#im kinda tired of everything being tech

[ganondoodle]

i know i said i wouldnt be ranting about totk anymore, but i realized i didnt really count the sage dungeons as story (dont ask me why) so i thought im gonna write a better summarized version of my opinion about totk (i have around 60% of the game, all lightroots, not yet all shrines (missing like .. 20 or so, know the reward), not all krogs (dont know the reward), not all mayoi (half know the reward?) )

(in no particular order)

good stuff (in my opinion)

the. MUSIC! god the music is good, it was good in botw too but now with much more different bosses it really is probably one of my fav soundtracks of all time (most fav are all three phases of the end fight, the pre-fight to that, the build up one before all of those, Frosgeira (wind tempel boss) the glorious mASTER KOGA and more tbh)

the build up and end boss fight(s) are fantastic, i dont think im ever not gonna have my heart racing when approaching it (despite now skipping almost the entire way bc i set a teleport thing right before it) just bc the build up is so well made and the music(again) is such a banger and the fight(s) itself is so fun too, tbh i keep wanting to play it just bc its so fun

i LOVE how many themes play into the music (endfight alone had so many layers, fav probably is ganondorfs classic theme and calamity ganons both in the same piece among much more, and daruks theme in the fire temple)

(edit) YOU. CAN. TOUCH. DA. DRAGONS!!!!

ganondorf

ganondorfs design (x3)

ganondorfs weapon designs

ganondorfs voice (japanese)

everyone elses voice (japanese)

all voices (german)

thE YIGA!!! i love everythign about them and am so happy they got to be more than just some mini mission

(edit) also the fact that they get zonau tech to work without any special ghost powers is so ????

(edit) koga can summon and use zonau tech unlimited?? hes so cool

NO stealth mission!! (as far as im aware)

bosses are very different from each other

main dungeons are not too short and not too long and mostly fun (mostly bc i personally didnt like the gerudo one), i love that you can still somewhat cheese them and do them your way

sages felt like they got a bit more involved

(edit) you gotta do more stuff before getting to the actual dungeons and i really like that, feels less like a fetch quest but that you are actually helping

(edit) each sage is actually there in the dungeon and is required for it, which is great!

each settlement saw a much bigger danger/change (tho that has more impact if you have played botw) and its problems felt much more real

shrines are well varied tho i think overall a little easy (only got stuck on two so far and later solved them easily bc when i first started them i was tired and exhausted, no brain left lol)

NPCs felt less flat + more bigger sidequests that felt like they had more impact

cool new monsters + designs

the underground was pretty appropiately creepy

the sages abilities are neat

you can refight bosses!!

stable points system is a neat way to encourage you using them

weapon fusing is neat

(edit) the forest of the krogs being corrupted like that is both creepy and a neat nod to oot

(edit) the vai gerudo outfit being gone!! (one) evil has been defeated

(edit) the health bar going so far off the middle in ganondorfs second phase is honestly just funny hnjdfdjk unfortunate that you only need the master sword and with a few perfect dodges his health melts like butter in the summer

(edit) the music when dragondorf transforms sounds so sad .. its probably meant as a oh no world is actually ending sad but i like to think of it as a oh god what did he do to himself sad

the scene where rauru seals ganondorf kinda fruity

(graphic, animations and the overall world is still fantastic)

bad stuff (in my opinion)

everything zonau they feel forced into every bit of the world and its history (i know them being somewhat alien is intentional but not like that) it feels crammed into places they werent before and shouldnt be and it makes it all feel very artificial

the glyphs/dragon tears/memories really ruined alot for me, while it gave you insight as to what happened, it felt like it showed you too much and too little at the same time and i think it would have worked better if it was all in text for once if even at all, so the past stil stayed a mystery and youd be left wondering

timetravel .. really wasnt necessary and felt more like an excuse to get rid of zelda + make her the poor little sacrificial girl again + and to make her turning into a dragon as tragic as possible, like nothing but a stepping stone to the big reveal tm

shiekah tech being not just fully irrelevant but practically erased, wiped off the world (i know about the literally last guardian parts in hateno, it feels more like an oversight tbh, purah technically using it ... tho i dont think she ever calls it that, the purah pad is jsut the sheikah stone but worse), there being no good explanation, no remains, nothing as to why it would suddendly stop working and why even the titans and ESPEICALLY the shrine of life would be destroyed, if anything why wouldnt you enshrine it as a memento to history it was such a focus in botw and so well integrated into the world that it being fully gone, not even old overgrown, or visibly reused to build homes etc., or remains of how they built the og shrines in the underground feels like a HUGE missed opportunity (seriously it would have been so easy to make the ancient shiekah base their tech on old zonau tech, without stealign the gocus but buildign a connection)

all of the continuity problems, totk feels like botw didnt happen and the excuse of 'they didnt want to confuse new players' doesnt make a lick of sense in my eyes bc; its supposed to be a sequel, if you want it to be a standalone game then dont call it a sequel- if you start to play a game with the sequel instead of the first part its your own damn fault if you get confused; if anything, it would have been a good opportuntiy to make people interested in botw so theyd buy and play that one too

ganondorfs character is very flat, you basically get to know nothing about him (yuno even calls that out midgame but its never elaborated upon nhgfrdfhkk)

the zonau and their kingdom of hyrule is presented as this so perfectly good thing to such a degree it turns creepy, the end cutscene with mineru going poof was kinda uncomfy to watch tbh

the reward for all shrines being essentially a reveal as to who the hero in the tapestry was and it being, of course, some weird half zonau is the lamest answer to a mystery i didnt want an anwser too, it doesnt feel like it came naturally either (again my point of the zonau being forced into everything)

the shrines (zonau) feel so much more unnatural than the shiekah shrines, alien in a bad way and not in a good way + really are like a bad reskin of them, their sudden appearance and use is so much less logical

back in botw i was doubtful of if the shiekah tech wasnt going to far too modern tech and cause it all to feel like a bad mix of modern tech and medival fantasy, but they balanced it perfectly (tho the eponator zero was very much the limit imo) but the zonau tech .... oversteps that line i think, it really does feel, more than anything else, that it was just bc they wanted the stuff to be in there bc it might be fun to play around with, im not against that kind of stuff mind you im all for fun, but it feels a little like they thought of a box with endless stuff to play with first and a zelda game second (if you get what i mean)

quite a few quests or things in the game seem like they are more and then end in a dead end (the worst of all is impa saying she wants to go research what could help zelda turn back, and i was excited and convinced that shed give me a quest to find some mcguffin that would do that after i beat ganon but there wasnt anything you could actually do; less bad one but disappointing nonetheless the dongos were mentioned and treated like this big awesome thing from alot of NPCs all around the map and then when you find them they are bascially just gem vending maschines)

the way zelda turns back and link gets his arm back is incredibly unsatisfying, none of them even have something like a scar, or mark from it all, zelda spent thousands of years as a dragon (a transformation that was said to cost your soul but i guess that wasnt true) and link had his arm bascially eaten by miasma and he gets it back like it was never lost, zelda returns all intact as if nothing happened, getting blasted by some magic tm by two ghosts that were supposed to be long gone is the solution to all problems!!

(edit) link losing an arm wouldnt just be super intersting but also lend itself well to lead up into the next game where his prothesis is the focus and source of abilities

(edit) zelda got done so dirty, instead of her actual interests and character to shine she just gets shoved into yet another crisis surrounded by strangers in a world that looks like hers but isnt, and all she does is beg the ancient sages to swear to help link and sacrifice herself again (can you call that fridging? bc she sure feels like she got fridged) i like zelda and i dont like how much i didnt care about her and tbh im angry at the game for that

(edit) both link and zelda not even slightly changing in the years btween botw and totk kinda boring, like a haircut can only do so much

(edit) sonia really is the wife that dies to make husband sad thing isnt she? i get that gan had to get his hands on an enigma stone but i feel like there had been better ways to do that, the fact that she dies that easily is almost funny honestly, why does ganondorf even have weapons when he can just one punch people to death (tho i find it funny to imagine he can literally just kill people in one punch but hes too prideful to do it most of the time so he always uses weapons to look more cool)

(edit) so many new characters that you barely get to see or interact with, i really ... couldnt get myself to care much

(edit) zonau tech being so irrelevant to the games story while its also the focus is .. weird, its really just play doh for the players and nothing else honestly

(edit) monsters mining sonanium feels strange bc ... they dont do anything with it? the best thing i can think of is that they were told to do that so link cant .. upgrade his battery thignies? but then again you could just destroy the mines and remaining constructs to stop it .... also you really dont need anything zonau tech related to beat gan?

(edit) ganondorf beign so utterly uninterested in their tech is weird considering how he dealt with shiekah tech (and we KNOW it can get corrupted) he should be a tech nerd tbh

my twitch VoD of the first time beating the game getting muted at the credits despite me talking over it

nitpicks (in my opninion)

(edit) ganondorf should have a bit more of a boar inspired design, as treat, i think

(edit) the enigma stone wandering back to ganondorfs forehead even after transforming is? weird? i guess an excuse for da epic last stabby but still? (how cool would it have been to have to plunge into his mouth and break it there or something)

(edit) the underground gets a lil old after a while, the fact that its pretty much the same everywhere aside from some .. very strange flowing magma is a lil boring

(edit) ganondorf could have gone way more crazy with abilities and all that, imagine hed spwan multiple miasma arms on himself when you get him to a certain level of health

(edit) i miss unique weapons, there arent even normal axes around anymore, everything is about fusing really, i miss the cool shiekah tech weapons

(edit) the forest of the krogs being largely irrelevant is kinda weird

(edit) mineru being the sage of spirit still is kinda meh, the robot is neat but i thought tauro or purah would be the surprise sage tbh

(edit) the bosses were a little easy (i did boldo gohma rather early and did it without even getting hit)

you cant talk to koga normally :(

you cant find koga again after the last fight :(

you cant refight him (to my knowledge) :(

i find it very strange that yuno seemingly lost daruk shield, despite him having inhereted it in botw

the sage powers are not .. very great integrated, while its fun to haven them run around and help you fight, to actually use their powers you have to chase after them, something that in the heat of a battle is very annoying to do, constantly activating the wrong on or them losing their charge up when they get knocked over is like trying to herd a wild pack of geese while a three headed dragon is shotting laserbeams at you

some widlife just disappearing all of the sudden is very strange (like the rhino in hebra)

some new houses or settlements would have been cool, that the material things at the sides of roads are really only for you to play around with and not to build anything that lasts

you cant fight ganondorf (non dragon, even the dragon is locked to that evening sky) in the sunlight, night or rain, i would have loved to fight him at various times of day

their refusal to show any kind of blood is honestly turnign serious scenes into very awkward ones, sonia just getting punched and she dies with not even like, losing some spit from the force or something, or the fact when you defeat ganondorfs second phase he acts mortally wounded but doesnt even look scratched is just :/

amiibo stuff while neat being included its really mostly just bloating your inventory, if i wanted 5 vaguely different link outfits then i would have gotten the amiibo for it

why hide the -now-totally-not-phantom-ganon-armor- behind such a long questline and then .. have that NOT be upgradable

they put in a house building thingy and then not let you have a roof or a tree or something :(

at some point stable points jsut get you more and more of those free staying over night tickets that i maybe used .. once at the very start and now its just accumulating in my inventory

only one new horse coat pattern :(

satori now only being a thingy that shows you caves is kinda boring, i loved the mystery around it in botw (additionally, that it shows you caves you have completed already kinda sucks)

the end of the shrines isnt that cool anymore, speaking to a mummified monk that gives you essentially his last remains of life energy is so much cooler than a statue of the oh so awesome god king and his wife

the many references and reuse of old names is neat but together with timetravel etc. it easily leads to confusing and fighting among fans for who is more 'right' and its just .. tiring

(edit) considering how much of the advertising was about the sky islands i wished there were more and bigger ones, the underground (that was a little one sided after a while, it all looking the same rly) could have been alot smaller if the sky was bigger instead

(edit) i wished there was more of a sense of .. lost life in the ruins you find, from all races, the ancient ruins are jsut some bridged and ceremonial stuff and i wished there were more like .. houses, like people actually lived there and it not being all around beign a platform for you

(edit) the fact that the half zonau hero exists mean either rauru and sonia had kids but those were clearly not important enough to ever show nor mention, or there were other mixing of them before they all mysteriously died out the fact that the ancient hero was half zonau means their genes survided till then but somehow it never came up? the tapestry still exists and impa and purah say like its a well known fact that the hero looked like that (not at all close to any modern species) when you talk to them while wearing it (the fact that the hero armor thingy is very reminiscemt of ganondorf is like some backtreading bc we were theorizing about the hero having been ganondorf once and they wanted to stop that .. but the more funny thing is the HC of its a descdendet of rauru and ganondorf nhjdfknhdgkfnhkfd) (edit to add to the HC; the game being a big battle about child support is funnier than it should be idk if nintendo knew what they were doing adding details like that)

all in all it just feels like missed opportunities, lost potential, and more a game build around some game mechanics they really wanted to get into than telling a neat story, espeically so bc they called it a sequel, most of my complaints wouldnt be there if it was some alternate thing instead

i probably forgot stuff but if i think of more i will add them later with a little note that it was added in an edit (sidenote, i find it funny how much more nuance that whole conflict would get if rauru and ganondorf were bitter exes bfdrjfbdfndk)

[sinning-23]

Socket Wrench: Chapt. 3

Sooooo this chapter ended up being kinda lengthy ngl. Im REALLY tryna build that tension between DK and the reader but also make it kinda awkward cause they just met but they can't help but like take jabs and flirt back and forth with each other cause they've gotten a bit comfortable with one another. ANYWHO, enjoy! Maybe 3-4 more chapters after this annnnd then it shall be COMPLETE lol.

ALSO, Chapter 2 found here

ok, I'm done fr. enjoy :D

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Chapter 3: Blow dice, Kiss tires

“So we ambush them at the end of this road?” You question making sure you got all the details right as Peach nods sternly. 

The plan was to use the carts to try and get to Bowser before he even knew it and not only save Luigi but the Mushroom and Jungle Kingdoms from being attacked. If he was coming to the Princess he wasn't going to just stop there, he’d take over everything. The next step was to prepare, and quickly. Luckily, the garage wasn't too far, and based on what you’d learned from your last time being there, they could build their carts easily, and you'd be able to finish yours with that kind of tech. 

“Let's make moves then.” You hum, leading the way to the garage, DK close behind. 

There were a few things that needed to be addressed but you kept your mouth shut, trying not to think about how well this whole plan would play out. Worse comes to worse, you die here or even one of them gets hurt and the plan goes to shit. You sigh heavily, gaining even more of DK’s attention as if he wasn't burning holes into you every time he thought he could catch a glance at you while you walked. 

“You look tense,” He begins, following you to your bike once the garage is opened, trying to get you to break your silence. 

“I'm kind of freaking out, but it's fine.” You admit, trying to shake your nerves off as you place the tires onto the bike you crafted, the model and color of the rims contrasting nicely with the overall build.

“You're gonna be fine, just stick close to me, and no worries.”He offers, voice raised an octave

“With how you got your shit rocked earlier? I’ll take my chances.” You shoot back jokingly as he laughs sarcastically at the jab. 

“Very funny.” He responds, watching you work in awe. You moved so quickly yet so precisely. He had hardly noticed you placing the final details before hopping on and revving it. 

“Perfect.” You whisper out, jutting your head for him to come closer. 

“Kiss 'em.” You chuckle, motioning towards the tires. 

“What? Why?” He laughed back, trying to figure out where you were trying to go with this. 

“For luck, it's like blowing dice right?” You question, revving the engine again.

“I need all the luck I can get pretty boy. So how about this, you kiss my tire and I’ll kiss yours. Deal?” You joke, seeing him shake his head as you hop off the bike, a flustered look on his face. 

“I'm just messing with you, let me change and I'll be back to help with the rest of the karts.” You gulp, patting DK’s shoulder before heading off. 

He shakes his head, making his way to his own kart. Kiss the tires? Weird request but you did ask nicely. Though, he was more reeling over you calling him ‘pretty boy’ more than anything. 

—-----

Not much time had passed when you returned, a biking suit matching your motorcycle much like how the Princesses matched her own. Guess great minds thought alike. 

“Looks nice, yeah? You should take a picture, it'll last longer.” You hum, catching DK eyeballing you a little bit longer than usual. He smirks at your statement, watching you fix your boots.

 You pause for a moment, motioning for him to come closer, which he has absolutely no problem doing. Before he can even process what you were trying to do, your fingers are already adjusting his tie with a soft smile. 

“Now we both look nice.” You hum, driving forward and leaving him somewhat slack-jawed

It was about time for you all to leave, the bike and karts aline revving to prepare for the battle ahead. You sigh, rolling your bike next to the Princess as she smiles back at you, happy to have another woman on the team. Girlbossing alone gets exhausting after a bit. You rev your bike and dart out, eager to get to where you needed to as Peach follows next to you.

You hadn’t been able to ride a kart on your own yet, but damn did it feel nice speeding on these foreign roads, the wind blowing your braids back, the ponytail you once had discarded for your usual down look. You were so caught up in your own head you hadn't noticed Peach trying to get your attention.

“So, did they make you duel too?” She jokes, keeping up the conversation. You giggle in response

“Fortunately for me no, I wouldn't have won that fight. DK seems to know what he's doing. I just proved myself by working on the karts. It was fairly simple to understand.” You explain, a prideful look splayed over your features.

“I see. Soooo, that's why you two are on good terms, or maybe?” She side-eyes you, smirking but you quickly shut it down. 

“Oh stop! He just showed me around the kingdom and the garage…and we talked.” You explain, reminiscing over the eye contact and light touches. Hell, even the quick interaction from the garage. How stupid was that to ask him to ‘kiss the tires’ jesussssss. 

“Wait no! Listen, he's a prince and I'm some random girl from Brooklyn. Besides I mean I'm sure he's got plenty of fans drooling over him. Honestly, I don't know how to feel, he's such a dork.” You giggle, trying not to steal a glance at him and failing. Looks like a quiet conversation with Mario surprisingly. 

“Honestly, I wouldn't mind staying here with him. He may seem like a showoff, which is very true but he's a sweetheart under it all. I actually think he wants me to stay too.” You explain, that same hotness crawling up your spine and into your face.

It wasn't long before Mario drove up beside her, also striking up a conversation while you lean back and take his previous place next to DK. The silence seemed to drag on as you both looked at each other simultaneously, only to look away and clear your throat. There's definitely tension here, awkward, flirty, or otherwise and god was it suffocating. 

“How's it riding?” He chokes out, trying to cover up his embarrassment. 

“Oh, um it's perfect! I’ve never built my own bike before.” You giggle, adjusting the way you were sitting, catching his eyes again. 

“I'd hope so, otherwise that kiss was for nothing.” He quips, avoiding your gaze with that stupid boyish grin. 

He actually did it for you?

“You…really?” You sigh, heart beating out of your chest as your face feels as if it's gonna melt from how hot it is. 

“Yeah, I figured why not. The fact that you suggested it was cute.” He admits, seeing you tuck your bottom lip between your teeth. 

“Didn't think you’d take me seriously, I didn't even follow through with the deal.” You hum, finally gaining the courage to look at him

“I know, you can make it up to me later.” He chuckles, the statement laced with something suggestive.

You speed up, seeing the ramp come to an end, DK catching up behind you as you begin following down Rainbow Road. There wasn't much left to cover before you made it to your destination, and anxiety eats away at you.  It wasn't hard for DK to tell so he sped up just to catch up to you, wanting to keep you from isolating yourself. 

“The crease on your forehead is gonna be permanent if you keep looking like that.” DK jokes, poking the spot as you smile into the touch a bit, pulling away just before he could notice. 

“I know, I know. Just nervous.” You admit, a heavy sigh filling the air. 

“I get it. A lot has happened to you so far. Like I said, just stay close.” He hums, shooting you a smile you so desperately needed to see. 

You giggle a bit, shaking your head. 

“Hey, I got a question about that duel earlier.” You add, seeing his interest spike. He loves answering questions you had for him, and it seemed he was comfortable enough to ramble on and on about whatever the next topic led to. And you were happy to listen. 

“You have a theme song? That's actually hilarious, but kinda cute.” You joke, as his face seems to flush and he clears his throat. 

“I-I didn't think you were paying attention to that.” He admits, trying to avoid your teasing gaze. 

“Ohhhh I paid quite a lot of attention to your showing off, saw you flex, kiss your muscles, pop your pecs, and thrust the air back to back…You’re quite the showoff aren't you?” You taunt, a laugh escaping your throat. 

He’s cute when he’s embarrassed, hand gripping the wheel for dear life and he looks elsewhere.

“Ohhh don't get shy now. Your fans adored it, and I'll admit, watching you fight was pretty fun. You play dirty though.” You explain, noticing his once embarrassed expression warp into a flirty smile.

“First of all, I'm like, the most UN-SHY person you’ll ever meet. And second, you just admitted to liking the show, so I must be doing something right huh? I bet you liked me playing ‘dirty’ huh?” He bites back, watching you freeze up.  

It was your turn to be shy now. 

“Y-You… I never said-....shut up and drive boy.” You sputter, trying to hide the fact that you may or may not have exposed yourself. He laughs in response, shaking his head at how you could dish it out but not take it. Despite the moment being nice, something was wrong….If this Bowser was any kind of smart, he would have insight into your plan and come up with some kind of counterattack.

And sure enough, there was a brigade of soldiers from who you could only assume was Bowser. “It's an ambush!” Peach calls as you speed up on your bike, trying to figure out the best strategy. 

The rest of the army speeds up as well and war ensues upon the road ahead, shells and banana peels flying from either end, anyone bound to get caught in the crossfire. You dodge a red shell, using one of the other koopas as a projectile, tossing the shell over your shoulder and passing one to the princess. 

You managed to get separated from the main group, a gang of 4 hot on your tail as you try to lose them, slamming on your breaks as they speed past and you make a U-Turn, heading back to the group. 

The sound of screeching tired and angry shouting fills your ears all before a loud boom shakes the road, making you lose balance off your bike and fall off. The blast was looser than you expected, the wave sending you backward and leaving your ears ringing. The world spins as you try to regain balance, a sense of panic taking over as you hear Peach call for Mario and sure enough falling into the water below, was Mario and DK. 

Your feet move on their own, your books padding against the road as you try to dodge debris and dive in after them. DK was almost immediately knocked unconscious by a tire that had fallen, leaving you and Mario to swim after him to pull him back to the surface. You’re 

gasping for air, trying to catch your breath as you choke on the salty ocean water.

 “Find something to float on!” You cough out, grabbing onto whatever you could while DK chokes out the water he swallowed.

“You saved my life.” He huffs, more surprised that Mario did but grateful you helped as well.

"Yeah well, I won't tell anyone," Mario responds, hoping for a lil camaraderie.

"Good please don't," Gk responds, seeing you snicker and shake your head. The moment was unfortunately cut short as the three of you found yourselves scrambling to get away from an eel that was hellbent on swallowing you whole. 

-Meanwhile-

Peach speeds down the remainder of the road to get back to her kingdom. The plan had obviously failed and as far she knew, you Mario, and DK were as good as gone. The Kong army had been captured and scooped away to be held as prisoners by Bowser. There was almost no time to evacuate the kingdom but she was quick and concise in her decision, rushing any of her citizens to safety before preparing to face Bowser alone. 

