#more screentime for echo

[url0calweirdo]

Mah boy Echo❤

We love our #1 mom of the batch. Bro needs more love and more screen time in this season 😭

[reginrokkr]

𝐂𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈. Although there is not much to go with other than an estimation of the timeframe Khaenri'ah has been a built civilization, today my brain awakened at the thought that Latin, the language used among Abyss Order members and potentially in Khaenri'ah too, derived from Greek and Greek was used in the old Enkanomiya which was part of the original unified human civilization. With the recent depth in regards of remaining tribes on the surface of the unified civilization, I can't help but think that Khaenri'ah could be part of it and their language evolved into something reminiscent but different from what the language used before the separation of the unified civilization, probably when the Apocalypse came as Apep described it.

[perenlop]

i know ive said something like this in the past but man laying it out like i did in that ask? team rocket really did fall apart the moment they were intended to be a genuine competent threat again, where giovanni suddenly did take them seriously and have a ton of faith in them.

[genericpuff]

Was the Hera×Echo thing for real?! Was it like planned??? It doesn't feel like it was planned! It feels like Rachel just wanted to queerbait to gather more new readers wtf

yeah it's exactly that tbh

FASTPASS SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

like what more realistically happened is she saw people headcanon'ing Echo and Hera and went "yeah sure I'll do that!" without actually writing the fucking relationship.

This was even a problem back in S2 with Echo's character as a whole, she's introduced as this mysterious 'double agent' character who's almost definitely working for Zeus-

-but then aside from two scenes involving Echo accompanying Hera to the motel to retrieve Persephone's things and Echo warning Daphne that Apollo clearly isn't 'over Persephone' (because he had, y'know, barged into Hera's office demanding Hera's blessing) the whole "Echo is a double agent for Zeus" thing was only confirmed after Daphne was turned into a tree and Echo said "FUCK YOU ZEUS, I'M NOT GONNA DO YOUR DIRTY WORK ANYMORE!" which ... huh? Where's the plot? It feels like there was an entire story there that just got dumped entirely so that Hades and Persephone could play golf with diamonds.

Like this was presumably where Echo ditched her obligation to Zeus, but it had nothing to do with Hera, it was because she heard (I'm assuming from Thanatos) what happened to Daphne.

After that we only ever see Echo again when it's implied that her and Hera had some kind of falling out. No idea what over, maybe it was Hera finding out that Echo was a double agent, maybe Hera called her a slur, we have no clue what. But it's sorta just tacked on during an ongoing monologue about how Kronos has affected her.

The only other 'hint' we got towards it was Ares calling Echo Hera's 'girlfriend' but that doesn't mean a whole lot when we've literally never seen these two have more than two scenes together.

So now Rachel making them kiss feels more like her taking credit for writing a plotline that doesn't exist and was fabricated entirely in the audience's headcanon. And this is something Rachel does a lot, she basically relies entirely on her audience filling in the blanks for her nothingburger plot and then of course gets to take all the credit for being a "smart and inclusive writer". Where? Literally where the fuck is the actual writing?

Imagine if we had gotten a proper B-plot showcasing the relationship between Echo and Hera. Echo is working for Hera as a double agent and doesn't want to blow her cover, while Hera is suspicious because she worries her husband is up to something. Over time they work together, grow closer, Hera realizes that Echo makes her feel a kind of happiness that Zeus hasn't made her feel in a long time, Echo realizes that she can't keep lying to Hera about why she was hired and decides she values Hera's loyalty and respect over Zeus' because she has feelings for Hera now. Maybe Hera finds out about Echo being a double agent, either by overhearing a conversation between Echo and Zeus or because Echo outright tells her, and eventually it resolves with them finally admitting their feelings towards one another and Hera realizing that she's felt trapped in a loveless marriage that's essentially serving the same purpose as her union with Kronos, sacrificing her well-being for the good of a King. They kiss and Hera confronts the original perpetrator of her trauma, Kronos, ready to end the cycle of her abuse once and for all.

