#no really other than civilian characters who doesn't need therapy?

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

The entire RWBY Cast: Dude, I'm telling you, Hunting is my Therapy!

[alto-tenure]

okay so: there are a decent amount of timber fics that pit Tim and Bernard against each other as enemies in some way. some variations of this include Bernard getting possessed, Tim as Joker Junior, or Bernard as a mob heir. but, you know, we are missing one scenario: evil gun Batman.

but this post is not about timber + evil gun batman!tim. this post is about the circumstances that it would take to get Tim to agree to being Batman in the first place, which are many because of our current set of characters. but first, let's discuss our theoretical worldstate.

1) Approximate ages

Tim is 24. Steph is 25, Cass and Jason are both ~26, Dick is like...31?, Duke is 22, and Damian is 18. I don't know how old Babs is in the current canon but we'll assume that she's, like, a couple years older than Dick. Helena Bertinelli (who will matter later in this) is between Dick and Barbara. Bruce is in his 40s and we'll just leave it at that.

2) Hero mantles

It's pretty much what you would expect, but I'll detail a couple things: Cass and Steph are still sharing Batgirl, but Babs has stopped the mantle entirely and is Oracle full-time, as she should be. Damian is still Robin but he's not happy about it and is on the verge of quitting to become someone else/leave Gotham/whatever. Tim is...it's complicated, okay? It's not that Tim doesn't want to be a vigilante. He definitely has a healthy civilian-vigilante life balance! I think right now he's not really patrolling formally, but he does do stuff for the vigilante network that Babs doesn't because she's busy with the Birds of Prey/non-Bat projects she's working on right now and can't keep track of vigilantes in Gotham who aren't the Bats. People like Xanthe, Helena, Claire (Gotham Girl), some non-Duke We Are Robin alumns, etc.

3) Other miscellaneous stuff

Kate is in the Bat-circle, but falls more under Tim's purview of "vigilantes operating out of Gotham who aren't really part of the Batfam" than under Bruce's purview of "Batfam leader". She's still Batwoman, though. Darcy Thomas is still friends with Tim and operating as Sparrow, but with an actual vigilante costume and not just a purple hoodie and a domino mask. Tim operates out of a larger version of the murder houseboat.

Okay, now: why is Tim Batman, again?

Tim does not want to be Batman. This is important. This is also preceded by a giant conga line of tragedies. For this to happen, Dick, Cass, and Bruce all either real-die or fake-die. I imagine Bruce is not really dead because he's not allowed to die. He just got lost in the multiverse because of a glitchy portal or something. Cass died in the line of fire trying to protect someone, because if she did try to dodge the bullets someone would die. Not sure about Dick yet. Maybe he had to fake his death again to go undercover. (Tim will absolutely call him an asshole for this.) The order of events is probably that Dick is the first one, then Bruce, then Cass. Cass ends up surviving the injury miraculously, but is in a coma/stuck in physical therapy/unable to do vigilante work. Damian is at a point in his character development where he no longer wants to be Batman. Helena does not want to do that again. Jason is like "fuck Batman we do not need Batman".

Duke asks if there's anyone else who's ever been Batman. Tim has flashbacks to Azbats. But then he does have a brainwave and attempts to reach Helena, but Babs says she's out on an important thing for the Birds of Prey and won't be back for a while. >:(

Nobody wants to be Batman, but Tim is exactly the kind of character who would do it anyways because Gotham needs a Batman. (Someone who is better read on Damian would be able to talk about how this impacts him, but I'm sure it would not be pretty, especially considering the character developments I've given him for this scenario. He does not want to be Robin anymore! He was already approaching that point when Bruce disappeared!)

[tea-stained]

Feeling like writing something bigger lately. Which would be the first time in, uh... Seven years? And first time in English lmao.

But also, I don't want to make it a normal fanfiction. I want it to be as shitty as possible. Or just bizarre in a way, where it's like the main character is just a side character and nobody actually gives a fuck about them. Like, for example, it's a masterfully crafted fantasy world with fine details, everything is amazing and shit, but the mc is the most bland and irrelevant person you'll ever meet who hates their life and has to listen to all these annoying people who have a life babble every single day. And you don't care about the mc either, you just care about , about what people around them are saying, but the text is pretending like they actually matter, there's this big build-up where they might be getting a dope power to save the world, but then someone else just does it and the story ends or some shit like that

I think it'd by funny

Or it's a fanfiction and there's the typical "y/n" stuff with a major character from somewhere but you just kinda chill with them, they never really care about you that much, neither do you, they have their own life, you are coworkers or some shit, story ends with the other person getting fired/quitting and you just losing all contact with them because neither really gave enough of a fuck or it doesn't even have an ending because I probably would forget to write it, let's be fucking honest. It's me I'm talking about here, I forget to eat lol

Just kinda anything other than romance to be fair, last time I checked the "y/n" industry was super romance-dominated, not letting casual friendships/relationships shine, and there needs to be a revolution that will lead to letting non-romance have rights

About the first thingy, though, I was thinking about something like... It's the middle of a (fantasy) war. And the main character has a tea/coffee shop, chatting with customers all day. They might be villains, they might be heroes, they might be civilians; mc does not really care, they just want to spend time in a nice way and earn money. Maybe they possess some op ability that runs in their family, but they just don't care, they won't use it in fight, because that's too much of a hassle, pr goes against their morals, it's better to sit on ass, count money and give whoever the fuck comes in an unintentional therapy session for the price of a cup of tea

[fancyfade]

I shouldn’t have said other heroes would try to change Damian. But the fact so many heroes who deal with people like Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller are so assholy to a ten year old disturb me.

