#ronin being sassy

[grimbeak]

Pt 2/the aftermath of Mistakes. 

Tws for this drabble- attemped suicide (sort of. no one actually gets hurt), discussions of suicide/self-harm attempts (neither suicide or self-harm are directly mentioned, but it’s obvious that that’s what the characters are talking about.), and descriptions of a panic attack/mental breakdown.

let’s continue.

Mistakes- pt 2 

Jay had lost his friends the other ninja somewhere in Ninjago city, dissipating his dragon halfway through the chase and hiding in an alley for a few minutes. 

After he got out of the city, he had flown to Stix- didn’t take too long when you were flying, surprisingly. 

And now he stands in front of Ronin’s shop, wondering if it would be rude to simply phase through the door. 

He looks down at the water slapping against the poles below him.

He could just jump in. 

Jay knocks, eventually, and it takes a few seconds for Ronin to answer. When he does, he’s holding a sword. For some reason. “If you’ve come about the stolen gold, I swear, I didn’t do anyth-” his eyes land on Jay. “Oh.” 

“Yeah. Hi.” Jay fidgets where he’s standing. “I’m assuming you already know about what happened on the island?”

Ronin nods, not setting down his sword, but lowering it. “Mhm. Few tribe members passed through here a couple weeks ago- I managed to drag the story out of ‘em.” 

“Great,” Jay says sarcastically, “so everyone knew what happened before I did.”

“Yeah, I guess- wait, knew?” Ronin narrows his eyes. “So you know.”

“That I went insane and tried to kill my fri- my team? Yes. Yes, I do. That they then killed me? I also know that.” 

“...Good for you,” Ronin says slowly, leaning his sword against a cabinet. The duo stand there in silence for a moment until Ronin sighs, stepping back inside and holding the door open. “It’s gonna rain soon,” he notes, glancing up at the thickening clouds. “You coming in or not?” 

Jay hesitates, looking up at the gray sky. 

It would be so easy to stay out here and just burn. 

The wind whips up around him as he finally steps into Ronin’s shop, the first few droplets of rain darkening the wood.

It’s... less messy than the last time Jay was here, but it’s still full of probably-stolen items. Ronin directs him towards a chair near his desk. “Here. Sit.” Jay obeys, plopping down onto the chair and drawing up his knees to his chest. Ronin wanders over to the door, locking it (probably so the police can’t get in.) before going back over to the counter, where he drags a chair out and sets it a few feet away from Jay’s. “So. What happened?” 

Jay takes a moment to look at an only mildly-broken clock hanging in the corner of Ronin’s shop. It took him about three hours to get here, considering he had to walk through most of Ninjago City. “I,” he starts, “overheard some... things. On purpose.” 

“Ah. Eavesdropping.” Ronin gives him an approving nod. “Well done.”  

Jay looks at him.

“Sorry. Go on.” 

So Jay tells him.

The Aeroblades are in the left corner of the room, around ten feet away from where he’s sitting. They’re lying on the second self from the floor. 

“Well,” Ronin says eventually, “that sucks.” He eyes Jay warily. “So why’d you come here, anyway? Seems kind of a weird place to run away to.” 

Jay shrugs. “Seemed like a good idea,” he lies. “They won’t... the others won’t think to look for me here. With all the water and all. I just need some time to think, anyway.”

Ronin eyes the singular window in his shop, looking at the rain pouring down onto the docks. “Well, you have plenty of that. And, if you want, I can just tell them you’re not if here if you come by.”

“You’d... you’d do that for me?”

“I mean I’m stuck with you until the rain lets, which, in this place, can take hours. Maybe even a day, if we’re lucky.” His tone is sarcastic, and Jay offers a weak smile. “‘course you can stay here, kid. Just don’t touch anything.” 

“...Thanks,” Jay whispers eventually, turning to stare out the window. 

Idly, he wonders if the rain would be so kind as to redirect itself through a hole in the roof and spray directly onto him.

The rain, being inanimate, doesn’t reply, and instead keeps doing what rain does best: falling. 

***

Ronin knows the kid didn’t just come out here to hide out. He could’ve done that anywhere- the mountains, someone’s house (he can turn invisible, right?), or even a crappy store somewhere in Ninjago City. 

But no.

He chose Stix. Specifically, Ronin’s shop in Stix.

And Ronin thinks he knows why. 

Jay is... definitely not in the right state of mind at the moment. And for a good reason- your friends indirectly telling you that they were forced to kill you in self-defense after you tried to kill them and raze your home has gotta mess you up. 

Ronin locked the door to his shop so Jay wouldn’t go outside to purposefully disintegrate himself (now that he thinks about it, the blue ghost can go through walls.... still, he tried). 

But Ronin has other items in his shop. Some of which, unfortunately, are used for taking out ghosts.

Which is why he’s not at all surprised to see Jay holding an Aeroblade as Ronin comes out from the back room. 

“Jay, put it down.” The blue ninja jumps, nearly dropping the weapon as it starts to phase through his fingers. He catches it, though, being careful not to touch the sharp bits. He turns, and Ronin can see his eyes.

Wide and wild.

Scared.

This isn’t going to be easy, is it.

“Jay, please put the Aeroblade down.” Ronin’s voice is calm, despite himself, and some part of him wonders why. 

“I don’t-” Jay’s voice is shaky and unstable, and Ronin mentally prepares himself for the worst in a few minutes. “I could just- I could-” His hands are shaking too, Ronin realizes. 

“You had a chance a few hours ago,” Ronin says slowly, “over the water. And even now it’s still raining. You can phase through walls, can’t you? So why this? Why now.”

“I- I’m-” Jay hesitates, for a second, breath still coming out in short, tiny little gasps. “It’s- I don’t- I don’t want to hurt them.” 

The other ninja. 

He’s scared that he’ll lose it again and try to hurt them.

“Well,” Ronin starts, “the first thing you did after finding out what you did was run here, right?” Jay nods, warily, and Ronin continues. “If you were going to hurt them, then wouldn’t you have done it back at the temple? You ran here to protect them from you. Or,” he adds after seeing Jay’s hesitate expression, “you came here to protect yourself from them.”  

“It was- I- it was both, I-I think,” Jay manages, breath calming slightly. His grip on the Aeroblade is still tight, though, and if his fingers weren’t a shade of green and see-through, Ronin thinks they would be white from squeezing the weapon so tightly. “I don’t- they killed me.” 

“I know,” Ronin whispers, stepping closer. Jay lets him, although he does pull the Aeroblade slightly closer to his chest- the spikes are pointing at various walls, though, not at the ghost boy, so that’s good for now. “I know they did, and they shouldn’t have, even if you tried to hurt them. They should’ve tried to contain you, not kill you.”

“I hurt them, too.” 

“It wasn’t your fault- you weren’t thinking straight.” Ronin hesitates, for a moment, thinking. “Didn’t the tribe pull some voodoo stuff on you? That would’ve messed anyone up, even me.”  

“Yeah,” Jay whispers, “messed up my head. But- but they had a lot to work with, I mean- the feelings that my team didn’t- doesn’t care about me, the feelings that I was abandoned by my parents, my real parents... I had those already. ‘s not like they put those thoughts in my head when they were messing with it.” 

“That’s still OK. Kid, from what I’ve seen, your friends treat you like crap. Even if they’ve been trying to make up for it, that still doesn’t excuse their actions. Doesn’t mean you didn’t do anything wrong, though. But you weren’t in control of yourself for most of it, and... ‘sides. Power corrupts even the best of people unless it’s handled carefully.” 

“Yeah.” Jay looks at the Aeroblade in his hands. “...Zane was being controlled in the Never-Realm, once. Evil staff. Evil henchperson. He froze a lot of people.”

“Ooookkkk.” Ronin’s gonna have to ask exactly why the heck these kids haven’t gotten therapy yet. “So, you and him have something in common, then. You’ve both been controlled by forces you couldn’t stop. Maybe you should try talking to him about it. When you’re ready, of course,” Ronin adds quickly. “I don’t think the rest of your guys have the brain cells to come looking here.” 

Jay doesn’t respond, but he does allow Ronin to step closer. Ronin reaches for the Aeroblade. Jay hesitates, drawing it worryingly closer to his chest, but eventually lets the other man take it, setting it down on a table beside him. 

Ronin takes a moment to look into the kid’s eyes, which are suddenly welling up with tears and oh there’s a child in his arms, isn’t that weird.

(He remembers why he was so calm, now. He’s done this before.

Maybe this time, the kid will live.) 

Jay’s arms are tight around him, and Ronin freezes before letting him bury himself in Ronin’s coat, muffled sobs cutting through the soft pitter-patter of rain outside. 

Do tears burn ghosts?

Maybe, but Ronin’s not entirely sure that Jay wants it to stop. 

Jay’s obviously not concentrating hard enough for Ronin to be able to touch him at the moment, so he settles for awkwardly patting the kid’s shoulder while trying to stop his hand from going through his body.

Maybe... maybe this time, things’ll be OK.

***

It’s nearly four A.M before the ninja come knocking on Ronin’s door.

Jay’s been asleep for almost six hours now, passed out on the couch in the back room. Ronin’s not sure how much longer he’ll sleep, but hey, at least he’s not having any nightmares.

Ronin, however, has been awake for nearly twenty-four hours now, and he wants to gouge his eyes out. Even thieves need a good nights rest. 

(He doesn’t want to admit that he’s staying awake in case Jay has another breakdown. Ronin just can’t sleep because of the rain. The rain that’s been lightly sprinkling for about an hour now. The rain that no one can hear from inside. That rain.) 

The rest of the ninja, presumably, are standing outside the door, exhausted and soaking wet. 

Ronin opens the door.