The ground shook and trembled as his floating castle hovered overhead. It was now or never, if she could at least keep him occupied here and keep her subjects safe, she’d fight til the end. She was surrounded now with Toad by her side as she held her weapon defensively. 

-at the bottom of the FUCKING ocean-

You're pacing now, trying to see if this eel had an exit. Hell if it wasn't gonna open from the front your best bet was the back, but after walking for so long you figured there was no use. Your head is pounding and your clothes are soaked. It's dark and cold and you're trying to figure out how this whole ordeal would be explained to your dad when you never came home.

You sigh heavily, holding your head in your hands, peeling off the soaked biking jacket, and dropping it beside DK’s busted kart. Pausing for a moment, hearing footsteps approach you and of course, DK decides you look like you need some company. 

“How’re you holding up?” He asks, standing beside you as you sigh heavily and shake your head no.

“Why did you dive in after us? You could have gone with the princess to help her-”

“And leave you here to drown? Yeah right. I know it wasn't the smartest but it's like my body moved on its own.” You admit hands clenched at your sides. 

“I guess I've grown a lot more attached to you than I thought.” You hum, seeing his eyes soften at your frantic state. 

“Attached how?” He presses, hoping you'd be the first to confess the growing feelings in the pit of your stomach just so he could have a chance to confess and make it less awkward.

“I-...I don’t know, I just think we’ve grown closer as friends so far.” The word is bitter on your tongue and damn does your chest ache when his lips press in a line and he nods slowly. Ouch.

“Yeah, yeah totally me too.” He hisses out, rocking back and forth a bit to try and clear the tension.

“…”

“....”

“Any ideas? You huff out, forcing yourself to talk away from the situation despite feeling every bone in your body tell you not to. 

Bits of swallowed Rainbow Road illuminate the area as Mario shakes his head, nothing coming to mind. Your hands shake as you pace again, Mario and DK’s eyes following your panicked state. 

“Everything was going so well, I shouldn't have let you guys down there and separated from the group I-I could have done something.” You ramble, chest rising and falling quicker with every word you ramble. 

“Hey, it's not your fault…IT'S HIS!” DK points, Making the Italian furrow his brows. 

An argument was sure to ensue now, insults being thrown back and forth while you contemplate your existence. You tried to devise a plan but nothing was coming to mind. The sound of bickering was getting louder and it sure as hell wasn’t helping your situation. 

“At least you’ll die without your father thinking you’re a joke.” DK huffs, looking more defeated than anything. 

At the end of the day, he was probably acting how he did because he wanted his father's approval. You knew that feeling too well…Back home the only thing you wanted was for your dad to acknowledge how hard you work. You stopped eventually, realizing that you should be proud of yourself regardless of what he or others think. He settled for the same old 9-5 he hated and you followed your heart and dreams. If anything that was far more commendable. 

“My dad thinks I'm a joke too,” Mario confirms, the air thick for a moment as DK breathes heavily going to speak again. 

“Yeah well….YOUR DAD'S RIGHT!” He shoots back, making you pinch the bridge of your nose as they continue to bicker back and forth. 

“ALRIGHT GIRLS.” You interrupt, scowl present as they take the hint to stop. 

Arguing wasn't going to solve anything.

“We all have daddy issues, fantastic. Now can we figure out how to get out of here and prove them wrong?” You question, a brow raised as you look between the two of them. 

“There has to be a way out...it's not rocket science.” You chuckle, realization hitting you.

“Wait wait….your kart. Follow me!” You interrupt, booking it to the discharged kart with one lone rocket looking like a glimmering beacon of hope. The three of you share a look. 

Let's get this shit.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I keep regurgitating my OC in your askbox but you must know that Ansi is a liar, a swindler, and a thief (because it's fun pulling on over on the rich). She is actively swindling all of her coworkers out of their money via phishing emails or just giving a sob story to those who are particularly generous with their funds. (Don't feel bad they're all selfish, entitled, and egotistical. The Alchemax of her world is mostly just rich people who think that they understand science kinda like someone we know irl cougheloncough. They have too much time on their hands and too many friends in power. Ethics laws are pretty much meaningless. They only give her money to make themselves look better. They make a big stink about how they're making a change for their community and blah blah blah. Anyways.) If she doesn't need the cash she'll most likely donate it.

What's really funny is that she attempted to do the same as soon as she arrived at HQ. Much to Miguel's dismay. She got some of the spiders who live in an older dimension. Unfortunately after a while Lyla had to teach them about internet safety.

Ansi ended up scoping the place out to see what she could steal to sell for parts back in her home world since her scams were no longer effective. However she was so mesmerized by all of the tech there that she ended up keeping most of her stolen goods for herself to tinker with. Her and Hobie usually find themselves in the same areas snatching stuff and exchanging potential ideas for what to do with the parts. Disco has caught them a number of times with their pockets stuffed to the brim sounding like they got pockets full of loose change before they just pop back into their respective dimensions.

(Who am I kidding Hobie probably stays and denies everything when asked. Ansi is too tired to lie from lugging her loot around so she just goes straight home.)

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

It would turn into like a whole operation cause game recognize game!!!! Disco would respect Ansi so much cause black spider-women gotta stick together and she lets Ansi get away with anything, sets aside parts for her cause she's like 'hell yeah fuck miguel he doesn't need it'

but with Hobie she's the OPPOSITE.

Ansi's like 'yeah Discos cool with it ur fine' then one day she catches him and he's thinking 'oh it's the groupie girl i wink and im outta here'

until Disco is like

"Is that Hobie Brown??? Is HOBIE BROWN over here STEALING???? That's crazy!"

Because Disco runs game in her own way and up until that very moment she was playing the airhead groupie card

Hobies like "????Surely ur taking the piss"

And she's like "You know what'd be crazy?? Me not having to pay cover at your show this weekend, rightttt? You know what'd be even crazier..me being VIP, rigghhttt?

cause for the first couple weeks of knowing her she let him get away with the wink and flirt thing cause she thought it was funny. but she works in a nightclub back home and she's NOT about to play that

Disco was raised by the Panthers so she knows how to collect and trade information like an informat. So she trades info and other stuff around HQ ALL the time.

She's the plug for anything - if you wanna hack ur watch she dont know how to do it but she knows someone he does, if u need to get into lylas systems for any reason she wont do that but she knows someone who will

but she doesnt accept cash cause she doesn't need it and she doesn't 'get into no mess'

(And this may sound unhinged but this is my favorite one jgkbdknbg)

My main HC is that the first time she does it to get into a show free but the next time she asks for his guitar pick cause she just wants it

she starts wearing it (which Jess HATES) but suddenly she realizes theres a couple girlies on campus telling her they'd do anything for one of Hobie's picks and then suddenly she's asking him for more

She starts giving groupies picks and getting information from every department and then like two weeks later the hobie brown fanclub is just a full on info network

Working with Jess and the club she collects all the underground info and shares the information with Hobie ON THE CONDITION that the club gets free entry into shows and he keeps giving her goddamn guitar picks

He'd try to get around it and be like "Diane, love - you're looking fit today :)) about that meeting with Jess and Miguel you were in-"

and she's just like "uh-huh-

"Where's the pick? And don't say you ain't got it on you, I know you do." Cause one thing about Diane is you ain't playing her. And Hobie goes along with it because 1) Disco is actually really trustworthy, 2) it's damn good info about the society, and 3) he thinks it REALLY funny to see people walking around campus trading and collecting his picks for the sole fact it pisses Miguel off SO MUCH.

Suddenly people are talking in meetings and whispering about guitar picks and trying to get their hands on rare, unique ones cause Hobie etches his logo into every one

and one day Ansi's hanging with Hobie and Disco comes up to him and is like 'Pick, please'. And Ansi watches as he hands it over and she's like "?????? What's happening here"

I have to PHYSICALLY STOP MYSELF HERE I CAN GO ON AND ON IM SORRY THIS IS SOOOOO LONG BUT PLEASE!!! I love this please send more!! I love hearing about Ansi and Hobie and causing havok and an underground rebellion in the Society!!! And sorry I got so carried away I just love this idea, you can send any you have, I'm down! They would all get along so well lol

[phantomhara]

its august 24

its times like these in which im disappointed. idk what ive done to get rejected from every student job ive applied for in my field. while this other student gets hired on the spot. he verbally talks about how he doesnt know how to do so many exams. like why would the hiring manager hire someone who is incompetent?

idk, it just feels so disheartening. i wanna feel happy for him but instead im just kinda jealous. its not a “woah that person rlly deserves that. i need to be more like them” jealousy bc i know how to do so much more than that student, i can do almost everything i have learned and he verbally will say “imma pass on that, ive never done that” and he’ll sit in a chair and just go in his phone (paid) while im over here running from one room to another doing work (for free).

im tired and i need the money. im actually feeling so tired. like he started on friday and a tech asked if he could do this, that, and the other and he said no to all of them, and said that he was able to do SUPER EASY STUFF THAT I COMPED IN THE FIRST 2 MONTHS OF CLINIC 😔. hes been in his clinic for a year and this isnt me trying to act like im better than him, bc students are students. we learn the same thing and are thrown into medical settings with minimal experience.

its just that im graduating in a couple months because i’ve been a 2nd year and he becomes a 2nd year next week (so as of today, he’s still a first year). HE LIED ON HIS APPLICATION SAYING HE WAS A SECOND YEAR WHEN HE WAS A FIRST YEAR (only 2nd years are hirable). i really hope the hiring manager can see my skills. techs in the field are always like “woah u did a great job” and give me minimal verbal guidance.

atp, if im doing something that makes me un-hirable idk what it is :( i just hope this isnt a kissing ass type of field where the only way u get hired is by being likable and friends with everyone. im friendly as much as i can be, but i wont kiss ass.

[tacticalvalor]

«────── « HEADCANON » ──────»

so!! i finished watching runs of phantom liberty... and vin's getting a new canon. this dlc and its new ending are canon for him.

note: i also have to update some canon bios but... shh ♡ also ty ty i'm safe the tornado didn't hit near me. there will be typos here tho because i'm too tired and i'm on mobile.

i just think the storyline does a great job at showing what vin really wants, and what it takes for him to realize that.

dlc storyline spoilers under the cut, even if they're pretty out of context/explained horribly.

when this happens is after? you talk to the vdb. so vin's already been up shit's creek by this point. there's the shit with ev. the shit with takemura. the shit with the cados. he's been tugged around.

and then? then his relic gets hacked! and he's told to get his ass to the most dangerous part of nc? alone? yeah. yeah. he's not happy. johnny isn't either, but at this point vin's at a low and honestly could see him following songbird hoping to die.

and then he gets everything thrown on him.

hey i need your help saving the president.

hey im the president i need your help getting out of here, the attack came from the inside and i dont trust anybody.

hey your now a federal intelligence agent and tour making contact with a sleeper agent bc my runner that contacted you went missing thx.

he's already there, fuck it. maybe some gonk-brain will kill him. but. but!

there is a part of him still kinda hopeful. maybe one more step and he gets the help he needs. one more contact. one more task. and it just. keeps. going.

he's pulled into the monotonous bullshit he tried so hard to escape from. being pulled around on all these fronts again, especially as it comes out songbird is the traitor; this has been in the works for what? months now? because she knows about militech's own version of soulkiller and she, being led on by meyers, was used as a bow and made a portal for the blackwall to conduct govt espionage.

and naturally, vin's a little upset (he's a lot upset), but fuck if he doesn't need that tech. and it's a hell of a lot better than the prognosis anyone else has given him so far!

but it just. keeps. getting. worse!

songbird leaves him for dead. reed is stonewalling him. alex is fucking dead. johnny's quieter than usual. he's all alone in fucking dogtown and the only person he feels REMOTE TRUST for is feeding him nothing||. and it sucks! but he's still trying to believe that he'll get that out.

and there's so many good convos with the characters in this dlc about morality, mortality, and consequence.

and it ultimately ends with vin trusting reed and them breaking songbird outta maxtac custody, bc surprise the blackwall connection makes you go cyberpsycho. and she makes it to the derelict militech lab that u go into alone alone, bc johnny gets sliced and ur comms are fucked. and there's this whole sequence of almost dying, being hunted alien isolation style by a blackwall ai controlled spider mech, and then you find songbird and she BEGS YOU to kill her. BEGS. and vin just... cant.

it's ironic coming from him considering so many of his dumb decisions are an expression of his suicidality, but he helps. he continues to help!

and even after, he's treated like shit. reed keeps stonewalling him. president myers is a cunt who cordially reminds him of the oath he took and the nice, tight leash she has around his neck.

and then? when he's finally "rescued"? ||he doesnt even say goodbye to anyone. and that hurts the most. arasaka ending sucked, sure, but this? no rooftop talk with misty. no goodbye to vik. just a text explaining he'll be outta town for a bit. and then it ends up being TWO YEARS. HE'S IN A COMA FOR TWO YEARS. ALONE. IN LANGLEY.

and when he wakes up, reed continues. to. stonewall. him. keeps it vague. apologizes, sure, but even now he cannot bring himself to actually care. which is understandable when you look at his character but. vin is livid.

there was no closure. no guarantee he'd even wake up. he could have up and died and nobody would ever fucking know!

and then he gets back to nc and... oh.

oh things changed. things really changed:

vik became a corpo doc, working for some zetatech corp. he says he didn't have a choice.

misty is just gone. you run into her after getting jumped by street mercs, and she's on her way to poland.

arasaka? fucking gone. takemura and hanako went into everything alone and *hanako just up and fucking died.* no explanation. dunno if yori killed her or what. but takemura is in hiding now bc they believe he killed hanako *and* saburo. then yori stepped down as ceo all together.

didnt see the others' calls so idk what happens with panam, judy, and river, but it can't be much better for them.

and i just... the whole idea of vin being forced into the background being both a relief and a terror to him is so... it's so good. the idea that he lost everything again, but he now has control over that.

it fucks him up, that's for sure. the dialog you have with reed? with vik? with misty? some real shit. he's on the verge of that suicidality again, but he lived. he can live. he has control over that now.

and it's for the first time in a long time, considering the fact he worked with arasaka counter-intel. he awaited death for so long, knowing it could come at any second, that there's a... bitterness. in losing that feeling. a confusion in the fact he can just. exist without consequence.

this is really the meat of it tho. the last bit. the fact that vin is both the exact same man he was and someone entirely new.

the fact that he changed and didn't. that he's messy and there is no truly happy ending for him, that he's just... human.

that in the end, he still fucked over johnny (except at least in the arasaka ending, he was kinda understanding to a point. here? he's just angry. dejected. vin's last words to him were that he couldn't forgive him for the shit he's done to his body) and still LOST the game of life.

he still lost. but he lost in the best way possible.

the legend of v is out there, but he doesn't have to be that. live up to it. he can just be... him. and i think that's all he really wants, in the end. to learn who he is and to be him. a chance to just exist without consequence. to not have to make choices on who gets harmed and why. to make choices of dire urgency. to just... breathe.

it just took so much for him to realize that, and it's going to weigh on him for god knows how long (if not his whole life, whatever remains of it).

[large-rat-enters-from-stage-left]

i have not gotten any pictures of my art but it’s daylight savings day and also pi day so happy 3/14, my family is making a pie because obviously and im here to give you a late-ish cousin Oskaar from iceland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5q77MQzU2Q i also shaved all my hair off so now i look like an egg but thats not the point

[rexxdjarin]

Captain's Log: Chapter 7

Vigilance

Series Summary: The galaxy is in turmoil. The Republic has fallen, giving rise to the sinister reign of the totalitarian Empire, led by the insidious Emperor Palpatine. The millions of valiant clone troopers of the former Grand Army of the Republic are now blindly sworn, against their will, to protect a regime they once sought to destroy. After being saved from a terrible fate by his former-Jedi ally and close friend, Ahsoka Tano, seasoned veteran CT-7567 Clone Captain Rex remains loyal to the pillars of Democracy, freedom and truth that shaped the former Galactic Republic. We follow him now struggling to deal with the personal aftereffects of survival and finding his place in the galaxy alongside the only person he has left. You. The love of his life.

[previous] [next] part of Captain's Log series post on ao3

Pairing: Captain Rex x Fem!Reader (she/her pronouns used) Word Count: 13.7k (im going on a trip for a while and don't know how soon i'll have the next update so this is kinda a combo of two chapters to make up for that!) Series Rating: Explicit (18+ only, Minors DO NOT INTERACT) Chapter Summary: Rex and Reader finally come up with a plan to help The Bad Batch remove their inhibitor chips, but things get complicated quickly. A little harmless flirting gets someone into a little trouble. Chapter Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content, Smut, Blowjob, Somnophilia, Exhibitionism, Dirty Talk, Possessiveness, Mild Jealousy, Language, Mentions of Death, References to Canon Plot, Political References, Canon Typical Violence

The whole planet was dappled in golden light from this system’s sun and reflected off every slowly rusting piece of metal discarded here. The sunsets would probably be considered beautiful and a destination for tourists if not for the overcast smog and all the heaping mounds of space junk, both former Republic and Separatist.

On Bracca, scrapping was really the only way to make a living. Their Guild controlled everything on this planet, if memory served me correctly. We certainly were not interested in getting involved with them or getting caught using impounded ships as operating rooms for chip removal more than we had to. But this was the best plan Rex and I could come up with. No one here was looking for deserter clones, which gave us all the advantage.

We’d landed our ship around the outside of an abandoned and defunct starcruiser and met the Bad Batch crew in the Marauder a few clicks East. Taking two separate ships was risky, but Rex wasn’t planning on including them on the rest of our missions. If they wanted to help, he wouldn’t stop them, but we couldn’t risk anything happening to Omega. Taking care of her first was their duty now.

The seven of us trudged through the junkyard surface, looking for a ship in good enough shape to enter safely and praying a medical station was still intact on board. Rex scouted ahead, preferring to lead his men from the front like always. Hunter watched our backs from the rear, his acute senses keeping an endless watch on our surroundings. That left me, Echo, Tech, Wrecker and Omega to walk and keep ourselves occupied between them.

We all took turns carrying Omega when her little feet got tired. Hell I wished someone could pick up and carry me too. I walked beside Echo, filling him in on all he missed between Rex and I and especially the events of the last week or so. I didn’t tell him about Ahsoka. The fewer people that knew she lived, the safer she’d be.

Omega clung to Echo’s shoulders, opting for a piggyback ride from her brother. She and Echo seemed close, their relationship showing the sensitive, nurturing side of him that I always knew was there. The side that I always remembered jumping out to help when Jesse drank too much. That offered his hand when I’d stumbled drunk out into the open air to walk home from a night at 79s. That was the shoulder to cry on in private when unsuccessful missions got to be too much for Fives’ to cope with alone.

Echo was always there for everyone. He was the call that answered back whenever you cried out in need. That was why his name fit him. Not because he endlessly repeated orders as a cadet, but because there was no cry for help that he’d ever leave unanswered. No one would ever go through something alone when they had their Echo around.

Omega picked up on that right away. The more I watched them interact, the more I realized how comforting she found him. Sure, Hunter seemed to be her favorite. An almost Fatherly figure to her. Teaching her strength and leadership, but also scolding her when she needed to learn a lesson.

Echo was Hunter’s perfect compliment. He encouraged her where Hunter protected. He fostered her interests and paid endless attention to her everyday needs while Hunter worried about keeping her safe. To say I was proud of how he cared for her was an understatement. It seemed like destiny that he was here to help raise this special little girl.

Wrecker was more like her best friend or her true sibling than a parent. He was a big kid himself, after all, enjoying everything with childlike wonder and boundless energy. The two played together, teased each other, joked and laughed. I was glad she had someone with the emotional intelligence to realize how important it was entertain her, to let her be a kid and take her mind off the fact that they were all running for their lives.

Tech seemed the least prepared to deal with a child. No amount of information he researched could prepare him for the actual act of parenting. That didn’t stop him from trying though. He did his best to prepare. Taking little notes of things she told him about and writing down little details about her like tracking her height, foods she didn’t like, any bumps and scrapes she got so he could make sure they got better. He documented every little piece of information he could about her and taught her things through knowledge and data. The same way he taught himself.

But Omega, of course, had never been around another human woman in all her life. She was fascinated by me, sticking close to me as much as she could and asking me a zillion and one questions about myself. Which of course I answered. She was very curious and very smart, those brown eyes reminding me so much of all her brothers, but especially of the one I loved. Blonde hair and brown eyes, just like my Rex.

“So what’s a junior senator? What do you do?” She questioned, resting her head on Echo’s shoulder.

“Write lots of reports and do research about what’s going on on the planet I serve. Tech would’ve loved it probably.” I joked, earning a snort from Tech.

“Oh yes, I’m sure the Republic would’ve loved to hear a clone’s political ideas.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head at me.

“I would. I planned on working to bring a vote for clone’s rights to the open senate before…everything…” I sighed, shooting a surprised glance at Echo, shocked that he hadn’t filled them in on my fierce activism yet.

“Really? But you’re a nat born, why should you care what happens to us?” Tech questioned, making both Wrecker and Hunter stop in their tracks to listen to my response.

“Because it’s the right thing to do. You’re living beings. You are owed the right to ya know…live.” I stated plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Echo smiled and looked up at Omega who was grinning with admiration at my words.

“See why we liked her so much, kid?” He patted her hand with his own.

“You were going to openly argue for us in front of the entire Republic?” Hunter asked, speaking for the first time in a while. Disbelief setting into a mind slightly more suspicious than most clones, even his batch mates.

Rex turned over his shoulder and winked at me, quietly encouraging me to show off the power of the freedom fighter within that he loved so much.

“You’ve never seen me argue. You think Rex is a fighter? You should see me in action. Would fight for you all until the very end.” I smiled proudly, not sure if they realized just how much I cared about all of them. Not just because I loved their brother. The Republic couldn’t create an army of human beings fighting for the rights and freedoms of millions of people on hundreds of worlds without guaranteeing those same rights extended to the clones too. It would be hypocritical to say anything otherwise. No one was free unless they all were too.

Hunter shook his head, a small smile creeping across his tattooed face. He seemed actually impressed this time. “Between you and Echo here, Rex sure knows how to pick some good ones, doesn’t he?” He motioned us all to keep moving, patting Echo on the back and lifting Omega onto his own shoulders now.

“Wrecker? How are you feeling?” I asked, watching him walk forward a lot quieter than he’d been the last few hours.

He grumbled, “Could be better. My head hurts.” He massaged his temple, trying to coax the pounding headache to subside at least temporarily. I glanced over his face, searching for any other signs of discomfort. Pupils dilating, facial twitches…anything else Rex described feeling before his memory went dark.

“No…anger or anything? Just the headache?” I asked again, placing a gentle, reassuring hand on his massive bicep and pleading with him to give me an honest answer.

“N-no ma’am. No..uhm…N-Nothing else to report.” Wrecker stammered, his cybernetic eye and his brown eye working in tandem to study my face up close. I was making him nervous and I don’t think it was because of the chip.

“Good. You keep letting me know how you’re feeling. We’re going to take care of this.” I affirmed, pulling my hand away, realizing it was my touch that was making him nervous.

“Rex? Are…are we there yet?” Omega asked quietly from over my shoulder, her nimble hands retying the bandana around Hunter’s head.

Rex stopped, scanning the terrain in front of us and pointing to a still smoking starship in front of us. He looked determined, powerful, and stars- so handsome. I walked up behind him, taking his hand and leaning into his side. He hummed softly, “that’s the one. Just up ahead. Seems like it was just brought here. We’ve got a good chance of finding a medical wing that’s still working.” I smiled up at him hopefully, signaling a beaming pride that had grown from watching him in action like this.