I saw a idea that a lot of writers who hate Damian is because he reminds them of their childhood bullies. Look bullying sucks, but the fact so many writers attack a kid character this much. Despite having one of the most privileged positions to write these decades old characters.

I think they need to drop the pen or get away from the keyboard for some therapy

asdag;lkj yeah seriously. like. they just make their own fave heroes look like chumps (which. I know i'm repeating myself but)

what's weird is like. Damian isn't super nice to people and he is rough around the edges, but if the writers actually pay attention he pretty much only punches up (or at least equal) when he's being mean. like he treats *everyone* who is a superhero pretty similar when they just meet in that he's not impressed with them, generally verbally aloof, and thinks he doesn't need them and can do it better than them. and he's generally nice to civilians his age or younger. like i actually can't think of anything i've seen with him that i've read that has him being mean to a civilian kid his age or younger.

which is like. not very bully-esque in my opinion if he's only being mean to people he doesn't really have power over. it's generally to people who would be regarded as equals or authority figures TBH. part of me wonders if its like 'no don't you get it you SHOULD be acting like these guys are better than you rather than like you're better than them' which is like. not good

[spinchip]

your post about the ninja once there’s finally peace in ninjago is really good. i was wondering if you had any specific ideas of what each of the ninja would do after they no longer need to fight (or if there’s stuff they go through)?

*cracks my knuckles and begins to type

So for starters I will say the ninja all have their share of struggle with the transition from soldier to civilian. If your entire life centered around saving the world from a non-stop stream of evil and found yourself in a sudden era of peace, anyone would feel lost. There would be the initial denial where they would stick together for months, maybe even another year or two before finally coming to accept that perhaps the storm really is over. then comes the question they're all faced with... without the role of hero, who are they? And what comes next?

This also plays a lot into my personal hc that splitting up somewhat is essential to the ninjas healing journey. hear me out lol i know that this is an unpopular opinion, but I've spoken about this before and the appeal to this sort of happy ending is not that they vanish from one anothers lives, but that they now have the freedom to stop fighting and enjoy their lives in ways they couldn't before. They're at this point where they can take a step back from each other and focus on themselves because their friends are finally safe. They move on to live their own lives but they still love each other and see each other often !

I'll also preface this by saying all the ninja go to therapy, and theyve all been compensated handsomely for their work in saving the world and are able to live comfortably for the rest of their lives without working if they dont wish to lol

I’ll try to break this down by character!

Kai has a rough transition but the most of his struggle is right at the beginning of it when it sinks in that there really is nothing to fight for anymore. There was a set of tags that brought up post season 3 as evidence for Kais breakdown and while i don't disagree, i don't fully agree because i think post s3 was a traumatic event and a peaceful transition like this where they all make it out to the other side would affect the ninja in different ways than Zanes violent death. Once it sinks in that they really are in a long term era of peace, Kai… moves home. He tries to hold on to being a ninja the longest, going on patrol with Samurai X and training, but once Lloyd moves out of the monastery Kai realizes he just feels empty and lost. Out of options and ideas, he moves back to Ignacia and stays in four weapons with his parents. He falls into a deep depression that he hides spectacularly well from the others and sleeps a lot. It would have gotten worse if not for his parents. His mom supports him and is there for him, and his Dad gets him up and moving by continuing to teach him how to be a blacksmith. Kai remembers how much he truly loves the forge and reignites his passion in it, giving it his all and learning how to make amazing things.

Despite how happy he is, he doesn't want to stay in ignacia. He ends up renting a nice apartment in Ninjago city and finds a maker space with a forge, and he ends up buying camera equipment and starts up his own youtube channel where he posts videos of his blacksmith projects. He reaches out to Skylor and they start a relationship.

Lloyd finds the rug pulled out from under him. The price of peace was his childhood, he’s sacrificed so much. He ends up seeking out a therapist and goes to one recommended by Cyrus Borg where he’s recommended he reach out to people his own age and try to reclaim his youth. He ends up messaging Brad Tudabone who helps him reconnect with a few of the other Darkleys kids who’ve all turned over a new leaf and are just trying to live a normal life. Brad, Lloyd, and Sally (and sometimes Gene, who isn't evil but is a jerk) become fast friends and at their suggestion, Lloyd moves into an apartment with the 2 and goes back to school. During this time, he goes low contact with Wu and no contact with his mom. He needs space from them to heal the trauma of his abandonment and role as a child soldier. He studies the Art of the Silent fist to feel closer to his father. He gets a part time job doing retail just so he feels normal, and he enjoys his life.. He goes to school, plays video games, reads comics… he spends a lot of time working on breaking down the guilt he feels over taking time off, and he slowly works to convince himself he’s allowed to rest. It's hard work but he does it.

Perhaps he gets into making comics? it could be a fun hobby. he also ends up buying a snake after breaking his fear and negative connotations by doing a shit ton of research on them.

Nya has always struck me as the type of person who’s very motivated if the goal she has in mind is one she deems worthy. It's why she was so able to apply her mechanical skills so effectively in the first samurai X mech, and why she pushed so hard to master water. She wanted to fight and protect like her brother and friends… but if you were to take away the life or death stakes i believe Nya would struggle in a very subtle way. Her apartment is filled with half finished hobbies and projects tossed aside. Nothing can keep her attention, it all seems so pointless. She works part time at a coffee shop just for something to do.

