#so glad he survived my massacre ;___;

[coruscantrhapsody]

What’s the over/under on Force Ghosts Anakin and Padmé watching Luke rescue Grogu like YOU’RE DOING GREAT, SWEETIE

[matan4il]

Update post:

Yesterday, there were no less than two terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, one in the morning, and one in the evening.

The first one happened in Beersheba, where the terrorist stabbed and injured two people before being neutralized. The terrorist was an Israeli Bedouin, who had been convicted of drug-related criminal charges. The prosecution asked for his arrest, but the court decided to be lenient, to aid in his rehabilitation, and instead only sentenced him to community service. He was due to start in two weeks, but instead he chose yesterday to attack innocent civilians.

The second terrorist attack took place in Gan Yavne. A Palestinian man, who used to have a work permit in Israel, but lost it and remained here illegally, carried out the attack. The Palestinian terrorist started stabbing people at a gym and then at a nearby cafe, wounding 3 people, all of them originally determined to be in serious condition, one is a teenager, the other two are reported to have life threatening head injuries. The terrorist was 19 years old, and he was neutralized at the scene. In investigating how he managed to stay inside Israel illegally after his work permit had expired, the police has arrested two people so far.

Israel has wrapped up its second operation at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, with another soldier pronounced dead (20 years old Nada Cohen), bringing the IDF fatalities in the Gaza ground operation so far to 256, and the total number of killed Israeli soldiers in this war, including during the Hamas massacre (reminder that some of those soldiers were girls serving in non-combative posts, without combat training or even a weapon, and were slain while still in their pajamas) to 600.

The end of one operation in a Gaza hospital doesn't mean that's the end of Hamas abusing medical and humanitarian facilities, so there are and will be more such operations. That's why I'm also sharing this reminder that nothing is sacred or even just... off limits to Hamas, who moved kidnapped civilians in ambulances, as one of the released hostages testified.

I mentioned in a post expressing my frustration over foreigners' ignorance over the conflict, which doesn't stop them from acting like they know better than the people actually living it, the Hamas-Fatah "civil war," which erupted in 2007, when Hamas killed Fatah members in Gaza and took over the place. The two Palestinian factions have tried reconciliation several times over the years, but it never lasted long. Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas and its fellow terrorists organizations is not over yet, but already there's signs of that tension. This def bodes well for Palestinians if Hamas survives this war.

A city council meeting in California, which dealt with Holocaust remembrance, ended up being the scene of some despicable displays of antisemitism in its anti-Zionist form. IDK what was most distressing to hear about, the way they screamed "Lies! Lies!"' at a Holocaust survivor, or that they took and threw to the ground the phone of a Jewish man who came to speak about his grandma who had survived the Holocaust, or that they mocked a mother speaking of her child being harassed at school to the point he doesn't wanna be a Jew, because he doesn't want to be hated... Maybe that they made my friend, who attended the meeting, cry on what was supposed to be a very special day. I saw coverage on Israeli TV of the city council, which both told me how bad it was, if of all things, that's what they're talking about, and at the same time, it was nothing like hearing about it from her. So I'm glad that she shared some of her own impressions about this ugly demonstration of hatred (I'm also scheduling her post for a reblog). I just hope Jews all over the world know that we here in Israel care about you, we love you, we are standing by your side, and we wish we could do more for you. <3

Speaking of antisemitism, and an inability to recognize it as such, to call it out and condemn it, here's some recent examples from around the world. In Spain, the locals went out for an Easter drink, a tradition called, "to kill the Jews," but insisted it's not racist. Attacking and even killing Jews actually was customary in Europe on Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter. In fact, this specific nickname is derived from those old attacks.

In London, a policeman insisted that swastikas being displayed at an anti-Israel protest were not antisemitic, and should be taken "in context," despite admitting that a symbol that's abusive or would cause public distress would fall under his jurisdiction to act against.

In the Netherlands, a single mom of a Jewish girl was attacked for the daughter's choices (she decided to move to Israel and has served in the Israeli army) both at home and at her workplace, a hospital. The mother was so rattled after the attack at her home, that she wouldn't stay there. A Jewish hotel owner offered her a free stay at his hotel. In an interview with an Israeli reporter, the mom said she's considering moving to Israel, too (source in Hebrew).

This is 32 years old Celine ben David Nagar.

She worked as an office manager at a law firm, was married to Iddo, and they had a 6 months old baby together. On Oct 7, Celine was on her way with a friend to the Nova music festival, but they never made it there. The Hamas rocket attack started first. For 10 days, she was considered missing, and it took a while, but eventually they found her body. While her fate was still unknown, two days after the massacre, Iddo went on TV and talked about the fact that Celine was still breastfeeding. Following the interview, hundreds of Israel women volunteered to donate their mother's milk to the little baby girl. At Celine's funeral, Iddo asked said goodbye to his wife, and asked hr to watch over him and little Eli from above.

May her memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[hero-israel]

I was relating it to something so know. YOU do not want to risk living in a majority Arab or Muslim country because of past actions, you point to these actions as proof that you need to have a form of control over them. So you are okay with their murder. You are okay with the fact that you moved yourselves onto their land and kicked them out. You are okay with the fact that you basically have them behind a militarized wall. Going through all that does not mean you are incapable of doing the same. Or that just because you have not done the exact same or the same amount of time that your actions are not bad. I am ethnically Jewish (not practicing) tho it’s not significant enough in my life for me to claim it as a cultural identity on my father’s side and my step father is Jewish but he’s now anti-religion (He’s on Israel’s side). My cultural upbringing… well I’m a poc and I spent years going to Holocaust memorials, I learned Jewish customs, our family friends were Jewish, and I read Jewish stories/watched the films. Media consumption? All the media I’ve consumed said that Palestinians where the problem because they refused to accept Israel and that Muslims where all terrorists (I grew up post 911). At no point did I ever say I was okay with the massacre of Jewish people or that it was understandable. I feel fine being critical of what you tell me because I know you aren’t saying the whole truth. You are still playing the role of the perfect victim. Everything has been done to you and you have done nothing back.

just because you have not done the exact same or the same amount of time that your actions are not bad

The amount of history that this sentence attempts to wave away.... No. No, that simply won't do.

I showed you dozens of examples of centuries of torture, oppression, and massacres of Jews in Arab / Muslim societies, culminating in the complete and recent destruction of 3,000-year-old Jewish civilization in all MENA countries, and you just breeze by them with no real consideration at all. You have repeatedly mentioned slave revolts because the slaves had good reason to defend themselves. Does the need for self-defense vanish when it's Jewish self-defense? Why can you tolerate violence in slave uprisings, but not in Jews trying to prevent their extermination? Cut us, maybe we don't bleed.

Your final comment of "Everything was done to you, you have done nothing back" likewise disregards the lopsided history and unequal stakes of oppression and loss. There are exactly zero countries where Arabs or Muslims have been reduced to nothing and their histories ended by Jews. Israel has a 20% Arab minority, in most MENA countries you can't even find 20 Jews. Israel is the only regional country that has any diversity, pluralism, and tolerance, instead of an unnatural Nebraska-cornfield ethnic monoculture. How much structural racism, how much systematic violence and hate, does a country need to have for it to EVEN BE POSSIBLE to physically wipe out a minority? With all of America's fucked-up racial problems, do you think they could physically push out the African-Americans or Latinos today if they wanted to? Yet you look at the Middle East and, one after another, the Jews are gone, the Jews are gone, the Jews are gone. You say you are not okay with Jewish massacres, well, I'm glad to hear that, but you don't seem to appreciate that those were the actual stakes. If your enemy says their goal is your extinction, and you survive, then yeah, maybe you do put up a wall and they have to stay on their side of it. Boo and furthermore hoo.