The rest of the ninja are standing outside the door, exhausted and soaking wet. 

“Hello,” Ronin says.

Kai, who has apparently no idea what manners are, asks immediately, “Is Jay here?” 

Ronin narrows his eyes, pulling the door slightly closed. “And what are you going to do if he is?”

Kai opens his mouth and gets nudged by Zane, who gives him a stern look like ‘remember what we talked about’. Kai, re-opening his mouth after a moment, says awkwardly, “We’re just going to talk to him. About... how we should have told him what happened on the island. And we’re gonna apologize, for, uh, killing him.” 

Ronin considers this, and eventually the door open the rest of the way. “It might be a while before you can apologize,” he says, and adds upon seeing Kai’s confused face, “don’t wake him up.” 

He leads them into the back room, where Cole immediately, for no reason other than seeing Jay asleep on the couch, goes ‘awwwww’. He is instantly shushed by Zane. Nya, however, studies her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend? Ronin’s not invested in all these relationships.) before going; “Is he using your coat as a blanket?”

Ronin, clearly not wearing his coat, glares at her. “No.” 

Lloyd studies the sleeping ghost for a moment. Finally, he says, “How long has he been here?” 

Ronin bites his lip, beginning to herd the team out the doorway so Jay doesn’t wake up. “Around... half a day now. Since yesterday, at least.” 

Kai thinks about this for a moment, like he always does when he has to think about things that are ridiculously easy to understand. “And what was he doing here, exactly?”

They’re all back in the main shop area, now, and instead of answering directly, Ronin walks over to the table and the shelf and hands Kai the two Aeroblades that remain in the shop. “I think you should take these.” 

Kai takes one as Cole takes the other, the fire ninja looking up in confusion. “What, is Jay gonna hurt us- did you hurt him?” 

“I didn’t.” 

“Then who-” Kai trails off as he thinks for a moment. His eyes widen. “Oh,” he whispers. “Did he- I mean, was he...”

“He tried to,” Ronin says simply. “He wanted to. I talked him out of it, though.”

“God,” Kai whispers, staring in horror at the weapon in his hand. “Thanks.” 

“There’s another thing I wanted you to talk about.” Ronin pulls out the chair Jay was sitting on earlier and sits down. The ninja have nowhere to sit. Ronin doesn’t care. “I have... a house. Up in the mountains.”

Cole narrows his eyes. “Is it your house or someone else’s house.”

“...You don’t need to know the answer to that right now. Anyway, even if Jay wants to talk to you guys, I doubt he’ll want to live with you for a while until he gets his head on straight. So, he can come to the mountains with me for a while- I need to stock up on some rare items only found up there, anyway. Plus, we’ll be away from all the... water.” 

“Isn’t snow made of water?”

Ronin looks at Cole. “Did snow affect you when you were a ghost?” Cole hesitates, then shakes his head. “That’s what I thought.” 

“Wait,” Kai interrupts, “Jay has parents. Can’t he stay with them instead of some thief in the mountains for a few months?”

“Have you told them about his situation?”

Kai hesitates. “We told them he was dead.” He goes quiet. “We, uh, forgot to tell them he was back as a ghost. I think he just assumed we told them at some point.” 

...This kids are all idiots. “You’re all idiots. Jay can stay with them if he wants to, of course. Just a suggestion since you guys won’t know where we live and won’t come to bother us every two days.” 

“Oh.” Kai considers this. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Ronin stands up (and pretends not to notice Cole immediately stealing his seat), sighing. “You guys can either come back in a few hours or sleep on the floor, I don’t care.” And with that, he walks off to the back room where Jay’s still fast asleep.

(Later, after they come back, the ninja will find him asleep on the opposite side of the couch. He’s sitting up fast asleep, sword having fallen to the floor a while ago.

He looks peaceful.

And Jay does too.) 

[ninnekomata]

Gengakki asks:  😛 Stick their tongue out at my muse

“alright, so, I’m not certain what that red-haired string-puller taught you, but just to clarify - just because sensei is something doesn’t mean you are something. for example, Sasori is a treacherous leechbag that makes very good puppets. you are a normal leechbag that makes ‘good-in-an-I-Don’t-know-what-I’m-doing-but-gee-this-knee-joint-is-sort-of-neat-way’ puppets. I am a particularly handsome example of the Felis catus species. you are a member of the human race, the self-dubbed monkies in ninja costumes that happen to be loud enough everyone listens to humor them. a pretty vast difference.” he pauses a moment, letting the words sink in.

“basically what I’m saying is that I must regrettably inform you that despite what appear to be your dearest wishes, you are not a cat as I am. a tragic fact, to be certain. I will mourn this truth with you eternally. but as you are not a cat, regrettably, it’s for the best you put your tongue back in your mouth. otherwise it’ll get all sandy in this wind and really that’ll be the biggest tragedy of this whole conversation I think.” @gengakki

[cruciatusforeplay]

This is part two of a hella big post. Check out part one here. These are all a lot more recent, so I'm gonna try to be less spoilery, but there are gonna be some.

A not-so-brief history of Hawkeye in Comics Part Two (spoilers below the cut)

A note on events, dying and doubling down on Hawkeyes

Comics love doing big events, and I'm not covering them in here. Partly because they are huge and complex and to just focus on Hawkeye would be an injustice to the stories, but also because the amount of stuff I would need to spoil would be way beyond just a little Hawkeye. Clint was involved in Secret Wars (1984), which was one of the first crossover events of its kind. Another notable era is 2004-2009, where there is an incredible amount of superhero politics driving big narratives. If you're new to comics, you might not know that characters dying is common and rarely permanent. This is relevant because while I said that I wouldn't talk about events, I think it would be pretty uncool to not mention that Hawkeye dies and is brought back to life (Avengers Disassembled, House of M, New Avengers #26). It's around here that Clint picks up the Ronin mantle.

This is also when Dark Reign/Dark Avengers is going on. For anyone who'd like some Clint whump from this era, there's a top notch naked torture scene in New Avengers Annual (2009). Clint is involved in several other big events and crossovers over later years, but that's definitely a seperate list.

In the time where Clint is dead, Captain America is hanging out with a group of newly formed Young Avengers, including archery badass Kate Bishop. Cap suggests to her that she take up the Hawkeye mantle and gives her Clint's old bow. After Clint returns, he becomes initially her mentor, before they form a very close friendship. Clint is initially doing Ronin things, but even when he lays down ninja robes, they decide to be very Hawkeye about the whole thing and both keep calling themselves Hawkeye, despite the obvious confusion this causes.

Hawkeye's ears: Hawkeye vs. Deadpool #0-4 (2014)

This is a fun little miniseries that you could treat as a Halloween special if you so desired. It's set in the time after Fraction's run and there are a few callbacks, but nothing major if you've not read that. Clint is a little short-tempered and hypermasculine in this run for my personal taste, but it's got lots of grumpy Clint Vs sassy Wade while they vaguely attempt to team up. The thing this run does really well is Clint's deafness, despite the lack of visible hearing aids. There are comments around lip-reading, wearing aids when wearing other headgear, there's some sign language, and this is the run where Deadpool pulls his mask up so Clint can lipread and see his face while he signs (facial expressions are really key in sign language). It's lovely. Otherwise the run gives you a Kate cameo, some Deadpool and Hawkeye disaster/shenanigans, and perhaps most importantly, the return of the skycycle.

Key background: All New Hawkeye #1-6 (2015)

This run is often overlooked, but the art in the flashbacks is beautiful. We get some key information around Clint and Barney's abusive home situation - with their dad who drank and beat them, and how they ended up in care after their parents died, and subsequently their early days in the circus. There is a definite shift in how Barney is characterized as a bad influence compared to the 2003 run. It parallels with the rest of the arc which focuses on Clint and Kate Bishop working together to get some kids out of a very bad situation. The rest of Lemires run is a little weird and has no major repurcussions for anyone except Barney (which I won't elaborate on because it's relevant to the Fraction run).

Back to your roots: Tales of Suspense #100-104 (2017)

Seeing Clint cycle back and return to Tales of Suspense is really lovely. This comic is one of my all time favourites. It's incredibly tight story-telling with a great plot and really fun dynamic. The premise is Clint and Bucky teaming up to figure out the body trail being left after Black Widow's death. Clint is obnoxious and a delightful mess, Bucky is sporting a permanent scowl and is hilariously level-headed. It's a lot of fun and it's a lovely build on the tension and teamwork between these two idiots (who I, as an avid Winterhawk shipper, am completely gone for, but even without that, this is a great comic.) It also has some killer covers, and the facial expressions are absolutely hilarious.

Hawkeyes together: Hawkeye #13-16 (2017) and West Coast Avengers #1-10 (2018)

The Hawkeye run is Kate Bishops run and it has a larger continuing storyline that runs from the beginning of her Hawkeye and way into WCA, but I've listed the issues that you'll want for Kate and Clint shenanigans, and you should be able to catch up without the rest if you don't want it. These comics are ridiculously fun, especially West Coast Avengers, which has Kate leading the team this time. There's loads of jokes, and it strikes a nice balance between Hawkeyes being disasters and being hyper competent. Truthfully, this is Kate's show, and Clint takes a backseat, but their dynamic is killer here so I think is deserves a mention. There are also plenty of Clint related wardrobe malfunctions and Lucky the Pizza Dog is around.

Our most recent boy: Hawkeye freefall #1-6 (2020)

I haven't read this one yet, but it's been extremely well received by the fandom. As a result, good news: no spoilers! It's a short run, which may have had something to do with it being published during 2020, and specifically around a time when Marvel were experiencing some major distribution issues (which would have led to digital release only and as a result lower sales), but that's all guesswork because I haven't actually researched it. This run has someone dressing as Ronin and letting Clint take the blame for their nefarious deeds (oh no!). Clint makes some classic Clint (read: dumpster fire) decisions, and the art looks fun and vibrant. Can't really give you more without reading it myself 😅 If you need more Clint still, he's also rumoured to be knocking around in the 2020 Black Widow run, but I've not had the money to get my mitts on that yet either.