Like, the plot is right fucking there but Rachel keeps dumping it in favor of focusing on the boring ass heterocis nightmares that are Hades and Persephone, who get SO MUCH FUCKING SCREENTIME of just telling each other how amazing they are and how much they're in love (meanwhile we didn't even actually get to see or hear what Hera wrote in the letter to Echo, we have to just assume) but still tries to take credit for writing queer stories by just vaguely hinting at a queer relationship that has had zero development or actual screentime. It's Hestia and Athena all fucking over again.

It also doesn't bode well for LO passing the whole "bury your gays" test because Hera is literally marching to what she's expecting to be her death. So she's established as a bisexual character, just for her to be sent to her death, while Echo will undoubtedly get shoved out of the plot again.

And, I shouldn't even have to remind y'all of this, but Hera has been racist to nymphs in the past and Echo was her direct subordinate, her personal assistant.

It just makes zero sense to me why Rachel would suddenly force in a queer relationship between two characters who weren't traditionally gay in the original myths (once again removing the queer aspects of CANONICALLY LGBTQ+ GODS AND GIVING THEM TO THE STRAIGHTS INSTEAD) when Hera's story had more than enough to work with through her trauma from both Kronos and Zeus and her loyalty as the goddess of marriage that's kept her trapped in a loveless and abusive relationship. So now instead of having a subplot that could have been about the goddess of marriage realizing that no one should have to stay in a marriage that's robbing them of joy and the "sanctity of marriage" isn't worth being miserable for life, we have a subplot where the goddess of marriage who is racist to nymphs routinely cheats on her husband and now confesses her love to a nymph who we never even saw her interact with outside of two instances where it was simply a working relationship.

[fxlsealarm]

echo with more than three minutes of screentime!!!!!!!!

[skywxikers]

TBB SPOILERS FOR EP 13‼️

i’m so glad that echo got more screentime, and wasn’t used just as exfil. HE ACTED LIKE AN ARC TROOPER AGAIN. i’m so happy, i missed him. sneaking into the spaceport and onto an imperial ship?? and disabling the proximity sensors without suspicion??? he’s so cool

[yangsharperavery]

there's this thing that carmy and sydney do that i don't see talked about alot in that, they heavily mirror and mimic each other verbally.

this is a common behavioral thing that people often do to become emotionally/mentally closer or endear someone to them.

sometimes it's completely unconscious, sometimes people do it on purpose. it's also an effective communication tactic.

we've spoken a lot about how they seem very much on the same wavelength when it comes to fine dining and their respective training and their vision for a more cohesive, cooperative space.

since last season, they share the same brain, finish each others sentences, have similar ideas, etc.

but there's this element of mirroring and sameness that occurs when they're speaking to one another that's not only about strengthening their communication, avoiding explosive misunderstandings and reassuring the other that they're with them and hear them...

but moreso that they're the same as them.

very much "i see you in me, i see me in you" type energy.

on some real "i am you, you are me, we are one" type time.

like, let's merge more than just our brains type shit. maybe our energies and souls? merging the bodies can come last.

in every single episode that these two share screentime/space in s2, they mirror/affirm each other in speech (they often mirror in body language, which they also did last season)

in the first ep, at the lockers, carmy says "you gonna leave early?" to which sydney says, a few lines into their exchange, "we can go home early."

he also repeats exactly what she says back to her before she falls through the wall, after she's fallen through it.

in the second ep, while they're cooking, it's the "you can tell me to fuck off," "i doubt i'd tell you to fuck off", later he has a question and repeats back to her "and you can tell me to fuck off."

in the third ep, during the exchange about the wall it's "you let me know," "i'll let you know."

in the beginning of the fifth ep, sydney says "standard operating procedure" to cicero, right in front of carmy, a scene later he says the exact same thing back to her in front of natalie.

and of course the "goodnight" "i'm saying goodnight" exchange at the end of that ep.