As for "being okay with murder" - forget slave revolts, I'm certainly fine with abolishing slavery altogether and I suspect you are too. That required killing over 600,000 people in 4 years. The combined all-sides grand total death count of the Zionist / Arab conflict is about 120,000 in 140 years. Are you "okay" with the American Civil War taking place, even though Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and all the other imperfect, morally compromised things Confederate LARPers complain about?

Overall I detect a strongly binary way of thinking, that Jewish people / institutions can only be seen as worth physical protection if they are perfect, if they have never harmed anyone, even if the options the world presents to us are Jewish people / institutions as they are or their continued, repeated disappearance. You were never promised better Jews or a better Israel, and you may not shift the goalposts on how we resist those who would repeat our genocide. I am fully comfortable in saying we are morally superior to our enemies. The fact that we still have living enemies proves that.

[kingdoms-and-empires]

I'm so glad you're back Flame! Because I have some questions!

Since I reread the demo around the same time you came back, I wondered. Given that Grandpa had been planning his little massacre for months, how could he not have managed to identify those responsible for what happened to Grandma!

He's got what it takes!

Instead, he's indulged in a bloodbath of inoncents. Morons, yes, but not all of them have poured or ordered the poison.

No wonder Lady M and Theo are afraid of him!

As a result, Remiel made enemies and, thinking he'd killed them all, let his guard down, allowing an assassin to seek out Juli!

The little boy Theo refuses to kill? I bet it's the assassin. His face is devoured by fire and he evokes Remiel in front of Aure and the others.

Remiel was blinded by his feelings, so I hope he'll forgive my Mc for being different from him. She loves him, she understands, but she also knows there was another way. Another Night of Tears won't happen! Nope.

We have to kill Josh, letting him live is no longer possible but at least my Mc will arrange for him to be killed quickly.

That is, if we manage to survive the battle of Silverhill, because between the battlefield, what coming for us by water, not to mention the fact that I suspect your evil genius will bring in the abominations that traumatized us when we were 7, I'm afraid...

I'm glad you're back. I swear !

"I'm so glad you're back Flame!"

"Since I reread the demo" I apologize for the walls of text.

"...how could he not have managed to identify those responsible for what happened to Grandma!" My answer to that is answered by yourself: "Instead, he's indulged in a bloodbath" Remiel was a tadbit angry that the nobles he forgave after the civil war pulled a stunt like this, almost killed his newborn son, and killed his wife. At that point, in his mind, he thought the best thing to do was quite literally burn the poisoned and nearby stalk to save the rest of the harvest.

Then he let himself feel justified by rewriting the feudal contract with the nobles and abolishing the council's power to further centralize the kingdom.

"We have to kill Josh, letting him live is no longer possible but at least my Mc will arrange for him to be killed quickly." Twas a bit more bloodthirsty than i was expecting xD

"That is, if we manage to survive the battle of Silverhill, because between the battlefield, what coming for us by water, not to mention the fact that I suspect your evil genius will bring in the abominations that traumatized us when we were 7, I'm afraid..."

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hello, Sleppy! There is one thing I have always wanted to know about Jade but did not dare ask. Tell me, please, what happened to Jade and Simon in the original CoD universe? I saw a sketch of crying Jade, was it her reaction to Simon's death or in your universe he managed to survive? P.S. - I am sorry if you do not like this question at all.

Okay so since I rarely post about the OG!MW2 anymore, I'm just gonna reveal the whole plot to you guys (ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ)

Be ready cuz this is kinda long - these are the canon divergence that I constructed in the events that my OC's are inserted into the OG!MW2 plot.

So, Jade was actually sent by the MI6 to track down what actually happened that made Russia attack US out of nowhere. Because that Zakhaev Airport massacre sounded and looked FISHY as HECK. Being the MI6 she was, Jade had to report regularly to her handler in MI6 (141 didn’t know this. It’s her personal gig). She met Soap Ghost and Roach there, but her first meeting with Ghost was bad and blab la blaaa SHE OPENED GHOST'S MASK. She also met Ellie (another OC I had for Gaz who’s a medical corps leader in 141. Gaz died in the OG!MW, she was still saddened but she’s very glad to have Jade in the base).

There’s also another OC that I have named Bara. He’s a lone Indonesian Denjaka sniper lieutenant that got sent by the country to capture an Indo defector among Makarov’s cause. Because of political reasons, he’s not a 141. Bara’s like an ally that pop out sometime somewhere like a spirit. 141 themselves were still very suspicious of him, but when Bara saved Meat and Royce in Rio, he gained their trust, and 141 would help him find the defector as Bara would help them on their missions.

Now, sometime in the middle, Jade was captured by Makarov and got tortured by him. Jade intentionally didn’t escape and held the pain in to gain some info herself from anyone inside the room or from Makarov himself. And that’s where the (How about you check who you surround yourself with) and Jade’s gears started turning inside her brain. She released herself and ran amok around Mak’s place, and found some data about “anonymous source” that said there’ s mole among Makarov’s group in the massacre (we know it is Joseph Allen) and she SENT THAT STRAIGHT to MI6. Ghost and the boys found the compound and rescued a badly injured Jade.

So like, along the story, Jade found bits and pieces, put two and two together, and by the end, Jade’s 90% sure that Shepherd’s onto something shitty.

NOW HERE’S THE CANON DIVERGENCE IN LOOSE ENDS MISSION.

As Jade, Roach, and Ghost went to Makarov’s base at the Georgian-Russian border, Jade actually took the time to read the posts, notes, and all the info that were sticked to the boards, tables, and walls. In fact, as Ghost and Roach was busy fighting off Makarov’s goons, Jade READ that shit (because at that point she didn’t trust Shepherd AT ALL).

And you guessed it, she found out that Shepherd is the mastermind behind every damn thing.

So when Roach transferred the data to the DSM, she did her magic and unbeknownst to everyone, she SENT ALL the proof to MI6 on the spot.

Jade then told Ghost and Roach about everything, and they did NOT trust Shepherd anymore. So when the general told them to go the fields, they declined and decided to hold the fort inside the house. Shepherd knew something was wrong, so when he kept pressing the three to get out of the house, but again, the three didn’t oblige, the general and the shadows decided to finally go to the house.

Shepherd and the Shadows cleared the whole area from enemies and tried to find Ghost, Roach, Jade,and the others in the house. One by one, the SC people got killed with stealth. Things led to another, and chaos ensued inside the house. Shepherd could’ve burnt down the house with the 141 in it, but Shepherd’s paranoid that Jade had done something, and he NEEDED that DSM.

Shootout happened, and Jade got one of the SC as a shield with a gun to his head. Shepherd told Jade to give him the DSM, and convo happened, Shepherd finally revealed his motives. And now he had to get rid of the three of them.

AND THEN, MI6 contacted Jade, saying that the proof about Shepherd’s doing had gone public. The whole thing was his doing all long, and now the world had turned all their forces towards finding Shepherd. Russia, US, now began their search on Shepherd! WOOHOO

Panicked, Shepherd yelled at SC as reinforcements came, along with Price and Soap who came straight fom Kazakhstan to the place, Meat and Royce (who survived Rio), Archer and Toad, everyone came to help.

CLIMAX ENSUED, and Ghost got shot twice protecting Jade from Shepherd’s bullets.

As Jade held Ghost on her arms, Price and Soap, with Nikolai’s help, chased Shepherd who’s desperately tried to escape and killed him. Minus the Soap getting stabbed.

Don’t worry, Ghost survived because ELLIE WILL NOT let him leave Jade like Gaz left her too fast. So Ghost survived WOOHOOO.

The Jade crying sketch was, indeed, a cry of relief as Ellie told her that Ghost was going to be fine (❁´◡`❁). She wore Ghost's jacket to comfort herself during the times Ghost was unconscious, and this sketch came out!

Everybody lives, no WW3, no MW3. This is REAL MOVIE ASS SHIT but it’s what’s in my mind!