“Let’s head over then. Tech, you know how to do this type of operation right?” Hunter questioned his brother, glaring at him as if to demand he lie just to set Wrecker’s worried mind at ease.

“Yes, Sir. Studied up on it the whole way here. Between the diagrams I saw and Rex’s experience, we’ll get things right, Wrecker. Don’t worry.” Tech said, awkwardly patting his far taller brother’s shoulder. The boys all let out a collective sigh at once, grateful that we finally seemed to have found the right place.

Rex turned away from our destination in front of us to look me up and down, scanning me for any signs of weariness. The worry in his face quickly softened to familiar admiration, leaning forward to press a kiss to the top of my head. “How they holding up you think?” He asked me, as if the well-being of his men wasn’t something he excelled at gauging.

“They’re resilient. Especially Omega. She’s a fast learner, intelligent, empathetic…sweet. Reminds me of you.” I muttered, bumping his shoulder with mine playfully. “Though something tells me you never asked that many questions as a cadet.”

“No, I was more the watch and learn type. Cody was the one always asking questions. He was way more talkative than me.” Rex laughed, shaking his head and sighing. “I hope he’s alright.”

“We can check in on him too when we head back to that Cantina.” I offered, remembering I hadn’t gotten the chance to do all the research Rex and I talked about. It all sort of went out the window when he heard Echo’s voice walk into the bar.

“You think the boys know anything?” Rex wondered aloud, as if to ask me how much we’d actually talked about. I glanced behind us at all of them fumbling around in their pockets, looking for a spare ration stick or two to give Omega.

It was funny how, despite all the cloners did to make them human war machines, they could not program away or genetically alter natural instinct. These men all cared very deeply for their family units and possessed the most innate need to parent in one way or another. It was said that came from the original donor himself.

The illusive Mandalorian model had specifically asked for one unaltered clone he could raise as a son. The need to nurture someone, to foster growth and provide for was an inherent genetic trait that was unexpectedly passed down in all his clones too.

I saw it in Cut, abandoning the war entirely to choose to raise the children of the woman he loved. I saw it now in how each member of clone force 99 stepped in to provide something helpful to Omega’s development. And I saw it in Rex, looking out for every single one of his men, ensuring they grew strong and protecting them even at his own risk. They were all highly skilled warriors, probably the best in the universe, but they were just as human as I was. It didn’t matter how they were made.

“I think they’ve had a more important priority, my love.” I smiled at Omega whose acute senses were able to pick up on me gazing at her. She was as observant as Hunter.

“Forgive me for asking but…how did you meet Rex?” She asked, pointing to my hand affectionately joined with his. Rex blushed and ran his hand along the back of his neck nervously. The story was more embarrassing to him than he was probably willing to admit to men who revered him.

The hint of freckles on his nose were darkening from exposure to this planet’s harsh sunlight and it made his skin flush from the heat. He looked hot, sweaty and most of all tired, but the determination in his eyes reminded me of that first day I met him. He was working hard and pretty stressed then too, but he wore it very well.

“Let’s just say we…ran into each other at a senate gala once.” I laughed, leaving out the part where he dumped expensive champagne down a dress he later ruined even further by spilling something else on me.

Echo giggled, “Oh yes. Ran into each other.” He raised his brows at us suggestively and motioned for Hunter to cover Omega’s ears. “You totally didn’t make a complete mess inside a supply closet that Fives and I had to put back together for you.”

Rex opened his mouth to say something in his defense, but I quieted him by turning his face toward mine and crashing my lips into his. He brought his massive hand up to both block their view and hold my face. Wrecker rushed to slide a hand over Omega’s eyes, but she ducked underneath and watched with admiration in those starry eyes.

I broke the kiss, blinking up at him in satisfaction and watching the distinguished Captain’s usually rigid formality falter. He softened, shoulders sagging, cheeks flushing and coughed awkwardly at such rampant public display of affection.

“We are forever grateful that you covered for us both, Echo. Stars where would we both be without you?” I teased, curling my hand into Rex’s again and looking at the stunned faces of the men who only ever saw him while in command. Never like this. Rex smiled at me in agreement, shaking his head at my unending boldness and walked us both down to where the rest of them stood.

“Well I think it’s wonderful. Nala Se always said clones weren’t meant to love. Just to fight for the Republic at any cost. But…clearly that isn’t true.” She pointed up at the two of us and turned to Rex. “How…how did you know?” Omega asked, fiddling with her sleeve awkwardly.

Rex looked up at me with the same starry-eyed amazement that Omega did not thirty seconds before this. He knelt down to her level and patted the top of her head. His face softened, “You just know, kid. You look at someone for the first time, you feel it and you know.” He explained, his gaze fixed on me beside him. “That’s part of why what we’re doing is so important. I want you to live to experience moments like this. We can be more than just soldiers.”

“You really believe that Cap?” Hunter finally asked, after silently watching Omega interact with a couple for probably the first time.

Rex let out a deep sigh and stood up, tightening his fist by his side and raising his chin. His shoulders squared and he stood at attention, almost as if expecting a salute, in order to capture the attention of everyone standing in front of him when he spoke next.

“I do. With all my heart, Sergeant. There’s more out there for us than just fighting and dying. And I think you already have a little someone to show you that.” He chuckled, lifting a hand to pat Hunter on the shoulder. He looked stunned, as if someone had just walked up to him and handed him some kind of almighty victory.

Maybe in a way, Rex was validating some kind of dream that deep down every clone had. Of a life outside of battle. Away from pain and loss. Separate from their prearranged commitment to the cause. Detached from the dehumanizing treatment that was only getting worse under the new regime.

Rex wasn’t just a survivor of the clone wars.

Rex was a living, breathing example of a man’s greater purpose. To live for oneself.

Together, we were a beacon of hope, a lightbulb igniting in the minds of men who spent their entire lives fighting in a dark tunnel with no end. It was like our arrival at their darkest hour gave them permission to expect a new day to dawn for them sooner than they thought.

We all stood together in silence, basking in the harsh glow of the sun setting on Bracca. The uncertainty of war and the future for its soldiers coming to a bittersweet but needed close at days end. Omega grabbed my hand and pulled us all close, huddling us together to wait for the sun to dip below the horizon. To end their final day as soldiers and look forward to a tomorrow where they could just be people. Men with no orders to follow and no more brothers to lose.

“So beautiful, isn’t it?” Wrecker commented, sighing out as he bear hugged all of us in his impossibly large arms. Everyone hummed some kind of agreement, except Rex. His eyes weren’t glued to the sunset like all his younger siblings. His were fixed on me.

I rested my head on his armored chest and watched the waning sunlight lick his features. Rich warm eyes seemed to hold the sun’s rays captive in their amber irises. The darkening freckled dots on his nose mapped out all the scattered stars in the galaxy. The stubble on his jaw made him look more handsome by the day, dark features with blonde hair was a good look on a clone. Though few had the rampant boldness to pull it off like he did. Rosy brown lips parted like they were parched for more than just water and I drank in the desire pouring off his body.

“Yeah, as beautiful as always.” Rex replied, gazing at me like I was the only thing he saw. I reached a hand up to caress his blonde hair at the back of his neck, now long enough to begin curling slightly. His expression darkened, the realization that we had to keep moving dawning on him again. He shrugged, as if to silently apologize that this moment couldn’t last longer and searching for reassurance.

He was on a mission like the hundreds he’d done before. With me by his side, all he needed was my constant support to keep us going. I nodded understandably and turned back into the light, knowing we had a duty to fulfill. “Let’s keep moving.”

—

Venturing inside the old Jedi cruiser was easily the most dangerous thing I’d ever done. Even with all the running and hiding Rex and I had done the last few weeks. The whole place was covered in rust and littered with creatures who survived off of scavenging inside the dilapidated crafts. Which was ironic because that’s exactly what we were doing. Scavenging for medical supplies.

The metal halls were practically falling down on top of us and we had to take extra care with every step. Omega and I stuck close to each other since neither of us had much experience scouting or doing any kind of in field action. The boys flanked us on either side. The old med bay was just at the end of the hall and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“All the times you called me from a cruiser I never thought I’d end up on one like this.” I scoffed, leaning in the doorway that Hunter and Rex had just opened.

“Me neither.” Omega said, shuddering as a large bug of some kind scampered across the floor. “Is this going to work?” She asked, tugging on Hunter’s hand and curling around his hip. “I’m…scared. Just because it worked for Rex doesn’t mean it will this time.” Her skepticism showed wisdom far beyond others her age. Mostly, she just seemed very worried about Wrecker, who sat down on the operating table with his head in his hands.

“We’ve gotta try, Omega. I trust Rex. We all do.” Hunter assured her, patting the top of her head and glaring nervously up at where Rex and I stood. They were blindly putting their faith in their older brother’s hands. He would never steer them wrong and even though this was exceedingly dangerous, it was life or death. Rex wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t absolutely essential.

Little Omega was even more unsure than Hunter, her eyes flitting back and forth between Wrecker sitting in increasing discomfort and the old medical equipment that Echo had managed to ramp up.

“And it’s not going to hurt him?” She asked tentatively, pulling at Rex’s hand to get his attention.

“Well…I uh- I don’t really remember. I’ve never been on this side of it.” Rex said sheepishly, shrugging at the obvious lack of assurance that provided. He glared at me, pleading with me to step in and comfort a kid I barely knew about something I had no knowledge of. The worry on her face made her look slightly older than she was, her smaller brows creasing together to form a tiny scowl and chewing on her bottom lip anxiously.

“Omega, the sooner they all remove these, the better. You can eat that snack you all like and hopefully find somewhere safe. Maybe you’ll get your own bunk or your own armor. I’m sure Tech can fashion you something.” I smiled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear and watching her tiny shoulders ease just slightly at my words.

“Who’s to say I haven’t already started on some of those things…” Tech remarked, prying around inside his pack for the right tools to scan Wrecker’s head for the chips location. The crown like device communicated to one of Tech’s datapads and beeped perceptively as it explored his brain for the chip.

“I think I found something…” He declared, tapping on the holopad and following prompts on screen.

“I can’t believe it…” Hunter remarked, eyes flicking between the pad and Wrecker groaning in pain. Rex unconsciously shifted closer to me, his hand grabbing my hip instinctively. Omega’s little frame was starting to shake a little, so overcome with nerves that she couldn’t stand alone like this. I placed my hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at Rex and I beside her. She drew in a shaky breath before pulling herself into my side, flanked by Rex’s armored thigh.

“I can’t watch.” She muttered, burying her face in the side of my jacket. Hunter sighed, immediate concern breaking his concentrated brow. His eyes met mine, as if to ask if it was okay and I nodded reassuringly. My instinct to comfort and protect her taking over me like it seemed to take over anyone else she got close to.

“Stick with her, okay kid? We’ll get this over with in no time. I promise.” Hunter said, rubbing her arm before turning back toward Echo and Tech discussing how to proceed. Wrecker groaned louder, removing Tech’s equipment and shoving him away as the operating medical tube whirred to life behind him. He winced in pain and gripped the side of his head tighter, making Rex uneasy enough to ball his fingers into a fist.

“Echo…we need to speed this up. Get this going. I don’t think we’ve got much time.” He warned, stepping toward Hunter and explaining what little he and I did know about how the chips affected other clones.

As far as we knew, very few clones could resist the order. The only thing he and I vaguely heard about was one Commander who fought alone against his own men for turning on his Jedi General. The report we overhead at the Cantina was brief and of course didn’t include names or battalion numbers. Just that he was imprisoned and made into an example of what the Empire did to any traitors. Clone or otherwise. I hoped it was Fox, but the way he acted the last time I saw him at the Senate building made me doubt that hope.

Rex probably hoped it was Cody, though that would mean that the General that was killed was Kenobi, which made him equally as sick as if that General had been his own. Fighting against the chip was so rare, so genetically improbable, that it might as well be impossible. All the more reason to get the cursed thing out of Wrecker as fast as possible. Or who knows what consequences we’d face.

Wrecker had gotten suspiciously quiet, save for the groans of painful agony he was letting out every few seconds. To the point that I, who barely even knew him, had noticed the absence of his normally extroverted and explosive personality. He wasn’t acting like himself at all and Omega looked up at me anxiously, no doubt sensing the change too.

Rex and Hunter were muttering things to each other quietly, too entrenched in serious conversation to notice and Echo was busy plugged into the operating table. Tech pulled out some kind of anesthesia in a tiny syringe and held it up to Wrecker.

Suddenly, Wrecker’s hand slid off his forehead and shot out at Tech’s arm, holding the stem back from coming any closer. He bowed his head, slumping slightly as his eyes blinked closed, reopening again with dilated pupils. His jaw tensed and he let out a deep, menacing growl so loud it made all the blood in my body freeze. His other hand lurched forward and seized Tech by the throat, lifting him off the floor. Then the robotic, lifeless words fell out of his mouth and my heart stopped.

“You’re in direct violation of Order 66.”

Before I could even realize what was happening, Tech went flying across the room, slamming into the wall like a lifeless doll and Wrecker yelled at the top of his lungs. Rex’s body flew over mine faster than I’d ever seen him. His armored chest covered where I stood clutching onto Omega for dear life. His arm wrapped around my side, his left hand drawing his blaster pistol. Wrecker howled, throwing pieces of the old med bay across the room and nearly crushing the medical bay’s operating controls.

“You’re all traitors!”

Echo disconnected from the operating table and hurled himself across the room, slamming into my exposed side. “He’s gonna destroy the equipment. You gotta get him out of here!!” Echo yelled, drawing his own weapon and firing stun blasts off the reflective walls in an attempt to at least disorient the large clone.

Hunter leapt into action, hurling a canister against his brother’s broad back. He was met with a strength of resistance he could never match in a million years and crashed to the floor. The now busted canister hissed air from the open cracks and Omega yelled in fear after Hunter.

I pulled her into me, cradling her to my chest. I drew my own blaster from my jacket pocket and set it to stun. “Let go!! I have to help him !!” She screamed, as Hunter wrestled and struggled to try to subdue Wrecker. Tech had crawled across the floor and reached us, whipping out two blaster pistols and held Omega’s arm.

Rex’s looked at me with a cold severity in his eyes that I’d never seen before. He grabbed my forearm and motioned to Omega and Tech. “Stay here. Protect them like I know you can.” I gripped Rex’s forearm, making a silent agreement with him and tucking my blaster to my chest.

“Go.” I confirmed, gripping Omega tightly and ducking down behind a makeshift barrier of boxes and metal wall shrapnel.

“We’ll draw his fire. Omega, stay with Tech.” Hunter yelled, nodding at Rex and Echo as they moved with a perfect soldier’s precision back out into the empty hallway.

Wrecker grabbed his helmet and threw it on, following them hastily. They disappeared down the hall and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

“Are you both alright?” Tech asked urgently, giving us the once over before grabbing at an exposed and bleeding wound in his own arm.

“Wrecker nearly knocked your lights out and you’re asking us if we’re okay?” I retorted, watching blue stun blasts light up the hallway just outside our door. Old ammunitions canisters flew back and forth, crashing and hissing out trapped air as they battled each other.

A strange calmness had fallen over Omega, who had crawled forward and grabbed a blaster from the floor. Her clone battle instincts were kicking in. Cool in a crisis, mind racing with plans of action, jumping forward to help out instead of waiting for situations to resolve themselves. If there was any doubt that she came from the same genes as the boys all did, there certainly wasn’t anymore. She was a Jango Fett clone through and through.

“They’re going to get fucking killed out there.” I yelled at Tech, leaping forward after Omega as she slipped out into the hallway unnoticed. “Stay here and protect the med bay. I’m going out after Omega.” I declared, Tech offering no argument as I passed through the blast doorway and into the hall.

Omega stood face to face with a towering Wrecker. She was a quarter his size but probably double his confidence as she held her ground, weapon bared up toward him.

Wrecker held Hunter against the wall by his throat, his large fist more than capable of snapping his Sergeant’s neck without much effort.

“Anyone found in violation of Order 66 will be terminated.” Wrecker bellowed, the threat filling the empty hallway. His fingers started to slowly tighten and Hunter’s eyes went wide.

BANG.

Omega fired. Her shot met the wall beside the two, dissipating into nothing. Wrecker straightened up, letting his brother slip from his grasp and spun around toward his little sister and best friend.

She held the blaster up again, threatening him with another stun blast before thinking better of it and turning tail down the other end of the hallway. Wrecker’s large strides bounded after her, my own frantic footsteps not far behind. I could hear Hunter sputtering and choking, trying to return air into his lungs. I didn’t see any sign of Rex or Echo.

A disgusting, sickening pang of fear stabbed my gut at the thought of losing either of them like this. I choked it down to deal with later as I focused on chasing after Omega. She had dashed down the hallway, sliding underneath a slightly ajar blast door. But between her and I stood Wrecker. Massive and unhinged and raging in anger.

This wasn’t him. He was kind. He was gentle and carefree. He cared so deeply about how the people around him felt. He would never. Never. Willingly do this. It was the chip. Reading about it or listening to Rex explain it was nothing compared to watching it tear the humanity from the man we all knew.

He was nothing more than an organic weapon, controlled like a mindless droid. There was no warmth in his eyes, no quirks that were particularly unique to Wrecker, no free thought or resistance. It was dehumanizing, twisted and horrible. I’d never been more unnerved by the treatment of another human being in all my life. Nothing made me more sure of my commitments to our mission, to Rex, to helping the clones than watching him suffer as the chip took over his mind.

He was too big to slip past and he’d already beaten me to her. I hope she knows how to hide. He lifted the blast door completely, stalking into the room as quietly as a nearly 7-foot-tall clone could. The metal junk littering the floor made walking hard but provided excellent cover for someone as small as Omega or myself. I made a mad dash for the door, ducking behind a fallen wall panel and peering into the room.

Wrecker was searching every obvious hiding spot in the room. Wherever she was, she had done a good enough job of evading him so far. It took all my will power to quiet my breaths and make my hands stop shaking. I couldn’t let him hear me. I was her last line of defense. From this vantage point, I couldn’t stun him because I risked hitting Omega.

The scraping of metal ripped me from my thoughts as Omega’s screams rang out into the halls.

“This isn’t you! It’s the inhibitor chip!”

“Conspiring with traitors makes you a traitor.”

“Wrecker! I don’t want to hurt you!” The sound of guns exchanging hands and Omega’s small whines filled my ears. “But Wrecker…you’re my friend.”

“Good soldiers follow orders.” He whispered, the creepy sentiment stinging me the second I heard it. I thought only of Fives. Who gave everything to try and stop this. Who never followed orders he didn’t wholly support. Stars we needed him more than anything right about now. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I couldn’t let her shoot him or vice versa.

I moved to strike, only to find another back pressed against mine. I spun around, shoulder to shoulder with Rex, his head seemingly still ringing from being shot or stunned or thrown. He nodded at me, mouthing a countdown.

3..

2..

1..

Rex and I dashed in, nearly arm in arm. His perfect shot finally landing directly on Wrecker. He slumped to the floor right in front of Omega and she went flying into the safety of Rex’s arms. She was sobbing, burying her face in his shoulder and blubbering out words. “That…was…so scary…” She cried. He closed his eyes and curled his hand around her neck comfortingly.

“It’s alright, ad’ika. You’re safe. He didn’t mean it. We’re going to help him.” Rex cooed, wrapping her legs around his waist and grabbing my hand with his. “Let’s go get the boys. We need to do this fast.” We set off down the hallway, finally ready to end this nightmare once and for all.

—

By the time we’d removed all their chips and left the ship it was close to midnight. The boys were all too tired to head back to the Marauder and our ship had a homing feature that allowed it to fly back to us on autopilot. Thankfully, the pirates who used to own it had added some extremely useful modifications.

We managed to find a sort of makeshift island, too small to land the garbage ships on and probably at some point used as a break spot for the Scrapper’s guild. Bracca was way calmer at night and delightful breezes blew across the once tropical landscape. The air was far less muggy and thick and we’d decided sleeping outside for the night might provide us all with the literal breath of fresh air we all needed. The Bad Batch left us Rex and I alone briefly to clean up a little, have something to eat and search through the inside of our ship for usable blankets.

Rex and I set up our cot and took time to hold each other close and appreciate the little step we’d taken toward accomplishing our greater goal. We’d saved five lives today. Five clones were finally free because Rex and I cared enough about them as individual human beings to give them the life together that they all deserved.

I gazed at him, completely lost in thought as he stared up at the night sky beside me. “Ya know…I used to think that hope was pretty and soft and caring and delicate. But now I know it’s not. It’s bruised, battered, bleeding…a little broken, but loyal, determined, fierce and resilient. Hope looks a lot like you. I think your brothers look at your face…your face…and I know they see it too.” I said, resting my head on his chest.

His gloved hand curled around mine and his eyes fell away, lips curling into a shy smile. “You saying I’m not pretty?” He joked, rolling his eyes playfully and bringing his other arm around to roll me on top of him.

“Rex.” I laughed, thumping his chest weakly and staring at him in moderate annoyance. “You know what I meant. I’m trying to have a moment here.”

“Did Padmé teach you how to give such good speeches or were you always so good at that?” He asked, stroking the side of my cheek with his thumb.

“She helped a little. But I mean it. You lived because you were supposed to. Force works in mysterious ways right? Your life means something, not just to me, but to all clones. You’re their hope.”

“And you’re mine.” He admitted, shifting to bring my face to his, resting his forehead on mine. “For whatever happens when we’re past all this. When we complete the mission. Thank you for helping me through this. For staying for me. For…for everything.”

“Love requires no thanks. It’s selfless. And unconditional.”

“Anakin used to say that. Thought it was just a Jedi thing.”

“I think you know it isn’t.”

“You really are an angel, you know that? You are all the starlight in my sky. Like Echo said, you always were my sun on Kamino. Always my reason to look up. No matter where I was, you were out there. And I was coming home to you. I’d battle death a thousand times to get back to life with you.”

I smiled down at him, tears in my eyes blurring my view of the most perfect man I could ever ask for. “I love you.” I whispered, in complete lovesick shock at my partner’s sudden ability to form sentences poetic enough to bring tears to my eyes. Before he could continue, sounds of the other boys approaching with blankets interrupted our conversation.

“We’ve got our things. Let’s settle in for the night. It’s been a long day.” Hunter declared, eyeing Rex and I intimately pressed together.

“Omega, you get the cot. I know you’re tired, Tech and I will set it up, ok?” Echo whispered, patting the head of the sleepy-eyed little thing who was just barely clinging on to consciousness after such a traumatizing day. They all got to work putting together a makeshift camp and before we knew it they were all huddled around a small fire.

Wrecker, exhausted and still healing from the roughest day he’s ever had, was relaxing with a little doll Omega had probably given him for comfort. They all seemed tired, scared and fatigued from being constantly on the run now. But at least now, they were safe from the inhibitor chip. All four of them were never going to be used against their will ever again. They finally truly answered to no one. And that gave Rex and I enough peace to allow ourselves to drift into a satisfying rest. I closed my eyes and listened, hoping to one by one hear them all fall asleep. Which wasn’t happening at all.

“She looks at him like he’s the greatest man the galaxy has ever seen. With those eyes. Fuck- what I wouldn’t give…for a pretty thing like her.” Hunter shook his head in amazement, the tiniest hint of a smile crossing his normally unreadable face.