Notable AUs:

Marvel is a big fan of throwing a well known cast into an alternative universes, so there are a few other places to look for him.

The Ultimates universe was largely speaking a bit of a shitshow, but they did give us a very dark and gritty Clint, so if that's your jam, ultimate hawkeye is the place to be. Old Man Hawkeye appears alongside Old Man Logan, and they are both, you guessed it, old. It's not the only time we get Clint as a wrinkly dude (the second half Lemire's run also has some timey-wimey stuff happening), but this is a version of Clint who is going blind (granted we've seen that before too, but this is a darker vibe than Blindspot). Wanna know who the greatest marksman is without his sight - old man Hawkeye for you! Finally there's the Zombie 'verse: zombie Clint is a little confused, but he's got the spirit. Clint got zombiefied and then left in some rubble as only a head for 40 years before getting picked up, so he's a little worse for wear. If you need that in your life then Marvel Zombies is your universe. For a full rundown of all the universes including animated and MCU, click here.

Notable aliases:

Clint's been a few other people than Hawkeye in the 616 universe (the main Marvel Comics universe). He used one of Hank Pyms growth serums and became a giant strongman in Avengers #63 (1969) and stuck around in his Goliath form for more than a few issues. After Cap had died, Clint returned from the dead and tried on Captain America for all of one issue in Fallen Son #3 (2007). He decided (with a little help from Kate) that it wasn't right to wear the uniform, which in turn led to some interesting tension between him and Bucky Barnes when Buck did become the new Captain America. Finally, there's his most well-known alternate persona: Ronin. Clint becomes Ronin after returning from the dead, wanting a break from his Hawkeye persona and an opportunity to become Ronin arises in New Avengers #27 (2007). Clint is not the only person to have used these aliases. Additionally, Hawkeye has been used not only by Clint and Kate Bishop, but also by Bullseye during the Dark Reign.

The things we haven't talked about

Like I said at the very beginning, there is a lot of Clint Barton knocking around in comics and even with all this there's a lot of content I haven't focused on. For instance, I've not talked a lot about his relationships, beyond his marriage to mockingbird (and really I only scratched the surface with that), and honestly once you start getting into interpersonal relationships we're starting to move on from what can be done in a Tumblr thread.

There are also some topic specific threads floating around, which you might like to look at too.

@vaguelyrotten has done a run down of some great dumpster fire Clint Barton comics (some of which I haven't listed) and you can see that here.

@bobbimorses did a great summary of Clint's historical deafness for instance which you can find here.

There's also this little bit all about Clint and Bucky in canon (thanks to @nightwideopen ) and how Winterhawk became a thing (thanks to @1000-directions )

This is slight sidenote, but @clintscoffeepot did a really great comprehensive of Fraction Clint's apartment which is just a really useful writing resource and you can get that here.

There is also this website which I stumbled across fairly far into writing this post which does actually look like it might be comprehensive.

If I've missed anything major, or listed something incorrectly or you just have some Clint related opinions that I need to know about, do hit me up.

[ranmanjuu]

—gen z mc with uesugi-takeda + misc. forces

ahh, i’m so glad people liked my gen z oda hcs! lol it’s usually pretty slow from my writing blog experiences until now, but i’m rlly happy! i was planning to do u-t and the others but then i decided to stop at oda and continue another day. thx for the asks tho! and yeah, i do take requests but it’s more of a pasttime, since this whole blog is just my stupid ideas written out and shared out there.

also someone said that a gen z mc could be old enough to romance the warlords, like, early twenties. and yes, very fair if u wanna romance ur mans with memes and existentialism go for it!! i just think it adds more to the comedy side of this child they have to babysit, while not fearing death or any consequences from their dumb of Ass decisions. someone who fears no death and armed with no braincells is a fool, but a Child who fears no death and armed with no braincells is also a fool, but more bizzare and has That Vibe y’know

@niphredil-14​ and @arthotsglasses​

tw: s*icidal, violent jokes treated in a light manner

also spoilers to some things of their characters

—kenshin:

who is this,, , sassy lost child??

he first saw you prepared to throw hands with ronins who were being Elite Dickheads. ofc, armed with nothing compared to the sworded-adults, he had to interfere.

no matter how cold he treated you, masking his secret !!!-like concern, you seemed so unfazed through it. you still interacted with him like normal,,,,, why?? do you want a death wish?

and each time he threatened you with,, anything, you responded with, “the only one who gets to hurt & kill me, is ME”

...... what?

he’s convinced you’re the biggest fool of a person. and he’d be right but even so, he has a weirdly strong need to protect you as you two got closer. you’re often with sasuke, so it’s harder to avoid you.

even with all the Horrible jokes you make on a daily basis, if your passionate side with everyone having equal rights of being treated as human, for him it shows a side of you that makes you seem precious and pure and kind hearted.

and the overprotective side increases.

which is, ,, a bit problematic sometimes cause you have the tendency to target and piss off anyone in a 10 meter range by just one (1) sassy comment, along with your lack of impulse control and blurting out everything in your mind. it’s made you a lot of short enemies in the sengoku period, and kenshin would always be ready to slice them down behind you.

sasuke has to tame him down with his Masters degree in kenshin-wrangling.

at banquets, kenshin would often have you beside him. if you’re too young for sake do age for drinking exist in sengoku? probably not. it’s more of sasuke advising for him to not give you alcoholic drinks he’ll have you pouring for him or just munching away at pickled plums or food.

—shingen:

(ngl i kinda had a hard time with this since it’s erasing a big part of his overall character,,, flirting)

once he heard the news that oda had taken in somone as young as you during honno-ji,, ,,,he’s in a very “how dare that demon >>:( taking such a pure soul,....”

and when you’re taken to kasugayama as a captive, you’re,,, surprisingly very calm and whelmed. you don’t have much sign of fear or anxiety in your overall demeanor meanwhile you’re busy dissociating and spacing out to feel those

you actually don’t seem to hate your captor. but shingen isn’t sure if your ‘fingerguns’ is a good thing or not cause it depicts you pointing guns @ him,, (dw is good shingen)

while yes being held hostage—no matter how good you’re being treated—isn’t ideal and kinda not very cash money, you consider shingen v chill. man has a kindheart!! “i diagnose you with good vibes.”

if he ever sees your righteous side, as everyone else, he’ll deeply admire you. he himself is someone who believes in such as well. and hearing the circumstances in the modern world regarding those things (blm, etc.) his heart truly does go out for you. he feels sympathy for such a young person like you having to take action

also your dirty humor around him, echigo’s player, kind of makes him question where and how you learnt it

and,, his illness.

through getting straight to the point and not falling for it each time he changes subject/dodges the question, you managed to get to the bottom of his illness. shingen himself thinks it’s not something you have to burden with knowing—you’re so, so young.

but that doesn’t matter to you. the world’s given you such a shit time, you’re mature enough to understand the situation at least.

and as he finishes his explanation, all there was is silence. it felt wrong to say any of your usual quips,, so all you did was slowly came there and hugged him.

that was more than what he’d ask for.

—sasuke:

oh hell yeah

you are in your element with him. the chillest guy to talk to, and probably the first one you’re the closest to

your phone was dead after like 2 days of use, and you were miserable while hideyoshi, like a typical parent, told you to go outside and into town. sensing your bad mood, sasuke asked what’s up. you deadpanned, “my phone game ended and now i’m ready to commit not breath.” you oslemnly look out in the bustling streets and clutched your fist like an Anime Protagonist, “those boomer memes were right all along... i am absolutely Miserable and Useless(^TM) without it.”

in response, you could’ve sworn he did the Anime Glasses thing as well, “then we at team Moderately Awesome Sengoku Ninja are happy to announce the launch of a DIY phone charger, made with the electricity from a fruit and the main functionality of a solar panel. and has more durability than samsung’s.”

there were Stars in your eyes now. with a big grin, you thank him, “i’d die for you, sasuke.”

“then perish.” he said with a blank look. (yukimura, in the bg: ???!!!??!??!?)

the next day he consentually breaks in through the ceiling and gives you the weird contraption. you’re now saved, soul-wise.

the memes start coming and they don’t stop coming from the two of you. in any situation. whether it’d be at a teahouse, or at a battlefield that can determine your life and death.

and you can have discussions about current world events, or the past ones, with him and he’d understand completely what you’re talking about. it’s those rare nights when you’ve been thinking and have a deep conversation with him in his room, and as an adult, it makes for interesting results as well.

the others are endlessly confused, but you’re both so unapologetically yourselves.

and he’s super protective if the circumstances are tough. he feels bad for dragging another person in the sengoku with him—much less when they’re so young like you.

if you’re enough of a lil shit, once you’re taken into kasugayama, in the nights where you can’t sleep because brain at what would be 3 am, you’d probably trudge over to his room and wake him up to tell him what kind of mind-blowing shit you realized.