I have the whole ass fic about the post-Loose Ends angst at the ready if y'all want it.

[hinataxsunshine]

2.01 — a reunion at last

GAME START

“Is.. something supposed to happen?” He muttered, his one still good eye glancing around the empty area. He winced as his hand reached up to brush against the still bleeding scar, and frowned. He needed to get this cleaned up, as soon as possible.

Hinata couldn’t even start to process what was happening next. Cars surrounded them, and at first Hinata had thought that it was the game.. but then he realized that he recognized those cars. It was the rest of the.. surviving beach members.

The remaining people who had survived the massacre that was the 10 of hearts. His heart ached at the thought.. but he wasn’t able to dwell on it long before suddenly one of the beach members were riddled with bullets. And then another.

“That’s an Anti-Tank rifle so—“ Chishiya has spoken up next to him, hands in his pockets as he started walking back. But the white haired male was interrupted by the car exploding next to the two, “..I’d forget about hiding behind cars”

As people ran— as his friends ran, Hinata just froze. His legs stopped working , and his eyes had been trailed on where the gunshots were coming from

He knew he needed to get out of there

Knew that if he wanted to keep survive, he needed to turn around and get the fuck away from whoever was shooting at him

But did he want to keep going?

Aguni had told him to live for him and Takeru. To keep Aisaka safe and make sure they made it out. But Hinata didn’t even know if Aisaka had made it. He hadn’t seen the younger girl since the chaos started. Since before Aguni had deemed everyone as the witches.

Someone grabbed his wrist, and before he could turn and question who it was— the person pulled him along. Hinata felt his legs wanting to give out, but he kept up. Following after the mysterious person. He couldn’t quite tell who it was yet.. he was still getting used to seeing with one eye.. and admist all the chaos it was hard.

For what felt like forever, the two ran. Ran until they found a forest. That’s when Hinata’s mysterious savior stopped and pulled her hand away. Hinata pants softly, putting his hands on his thighs for a second and caught his breath. He stood up, brushing himself up and turning to finally take a good look at whoever saved him and—

“Aisaka?” He breathed out, eye widening as he finally recognized who had grabbed him. He immediately wrapped his arms around the younger girl and held her close, putting a hand on the back of her head and the other holding her waist. It the way Aguni used to hug him, and what usually comforted him. So it was natural that he did the same for her. “Oh my gods.. I’m so glad you’re okay—“ he got out, before pulling away

He cups her cheeks and immediately started making sure she didn’t have any injuries. He didn’t even care about his own right now.

@angelicaisaka

[minnophee-writes]

My Little Crybaby~ Pt. 2

A/N: Here's part two to the multi-part Johnny fic uwu the drawing inspired this chapter and I also love inserting myself into fandoms, hehehe this isn't beta read so any errors are on me!

Fandom: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Pairing: Johnny x Reader

Series Warnings: Character death, blood, violence, knives, brief knife play, implied blood kink, kidnapping, death, non-consensual touching, slight dub-con, smaller person / taller man, size difference, abuse, physical, emotional and verbal abuse, mentions of female anatomy, smut, oral sex

Chapter Warnings: Character death, blood, mentions of corpses, description of corpses, descriptions of death, knives, verbal abuse, non-consensual touching, rough touching / handling, violence, brief knife play, slight blood kink

Summary: When you wake up bound back in the basement you almost feel helpless until help arrives. You attempt to escape while witnessing your friends' lives come to an end but a certain someone wants you all to themselves.

Word Count: 2,713 words

The last thing you remember was a handsome face with a pair of icy eyes staring intensely back at you before everything went black. Now you were in a dark, damp room - possibly in the basement if you had to guess, and your wrists were bound again. You tugged on your restraints but the rope was tightly knotted and connected to the leg of a table that was bolted into the ground. You were feeling helpless and worried about your friends but you knew that wouldn't get you out of your predicament.

'I hope Leland found the others... I need to get out of here...' you thought to yourself.

You scanned the space around you and noticed a small, blue object laying not far from your right leg. It looked like an old switch-blade, slightly dull but it would have to do.

Luckily your legs and feet weren't tied up so you began to maneuverer your leg over to the small blade, slowly dragging it toward yourself before being able to get it within arms reach. As soon as it was close enough you grasped it firmly in your hand before quickly trying to slice through the thick material. Your guess about the sharpness of the switch-blade was correct but you continued regardless, concentrating on cutting your bindings and hopefully find help or an exit.

"C'mon... c'mon, damn it."

Sweat was beginning to roll down your temples, the invisible weight of making sure you survive this hell was hanging heavy over you - but you prayed you weren't the sole survivor and that you'd see your friends again soon.

Distant noises could be heard from the other side of the door which caused you to pause your movements. You debated whether to hide the blade or attempt to cut through the rope faster but the silence that then followed was deafening. You weren't sure if your mind was playing tricks on you or not, however, you shook your head and continued your previous task. When your head was down and your concentration was on your restraints you didn't notice the door silently opening or the figure stepping into the room.

Your bindings finally released you and you massaged your tender skin around your wrists all while the figure crept toward you, your back facing them and completely oblivious to any danger. A large hand covered your mouth while the other wrapped around your torso and pinned your arms to your sides. Your shouts were muffled but your legs were still mobile so you thrashed as hard as you could, attempting to kick your attacker in the knees but then a familiar voice tried to shush you.

"Hey, hey! Y/N, it's me - it's Leland!" A male voice whispered into your ear and your head swivelled around to look at him.

"Oh my God! You nearly gave me a heart-attack," was your response, "but I'm glad to see you."

"Same here."

"Did you find the others?" You meekly asked.

Leland's face fell at the mention of your other friends and he let out an exhausted sigh. He couldn't blame your naivety of the obvious, possible outcome it but he also knew you had no clue of the horrors he encountered while you were unconscious. Leland witnessed Connie's stomach being shredded and torn open by the sharp blades of the chainsaw carried by the man in the mask, her blood and intestines falling onto the floor with a wet slap as her body then collapsed on top of her own gore. Sonny was brutally stabbed multiple times in the abdomen before the moist sheathing sound of a knife ripped through skin and embedded itself into his neck. Blood flowed down his dark skin and soaking his shirt as the man in the torn shirt and denim jeans tossed Sonny face first into the dirt below. Leland can still see Sonny's lifeless eyes peering directly at him from behind the cover of the old, wooden shed. He had also heard the pained cries of Ana echoing around him at one point then nothing. The basement had been silent ever since.

The only reason Leland knew where to find you was when he was attempting to lock-pick the side gate, and turning off the car battery electrifying the fence, he had seen the same man who had killed Sonny carrying your limp body toward a makeshift shack and carefully climbing down the ladder with you perched on his shoulders. Leland had followed after him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to sneak into the room and rescue you.

