#i didn't want to ramble too much but some extra observations are in the image descriptions

[tremendouskoalachild]

looks like no acolyte trailer this week but i wanna talk about it, so whatever let's go over all the shots from the one leaked in april 2023

sorry for horrible quality but in my defense. literally not my fault

1. Jedi Temple

The trailer opens with several shots of Jedi kids in a lesson, in what I assume to be the Coruscant Jedi temple:

The alien looks to me like a Tarsunt, similar to this background sequels guy. For now I'll assume these kids aren't important characters in the story and mostly serve to introduce the Jedi and/or Lee-Jung Jae's character, who is speaking over these and following shots:

He says: “Close your eyes. Your eyes can deceive you. We must not trust them. The Force is powerful. It is power we must respect.”

(I assume all these lines and shots are part of the same scene and it isn't some clever editing done for the trailer. It sounds like a reasonable introductory lesson for little kids, is coherent, and the locations match. Also what would be the point.)

There is also a single shot later in the trailer that seems to be in the same room, except with older Jedi, presumably Padawans:

The one that interests me in this shot is the one I assume to be a female Zabrak with light hair (on the right up front). She appears in other parts of the trailer as well.

2. Cantina confrontation

This sequence starts during the latter half of LJJ‘s voiceover and is partially intercut with the Temple shots. We see Amandla Stenberg‘s character walk through a public space (market place? spaceport?) and into what seems to be a cantina/restaurant, with patrons sitting at tables and eating or chatting:

There are many aliens, I think I saw an Iktotchi and/or Ovissian. If anyone knows what that thing slurping soup and the two sitting next to it are please tell me.

The voiceover ends over that last shot of Carrie-Anne Moss' character, there is a brief cut to black, and then we get a short fight between AS and CAM. It mostly looks like AS is attacking with her knife and martial arts skills while CAM deflects, before finally Force-pushing her away. We then get a first close look at Amandla Stenberg's character without her cloak:

The character's hairstyle was described by her actor as "clay-rolled dreadlocks, a North African reference".

At this point we are halfway through the trailer and the Lucasfilm logo comes up. Shots from what seems to be the same scene come up later in the trailer too:

AS is of course playing the main character and CAM is part of the main cast, so I assume this is an important scene, possibly the introduction to at least one of the two characters.

It seems a safe assumption that CAM is a Jedi master, and imo at least possible that she is the character mentioned in the show's synopsis (“A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”) - if so, this could be the unhappy reunion before they reluctantly work together. AS seems to know exactly where she's going, while CAM appears to be waiting for her, either because she invited her/agreed to a meeting set up by AS or a third party, or because she sensed AS coming.

(Of course, it could be an entirely different situation. Several outlets have reported that LJJ is playing the former master in question, which seems reasonable, since he is the male lead of the show.)

[tsukki-rising]

Pairing: Tokoyami Fumikage x Gn!Reader

Genre: fluffy angst, it gets a little emotional

Summary: You meet Tokoyami in the woods directly after the LOV attack at the summer training camp and comfort him.

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: Reader has an illusion quirk like Camie from Shiketsu 

Extra lessons. You don't necessarily have an issue with taking them, you value you education and understand that this is an important step to raising your grades. You are a little bummed out however that you won't get to accompany any of your closest friends for the nighttime activity being put on by the Wild Wild Pussy Cats. You specifically feel a little anxious that you can't be with Tokoyami right now.

At the beginning of the school year, Tokoyami was a quiet student, but there were a few of his classmates with which he had created friendships. You had the honor of being a close friend to the boy along with Tsu and Shoji. You had found his interest in you slightly ironic due to your quirk. You have an illusion quirk that you often use for disorienting light attacks.

You felt quite overwhelmed by most of your classmates, most having large and often overbearing personalities with goals of being a top pro hero. But Tokoyami was a calming presence and he found you to be the same so you two got along great and a friendship blossomed.

As you sit in the classroom now, staring straight ahead at the whiteboard, you fondly remember your favorite times with Tokoyami. The first time he spoke to you in hero training, the first time he offered you to sit with him at lunch, the times you'd studied together at each other's houses, and of course, the time that you realized that your feelings for your classmate were more than strictly platonic.