their verbiage in certain heightened or vulnerable situations being damn near identical and then parroted back to the other seems very intentional.

almost as if you could swap his dialogue for hers in the script during these specific scenes/parts.

during their argument in ep eight, regarding the chaos menu (& claire!), they start riling each other up and sydney goes for the "sorry" sign, she then says to him, after apologizing, "i'm tired. i've been tired but i'm just really tired."

and then carmy repeats her "sorry, sorry, no, i'm sorry, i'm tired."

they're literally verbally affirming to one another, that despite the physical, energetic disconnect, they're feeling and going through the same thing.

the same stress, anxiety, uncertainty, doubt and discord just not directly with one other because there's this huge gap between them and how this vision is going to be realized (mostly because of carmy's avoidance after spending time with claire while still attempting to give sydney what she wants.)

see also: "i'm trying..." to "i know you're trying, i see you're trying."

she echos and affirms him even though she's more than justified and correct in being upset with him.

in ep nine it's the much discussed and infamous, "you could do this without me" "i couldn't do this without you" back and forth.

on the immediate heels of sydney proclaiming she doesn't like/doesn't do the corny back and forth thing.

but my good sis you've literally been doing that with carmy in at least every other conversation for the ENTIRE season?!?!

she just doesn't realize it because it's usually being done when they're opening up/being vulnerable, fighting or affirming/reassuring one another.

it's even more amazing to think that this is occurring while they're apart for practically the entire middle part of the season.

but when they do have moments where they come together and discuss anything, there's this overt mirroring/echoing/parroting in their communication.

the implications are even more heightened when you think about how they don't/can't reassure each other physically.

carmy's touches are ghostlike and fleeting, i'm almost surprised he allowed himself the two that we saw this season.

we talk a lot about how the narrative obviously parallels them visually.

but the verbal echoing is not only indicative of their connection and their devotion to one another, it's also another way for them to directly parallel one another in the moment, while they're both on screen, to each other's faces!

again, very much a "i see you, i am you, i have you" energy is naturally imbued in these moments because of this type of communication.

because using this method of verbal repetition is psychologically anchoring and can be inferred almost like an attempt to merge yourself as close as possible to the person you're mirroring.

or at the very least (subconsciously) acknowledging and understanding that you're already damn near identical.

[ataraxixx]

my piece on why i really like echo. i have ruminated a lot of these thoughts in my brain for awhile but i realized ive never actually made a public post abt it .. echoheads lets discuss extensively

see. i think we can all agree about the most common echo characterization. at least the one i usually see in fics? and generally most fan content. hes a happy-go-lucky guy whos a bit child-like or naive, very innocent and mostly just glad to be here and full of wonder and whimsy and etc. and also really loves zane and is very kind and sweet and etc.

i am not saying this is an incorrect characterization by any means . obviously. because hes literally got like 5 minutes of screentime and most of that is spent not talking so its really up to whoevers writing him how they want to take his character. but i also think that making him just. Fine with everything is a very underwhelming way to take his character. because he could be so much more than just. zane's brother who is innocent and silly. he can be innocent and silly and still have complicated feelings about his situation and existence yk.

i enjoy villain/antag echo bc it gives him a role in which to explore those complicated feelings as Himself. not as second fiddle to whatever zane is doing, but as a story of his own to come into his identity. because often times when hes included in fan content hes there just to be zanes brother and nothing else. which is so sad for him. because in canon thats all he ever was and all he'll ever be to his father. to zane. to the ninja. he's just the copy. the lesser version. he can never be his own self he will always be a derivative of zane.

like how is that not an interesting thing to explore. and how could we not think about the complicated feelings he would have about that. echo isnt stupid. he isnt incapable of having those kinds of feelings about his identity or role in the world because he is Literally Zane. he is programmed to be identical and he is in every facet of his personality and mannerisms a reflection of how zane was before he met wu/the ninja. when he was just a bit clueless about the world but not Stupid. just unknowledgable. and he was still capable of complicated feelings about himself because we see as early as episode 2 of season 1 he is wondering about himself and his role in the team and how he feels about the world. he isnt just content every day of his life to simply be there; he questions things and thinks about them deeply. why do fan creators often rob echo of this same capability and dumb him down to simply being child-like or incapable of complicated thought?