"I'm getting you out of here." Leland stated with determination, "Come on, follow me."

~~~~~~~

Leland had guided you to where the ladder was and told you the side gate is nearly prepped, he just needed a little more time picking the pad-lock. You began to climb up the ladder first while Leland watched your back, you tried to be cautious of making noise but you couldn't help your starving need to escape this nightmare. When you reached the top you didn't notice a well-crafted bone trap near the back of the shack, directly in the path to the gate.

As Leland ascended after you, you had the urge to venture toward your last obstacle to freedom when the sudden pain of sharp, needle-like claws snapped shut around your ankle and dug into your skin. You yelped in agony and fell to the ground in a heap, the pain too much to bare as tears gathered in your eyes while you tried to pry the trap off but your blood smeared across your hands making it slippery and difficult to get a firm grip on the object.

"Shit - I'm coming, Y/N!"

Leland was able to grab a bit of the twine that was holding a part of the trap together and yanked on it while also using a sharpened bone to wedge the trap open. You felt the trap's jagged, barbed spikes tear your flesh more when Leland pulled it away from your skin, all the small puncture wounds and your blood trickling down your ankle and into your sock and shoe. You whimpered in discomfort but you were grateful to have Leland's assistance and support at that current moment in time.

Leland tossed the destroyed trap to the side and extended a friendly hand toward you to help you up off the dirt. You grasped onto his hand as he steadied you to your feet, your ankle pulsing and flaring up at the pressure you were putting on it but you needed to keep moving.

You parted your lips to give Leland your thanks when suddenly the wet sound of something ripping through fabric was heard and Leland gave a grunt followed by a long, pained whine. His brows pinched aggressively and his mouth twisted into a weak snarl as he lifted an arm up and behind his back - as if to reach something, while you held onto his other hand. Your confused gaze met his terrified ones, Leland's grip on your hand began to slacken and his body descended onto his knees exposing the figure behind him.

The man that had taken you hostage stood menacingly over Leland, his hand grasping onto the leather handle of his large hunting knife and yanked it out of your friend's back. The person then pulled Leland's head back by his hair before aggressively slicing the blade across Leland's throat. Blood spurted out onto the ground below, some droplets splattered across your legs and clothes, while a large drizzle of blood landed on your cheek. Leland attempted to cry out only for him to gargle on his own blood filling his lungs and mouth, his outstretched hands grabbing onto you with what little strength he had left for support before Leland finally collapsed into the dirt with a solid 'thump'. His lifeless corpse lay motionless before you, your eyes nearly bursting out of your head and tears slowly blurring your vision as adrenaline shook your entire body.

"L-Leland?"

You were in shock, your brain was trying to process what had just happened and if it was actually reality or some mess up, fever dream but the cooling sensation your friend's blood staining your body told you it was real. It actually happened.

The man's eyes were pinned on you, laser focused and a smug smile settling on his handsome face. He crept toward you while you were in your frozen state, attempting to approach you like you were some sort of rabbit.

"Hey now, it don't have to be like this." The man cooed as he slowly began to circle around you like prey. "My name's Johnny, and you are...?"

You stayed silent, fearful that anything you say might be your last, and you didn't want it to be something stupid either. You just watched him and jerked your body out of arms reach when he got too close for comfort.

"Listen here, Rabbit, you do as I tell you and everything will be fine..."

Your body and mind were screaming at you to run, run as fast as you could but a small part of you knew your stamina would be your downfall. You be that 'Johnny' would catch up to you in no time if he tired you out. That reasoning flew out the window as soon as Johnny took another step closer toward you again and you took off like a tightly wound spring being released. Your mind chose flight over fight and your legs dashed you through the small, wooden shack and straight for the side gate.

"Hey! Get your ass back here!" Johnny shouted after you as he took chase, "I ain't done with you yet, sweet-cheeks."

Your legs propelled you forward but muscular arms encased around your stomach and pulled you into the rough embrace of Johnny, his grip like a python's and unwilling to let you go. You screamed in terror and thrashed your entire body in hopes to stun your assailant with a head-butt to the face, or a sharp strike in the thigh or knee.

Johnny chuckled at your weak attempts and dragged you back to the ladder while you tried to cling onto any stable object or grooves in the walls to prevent him from dragging you down into the basement again. Everything slipped through your fingers like sand before you had a chance to properly grasp anything and your legs kicked the air as Johnny held you firmly in his arms. A rough, callused hand slapped itself over your parted lips as you went to shout again, silencing you as to not have Johnny's family hear that he kept one alive.

"Now, now, rabbit - you need to calm down and shut the hell up or I'm gonna have to make you..." Johnny's eyes glared at you as you stopped jerking in his arms. "Good. Keep your mouth shut, do as I say and maybe I'll give you a reward."

You didn't want to be mutilated like the others so you followed, mainly dragged, back into the dark room again but this time Johnny pulled a pair of cuffs from his jean's back pocket. Johnny slapped one end of the cuff to your bruised wrist and attached the other end to a rusted pipe next to the table you were previously restrained to. You tried to give Johnny the nastiest glare you could but he only seemed to chuckle at you, your scowl looking more of a pout through his eyes.

"No need to sulk, little rabbit." Johnny slowly strutted over to the other side of the table and examining something on its surface, "I promise we're gonna have so much fun."

He lifted a small knife off the table, another switch-blade but a black one. Your entire body tensed in anticipation and you pressed even closer against the wall, you weren't keen on what Johnny planned for you and you didn't plan on finding out. A gasp left your lips as you slightly rattled the cuff, you let out a low whine as Johnny crept closer to you with the knife in his hand.

"No, no, no - please! Please don't hurt me!" Your voice cracked as fear took over your mind making you panicked like a startled deer.

A sharp sting could be felt across your left cheek, a small trickle of blood appeared soon after. Johnny then quickly flicked the blade over your right collar bone causing you to cry out in pain from the sudden cuts. You lifted your free arm to protect yourself but Johnny just laughed at your misery, he then slashed your forearm - the cut going a bit deeper than he intended and you cradled your arm into your chest.

Tears flowed down your face as your face, chest and arm left like they were on fire, your body curling into itself for protection as your distressed mind attempted to process cherished memories of family and friends flashing in your head. Johnny gave a little sigh before he made his way to a rotten cabinet and grabbed some sort of medicine bottle, with faded labelling, and a frayed rag.

Johnny paused in front of the table again where he placed the switch-blade before grasping it in his hand and leisurely flicked his tongue across the blade, cleaning your blood from it while staring down at you intensely with a hidden emotion behind them. Johnny then focused on cleaning your wounds while you made an effort to distance yourself from him.

"Calm down rabbit, making sure your weak body heals." He soaked the rag in the mysterious liquid from the bottle and began to wipe your cuts and blood.

You squirmed a bit from the slight pain as Johnny cleaned your injuries. Your body trembled from the close proximity between you both, his intimidating figure hovered over your much smaller one and you could smell his natural musky scent of blood, dirt, and leather. You also noticed that Johnny had a faded scar on his face that runs from his hairline, down his left eye and curves onto his cheek. You only realised it was were because your subconscious mind relaxed at Johnny's tranquil motions as he softly caressed the rag over your skin and murmured praises into your ear.

Once he was done cleaning your injuries Johnny stood up and threw away the bloody rag and stroked your hair briefly, he squatted down to your level with a deadpan stare - his eyes expressing grave seriousness when he spoke to you next.

"Now listen here, little rabbit, you alert anyone that you're down here my family will gut you like your friends. So if you want to live you do as I say when I say - got it?"

Johnny grasped your face and made sure you looked into his eyes, he wanted to know that you understood what he was saying. He wanted to keep a victim for once, his sexual urges have plagued him for months and finally he has a little toy to play with but need to make sure his family was oblivious. He found the perfect pet, you, and he didn't plan on letting you go any time soon.

"You're mine. I'll take care of you as long as you listen to me." He lastly stated, his blue eyes connecting with yours.