—yukimura:

when he saved you from falling to your death, your reaction already set off weird Vibes inside him. what do you mean, “you stopped me from fleeing this fleeting world by the sweet embrace of death” ?!?!?! are you crazy?? yes

he doesn’t waste time getting blunt with you at all either.

once he goes into azuchi as a merchant, he silently observes you talking to sasuke for a bit. what’s with your weird language?? and crude humor???? never in his life has he met someone in your age act like that wtf

even so, he still operates on the basis of ‘‘if sasuke trusts you, i trust you’’, no matter how utterly concerned you make him feel

you have a dirtier mind than him! unsurprisingly. along with everyone else, you often tease the poor soul, a nd you’d gladly tell him what the innuendoes mean ( 69, etc.) and maybe sprinkle in some gay jokes in there

and why do you keep mentioning this “bromance between him and sasuke” ?? what us,,, a bromance????? and why is sasuke in it??

he takes you out to teahouses to eat chestnut dumplings and other desserts with you. you always seem to target the one he doesn’t like the most and have a bit of banter

your relationship is built on banter but what’s different rlly

he treats you much more maturely than other people your age. as in, he doesn’t pull back his punches in words most of the time. you don’t seem to around him also, it looks like.

and, he’s also very protective of you. he regards you as his little sibling, as rat as you may be. and he does care about you—he might just be a bit unwilling to say it

—yoshimoto:

you think he’s very chill, if a bit unique but who were you to judge. and he is, if you ever meet him in echigo or even azuchi

his big liking to art and something of apathy to people is osmething you can respect. there’s something about that kind of Vibe that you find oddly a mood.

and oh boy oh boy you wasted no time pulling up your phone and showing images of what art is in the future. whether it’d be a screenshot of anime, fanart, aesthetic-like ones, palette-themed—the whole shabang. 

and, somehow, you were left ranting to him  about how some artists in the future get it so shitty for theft, reposting, not crediting, the list goes on (please be a decent human being to artist, sincerely the author) and he can’t help but just listen in silence and kind of thinking about how you’re so passionate about the Struggles of artists. and it isn’t something he sees often in the sengoku era—where war rules most things.

and he does find art from the modern times interesting, how they’re so different and vast in styles. and not only that, it’s not like the future only has one major style like then, each hand can draw such different pictures and still have beauty in each. he appreciates and admires that.

and he does tell you his thoughts ^ while you give your own insight. it’s so fascinating to see someone like you having strong opinions on this.

because, well, rn art is a big thing in our lives as we’re stuck inside. a part of entertainment is looking at any media of art—and he finds his view of art and yours quite the same. you two came from a time of turmoil (one moreso than the other) but still think art isn’t exactly irrelevant just because it isn’t a cure to diseases or the Ultimate Weapon.

you had to Surgically Remove him from your phone so you can use it and to stop him from draining your battery looking at the art

and he often drags you out to town and admire pieces when you’re holing yourself in too much. your comments are always unknown to him, “radical”, “that’s one i can vibe with ngl”, and the list goes on.

and you occasionally call him pretty boy as a compliment rlly

—kennyo:

when you first saw him at honno-ji, and he won’t forget the one (1) line you gave him, all you said to his warning of ooo spooky demons was, “that’s lit fam gtg tho”

and that alone was enough to stun him for a few seconds

honestly you told the others of your meeting with kennyo before they told you it could be kennyo. just a throaway line of “oh yeah there was this dude with a scar across his face.” / “,,, ,....that’s kennyo. he’s really dangerous actually—” / “oh, poggers”

you’re probably kind of half the reason the oda forces found who dun it.

and it was an eye for an eye, kennyo himself found out that you were their child chatelaine, and very close to the others. as per his villain-schedule, he kidnaps you .

he laments about how “such a pure soul such as yours is not to be stained by the demon’s hands”

oh how Wrong he was.

you were the definition of the opposite of pure. and you seemed unfazed, which surprised kennyo but shrugged it off. he was willing to face you screaming and panicking, along with shouldering the sin of doing the deed. but instead, he was met with a raised eyebrow and, “this is unexpected and probably not welcomed but what am i doing here.”

he was stunned for a moment before explaining what he can. 

“......... fuck.”

he cringed ever so slightly at your curse. but your attention seems to stray so quickly off of the fact that you were bounded and helpless, to the fact that you have the man doing unspeakable things to civilians and you absolutely don’t approve.

throwing your common sense to maybe be civilized, you went off on a rant of how human rights and how to not be an ass to him. all he could do was just listened, shocked to even cut you off.

when he did, he gave the whole ‘unsaved demon’ shtick, and you weren’t taking that kinda shit. he believed he was truly unsaved—you knew that. but that doesn’t make it okay.

eventually, he left you with a cold end of the conversation.

he admires your spirit in a way—but with what he’s experienced,,, it’s a bit of unreachable for him.

if at any point you saw the soft side of his with animals, you just gaped at him for a split second and whispered, “the gap moe is strong with this one.”

also old man died inside when you said that you’d fight god, along with many things.

all in all, to him, you’re insufferable. but weirdly,, fascinating.

you’ve totally ok boomer’d him once cause he rlly looks old

—motonari:

,,. if your speech to kennyo was bad, he’s going to rant hell.

motonari already knew you were interesting even when his men just spied on you. your behavior, so brash and impulsive, is going to be so fun to have, he thinks.

through some planning to stir up more chaos, he kidnaps you and brings you unto his ship. same as kennyo, you showed no clear sign of surprise, and that’s when he decided you were either used to this in any way, or a fool. both answers, he liked.

you’re kind of really confused on why he’s doing what he’d doing. “i get it, i like to stir up chaos myself but it’s harmless,, most of it—but not until the people are in danger, bitch.”

and by that line, motonari leans towards you with a deadly smirk, “now, i can bite, ‘kay kid? you don’t wanna be in the receiving end... do you?”

“do it, coward.”

and before he could let out even a wheeze of laughter, you continued on on a lecture of, again, not being a dick and letting people live their life in peace. and much less all of this damage, for what? chaos?? yeah you wanted to see the world burn but it wasn’t literally.

however, his patience was running thin. he shuts you up forcefully, and leaves.

even so, after a cooldown period, he still talks to you (,,,, well, that’s kind of a generous term) because, right he was, you were so fun in his eyes.

an interesting observation he made,,, was that you picked up on his big dislike of physical contact. and he’d think with how annoying you were at times, that you’d weaponize it. but you didn’t—in fact, you kept your space (not that you were planning to get close) and respected his boundaries.

he thinks you a bit of peculiar for that decision, some wary, and perhaps naive.

one of the days—the more dangerous ones—he was planning to take you to the oda as bait or something. and you weren’t taking it like that. two days before arrival, a storm racked up. you stood upon the edge of the ship with the rest of the crew watching you like you were a madman.

“the oda won’t want me if i’m dead, would they now?”

motonari stands in his composure, guffawing, “all i need is to make sure they believe you’re alive, kid.”

a smile that showed absolutely no fear and 1000 percent spite spread in your face, “not unless i decimate my own body until all the trail left is my blood. the only one who gets to do that shit to me, is me.”

finally, a look of wavering shows in his face.

you were saved last minute,, and the rest is history.

[selfships-in-spanish]

okok so have you watched the movie Epic (I personally love it 💚)??

I’m just gonna say that Erwin and Eva remind me too much of Queen Tara and Ronin, mainly from their cute little sarcastic filled banter back and forth but because ugh, Erwin must have the biggest heart eyes for her! Ronin is Queen Tara’s bodyguards and of course love interest (or else I wouldn’t be comparing the two 😅)

I’m honestly enjoying the little series you’ve started but I must catch up! Keep going! Your art never fails to make me smile!! 💕💕

AYYYYY HI! :DDDDD

AHHHHH I HAVE! I watched it ages ago but absolutely LOVED it! The character designs were all so pretty and Queen Tara is just so so so gorgeous I love her, and Ronin is so sweet sdfsdfsdds. Their romance is so precious!!!! I even remember buying the artbook because I really wanted to see the art behind it and for inspiration also when needed (I got so many artbooks and I want more ;_;). Amazing <3

Alright this is not me, screeching. Like a nazgul. Nope.

Ohmygodyes yesssssssss it's them. Eva once she gets more comfortable around people and lets down her walls she is more prone to little sarcastic and teasing banters, all good-hearted of course. She shows more of her true self that she is afraid to show.

But 100% agree that Erwin has heart eyes 24/7 for Eva, someone help this man. Levi needs to kick his leg to keep him focused or he has to endure watching their Commander being distracted during meetings or trainings.

I do see Erwin being a little bit exasperated sometimes when Eva just does Eva things because she has the self-preservation of a male mantis and heads straight into danger. Erwin knows he cannot do exceptions or have special treatments, but... if he can avoid her getting into unnecessary danger, watch him drag her away.

But this dynamic falls so damn good in the arranged marriage!AU fjksdfjsldfjskd pls. Eva opening herself more and getting out of that submissive and toxic shell her father imposed to her, and she is SASSY (undoubtedly Levi's influence)! Teases a lot! Gets even flirty and Erwin is just having the biggest heart eyes because look at his Princess being her own independent self (look I got a little chapter planned out of Erwin just taking her on a picnic date because he's a romantic sap okay, lot's of fluff 👌). He's fallen deep <3

Ahhhhhhhh thank you so much! ❤️;_; this AU is like my little baby (that I got like 35k written already :_D) and I'm enjoying so much writing and drawing about it! I'm so surprised of how well received it has been so far, and I'm so grateful for every like, comment and ask about it :_)

I'm so happy you enjoy it, and I hope you like the newest chapters!! I'm writing ch4 and jumping between some parts of the story that I'm so eager to show y'all already afsfgdfg as well as some drawings and doodles. Cross fingers I finish some portfolio stuff soon as well as commissions and I have a bit of time to draw them <3

Thank you for your ask darling!! I hope you have an amazing day :D

[afandomroom]

Star Wars the Force Unleashed Ninjago AU: 

Under the Overlord's command to wipe out all remaining Jedi, Lord Garmadon comes to the planet of Kashykk, hunting down the Jedi Ray Smith.