i always see him just. Fine with everything. and i dont think he needs to be a villain or evil or even violent to make him an interesting character. but i also think that anger and violence is a natural progression of the situation he has been put in by the doctor and by extension the ninja. they too do not regard him as his own individual, only as an extension of zane. which is literally crazy. because he is a whole ass person. they disregard his identity because its the same exact one as a person they already know; but he has no control over that. he didnt ask to be made as a copy of someone else, and now he exists, and he is forced to live knowing he was never his own person, even though he Is. Because he is Himself and he Exists and yet he isnt because his face doesnt belong to him and his voice doesnt belong to him and his name doesnt belong to him. the world decided he is someone else and he cant be who he actually is because someone else is Already him. like christ man. why are we sleeping on this and just making him like yayyy:3 im so happy i love everything or whatever. bro should be questioning his existence!

because i do think joining the SoG gives him such an excellent entry into both formulating his own identity while also paralleling harumi in an interesting way; for both characters in their attempts to create their own identities opposing the ones theyve been forced into, they end up only relating themselves to that identity anyway. in echos attempts to separate himself from zane he ends up relegating himself to hating zane because zane took something from him, an acknowledgement that he is a copy in the first place. their scrapped fight dialogue is so interesting guys. a discarded replica an experiment left to rust. should he not be upset that despite not asking to be made, much less in the image of someone else, he was left abandoned? that he was created solely to be hated by his creator for not being Someone Else? And now he is stuck always chasing after the shadow of that person because he was never meant to be his own person. only zane's copy. never as good as the original. and he has to live with that. its so devastating and good characterization and so interesting that i cannot pass up on it for simply having him be Guy Who is Happy and Innocent.

He is not stupid. He would definitely have less anger in his heart if the ninja got to him before Harumi did, but i think its so impossible that he can simply look at zane and feel nothing. that he can see the person who has cursed his existence into meaninglessness and just be like omg brother:3 because he is doomed to constantly be relegated to Zane's Brother and he will never be Echo to these people that call him a friend. He cant even use his own name he has to be Echo. because its someone elses name and not his even though it Is His its the name his father gave him. but hes not allowed to use it because hes not the original. and he is lesser. and he will always just be zanes brother and he will never be zane. and he will never even be echo. isnt that so fucked.

[morethansky]

***TBB SPOILERS***

My primary takeaway from these last six episodes is that Hunter and Crosshair ARE SO MARRIED OH MY GOD. They do everything together, even little chores.

And my Crosshair-is-Hunter's-second agenda continues to thrive; since their reunion, Hunter has hardly made a decision without checking with Crosshair first.

The way I cackled at Crosshair looking up at a ship careening in the sky and being all put upon: "Uh-huh. That's the idiot I married. Unfortunately."

And then the way he hurriedly reached for his binocs when they saw the ship crash, and how the camera lingers on him to show his relief, sob. I see you and thank you for your service, shippers on the crew.

Finally a glimpse of the cadets! Thinking about them tasting ice cream for the first time makes me want to cry. How many clones have never tasted it...

I like that "Identity Crisis" was like a mirror of "Confined," but I think it could have been 15 minutes. To be fair to them, I feel this way about like 75% of the franchise.

So we were all very wrong about what was in the Vault. What was Palpatine even going in there for, honestly. I do quite like this foreshadowing of the Inquisitorius though.

The ominous hint about Emerie's past is interesting. Is the implication that Nala Se took Omega under her wing and abandoned the rest of the Omega clones? Like Jango, I guess.

I love that Tarkin's cameos are all about funding. Something about the Imps squabbling over government spending just delights me. I wonder if the end of that conversation actually means he's not going to be killed by the clones but by Palpatine instead? That'd be kind of disappointing tbh.