You begin to reminisce on a certain memory with the boy that had you falling even deeper. You two were finished with your studying and you were looking around and admiring the décor of Tokoyami's room, noting how he prefers darkness.

"You know, I found it kind of funny when you wanted to be friends with me. You prefer dark conditions due to your quirk yet, with mine, I'm always using light." you noted while looking over some of the book spines on his shelves (classic literature, gothic mysteries, poetry).

"I wouldn't let that get in the way of a friendship. To be honest, I think you're quirk might've only worked to have me all the more interested in you." He was sitting in his desk chair and occasionally telling you stories behind some of the things he had in his room. Suddenly though, it felt like you were the decor being looked at, the story behind you being told. "I remember as everyone was getting to know each other in class and you made that illusion of a light show, it reminded me of all the nightlights I had when I was really young. My parents were cautious of dark shadow so I always had multiple in my room."

You note his words, looking around and observing the numerous small light sources littered around the space. "'had'?", you look over to him with a teasing smile.

He appreciates the jest and chuckles lightly before responding, "Ok, ok. Well, in my defense, I have a lot less now than I used to. I'm trying to feel out my limits with dark shadow and exercise working with him rather than letting him take over completely.", with his finishing statement the atmosphere grows slightly tense. This seems to be a bit of a sore subject for him.

It makes your heart ache to see him upset. "Tokoyami, I haven't known you long but I have seen you in action multiple times now and the way you work with dark shadow is so sinuous it almost seems choreographed.", you compliment.

You see a small smile creep onto his face before he elaborates, "You have seen me in the light. Dark shadow is stronger in deep shadow, much stronger, but also much more difficult for me to control. I want to increase my ability to remain calm while using that strength with precision, so that I can be an asset in the dark rather than a hazard.", he frowns, "It scares me to think of losing control. I want to be a hero but if I lose control...I could hurt someone."

He's looking off now with concern on his face. You really can't stand seeing him like this so you take his hand to gain his attention.

"Then I'm all the more impressed that you continue to follow the path of becoming a hero. What courage you must have to strive for such goals, determination, passion." You look him in the eyes and let your heart speak freely for just a split second, "You are an inspiration Tokoyami.", you quickly shut your heart up the moment after, "It's awesome to be friends with such a person.", you give the most platonic smile you can muster before pretending to receive a message from your parent about needing to leave and doing so.

Now, rather than taking notes, you doodle images of those gothic light fixtures across your notebook's page. You've got nearly half the page filled when Mandalay's message comes in.

The group of students in the room aren't too concerned. There were only two reported villains fighting against two classes of aspiring heroes and four pros. But when a group of students who were out for the activity join the class with Vlad King, they give more details and it's difficult to stay optimistic.

Looking out the windows, you struggle to even make out the shapes of the trees and worry about your friend who is out there somewhere in the night's darkness.

Time passes slowly as you try to distract yourself with small illusions in the palm of your hand. When the fuss breaks out in the classroom over whether or not to fight when Aizawa's permission is given, you stay back. You're antsy to find out how Fumikage is doing but you lean towards agreeing with Vlad King that Aizawa meant the message to apply only for self-defense. When Aizawa himself comes in to deal with the fake fiery villain it's only solidified and you must wait oh so impatiently. Worrying about your closest friend, somewhere out in the trees.

When the emergency vehicles begin to arrive after Vlad King's call, students are let out of the building as the area surrounding is found clear of villains and many go out to search for the students littered throughout the forest. Koda is a big help in this effort, communicating with the animals of the area and locating groups of students. He is a quiet boy, but an observant one. He tells you which direction Tokoyami is in hopes to calm your nerves, as soon as you get the information though, you run off to find him immediately and ignore the yelling of the officers telling you that the scene is unclear past the trees.

You run and dodge the obstacles in your path and run faster, you pass Midoriya quickly and find Tokoyami not far from him.

He is quite clearly in shock, standing still with his back to a tree and breathing shallowly. You approach him slowly and announce yourself so you don't scare him. When his sharp gaze makes contact with yours he seems to be broken from his overthinking trance and falls to his knees. You rush over and meet him in the dirt, placing your hands on his shoulders and assessing his body for any big injuries. There doesn't appear to be any so you look back to his face, he looks like a child who just woke up from a nightmare, like he lost everything.