She and Jay stay together and share an apartment above an antique/thrift shop Jay runs. Nya has never failed, it's her pride and joy, and despite how her and Jay grow further and further apart she holds on with all her might. They go to couples counseling and try over and over to make it work, but the truth is without the constant stress of the world ending and the dynamic they'd had in the team, Jay and Nya just aren't meant to be. Jay ends up being the one to break things off because he knows Nya won't do it and they split up. Nya stays with Kai for a short period of time while she tries to figure out what she wants before moving in with Cole and Zane and helping out around their house, going to therapy, and volunteering in the community. She eventually finds her passion in working at the local aquarium and designing tanks/vehicles for underwater exploration. She gets a dog. Nyas life takes the longest to get together lol

Jay and Nya move into ninjago city where Jay starts his own antique/thrift store. He uses items he gets to make art sculptures or robots or other mechanical oddities and he loves to go to flea markets and such to find interesting things. He has the easiest time transitioning back to civilian life because he had the most stable life of any of the others. He and Nya run the store together at first, but as their relationship falls apart and Nya falls deeper into her aimless depression, Jay runs it alone. He matures a lot and decides to end things with Nya before they begin to resent each other, and she moves out. Jay goes to therapy and works through a lot of his trauma, he learns how to be alone and embraces that, he does talk shows and sometimes joins in on battle bot matches with cobbled together little bots that always do surprisingly well.

About 6 months after he and Nya break up, he decides to go to a little speed dating thing at a cafe he enjoys with the goal of dipping his toes back into the dating pool. Unintentionally, he falls in love with a meteorologist named Anjali and they end up getting married later on down the line. He truly loves her and she loves him.

Cole and Zane admit their feelings for one another and very quietly elope, not telling anyone about their marital status.

After discussing with Zane what their next move is, Cole moves into a town in between his hometown and birch wood forest, out in the country, and they build a house from scratch. Cole and Zane build it together and it's nearly always in a state of improvement for a few years as they continuously adjust things or change their minds about certain aspects. Cole joins a local dance studio and takes lots of classes, getting back in touch with the parts of himself that love to dance. He goes to therapy and at his therapist's suggestions, takes up pottery. He builds a kiln in their backyard and sets aside a portion of zanes studio in their home to dedicate to a pottery wheel and all the fixins. As work on their house winds down to a finish after Nya arrives, he ends up becoming a rock climbing instructor at an indoor climbing wall, teaching children and adults alike proper technique. Cole struggles a lot at first with not feeling very useful and he and Zane have to go to couples therapy to address the problems this and a few of Zanes' issues threaten their relationship, but they come out stronger on the other side and are able to help each other when doubts, fears and struggles pop up.

Zane marries Cole and moves out of ninjago city. The two end up going to Zanes' childhood home in birchwood forest and cleaning it out, and Zane takes any of dr juliens old blueprints to borg industries where he sells them to Cyrus borg. Borg hires him on as a part time consultant for Dr juliens blue prints and notes, and any time Juliens work is used Zane is paid very generous royalty fees. Getting out of the city does a lot of good for zane. His therapist had been urging him to step away from being a ninja for a long time now, and now that he has he can truly begin to heal. His therapist suggests he pick up an artistic hobby to help him express his emotions, so he takes up painting and dedicates a room in his new home to a studio. Every once in a blue moon, he rents out a gallery in ninjago city and displays his work (if anything sells, he donates the money back to the community.) After Cole starts up pottery, he and Cole collaborate where Cole makes a vase or something and Zane paints it. They have several unique pieces all over their house.

He bird watches and gardens a lot, but he doesn't leave the house much. He has a very mild case of agoraphobia and hates to leave, but he can and does leave to visit the others or go on trips to ninjago city to work with borg. He has good and bad days with his extreme PTSD, and Cole and Nya both help him when he needs it. He ends up adopting a cat. When Nya comes to live with them, he welcomes her with open arms and helps her figure out her passions.

In my head, Nya, Zane, and Cole end up falling in love and live together for the rest of their lives.

Pixal continues to be samurai X, handling any prison breaks efficiently. She and zane are platonic life partners so they stay in constant communication. She's training under Borg to become CEO after him, and does her best to learn everything she can.

In my head, Pixal, Kai, and Skylor all become closer until they are unintentionally dating lol, and pix ends up asking them to move into borg tower where they have an entire floor to themselves.

if u have more questions send them my way!

[thevindicativevordan]

Since you wrote about Livewite recently, do you have any thoughts on Volcana, the other villainess introduced in STAS?

Other than "wow she's really hot and I like her design"?

I'm always wanting more women supporting characters in Superman's world, whether as heroines in their own right, civilians in key roles, or villainesses going up against him. Claire Selton is another character I really like that originated from the DCAU, and I am a bit bummed she never made the jump to the comics continuity like Livewire did, even if it's easier for me to understand why she didn't, than why it took so long for Livewire to do so. Volcana only appeared a handful of times, and mostly as a cameo outside her debut episode. Plus while I think electricity works fine as a force that can hurt Supes, fire is a much harder sell, especially since Superman walking through flames unharmed is such an iconic part of his imagery. Then there's also the difficulties with her characterization and background.

She actually works pretty great as his "Mr. Freeze" villain if we use her DCAU incarnation (which pretty shamelessly rips off of the Stephen King novel Firestarter now that I checked it out again). She was captured for her pyrokinesis powers by the shadowy Men in Black from Cadmus and was trained to be a government weapon. She busts out and escapes, but can't take care of herself other than using her powers for petty crime. Just like the obvious ending to DCAU Mr. Freeze is Batman funds a cure for Nora in exchange for Victor giving up his criminal career, the obvious ending for Volcana is that Superman intimidates the Cadmus thugs pursuing her into backing off or else, and then takes her somewhere she can live her life free of their influence. Preferably also somewhere she can get therapy and not just dropping her off on a tropical island like he did in the DCAU.