There, he finds Ray and his son, a very powerful force wielder named Kai. Garmadon cuts down Ray infront of Kai, but also cuts down his soldiers, taking Kai to be trained as his secret apprentice and assassin.

Years later, having endured the brutal training of the Sith, Kai is the dark assassin known as Starkiller. He never knew any other name. 

The time has finally come, for Kai/Starkiller to aide Garmadon in overthrowing the Overlord, and Kai/Starkiller is more than ready. 

But first, a test- extinguish the remaining Jedi

First on the list - Find the elder Jedi general, Ronin, and kill him. Return with his lightsaber as proof. 

To help him complete his task, he is joined by his droid companion (I can't decide between Zane, Pixal, and Echo. Proxy, the original droid in the story, is rather glitchy, so Echo might make sense) and the ex- ace fighter pilot (either Skylor or Jay. The original character, Juno, is excellent with machines and mechanics, but also somewhat sassy so...). 

While he refuses to admit it, he falls head over heals for Skylor/Jay the second he met her/him. Sith aren't allowed to have connections, not like that, so he's prepared to deal with her/him should she/he become a...liability.

He fails his mission to kill Ronin, instead blinding the man and leaving him to fall to his death. He isn't aware the elder Jedi survived when he reports back to Garmadon.

And so continues his missions. He is sent to kill the Jedi Krux, who has a secret apprentice called Harumi. His final mission is to kill the insane Jedi Mystake.

When he returns to Garmadon, he is met with an unpleasant suprise- The Overlord discovered Kai/Starkiller exists, and orders Garmadon to kill his apprentice.

Kai/Starkiller would be saved and revived by Garmadon , however, and once more he would be manipulated by the dark man. 

Reuniting with Skylor/Jay and Echo/Zane/Pixal, Kai/Starkiller claims he wants to build a resistance. Rather, he actually wants to find the empire's enemies for Garmadon, but Skylor/Jay now wish to join a rebellion, and this is a perfect plot for luring them out. 

Step one: Find Ronin, and get him to "train" Kai/Starkiller. 

they find him, drunk on a planet after being blinded. To their surprise, he's not alone, joined by his apprentice - The young Nya Smith.

Kai/Starkiller doesn't know why, but he feels a strong connection to her, as does Nya to him. 

Step two: Save Lloyd from the empire, and later Koko from Harumi

Afterwords, they will meet with Koko and Ronin's contacts on another planet, and plan out the rebellion from there.

throughout this time, Kai/Starkiller is conflicted. He begins to see through the corruption of the darkside, begins to care for and appreciate these people he's surrounded himself with. He admits to how important Echo/Zane/Pixal is to him, how much he loves Jay/Skylor. 

he begins to remember his past, and recognize Nya.

He begins to rebel against his teacher, and ultimately decides to join the light in their fight against the dark.

but was that decision made to late?

[ninjagozanefan14]

This is my Ninjago OC, Takara Ronin. She's the daughter of Ronin and my OC, Kumiko.She and her mother live by themselves in Hiroto (The capital city of Ninjago) while Ronin goes off being a rouge. Takara and her mother are also extremely poor, which is one of the reasons that Ronin goes off, so he can get them more money. Takara only usually sees her father a few times a year. Name: Takara Ronin Age: 18 Gender: Female Birthday: TBA Ethnicity: Japanese/Spanish Love interest: TBA Job: None yet Personality: Brave, determined, sassy, caring Element: None Family: Her father is Ronin, her mother is Kumiko Weapon if needed: Martial arts and pretty much anything ~Art is mine These are my original characters I don't own Ninjago Do not steal/edit/use/copy/repost ~

[sasorikigai]

💎💎💎 ( All Hanryou and Solar Wind verses plz )

Send "💎💎💎" and My Muse will say three things that comes to their mind when Your Muse's name is mentioned || @sonxflight || accepting 

Hanryou: historical verses (canon, half-demon, samurai, ronin, etc.)

Protean: Akin to Proteus, possessing the gift of prophecy but didn't like to share his knowledge. Proteus would escape those who wanted to question him by changing his shape. The only way to get a straight answer from him was to sneak up behind him during his midday nap and hold onto him (while he frantically changed from shape to shape) until he eventually revealed what he knew. The adjective "protean" describes anyone or anything that is as mutable and adaptable as the mythological shepherd.

Soft: The reason why Hanzo loves Jack/Ryou is because of their dualistic dichotomy they seem to share in their temperaments. The softness in his beloved’s voice. The kindness in his heart. The experience in his wounds. The magic that dances in their coalescing, entwined soul when Hanzo never forgets that Ryou is one of the intrinsic reasons for his fire.

Empathetic: They both are sensitive and honest-minded men, and Ryou is so concerned about evil and injustice in the world, understand the depths of Hanzo’s suffering and torment will naturally begin his campaign against them by eliminating them at their nearest source: his own person. This task will take his entire life.

Hanryou: modern verse 

Sassy: Who doesn't put him down in a disrespectful way but rather a cheeky way, sassy people are only mean when taken to far or annoyed, so Hanzo knows not to piss off a sassy person such as Ryou, especially when they are being argumentative. 

Self-sacrificial: They both are in a way, for their professionalism and work ethics are altruistic in a matter that they are made to sacrifice of their own desires, interest, etc, for the sake of duty or for the well-being of others. Their pasts haunt them in a vicious cycle, but they are the ones who believe that by serving the society and the world at large, they can do good against darkness and evil. 

Anchor (Pillar): Hanzo’s mostly a ball of anger, he has to live with the repressed burning anger sitting in his belly like a perpetual ache, and even when Hanzo finds himself shuffling through the world with a lost purpose, Ryou’s always there to catch him and help him get right back up to find the righteous path. 

SolarWind: MK11, modern 

Competent: Most likely one of the most all-rounded combatant he’s ever seen in the Earthrealm. With the scope of martial arts and weaponry Jack/Ryou can handle, it’s most likely that he could be even challenged to become the Earthrealm’s Champion. As Ryou has served as an active agent, 

Intelligent: A trait that is probably most admirable, in that the capability of thinking flexibly/outside the box and necessitates the ability to shift and change the patterns of thinking from one way to another is considerably the most valued trait that could be used both as an active agent, or as a medical doctor. 

Open-minded: They both like to stay open-minded to others' points of view, not formulating their own until hearing multiple voices. This doesn't mean they're fickle, for an open-minded person such as Jack/Ryou is more likely to be confident about his opinion once formed and less likely to be manipulated.

SolarWind: Samurai Jack verse 

Resilient: A resilient person is aware of situations, his own emotional reactions and the behavior of those around him. By remaining aware, Jack/Ryou can maintain control of a situation and think of new ways to tackle problems. Another characteristic of resilience is the understanding that life is full of challenges, and despite such challenges, never giving up and seeing the light of the day again and again. 

Guilt-Ridden: Jack/Ryou perpetually deals the stress of the guilt, which can have a serious effect. While mostly psychological, some physical effects can include insomnia, a loss of appetite, and an overall dreary feeling, which Fujin has seen the samurai experience in such a deeply, heart-wrenching scopes. Guilt happens to share a lot of symptoms with depression; and depression can develop within someone with severe guilt issues. 

Paternal: Jack/Ryou is a believer that pretty much everyone can be redeemed. Even when Daughters of Aku are sent after the samurai to kill him, he develops deep emotional connections with them, and he wants to set the wrong right. They both have seen the injustice of the world run amok and rampant and they believe in such halcyon optimism to help anyone who are corrupted with darkness. 

[hellyeahomeland]

“Paean to the People” | Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter

“Paean to the People” picks up right where “All In” left off. Carrie and Anson are speeding through the streets of Budapest Moscow Budapow. In this opening shot, their car is the only one on the bridge, adding to the feeling of just how on their own they are, without diplomatic cover, as they try to distract Yevgeny long enough to get Simone on that plane.

The arrangement in this shot!! Everyone whose face is visible is serving so much face. Simone is like, “don’t look at me.” Bennet (with facial hair!) is like, “are you fucking kidding me?” Doxie (with some pretty great side eye) is like, “I am NOT getting stuck in Budapow.” And Ms. Pink Scarf is like, “What am I doing here again? What is my job?” You and us both, Pink Scarf. You and us both.

Let’s give a full round of snaps to Sandy this season. She brought the sassy realness and Russian know-how the whole dang time. This show needs all the female energy it can get and this shot of her pulling out the chair for Clint’s “time out” is incredible. We’re not sure if she’ll be back for season eight, but if she won’t, we will miss her so.

Both Carrie and Anson know what’s at stake in this mission but in this moment, it’s Carrie who has to convince Anson how far she can and will go. We hate to say it, but the moment of recognition shared here between them screams “America First” when Quinn tells Carrie to get in the car and stay down. If seven seasons of Homeland have taught us one thing, it’s that these people all follow the same code: Get in. Get down. Shut up. Mission over self.

IJLTP.

We will hand it to the Homeland props department for getting the birthday right on Simone’s fake Carrie Mathison passport (it’s April 5, 1979). But!! Her middle name is spelled Anne, not Ann.

Simone spent a lot of time obscuring her face from the Russian officials in that car, but this glimpse of her expression after she asks Saul if he’s really going to leave Carrie--the Carrie who CLIMBED A FUCKING ROOF LIKE TWENTY MINUTES AGO TO GET TO SIMONE--in Budapow. That is a pursed lip and evil eye if we ever saw ‘em.

...And, of course, the guilt is written all over his face.

We are CACKLING at the dude in the white jacket in the background. We are not sure if he is just a really bad extra or some random stranger who saw Claire Danes in a Budapest train station and needed to share else he was met with a chorus of “pics or it didn’t happen” from his friends.