“I mean…he sort of is. Isn’t he? Can’t say I’d blame her for choosing one of the most highly decorated, best genetic replications of the prime model.” Tech pointed out, lifting his goggles off his eyes and relaxing back into the hammock he’d set up.

“You’re all full of Bantha shit. It’s not because he’s decorated or good at fighting or anything like that. She likes him because he’s selfless, he listens, he’d do anything for the people he cares about.” Echo gestured to himself, very obviously pointing out that his mere presence among them proved that. “Women care about stuff like that.”

“I suppose you’re right. Those are nice qualities to have in a partner at least as far as the human psyche goes…” Tech inhaled like he was going to continue on an explanatory tangent when Wrecker groaning interrupted him.

“I think it’s because he knows when to shut up.” He shot back at his brother gruffly, “she is so pretty though. And tiny.”

“Only in size, not in personality, that I promise you.” Echo laughed, fondly remembering one of numerous times I’d successfully stood up to creatures three times my size without fear. “Sharp tongue too if you mess with her.”

“Don’t tell me anymore or I’ll fall in love with her.” Wrecker huffed, waving his large hands around trying to brush the idea of me from his mind. “Rex would really want to kick my ass then.”

The boys fell silent, all immediately regretting discussing this the second they heard Rex’s name. They respected us together enough to know better than to even think a dirty thought about me. The crackling of the fire was the only thing I could hear now, the planet’s ghost town feel looming over us even heavier at night. I thought they might’ve finally fallen asleep before someone sighed out.

“I bet it’s the blonde thing.” Hunter chuckled. They all agreed.

I’d been listening to them from our cot, my back turned to them as I pretended to sleep buried in Rex’s armored chest. He actually was asleep, finally feeling comforted surrounded by the sound of his brothers voices, knowing we were both safe.

I turned over in Rex’s arms, curling my fingers into his and feeling them unconsciously tighten to receive them as he slept. The lull of voices hushed quickly as they collectively held their breath, unsure of my state of consciousness. I started giggling softly, flicking my eyes open to glance around at all of them pretending they weren’t watching me. I decided it was as good a time as any to have a little fun like I used to with the 501st boys back home.

“Echo’s right. It’s his good heart…” I yawned, pressing my backside further into Rex curled behind me tightly. His hands were grabby and body possessive even as he slept, somehow always mindful enough to keep me close to him. The boys averted their gaze, pretending they didn’t feel a sense of hopeless longing and mild jealousy at the idea of cuddling into someone else’s warm body like this.

Intimate touches and vulnerability were not a shared experience amongst this group of brothers. They weren’t afforded that luxury and that was why they desired it more than anything else. Whether they could admit it or not. “…and ya know the mind-blowing sex.” I confessed, knowing exactly how to press the buttons of the touch starved men in front of me.

Instantly, it was like I’d reignited the smoldering fire in front of us. Wrecker protested the loudest, pulling his pillow over his eyes and shouting into it “maker, you can’t just say things like that.” Echo laughed out loud, shaking his head as the filth he expected from me finally came out.

“Yes, she can, if it’s the truth. Sexual discussion is healthy in relationships.” Tech pointed out, not entirely sure if it was to the group of us or to himself.

“Talk about highly decorated…that’s what he should be given a medal for.” I praised suggestively. “Do they enhance that part too?” I teased, shifting to rub up against Rex a little more. I wished he was up to hear this. It would be funny to watch his face go red at such graphic praise. He liked it, never one to shy away from bragging about himself when he deserved to. And he definitely had earned that right.

“Hey now…little ears…” Hunter scolded, motioning to a slumbering Omega, passed out in a deep sleep in the only cot the boys had. “You are something else.” He rolled his eyes, smirking as if he knew from experience how he’d deal with someone like me. “Rex certainly has his hands full.”

At that, Rex’s hand on my waist actually tightened, gripping me possessively and pulling me into him. “And I can still take down all four of you at once…if I have to.” He grumbled sleepily from behind me.

Echo laughed, “aaand there he is. Right on time. It’s even funnier than I remember.” He turned to rest his hand behind his head and sunk into his hammock. “Rex still playing with fire…At least some things in the galaxy are still ok.”

“Playing with fire, so that’s what we’re calling it now?” Tech said sarcastically, turning off his data pad and pulling his blankets up to his chin.

“That doesn’t even begin to describe it.” Rex shot back, as I practically felt his smirk buried into the crook of my neck. Normally, he would scold his men for getting this bold, but this time he was joining in knowing it would throw me off.

“Look who’s not so sleepy all of the sudden, Captain.” I teased, the tiredness lacing my words with a lazy, lust filled tone. It felt like all the air in the atmosphere was sucked out at once as his title spilling out of my mouth really awoke something in the rest of the boys. Must be a clone thing.

“Stars above…call me Captain too.” Wrecker blurted out, the banter wholly becoming too much for him.

Rex, immediately noticing far too many wandering eyes, pulled our blankets up over my face and rolled me on top of him. A dark grumble bubbled in his chest and he inhaled to keep his composure, “That title’s only for me. Isn’t that right cyar’ika?”

“Sir, yes, Sir.” I responded, still baiting him in front of everyone with a submissive tease that I knew was both driving him nuts and making him at least a little mad. He glared at me with just the right amount of black lust filtering into his gaze and I smiled back, half apologetically, mostly not.

“Go to sleep.” His voice scolding, but the heat between his thighs and his grip on my ass telling a far different story. I nodded and set my head down onto his chest, the rapid flutter of his adrenaline pumping heart setting me at ease. “That goes for all of you too.” Rex ordered, turning his head and scowling at them, a silent threat to brush the memory of this aside or at least to not let him see them think about this ever again.

“Goodnight boys.” I giggled as the bad batch guys all mumbled out an exhausted but affirmative goodnight, knowing Rex would kill them if they kept this line of conversation going. I traced my hand up Rex’s neck and turned his face toward mine. “Goodnight, my Captain.” I pressed a delicate kiss to his lips and any of the annoyance he felt at me pushing my luck earlier melted away.

He hummed, cocking an eyebrow at me and sliding his hand underneath both layers of clothing on my bottom half. A firm hand clenched a dominating grip on my right cheek, fondling it roughly. I looked up at him, his strong jaw ticking like he was plotting a punishment good enough for the stunt I pulled. Which was exactly what I hoped he’d do. I tipped my head, blinking an innocent curiosity back at him. As if I didn’t do this intentionally.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook for this yet, mesh’la. You’ll see. Goodnight, my little tease.”

—

“Keep quiet.” He whispered, hot breath fanning in my ear roused me from a sound sleep. My body was warm, head still in a fog from a dream filled with details I couldn’t remember. I could feel his arm underneath my side, armor clattering against my skin as he covered my mouth with his gloved hand. I blinked my eyes open, my vision beginning to focus on the dark stillness of the planet’s surroundings. It wasn’t morning yet. The sun wasn’t even close to rising.

“Rex why-“ I opened my mouth to speak to ask him why he woke me, only to be immediately cut off by the sliding of his gloved fingertips along my slit. I whimpered, tipping my head back onto his shoulder. I canted my hips forward into his hand, sending his touch brushing across my clit.

“There ya go…that shuts you right up. Feels good hmm?” He muttered, placing a featherlight kiss behind my ear. The fabric of his gloves provided delightful friction as he traced one finger teasingly over the bundle of nerves. It made a white-hot current of pleasure radiate out from my core. I nodded, the pace of my breathing speeding up as his fingers did. My eyes flicked around our surroundings remembering we were not alone out here.

“The Boys?” I reminded him, reaching a hand up to try pulling his arm away from where he was torturing me.

He chuckled darkly, “Echo took Omega inside the ship. I don’t care about the others. Let them hear what I do to you.” He pushed my thighs apart, opening me up more for him and dipping two fingers into my opening slightly.

“R-Rex.” I whimpered softly, reacting to his fingers threatening to penetrate. I suppose this was what I deserved for being so openly explicit in front of the guys.

“That’s it. My name. That’s all I’ll allow you to say. All I want them to hear spilling out of that filthy mouth, cyar’ika.” He grumbled, scolding me with his words but pleasuring me so powerfully and perfectly with his hands. His fingers pushed inside my entrance, fluttering with need he’d coaxed out of me with only words.

Was he…? Jealous? Jealous of how his brothers eyes looked at me so longingly. Such a pretty thing being so vulgar so proudly. I knew exactly what I was doing teasing them and that was solely to rile up Rex. I did not expect him to get jealous enough that he’d take me right here, outside while his brothers slept beside us. To act so possessive of me that he couldn’t help but stake his claim, mark his fucking territory right here, right now.

I expected to maybe get punished later on when we were alone on our ship after we left them. But the way they watched me, craved me, lusted after me must’ve stirred something greedy, possessive, dominant inside him. I was into it. Very, very into it.

“I was just having a little fun…” I pouted, nibbling his thumb resting on my lower lip. He buried his face in my neck and kissed right along the deep vein of my pulse. He sucked a deep hickey so hard onto my skin I could already feel the blood pounding to form a purple bruise. His fingers curled inside me, pressing against the sensitive spot on the front wall he knew drove me crazy. I bit my bottom lip to hold back a loud moan as dizzying pleasure shot up my spine.

“No, you bad girl. They want you. They want to have you like I do. But you’re gonna remind them who you belong to…” He groaned, twisting his fingers and burying them to the knuckle inside me. My hand flew back to grip his side, using his strong frame for leverage as I ground my hips down to meet his thrusting hand.

“Y-you, Rex. I belong to you.” I moaned, digging my fingers into his arm and pulling his hand away from my mouth so I could be heard better.

“That’s right, mesh’la. You’re mine.” His fingers curled, pressing the pads of his gloved fingertips into a spot that made my mind blank and my toes curl. I hissed loudly as the tension building in my core tightened, my walls closing in on his wide digits. His now free hand slid down my stomach, trailing circles across my skin before resting a searing pressure on my clit. My eyes rolled back in my head and I instinctually thrusted my hips up to follow his touch.

“Fuck.” I whined, “Rex…don’t stop, don’t fucking stop. I need to cum for you. Please.” He rubbed faster circles as I egged him on, my grip on his hip tightening. He slowed, despite every inch of my body begging him not to and pulled his soaked hands from between my thighs.

“Hmm…since you want to keep running your pretty little mouth…” He brought the wet edges of his gloves to my lips and pushed them inside, running the taste of me along my own tongue. “Bet you taste so good for me…” His chest was heaving behind me as he felt my lips wrap around his fingers. I swirled my tongue around the fabric, tracing the tang on every stitch and making him grumble in satisfaction. I popped off him as he slid his fingers out, instead using them to hold my face as he engulfed my mouth with his tongue to taste as much of me as he desired. A warm exhale washed over my face as he broke the kiss, holding my gaze and smirking as we both fought through our lust to catch our breath.

“Would rather be tasting something else, Rex.” I replied suggestively, pressing my ass against his lap, his bulge probably wildly uncomfortable underneath his codpiece. He groaned as soon as I bumped him, clearly painfully hard and as desperate to be touched as I was.

His hands explored underneath my top, squeezing both breasts in his trembling hands. He whimpered in my ear from behind and traced his tongue along the shell of my ear. Hips rotated against my backside, grinding his needy cock into the space that called for him so many times before. He wanted this, but was holding back.

I had to egg him on more to draw out this possessive side of him and encourage him to throw caution to the wind. Forget how many rules this might break or how awkward it’ll be tomorrow. Who cares? We needed this.

“What would they think…? If they woke up and saw my mouth wrapped around you? Think of how badly they’d want me then. Stars I’d be such a sight.” I teased, pushing him past the breaking point.

I could feel him getting hot with arousal and a little anger behind me. “Mesh’la…still won’t learn your lesson…you really want to tempt me hmm? Fine. I’ll just have to fuck that bold little mouth quiet.”

I turned over in his grasp and looked up at him for the first time since he woke me. His brows were furrowed in a grumpy scowl, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think he actually was mad at me. But that loving twinkle in his brown eyes reflected in the light of the moon and signaled his undying affection for me, like they always did. The crinkles by his eyes deepened as a small smile stretched across his face, eyes darting over how the shadows of the moonlit night danced across my features.

“Go ahead…you’re in charge, Rex. I deserve it. I’m yours.” I smirked, rocking my core against his and fumbling with the magclips of his codpiece to remove the armor in our way.

“Aww see? Only I know how to get you to behave.” He chuckled, brushing the hair from my forehead and helping me remove the plastoid with his free hand.

“You’re the only one I want to behave for.” I retorted, freeing the armor from his lap and tossing it carelessly to the ground next to our cot. At this point, if the sounds woke up any of the three boys around us, I can’t say I’d care a single bit. I ran my hands along the hem of his bottoms, rolling the fabric down until his cock sprang up against his lower abs. He exhaled in relief as my hands wrapped around the shaft, gently tugging at his pounding length.

“Mmm cyare fuck. Need to…see you prove it.” He groaned softly, tipping my chin up to his face with his curled fingers and slipping his thumb into my mouth. I bit down on the digit gently and smiled devilishly up at him.

“You don’t believe me?” I asked, shifting my body down the cot as quietly as I could underneath our blankets. There was nothing I wanted more right now than to kiss down his entire torso. Over every scar, curve and hardened muscle he had. To pay him extra special attention because I just fucking loved him so. But there wasn’t time to remove all the armor and as much as I wouldn’t mind if any of the others saw me, I wasn’t going out of my way to be careless enough to wake them up either.

I laid my cheek on the cool plastoid covering his thigh and threw the blankets off again, revealing how dangerously close I was to slipping him into my mouth. “Could never want anyone else but you. This pretty cock…has ruined me for anyone else.” I whispered, coaxing my fist over the blunt head and collecting the wet droplets of precum already leaking out of the slit.

His eyes screwed shut and his body tensed as I soothed the throbbing ache of his cock with just a few touches. “S-show me,” he hissed through gritted teeth, “show me how it ruins you.” I looked up at him through dark lashes, biting my lip in satisfaction as he instructed me to worship his cock exactly how I wanted to. I dragged open mouthed kisses up the thick vein on the underside before slowly placing the tenderest gentle kiss on the tip. I moaned softly, letting my tongue dart out to flick the slit and taste him more.

I smiled, my lips spreading against him and making him toss his head back as the sight became too much for him. “My favorite view in the galaxy. My Rex…maker did your brothers staring make you a little jealous?” I asked, twisting and guiding my wrist up his shaft and dribbling saliva into my waiting fist.

He let out a pained exhale, disguising a filthy moan and meeting my gaze with lust heavy lids. His brows knitted together in concentration as he tried hard to keep his composure. He took a deep breath, tangling his fingers into my hair and gently pressing my lips to his cock. “Not jealous.” He said stubbornly, his jaw tightening as I blinked up at him.

“Hunter thinks I’m a handful.” I teased, spitting sloppily all over his cock and slicking it down the shaft. I parted my lips, slowly sliding him further into my mouth. I watched his eyes flutter closed, trying so hard to stay annoyed at me for acting out.

“Because you won’t behave for Hunter like you do for me. Isn’t that right, little brat?” He smirked, a low rumble growing in his chest as I popped off of him. His fingertips grazed my cheekbone and he tipped my chin to force my gaze back up at him, expecting an answer.

I beamed, “Mhm. I’m only good for you…Captain.” I watched the mischief in his eyes darken his pupils even more as I told him exactly what he wanted to hear. And calling him by his title always did things to him. I leaned forward and swallowed him down again, lips wrapping around the girth of him and never breaking eye contact.

“Such a good girl…remembers all the ranks…follows all my rules.” He whispered, his voice straining more and more as I bobbed up and down on his cock. Drool rolled down the underside, lubing up my twisting fist and slicking my movements even more. He pulsed against my lips, adrenaline and blood making him grow thicker and needier in the wet cavern of my mouth. Both my small hands twisted in opposite directions as I stroked him, while obscene and prominent suckling sounds filled the stale night air.

Part of me wanted those boys to hear this. Wanted them to watch their superior take me the way only he could, the way he deserved. To allow him to flex why he was in charge and they weren’t. As much as he got off on claiming me, I got off on him pulling rank and taking charge of everyone around him, including myself.

“Of course I do. I’m the Captain’s girl. I have to set a good example.” I teased, knowing full well I had broken a ton of rules and pushed past more than a few boundaries by working up every man around me on purpose. He pulled my hair slightly, positioning my lips where he wanted and thrusting his hips up to shove himself between them. His broad hand wrapped around the back of my head, guiding me at the speed he wanted. I moaned around him, letting the tip of him bottom out on the back of my throat.

“Fuck, mesh’la. Say that a little louder for me? You’re whose girl?” He asked, panting as I inhaled, forcing back gags and swallowing around his cock. My lips pulled taut around the width of him and my jaw ached from holding my mouth open for him to fuck into. I blinked up at him, bleary-eyed with tears streaming down my cheeks, wetting his thigh armor beneath us with a mixture of spit, precum and tears. He smiled at the sight of me absolutely ruined by his cock beneath him, a lovesick haze glazing over the dark lust in his eyes. He guided me off him, wanting to hear only one thing out of my mouth.

“Yours. Rex’s girl. Always.” I gasped out between desperate breaths for air, precum filled saliva strands trailing from my lips to his cock. I collected the wet mess and slicked it around his sensitive tip, my thumb caressing the frenulum and wrapping my lips around the weeping hole. The second my lips connected with his cock again he practically howled, curling fingers around my neck and resting the other on my shoulder to grip me as close to him as possible.

“Good girl. Only my name comes out of that perfect fucking mouth. Stuffed full of my cock. You love it, don’t you? You love blowing me so messy…drooling on my cock. My perfect filthy girl.” He praised as I nodded in response, pulling the blanket off to get an unobstructed view of my face. Or maybe it was because he wanted me to be seen doing this. Something really had gotten into him if he was bold enough to do this with eyes possibly watching us.

He was pounding against my tongue, slowly rolling his hips up as I swallowed him down. I whimpered around him as he picked up the pace, fucking into my mouth as he promised. The sound of gags filled the air, no longer muffled by a blanket over my head. I took in several deep breaths, letting my jaw slack obediently and allowing him to slip back as deep as I could. He grunted lowly, his thighs twitching beneath me and signaling how close he was. He pulled my hair back harder than before, lifting me off him and catching his breath. I wiped my lips with my fingers and reached down to swipe the slick between my legs. Rex let out a loud, exasperated exhale at the sight and grabbed my other wrist.

“No more touching until I say.” He groaned, almost pleading with me for mercy. I knew that working him up only to make him watch me play around would have him spilling all over us both way too soon. I sat up on my knees and slowly made my way up his torso, fingers tracing the seams of plastoid covering the plane of his chest. I rolled my body against his, making him tremble with hopeless want. I hovered my upper body above his and dangled my slick covered fingers between us.

“You sure you don’t want to taste what all this possessiveness does to me, Captain?” I taunted, watching him grit his teeth, desperately trying to maintain the control between us. His lips quirked, drawing a mischievous grin across his tense face. His heavy hands latched onto my hip bones and he leaned in close enough to draw my fingers into his mouth. A low groan left his lips as he instead brushed his stubbled cheek against mine, bringing his lips to my ear and swirling his tongue over the sensitive spot beneath it.

Suddenly, he slapped both hands down onto my ass hard and gripped the flesh tightly before saying out loud for the entire planet to hear, “No cyar’ika, I would rather feel it.”

He drove my hips down, splitting me apart on top of him as he speared up into me brutally. The pressure of his cock forcing my swollen walls apart made me scramble for something to grab onto. I found the comforting width of his shoulders and dug my grip into them.

I buried my face in his neck and squealed, “Rex- oh fuck, Rex.” Fire ignited from the base of my spine to the tips of my fingers. He pushed my hips down onto him, pressing his cock up into a space inside me that felt so good it tore the breath from my lungs. My pussy spasmed around the thick length tearing into me and he choked out a low whine at my body’s jerking reaction to his sudden entry. The explosion of pleasure wracked my nerves and I pressed sloppy kisses along his jaw just to keep myself from screaming. He guided my hips up and down to start a slow, ruthless pace.

“Got you so worked up, didn’t I? Acting so bold because you needed me to fuck you like this.” He muttered in my ear, lifting his thighs to repeatedly sink himself into my heat. I twisted my hips, finally comfortably opened up enough to do some of the work myself. I sped up, the flesh of my thighs slapping against his lap obscenely as I rode him with all the strength I could gather.

“Yes baby. I-I like when you show off.” I whispered, resting my hand on his jaw to turn his face towards mine. “Mmm reminds me why you’re in charge.” My jaw dropped open as he held my center in place with one strong arm, shallow snaps of his hips making his writhing torso catch my clit. Tingling radiated from our joined hips outward and I rested my cheek against his as I moaned softly.

He huffed in amusement, clearly pleased at my submission to him. “Seems like you wanted to remind everyone I’m in charge, needy girl. You want me to show them who owns this little pussy?” He asked, his hungry eyes watching how pleasure contorted my features. The blissful rocking of his hips made the width of him stretch me open almost painfully, every thrust carrying a jolting buzz of delight through my every last nerve. I could feel the building pressure in my gut cinching tighter and tighter. The drag of his cock repeatedly breaching my tight entrance sent wet heat drenching my cunt and coaxing sounds out of me that I could just barely hold back.

“Please, Rex. Want them to hear how good you fuck me.” I begged, my insides beginning to clamp down on his cock still railing into me harshly. I fluttered around it, my entrance pulled taut to fit the sheer size of him and the arousal he’d caused slicking each movement.

His head lolled back against the pillow as my words hit him. “That’s my filthy girl. Begging me to make you scream.” He leaned forward and captured my lips with his, his tongue overpowering mine and teeth pulling down on my bottom lip. “Go ahead. Let them listen to how good my cock makes you feel.” He whispered, his lips brushing mine with every word.

A moan ripped through me as he sat up more, changing the angle and sending the tip prodding into the deepest part of my pussy. My back arched as he bottomed out into the spot over and over again, tears brimming up in my eyes as the pleasure threatened to overwhelm me.

“Right there. Ha-harder, Rex.” I gasped, choking for air I couldn’t inhale without forcing the vice grip on his cock to wind tighter. I sat up, resting my palms on his flexing pectorals and my nails scratching red marks across the dark skin. His gaze traced up my exposed chest, following the craning of my neck to my face, brows raised in expressive ecstasy. “fuck you feel so good.” I whimpered, tracing my hand along my thigh wrapped around his waist. He knew where my hand was going without even watching it and he grabbed my wrist to keep it from moving.

“No hands, mesh’la. I’ll decide when you cum.” He almost growled, his gravelly voice deepening as he made the seductive threat. “Sit back and let me watch that little cunt take me.” He asked, grabbing my shoulders and tipping me back until I rested both palms on his still plastoid covered thighs. The new angle allowed him a perfect view of how I sheathed him with each thrust, my wet folds enveloping every last inch of his pounding cock. I tossed my head back and moaned louder, the sound loud enough now to bounce off the ruined metal hulls of the ships in the distance.

His gaze jumped from our joined centers to my tits bouncing and back, thoroughly enjoying how each brutal shove into me racked my entire body. “Look at you…fuck- you’re so good for me. Might even let you cum like this, pretty girl.” He reached forward and caressed the curve of my breast with his thumb. The nipple budded up at his touch instantly, goosebumps erupting on my skin now exposed to the cool night air. He hummed in delight and traced his calloused hand down my torso.