I'm sure the problem is obvious right away: you can't really use either one of those villains again without ruining what made them great to begin with can you? If you use Mr. Freeze again after Batman tells him to give up crime while Bruce Wayne funds a cure, Freeze isn't really sympathetic anymore, he's just an asshole using his tragedy as an excuse. Similarly with Volcana, if she's out killing and robbing people again, which is what happened with the DCAU version when she was brought back, it really detracts from her sympathy. The audience can only accept so much wrongdoing from a villain before their trauma doesn't excuse their actions anymore and they lose that sympathy.

What I Would Do With Volcana

So powers wise, *just* being a regular pyrokinetic isn't enough to keep you on Superman's level, we have to upgrade her powerset. Luckily there's already a character in a Superman related franchise who offers the perfect blueprint: Mano of the Fatal Five (he's the guy who blows shit up by touching it in the JL vs. FF animated movie if you need a refresher). Mano has an "anti-matter touch" that I would copy the basics of for Volcana. She doesn't just create "fires" she creates "anti-matter fires", and those can actually hurt Superman as a way to differentiate them from normal fires. This lets her be a threat to Superman because anti-matter can actually hurt Clark. I don't see any reason anti-matter wouldn't hurt him, he's still made of regular matter after all.

Adding on to that let's swipe a bunch of powers from other pyrokinetics elsewhere that I don't think Volcana had in the DCAU. So she can fly like the Human Torch and is of course immune to fire in all its forms (so Superman's heat vision doesn't work on her). If you really wanted to give her a boost she could cause anything to explode by superheating the atoms with her anti-matter, basically making her a walking nuke. I remember some firebenders in the Avatar universe being able to use their powers to heal (in Korra's time I think), so maybe give Volcana the ability to reconstruct her body from any source of fire? With all of that now she feels like a Superman-level threat in her own right.

So how do you keep her sympathetic while still allowing her to be used? Should she be kept sympathetic at all? Hot take but I don't think Freeze necessarily only works as a sympathetic bad guy (I watched The Batman cartoon's take on Freeze growing up though, so I'm not a DCAU diehard). I think Volcana likewise can work as a more sinister villainess.

If we're abandoning the sympathetic angle, then the route that seems the most obvious to me is that Claire actually really enjoyed her role as a weapon. She enjoys burning things down, whether that's buildings, or people, or civilization itself. She's a pyromaniac who gets a thrill out of using her powers, and doesn't want to stop. But she utterly loathes her government handlers for how they control her life, and there is nothing she wants more to do than to put every single one of them and their families to the torch. Volcana sees her role as the equivalent of a controlled burn, she burns away the old, the stagnant, and the rotten to make way for new forms of life.

To her, there's a clear parallel between what she does and what Superman does. Both of them act as cleansing forces, Superman purifies Metropolis of evil in the form of supercriminals, he was a force of change that ushered in the Age of Metahumans. Volcana sees herself as the next step in that Age, she burns down the structures and people that act as barriers to keep society from undergoing the rebirth she believes will rise from the ashes. Whether Superman is a part of that next step or someone she has to burn so a new hero of the new Age can come around to replace him is a position she's unsure of. Regardless, if he stands in her way she won't hesitate to fry him.

She's a foil for Clark then in terms of their wrath. Both are disgusted by the evils they see, and both think people can be inspired to change. Superman simply thinks its possible to inspire people to change the way things are without violence, while Volcana believes that's impossible. Some people need to be reduced to ash in order to build a better life, whether that's her government handlers, the group of supervillains who wouldn't follow her, or the corrupt politicians running Metropolis, or even Superman himself if he can't be made to see that truth. Clark channels his wrath towards constructive purposes while Volcana channels hers towards destructive ones.

If we want to keep the more sympathetic angle however, then I think there's still a way to do that while carrying over the basics of her DCAU origin. The big difference is that Volcana doesn't have control of her powers due to the mental trauma she endures as a result of her time with Cadmus. Periodically she will "flare up" even when she doesn't want to, and this hurts those around her who aren't wearing protection. The only safe place for her is STAR Labs where they are working on a way to control her powers and give her counseling, but because of her PTSD Volcana regularly attempts to escape. Living in a laboratory and being poked by scientists again, even though this time they're trying to help her is simply too much for Claire to endure. Regularly her temper explodes and she burns her way out (not killing anyone though). What happens next is always varied as Claire is constantly trying to gain her freedom while others exploit her for their own ends.

Superman thus has to constantly try to track her down and get her to go back to STAR Labs. Clark feels an enormous degree of sympathy for Claire, recognizing that it could've easily been him being trained as a weapon if someone less scrupulous than the Kents had found his rocket. He has a temper himself and understands the frustration Claire feels about her lot in life, while also appreciating the difficulty of constantly keeping your destructive powers under control. In that regard Volcana is a foil for Clark in regards to control: Clark has control of his powers and his life while Volcana has neither, something she envies and resents him for. Whenever she breaks out again, it's a reminder to Clark how few people truly get to take charge of their own destinies.

Probably more than you expected huh? Sorry I tend to get carried away a bit. TL;DR she's a neat character who could work well as an ongoing foe for Superman with a bit of work.