You're lips quivered as you attempted to blink the tears from your vision. Johnny gave your cheek a pat and his chapped lips pressed against your forehead before he got up, left the room, and locked the door - leaving you alone again.

You struggled to muffle your cries but you finally released your bottled up emotions and sobbed into your hands. You were trapped underground with a very unstable man as your keeper and his family had brutally murdered your friends without reason.

You leaned against the corroding wall and closed your eyes, you tried to believe this was all just a nightmare but no matter how many times you made an effort to wake up back in your own room you would open your eyes again only to see the same decaying room. The next time you closed your eyes your mind then decided to drift off into a restless slumber.

[teecupangel]

If the "Desmond is Jennifer's son during her time in TopKapi palace" route is further developed, won't people outside of Ziio's tribe start to think that Desmond is Ratonhnhaké:ton's real father? (I can see Desmond quite embarrassed but enjoying the mess with Ziio and Jenny after Haytham finds out about the rumours)

The idea of Desmond being reborn as Jennifer Scott’s son here.

Okay… So let’s see if this would work… math-wise.

Since Jennifer was sent to Topkapı in 1735 and Ratonhnhaké:ton is born in 1756 (with Haytham saving Jennifer in 1757), that means that Desmond would have to be born around 1736~1740 for people to think that, yeah, he could totally be Ratonhnhaké:ton’s father. It is also possible for 1741~1743 but that’s like the iffy questionable age group.

In other words, yes, this could work.

You know what would be funny?

If Desmond knew Haytham would be coming to save his mother but not when. So he’s been preparing, even has a failsafe in case Haytham took too long and he needed an exit strategy soon.

His plan?

To frame Haytham Kenway for murdering the sultan’s favorite son and that son’s mother.

Desmond needed to fake his and his mother’s death and, as much as Desmond knew that Haytham had a sucky childhood, and he was truly coming to save his mother, Haytham Kenway was still a dangerous Templar who willingly tried to kill his own son...

Said son is also one of the few people Desmond cared about, either out of his own freewill or because of the Bleeding Effect doesn’t matter to Desmond...

He embraced his Bleeding Effect and Haytham is a danger to Ratonhnhaké:ton regardless of what noble intentions he may have in saving his mother.

Also, Desmond was still annoyed by Haytham’s backseat sailing from that memory, and he knew that Haytham would be able to survive this.

… he might be forever hunted down by the Ottomans but Desmond sees that as a good thing. Gonna be hard to do Templar shit in Desmond’s territory now, right?

I’m just imagining that Desmond had his mother taken out by the Assassins already and is wearing a guard’s outfit. Two bodies that are quite similar to them, both Templars or allies of the Order, are staged into a bloody massacre and Desmond made sure that they would be indistinguishable even by modern means, and he looks Haytham dead in the eyes as he said, “Hello, uncle.”

With fake politeness he had learned as a son of a sultan, he said, “I am quite glad that you have come to save my mother. And, if you truly do care for her, then you must know what role you have to play.”

Haytham doesn’t get a chance to say anything as Desmond puts on the guard’s helmet and shouts, “Intruder! The intruder has killed the prince!!!”

And like the guards have been stationed to be near Desmond and his mother’s rooms, they all get there quickly and find Haytham standing in a bloody room while Desmond pretends to be injured, clutching his arm with bloody hands that were actually from the two fake bodies he had prepared, “He did this! He killed both the prince and his mother!”

And Haytham plays along because he has seen Desmond’s face, know that he is his nephew and everyone here knows how much he loves his mother. If he was being used to finally get away from this place then he will simply applaud his nephew’s audacity and play along.

Only to finally get a headache when it turned out that his nephew and sister has sailed back to the colonies, and he had to learn that from an Assassin who went, “On behalf of the Ottoman Brotherhood, we thank you, Grand Master Haytham Kenway, for becoming a pawn to our mentor’s escape plan.”

For a brief moment, he wondered if it was Jennifer. If Jennifer had managed to become an Assassin and a mentor while stuck in the harem but then the Assassin continues, “The mentor told us to let you go this time as a sign of his thanks to his mostly absent uncle. He did leave you a message: ‘See you in the colonies.’”

And Haytham realized that, if anyone was succeeding his father as the goddamn Kenway Assassin, it would be his devious nephew.

Sidebar: Holden was knocked out by the Assassins because he saw them taking Jennifer to safety but, because Desmond insisted there will be no deaths, they had to take Holden with them and gave him back to Haytham (unharmed other than the ropemarks on his wrists and the bump on his head) when the Assassin came to give Haytham Desmond's message.

Smashcut to Desmond unintentionally undermining Achilles’ mentorship and questioning the Colonial Brotherhood’s actions against Shay Cormac. By the time Haytham gets there, Desmond had already made contact with Shay and was trying to appear as a kind of Assassin inspector and that Achilles’ actions have come into scrutiny and the Brotherhood wishes to hear Shay’s side of the story.

So now, whatever kindness Monro showed to Shay (whether genuine or not) takes the backburn as this becomes a tug of war between Desmond and Haytham to sway Shay to their side with Haytham going for “you know how the Assassins are now, can you truly trust him?” while Desmond is going for “This is not what the Brotherhood is meant to do, Shay, you know that. Help me make this right.”

Then that’s when we smack Haytham with news that Desmond has a child (with a ‘savage’) and Haytham knows he couldn’t have one. The timeline doesn't fit.

He sees Desmond with Ratonhnhaké:ton and he grows suspicious…

Then he hears Ratonhnhaké:ton call Kaniehtí:io mother and…

Desmond raised his head to look at where he had been spying at them and waved at Haytham.

And Haytham just knew…

His nephew certainly got the audacity and the deviousness of a true Kenway.

(Meanwhile, Jennifer is enjoying her retirement in the homestead. She has nothing to add to whatever drama is happening in the Brotherhood but she’s not inclined to help Haytham as well because, as much as her heart warms at the thought that Haytham came to save her even though it was a bit too late, he still became one of them. One of the people who killed their father and Jennifer may not hate him for it because she understands the circumstances that led to it but, at the same time, she feels no desire to reunite with a Templar)

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 27 – The Word for World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin

I’ve meant to read more LeGuin for a long time – I read Wizard of Earthsea in elementary school, the Dispossessed a few years back, and several volumes worth of Omelas discourse, but that’s about it – but I’ll be honest; I only grabbed this because I was desperately sprinting through shorter books to catch up to my reading goal and someone recommended it as being reasonably-sized. That said, I’m really incredibly glad I’m did.

The book tells the story of a stable, peaceful world being violently colonized by foreigners with a sharply limited understanding of its ecology and an (at best0 utterly condescending and dismissive attitude towards the native inhabitants. Eventually, all the atrocities give rise to a violent resistance movement among the colonized and, after a dramatic change in metropolitan politics destabilizes the colonial apparatus and several massacres, they force the (surviving) colonists to surrender and leave the world behind. The book ends on a mournful note, with the idea that the violence necessary to defeat the colonists has permanently tainted indigenous society, and the near-utopian idyll of their prior lives is now lost forever.

So! Can you guess that this book was written by an American in the early ‘70s?

But actually it was a fascinating read, if as much as a cultural artifact as as a narrative.

At it’s most basic – one of the two inciting incidents of the book is the Terran government the colonists answer to imposing a bunch of liberal reforms (ending slave labour and punitive expeditions and institutionalized rape, that sort of thing), and then ending up with the colonial establishment being split between a) those who seem honestly confused with why any of the natives have any issues with the continuing colonization, they’re being humane about it now! And b) the ones going full Rhodesian and treating being told to stop massacring people as the greatest tyranny inflicted in the history of mankind. All very authentically late-20th century.

The representation of Terran culture was an intriguing mix of futuristic and totally unchanged, as well. Earth was apparently entirely ecologically fucked and in dire need of organic materials (hence the desperate colonization drive), a prediction that hasn’t aged a day. Race exists, but the categories have gotten scrambled and rearranged, and is only at all salient in the mind of the local bloodthirsty ultracolonialist fanatic, whose sense of terran solidarity lasts exactly up until he needs people to blame (and, given the callouts to the Vietnam war that abound through the thing, not accidental that his intra-terran racism is all directed towards Asians).