Hilarious to me that Fennec got an entire episode and Cad Bane got like two minutes of screentime. Like Asajj, he knows when to stay out of the plot. They did my boy Todo justice though, love that dumb droid.

I, a plushie enthusiast, approve of how this is adamantly a pro-plushie show. But how am I supposed to believe that Omega, who missed Lula so much she effectively cloned her, was just going to leave her there??? I guess that whole scene was just a way to remove her and the goggles from the ship before it exploded.

I'm in the middle of writing like five different Tech/Wrecker whump fics and even I wouldn't have written CX-2 effectively shooting Wrecker. My heart!!!

I was so worried about Gonky. Glad he's okay.

"Point of No Return" needed 15 more minutes, actually. I continually find it so jarring how quickly this show breezes through reactions. It would've been nice to see at least a little more from the Batch at the sight of their ship being blown up.

That ending...was not for me. Crosshair missing that shot after he was given an entire episode to figure out what was wrong and meditate is such a frustrating choice. What even is going to be the arc here? Is it really going to be him abandoning his weapon entirely? That should be an upswing in the plot, but at this point it'd be more believable for him to be like, "Man, fuck this, I'm over it," lmao.

I'm glad Omega at least chose to get captured. Everyone knows I've been pissed about the anti-heroic messaging of this show from the start, and given how afraid I was that they would just abandon the other clones, I'm very relieved Omega's had this arc of worrying about them. But it's so silly to retread this line of plot after the three kickass episodes covering this exact thing. These next episodes are absolutely about to be messy af, and it's a bummer how it'll take away from the impressive clarity of the first three.

Why does this show keep cutting the titular team off at the knees?? Seems like Omega will probably work with Emerie and Nala Se to contact the Batch and Echo/Rex with the coordinates, but that will mean that Hunter's group will once again be lost and searching in the meantime. And they didn't even get to find her the first time!

Truly the quintessential fandom show. Half of it makes me tear my hair out in frustration and the other half makes me shriek in delight.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Fontaine archon quest has come and gone and I need MORE MOTH sob

NO BECAUSE ME TOOOOOO I NEED FOUL LEGACY TO HAVE MORE THAN LIKE 5 MINUTES OF SCREENTIME AUUGHHHH

imagine if you jumped into the Primordial Sea with the Traveler and Neuvillette, not to fight- the starving narwhal would consume you without a second glance- but because Ajax is in there, Foul Legacy is in there, and you're not about to let them go off and get themselves nearly killed like they have so many times before- honestly, what were they thinking?! your feet land on congealed water with a light splash, everything oozing and swirling and dotted with stars. it sticks to your shoes like gel, and your lip curls in disgust before your gaze wanders to a familiar shape lying in a heap, all violet and charcoal and night-colored with a pop of deep, rusted crimson

Foul Legacy whines as you dart over, gashes and wounds leaking dark, starry blood through his armor and stained on every talon. he claws at the quicksand water, forcing himself to move forward and collapse into your arms with a choked whimper, clinging to you like a lifeline. all you can do is drag him out of range when the narwhal bursts forth from the sea, silently watching the Traveler take up their sword- somehow it's not the most terrifying thing you've ever seen, but being a Harbinger's significant other often means life or death situations. Legacy jolts in your arms every time the narwhal lets out an echoing cry, hooking his claws on the edge of your shirt as he trembles, dry sobs coming from his throat when you kiss his forehead and tell him that everything's going to be alright, your fingers tracing over the rough, worn patches on his palms from days and days of grasping his polearm in desperate battle

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

It's so puzzling that Cody got so little development in TCW allegedly because the writers thought the audience wouldn't connect too well with him anyway since we already knew he was going to betray Obi-Wan, but the 501st still got all of the spotlight when we already knew they were going to kill everyone in the Temple.