[wanderinginksplot]

Warriors in Red Armor

Next | Masterlist

Chapter One

Hound I

"So, are we going to 79's tonight?" Hound asked. He had meant to be subtle about it, but the question burst out of him the moment his well-worn boots crossed the threshold of the small break space allotted to members of the Coruscant Guard.

As break spaces went, the one designated for the Coruscant Guard's clone troopers was an embarrassment. Some determined being had managed to cram a table and a handful of chairs inside, but it was a tight fit. If more than a few fully armored troopers went inside at the same time, none of them would get back out without removing some armor to clear the traffic jam. The lights flickered, the faucet leaked, the floor was always sticky, and the stuffy air held a hint of the chemicals that had been stored there years ago. Since then, the previous break space had been renovated into an office for one of the few nat-born commanding officers and this one had been created for the clone troopers.

Still, the smell of caf was stronger than the smell of chemicals most days and the light from a nearby advertisement screen lit the room so brightly that the flickering lights didn't give any of the troopers a migraine anymore. Hound always was a man who liked to see the glass as half-full. Maybe even a little more than half, if that glass was sitting under the dripping faucet.

Thire snorted at Hound's question, leaning back in his chair until gravity threatened to topple him. "Well, boys? Hound wants to know if we're going to 79's this lovely Friday evening. What do we think?"

Thorn glanced around the room, looking unamused by his brother's antics. "We think I'm the only other one here, di'kut."

"Exactly!" Thire said in triumph, obviously determined to ignore his fellow commander. "It's the weekend! Why wouldn't we go to 79's?"

"Because you've finally realized that it's a glorified zoo?" Thorn snapped, tone venomous. "79's is where civvies go to stare at clone troopers so they can feel like they're being daring. In reality, they're being irritating."

Having spoken his piece, Thorn tossed back the last of his cup of caf, always consumed as dark as his mood. Hound shuddered at the thought. Corrie Guard caf was brewed at the approximate concentration of speeder fuel and could eat through duracrete. Only a trooper who hated himself would drink it black.

Thorn always drank it black.

"So you don't want to go?" Hound asked again, sounding heartbroken.

"No, I'll go," Thorn told him. "Zoo or not, 79's still has the cheapest booze on Coruscant that doesn't use poison as a mixer."

"Well, that's the most excited I've heard Thorn get about anything for a week, at least," Thire smirked. "Commander Fox, you want in on this?"

The Head Commander of the Coruscant Guard, having just stepped into the break room to fill his mug with caf, shook his head. "No, I'm on duty tonight. The Clone Rights group has been cleared to march and the Chancellor wants an extra Guard presence. Stone will be stuck here as well, monitoring any new arrivals."

"Ugh," Hound said, summarizing everyone else's point of view. "Well, we'll be thinking of you both, Commander."

Fox lowered the datapad in his hand to shoot a look in Hound's direction. "Sergeant, don't you have that ARF PR stunt tomorrow at 0800?"

Hound shrugged. "Yeah, but I can do both."

"Make sure you don't miss it," Fox ordered sternly. "The last thing I need is to have to report to the Chancellor that you missed a chance to give the GAR a boost in civil opinion."

Hound saluted and Fox turned his attention to the other break room occupants. "Thorn, if you let your stubble get any longer, it'll be considered a beard and subject to facial hair regulations. Thire, sit on the chair like a normal being, would you?"

Thorn nodded and Thire grinned as he let the chair's legs slam onto the floor. Fox rolled his eyes at their antics, refilled his cup of caf, and left the break area. Hound idly wondered how many of the gray hairs appearing at the Head Commander's temples were due to the commanding officer team. Still, the Chancellor had let Fox choose his own team of COs, so there was no one to blame but himself.

"Meet at 2100?" Thire asked. "That's prime time for 79's and there'll be plenty of talent. I'll go ahead and apologize, vode. When you look this good, you automatically get your pick of the females."

Thire brushed a hand back across his hair - meticulously trimmed to maintain the subtle horizontal lines shaved into the otherwise regulation cut - and grinned at the other two. Hound and Thire rolled their eyes, but agreed anyway.

---

Kai I

"Hey, do you guys want to go to 79's tonight?" Kai asked, perched on the desk she was supposed to be sitting behind. She was always restless and neither of the other women blamed her for the odd choice of seat - even though it made inter-desk communication a bit of a pain.

Arkularia - who, for the sake of Kai's sanity, allowed the others to call her 'Ark' - was the first to respond. "79's? The clone bar?"

"Do you want to drink, dance, or find a one-night stand?" Ransom asked from behind her expansive tech setup. "Because there are better places for any of those. Closer, too."

"No, I want to go to 79's," Kai said, kicking up her chin. "And as for what I want… I want all of them. All three options, please and thank you."

"Did you just try to order a night out? Like from a menu?" Ransom asked. From the tone of her voice, Kai had managed to earn a rare smile from her boss. Of course, that was only a guess since Ransom didn't emerge from her den so Kai could verify the expression.

"No… but can you imagine how much easier that would be?" Kai asked in her own defense.

"It would take some of the fun out of it, I think," Ark said slowly.

Kai chucked a wad of flimsi at her friend and co-worker's head, cheering to herself as it connected and bounced off of Ark's white-blonde hair. "I know that, Ark! C'mon guys, do you want to come to 79's with me or not?"

"I'm out," Ransom said immediately, shutting down the projector option on her desk. She was still illuminated by the ambient light from the schematics on her datapad. The cybernetic implants in Ransom's arm gleamed in the blue glow as she dragged a hand over her shaved head. "I have to work late if we have any hope of finishing our next job on time."