Sara and Doxie have the same birthday (November 4), which further solidifies that he is her forever man and the best Carrie Angel of them all.

We talked about the strong “America First” vibes above and the whole sequence of Carrie running through the train station is giving us heavy “The Smile” vibes, too. After seven seasons, it’s difficult for some moments not to feel like explicit callbacks from earlier episodes. After all, maybe looking at a mirror in a crowded marketplace is just Carrie’s favorite American spy woman move. But this shot, and Carrie’s smile later, are so specific that we think the homage is intentional.

IJLTP, II.

Real talk though, you really get a sense of the loneliness of the office here, as Beau faces away, back to the camera, surrounded by those heavy curtains.

Lesli Linka Glatter is a choreographer by training and she’s talked before about the diligent preparation she does before directing a Homeland episode. In sequences like these--filmed, acted, and edited with such specific clarity--that training and preparation come through loud and clear. Every shot has a purpose and we’re exposed to all angles of the action. It really is like a dance.

Here, the slow reveal of Yevgeny coming around the corner ratchets up the stakes as Carrie waits, a sitting duck in the locked room.

And here’s our duck. What’s so great about thrilling and suspenseful action sequences like this is the human moments they’re contrasted with. We can see the fear in her face as she contemplates whether to go down in a blaze of glory. She’s not made of steel. She may only have seconds left to live. She may be a hero but she is not a superhero.

Yevgeny delivers a BudaPOW (sorry, we couldn’t resist) with his punch to Carrie, but her moment of defeat is quickly transformed into one of triumph with the news that Saul and his “package” have achieved lift-off.

This smile, guys. Damn. Claire Danes is in a class all her own.

Delirious, glorious laughter. When was the last time we saw Carrie laugh?

It doesn’t last long, of course. The first rule of Homeland is that if Carrie smiles, shit’s about to get fucked up. “At least she had this moment,” we all whisper quietly to ourselves.

The shots of Saul looking down from his window at the city of Budapow--Carrie in it God knows where, the proverbial needle in the haystack--are powerful. He has left her there. And now he has to get her back.

We love this shot of everyone arrayed out like this, watching Simone’s testimony in The Room Where It Happened. Though we would like to point out that it’s hard to take Bennet seriously without facial hair. Dude, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Get on it! (Also there are so many VESTS this season! We count two in this shot alone.)

IJLTP, III.

This is the sequence of shots after Keane says she’ll do everything she can to get Carrie back. There was some chatter about going to Anson first (looking pensive), then Saul (looking sorrowful), and finally Max, who looks the most doubtful and suspect of them all (and, of course, almost hidden behind the others in the back). Sara actually thinks closing with Max is the most powerful. He’s been by Carrie’s side, through thick and thin, all seven seasons of this show. And after the trauma of losing Quinn last season, it’s easy to see how history may be replaying itself for him, this time in agonizing slow-motion.

So many “Pilot” vibes. This show loves playing with reversals and bookends, and having Carrie be the prisoner now is one of the most stinging of them all.

Sara would just like to say that she even looks beautiful in a Russian prison.

The book Carrie’s reading here is called Where Avon into Severn Flows, which is actually a short story by the American writer Harold Frederic and part of his book The Deserter and Other Stories: A Book of Two Wars.

Here is the opening paragraph of the story:

“A boy of fifteen, clad in doublet and hose of plain cloth dyed a sober brown, sat alone at one end of a broad, vaulted room, before a writing table. The strong, clear light which covered him and his work fell through an open window, arched at the top and piercing a stone wall of almost a yard's thickness. Similar openings to the right and left of him marked with bars of light a dozen other places along the extended, shelf-like table, where writers had now finished their day's labor, and, departing, had left covered horns of ink and cleansed utensils behind them. But the boy's task lagged behind fulfilment, and mocked him.”

It’s easy to see the parallels. Carrie is held in a Russian prison, also dressed in plain, ill-fitting clothes. She sits in a broad, vaulted room with a plain writing table nearby. Carrie might have won the battle, getting Simone back to the United States, but here in this cell, her success must feel fleeting and the irony of her current circumstance mocking.

Some major “There’s Something Else Going On” vibes here. (Sorry, we’re just gonna point out all our vibes.)

We’re just gonna call this pose from Costa Ronin the Yevgeny Lean (#IJustLikeHowHeLeans). On a more serious note, some credit needs to be given to Ronin, who brought Yevgeny to life and made him feel like a fully lived-in person. His habit of leaning back, feet propped out before him, is just one small example, but it’s representative of the care and attention he put into crafting such a three-dimensional portrait of one of the most interesting villains in the series’ history.

IJLTP, IV. 

And that IJLTP shot of Carrie, alone in that Russian prison with the stakes (i.e., her mental health) now clearly defined, is followed by the rather astounding hero’s welcome that awaits Keane back in the West Wing. This reminds Sara of those tunnels that sports teams would form after a game for everyone to run through. And now Sara wishes Keane had run through the tunnel, high-fiving everyone.

It’s Tie Color Time! Note that Beau is now back to the blue tie, having resumed his position as Vice President.

Talk about sweet karma. The scene between Paley and Keane is remarkable for a few reasons. First, Paley does all the talking. Keane doesn’t even give him the respect that comes with a response. He lowers himself to his knees, literally begging for her mercy.

Keane is often shot from below, highlighting her stance and power. But here, it’s a point-of-view shot. We see what Paley sees: this woman, whom Saul once claimed could not “rise above her own vindictiveness,” closing in on him, a bird of prey who’s finally made her catch. And then she spits in his face.

The Washington Monument, which sits due east of the Reflecting Pool, adds great dramatic effect to this beautifully shot (and scored) moment after Keane leaves her meeting with Paley. Despite the monument’s great size, in these shots its height matches Keane’s, which is likely intentional.

As the monument was being completed. Joseph R. Chandler, a Freemason and member of the House of Representatives said:

“No more Washingtons shall come in our time ... But his virtues are stamped on the heart of mankind. He who is great in the battlefield looks upward to the generalship of Washington. He who grows wise in counsel feels that he is imitating Washington. He who can resign power against the wishes of a people, has in his eye the bright example of Washington.”  

As she drives back through the DC streets at night one last time as President, she’s clearly at a crossroads. History has its eyes on her. (We will also continue to make ALL the Hamilton references.)

We’re not sure if this moment was scripted or if it was a choice by Claire in the moment. Either way, what’s happening? If she praying? Thanking God? Carrie’s relationship with religion and atonement has been basically nonexistent since the show devoted attention to it in season five. We wonder if, like Brody before her, she may be discovering--or rediscovering, as it were--it while in captivity, a salve for her inevitable isolation.

A few things to note from this headstone:

It’s the tenth anniversary of Andrew’s death.

Are we really meant to believe Keane is old enough to have had a kid in 1979? Elizabeth Marvel was born in 1969, which means she’s playing at least ten years older than she actually is. Sara does not buy this, but whatever.

Andrew is born mere weeks before Carrie, which in hindsight kind of shifts the relationship between Keane and Carrie in season six. Carrie really could be Keane’s daughter, and if Carrie indeed did see her in some small part as a mother figure, it frames her conflict with Saul last season--and the battle for Carrie’s loyalty--in an even sharper light.

This is just a gorgeous light, the rows of headstones filling the bottom half of the screen and the large, overgrown tree framing Keane in the top half. It’s her figurative “moment alone in the shade” (figurative because she’s not really in the shade, but y’all catch our drift).

Again, it was impossible to properly capture the moment when Carrie congratulates Aleksandr through anything other than a gif. The quiver in her voice, her attempt at a forced smile. After this moment, the lighting in the room shifts--she is literally forced to see the light, as the direness of her circumstances are fully revealed.

This is the last time we see Carrie before the “seven months later” coda, so now’s as good a time as any to talk about the truly tremendous work she did this season.

From the opening episode, Claire took us on the tenuous, tumultuous journey of Carrie’s war with her own mind and the battles waged within. Every episode, every moment was brought to life with exacting precision. Sometimes we loved her, and sometimes we hated her, but Claire’s commitment to every moment never wavered, whether it was seducing Dante, having nightmarish visions of her bloodied daughter, or inching her way across that GRU roof.

The throughline of this season of Carrie’s mental health makes this moment and the final scene land with even more crushing weight than they otherwise would. When Carrie experiences a breakdown so harrowing and frightening, she goes to extreme lengths to restore her own sanity. In the last three episodes of the season, we see just how invaluable that sanity is--her mind is both her greatest asset and greatest liability.

Carrie knows here what’s about to happen. She stares, eyes wide open, almost as if she’s glimpsing into the future at what lies before her. There’s no safety net this time, no pills or ECT to pull her back or hit the reset button. But for as much as she knows that she’ll lose her mind (in every sense of the word, it turns out), there is also great uncertainty, looking into “the bottom of a black hole with no walls.”

Something we find super interesting about this sequence is just how many perspectives LLG gives us of Keane’s speech, whether it’s Wellington’s from inside the Oval, Saul in his office, or Yevgeny in Budapow. Again, LLG’s choreography background comes shining through. For almost the entire speech, we see her presidency--and what turns out to be its final moments--through everyone’s lens except her own.

LLG doesn’t shoot Keane center-frame, without some extra filter of a screen, until the very end of the scene, after the speech is over. Keane talks earlier about wanting to speak directly to the American people, from the heart, but what we actually get is everyone looking at screens, at the filtered version of this woman and her office, a metaphor if ever there was one for her short-lived presidency.

As her speech (which, like Washington’s Farewell Address, focuses on the need to not let political parties and divisions tear apart the country) nears its end, we do see Keane center-frame. But, again, it’s a shot of her center-frame on the screen, and her appearance is somehow altered and filtered.