I watched him with desperate anticipation, hoping to the stars above that he was finally going to touch me. He smiled up at me, reading the pained look on my face and pouting up at me mockingly. I whimpered, twisting my center around him in figure 8s chasing the mountain of pleasure I was desperate to find the peak of.

“C-can I…cum now, Rex? I want to…” I wailed, the simple act of asking his permission setting a smoldering flame of heat alight in my core. He slid the hand roaming my torso down to where my touch starved clit ached for attention and gingerly rubbed light circles across it with his thumb.

I cried out in agony, the pleasure searing through my body blanked my mind of everything but Rex’s hands on me, Rex’s thighs supporting me beneath him, Rex’s cock pounding and pleading for release inside me.

He laughed, strained and breathy, but clearly amused and enjoying this. “If you ask politely…show me you remember how to behave now…” He offered, pressing on my clit harder and burying the head of his cock into the perfect spot that only he could ever seem to find.

“Please, Rex. Please.” I gasped, searching for some part of him to grab onto and immediately finding his already outstretched hand, tangling his fingers between mine. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright, his mouth latching onto my nipple and biting down as the change in angle pierced into a spot that forced the built-up pressure in my core to finally burst.

“My mesh’la. Make me so fucking proud. Cum for me. Right on my cock you love so much.” He said, the rambling words of permission signaling his own climax wasn’t far behind mine. “Show ‘em all how pretty my girl is when she cums for me.”

“Rex!”

Pleasure cascaded down my body like a waterfall, my mind numb to the feeling of anything else but orgasmic euphoria. My thighs tensed and my fingers curled, squeezing his hand and the strewn blanket for any kind of stability. The sheer force of my orgasm propelled my body upwards, as if to keep my head above water before the wave pummeled me back down in its undertow. An extinguishing ripple of pleasure flushed through the blistering heat of arousal that had been torturing my body. It washed down through my core and made the aching tightness entrapping him in my walls release.

He let out a low groan and held my hips to his tightly as he let my spasming walls milk the release out of his overstimulated cock. “That’s it. Look what taking my cock does to you. Only I can fuck you full like this. You’re fucking mine. Fuck, mesh’la. Fuck-“ He hissed, each erratic thrust dismantling all that was left of his domineering strength.

The flexing inside my heat dragged rope after rope of hot, sticky cum out of him. My insides felt ruined and heavy, weighed down by the twitch of his cock and the seeds of his euphoria saturating any remaining empty space. He was practically whimpering beneath me, the pleasure too good for either of us to contemplate changing positions. His hands wrapped around my back and held me into him, aftershocks ravaging both of us. Slippery skin slid against skin, panting breaths too hot to cool either of us down.

I slumped onto his shoulder, lazily rocking my hips to chase the wave of pleasure as it receded away gradually. His broad chest heaved under me and his hand cupped the back of my neck. An overly satisfied giggle left my lips. “Mmm…Rex.” I hummed, nuzzling into his neck and delicately kissing places I’d bruised.

“You gonna behave yourself now?” He teased, stroking my hair and messaging the back of my neck with his outrageously strong hand.

“If acting out gets me fucked like…that? Never.” I laughed, biting down on a particularly pretty purple spot I’d gifted him with.

“Good.” He snorted, “I’ll just have to teach you this lesson again, my pretty girl.” A deep, gruff hum bubbled up in his chest, as he pulled us both back down onto his cot.

I reached my hand up to brush his cheekbone, ghosting my touch down his jaw. I tipped my head to the side, marveling at the lengths such a perfect man would go to affirm his love for me. He proved how much I meant to him every single day. He never had a single thing to worry about. Sure millions of others shared his face, those same dark eyes, determined grin, strong jaw and deep voice. But they weren’t him. No matter how many versions of him I ever met, they would never compare to him. He was more special than he even knew.

His inability to shake the deeply ingrained idea that they were all just numbers wouldn’t stand in the way of how deeply intwined our souls were in the cosmic force. I wasn’t even a Jedi but I could feel this. I knew it in my heart that this clone wasn’t like his brothers at all. Because Rex’s very soul was forever changed by the bond we’d formed together. That was something no geneticist or messed up cloning experiment could ever change. We were one now and we always would be.

“I am yours. You know that, right?” I muttered, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to his lips still open and panting from exertion. “Just wanted to give you the chance to remind other people. You’re still a bit of a showoff.” I giggled happily, propping myself up on one arm resting beside his head and letting the other hand smooth over the expression breaking the usual tension that formed across his brow bone.

He watched my chest rising and falling trying to catch my breath and dragged light fingertips up and down my bare back. Warm hands pulled me back together from my usual explosive high and curled his protective grip around my smaller frame.

“You just put on a show like that and I’m the show off?” He teased, rolling his hips lazily against mine and laughing softly. He tucked hair behind my ears and eased me down onto his chest. He nuzzled his cheek onto the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me tightly. “I think you like me showing off, cyar’ika. Always have.”

“Yes, well, you look too good doing it not to.” I whispered, peppering light kisses along his neck and smoothing my fingers along his collar bone. “We should probably try to actually get some sleep.”

“Some of us have been trying to do that for hours now.” A deep, harsh voice grumbled from somewhere in the darkness around us. Hunter. Exactly who started all this in the first place.

I looked up at Rex, wide-eyed and shrinking into his body in embarrassment. He laughed, pulling the blanket back over my naked body and flexing proudly that his loud claiming of me had actually been heard by those he intended.

“Sorry, boys, but this isn’t the GAR barracks anymore. I no longer have to follow rules I don’t like.” He said, rolling my body on top of his and holding me in his grasp. If anyone told me even a few months ago that Captain Rex was doing this, I would’ve fainted probably. But hell who cares anymore, right?

“Something tells me that those rules never stopped her.” A second, loftier voice responded. Tech.

I giggled, “No, they didn’t.” Remembering the select few times I’d snuck into his quarters, too needy after a month’s long mission to wait for him to come to me. Senator’s staff clearance permissions giving me special entry to certain places was convenient. Besides, most of the 501st knew the drill by that point anyways. If they ever heard anything, they knew better than to mention anything to their commanding officer.

Rex traced his fingertips up my spine, the way he always did when he was thoroughly satisfied. “How much did you hear?” He asked, the wry smile on his face proving that he absolutely was not sorry he’d woken them.

“More than enough.” Hunter replied in a huff, as if the graphic display had disturbed some dream he was having. Perhaps the teasing had gone a little too far with him. The sound of rustling blankets and then padded footsteps filled the silence.

“Where are you going?” Tech asked, using a datapad to illuminate the darkness.

“Check on Omega. Get some real rest.” He shot back, his boots meeting metal. “Goodnight.”

I looked at Rex sheepishly, feeling a little guilty about flaunting something in front of him that he clearly craved. Rex shrugged, not exactly thrilled about the idea of this particular brother thinking about me like that.

“Sorry we woke you.” I whispered, turning over to apologize to Tech.

“That’s alright. Don’t worry about Hunter. He’ll…get over it.” Tech explained, his eyes meeting mine over the top of his holopad. He seemed unbothered and I shrugged away my worries about Hunter’s hurt feelings.

“Tech…are you able encrypt those? So no one can track you or anything?” I asked, sitting up with our blanket wrapped across my chest. He laughed softly, as if even asking that was a silly question.

“Of course I can. Why do you ask?” He said, sitting up and rifling through his pack beside him.

“Rex and I need a way to…do some research without enemy eyes finding out.”

Rex, intrigued and likely following my train of thought, swung his legs over the side of his cot. “We need a way to get intel from inside the Empire. Inside the clone network. Check on some people.”

“Hmmm…I can give you a spare to surf the holonet. But tapping into the inner workings of the Empire is dangerous…I’ll have to look into how to do that safely. Here.” He replied, tossing Rex the extra pad he pulled from his bag.

“Thanks Tech.” We said together, Rex bumping the back of my shoulder with his. Tech hummed some kind of you’re welcome before settling back down in his makeshift bed. Rex rested his chin on my shoulder as we both looked on the holopad like we’d never seen this technology before.

“Who should we look for first?” I whispered, the search database blinking and waiting for me to enter in the aurebesh letters.

“Look us up.” He replied, typing his designated number into the former republic database and hitting search.

CT-7567: Rank - Captain. Battalion - 501st. Last Mission - Siege of Mandalore. Status - Killed in Action, Cruiser crashed on moons of Bogdon System. Body never recovered.

“Hmmm…well I don’t feel dead.” He joked morbidly, scrolling back up to enter in a new name to the search field.

I typed in my own name and found…nothing. My existence wiped from Senate records. “What?” I whispered out loud, my eyes wide with surprise and Rex’s deep in thought. “Only those with Senate clearance could do this. Someone’s…watching my back.”

Before Rex could speak, footsteps racing down the ship’s ramp made us both turn away from the mystery in front of us. Through the darkness, we could just make out Echo’s silhouette illuminated by a few soft lights inside our ship. He was panting, clearly desperate to give us some kind of urgent news.

“You two better come inside. Someone’s sending you a coded transmission. Highly scrambled and classified and you’re not going to believe who it is.”

---

Introducing the Captain's Log Taglist! I've had so many people ask me to make one so they get notified when new chapters drop so I am starting one! Please let me know if you'd like to be added or removed! tag list: @starwarsmeninhelmets @literallydontlook @thefact0rygirl @moonstrider9904 @pedropascalsx @ashotofspotchka @fett-djarin @zinzinina @love-like-poetry @captainrexi @galacticgraffiti @kaminocasey @calkestiis @pinkiemme

[damerondala]

🍒 Okay tub time with Kix? 😗👌🏻 Exquisite. So good. Where do i find such a caring man ugh and a clean bathtub chores suck

New Cherry Thot of the Week… This one’s hella self-indulgent but don’t worry bestie, i’m dragging you along for the ride too… Picture it: The Marauder, 19 BBY (did i spend 3 minutes looking that up for this dumb joke? yeah…) Somehow, you and I have joined up with the Bad Batch on some kind of mission. Details don’t matter because the important thing is we’re sharing a tiny spaceship with 5 hunks. 🥰 But obvs we have our favorites… I’m going with Wrecker for you (i know you love Hunter too, but just hear me out, this thot has a purpose) and Crosshair for me.

But here’s the thing. We somehow figure out they like us back (maybe Tech spills the beans), AND they have a bet going… Who can win us over first? Because these 2 are always competing over something with each other right?

And like hot damn, but also ohh there’s so much we can do with this info 😈 We both start teasing our respective guys, leading them on a little, not giving in to their flirting or anything so they can’t say they’ve won the bet for a while. They get more frustrated. More… pent up… And… well… so do we…

Uh oh. Maybe we can’t play this much longer. Maybe one day it’s too much, and one of us races to our crush prepared to just kiss them silly, only to find they had the same idea. And then afterward we try to find the other, and discover they couldn’t hold out with their guy either 🙈 And maybe it’s awkward, maybe Wrecker and Crosshair argue over who actually won forever, but it was kinda weirdly fun anyway. We’re happy, and happy for each other. /EndofSappyStory 🍒

cherry. my love. my life.

this might be the best thing that you have ever gifted me holy fuck the way i BLUSHED while reading this??? whooooooo jesus i love this so much!!! 😭 okay lots to unpack here:

1. excellent golden girls reference again. made me giggle and i appreciate the research tech would be proud of u hehe

2. you and i being bffs in this thot made me so happy aw

3. EXCELLENT CHARACTER CHOICE FOR US OMFG i couldn't stop thinking about the "don't worry wrecker you'll top him next time" "no he wOnT" while reading bc omfg those lines applied to this kind of bet????? AAAAHHHHH IM HAVING A CRISIS

i'm gonna write this in sections, actual encounters with the boys happen in sections 3 and 4 with our sexy murder toothpick man being up first! also this is gonna be pre-omega but post-echo joining the batch 

self indulgent filth and fluff in the form of some reader insert thots below ;) 

18+ as always kiddies. i really hope you enjoy! this was so fun to write 

section 1: the bet 

so i imagine this happening right after you guys joined the squad

and it certainly didn't take long for crosshair and wrecker to realize their feelings for you two beautiful women, although one was more brazen about his feelings than the other

one day when hunter had sent you and your friend into a market to pick up a short list of supplies, they got to talking 

crosshair made an offhand remark about his girls’ ass which made wrecker fidget, he never was very composed when it came to pretty girls and this caused all the other members of the batch share knowing looks and smirks

“wrecker if you’re trying to be discreet about your feelings for ___ you’re going to have to do stop fidgeting.” tech noted, rolling his eyes when wrecker started stuttering out excuses but he was cut off by echo

“give ‘im a break. at least he isn't as vulgar as crosshair” 

“you’re just jealous she doesn't flirt with you, mir'osik” (i had to search up insults in mando’a and this one means shit for brains and when i tell you i died laughing okay anyways sorry)

this made echo roll his eyes, deciding it wasn't worth it to fight over whatever stupid insult the sniper threw at him

wanting to stir the pot juuust a bit, hunter proposed a challenge for his vod. he should be the good influence on his brothers, but he couldn't help but want to see where these crushes would take them

he could hear the girls’ heartbeats intensify around their respective crushes anyways, so he had a pretty good feeling that they felt the same about his batch mates

“don’t know about the rest of you, but i want to see who can win his girl over first” this was met with a smirk from crosshair, a blush from wrecker, and side glances shared between echo and tech

“easy.” crosshair drawled, he knew he had this in the bag

he may be quieter than the others but boy was he was observant, taking note of the way her words had a hard time flowing out of her pretty mouth when he was in close proximity of his girl

wrecker on the other hand didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, in his eyes she was just so sweet. innocent, really. she wouldn’t want the same treatment he knew crosshair had in mind for his girl

the peering eyes of his squad made the large man cave with a sigh, “fine.”

section 2: the slip up

weeks had gone by since the boys established their little competition and you, your friend, and tech were working on some small repairs around the ship

you and your friend had noticed some increased...flirting from your respective guys

crosshair paid more compliments and lingering touches that seemed genuine

and wrecker flirted the best way he knew how; lifting too heavy objects and reaching for items in the tall cargo holds, handing them down with a gentle smile

tech, being the most blunt member of the squad, commented on the whispers you exchanged, dropping a surprising truth on both of your ears:

“well of course they are trying to flatter you. how else do you settle a bet to win each of you over the fastest?” 

tech watched the two women freeze before him, sharing shocked looks before turning their attention to him, realization hit his gut like a crate of durasteel, and he swallowed under your stern gazes

“what do you mean, goggles?” 

“they...like us?”

tech’s cheeks burned red hot, was his brow beginning to sweat? maker, it felt like it 

this was the one time he didn’t feel like explaining himself, instead choosing to coyly excuse himself from the two pairs of watchful eyes

he left you and your friend to stare at each other before both rolling your eyes, “well now we know who spills secrets the easiest” your friend chuckled, shaking her head 

after a few moments of silence you both spoke up, deciding there wasn’t that much harm in playing along with the two members of the batch. you were fond of them, after all

you both continued chuckling about the situation, mostly out of disbelief that the flirting and teasing wasn’t just a hopeful facade your minds made up

once the repairs were completed, you both retired to opposite ends of the ship, minds full of deliberation of how you would handle this new information 

section 3: the gunport 

you were sat in the gunport, musing the situation you found yourself in, hands picking at your fingernails in an effort to curb your nerves 

on one hand you didn’t want to ruin the bond you had with the marksman

what if he was just flirting out of pure boredom? there isn’t much to do in a confined ship like this anyways, he might as well pass the time flirting with a woman in his general vicinity 

but it just had to mean something

no way the whispered compliments - most of them accompanied with a wink, no less - meant absolutely nothing to him 

you decided that you had enough, this was going to eat you alive if you didn't get to the bottom of what was going on in that head of his

with a huff, you stood straight and turned around to exit the space

but you were met with a silver haired man climbing up the ladder

you both froze, both internally freaking out at the basically forced confrontation

oh gods what is he doing up here? did he read my mind??

...shit what do i do i forgot everything i was going to say to her 

you nervously chuckled, figuring that you were going to go talk to him anyways so might as well get this over with

“crosshair... um i need to ask you something”

“no, i need to tell you something cyar’ika. i’m tired of sitting here and watching you walk around all day, not being able to show you how i feel.”

now that left you speechless, mouth slightly hanging open in shock to which he deeply chuckled at, “hope this isn't the first time i leave you speechless.” 

there it was, that smug attitude that made you roll your eyes but also ignited a heat in your lower abdomen

with a smirk, you decided to play it back to him. two can play at this game, lanky

“well it’d be pretty rude to not demonstrate what you had in mind, trooper”

this was the green light crosshair needed, quickly heaving himself up the last few rungs of the ladder, his hands immediately finding your waist and snatching you close, pressing a firm kiss to your lips

your hands flung up to catch the sides of his sharp cheeks, humming at the feel of his scruff under your palms as you coyly push your tongue through his lips, hoping he’ll welcome your tongue into his mouth

he does, and you are exploring each other in the most delicious way, causing soft moans and sighs to leave both of you

while you were entranced by crosshair’s mouth on yours, you didn't realize he was pushing you back onto the chair of the gunport until you were sat down and he was kneeling in between your legs, his nimble fingers clutching your thighs and hips

in a matter of minutes crosshair had managed to get your bottoms completely off, your slick panties hooked on one ankle, and your thighs over his shoulders

for a man who could run his mouth, he sure proved it 

expert fingers entered your weeping cunt while his tongue prodded your bundle of nerves with sharp, quick strokes

he’s beaming at the way you’re trying to support yourself on shaky arms and trapping his head to your cunt with the backs of your calves, the sight of your head thrown back and the whimpers coming out of your mouth making him harder than he had been in a looong time

his fingers and mouth brought to your orgasm quick and hard, nearly screaming his name as your toes curled in bliss 

he took his time in working you through it, making sure he could draw it out. he could get used to this.

when you can finally open your eyes and look him in the eye, you’re kissing him again, enjoying the moan he lets out at the feel of your tongue tasting yourself on him 

you decide it’s his turn, and you’re pushing him into your previous spot, smiling at the way his eyes slightly widen at the way you took charge 

crosshair wants to say some sexy remark, something that he knows will get you to sheepishly smile and look away but he can’t, not with the sight of you sinking down to your knees and slowly pulling down his blacks, keeping eye contact and granting him a playful glint in your eye

you can't help but want to tease him just a bit, running your tongue over the bulge in his blacks

he tries his hardest to not be loud but maker, is he loud when you finally take him into your mouth and down your throat 

you’ve quickly found that he enjoys eye contact while in this vulnerable state, nearly shaking when he sees your eyes brimming with tears trying not to choke on his length 

one hand sneaking down to alternate cupping his balls is what pulls him over the edge, crying out with your name living on his tongue 

you swallow his release, again utilizing eye contact to your benefit and drawing out another prolonged moan from him 

it makes you smile in pride, loving how this hard, unyielding man turned into such a mess while you had your way with him 

crosshair pats his lap and expectantly looks at you, waiting for you to perch up onto his lap, straddling him 

despite being a skinnier guy, crosshair wraps you up in the warmest, most secure-feeling snuggle you have honestly ever experienced 

after sharing such an intimate moment with you, he began whispering sweet nothings into your ear, about how gorgeous he thinks you are, how much he cares for you 

it’s honestly kind of shocking but welcome nonetheless, cross can be kind when he wants to and you are very glad that this was the outcome of your dancing around each other for months 

section 4: the interruption 

you retreated back to your room, honestly just wanting to sleep and get your mind off the day

it was becoming harder and harder to not just pounce on wrecker, but you didn't want to just give it up so quickly 

and to be honest, you had a bad feeling that tech was full of it

you struggled with self esteem issues for as long as you could remember, so it was difficult to believe the 'genious’ of the batch when he said that wrecker had feelings for you 

despite your trepidations, your mind couldn't stop thinking about him, his broad shoulders, toned arms, huge thighs...

your hand slithered down your torso, slipping underneath the waist band of your bottoms and slowly circling your clit as images of wrecker effortlessly lifting anything that crossed his path filled your mind, honestly wishing it was you he was lifting

perhaps lifting you to brush your pussy on his nose, his tongue exploring your womanhood enough to make you shout his name

but apparently that last part was not all in your head

although you didn't shout it, wrecker definitely heard the way you whispered out his name in a moan in the dark room

he really hadn’t meant to barge in, but after a few knocks with no answer  he began to worry

he came by to tell you how he felt with absolutely no expectation of sleeping with you. truthfully, he gave up on trying to get into your pants, he was willing to lose the bet with crosshair, he knew he wasn’t as smooth as his brother anyways 

while he obviously would never be opposed to making love with you, he figured that you deserved to be courted beforehand, and he thought there was no way you’d want to share your body in such an intimate way with somebody like him 

but the sight he was greeted with was enough to prove himself wrong

you, spread out on your bed with your hand moving diligently under your thin lounge shorts and you moaning his name made him subconsciously let out a loud gasp 

that you absolutely heard, eyes snapping open and hand coming to an abrupt halt, ripping out from under your bottoms

“wr-wrecker! what are you doing here?!”

“i- uhhh- i didn’t see anything! erm, i'm sorry, mesh’la”

by now you had your blankets covering you, despite being fully clothed, and were looking at him with mortified eyes

wrecker still stood in the doorway, unsure if he should let this opportunity pass him by

if you had told him to leave he would, he’d do anything you said, but the fact that you made no move to force him into leaving made him linger

“i'm...sorry if im overstepping mesh’la but i just- i can't stop thinking about you. and well,” he gestured to your form, still cradling the blankets to your heaving chest, “i think you think about me too”

of course you couldn't deny it, he had just seen you pleasuring yourself and moaning his name, what the hell kind of excuse could you come up with? none, that's what 

his sheepishness made your heart soar, realizing he probably was just as nervous as you

deciding to cut him some slack, you slowly rose up, blanket falling to the ground as you sauntered over to his frozen frame

whispering, “you're right. do- do you want to stay?” 

you had the poor man at a loss for words, eagerly nodding at your proposition and allowing you to take his hand and lead him to your bed, pushing him down so you could straddle his lap

his large cock bulging through the thin fabric of his blacks and pushing against your already hot cunt made you cry out

pure adrenaline coursed through both of you, hushed moans leaving your mouths as you steadily ground down onto him, his hand tangled in your hair and the other kneading your breast

your lips broke away from his mouth and you smirked at the look on his face, absolutely fucking giddy that this was finally happening, he had been dreaming about this moment since he first saw you

the sounds he made while you sucked on the sensitive skin of his neck encouraged you to slip a small hand down the front of his blacks and pull his thick cock out, heat flooding your body at the hiss he let out when you started slowly jacking him off 

your legs were in the perfect position for him to push your shorts down and over your ass, fingers picking up where you left off and circling your clit, working you open to take one of his massive fingers

the more you squeezed his throbbing shaft, the louder wrecker became 

and not wanting anybody to hear you two fooling around, you glued your mouth to his, tongues mingling in heat

the excitement of the entire situation made it not last very long overall, but you both had intense orgasms regardless

wrecker curled his - now two - fingers inside you just right, and your continued squeezes and strokes of his cock made him finish, his cum coating your palm 

both of you were shaking, muffled groans and gasps filled the room until you were coming down from your simultaneous orgasms

after coming back down to the moment, wrecker chuckled and flopped down on his back, bringing you with him to crash onto his chest

you both giggled like a couple of smitten teenagers who were experiencing their first love, relishing in the butterflies in your stomachs, we just did that

“been waiting a long time to do that, doll” wrecker’s big hands rubbed up and down your curves, closing his eyes and smiling at your laugh, “i know”

his head shot up at that, “you know?” the way his eyebrows furrowed up made your chest tighten with admiration, smiling cheekily down at him, “of course i do. tech told us gals.” you leaned down to place a peck on his chin, “you think you won the bet?”

