSAGE from sokka :^)

“hey i’m omw up!”

you: whatever you guys suck

you: i gtg

fugly slut <3: AND YOU SWALLOW

babygorl: bye girly!! get that bestie dick!!

loml: save a car, ride an engineering major >:)

you: desgostang.jpg

You dropped your phone onto the bed next to you with a groan. Your friends really and truly could be such freaks about your relationship with Sokka—or lack thereof. They’d been especially adament ever since he started some stupid bet with Zuko about who could get the most “gains” by graduation, incited by Aang making the mistake of commenting on Zuko’s more pronounced muscle mass.

Idiots.

That’s what Sokka was. Your idiotic best friend, who was funny, and sweet, and intelligent. You loved him, of course, but not like that. And he was not hot.

Definitely not.

The pounding on your dorm door interrupted your musings before Sokka let himself in, dropping his gym bag on the floor and kicking off his slides. His hair was loose and still damp from his post-workout shower and he wore slim joggers with a loose muscle tee.

“Hey!” He smiled brightly when he spotted you sitting in your bed. “What’s up?”

“The usual.” You moved your legs out of the way so he could flop down onto your mattress. “How was the gym?”

Sokka groaned. “Cardio. I’m already sore.” He stretched his arms up to fold behind his head, pulling his muscles taut.

Hm. He does kind of have nice biceps...

You shook yourself internally. Thoughts like these had been creeping out of your subconscious for weeks now, no thanks to your rabid friends.

“My leg’s been killing me, though,” he continued, rubbing his opposite foot across the skin that covered that metal pins and plates holding his bones together after a nasty break in high school. The leg often still gave him problems, ranging from the dull ache he could ignore on the day-to-day, to throbbing pain that left him limping.

You frowned, looking away from his arms to meet his eyes. “You should probably rest up before you hurt yourself,” you said.

“I’ll be fine.” He shrugged and propped himself up on his elbows. “Gotta catch up to Zuko, y’know.”

“Why? You’re already taller than him.”

“So? I wanna be more yolked, too.”

You rolled your eyes. “Buncha dumbasses.”

Sokka quirked an eyebrow. “You want this dumbass to help with your physics homework or not?”

“Haha,” you chuckled nervously, “just kidding, buddy! I meant Zuko and Aang. You—definitely not a dumbass. Nope.”

“That’s what I thought.” He shot you a smug look as he pushed up to sit cross-legged across from you on the bed. He held his hand out with a dramatic, world-weary sigh. “Alright, give it here.”

You opened your laptop to pull up the website that hosted your homework practice problems. “You know I love you, right?”

“Mhm,” he hummed, grabbing a notebook and pen from your desk to work out the math as you handed over the computer. He paused before standing to retrieve his bag, plopping it on your desk chair so he could root through it and pull out his glasses case. You felt your cheeks warm a little when he set the frames on the bridge of his nose.

Fine—he was kinda cute. You could concede that without having to dig too deep into your somewhat jumbled feelings for your best friend.

But you would certainly not “tap that.”

Well...

No. You would not.

You watched his eyes flick over the screen as he tapped the pen against his chin, catching the cap between his teeth while he thought about the formulas he’d learned in a past semester. He nodded to himself and started scribbling out a diagram and the math to go with it. You found yourself a little mesmerized by the way he simply just knew what to do, confidently scratching away at the paper as easily as one might write the alphabet. Your eyes trailed from his long fingers and calloused hand sweeping over the page, up his toned arm (lingering on his bicep a little longer), and to his face. He chewed at the inside of his cheek in concentration, sometimes parting his lips to murmur the logic to himself.

For someone who often said a lot of stupid shit, he sure had a pretty mouth.

You considered what he might do if you snatched a fistful of his shirt and yanked him into a kiss. Would he shove you away and leave? Awkwardly but kindly reject you? Or, would he kiss you back—throw the work out of the way and grab your face to coax you in deeper? Maybe push you back onto the bed and—

“Okay, so basically—”

Jesus Christ, get a fucking grip.

“—from the problem and draw it out like this to apply the formula, yeah?”

Sokka looked to you expectantly and you blinked at him as your face burned. “Sorry, I zoned out. What did you say?”

“C’mon, I know you hate physics but you gotta at least pay attention to me if you wanna pass,” he teased, shifting close enough that the sides of your bodies pressed together. Was it getting warmer in your room, or was it just your best friend?

He launched into the explanation again and you nodded along while internally willing the blood to leave your cheeks. Even as your thoughts ricocheted around inside your skull he managed to break it down in a way that somewhat made sense. He sat back and watched as you slowly worked through the next problem. You glanced up when you heard a soft pop to see him applying chapstick.

“Is that a new flavor?” you asked.

“Yeah, chocolate orange or something.” He held the tube out to you. “Wanna try?”