Though there’s something to be said for how viscerally unpleasant the head of the villain is to be in. Closest comparison that comes to mind is the Victorian chapters of A Song of Ice and Fire? He’s a real piece of shit.

Something very modern about the conceit that men of all creeds and colours will unite around a grand shared enterprise of brutally oppressing and exploiting ET instead.

Men, specifically, because the Terran colony as we see it is basically drowning in machismo. The only women involved in the enterprise are either mail order brides or sex workers, and I don’t believe any one of them gets a name or more than a line of perfunctory dialogue anywhere in the book. Their whole purpose is, basically, to represent the possible entrenchment of colonialism by the establishment of a self-sustaining population, and then to be massacred to a woman by the Athsheans to avert just that possibility. (The book’s portrayal of warfare is pretty thoroughly unsentimental like that on all sides).

Also an interesting cultural artifact – the fact that the multiple intelligent humanoid species are explained as all actually being human, the result of some prehistoric precusor species spreading the species around different worlds who would then reunite with each other as they reach the stars. I have the strong impression that this was a pretty common trope back then, but it’s one you essentially never see in modern sci fi. Not a clue why, but interesting way tastes have changed.

The Athsheans themselves are interesting as an invented culture, with their mystical and constant dreaming and their odd gender roles, but they also are very nearly the platonic ideal of the whole ‘morally pure noble savage’ archetype. On the one hand, they – with the exception of a few very rare forms of mental illness – even have a concept of why someone might consciously choose to kill another human. They resolve most interpersonal disputes by singing at each other. They live carefully in tune with their natural surroundings, and have no need for plantations or mines or factories. And so on.

And on the other hand – they have no history. The way everyone does things and the way society is structured stretches back beyond the bounds of memory, and the entire world has basically one more-or-less-homogenus culture where every band has the same basic socio-political organization and the same theology. The one sympathetically-portrayed colonial anthropologist call them perfectly evolved for their environment and so stagnant, and one rather gets the sense that he’s supposed to be right about everything except the value judgment. And so the greatest tragedy of colonialism is shown to be the moral corruption of the Athsheans, brutalized out of their prelapsarian dream and forced to become murderous to regain their freedom. It is, honestly, a trope I don’t much care for.

(It’s an idle thought I don’t really know what to do with, but the Athshean concept of gods – dreamers who bring ideas and concepts from the dream and incarnate them in the material world – also kind of reminds me of the Innocences in Disco Elysium?)

Anyway, LeGuin still is a great writer, and this really was a fascinating read.

[dameronalone]

please elaborate on the jedi and mandalorians

I am SO glad you asked I've been thinking about this a lot for awhile

basically, the mandalorians and the jedi have wayyyyy more in common than either they think or would like to believe. the venn diagram with the overlap of mandos and jedi is nearly a circle. obviously their biggest difference is that the mandalorian's first instinct is to hit back, while the jedi would prefer hitting back as a LAST resort

readmore for everyone else's sake

but they really do have so much in common. both are a highly specific cultures with imo closed communities (it's not that they don't like "outsiders" but not just anyone can be part of the group) and despite being such a small percentage of the population of the galaxy, they are both nearly instantly recognizable. they both have core principles that they cling to. they are both misunderstood by outsiders because of their closed practices and they were both massacred by the empire. they both value family. maybe the jedi wouldn't phrase it that way exactly, and the mandalorian would say something about blood bonds, but the point is that the strongest relationship were familial.

just look at any of the main mandalorian characters or the jedi. anakin and obi-wan. bo-katan and satine. din and grogu. leia and rey. familial. I'm trying to think - I believe the only romantic relationship focused on with a mandalorian was satine and obi-wan (which is fascinating for entirely different reasons I don't have time to get into)

again, they do have very different philosophies: the mandalorians are a militaristic society and the jedi value peace above all else. we all know how satine's pacifistic efforts turned out (you can't change an entire society's philosophy of the society is not willing to change).

the jedi and mandalorians are both highly skilled fighters when it comes to it and though historically tend to clash because of their opposing ideals, when they DO work together their shared outcome almost always ends in success. I like the little "a jedi and a mandalorian? they'll never see it coming" because it still hinges on the fact that the rest of society still misunderstand both cultures and take them at face value. of course the fighter and the peacekeeper will never get alone, must less fight together. but the jedi tempers the mandalorian and the mandalorian encourages the particular breed of boldness in the jedi

(off topic: my slight beef with making sabine force sensitive in the ahsoka show is because I feel like it takes away from her arc in the cartoon. she became balanced as a fighter and strategist because of kanan's influence while still being a proud mandalorian. you don't have to be force sensitive to hold jedi principles. I just feel like it takes from kanans legacy idk)

the point is that the mandalorians and the jedi have so much in common, if it weren't for the conflicting philosophies of combat / peacekeeping, they would be feared allies. they ARE feared allies, the times they've teamed up. some of the strongest fighters have been the ones that truly embodied both jedi and mandalorian principles. I can't imagine how powerful tarre vizla must have been, I don't even mean from like a strength perspective, i mean the combination of both philosophies is buckwild. and I'm not saying one philosophy is better or worse than the other. the mandalorians survived so long against the empire because of their relentless refusal to submit. palpatine knew he had to ambush the jedi and wipe them out if he wanted a chance for the empire to succeed. peacekeepers first. that doesn't necessarily mean they don't fight, because we know they do. when you're already at war, you fight against tyranny. the only way he beat the mandalorians and the jedi is by just. wiping them out with an onslaught neither could escape or prevent.

anyway it makes you wonder how many mandalorians are/were force sensitive and just did not go to the temple (take THAT babysnatchers jedi theorists) because you can't tell me there were NO other force sensitive mandalorians before or after tarre vizla. my beef with f-s sabine regardless its fun to see one of those late bloomer jedi stories in canon star wars the way we used to have in legends and I would like it if we got more of that.

[physically restraining myself from going off on that topic]

anyway. mandalorians. jedi. I love them both so so much. they mean so much to me. I don't know if this made any sense but it makes sense to me

[secret-engima]

Hi ! So glad I find your master worldbuilding mind!

Quick question, how do you think we went from a clan-based village to actual Konoha where several clans (Senju, Sarutobi?, Uchiha, Danzo clan? , Hatake if it's a clan) have disapear? Did the village care ou try to protect them? Did other clans are treathen by the possibilities to be let down?

Because you said that Tobirama trust Uchiha with police force but Sarutobi was obsessed by clan balance and all. I know Sarutobi is old, so a lot could have happening.

Any thought?

Hi! Okay so this ask is actually based on a slightly flawed premise (not your fault it's Kishi's worldbuilding again) in that we do not actually see a lot of "wiped out" clans. What we see is Kishi not bothering to flesh out the clans he has because what is attention span. For example; the Sarutobi are not wiped out! There is exactly one shot of the Sarutobi clan in the 4th war arc that is in both the manga and the anime (in the anime the shot is actually narrower so you can't see as many as in the manga shot) where a bunch of their jounin and chuunin members (like easily double digits, I forget the exact number but I wanna say around 20ish? With more implied to be off screen) breathe fire at the juubi in sync. And it is confirmed they are all Sarutobi. There's like one guy who's essentially like: COME ON GUYS LET'S SHOW THEM THE SARUTOBI CLAN KICKS ASS.

So the Sarutobi clan is actually a decent enough/healthy enough size, we just literally never hear or see it until that one single shot. So it's reasonable to assume most clans are healthy and protected by Konoha. This is kind of implicitly supported by the narrative too, because things like the Uchiha and Hatake and Senju being nearly extinct are things that people comment on and find noteworthy, which means it's *not* the norm.