(A quick note about her wardrobe: Keane starts the day grieving for her son at Arlington, and she keeps on the same black clothing during her speech, a signal of the impending end of her presidency. The dangling earrings are also an interesting choice, and an unusual one for Keane, who usually wears studs or conservative-looking hoops. Like Carrie in “Species Jump,” this is as close as she’ll get to “letting her hair down,” and the unconventional jewelry choice conveys the peace she’s found with her decision.)

And now the lights come down on Keane and her presidency, in every sense of the word.

The dynamics of this scene remind Sara of the end of “The Choice,” when Saul sees Carrie in that hall of dead bodies after thinking she’d died in the explosion. They shared a moment of recognition at the end of that scene, standing in stark contrast to what unfolds here.

Here’s our first good shot of Carrie, and there’s a lot to take in. The swollen face and unkempt hair are startling, to say the least. Under her bulky black coat she’s wearing white (you can see a peak of her shirt here but her pants--not visible in this shot--are also white), indicating she’s been in an asylum.

The season opened with Carrie running on a treadmill, athletic and strong, the buzzy chords of jazz blaring in our ears. It ends with our heroine on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. She’s feeble and unsteady, running away from the Russian guards and straight past Saul. We hear jazz again, but it’s slower and somehow weightier.

As Saul gently brushes the hair from her face and looks into her eyes, calling her name, she is seemingly unable to recognize him. Her eyes dart from side to side, up and down, but his remain steady on her, and we can see (and share) the concern and devastation etched on his face.

She’s searching, and so is he.

[sheithauzine]

Stargazing Zine Contributor Spotlight

Get to know the contributors that are a part of Stargazing: a Sheith AU Fanzine!  Meet @seitou​, who did a Circus AU that is also part of our merch bundle!

Seitou

“Love is patient and kind; love one another.”

Circus AU!  Your absolutely gorgeous art is not only part of the zine, but is being featured as one of the mini-prints in our bundle.  Let me say, I’m definitely shelling out to get myself a copy of that one!  What can you give us about the backstory of this AU?  You’ve really piqued my curiosity!

It was originally an idea for a fanfic plotted out just before season 2 dropped, so I've been sitting on this for a while. Shiro was a former trapeze artist who suffered a horrendous fall at a young age and had to quit. He sees Keith perform Corde Lisse, the suspended cord acrobatics thing, a few years later and was entranced by him. At some point during his frequent visit to the circus Keith picks Shiro out as a volunteer to do tricks off his shoulders, lowkey flirting with him and slowly fall in love. How the story went after that depended on if Keith was working for Zarkon or Alfor, so either Keith and Shiro run away together, or Alfor ask Shiro to join their troop and he works his way up to Ringmaster.

So you do freelance art for a living, but also take fandom commissions as well.  That’s a lot of art!  How do you manage to balance your time and energy between your career work and your commissions?

It helps that the work I do get is related to one fandom or another, and that my situation is such that I am able to mostly focus on my art. Traditional work also takes longer or shorter depending on what medium I'm using so that helps. But burnout is very real, so I try to take breaks and do other things.  Saturdays are generally my art free day, unless I have a deadline, then all bets are off.

Now that is relatable.

So you get to do fandom work for a living?  That sounds awesome!  What other fandoms do you do work for?  Was there any process that led to you being able to do so or was it just a series of fortunate events?

A series of fortunate and unfortunate events really.  I was originally going to college for Marine Biology, but I was going through a Junior college circa 2005 to 2008 and found out that I would have to get through calculus  to get my degree. I was exhausted of math at that point so I decided to say forget that and looked for something else. Art had always been a passion of mine so it seems like a natural transition for me. So I applied to an art school, and while that's been difficult to maintain attendance, (housing is expensive in San Francisco) I don't regret it. As for fandoms, I've done art for Ronin Warriors, Transformers Animated, Superman, Harry Potter, X-Men: First Class, and Snow Villars from Final Fantasy.

I feel you on that one; I dropped my computer science major in a heartbeat because of calc.

Final question: Voltron has so many good characters, but most people have their own special fave!  Who is yours, and why?

I'll be real my favorites are probably Shiro and Hunk. Because I love characters that are just good for the sake of being good. There is nothing wrong with flawed or damaged character, they both are in their own ways, but there isn't as much ego, selfishness, and baggage that other characters have. They are just good people trying to do good despite difficult circumstance. I have a soft spot for characters who try to stay tried and true despite hardships. It helps that Hunk is a sassy sweetheart and Shiro is a hot side of beef.

[ninnekomata]

Alright so that AU where ninja animals are just considered regular ninja and have rights:

Ninja animals have some rights because they’re obv. intelligent but probably get treated badly a lot? like second hand citizens - they get passed up in promotions, or given worse jobs, or paid less, etc.in a lot of cases 

they probably have a lot of issues with illegal trafficking; people capturing them for ‘exotic pet trade’ or similar. the ones trained fully as ninja can likely escape or don’t have to worry about it, but genin-level ninja animals and ‘civilians’ are at risk because they’re smart enough to talk and do some basic stuff, but might not be experienced enough or trained enough to slip captors.

lots of places just aren’t accessible for some animals because of size or shape, so they just cant integrate to cities or villages well. so they might end up living elsewhree in their own small towns, etc. people probably think of them as savages and look down on them even further.

even though what separates ninja animals from regular animals is the ability to mold and utilize chakra (same as human ninja), there’s a lot more stigma for the animals because its not clear why chakra makes them so much smarter than their more regular kin. people are probably superstitious about ninja animals ‘going feral’ and turning into regular beasts and attacking people (think the reaction to predators in Zootopia for example, but all ninja animals and not just carnivores).

some places are much better about this than other places! Konoha is pretty good about treating ninja animals decently since the Inuzuka have been around since before the founding to show that ninken are reliable and trustworthy, so the populace is much less weary of chakra-enhanced animals overall. In contrast, Kiri has a lot of problems with equality; lots of ninja animals ended up being persecuted during the bloodline purges the same as humans with kekkai genkai. superstition in some places, like Suna, also means progression is hard won, though things across the board in all countries are becoming better over time.

Ninja animals are basically never given authority over human ninja unless they are way, way below their own rank or there are special circumstances involved. Even in progressive villages its generally thought its better people teach people and animals teach animals, if only because its thought they can empathize better and can teach better due to similar physiologies, etc. (4-legged taijutsu is much different from 2-legged for example, as is how jutsu are preformed given the lack of hands most shinobi animals have). Seeing an animal leading a team of humans, Genin or otherwise, is rare.

generally speaking there isnt a lot of violence between human and animal shinobi, at least within the same village, but there usually is tension due to resentment by the animal sector over unequal treatment and opportunities.

the fact there has never been a ninja animal as a kage is a sore spot for a lot of shinobi animals, even those happy with their lives and villages otherwise.

lots of shinobi wonder why ninja animals have rights at all; the fact that summons exist make things messier, since many consider them more as tools and their own beings, and extend this mindset to all chakra-enhanced animals as well.

[d-clarence]

Chapter 3 of Gotta Get Back Posted!!!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12510804/3/Gotta-get-Back-Back-to-the-Past-Samurai-Jack

The third chapter of my Samurai Jack Season 5 novelization has been posted!

Samurai Jack returns to familiar territory as he faces off against the sassy robotic assassin, Scaramouche the Merciless, while unknowingly being stalked by a hidden foe. The Daughters of Aku have to pass one more test to prove they are worthy to head out on their lifelong journey to kill the Samurai.

Here’s a few paragraphs from the chapter:

               Samurai Jack ain’t dead from that. Beardsly’s still around. The sassy assassin looked around and found that his greatest foe was absent.

               Jack charged, bowie knife taking the lead, as Scaramouche pulled out his last trump card. Casting his short blade out of its sheath, he split the blade in two, its whole shape resembling a tuning fork. Striking Jack’s knife once, he stepped back and commented as a ringing noise grew. “Dig that beautiful sound, babe!” Initially confused at his remark, Jack took notice his blade as the ringing intensified and his knife vibrated out of control.

               Boom.

               A sonic pulse tore Jack’s bowie knife to bits, releasing a strong force of energy that sent the Ronin flying several feet back. Fortunately, his vest and gauntlet prevented the worst of the shrapnel from entering his heart and arm.

               “Hey, babe,” the assassin began, playing with his tuning blade. “I told you, I’m Aku’s favorite. No one plays the blades like I do.” To emphasize his point, he struck a stone pillar next to him as it rang in intensity. “NO ONE!!!”

               Boom.

               Jack made note of the time it took for each detonation to take. Seven seconds… Adjusting his battle strategy, he sought to turn his enemy’s force against him. Charging at Scaramouche again, Jack readied his last bowie knife for a last-ditch gamble. The purple-clad assassin summoned his scimitar into the fray again, with Jack sliding beneath the rapidly oscillating blade. Coming face to face with his rival for the last time, Jack sprung his plan in motion. This better be worth it…

               Exchanging blows with Scaramouche, Jack intentionally struck the tuning blade three times before retreating into a defensive posture. The ringing and vibrations grew and intensified, stronger than the last blow. The resulting sonic pulse will be a big one. Jack’s grip on his blade struggled harder and harder.

               Seven…

               Six…

               Scaramouche kept his back turned on Jack has his ears confirmed the inevitable. Only cocking his head to the side, smiling at what he smugly believed to be his victory, he mocked his foe one more time. “Well, it’s been fun, Jack-o. Au revoir!”

               Three…

               Two…

               “That’s French for, ‘you’re dead, babe!’”

               No. You are.