"Ark?" Kai asked, not too proud to sound like she was begging.

Ark sighed, pale eyes hopeless in the face of Kai's wheedling. "Fine, I'll go along."

"Yes!"

"Ransom, are you sure you can't come, too?" Ark asked, her voice a bit desperate.

"I really do have to stay and work on this," Ransom apologized, gesturing at her assortment of datapads. "My condolences."

"We're going to a club, not facing a firing squad!" Kai admonished. "Besides, I just want to find someone fun."

"Like that last guy?" Ark asked, squinting a bit as she applied her prodigious memory to her own question. "What was his name?"

"Not sure," Kai admitted. "But he was so much fun! Great tattoos."

"So you are looking for a hookup! I knew it," Ransom crowed.

Ark frowned. "Why a clone trooper? They're never on-planet for long before they have to leave."

"Exactly," Kai said with a wink. "Love 'em and leave 'em."

"Didn't the last one stick around for a while? I thought I remembered seeing him more than a few times…" Ark pondered.

"Hardcase! His name was Hardcase," Ransom remembered. "He came by every day of his leave."

"Strange name," Ark commented.

"Strange guy," Ransom said with a shrug.

"But he was hot," Kai countered, folding a piece of flimsi to look like a tooka. At least it did in her imagination. "And so much fun. I need another someone like him."

"What happened to him?" Ark asked curiously.

Kai would have blushed if she had any shame - too bad for Coruscant that she didn't. Instead, she pouted. "He moved on with a Zeltron who works at GAR headquarters. That's the best place to meet troopers, but they don't give access to civilians unless they have official business."

"Hardcase didn't seem like the type to ghost you out of nowhere," Ransom mused.

"I… may have freaked out about him asking me to be his girlfriend," Kai admitted. "I don't want anything serious, you know? Besides, I'm the one who introduced him to the new girl. She's a sweetheart. He adores her and she's the same about him. Can't be too upset with that."

Ark and Ransom exchanged loaded glances, but Kai had no interest in a therapy session. "Right! So, Ransom, you're still out?"

"I have no interest in coming along and I have work to do here."

"Well, that was almost nice," Kai congratulated. "Ark, it's you and me. When should we go?"

Ark shrugged. "Why don't we just stop there on the way home from work?"

"Are you kidding?" Kai asked, aghast at the idea. "We aren't exactly wearing Senatorial dress, but we're still too professional for a club! No, we need to go home, change, and meet there. How long do you need?"

"I don't know… half an hour?"

"How long do you need to find an outfit that makes sense in a club setting?" Kai rephrased her question.

"Two hours," Ark corrected herself, sounding sheepish.

"That's more like it," Kai said, satisfied. Her look turned wicked as she said, "Now, let's talk about makeup…"

"Are you sure you don't need any help here, Ransom?" Ark asked their boss, her eyes widening with hidden significance.

"No, it's too late!" Kai denied. "Meet me at my apartment and I'll help you. Let's say eight."

Ark glanced back at Ransom, who gave a sympathetic shrug. Ark sighed. "Fine, eight."

---

A/N - Hello, and welcome to yet another Clone Wars-based story! I can't leave these poor guys alone. They deserve so much more than they got! So, you may have noticed that some of the characters are a bit different from the way they are normally portrayed in fan fiction. The first fic I read with the Coruscant Guard had Thire as a happy joking guy and Thorn as a serious doom-and-gloom trooper. I'm coming to realize that is not typical for fanon interpretations, but those characterizations are embedded in my mind. I hope you didn't find this too jarring!

I'm experimenting with a new Game of Thrones-style POV tracking format. Hopefully that will keep things from getting too confusing as we bounce back and forth across eight different POVs! I apologize for the short length of this chapter, but it's just a simple introduction of (most of) the characters.

[mantra4ia]

Debris: speculation and what we know so far about...

Bryan

The character is from Texas, has no siblings, and his parents are both alive.

He served in MARSOC (Marine Special Forces) in Afghanistan, where he was in a military prison in some capacity (officer or detainee unclear, but an alternate reality he's called a war criminal, so he's likely detained).

FWIW, I'm a little surprised that in an alternative reality Bryan wasn't a part of Influx. He shares a similar kind of backstory with Anson Ash.

He carries a baseball on the plane like a momento stress ball (1x03).

He eats...a lot, literally thinks with his stomach, seemingly indiscriminately (#you could just pull up a chair to the buffet). Stale Peeps, weeks old sandwiches, rewarmed burritos, anything from the minibar, etc. Maybe he was a smoker in the time before and it killed his sense of taste. Or he just has an iron stomach from his time on active duty. In any case, food seems to be his unconditional OTP. I request a GIF supercut.

He seems to know a bunch of field operatives (Lester, Sharon, John the ME, Muntz, Beck from containment) from various Orbital teams, perhaps even worked cases with a few, along with everyone in Maddox's office. He's very cordial so presumably he likes them, but in stark contrast at least half seem to decidedly dislike him with baiting antagonism, some openly hostile. Sharon: "why are you smirking at me Bryan?" Muntz, the Laghari lab tech: "I've come across plenty like you...men who play by their own rules." Beck: "They only send in the A-team when they want the agents to survive...easy for you to say, I'm the one who had to tell his wife". No wonder he feels a bit ostracized. Perhaps his reputation (impulsive?) proceeds him or perhaps he's been labeled an "unlucky" partner that misfortune follows so he gets kept at a distance?