"Tokoyami, breathe.", you realize you need to help him calm down, rubbing your hands up and down his upper arms, longing to hold him as close as possible to reassure yourself as well as him that he is ok.

You remember his words - "It scares me to think of losing control." -

"I did it...I let go. It was so dark and I let him take over." He's not looking you in the eye, shivering, though it's not cold out in the summer evening.

You remember his room, the lights. Using your quirk you recreate the candles and crystal balls, placing them all around the two of you and illuminating the space with a soft purple glow. You slowly surround yourself and him with the light as you continue gently rubbing his arms.

"You're ok though. You're here and you're ok. I'm here with you." Maybe your words served to console yourself slightly more than they worked to console him but you did grab his attention, his eyes lifting to meet yours. "Breathe. You're ok."

He caves into your steady form, hugging you tightly, his arms under yours and head tucked into your chest. His breathing seems more intentional at this point, relieving you. You move your hands from his shoulders to stroke at the feathers on the top of his head.

"I just- it was so fast and Shoji- He- and I couldn't-" He starts rambling, constantly stumbling over his words. You knew he didn't talk much, he preferred only to speak when it was necessary or directly useful for conversation.

"Tell me about it.", you rub up and down his back with one hand.

He takes a few deep, shaky breaths to steady himself before he pours out the story of him losing control to dark shadow. How he was trapped, enveloped in the darkness and at it's mercy as he watched it chase down Shoji and then Midoriya with lethal intent. How he figured out their plan to lure dark shadow over to others who could help and how he prayed to the gods it would work and no one would get hurt in the process. How bright and hot the flashes were next to him as Bakugo and Todoroki blasted their quirks on either side of his body to stop dark shadow. How he was shaking, walking with the others on the way to the summer camp's building before he got captured with Bakugo by a masked villain. The feeling of being trapped in the tiny marble of the villain's quirk. He was almost kidnapped himself along with Bakugo.

He's been talking for some time now, crying into your shirt and holding onto you tightly. He looks up at you then. You're also crying but there's a shakey smile on your lips. The furrow between his brows deepens as he looks at you.

You bring your hands to the sides of his head. "And you're ok?" You look over him again looking for any obvious wounds. "You're ok." You pull him back into a hug with his head on your shoulder and you cry, embracing him as tightly as you can manage. "I was so worried."

You realized as he was talking just how deeply you were in love with him, how much care you had in your aching heart for his safety. It surprised you how well you had been avoiding your feelings, concealing the full extent from even yourself and now you were a wreck. He could have been hurt, he could have hurt others and been unable to deal with the guilt of it, he could have been kidnapped. You held onto him now as if you were attempting to keep him safe from the dangers that were really gone for the time being.

With your arms around him he feels safe. With the lights around the both of you he feels at home. Hearing your heart beat slows his own down to a more healthy pace and he realizes too how much you mean to him. You've always been there for him, you've listened to his concerns, helped him in hero training and regular studying. You had become a part of what home meant to him and you grounded him. These feelings over came him and he reached up to pull your hands from his body to hold them in his own. Pulling away from you just far enough to look you in the eye.

You sat there with him on the forest floor, bodies pressed close and hearts beating loud. He looks you in the eyes for a second before bowing his head to rest his forehead against yours. You close your eyes to soak in the moment while you can.

"Thank you.", he says.

You separate from him by an inch to look questioningly into his eyes.

"You- You being here, the lights. Thank you Y/n. You mean so much to me and this,", he looks around "this is perfect. Thank you." He smiles and huffs out a small laugh, you really made things perfect in your little bubble of light in the woods even after all that's happened, he's calm now with you here.

You're speechless at this. He misses being as close to you as possible and surges forward with a bit too much force, capturing you in his arms before you both hit the soft dirt. You both share a little laugh at this that almost sounds like a sigh of relief and he nuzzles his head into your shoulder.

"You won't have to worry in the future. I want to be with you all the time Y/n, we'll stay close and when the next attack comes we'll fighting side by side."

He says it like no big deal but you hug him back that much tighter. "Close?" You don't want to get your hopes up.

"Close" He turns his head to nudge your cheek and you smile because he's safe and in your arms. Because he's with you and you're with him.