As for how the three clans we know of being wiped out *got* wiped out, I think that is less the fault of Konoha itself (tho Hiruzen is directly at fault for allowing the Uchiha massacre thanks) and more a side effect of that transition from clan based society to village based society. Namely the multiple shinobi wars. As I mentioned in my economics rant, the shinobi wars were something entirely out of the league of clan wars back in the day in terms of scale and destruction, so clans that got hammered likely were ones either already on the small size (like the Hatake probably were) or ones that would have been intentionally targeted by the enemy out of fear (Senju and Uchiha). The sheer scale of the conflict and clashing powers would have decimated targeted clans, and the villages would have been unprepared for that kind of issue until it was too late. After that, the surviving members could have easily died out without having kids post war, or if they were female members in the case of, say, the Senju, they didn't die out but the *name* died out, because it's still traditional in Naruto world cultures for the woman to join the family of the man and not the other way around (with the exception of the Uchiha and other regularly manifesting kekkei genkai clans I imagine).

We don't see anything about the Shimura clan either way beyond Danzo, which is again a flaw in the kishi worldbuilding, so we don't know if he actually has a clan still running around, or if they were just a small clan that got hammered in the multiple shinobi wars. On that note you can apply this same worldbuilding problem to almost every other village in the show. Kumo, Iwa, and Suna all have characters who are implied to be from a clan or have kekkei genkai that appear to be hereditary but no clan is mentioned. So we just do not know if there IS a clan of say- people with hand mouths like Deidara, or if they are one-off manifestations of a kekkei genkai, or if they are survivors of other villages' clans that got hammered casualty-wise by the wars like the Senju and Hatake presumably were.

Logistically speaking it would be beneficial for the villages as a whole to do everything they could to keep their clans alive, since their clans are where their powerhouses tend to come from while civilian-born shinobi fill out the ranks with more mid-level shinobi. There would probably be incentives and benefits offered by the village for clan shinobi to marry and have kids that bear the clan name, etc etc. And clans that are still a healthy size work hard to keep it that way.

I hope that answered your question?

[dangermousie]

Of course Ming Ye’s plan to save Sang Jiu involves gruesomely dying in her stead. If aesthetically suffering was an Olympic sport, the man would be going for a gold medal.

I have my issues with this portion of the story (not the way it’s written, it’s done well, but with my liking or lack thereof for this couple, about which more below) but this is the important point! Yes, the tears are important blah blah but this is a lesson about how to swap someone’s demonic stuff without, you know, driving nails into them like they are evil Jesus. 

By now, I am quite done with these two boneheads, but I confess that made even my cold black shriveled heart hurt.

(I guess they had a starter marriage :P)

Ummmm, honey! She just massacred 10K people! I am sure they had old and kids among them. Like...by now I want to smack both of them with a shovel, tbh.

Awwww. Even with my annoyance at these two, this once again made me :(

Sang Jiu being her charming self. Let the man die in peace (or, since you yourself are about to keel over), let him survive in peace. 

OK, OK, Mousie, stop being irritated and concentrate on how pretty LYX looks here.

And then she’s all “psych! I can’t be undevilized or even survive because my normal body is dead.” You couldn’t have let him know BEFORE he got repeatedly flambeed for you?

It’s OK, hot dimbulb, there are many many fangirls who will gladly accept your...ahem...divine essence. All night long.

What the hell! Now that she’s dying, she still wants to do her best so he’d not have any peace. No dissipating before a final twist of the knife. WTF! By now, any shred of sympathy I had for her (and to a large degree MY) has disappeared utterly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s bad writing - just as MY is terrible at communicating and prone to dramatic gestures over common sense functioning, Sang Jiu is incredibly self-absorbed and immature from beginning to end. She was someone who thought it was a great idea to marry a guy who did not know her at all because he was hot. She also thought it was a great idea to force him into sex right after they got divorced. She didn’t wait to find out whether the method she came up with would result in divine punishment or whether it was still worth it to use the crystal chalice despite where it came from or or or or or really anything. It’s just before she went powerful and evil, Ming Ye and the viewer could ignore the red flags (which got redder and redder; I mean much as fictional dubcon in 14 was hot, it WAS 100% dubcon/sexual assault; no nice sweet good selfless well-adjusted person does that) but once she got power into her hands and trauma really shoved her further, it became really clear. It’s kind of like Tantai Jin. If he has no status and no power, does it matter in terms of its effect on the world if he would love revenge or is cold or has trauma or w/e? No, of course not because whether he’s a well-adjusted sweetheart or dysfunctional psycho, he has no power to carry out anything, whether it’s to open a puppy shelter or to carry out a wholesale slaughter. But once he gets power, his traumas and quirks become everyone else’s concern and one must deal with them somehow because he makes it everyone’s business. Same here.

What. The. Fuck. That is not romantic, this is UGH. Honestly, I am glad MY and SJ found each other because they should not inflict themselves on other partners. It’s kind of amazing that I started out liking them and by now I am all “thanks divine lightning, hurry it up with your barbeque.” 

He ultimately does not but by then I stopped caring. I am so so so happy we are back to our headcases Tantai Jin and Susu.

The thing is - my ranting does not mean I did not enjoy this portion of the story (unlike in the novel where I skimmed it since I dngaf about it at all.) The acting is great, the visuals are nuts, and the characters, including MY and SJ are completely internally consistent and their actions make total sense for what and who they are - their arcs are logical. I strongly dislike both of them by the end, but that does not mean it was not a well-done story.

[whitelilynh]

Hello hope everything is well! So your last post had me thinking a lot. About the Konaha village being a super power and yet executing its own members never truly caring about its villagers or anyone else for that matter. I do agree Konaha has turned into some strange “I know best clan”

The sudden execution of a clan was something I didn’t question but the treatment of an orphan who did nothing but become a new vessel for the 9 tails.

My question ( two questions I guess) is

1. Do you think it had to do with which Hokage was in charge to want to execute the Uchiha clan

(Ex. Naruto “pardoning” Orochimaru despite his war crimes against Konaha - let’s face it he should have died, but instead he goes good and Naruto does nothing about it despite what this psycho did. Which is weird because they were going to execute Naruto for something idk if it was in a movie or episode but it was a dumb messed up reason.)

2. Does this change your mind of how Sasuke stories should have ended as you had once answered my question about what should have happened to Sasuke at the end of Naruto

- running away and working with Naruto to help Konaho

- Naruto killing Sasuke

- Sasuke becoming the last Uchiha

Again hope everything is well glad to see you are so passionate about these topics.

Hi! I'm quite well, thanks.

Ah, this is a long topic, isn't it?

I'd say who the Hokage was did play an important part, but as often happens, it's more about the interests of the elites. I mean, Hiruzen was weak AF as a Hokage that was supposed to protect ALL his people. He let the Hyuga affair go, he allowed (even if not ordered) the Uchiha massacre, all because he was weak of character, and because deep down he didn't care about the implicated ppl, i.e. Hyuga and Uchiha clan. One can say he has to think about the rest of the village as well, and it's partially true, but when did he think about *that* part of the village?

Let's put it simple, both Hyuga and Uchiha were the strongest clans of the village, we could say, specially in Hyuga case, they were the majority of the village's defense lines, since it was recognised at least during OG that way. Now, if you have this people that is fundamental for the well being of the people, why won't you protect them? What would the people of the village think if they had a say in so? Probably "hey, let's not punish the Hyuga for having DEFENDED themselves from an enemy" or "maybe we should not instate an apartheid on the Uchiha? Like, they've been loyal to the village for generations, maybe we should just conduce a fair investigation instead". But Hiruzen went the easy road, he didn't have what's needed to face his supposed equals. He couldn't face the Raikage, he couldn't face Danzo. He preferred to let them do as they pleased. So yes, Hiruzen as the Hokage is partially responsible. He was either weak or plainly evil, there's no other way he would've allowed those happenings if not.

A curious case is, what would happen if Minato was still alive? Let's suppose the Kyubi incident happened but he managed to survive. Did he have what was needed? Or would it have been the same?

To begin with, I guess Kumo might not dare to try to attack the Hyuga during the peace negotiations have those be done with Minato, they feared him. I also believe Konoha would've went to war with them if they did, with Minato. Not only because of him per se, but because his death weakened the village and that was used as an excuse not to.