Of course the writers chickened out and made sure that none of the 501st darlings - or basically any 501st trooper with a name and more than 5 mins of screentime - were around for Operation Knightfall: not Rex, not Fives, not Jesse, not Kix, not Echo, not Hardcase and not Tup. But the logic behind it remains baffling.

[utilitycaster]

7 and 8 for veth and/or essek?

7. For Veth, I like a lot of art of her as a halfling. I feel like people capture her style and her body type really well, and while this is outside the scope of this question I have a lot of complicated negative feelings about how fandom often headcanons in fully fanon representation to characters they don't actually care about, and so it's wonderful to have a canon fat character who is very happy with who she is and who people like for that.

For Essek, I think there's so much fanwork out there that it's possible to find something you like but I specifically like a lot of the meta about his motivations and his arc, and I like fic about his and Caleb's relationship that engages with it being a long-distance thing that won't be lifelong for Essek but will be significant.

8. For Veth: a bunch of things but notably, anyone who is like "I liked her better as a goblin" is boring and can fuck off; that is her core story. You do not like Veth if this is your opinion; you just want a goblin character to project onto. Also people who downplayed her relationship with Caleb. Many people who shipped Caleb with other party members (probably some people who shipped him with Essek too, but I saw this far more with those who shipped him with one of the tieflings) often attempted to downplay how much Veth meant to him. This keeps coming up, but if the core tenet of a ship involves low-key isolating the characters from any other meaningful relationships in your fanon conception of the show, it is a bad sign. Cody Christian was right and should be meaner to shippers.

For Essek: I cannot stand when fans constantly whine about him not appearing in materials or one-shots with the Nein. Yes, he is a member. He also did not appear until a third into the campaign and did not join them until very late in the campaign. He is on the run, in disguise. He is an NPC. The way he exists within the actual play story is fundamentally different. Also, he doesn't physically appear in Echoes of the Solstice but the plot hinges on him and others have written brilliantly about how screentime=/= importance. And I generally hate shrieking "HOW CAN I EXIST WITHOUT BLORBO/HOW CAN I WAIT FOR NEW EPISODES/WHEN WILL I GET NEWS OF SHOW" posts anyway and frequently block people who do them constantly and boy have I blocked no shortage of Essek fans for this specifically.

[perenlop]

its very sad how a “team rocket episode” now according to xyz is basically just. “team rocket has a bit more screentime in the episode than usual and otherwise their role is exactly the same and doesnt have anything to do w them as people”

[genericpuff]

Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

[the-oc-lass]

Does Wrecker have fangirls? If not, he fucking should

GOOD EVENING FOLKS AND WELCOME BACK TO MY BULLSHIT. I've got more baby content for you!

This week we expand our story with Wrecker and a Baby. I love this giant man. I need a hug from him ASAP. If you missed the Crosshair chapter from a few days ago, it's posted here.

The full fic (a little longer than Crosshair's because we get a little more OC mom screentime) is also below the cut:

After a very long day of playing general, Rayona Yothia, mother to Echo “Ec” Yothia, is ready to fall down on her bunk and pass out for a few hours. The problem is, Ec does not share her wishes and is instead insistent on staying wide awake. She’s just finished trying and failing to feed Ec when, like a gift from the stars themselves, Wrecker walks in. He pauses when he sees her, his good eye darting across her face as he inspects her. 

“You look tired, Ray,” he says. She hums, bouncing her son on her lap. 

“Let’s just say our little friend here isn’t interested in sleeping at the moment,” she says. Wrecker watches her for another few seconds, then smiles at her.

“I’ll watch him.” She raises an eyebrow. 

“Aren’t you afraid to hold him without supervision because you think you’ll drop him?” His smile turns a little more bashful and he scratches the back of his neck. 

“I still wanna help you, Ray,” he says. Her gaze softens and she watches him for a moment before nodding. 