“dunno. but I feel like i just won the entire galaxy.” 

it honestly didn't make much sense in your post-orgasm daze, but the endearing tone made you smile and kiss him once again

section 5: the hallway 

after your respective encounters with your boys, you ran to your friend, bumping into her in the hallway, the tight space echoing your giggles and shrieks of excitement throughout the entire ship

you both were so flustered and giddy that you were talking over each other, just needing to tell her about what just happened 

“i just sucked-”

“you will not believe-” 

you both stopped and laughed even harder, holding onto each other for support, then your friend took a deep breath and smiled, “you first.”

the sounds emitted from you two not only made your boys smile and their chests swell with pride but also coerced some chuckles from the other members of the batch 

they all knew how long these...events were in the making and how eager cross and wrecker were becoming 

and in all honesty they were glad their brothers had found happiness in two girls like yourselves 

nice, funny, and obviously in love with their brothers

they really could’t have asked for better women to take care of their family 

~

taglist! (fill out this if you’d like to be added): 

@djarrex, @pastelpanda19, @rebelpitstop, @sageislostinspring, @shiny-mando

[shyflameweasel]

My attempt at writing something that is not a pseudo essay nor a stream of consciousness.

A notebook covered in blood and viscous black substance is found. Dark footprints lead away from the scene. All but a handful of passages are illegible. 

It was supposed to be a normal day. Another day working under the Auditor; trying to survive the hellhole that Nevada has become with all the crazies roaming around. Lunch was supposed to be chili dogs since our site found a ton of canned food not too far out. Some of the folks two floors down were setting up an empty room for Harry’s birthday tomorrow.

Instead...instead the alarms went off. Not the normal ones for those crazed bandits or the pockets of resistance. It was a alarm we all hoped never to hear, Wimbleton was on his way if not already in the building.

The higher ups pulled a runner. Doesn’t mean I’m not angry at those lucky bastards for cutting their losses. Although, wouldn’t be too surprised if the rest of Wimbleton’s group haven’t already tracked them down.

The Engineers on the upper floors grabbed a few of us before we went to our death. There was no pretending that we weren’t cannon fodder. We’re just meat to the grinder in what would be our slaughterhouse. Apparently they have sensitive data that has to get to the other bases for an ongoing project. Said that it was some kind of transportation tech but wouldn’t tell us more since it was ‘more than our pea brains could handle’. Well fuck you too guys, especially you Gerould.

They wanted a backup plan incase they couldn’t forward the data in time. Said backup is to use us as guinea pigs for said experimental tech with a notebook of data. For smart guys they sure are dumbasses. Apparently they’re out of options as most of the Agents are dead, the Soldats were fighting him off and our one MAG agent is now just a torso and head.

Whatever the hell they were working on failed and now I’m stuck in a place that looks like a tar pit with no clue as to where the others are. According to the notes sometimes a full transfer doesn’t happen right away and people get stuck. Whoop-de freaking do. So now I’m stuck here for who knows how long.

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

I have no clue how long it’s been. Time’s kinda just stopped. Guess the silver lining is that I haven’t been hungry the entire time. I’ve looked through this stupid notebook and all I can get is that no one’s ever been here for more than a few minutes. I’m gonna go for a wild guess here and say that I’ve broken the record for being in a hellhole. Well, a different one. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a promotion for getting more data for those guys. It’ll even have a nice cushy chair.

Started walking, not much else to do. Quite a site if I do say so myself, sludge to the left of me, goop to the right, and tar as far as the eye can see! Hopefully walking will help get me out of here.

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

I miss the sky. Heard that a long time ago it was blue with a bright light called the sun. Same with the ground, used to be green.

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

Either I’m going crazy, or something’s here with me. I get the felling of being watched constantly. And faintly I keep hearing this soft sound. Can’t really make it out. 

Walking hasn’t done anything. Everything looks the same still. Not even tired and I can’t tell if its a good thing or not anymore.

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

Never thought I’d say this but I miss other folks. Sure they’re a pain in the ass but its better than this.

The feeling hasn’t gone away and I swear to god if that sound doesn’t stop I’m gonna loose it.

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

Why was I the unlucky bastard? Why couldn’t it have been someone else.

Should have just stayed back at the base. A painful death is a whole lot better than nothingness.

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

Damn the AAHW and fuck Hank. If I ever get out of here I’m getting as far away as possible from all this.

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

Getting harder to write. Has the notebook always been this small?

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

Shit. Found one of my team. Mutated. Tore out a chunk of me. Killed them.

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

It’s singing. 

It

won’t

stop.

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

Its in my lungs and Im coughing up sludge.

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

let me out  let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let mE OUT LET ME OUT  LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT

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

soothing melodies

the way is clear

ill get them all

it will be fun

to rip and tear

so very happy

This is where the notebook ends. Almost all of it is ruined by the substances. The illegible portions must have been the aforementioned data and part of the ramblings. Whether intentional or not it was just about useless. Hank pocketed the book anyway. Maybe 2BDamned or Deimos could have a better time at figuring out the ramblings to see if this project really existed? Or it could have just been another crazy. Hank didn’t really care, he had work to get back to.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Shinkai: Ginsei no Shou - Saito Hajime Chapter #7 English Translation

My translation of the 7th Ginsei no Shou chapter for Saito... It’s probably because that this is my favourite chapter from the game and one that I found especially enjoyable to read (and had more of an understanding of it before getting translations for this lol) that I somehow translated this in record time when compared to all the other things I’ve worked on.... 

Unlike Kazama’s final Tsukikage chapter, the dialogue for this wasn’t all separated line by line in the CN TLs I found for the Saito chapters [NAMELY BECAUSE I WROTE EACH DAMN FUCKING WORD OUT FOR THAT CHAPTER], so some of the text in this remains lumped together. Also, huzzah for google translate providing the translations of place names since I wouldn’t have been able to translate the Japanese words that had been left in the original tl for this otherwise. I don’t usually make adjustments based on the original JP text until I start editing for the video... which will be done later.

All images used in this post were screencaps of game footage I recorded through vlc... also is it just me who feels that my English comes across as a lot more archaic when I stick to the original tl sentence structure...? lol. Anyway, as always, my translation may not be 100% accurate since I do not translate from Japanese.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ANOTHER GINSEI NO SHOU SAITO CHAPTER... one that I do not intend to translate right away... well I also include it in a note about what chapter it refers too. lol. it’s right below the cut.

Enjoy~! OR ELSE! MWHAHAHA!!

(jk, lol. plus, i’m too lazy to think of anything. oh and im currently working on the subtitle positioning for this now as the file got transferred recently since i finished the first round of timing [i need to do this multiple times to get the fade in/out of my subtitles to match the timing of game text’s fade/in... or to at least have them as close as possible] before having all of these tech problems.)

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

Forward Notes

Based on what I remember from tokio-fujita’s notes (sorry but I didn’t check since im kinda busy rn, and the internet on my laptop is kinda unstable as I’m still transferring files... 17.3 gb remains from the dramas transfer) on Saito’s position in the Shinsengumi after leading them to Aizu, I’ve left his position as taichou in this translation due to how the only English translation for that is ‘captain’ which doesn’t show a difference in roles from when he was the Third Division captain ‘kaichou/kumicho’ [note to self: include this along with the link to the page in the post description later. also i will probably just change this to ‘captain’ anyway when i do my subtitle video].

Chapter 6 and 7 occur in Aizu

Hakuoki Shinkai: Ginsei no Shou - Saito Hajime Chapter #7

Translation by KumoriYami

7th month, 4th year of Keiou, after the Shinsengumi left for Sendai——

The Aizu, who had offended the Satcho were engulfed in the bitter flames of war.

When Shirakawa Castle was attacked, it would be a lie to say that I wasn't worried then.

Hijikata-san, Heisuke-kun, Shimada-san, and Souma-kun.

It was no longer possible to fight alongside the people who we deeply trusted since the beginning.

However……

I still have Saito-san.

Saito-san also me, although/even if/despite how I can't fight alongside him.

We relied upon one another, setting out for Shirakawa——

Shirakawa Castle, which had become the headquarters for my father's rasetsu—— we confronted him and Kazama Chikage there.

As Kazama-san had the overwhelming strength of an oni, if the fight was drawn out, Saito-san would have no chance of winning.

But, we still had....

Comrades we could rely on.

Even if [they] leave. Even if [they/they've] choose/chosen different paths.

As long as they maintained/followed their own bushido, everyone was still heading in the same direction.

I believe that as long as we moved forward, one day, our paths will surely cross again, and we will fight to the very end.

If only/I wish that everyone could see each other one more time, I could only pray that everyone would be safe……

Saito-san once again returned to the battlefield.

4th year of Keiou, 8th month

The Aizu Shinsengumi under the command of the Aizu, fought at the Bonari Pass——

After that, they fought bravely to stop the New Government army from entering Aizu Castle.

By the ninth month however, there were not many members left of the Aizu Shinsengumi, yet they still set out to defend/protect Nyoraido [refers to chapter 6] .

This is the story of what happened while I was waiting for Saito-san after he left. 

Fourth year of Keiou, Ninth month

Fourth year of Keiou, Ninth month

Saito-san and the other members of the troop left camp to protect Nyoraido.

Following his instructions/In accordance with his wishes, I accompanied the men who were seriously injured in battle to the rear of the formation.

Yukimura: Please wait a bit longer, I will treat you immediately.

Soldier:……At the most crucial moment, to be unable to help Saito-taichou, I'm terribly sorry.

Yukimura: ……There was no way you could, you are wounded after all.

Soldier: The taicho, is he really okay?

Perhaps it was because his wounds were too painful, that the soldier continued to weakly repeat himself.

Yukimura: Saito-san will be fine. He will surely come back alive.

In order to reassure the soldier, I spoke decisively/resolutely.

Yukimura: That's why, you need to focus on recovering right now.

Soldier:......Okay, I will.

Three days later.

The soldiers who had stayed in Nyoraido, none of them had come back yet.

The news from the front lines had also been cut off.

All that we knew was was the hopeless information brought back by the wounded.

There weren't enough bandages and medicines, and the wounded kept pouring in.

The soldier's and my worries became more intense.

It was at this time——

Aizu soldier: This is terrible/Bad news! Apparently Nyoraido has been completely surrounded by the enemy! The Shinsengumi in Nyoraido might have completely wiped out.

Yukimura:……!

The moment I heard such a dreadful announcement/news, it felt like the blood had been drained from my entire body. [news/information might be changed for ^^^ sentences. might use intelligence, communication]

A commotion spread throughout the entire formation [camp sounds more appropriate].

Soldier: Yukimura-san……

The wounded soldier looked at me with an anxious expression.

Previously, the instant I heard such news, I probably would have broken down into tears.

But, now——

Yukimura:……When such fierce fighting is going on, all sorts of rumours will be flying around we can't assume that everything is accurate before receiving an official confirmation.

Hearing what I said, the soldier seemed to calm down.

Soldier:……That's right. Before figuring things out, we'll still believe in/continue to trust the Taichou, and wait until he returns.

Even if Nyoraido has been surrounded by the enemy, the Shinsengumi may not necessarily be completely wiped out.

Shinsengumi——they, along with Saito-san, I don't know how many times they had escaped from death.

More importantly, Saito-san cannot die yet.

——flashback——

Saito: Yukimura, I wish to make you a promise.

Yukimura: A promise for me......? What is it?" Saito: No matter what happens in the future....... I will protect you with my life. This decision is not because of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata-san, or an order from the Aizu....... but of my own volition.

——end flashback——

At the time, he promised……

Even now, I can still clearly remember how we kissed after.

Saito-san, he made a promise to me.

He will come back to me.

I repeated those words in my heart over and over again, as if to convince myself......

But my heart was beating wildly, and cold sweat dripped from my forehead.

This wasn't able to eliminate my sense of unease.

Yukimura: …………

I truly wanted to rush over to Nyoraido, to immediately go to his side.

But, my duty right now, is to treat the wounded here.

So…… I could only trust/believe in him, and wait here.

After, I continued to focus on treating the wounded while waiting for Saito-san to return.

But, reports on the situation in Nyoraido, they never came again,

The sense of [them being] defeat[ed] became more intense, and the dreary mood gradually enveloped the entire formation [will probably use "camp"]. [The feeling that they had been defeated became more intense, and...]

Soldier 2: Yukimura-san, isn't it time for you to rest? You look very pale.

Yukimura: No, it isn't time to rest yet/it's not the time to rest.

Soldier 2:……Under these circumstances, if you collapse, once something happens, there won't be anyone to depend/rely on [for what you do]. Even if it's just a short nap…… please, for everyone's sake.

When faced with such a strong request, I couldn't refuse.

Yukimura: Okay. Then I'll go and nap/sleep for a bit.

I decided to go find a corner to go nap in .

Perhaps it was because I was so tired, but once I closed my eyes, I immediately fell asleep.

As I slept, I had a dream.

Yukimura Nn, nn......

I didn't know where I was in this dream, the surroundings were hazy as I looked around.

Where……is this?

Yukimura: Is this the Aizu's…… camp……?

……Right.

I was waiting for Saito-san to come back…… then……

My head felt numb and heavy as I looked around again……

Saito:……Yukimura.

Yukimura: Saito-san……!

The person I wanted to see suddenly appeared before me/Now that the one I wanted to see  suddenly appeared, I immediately got up.

Yukimura: You're back from fighting at Nyoraido! Where are the rest of the soldiers……

Saito:……In regards to this, I have something that I must tell you.

Yukimura: Eh……?

Hearing him say such ominous remarks, I couldn't help but feel confused.

Saito: Even now, you have always been at my side…… My gratitude towards you goes beyond words. If I didn't have you, I wouldn't have been able to continue fighting until now.

Yukimura: Thanks for what [reword later]……

Why was he suddenly saying such a thing?

Yukimura:……To speak of thanks, it's too much, I don't need it [It's too much for you to speak of thanking me/it's unnecessary for you to thank me]. Because, you and I……

We are no longer outsiders [/We can no longer be considered as outsiders/strangers...not sure what i’ll go with here] ——I just wanted to say that.

I don't know why, but I couldn't say anything.

The Saito-san before my eyes/right now, there was a subtle sadness to his expression, as if he was extremely sorry.

He…… wasn't like the one [man] I knew at all.

In this unnatural atmosphere, he spoke solemnly.

Saito: I……there is something I must tell you…… No matter what happens, no matter what you experience/encounter/face…… but now I [reword later]……

Yukimura:……!?

I was too late to ask him——

Saito-san's figure was already starting to fade away, then completely disappeared into the darkness of night.

Yukimura: Saito-san, don't go! What are saying to me——

I shouted out then/and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, my entire body was drenched in sweat.

Yukimura: Just now, that was a dream……

The foreboding feeling/premonition made my heart beat wildly.

Why was it at this time, that I dreamed of Saito-san?

Furthermore, in my dream, it seemed like he had something to tell me.

I had a bad hunch/felt a sense of foreboding, but there was nothing I could do.

Looking around everywhere, Saito-san and the others still hadn't come back.

Although/Even if I dreaded to think so……

Just now, it was just a bad dream, it shouldn't be a sign that something bad would happen.

Saito-san and the other soldiers, what happened to them?

……No, it couldn't be.

He promised me, he would surely come back.

But, if that wasn't the case?

……If I continued to wait here, would he really come back?

I……

Choices 

【Search for him】 【Believe in him and wait】 <-

Although I wanted to immediately rush to Saito-san's side……

I still remembered what he said before.

——flashback——

Saito:......As time passes, things change. The world, ideals, and even the Shinsengumi. Even so, that does not mean that everything must change. As things change with time, so too will there be things that do not change. And I...... I believe in the things that do not change.

——end flashback——

……Saito-san had never gone against the promise he made me/never broke the promise he made me.

Regardless if it was when he left the Shinsengumi to join the Guardians of the Imperial Tomb, or when he was defeated at/during the Battle of Toba-Fushimi.

Also, there was when he ended up fighting Kazama-san.

In the end, he always came back to my side [me].

So, as he promised, he will certainly come back to me.

So, I too——

Yukimura:…………

An incredible feeling swelled in my chest.

It wasn't because of panic, rather it felt like the stars were whispering to me……

This feeling pushed me out of camp.

Outside of camp was a forest that always looked the same at night [reword later].

Although I didn't know if any of the soldiers would return, I thought……

I felt somewhat dejected, and couldn't help but look up towards the night sky.

It was full of stars, quietly twinkling.

Long before I was born, these stars, they must have been watching the world in silence/been silently watching the world.

No matter how many years passed, these silver stars would always shine in the night sky.

Yukimura: Me too……

Under the allure of the dim starlight, I couldn't help but say this/I was unable to restrain my emotions.

Yukimura: I also…… believe in the things that do not change.

Even if the path forward was covered in darkness, the light that pointed towards the future still shined.

Yukimura: I believe——no matter what happens in the future, you will not change.

Just as I muttered this to myself.

There was the sound of movement through foliage.

I froze, staring attentively in the direction of the sound.

After/Then……

???: Is.…… someone there?

The moment I heard that voice, I burst into tears [or: almost burst into tears]. 

Shortly after, a single silhouette flashed in the woods, and its figure gradually became clearer.

Saito: Chizuru…… is that you?

My beloved/The man/The one I loved was calling my name, I could no longer/was no longer able to control myself.

Yukimura: Saito-san…… Hajime-san!

I shouted his name, throwing myself at him.

Yukimura: You came back……! Hajime-san……!

I wanted to welcome him back with a smile.

I didn't want to be crying when we were reunited.

If I cried, that would make it harder to see Hajime-san’s face……

All sorts of thoughts that I had been repressing came bursting out of my heart.

Saito: Ah…… I'm back, Chizuru. Didn't I promise you that I would return? Why are you crying? Could it be, that you didn't believe me?

Hearing Hajime-san's question, I shook my head.

Yukimura: How could I not trust you. However, I was always worried…… [and] when I heard the bad rumours at camp, my heart felt like it was going to crack/split open. Also…… I had a dream, a dream where you went far, far away……

Saito:……I see.

As I cried, Hajime-san awkwardly embraced me.

His uniform, it was completely dirty……

Although his uniform was black, a single glance showed that there were bloodstains and bullet holes everywhere.

Just from seeing him like this, I could tell he had seen a fierce battle. [ or "it was as if I could see a fierce battle." check jp mtl]

A moment later, Hajime-san showed a bitter expression.

Saito: When [we were] surrounded by the New Government Army, I was prepared to be completely wiped out/defeated…… At this time, one of the seriously injured/wounded soldiers told me: we've all been injured [been completely beaten... or some other word that i think of later that implies helplessness] and can no longer be of use to fight. Leave us behind and get out of here with the rest of the troop members——

Yukimura:……!

The decision that had been before Hajime-san, the weight of it left me speechless.

Saito: The me from before, perhaps I would have accepted this proposal. But…… the me now, it was impossible [reword later]. Hijikata-san entrusted me with the leadership of the Shinsengumi. Additionally, I could not leave those who trusted me and stayed/chose to fight together with me when the Aizu were abandoned.

Yukimura:……Nn.

I looked straight into Hajime-san's eyes, and nodded approvingly/nodded in agreement.

Hearing about the changes in Hajime-san's heart, I felt delighted/happy, as if it was my own affair.

Saito: If I had accepted that soldier's proposal, I likely would have returned sooner…… Carefully leading the troops back, it took longer than I thought…… I'm sorry for making you worry about me.

After listening to Hajime-san's words, I shook my head.

Yukimura: I……that's not important/it doesn't matter.  As long as are you are like this, and as long as you come back to me…… that's enough.

Saito:…………Yes [alt I see/is that so. check audio].

Yukimura: What happened to the other troop members/soldiers?

Saito: Because they're moving while carrying the wounded, I think that it will probably be a while longer before they catch up. But they will certainly catch up.

Yukimura: So it's like that, that's good……

Just by/from feeling Hajime-san's temperature [warmth] and his breathing, I was already very happy.

As long as he was like this now, and alive [As long as he lived like this now]…… being at my side, it was enough.

From the way he was looking at me, I could clearly feel that he felt the same way I did.

Saito:……Even for myself, I find it/feel that it's incredible/unimaginable.

Yukimura:……?

I tilted my head, not understanding what he meant.

Saito: Previously, I thought, the ideal wish of a warrior/samurai [check audio] would be to die in battle. However, I now fight for the sake of my comrades, so as to survive [so that we survive/live. chck jp mtl].

Indeed, if it was the past Hajime-san, when faced between choosing life and death, he likely wouldn’t have hesitated.

But......

Yukimura: I.......love the you now....... and I love the you back then. No....... no matter however you are, I will always accept you.

Hajime-san's eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

Saito:……You once told me before. The answer, the one I painfully struggled to find, whatever it was, you would accept it.

Yukimura:……Nn.

Saito: The one who changed me, it was probably you, Chizuru.

Yukimura: Eh......?

Saito: At the most dire point/height of the fighting, I thought of your face…… and my determination to not die grew stronger. Furthermore, every time I thought of how you were doing everything to help the wounded at camp, I kept thinking that these soldiers must not die here.

Yukimura:…………

Carefully listening to my lover's voice, his words, made me feel infinitely happy. [Listening to my lover's voice, his words made me feel extremely happy.]

When Hajime-san was desperately fighting at Nyoraido, if I was able to provide him some courage……

Nothing could make me happier. 

After a short while, Hajime-san slightly tilted his head, almost as if he was urging something.

There was no need to ask what would happen next.

I closed my eyes, quietly responding to him.

After a pleasant wait, our lips were pressed together.

This kiss, it was very restrained, just like how he was.

My heart was beating loudly.

These thoughts became increasingly stronger in my heart, how I wish the two of us could stay in this forest at night forever. [check jp mtl. i’m probably going to go with something to the effect of: How I wish we could just stay forever in this moment, alone and encompassed by this forest at night.*this sentence is pissing me off lol.]

No matter what happens, I will never leave him again.

Saito:……From now on, I will never let you be this sad again. So, let me see you smile/your smile. In order to see your smile, no matter what happens, I will always return to you. [check jp mtl]

Before, I once asked him what he would do one day if he had to drink the Ochimizu for the Shinsengumi……

The answer that came from his lips without any hesitation, was to 【drink it】.

Yukimura:…………Nn. Hajime-san…… Hajime-san, as long as you stay by my side, I will always be happy.

He had asked me to smile, but i couldn't help but to continue crying...

As a result, I was smiling and crying in front of the person that i loved.

About half a month later, the 22nd of the 9th month——

The Aizu-han, which had been firmly resisting the New Government army, surrendered.

——End——

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

well, I probably could have made it easier for myself if I just copied the flashback text from SK/KW/EB... but I just couldn’t bring myself to look up the games to copy said text (had to uninstall them from my old pc for space to take stuff off my passport) since it’d really bother me knowing if I copied something than said it was my translation... which is why i didn’t. ah well. as a translator, the idea of taking credit on something that i didn’t translate really doesn’t sit well with me... but I still think that what I did for those parts came close to what I remember from the games...   

gotta say though: I really dislike the word 「隊士」. In both Chinese and Japanese... and that, as a translator,  i really don’t like how the Gregorian calendar names the months lol. it’s just so much easier to just leave the date as what it says based on the old Japanese calendar... with the era name and month number. let’s me not worry about doing research to ensure the accuracy of things (i require that all of my videos be precise when it comes to dates)... 

also, i wish it’d snow everyday for a week. id get motivated enough to finish a chapter with that.... tho it’d need to be a heavy snowfall so it’s very visible. lol. maintaining my motivation on one thing for a long period of time just doesn't come easy to me... especially when it’s something that has +4000 words in it.