               Jack merely gave a simple underhand toss of his bowie knife at Scaramouche, much to his shock. The blade exploded in a wide radius as Scaramouche’s throat and body was shredded from the blast. As the assassin attempted to regain his composure, Jack approached with the bot’s own scimitar, dragging it as he’s barely able to heft its massive weight.

Comment and review, please!

[thesassybooskter]

THAT KILLER SMILE by Juliet Lyons: Excerpt & Giveaway

NOW AVAILABLE/SOURCEBOOKS CASABLANCA

THERE WILL BE HEAT…

Vampire Catherine Adair gave up trying to find her perfect match ages ago. But that didn’t stop her from founding London’s super successful vampire dating site. When a smoldering vampire overlord from her past launches an interspecies speed-dating service, Catherine vows to crush the competition….

 WHEN THESE TWO COMPETE

Ronin’s new venture is purely about getting Catherine’s attention. He hasn’t stopped thinking about her ever since the night she gave him the cold shoulder. Nobody gets away from Ronin McDermott that easily…

  Buy Online:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

Add to Goodreads

  Excerpt

Cat

My first thought when I see the smashed lock is, How on earth did a burglar make it past Mrs. Colangelo?

I shove the door open and step inside. There, sitting—no lounging—in my Laura Ashley recliner and stroking Wentworth, is Ronin fuck weasel McDermott.

My eyes bulge as I absorb the preposterous scene of him sitting with my pet in his lap. He looks like an infuriatingly hot James Bond villain.

“Evening, Catherine,” he says with a nod of his head.

I glare into his intense blue eyes, fists clenching. “What the actual fuck are you doing in my apartment?”

He cocks a brow before rising from the chair, taking Wentworth with him. The latter stays snuggled under his arm, as docile as a newborn lamb.

Pointing at Wentworth, I hiss, “Did you glamour my cat?”

A cloud of confusion passes across his handsome features. “Why on God’s earth would I glamour a cat?”

Without missing a beat, I snap, “That’s what you do to get people to like you.”

He feigns an injured look before setting Wentworth down on the carpet. Then he reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a tiny object. It twinkles beneath the light. “You dropped this earring in my office. It must have fallen out when you kissed me.”

I snort in derision. “Ha! Yeah, I kissed you. Good one. And you came all the way here, broke in to my apartment just to return it to me?”

“I’ll get the lock fixed,” he says, placing the earring on the coffee table. “And I didn’t break in as such. One of your neighbors let me up.”

I shake my head. “Let me guess, an Italian lady in a robe?”

He smiles and I try not to notice how it softens the hard lines of his strong features, how his cool-blue eyes are suffused with warmth.

“There’s a chance she believes lover boy next door is bisexual.”

“What the hell did you tell her?” I ask, folding arms across my chest. The mention of Peter comes as a shock. Being in the same room as Ronin McDermott, I’ve already forgotten he exists.

“Nothing she didn’t secretly long to hear. So who is this guy anyway? Should I be jealous?”

My stomach flips, my mind skipping back to that moment in his office when I left him with a hard-on in the presence of Playboy bunnies. “Jealous?” I try to inject venom into my voice, but my heart isn’t in it. “Tell me, did you enjoy yourself with those girls the other afternoon?”

His brows knit. He looks genuinely flummoxed. “What girls?”

I toss my bag onto the sofa. “Meant that much to you, did they?”

He stays frozen to the spot, brows drawn. “Do you really think I care about other girls?”

His voice is low, as cracked as splintered glass. Suddenly, it seems as if all the oxygen has been sucked from the room. As I meet his burning gaze, it’s like the last couple of days—work, my date with Peter—never happened. I’m back in his office right before his lips landed on mine.

Except this time neither of us budge.

“You’re a sickness,” he says at last in that same fractured tone. “Don’t you see? A sickness in my veins.”

My brain sifts through responses at a hundred miles per hour, but my vocal chords remain frozen in my throat. I watch him like he’s a tiger, waiting for him to strike.

But he doesn’t pounce. He sighs instead, his jaw tightly clenched. “I’ve never wanted to upset you, Catherine. I’m sorry for what I did that night—biting you and giving you my venom. I shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” I snap.

“I’ll be honest,” he continues. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t start the speed-dating nights to get your attention. But I had no intention of ruining your business. In a way, it’s a compliment.”

My jaw drops in disbelief. “A compliment? Are you completely unhinged? Do you really have your head shoved so far up your ass that you don’t get why I can’t stand you?”

He shakes his head, holding out his hands, palms up. There’s desperation in his voice I’ve never heard from him before. “I’ve never once tried to play the ancient card with you. I never will, no matter how badly you piss me off.”

I stare at him, half believing he doesn’t have a clue, half-angry this is just another of his manipulative games.

“This isn’t about details. It’s about the bigger picture. One you’ve never bothered to try and get your arrogant head around. Who am I, Ronin?” The happiness the evening brought is leaking out of me faster than air from a burst balloon. To my horror, a sob escapes my throat. “What am I?”

“Is this one of those bizarre feminist questions?”

“For fucks sake, what am I? Answer me.”

His eyes flash in anger, but he doesn’t flinch. “A woman. A vampire. A neurotic shrew half the time.”

“A vampire,” I repeat, ignoring the last bit.

He looks utterly and completely blank.

“You have no idea. Do you?”

When he doesn’t answer, I open the busted door as wide as it will go and wave an arm toward it. “Goodbye, Ronin.”

If he wasn’t such a misogynistic playboy, I might experience a pang of guilt as I watch him skulk past me, defeated.

Outside he pauses, spinning around to face me. “I rang you,” he says. “Every day for a month after we slept together.”

“I know,” I whisper, staring at my Dolce & Gabbana boots. “I changed my telephone number on day three.”

He emits a short, hollow laugh, and when I look up, the hallway is completely empty. I hear the slam of a door as he exits the building onto the street.

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About Juliet Lyons

JULIET LYONS is a paranormal romance author from the UK. She holds a degree in Spanish and Latin American studies and works part-time in a local primary school where she spends far too much time discussing Harry Potter. Since joining global storytelling site Wattpad in 2014, her work has received millions of hits online and gained a legion of fans from all over the world. When she is not writing, Juliet enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

THAT KILLER SMILE by Juliet Lyons: Excerpt & Giveaway was originally published on The Sassy Bookster

[afandomroom]

Star Wars the Force Unleashed Ninjago AU: (under the cut because it's longish)

Under the Overlord’s command to wipe out all remaining Jedi, Lord Garmadon comes to the planet of Kashykk, hunting down the Jedi Ray Smith.

There, he finds Ray and his son, a very powerful force wielder named Kai. Garmadon cuts down Ray infront of Kai, but also cuts down his soldiers, taking Kai to be trained as his secret apprentice and assassin.

Years later, having endured the brutal training of the Sith, Kai is the dark assassin known as Starkiller. He never knew any other name.

The time has finally come, for Kai/Starkiller to aide Garmadon in overthrowing the Overlord, and Kai/Starkiller is more than ready.

But first, a test- extinguish the remaining Jedi

First on the list - Find the elder Jedi general, Ronin, and kill him. Return with his lightsaber as proof.

To help him complete his task, he is joined by his droid companion (I can’t decide between Zane, Pixal, and Echo. Proxy, the original droid in the story, is rather glitchy, so Echo might make sense) and the ex- ace fighter pilot (either Skylor or Jay. The original character, Juno, is excellent with machines and mechanics, but also somewhat sassy so…).

While he refuses to admit it, he falls head over heals for Skylor/Jay the second he met her/him. Sith aren’t allowed to have connections, not like that, so he’s prepared to deal with her/him should she/he become a…liability.

He fails his mission to kill Ronin, instead blinding the man and leaving him to fall to his death. He isn’t aware the elder Jedi survived when he reports back to Garmadon.

And so continues his missions. He is sent to kill the Jedi Krux, who has a secret apprentice called Harumi. His final mission is to kill the insane Jedi Mystake.

When he returns to Garmadon, he is met with an unpleasant suprise- The Overlord discovered Kai/Starkiller exists, and orders Garmadon to kill his apprentice.

Kai/Starkiller would be saved and revived by Garmadon , however, and once more he would be manipulated by the dark man.

Reuniting with Skylor/Jay and Echo/Zane/Pixal, Kai/Starkiller claims he wants to build a resistance. Rather, he actually wants to find the empire’s enemies for Garmadon, but Skylor/Jay now wish to join a rebellion, and this is a perfect plot for luring them out.

Step one: Find Ronin, and get him to “train” Kai/Starkiller.

they find him, drunk on a planet after being blinded. To their surprise, he’s not alone, joined by his apprentice - The young Nya Smith.

Kai/Starkiller doesn’t know why, but he feels a strong connection to her, as does Nya to him.

Step two: Save Lloyd from the empire, and later Koko from Harumi

Afterwords, they will meet with Koko and Ronin’s contacts on another planet, and plan out the rebellion from there.

throughout this time, Kai/Starkiller is conflicted. He begins to see through the corruption of the darkside, begins to care for and appreciate these people he’s surrounded himself with. He admits to how important Echo/Zane/Pixal is to him, how much he loves Jay/Skylor.

he begins to remember his past, and recognize Nya.

He begins to rebel against his teacher, and ultimately decides to join the light in their fight against the dark.

but was that decision made to late?

[ninnekomata]

Can I just say that I love RPing as Ronin so damn much? Not even just because I love him as an OC (Which I do! He’s probably my favorite OC I’ve ever made tbh), but because he’s so versatile? I can shove him in to most any verse and he works out fairly well; even if he can’t be a talking asshole cat, just being an cat to begin with makes him easy enough to slot places. And most canons tend to have something in them that i can take advantage of to have him still be a sassy jerk full of quips anyway.

I love my cat son jfc.