“Okay. I’d appreciate it,” she says. He smiles and walks over to the bunk, waiting for her to stand up. He’s extra careful as she helps him adjust Ec in his arms, treating the infant like he’s made of glass. Once he’s comfortable, Rayona sets her hand on Wrecker’s arm. “You sure you’ll be okay?” He nods. 

“Don’t worry, Ray. I’ve got him. You get some sleep,” he says. She smiles softly at him, squeezing his arm and nodding. She lies down and watches Wrecker as he leaves her room. A small part of her is anxious, but she knows Wrecker will be nothing but gentle with her son. 

Wrecker doesn’t go far once he’s out of Rayona’s room. In fact, he only goes down the hall, finding a quiet place to sit down. The base isn’t the best place to raise a baby, but they make do. After all, Ec is great for morale. A long day of work and missions is all worth it when they get to come back and see him. And lucky for Wrecker, those who are close with Rayona get extra Ec time. He carefully shifts Ec in his arms, holding him up and bouncing him slightly. Ec giggles, waving his arms a little. After bouncing the baby a few times, Wrecker pauses and tilts his head slightly. 

“What am I supposed to do with you?” he asks the baby. Ec babbles in response. Wrecker tries to figure out what kinds of things you do with babies and, after a few moments, he remembers a game he’s seen Echo play with the baby. Echo is good with him. Maybe it’s because the baby is named after him. Maybe it creates some kind of…Name bond. Wrecker doesn’t know, but he does know that the game made Ec laugh. So, Wrecker adjusts slightly, pulling his legs up and carefully resting Ec against them. Then, he covers his eyes—both of them, just in case his blind eye confuses the baby. “Where’d you go?” He uncovers his eyes and smiles widely at Ec. “There you are!” Ec giggles with pure glee, clapping tiny hands and babbling. His laughter makes Wrecker laugh too, and he continues with the game for a little while before Ec starts to lose interest. Wrecker bounces him again slightly, watching him closely. He looks a little more tired than he was earlier, but not by much. 

“I heard you volunteered to watch the baby.” Wrecker lifts his head and Echo is looking down at him, clearly amused. Ec babbles happily, reaching a hand up toward the man he’s named after. Echo smiles, waving back with his droid hand—a gift Rayona and Tech made before…Well, everything. Those were simpler times. 

“I thought Ray was asleep!” Wrecker says, bouncing Ec slightly again. Echo shrugs. 

“She was half asleep when she told me.” He suddenly holds up a bottle. “She also told me that he needs to eat before he sleeps.” Wrecker perks up slightly. 

“Oh! I can do that!” he says. Echo raises an eyebrow. 

“You sure? He can be a little stubborn,” he warns. Wrecker just laughs. 

“Like his mum!” he says. Echo smiles a bit at that, then hands the bottle to Wrecker. 

“Just let me know if he won’t eat. I can usually convince him,” he says. Wrecker tilts his head. 

“How do you do that?” he asks. Echo grins slightly and shrugs one shoulder. 

“I’m the family’s weakness.” Wrecker chuckles, then turns back to Ec, holding up the bottle. The infant takes it eagerly and the two clones chuckle before Echo says something about checking in with Rex and excuses himself. By the time Ec has finished the contents of the bottle, he looks ready to fall asleep. Wrecker does his best to burp the child the way he’s seen Rayona and some of the others do before, and when it’s all said and done, Ec has fallen asleep. His tiny hand is curled into a fist, grasping onto the fabric of Wrecker’s blacks. The big man chuckles softly, setting the bottle aside and then curling his arms gently around the baby. After ducking his head slightly to kiss the top of Ec’s head, he decides he’ll stay here for a bit so that the kid can sleep. In the end, Wrecker falls asleep too. 