[innittowinit]

Can you pick me up? my uni burnt down (Chapt. 2)

Relationships: Sleepy bois inc (all fics i write are platonic)

Summary: 

 In which Techno goes to England for University, his building catches fire in the night, and he isn't prepared for the difference in climate between England and California. SBI fluff ensues

Chapter summary: 

After waking up, Wilbur has the great idea that they should do a sleepy boys stream. Tommy doesn't get told about this id

Words: 1785

Language: English

AO3 Chapt. 1

Listen, waking up on a sofa, with a thin blanket shared with 3 men was never going to be the best morning. His back hurt and his legs were numb from Wilbur having sprawled out over the three of them as he slept. 

Stretching his arms back, he recounted the events of last night. God, it really was only a few hours ago, he was so tired. Had this been last year, he would have been able to stay up for days on end and then just crash for an entire weekend. It wasn’t last year though and Techno had gotten himself into a fairly healthy routine, he couldn’t exactly be sleeping through his uni classes anyway. 

“Alright you two” Hearing Philza’s voice, he propped his head up, “Get up, you can’t lay around all day”

A groan came from the mass of blankets and cushions that happened to be Wilbur, who was curled up in the centre of it,

“Phil it's so early and we went to bed so late. It’s fine to sleep in”

“Okay” he chuckled, humouring his tired friend “It’s midday Wil, im taking the blankets away now”

Techno thought it was much too early too, as he tugged the sleeves of Wilbur’s hoodie down a little further so they could act like gloves. 

“Do you mind if I use your PC to try and find out what’s going on with my classes at some point? They'll probably send me an email or something” He grumbled, standing up so he could stretch his back out properly, following Phil slowly to the kitchen.

“That’s fine, it's up in my room, do what you need”

Breakfast was nice, it had been a while since Techno had had time for it honestly, and even longer since he had been able to eat with people he cared about. He had a couple slices of buttered toast and a bowl of some british cereal which he didn’t really like but he didn’t want to be rude so he ate it anyway. 

“You wanna stream together later?” Wil asked through a mouth full of food, earning a snort from Phil. This was nice. 

“Yeah maybe, you use face cam though, I’m not like against showing them my face but y'know, it is what it is” he shrugged, spooning another mouthful of his breakfast into his mouth, he had to admit it was very bland, he much preferred the sweeter ones that were more popular in America. 

“Well think about it, if you decide you don't want them to see you, you can always just sit off to the side and I'll turn my monitor so you can still see it. My office is big enough for it anyway, it’ll be like where Niki was during that one MCC remember?”

Techno nodded and carried on eating, they really were 3 very sleepy boys right now. Maybe he’d take a nap once he found out what was going on with his classes. 

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

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

Streaming without any gameplay to comment about and with facecam on? Techno wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. That just didn’t really sound like something he was going to enjoy.

It was nerve wracking and he always seemed to glance at the camera too much when it was pointed at him. He knew the fans would be disappointed if he didn’t do it though, When Wilbur tweeted out saying that he and Phil would join him in a ‘you laugh you lose’ he watched as the replies freaked out. 

You could say he was just a bit camera shy, he wasn’t incredibly insecure, sure there were things he didn’t like that much but everyone had things like that, it just made him nervous to know that people were looking at him. 

He’d be okay with his friend’s though, he trusted that they’d never put him in an uncomfortable situation. He knew if he got overwhelmed he could sit outside the frame. 

It would be okay. 

“Hey hey chat” Wilbur mumbled into the mic, making it loud enough so that everyone could hear but it still sounded like he was whispering. 

“We’ve got the blade here, bet you weren’t expecting that huh chat? Or maybe you were, maybe you read the title of the stream, bet there’s someone watching who didn't think he’d be here though” he finally turned the music off and switched from his ‘starting soon’ screen to his regular camera. 

Wil went through the rules, it was the normal stuff, he added in some jokes here and there, prodding Techno and Phil to talk at times. They’d already agreed that this wouldn’t be for youtube, since that seemed to add a bit too much pressure for Techno, but hey, he still had to welcome his chat. 

“Okay!! First media share! Lets go”  

After a series of videos, some funnier than others, Techno had started to loosen up a bit. He was getting more comfortable with the camera and while he’d probably cringe while looking back at the footage, at least he was having fun right now.

He had a warm feeling in his chest that wasn’t usually there when he was streaming alone, sure it was usually fun but nothing was better than being with his friends while doing it, there was really only one person who was missing. 

As if on queue, chat started spamming Tommy’s name, for a moment Techno thought he had been mumbling his thoughts out loud, before he looked between Phil and Wilbur, who both seemed equally confused. Moving Wilbur’s mouse over the chat to pause it, Techno tried to read some of the messages. 

“Oh he tweeted something” he mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket without a care. Maybe some irl streamers would have used the computer but knowing Wilbur’s history, he doubted it could run Chrome and streamlabs at the same time. 

Looking at the tweet he felt a little pang of guilt. It was lighthearted and jokey but he knew there’d be a little truth to it. He nudged the other two and read it aloud to them. 

‘Damn guess I’m not a sleepy boy after all’

The air felt a little thick after that, they hadn’t meant to exclude Tommy; all of the excitement of Techno coming to stay had just made it a little hard to arrange to have Tommy here after all. 

Still, they probably should have still told him though. They were supposed to be each other's family.  

“Hey chat I think we’re gonna have to end stream early.” Wilbur finally piped up, deciding it wouldn't be right to carry on when they had hurt their friend, not that chat needed to know that though, he didn’t want to embarrass Tommy. 

“I feel kinda sick and I don't think you all wanna watch me vomit right? Yeah so it’s best we end it now” 

Techno sniggered to himself at that, in games Wilbur always seemed to be very cunning but he supposed he wasn’t very good at lying when it was about something he actually cared about. Said something being Tommy.  

After raiding Fundy, the trio hopped straight onto discord. 

Tommy didn't answer the first time he was called. 

Or the second. 

Finally, after three calls, Tommy decided he’d talk to them. 

“You are all a bunch of dick heads, you know that? What the hell! Why wasn’t I invited to the sleepy boy’s stream! Wilbur you bitch!” Through all the vulgar language and the constant yelling, it was clear that Tommy was genuinely upset. 

He had every right to be, as far as Techno was concerned. From his point of view his friend’s had just gone off and hung out without him. He just hoped he’d calm down once they explained everything.  

“You know I thought we were friends! I thought we were brothers! But if you don’t wanna hang out with a ‘kid’ you can just tell me and i’ll- i'll go!” He was still yelling, as usual, it was clear he was trying to make this into a joke where he could overreact but Techno noticed the small sniffles and the quiver in his voice. 

By the looks on Phil’s and Wilbur’s faces, they recognised it too.  

“Listen, Tommy” 

Wil was the first to talk, it made sense, it seemed that Tommy trusted him the most at times. Sometimes Techno could be a bit too cold and sometimes Phil could get a bit too overbearing.

Techno understood this, he didn’t take it personally, he knew it was only natural that you have people you trust with your emotions more than others. It didn’t mean Tommy didn’t love them just as much, just that they weren’t his ‘go-to’ when he felt down. 

Techno felt the same way sometimes. Feeling’s got complicated and personally he thought Phil was the best to talk to about that, the fact that he was older and had his life sorted out gave him a sense of comfort, like he could trust him because he knew what he was talking about. 

“We didn’t plan a meetup, it just sorta happened. Phil was at my place, helping me record, and then Techno’s Uni had a fire and he needed a place to stay while they’re making it safe again” Wilbur sighed as he heard Tommy moving on the other side of his mic. Techno wondered what he was doing. 

“We would have invited you, had we known that we’d all be in the same place Toms” 

Phil took over, giving Wilbur a little sympathetic smile. The brunette so obviously felt guilty about the situation. 

“But when we got the call from Tech’ it was past 3 in the morning and it was tipping it down with snow, as soon as we got home we all slept. We decided to do a stream this morning but never once did we intend to try and make you feel like you aren’t welcome with us” 

Finally it was Techno’s turn to talk...Fuck.

He wasn’t exactly the most sentimental guy, he struggled to show his emotions and he just assumed everyone he cared for just knew that he cared for them. He rarely had to say it out loud. God okay. He just had to swallow his pride and go for it. 

“Tommy you are a sleepy boy and you are our brother. We did kind of a dick move today and if I was you I’d probably be upset too. I know I didn't like seeing you guys playing without me during MCC and that wasn’t even any of our decisions. We should have called you or something. I know I kinda tease you a lot but that’s just how I show I like people. Listen Tommy if I didn’t care about you I wouldn’t be comfortable enough to make those kinds of jokes with you. It’s not funny if it’s hurting you though..”

Techno bit his lip, this wasn’t as hard as he had anticipated but it was coming out like word vomit. 

“You’re young Tommy but you’re so talented. We love you”

There was some more rustling, it sounded like Tommy was wiping his eyes. Maybe the boy had expected a yelling match, only for it to turn out to be very emotional. 

“I love you guys too.. If you ever exclude me ever again though I’m getting my vlog knife out”

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / OCTOBER 3, 2019 // the trial

(TW SUICIDE)

it's the reveal!!!! love that for her hope shes thriving (shes not) again w the two minutes of the next episode to sync the dates

-lmaoooo so i honestly wonder why they went for the full pulling-it-out-the-throat thing but idk (an interesting foil to her getting sick for more stereotypical reasons ie s2 "people find out theyre grandparents every day"

-I LOVE THIS GEORGE HAIR

-"i'd do anything for nancy" okay but....why 👀bit of an odd reaction imo

-bess with spilling the truth again 😂and gets shot down. tragic #shetried

-wait sooooo nobody tested the fingerprints on the knife when this shit happened?? or that tech didnt exist in 2000? i mean without a body how could they even call it murder? and who told the police?? like if the drews took the baby, the dress, and said nothing, who tells the cops shes missing or even dead? how did they know to search the bluffs? who told the media/public? it had to have happened that same night because ryan said when he got there later there were already rumors she was killed. after the baby and bloody dress, only her crown, a knife, and tire tracks were left. how did anyone find anything at this remote bluff without some kind of tip off? and why on earth would they think murder and not suicide with so little evidence?? thats gotta be like suicide central, sorry for the trigger

-"a little help, lucy?!" lucy seems unable to disobey a direct request from nancy (ie "lucy, stop" from later in the ep) when nancy speaks directly to her. so maybe if nancy had spoken aloud/engaged more lucy could have appeared more? nancy said she only comes around when she wants to but what if nancy herself could do a bit more, being the last thing lucy touched and all

-so in ep 2 when nancys in jail carson says "great grandma rosalind buried her valuables in the trunk" including the knives shown here. did carson and kates families even know about nancy? how did they explain not announcing a pregnancy or birth?

-"oh." john lmfaoooo

-BESS lmaoooo and ace's looks in the background and then at seeing nick approaching lmfaooo oh no / also why on earth is she apologizing?? he dumped her but she has to be sorry he found out she fucked someone else? someone nicer pls explain to me bc i dont get it. she dont owe him shit

-george is SO CUTE lmfaoooo and so forward and he was so shook but then he was like "oh hell yeah"

-"is he a vampire?!" ik nobody i knew got that reference 😂

-this entire search of the claw is a sham. what are they even looking for. clearly a set up by tamura but why/what does he suspect them of. esp w karen as accomplice, story should be airtight so why are they still investigating?

-john + ace dream team 💙

-god ace is such a yes-man. why is he so fucking loyal?? people like him are insane. how are they real. i suspect they arent. and no matter what you do you are never worthy of their unending loyalty anyway.

-so in the Good Place nancy was the one who had the key but in reality its ryan

-wonder if lucy's listening to ryan here talking about his love and grief for her

-"you were throwing away your future on a nothing girl" - nancy & ryan - their fathers dont want them to see "troubled" kids, want them to focus on school instead --> which they both struggle with and eventually do not achieve (maybe bc they want their kids to leave horseshoe bay?) for nancy its an interesting vice for someone whos really a goody two shoes/for ryan its subverted bc karen actually did worse than him ie committed real crimes

-"stay away from my family" surprise bitch bet you thought youd seen the last of me 😉

-interestingly, ryan probably would have agreed with karen about switching the ballot boxes but he wouldnt have really understood the social consequences. both josh and karen are determined to see ryan as the bad guy when actually he didnt do anything, they did. 🤔

-karen is such a ride or die friend. again w the loyalty. if someone swapped ballot boxes for me i'd be touched. im sure going into active labor made lucy a bit upset but damn. what a friend.

-wonder when nancy starts calling her "Lucy" instead of "dead lucy"

-lucy primarily haunting her own house/love seeing this house overtaken by nature

-the concept of writing things down : starting from the first ep, nancy's journal (then and now), writing out simon cards, similar cemetary cards in the Good Place, "beautiful minding it," culminating in lucy's journal / writing it down to help figure it out/when theres too much going on to keep it inside

-"i'll make a salad" NICK LMAOOO

-wonder what happened to carson's old lawyer?

-"my testimony begins in the summer of 1999" because your story always starts with your mother's story

-lmfaoooooo this shit taking the stand is soooo never allowed but oh well

-"she stole a knife" and carson's face lmfaooooo he knows its not true but what could he fucking say?? no?

-"i love you mom, i hope you never find this." ironic bc nancy didnt want her dad to find her journal either

-lucy never wanted anyone to find out how she died d/t shame- but she didnt want carson to go to jail for it so she finally allowed it (or just couldnt refuse nancy asking)

-"i'm sorry for what you lost"/"i'm never gonna be free from them"

-awww ace/mcginnis goodbye / i wonder if ace is nervous thinking about tamura --> ace's dad since chief mcginnis covered for ace out of respect for his dads sacrifice but tamura would throw both ace and his dad under the bus just to get at nancy (get at her via ace? since he was already used as the blackmail plot device? they kinda touched in this in s2 but not fully)

-okay sooo why are they still doing this forensic analysis thing? like the whole things over so whats the point. i wonder if john had packed up and gone home what coulda happened

-nancy/carson - interrupted moments:

•family dinner interrupted by nancy's accsations

•being home after finding ted interrupted by carson's arrest

•celebration of dropped charges interrupted by nancy discovering the truth about her parentage

-"i cooked your favorite to celebrate" ironic bc shes upset that hes not her "real" dad but he IS because he knows her best. like theyre literally proving it right in front of her. vs ryan whom she doesnt really want anyway AND rejects requests to get to know her. like come on sis. his 20 years of parenting you arent going away, ever. deal w it.