Fuck it.

Before your rationality could catch up you pressed a hand to his cheek to turn his head and pulled him in for a kiss. Your lips only slotted together for a brief moment before you pulled back to stare wide-eyed at each other. You could feel the fire creeping from your cheeks down your neck, mirrored in the reddening of his tanned skin.

He blinked. You blinked.

The chapstick slipped from between his fingers. Rationality arrived late.

You bolted.

“Uh, see ya later!” you shouted as you threw the door open and rushed out of the room.

“Wait, (Y/N)—“

You didn’t stick around to hear the end of his desperate call. Even thought it was your dorm and you were barefoot you still raced down the hall, wincing at the sound of a door slamming behind you.

“(Y/N)!”

Damn that lanky bastard. You were booking it and he was already hot on your heels. You barreled into the door leading to the stairwell and almost made it down the first step when he grabbed you around the waist and yanked you back. Despite your struggles, the arm hooked across your middle was unyielding until he pushed you into the corner and crowded you against the wall, hands caging you in from either side. Your heart was racing and you weren’t sure if it was because of your escape attempt or that he was close enough you could smell his body wash and deodorant. It was almost enough to make your head spin.

“Sokka, I-I don’t know why—I’m sorry, please, I shouldn’t’ve—“

“(Y/N),” he said firmly and your mouth snapped shut. “Why did you run away?”

“Uh, I—well, um...” You shrunk down against the wall and swallowed hard. “I-I don’t know.”

“You didn’t even give me a chance to respond.”

“Look—“ You paused and stared at him once you processed what he said. “What?”

He laughed, dropping one of his hands to brush against your cheek before threading into your hair to cup the base of your skull. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

With that he surged forwards and kissed you enthusiastically, making you gasp into his mouth. You balled your hands into the front of his shirt to keep yourself steady as you melted into him. His free hand pressed into your lower back to bring you in closer. His tongue slipped out to tease at your bottom lip and he chuckled when you had to quickly grab his shoulders as your knees almost buckled.

“Get that,” he murmured against your lips, pressing his forehead to yours as the two of you gasped for air.

“Oh,” you breathed, “that.” You hummed happily when he kissed you again, his stubble scratching against your chin and under your palms when you cupped his face.

You both looked up when a stairwell door somewhere above you slammed open, followed by a group of jostling male voices. Sokka grinned when you glanced at him with wide eyes and shiny, swollen lips. You tried to hide behind him as the clamor bounded closer and closer. The group of guys rounded the next flight and gave shouts of recognition upon seeing you two standing against the wall.

“Sokka!”

“Hey, man!”

“Hey, guys,” Sokka said, holding his hand up in greeting.

“What’s up?”

“Oh, is that (Y/N)?”

“Nice, dude!”

“Ah, yeah...” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and you raised an eyebrow at his turned head. They all cheered and congratulated him, slapping his back as they passed and disappeared down the next set of stairs. When Sokka met your eyes again you cocked your head.

“Who were they?” you asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“Sokka.”

“My reputation precedes me, what can I say?”

“Mine doesn’t.”

“Well—“ he suddenly became very interested in the underside of the stairs above you “—my reputation may or may not involve talking about you. A lot, apparently.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t do it on purpose!” he interjected quickly, taking your hands in his. “It’s just—I dunno, I guess I think about you a lot, so...”

“Oh.”

“Fuck, okay, that sounded weird.” You laughed a little at his embarrassed floundering. “I just mean, like, things that remind me of you or, y’know, stories that involve you...” he trailed off, flushing at your amused smile. “Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“Making fun of me!”

“I didn’t say anything,” you giggled, hooking your arms around his neck.

“You’re still laughing at me,” he whined, lips turning into a frown. His hands slipped back down to your waist.

“You’re cute.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Without preamble, he ducked down and hoisted you over his shoulder as you shrieked in protest. “Sokka! Put me down!”

“No can do, baby; we have unfinished business to attend to.” He said as he marched you back in the direction of your room.

“You’re gonna finish my physics homework?”

“Nope.”

Oh.

A/N: 2k words bc, again, i have no self control. thank you for the request!

ATLA TAGS: @hotgirlazula @octophopi @blazedbakugou @protect-remus @akiris @sunflowerazula @wooscottoncandyhair @chewymoustachio @ohno-caroline @sunflowerr-mami @1vitamin @ladylizzieofdarbyshire @u-4iia @nymeria-targaryen @tommy-braccoli @dizzy-miss-lizzieeeeee @a-sloppy-bitch @nomin-rights @siriuslyslyslytherin @starryncn

SOKKA TAGS: @fiantomartell @avatarayeaye @zvkta @sher-lockedmarvel @grandmascottlang @captainshazamerica @yuesallura