The exception to the above seems to be Gary Garcia, the former scientist that helps hide George. May be former partners if the audio during credit rolls is any indication, and knows about Bryan's health / injections. They appear close. Perhaps because they share a mentality: both presumably injured in their line of work at Orbital, and they know what it means to have to rely on yourself.

When we meet Finola and Bryan, it seems like they've been working together for a few weeks, stateside at least (Finola's quote 1x02: Been here 3 weeks, feels like 3 years) and that he's had at least two Orbital partners prior, one (Julian / Jules) that died on duty, and the other creepy Dutch guy still living, Niels. How many more partners has he been through? Is it protocol that they get reassigned/shuffled so often to follow the debris, or so as not to form attachments "This job is about being alone, it's supposed to be...we're a blip in other people's lives", or does his personality not play well with others, like from the pilot when he tells Finola "it's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being."

Also in 1x01 when Bryan says, "So are we now saying the debris pulled [Kieran] from the ground and added meat to his bones" and Finola says no, he was cremated, Bryan looks almost disappointed like he was momentarily more hopeful than pragmatic. At first I thought this was just a lead up to introducing the fact that George Jones was alive, but maybe another plot point is that Bryan has lost someone in duty he wants back.

He carries a picture in his front pocket of a woman with some Persian/ Farsi(?) or Urdu(?) written on the back. It's hard to tell by the script, it could be neither. When confronted by that, his clone says "I can't let it go." Old flame that was lost? Or a partner of a fallen service member killed in action —I've lost brothers— that he couldn't save (is that part of Bryan's dark guilt / grief)? Civilian casualty of a Marine mission? In the pilot when he tells Isla "you have to tell her how much you need her, I know from experience...You will not be able to forgive yourself if you don't" is Bryan thinking of this woman?

EDIT: considering the next episode is called "Asalah," which could be a woman's name, maybe that's part of the text on the back of the photo. Pure speculation.

He counts on himself to be level and composed when it comes to his emotions and apologizes when he isn't. He loses that composure in the pilot when Isla talks about family therapy and fighting with her mother after Kieran's death: "I knew someone like her once." Was Bryan referring to himself, has he been through post-service therapy? Perhaps he developed a rift with his family or left home at an early age like she did?

Bryan would be great at pub trivia night. He always seems to have an odd fact ready about NASA tech, native legends, an article about a historical building that he read, Fleetwood PA, etc. He doesn't seem the type to keep facts on standby to impress, so perhaps he's a secret bibliophile even though Finola hassles him for not reading case files.

"Fin: Maybe we should run some more tests before we continue/ Bryan: I will cut bait if you want to / Fin; let's just look out for each other" 1x02 Bryan seems more cautious than impulsive, he does a good job of listening to Finola's concerns. Is that from experience? Did he get overconfident, mishandle debris, and get permanently injured, hence the frequent blood work and injections?

"This man saved my life." Why does Bryan trust Maddox implicitly? And when Maddox says in 1x07 "Investigate quietly. I want to keep the lights off. I don't want to lose anymore lives, Bryan, okay?" is that a word of warning specially for him? Does he have a body count? (see afforementioned question of frequent work partners turnover and having an unlucky reputation)

Bryan in protective of Finola when the CIA taps her apartment. It's the straw that turns his allegiance from his agency to his partner.

I still can't place why Bryan carries a baseball — it seems like it could be a red herring, but I can't get over the visual of Maddox playing catch with Dario and reading into it as some sort of surrogate bond — or why he has a chain around his neck (1x05). It's not service tags and probably not a ring, it's some kind of pendant: a large loop encircling a dull, perhaps tarnished, gray metallic disc. A patron saint? A piece of shrapnel? A piece of debris? Unclear, but it definitely has texture or an etching.

Top Bryan Quotes

"That's the job. Impossible." 1x01 Pilot

"We are supposed to be blips in these people's lives, not memories." 1x04 In Universe

"It's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being." 1x01

"Zippo lighters, Pyrex glassware, Crayola crayons, and of course Peeps. Insane for peeps, cracklike...we owe the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a great deal of gratitude and I am not afraid to say it." 1x02 You Are Not Alone

"I've been thinking, [about] Finola.. if MI6 knew her father was still alive they would take her out of here. We need to get home before this becomes an issue...this is going to affect her." 1x03 Solar Winds, when he's not sure how her father will affect her empathetic-based decision-making

Craig: "You hated the creepy Dutch guy." / Bryan: "He was adorable."

"Well, one of my tips for survival, Muntz, is always let the other guy touch the debris first." 1x03 So is that what happened to Garcia?

To Finola "I realize I tend to forget that there's still magic to discover in the world. But not you." 1x03

"There are things that you understand about life that I don't, and I respect that. But there are things that I know that you will not find very palatable...I am going to focus on the people that we're saving and not the ones that we can't." 1x04

"If we don't act, we might not be able to stop the terraforming. There's no way we're going to be able to win all these, and I know that every cell in your body right now is screaming for you to do what you think is right. I need you to go against that. I need you to trust me." 1x04

"Finola's capable. I trust her instincts." 1x08 Spaceman

"I'm running on sugar and coffee for the rest of the day" 1x07 You Can Call Her Caroline, but really isn't that Bryan everyday?

"When I tell you that I understand, it's not empty...I lost brothers. It destroys families. There are people who can help you with what you're going through right now...There is a way to get back from this pain. I was where you were, and the darkness almost ended me. And somebody put out his hand... I want to be there for you." 1x07

"I'm trying to get back to someone. It's very important to me." 1x09 Do You Know Icarus?