-carson's little smile before he said "'mom never hurt lucy" like he knows this is the end / scott's acting here just kills me

~~~~~~~~~

-why did the drews come back at all? and why did kate really keep the dress? carson says she did it as a link to lucy, but did kate want to keep it to be connected to lucy? or did she bury it to keep lucy repressed? is this a positive or a negative? +keeping in attic - did lucy start to haunt kate, so she unburied the dress?

and lastly:

-why doesnt lucy haunt everett and celia hudson? she kind of does ie painting but only when nancy visits bc shes actually haunting nancy. isnt everything the hudsons' fault?

[rootiebaga]

nobody asked, i know, but heres my departments thus far! (with nicknames, of course)

note! i do use mods, one of them being the ultimate fashion corp mod from reddit, a mod that lets you keep your employees after you reset a run, and some other useful ones

also its under the cut because uh- long

control team! (aka the OGS! (because control team is the first department people unlock when starting a run))

morty (former employee)

-may the brave fool rest, gone, but not forgotten.

rootieee (captain)

-its, its my self insert what do i have to sa

paul

-the most boring in the facility (and the most sane one in the department,)

-just wants to do his job correctly.

-not much to say about him, really

maxim (morty’s replacement after he died, rest in piece morty, you were a brave hero, yet a little dumb after trying to fight a green dawn in the early runs i had)

-morty’s big bro, a little sad that morty died but he didn’t know all that much in the facility,

-takes his job too seriously

-usually chills in the main room alot,

shao

-an absolutely innocent baby, even if they some horrifying abnormalities, they would still think of them as cute

-just, likes being here, many friends for them!

-they also like hugs!

igoree (rip)

-the sleepy employee has come back! wowie

-still sleepy and also hungry,

-the one who doesn’t work all that much

-..”how did she.. die? did she just want to? what in the world happened there? is it because of that behaviour adjustment thing?”

“just forget about it and keep working,”

“but, paul im curious-”

“quiet.”

eden

-woooooo returning!

-one of the calmest people in the department

-probably wouldn’t even be phased by the effect [CENSORED] gives her if we had it

“hey uh, eden? i got something to tell you..”

“go on shao,”

“didn’t... something happen to you? h-how are you even-”

“hey hey, dont worry about that! just, make sure you stay safe, alright?”

information team! (aka the threeks! (named by tom, who is dead, an idiot, and couldn’t count))

tom (dead)

-an idiot

-okay moving on

ryn

-the only one with aleph gear, seriously (edit (draft edition): hes the first one with aleph gear after i got nothing there’s gear, the second being daniel)

-chill once you get to know him,

-likes protecting others with his gear, since, you know

mason

-usually anxious, he doesn’t mean to be though!

-”alright calm down.. never mind this is not the time to calm dOW-”

-probably likes ryn??

eugene

-a little bit crazy, yet kind nonetheless! 

-hi

-just wants some friends, unfortunately not many people are willing to befriend her due to her kinda crazy nature

-basically someone who cares for everyone in the facility, y e e

(also whats known as a “bow kinnie” to the control team captain) /j

emma

-looks really kind until you try to talk to her, shes an asshole is what im trying to say

-likes to bite things with the sharp teeth she has, because why not

-absolute chaos

ray

-i dont know why she exists, shes just there

safety team! (aka the wind wielders (named by isabel, cause he likes flutes))

isabel

-brother of gregory

-the second innocent bean,,

-likes playing the flute whenever hes done for the day

-i accidentally gave him crumbling armour’s gift

gregory

-brother of isabel

-prefers acting over playing instruments,

-a bit more serious,

neville (prefers nelville)

-an absolutely tired employee, they just like waiting till everyone is done for the day to go home

-they’d be at home if they weren’t forced by their friend to work here

-hates everything right now

ramirez

-the joyful friend

-wanted to work here because of the people here, so many unique faces!

-likes all things unique, she usually loves trying different things that look nothing alike from the things she tried before

khanna

-the mute employee in the facility, uses notes to communicate

-another sane one, yet still kinda nervous

-a bean

training team! (aka “nobody here is fine” (named for the fact that almost everyone is very nervous, and then we got firenze))

hana

-the one thats sad most of the time

-really helpful for when it comes to working on abnormalities!

-gregory has a crush on them (why would you say tha)

sobin

-before you think of him as edgy, hes not all that edgy personality wise, he just likes the aesthetic

-hes just a really chill and friendly dude

-yes, he can see more with the e.g.o outfit hes wearing, it is pretty strange to him though

firenze

-the narcissist, he really thinks hes the king of this department

-hes wrong its actually hana thats the captain of this department

-nobody likes him

daniel

-actually used to be a clerk! the face was a little different then before but hey, thats fine

-the third pure bean

-hes a really good friend to have!

susan

-what can i say about her?

-well i mean

-shes susan

central command team! (aka where is everyone? (due to there being not many agents here))

geminiano

-the most sane one in the facility (while being the dead inside captain)

-really good when it comes to tech

-”oh sh** did anyone check on mika?”

charlotte

-the bald employee, doesn’t mind being bald, that just means she can take care of the “your bald” abnormality

-”ignore the second mouth i got on my armour, please”

-plays vibe games on roblox

mika

-absolutely. chill

-doesn’t know where he’s going most of the time

-the one that works on child of galaxy everytime

gimtteol

-really bad sight, she doesn’t mind it

-kalm

-nobody can spell her name right

arang (prefers ayang)

-you thought sobin was the edgelord huh? think again

-easily annoyed.

-also was a clerk before

john

-the newbie!

-hes trying okay?

-hes still a little nervous but thats fine!

disciplinary team! (aka f**k (also nicknamed “why do we have red” due to me choosing little red riding hooded mercenary every run where theres disciplinary))

ara

-angy

-another person that takes their job way too seriously but doesn’t mean to

-not really that rude sometimes, but most of the time she can be a bit of an asshole, probably because of something that happened in the past, nobody wants to talk about it though

-lesbian

camille

-has a slightly torn snake tongue, it makes them not able to speak, they mostly make noises like growling,

-nobody knows why their like this, they just are, but dont be afraid to talk to them if you need anything! they usually write what their trying to say

-the expert, especially at finding things, even if they cant speak

tim

-another returning employee! wooooo

-still dead inside, but feeling a little bit better!

-might be the oldest out of everyone

welfare team! (aka “sleep tight” (nobody knows why its called that)

space

-very calm, most of the time doesn’t mind anything, but still does get a little nervous at times

-nobody knows why her eyes are always closed, (ara specified that her eyes look like a galaxy that can only be opened for a couple of seconds because if she opens them for more than a few seconds they’ll start to glitch, when others see it happening, it looks like the galaxy is becoming more like an image other than a real galaxy, parts of the galaxy become misplaced and reverted back to their original place quickly repeatedly (kinda like the select thing in paint, usually in the shape of the rectangular selection though) and parts of the galaxy turn into static and back very quickly and repeatedly. we she sees it happening her vision becomes the same as how other people see the galaxy when it starts glitching, randomly shifting from original place to different place, or from static back to normal, some ominous, glitchy sounds have been heard when this is happening aswell, (i thought of this because of a small dream(?) i had when i was in a certain state of almost about to fall asleep, maybe i was napping i dont really know, it was a strange dream, i dont remember much of it which is expected, i think it was something about discord and some sort of strange thing that had a little timer on it, and after it was done the thing it was in started glitching, the background it was in and even the button that used to be the timer was glitching, i heard some sounds that were glitching a little (it looked like those screens you see when someone’s streaming something on there,) and then i woke up, yeah kinda weird,)

-like eugene, cares for everyone! especially ara, since space herself is the one who helps ara through tough times

courtney

-gets bored alot, just wants to work on the difficult abnormalities

-really snarky

johnson

-a smartass

-yet still a little friendly if they trust you

-i’ll upgrade them soon dont worry (i have upgraded them/him dont worry)

,

woop!

i’ll probably update this soon, but in the meantime have this, sorry for being dead lately, on both this and my sideblog

[mousehole5000]

more tgcf chapters 143-173 lets goooooo

PEI MING BOO HISS except actually okay he’s mostly funny i think but still boo hiss

“hey who’s this guy who’s really pissed at you?” “oh thats my sword. i broke it.” alright then!

i think i need to go back and reread the banyue pass arc bc im still confused as to whats going on with banyue and pei su

“Banyue dropped from the sky with two pots raised. Without a word, she plummeted with the mouths of the pots facing down, trapping and detaining the shocked Ming’guang and the roaring Ke Mo within.” - THATS MY GIRL

“It must be known that, to heavenly officials, it certainly was more than natural for kingdoms of the mortal realm to fight and annihilate one another; the acts of these plays progressing on endlessly. But when it came their own turn, it was often hard to let things go. If one must stand in the same court as the one who annihilated their own kingdom, and that man cavorted in the heavens, exceedingly flashy, then it must be vexing.” - hmmmm!!

“I’ve spoken too many words in this lifetime. What are you referring to?” - okay to be fair thats a mood

okay its nice to get some pei ming backstory and its funny that he and xie lian are bonding but also still whenever pei ming interacts with a female character my hackles rise like a cat lol

“Xie Lian watched as Banyue thought really hard before cheerfully pulling out a few long, wine-red scorpion-snakes, and putting them into the bubbling pot.” - THATS MY GIRL

“Although “smell” was something colourless and formless, the instant Banyue removed the pot cover, it was as if some mysterious physical object had twisted all the air around the mouth of that pot. The group stared at the sight within the pot for a long time. Their pupils reflected an endless, bottomless darkness; like it could pull them into the abyss. No words could describe the sentiment expressed within their eyes. A moment later, Xie Lian patted Banyue’s shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.” - like father-figure like daughter-figure. amazing.

“However, what if one day mortals discovered something completely new that ran faster than horses? Then, when this new invention overtook horses, worshippers of this heavenly official who controlled horses would inevitably decrease. Such heavenly officials, flashing by like shooting stars, made up the majority of the heavens.” - obsessed with this, genuinely. life and change. worship and its purpose. my religious studies diploma on my wall is screaming at me rn. ALSO i am once again thinking about celebrities

“...” It was only then that Pei Ming seemed to notice, and started to contemplate this question. A moment later, he answered, “A habit. In a dark, creepy place like this, isn’t it normal to hold women in your arms, to comfort them and calm their fears?” “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t scared,” Banyue said.” - BANYUE I LOVE YOU. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. god this takes me back to every college party i ever went to

LING WEN BACKSTORY????? shoeseller chosen for godhood bc she wrote a political essay and got arrested...... and now she’s face to face with the official who appointed her..... do go on.....

“Ling Wen laughed out loud, seeming to be enraged, and her voice dropped. “Very well! You said I couldn’t reach that high. Then, might I ask you: had the prominence of the Palace of Jing Wen at its peak ever reached even the knees of my Palace of Ling Wen??” - GET HIM!!!! BOO HISS JING WEN

“Compared to you, I’m not that bad,” Ling Wen said. “You’d personally order me to stay in the Palace of Jing Wen until midnight, then turn around and say I shamelessly hang around ‘til late to harass you. Words murder without form; I was much nicer responding with blatant violence.” - ling wen im love you..... also this bit... feels Real

BLOOD RAIN BLOOD RAIN BLOOD RAIN!! FLOWER PETALS TRANSFORMATION!!! see hua cheng? look as how cool it can be when you leave the story for a little while!! bc then you get to return and make an entrance!!

“Not only can you bring forth bloody rain, you can also make flowers shower. I didn’t know that. How fun!” - cute!! and in that moment we were all xie lian

“Everyone was stunned by his deed, and Ling Wen arduously gave him a thumbs-up. ”Ol’ Pei, what a man!” Pei Ming gritted his teeth. “WELCOME!” - aww three two tumors buddies!!

okay yin yu is here and xie lian did the equivalent of asking someone when the baby is due only to find out theyre not pregnant at all. then rong guang taunts yin yu and no one says anything. i do love the amount of awkward moments in this book tbh sometimes there are no words.

“All around was sand and mud crushing at him, exceedingly suffocating. The sand and mud was also moving endlessly; the feeling was like he was swallowed into the stomach of a giant monster, and that monster had also eaten a bunch of other things besides him, tumbling everything in its stomach, trying to digest” - ooooh creepy!!! the red string thing... is cute.... also xie lian being able to see hua cheng’s butterfly vision by looking directly into his eye is kinda cool. and obviously homoerotic.

“Are lower-ranked heavenly officials below other people?” Quan Yizhen asked. “No,” Yin Yu replied. Were they not? It was obvious that he himself didn’t believe in his own words, and Quan Yizhen also noticed. A good while later, he said bluntly, “I don’t like it here.” Yin Yu said nothing.” - im having emotions. and then yin yu also saying he doesnt like it there either.... also idk how this scene is going to play out but as much as im enjoying quan yizhen being an icon i can also possibly see how yin yu could eventually get to the point of “i am tired of being nice. i do just want to go apeshit” even if he really cares about qyz. it happens </3

“Indeed,” Hua Cheng said. “Half a year later when Quan Yizhen actually ascends, he won’t find it so funny anymore.” “Can we watch that part too?” Xie Lian asked. “We can. Hold on,” Hua Cheng replied.” - quan yizhen king of taking things literally. also why did this turn into hualian having a movie night

jian yu seems like the kind of asshole who would purposely give someone regular soda when they specifically asked for diet soda. god yin yu is really having a bad day i really feel for him in the whole situation with the brocade immortal

awww okay at least jian yu tried to take responsibility. im still mad at him tho that was objectively a terrible idea. god this whole situation sucked :(

“Rocks and earth crushed at them from all around, forcing their bodies to press tightly against one another, their faces brushing, their ears warm. Although it wasn’t the right time, a thought flashed through Xie Lian’s mind: “‘To die buried together’ doesn’t feel so bad.” - okay... im kind of emotional.... gay people....

okay obviously these murals and the prince of wuyong have some connection (im guessing pretty direct) to xie lian and are important but everytime they start analyzing one i feel like im back in art history class fhadskfhskjdhf not that thats a bad thing!! i liked art history a lot tbh

“Don’t worry, they’re not human,” Hua Cheng said. “It’s precisely because they’re not human that we have to worry, alright….” Xie Lian thought.” - goth ghost bf problems

xie lian: well, there is one person i trust more than anyone else, someone who’s first in my mind hua cheng, oblivious: oh :/ xie lian, also oblivious: what? hua cheng: you shouldnt trust so easily its dangerous xie lian: oh. haha. yeah. well. wanna,,, know who it is? hua cheng: its :) fine :) it :) doesnt :) matter :) but of course you can tell me if you want to gege xie lian, internally: well now ive made it weird hua cheng, 5 minutes later: actually i need you to tell me. right now. its totally for your security me: gay people smh

“As they suspected, he had been captured by Qi Rong. Although no one was bound by ropes, there were balls of greasily green ghost fires hovering over every one of their heads.” - completely off track but anybody else remember the great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts song

“Could there actually come a day when Qi Rong was embarrassed that someone might see the manner in which he ate? Before Xuan Ji entered, she put Guzi down. Guzi, ta-ta-ta, ran in, rushing straight to Qi Rong’s side. But when he saw him, he pointed his finger. He cried, “Dad is eating bad things in secret again!” “I’m not!” Qi Rong retaliated.” SCREAM IS QI RONG LEARNING THE POWER OF LOVE NOOOO also god that poor man whose body he has im starting to doubt if he’ll ever be free jimmy novak flashbacks

everytime we get another ghost king power somewhere someone should be writing hua cheng the cyborg bf in a high tech futuristic au i think thats the only other potential setting that could truly capture this wild ride

“In truth, throughout history, there was no man in the world who didn’t love bragging. A breeze could blow the handkerchief of a brothel girl into a man’s hand, and he would turn around and say the most beautiful of renowned escorts had fallen in love with him; holding shoes and wiping benches for the emperor’s mistress’s uncle’s grandson’s cousin’s mistress would for sure become him being an important administrator at the residence of royal relatives, raising his status. Thus, men who didn’t brag were a rare species.” - SCREAM this is going in my favorite tgcf quotes folder god... mxtx come here let me shake your hand

read the story of rain master yushi huang’s ascension. why am i crying. also this bit im crying again me with my stuffed animals “Thus, while Yushi Huang was cultivating at the Temple of Yulong, every time when she went to seek water and passed that door, she would rub the head of that ox. The door knocker soaked in her essence of life, and when the Rain Master ascended, the ox ascended with her.”

okay thats enough for now i have 7 more chapters to book 4!!! woo!!!

[wennjunhui]

seventeen hospital au

im back at it again with another random seventeen post bc nurse!jun is ruining me :)))))

disclaimer: the most i know about hospitals and how they work is from chicago med so dont expect this to be accurate 

seungcheol

attending physician in the ed

kinda intimidating but is really a huge softie

but don’t make him angry bc that is not a good idea at all

always seen with a protein shake

tends to hover over the new med students a lot

partially because it’s important to evaluate them and their knowledge

but most because he thinks its funny when they freak out around him

always asks for a psych consult even when he knows its not necessary

bc its totally in the best interest in the patient and not because hes bored and wants to talk with his bff nahhh

has a long term girlfriend that works as a software developer

everyone in the ed tryna get him to propose bc ITS BEEN 9 YEARS DAMMIT WIFE HER ALREADY

jeonghan

psychiatry fellow

usually works night shifts because hes sleeps schedule is fucked 

functions on coffee and coffee alone

is constantly Tired

catch him napping in the break rooms whenever he has time

originally wanted to go into psychology, but he gets too invested and thought it would be better to maintain short term relationships

bffs with seungcheol, but bffls with joshua

by the off chance he’s not tried, he’ll go around the ed and tease the doctors and nurses

hes in the ed a lot tho bc someone keeps calling him even tho “he literally just sprained his ankle seungcheol why am i here”

joshua

plastics fellow

fucking loaded

pulls up to the ed in a fucking gold ferrari and just shrugs when people ask about

‘yeah i got it as a birthday gift, treat yourself ya know?’

born and raised in the us, but went to south korea to further his studies

bffls with jeonghan

by GOD the chance theyre in the same room, its game over for everyone

his surgery playlist is fucking wild 

did a heartbreaking ballad just finish playing? oh thats sad but move over its britney bitch 

always brings a guitar to work parties

‘if you sing sunday morning one more fucking time-’ proceeds to sing sunday morning ‘GODDAMMIT JOSHUA’

is seeing the cute hotel concierge that works a few blocks away 

junhui

the Hot Nurse

literally all the patients fucking swoon 

kinda makes patients nervous bc of how handsome he is

ok i’ll stop now

occasionally scrubs in as a surgical nurse for minghao

he pretends to be all cool and hot shit in front of patients, but when hes around staff he turns into a giant bright ball of excitable fluff 

will always be asked to be assigned to kid patients bc he loves kids

studied abroad in korea and decided he loved it there so he stayed

may or may not have a crush on someone in the hospital but shh no one knows except jeonghan and minghao

has no problem calculating correct dosages but cant do basic math for the life of him

‘no junhui, 7+8 does not equal 17′

soonyoung

senior resident in the ed

HYPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!111

works night shifts bc otherwise the ed would be dead without him

probably drinks too much redbull for his own health

his favorite treatment room is treatment room five because “that’s where a patient peed on me on my first day here”

“ok soonyoung good to kno”

“no problem”

not very tech savvy 

always manages to fuck up the tablets somehow every shift

for the love of GOD dont let him near an xray machine

also never assign him and seungkwan on the same patient they will accomplish nothing 

has taken chan under his wing

wonwoo

neurology resident

blind as fuck

harry potter glasses for days

looks really cold on the outside but is really just a huge fucking dork

like actually he laughs and jokes about anything and everything

neurology can be dark sometimes yo and humor is a great way to cope with it

that and gaming

half the reason why he cant see is bc he spent too much time playing video games growing up

still kinda does but he gets away with it

accompanies soonyoung on the night shift bc he knows soonyoung gets lonely sometimes

plays ballads in the surgery rooms because it helps him keep calm

jihoon

pathology resident

‘forget working with humans hAVE YOU SEEN THIS BLOOD CULTURE ITS COOL AS FUCK’

that being said, he hangs around the break rooms a lot because being cooped up in pathology is just tiring sometimes and he needs actual people to talk to

but mostly its so he can draw on jeonghans sleeping face

shares a flat with soonyoung bc rent is expensive yo

usually has the best tunes down in pathology 

originally wanted to go into music, but school kinda killed his enjoyment of it for a long time

is slowly getting back into and finding his joy in it again

he knows too many stories about the ed that hes forced to listen to

“for the last fucking time soonyoung i dont care about how your patient threw up on seungkwan”

“okokok but`”

“no”

seokmin

ed resident wanting to specialize in pediatrics

SUNSHINE AND HAPPINESS AND SMILES EVERYWHERE

wow literally everyone in the ed is in love with him a teeny tiny bit

because he has such a bright and positive aura around him that its hard not to feel happy 

sings to the smol children if they get scared 

everyone always asks him to sing at work parties and he kills it every time despite being initially shy

“wait wait wait you were in a rock band in high school???”

has a crush on the ed secretary out front

its so fucking cute the rest of the ed ships them so much

sometimes he doubts himself and his skills and that makes his day very sad

but everyone in the ed is in love with him and will constantly be there to remind seokmin about how amazing his is and how much he deserves to be here

and thatll make his day better c:

mingyu

ed resident

the Hot Doctor

wow everyone has a crush on him even if you dont you do

pray for the patients that get assigned to both mingyu and jun your in for a visual attack

tho the facade for mingyu usually breaks after a minute of meeting him

clumsy af yo

once knocked over the patients entire tray of food because his limbs were longer than he remembered

sometimes forgets to put on hand sanitizer and seungcheol always yells at him about

from the other side of the ed “MINGYU, HANDS”

“THANKS HYUNG”

always brings his own lunch bc hospital foods shit and he makes better food at home 

sometimes brings in cookies for the staff in the break room

theyre usually gone within an hour

minghao

trauma and emergency medicine fellow

TALENTED

was personally scouted by hospital officials in china

really young to be such an expert in his field

also his hands are really sensitive to abnormalities in the human body so he feels out the situation and catches the situation really early

is kinda intimidating because of his rbf and takes no shit approach

but is really super soft and fluffy once not in a work environment

relied on jun a lot in terms of adjustment here in korea, and he’s probably closest to him in the ed 

has jun scrub in with him for surgeries sometimes

objectively has the best surgery playlists

from pink floyd, to an obscure japanese indie rock

bickers with mingyu a lot of proper treatment of patients

usually theyre both right tho they just cant communicate effectively

is secretly seeing another chinese surgeon from plastics, but they hide it really well except from jun ofc

seungkwan

nurse

a really loud and mouthy one at that

nags everyone in the ed a lot despite not being the charge nurse

tho hes getting there and everyone knows it 

despite that, hes really sweet and caring towards patients 

is also really weak for kids, but he cant ever be assigned to them because he’ll freak out if something happens to them

always earns high marks on nurse feedback forms because he does his job AND is entertaining 

even tho he nags everyone else, sometimes hes too selfless and forgets to take care of himself

“did you forget your lunch? aiii how could you do that? here take mine”

“seungkwan you need to eat to”

“i said take it, now eat and make your mom proud”

cries and often laments how much he loves his staff when hes had a little too much to drink at work parties

hansol

a new nurse

really chill, vibin through life

is really a much appreciated presence to have around the ed, especially when things can become hectic really quickly

often acts as a translator between english and korean 

will laugh at pretty much anything (which wonwoo appreciates alot because at least someone likes his jokes)

one thing that always gets his blood boiling is the blatant ignorance some patients have

like the offhanded racism against him or his coworkers, or comments about lgbtq+ people 

and there have been times when he hasnt been able to control how he responds because wow he Dislikes ignorant people

so whenever he gets a patient like that, he often asks to switch with another nurse because “if i have to listen to karen say something racist about jun or minghao again im gonna lose my fucking mind”

med students usually hang around him bc of how approachable he is

shower thoughts

“do you ever wonder this would taste like”

“hansol dont-”

chan

med student in his final year

is really eager to learn and get started on things!

ed is his first choice for match day

soonyoung has taken him under his wing so he mainly just shadows him

and its always a fun and great time chan has learned so much from him 

the entire ed staff has adopted him and will riot if he doesnt get accepted on match day

“chan, whos baby are you?”

“for the last time hyung IM TWENTY SEVEN”

if hes not shadowing soonyoung, hes probably studying in the break rooms with hansol throwing popcorn at him

“hyung stop im tryna study”

“ok but catch this in your mouth first”

still has a lot to learn, but hes out there conquering the world of medicine yall better watch out

[bluepluto03]

mcu spiderman rewrite/au i may or may not do

ok so first quick disclaimer! i do not hate the mcu spider man movies in any way!! i actually enjoy them quite a bit and have seen homecoming like 4 times! and i absolutely adore all the actors in the movies, especially tom, zendaya, and jacob 

but the problem w/ the mcu spiderman movies is,,, they’re just not spiderman. at least from a writing/thematic perspective, which sucks bc so much other stuff about them is great! like tom holland is the perfect peter parker, which is why it seems so close to being right, but with the way the script is actually written... it’s just. not spider-man. 

i feel the need to explain all this/my problems w/ the movies b4 i get into the actuall au idea/plot, so please bear with me for a sec

for context, I’ve loved spiderman my whole life. i’d watch the cartoons when i was younger, and then went back and watched them all again when i was a bit older and figured out how to pirate stuff lol. i didn’t really know how to get into the comics, so i just kinda read wikis and got second-hand info from fanfics and the other movies

to me, spiderman, (at least, peter parker spiderman,) was always about like... a kid, who saw the world was broken and fixed it because he could. he had the power to fix stuff, so he did. 

as a kid w/ mental illness and a not so great home life... that was something really really important to me. to see another kid out there, who’s been through some shit, but finally has the power to make stuff better, so he is! and it would make me think, maybe i can change stuff for the better, someday, if i just get my chance

but,,,,, the problem is mcu peter parker isn’t that. 

instead of becoming spiderman bc he knows there’s bad in the world and wants to fix it, suddenly his motivation is impressing tony stark?? and don’t get me wrong i don’t hate tony, but the way they wrote his and peter’s relationship basically trapped peter. he could no longer be his own hero, bc he was tony’s successor. and that's never who peter parker’s spiderman was?? he was never a follower, he was a trendsetter. he didn’t become spiderman for approval, hell he had dozens of newspapers constantly slandering him. 

honestly the following in someone else’s footsteps thing was always a miles morales thing. he had to step up to the plate and fill the shoes of a spiderman who had already existed for years and was beloved by the whole city. obviously thats not all he is and simplifying his character to that is incredibly obtuse, but i bring it up bc tbh alot of stuff w/ mcu peter parker is just straight-up ripped off from miles morales. like how peter now goes to a fancy private school, is no longer poor (which is a huge thing w/ peter parker’s character in like every other incarnation), has a living father figure, and is bffs w/ ned, who is a straight-up rip off of miles’s best friend ganke. (for the record tho i adore ned and jacob i’m def keeping him in my rewrite,,,, also i’m glad he’s in the movie bc having a plus sized poc protagonist thats not constantly mocked is incredible) 

so, i’m complaining about all this stuff lol but ur probably wondering how exactly how i wanna fix it lol,,,, 

first, give peter an arc thats more than just..... i want tony to believe in me. my idea for that is basically a type of thing where he learns to rely on others! bc like... peter isn’t good at working w/ others lol, he’d much rather do it all himself so no one else gets hurt. (like in the andrew garfield movies where he just,,,, webs his gf to a car so she can’t run into danger lmao) 

the plot would start at a similar ish position to homecoming, though tony never recruits peter for civil war. tbh not sure if it even happened but we’ll disscuss that later

peter’s been spiderman for a few months, after a trip to oscorp left him w/ a radioactive spider bite. currently no one knows about it, and he’s doing a pretty ok job of dealing w/ everything on his own. until he takes down a big bad, lets say rhino for now, and gains a ton of publicity. after stooping a hudge disaster he’s suddenly in the limelight, and catches the attention of one norman osborn, aka the green goblin 

now, quick sidenote. green goblin is genreally seen as pretty goofy, but there are comic versions of him that are legit terrifying. if im being honest i didn’t even know about that version until i read aloneintherains fic birds eating other birds so ig thats kinda ish how i’m imagining this version of norman? though alot more composed, like the man who could someday turn into that 

so norman becomes intrested in my boy peter, and starts sending ppl after him. possibly the sinister 6, but uhh maybe not bc tbh i think this “rewrite” needs to be split into 2 “movies”/works and i might wanna save that for the hypothetical pt2 (btw if i write this it won’t b for a while cause i got other stuff going on but ig if ppl are intrested i might write some snippits/make more content for it) 

so basically the main plot is peter dealing w/ all these big bads on his own, doing ok at first but later getting really fucked up, and eventually revealing himself to ned and mj which ends up being the only way he can save the day in the end. by relying on others! yay!! 

thats it for the main plot, but don’t worry y’all we got other stuff going on too lmao 

so, for one. my boy peter is realizing he has a crush and just,,,, freaking tf out. (i have yet to decide if it’s on ned or mj. or both. sue me) the crush isn’t definitely resolved in p1, but i imagine there’d be some cute thing of him suddenly realizing and freaking out and almost revealing his powers. 

thing 2! tony stark! he is still in here, and still a mentor to peter, but in a pretty drastically different way. one, he doesn't know about peter being spiderman. he doesn't even suspect it lmao. he just gets involved bc of.... some sort of reason bc peter is so smart. do i know why just yet? no. does it matter? probably but i’m writing this pretty late after i had school all day so i’m too tired to care 

bc tony basically gives peter a real internship/mentorship type thing, peter now has access to all this tech!! and all these funds!! fucking lit!! so he changes from his pajama suit to the fancy one, tho he actually built it!! which i feel like him making his suit is a really big really important part of his character. so it doesn't really have all those random things tony added, tho peter might add stuff himself. he gets Karan as a like assistant ai as part of his internship but she never gets put into the suit

for the fist part tony plays a super minor role but like,,,, the first part is about osborn taking an intrest in him, and him confiding in ned and mj. the second part norman is become progressively more dangorus and peter has to fight him and stuff, kinda proving he is strong enough to be spiderman/be trusted to the whole world, beyond just ned and mj. also him actually getting together w/ either one or both of them bc...... bc i want that. 

oh btw idk if tony finds out or not in p2? if he does it’s either at the end or in a scene like the one w/ may bc like. please imagine the shenanigans of peter and ned (who both have high intellegence but low wisdom) in tony’s lab, obviously trying to hide the fact that peter’s spiderman. like he walks in on them and peter looks all frumpy bc he’s been trying to change real fast, and ned’s shirt is messed up bc he just stuffed the mask down the front of it, and mj is just. chilling behing them. so tony just like assumes stuff and is like....aight.... have fun.... 

oh btw the last big change that i didn’t really have anyway to insert natrually into this,,,, so remember how i said ned was kinda a ripoff of ganke? well, the writers claim he’s a “composite character” so i figured, why not give him traits from other famous spiderman side character so he actually is a composite character! 

so like,,,, throughout p1 it’s referenced that ned has a kinda dickish estranged ish dad that he hates and his mom doesn't really like but kinda forces him too... theres some mentions of his dad wanting him to transfer to a private school and being kinda rich, bur he dosen’t want to bc he knows his dad is a total dickead,,,, anyway end of the movie we find out norman osborn is ned’s dad, and ned hates him even fucking more bc it’s like bitch?? u tried to get my (maybe) bf murdered?? tf?? and its lowkey bc he can’t reveal peter’s id, but then in p2 after norman takes matters into his own hands and tries to kill peter on his own ned just fucking yells at him while the man is in jail and is like fuck u lmao 

soooo thats my really messy au idea!! i’m really tired sorry if this is hard to understand or rude! for the record i have nothing against the ppl who adore these movie’s, i just think they could be better!