A few hours later, Echo passes by the same spot again, pausing and smiling at the sight before him. Wrecker is still asleep against the wall, Ec peacefully resting against his chest, and Rayona, who clearly sensed that her son was never brought back to her, is now curled up against Wrecker’s side, her head on his shoulder. Though Wrecker isn’t Ec’s father, he stepped up during Rayona’s pregnancy and supported her even while he and Hunter went searching for Omega. Before Ec was even born, Wrecker swore that he’d be the best uncle he could be. Though he’s cautious due to his own strength and Ec’s small size, Wrecker has stood dutifully to that promise, just as he’s stood dutifully by Rayona. And he’ll continue to do so for as long as she needs him to, just as they all will. Echo snaps a quick holo of the sleepy pile, then quietly leaves them to rest for a little while longer.

[joannerowling]

funny that she would say "Tell me something about Dean. You can't, can you? He had no backstory," when Dean gets the most characterization out of all the Gryffindors (minus the trio + Neville). we don't know much about Seamus, besides that he loves Quidditch, that he isn't brilliant at school, that his mom is annoying and that he seems to like confrontation. that's very basic info. we don't know much about Parvati and Lavender besides that they are pretty girly, love divination, are interested in boys (and that Lavender had a bunny). i don't think we know much about both of them individually either (but that's okay because they are kind of like a codependent female duo, every school has those). but DEAN? he loves football, he is a good drawer, he is good at quidditch, but he is also a fierce fighter and has no hesitation standing up to people like Umbridge when she insults Lupin. like, come on, there is a reason why ginny choses to date him and there's a reason why Harry hates him so much -- Dean is the archetype of the nice, popular boy made up in a lab for Harry to be jealous about! he is the Gryffindor version of Cedric, in that sense. "We don't know much about Dean" he literally gets more "screentime" than every other Gryffindor (minus the trio + Neville). Dean was in the Malfoy's manor. Dean was on the run with the goblins and Ted in DH, we literally get a scene where the trio overhears him and it's such a poignant and moving scene!! Dean was at Bill and Fleur's cottage. Dean was Ginny's boyfriend. Dean was on the Quidditch team. Dean was in the AD. Dean was literally the most relevant secondary character in ootp, hbp and dh (as far as the Gryffindors are concerned). Not to mention that he has a fully fleshed out backstory - his dad was killed for refusing to join Voldemort and Dean was raised thinking he was a muggle but he finds out it's not true (we actually do get to hear some echo of this backstory in that DH scene when the trio overhears him talking to the goblins and Ted).

"He had no backstory, I don't think we even met his parents, he was just "Seamus' nicer friend"." this is projection. this is not how Dean is treated in canon, but this is how Dean is treated by the fandom. the fandom constantly overlooks Dean and ruined his characterization to make him look like Seamus' nice friend when he actually has a personality of his own and is more interesting as a character than Seamus. now, as a former Popular Deamus Blogger, i can tell you the reasons why the fandom prefers seamus over dean sooo much is a bit suspicious but i don't want to wave around the racism allegations.... but they do constantly uwu-ify Dean and reduce him to Seamus' friend while Seamus receives significantly more attention from the fandom. canon doesn't justify this, if we were to follow canon, then Dean would be the one getting more attention and fanfictions than Seamus. (Dean also has great potential for fanfictions as you can also ship him with Luna) Anyway, all this to say that this woman probably forgot all about the books and is going on a whim about fanon characterization. I'm mad she turned off reblogs because I was ready to go out of my HP blogging retirement to defend my lord and savior Dean Thomas, the best background character in HP

Girl!! In the name of all Rowlingblr, i would like to appoint you head of the Dean Thomas fanclub. That was some good fangirling.

I didn't know that Dean was currently or in some fandom spaces LESS popular than Seamus. I always thought the opposite was true! Seamus is kind of annoying and confrontational in canon. Dean is way cooler and could have been the hero of his own story. Dean x Luna had its hour of glory circa 2007 (post DH release), it was definitely a guilty pleasure of mine.

I think people who get all up Jo's ass about Lavender and Parvati being kind of vapid and annoying need to take a chill pill. It's not like they're on Pansy's level of mean and hateful, they're just not heroines. God forbid a story imply that focusing on gossip, fashion and horoscopes might not make you a role model.