[metalgearkong]

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier - TV Review

5/1/21 ***spoilers***

Created by Malcomb Spellman, directed by Kari Skogland

Out of all the announced Disney+ MCU shows, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier seemed to be the most out of left field. Two sidekicks from the later 2 Captain America movies pair up and get their own show? What made their bormance so special? I mean, I like them well enough, but what is it that warrants a show? With all of it now said and done, this show is not what I expected, in a good way, but I can't say it lived up to its own potential. It brings up a lot of controversial subjects--stuff I really found interesting and progressive, but it doesn't fully commit. That being said, I'm glad it exists, and it takes many steps in the right direction.

6 months after Avengers Endgame, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) are returning to every day life, and the problems that come along with it. Bucky in particular is attending strict therapy to repair mental damage from decades of being Hydra's Winter Soldier. Sam is working with his sister and her boating shrimp business. As it turns out, the Avengers didn't technically receive a salary. Strange beings who they worked with, and i assumed Tony Stark or government funding supported the Avengers. Who built their base, made their suits, equipment, and how have the Avengers gotten by so far? The idea is brought up, but the show never comes around and fully explores this interesting point.

The Falcon the the Winter Soldier is only 6 episodes long, compared to WandaVision at 8. I feel like this show needed to be as longer for the numerous ideas it brings up and doesn't have time to flesh out. The main conflict of this series is the fight against the Flag Smashers. A revolutionary group, they want to return the world to what it was during the "blip." They want a worldwide policy of nations without borders. This is a really cool concept and something I could get behind, but yet again it's an interesting idea that is never sufficiently fleshed out. What (according to the Flash Smashers) was so great about the state of the world during the blip? What did nations do around the world that makes the Flag Smashers want to return to the way of life? Did people receive more finances and property? Did socialism thrive? None of this is ever expanded upon.

I also didn't care much for Karli Morgenthau, the leader of the Flag Smashers. Apparently their whole side story had to be changed last minute due to the covid-19 pandemic, and their inconsistent dialog and motivation shows this fact. I never bought actress Erin Kellyman as a revolutionary which thousands of people would follow and kill for, nor did I buy her as a juiced-up super soldier. The best character to come out of this show is John Walker as the government approved new Captain America. Wyatt Russell plays the character extremely well, and it's engaging to see a villain which so easily could have been one-dimensional develop into a more rounded person. He did however get a stupid small redemption in the final episode, but this "good guy" moment is wedged between him brutally killing an unarmed person in public, and joining what looks to be a "Dark Avengers" squad. For a show with progressive ideas, John Walker killing a civilian in a fit of rage should have been a point of no return.

My favorite aspect of The Falcon & the Winter Solider are the racial aspects it brings up. Finally we have a big mainstream company and mainstream show directly making light of the unfair bias and poorer treatment of minorities, especially black men. To see it happen even to an Avenger (Sam) was really cool, and fourth-wall breaking. Sam also discovers a man named Izayah who was a test subject, along with other black men, for the original super soldier serum in WWII. Izayah's mistreatment and his disenfranchised view of the United States is some of the best stuff in the entire show. Everything is all about living up to the legacy of Steve Rogers, but Izayah thinks no black man should even want to bear the stars and stripes. I hope this trend continues as it hangs a lampshade on something broad entertainment should address.

The action and cinematography also evoke my favorite corner of the MCU: everything directed by the Russo Brothers. The fight choreography is visceral without having to be flashy or larger than life (until the end). It was also great to see Sam Wilson reject the shield at the beginning of the show, thinking he would never live up to the mantle. His humility and growth throughout the show is also some of the best stuff to see. He truly is a man of the people, and the next best person besides Steve Rogers who truly can be and deserves to be the new Captain America. Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) also reemerges from Captain America: Civil War, but his character is totally retconned into being a Baron (comics accurate) with huge amounts of wealth and resources. I didn't like his character as much as I did in Civil War, as an everyday soldier tearing the Avengers apart is more compelling than a rich and powerful supervillain doing the same thing. He also had a dumb moment where he wore his purple ski mask for literally one action scene (less than a minute or two) and took it off never to be seen again.

Sharon Carter also makes an appearance, but I don't think the character, nor her twist being the Power Broker meant anything to me. It could be this show going a bit too far with its story threads. Carter has never been a charismatic character to me, and I'm wondering how they'll keep her interesting in the MCU going forward. She is the icing on the cake for too numerous and too weak of villains in this series. I also didn't think it was consistent of honorable of her character to go down a bad path especially knowing the lineage of Peggy Carter. I'm curious where this aspect of the story will go, but I'm not holding my breath. I wish this show cut out some of its threads in order to focus on some of its very good core ideas, especially only at 6 episodes.

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has a lot of interesting ideas and brings up a lot of important ideas. I didn't expect this show to be critical of racial treatment, police brutality, and government overreach. To eventually see Sam evolve into the new Captain America and believing it down to the atom is the best thing to witness about this story. Bucky gets the short end of the stick, and while he does go through healing, I wish he had more great action or dialog scenes. The Falcon & the Winter soldier sets up future stuff, as the MCU does best. Sharon Carter might be some kind of bad guy going forward, the Dark Avengers seem to be forming, and Sam Wilson as Captain America may go on to lead a new generation of Avengers. The show is far from perfect, and sadly doesn't commit to some of its best ideas. I would watch another season, but hope it would have a slightly sharper script.

7/10