About the Uchihas, I believe Minato would've try to conduct a proper investigation, but sadly, I think the pressure would've overcome him. Because tbh, Danzo and the elders seemed to want to get rid of the Uchiha and they just searched for an excuse. I think Danzo would've done the same, in spite of Minato's efforts, and the outcome would've been the same. Probably the only difference is, I want to believe, Minato would've protected Itachi. I want to believe he would've rather proceed himself than to force a 13 yo to kill his entire family.

So, it's in part because of the Hokage, but is mostly because of the interests of the powerful people on the village's politics.

Now, to the second question. It does change some aspects, while others remain the same.

I still think Sasuke had no interest on Sakura, or women or romance whatsoever, and I wouldn't want to force him into a relationship just for the sake of the continuity of the clan. But I want the Clan to be reinstated, so I have a different solution for that (which was gonna happen on my AE anyway, is just that now I want it more).

In an ideal world though, Naruto didn't surrender to the propaganda on Konoha and instead kept loyal to his convictions. So, Naruto would've stayed by what's right, and what's right is to let the truth about the Uchiha be told, and let Konoha face the consequences of it's past acts. How can a true change happen otherwise? If you truly want to reform the Ninja system, if you want the village to be a fair and safe place for everyone, and to conduce the Ninja world towards peace, you can't rise over lies. You need to come clean and start anew.

So, even if Sasuke decided to protect the village because it was Itachi's wish, I think Itachi would've also wanted to clean the name of his clan. At least Sasuke wants so, and he is worthy of repair as well. So if Naruto was a true friend to Sasuke, that's the least he could have done. This implies, though, that Naruto had a lot of learning to do. Because Naruto doesn't know what Sasuke knows. He thinks Konoha is the good guy, and he can't see what Konoha did was a genocide, unless of course someone explains that to him. It would've been interesting if Naruto also heard the talk Sasuke had with Itachi, and with the deceased Hokages.

So, I don't think Sasuke must be punished, nor that he has to attone his sins anymore. Not the way I did before at least. I think he has to evaluate himself and come clean with his decisions, know that he did wrong things like joining Akatsuki, but also be able to forgive himself because he knew no better and people tend to forget he was just a child no one was honest with.

I think Konoha and Naruto need to change.

And I think Sasuke deserves a second chance, not as the village's dog, but as a person, to find healing and to follow his own path.

I have a lot more thoughts about this now, but I don't find the way to express them properly yet, so for now I'll leave it here (this is already a very long answer isn't it? 😅) Maybe I'll write more about Sasuke in the future.

Thank you for asking 😊.

[deanwinchesterpregnant]

for the end of the yeaaarrrrr: 4, 7, 12, 18, 25

<333

4. movie of the year: easily cocaine bear. i posted abt this the other night but i loved it so much i saw it twice in theatres. it wasn't a prequel, sequel, spinoff, remake, no capitalizing on nostalgia value, it was a straight up original movie and it was so much fun. campy gore, good comedy, a fun ending, all of the actors were fantastic and a good soundtrack too. loved it, it was exactly what i needed it to be

7. favorite actor of the year: i don't watch many new tv shows and movies admittedly, but i finally saw x (i know it came out in 2022) and was very impressed with mia goth, so probably her

12. talk about a new friend you made this year: did we meet in 2022 or 2023 i can't remember!? i'm just gonna say you anyway, rae i'm so glad u entered my life ur so funny and also i can always go to you when i'm in hater mode but also serious mode and i had so much fun when u came to visit ily <3

18. a memorable meal this year: bro i had this crazy good gnocchi and short rib at the bar on st. patrick's day lol bc we decided to eat so we could get a table and the bar was so crowded, and it was SO good and i went back for it later to make sure it wasn't only good bc i was drunk and yup. still good. also my dad made prime rib for xmas eve and my brother made creme brulee and bro.....incredible

25. did you create any characters (in games, art, writing) this year? describe one: ok yes i started a new d&d campaign and made my boy val. he's a 330~ year old monster hunter who survived a massacre on his family when he was a kid and is convinced whatever killed them is after him. he has the haunted one background and is convinced everyone who gets close to him will die so he's spent most of his life alone as a monster hunter and is super awkward and i love him so much. he's a shadar-kai and this meme sums him up:

[weheirsofdurin]

😔published lines or a section of a fic that was super sad, angsty, or difficult to write?

There are two, simply because I ahve a really angsty one I wrote before I actually cared about Fili and Kili; and one I wrote while feeling very depressed myself.

It's so hard to chose what section to put here. The title of the Fic 1 is Never Kili Without Fili Nor Fili Without Kili by Verbophobic

Fandoms:The Hobbit - All Media Types  

Explicit

Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

No category

Complete Work

08 Feb 2018

Tags

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Kíli (Tolkien)

Fíli (Tolkien)

Angst

Hurt/Comfort

Family

Summary

Growing up it was always Fili and Kili, on the quest it was always Kili and Fili. Never was it Kili OR Fili

Language: English Words: 1,429 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 6 Kudos: 46 Bookmarks: 1 Hits: 561

“Ki- I love you. Please-” He let out a harsh breath and blood dripped from the corner of his lips, “Please don’t leave me.” His tears flowed solidly leaving trails that disappeared into his blond mane.  “I wont, I won’t ever leave you Fi.” Kili promised his brother as he too cried heavily. Fili was fading fast and as they clasped hands he had to make sure he got his last words out before it was too late. “I love you too, Nadad.” “Nadadnith…” A breath left him and the tears stopped flowing from the older of the two. When Fili’s eyes glazed over and he was no more Kili fell to his side and helf tighter to Fili’s hand. Blood driped out of his mouth, staining his lips red as he struggled to speak. “I’ll be there soon, wait for me?” He begged as he curled up to encircle his brothers head and keep him better protected from the massacre that was still ongoing. From his back jutted five orcish arrows all tipped with a deadly poison.It was only moments later that his body gave a great shudder then stilled as he joined his brother. It was never Kili without Fili, nor was it Fili without Kili.

The second fic was just hard to write because I was in a dark point of my life, hating the mangorial abuse at work, and hating myself. SO I wrote something to explain away my sorrows.

A Frayed LifeLine by Verbophobic

Fandoms:The Hobbit - All Media Types  

Mature

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

No category

Complete Work

31 Jan 2018

Tags

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Thorin Oakenshield

Kíli (Tolkien)

Fíli (Tolkien)

Beorn (Tolkien)

Depression

References to Depression

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD

Summary

Fili isn't the same after surviving Azog's attack at the battle of five armies. He think's he's putting on a good front so no one knows; but everyone is letting him /think/ he's hiding well when he's not. He wont talk to anyone and has gotten to the point where intervention might be necessary. But then a single Meow draws him back to the world and he's fighting for her. Because if he doesn't take care of her, who will?

Big TW: For depression following

The door closed securely and he let the cat go before moving on his way to the baths. He stripped and ginaced at the stench he could nearly taste from his clothes and was glad he had been motivated to come clean. Sitting in the tub filled with steaming water he relaxed for just a few moments before he pulled his legs up and with his elbows on his knees made an ‘ugly’ face as a sob racked through him. “How- how did I fall this much? When did it get so bad?” He whispered to himself as he fought against the urge to wail like a child, he just wanted it all to stop. For the world to take a deep breath and let him relax for a single day. As he sat there he daren’t close his eyes least the nightmare that haunted his dreams plague the darkness beneath his lids. He worked and worked and worked, his excuse was that it was to please Thorin and prove he would be a great heir when the time came; but Fili could not lie to himself. He was letting himself go, the depression and fear that kept him awake at night was beginning to affect him during the days now. He found himself forgetting to eat, hiding away and burying himself under work that he pretended needed to be done when it was little more than an offhanded suggestion from his uncle, by Mahal’s beard he was not even feeling motivated enough to clean himself half the time! He lied to everyone telling them he was fine, that Azog skewering him like he was a pig to be put upon a spit was nothing more than another victorious battle to boast about. But in reality every time he slept he relived the moment over and over; the feeling of the blade slicing through him as well as a dagger used on heated butter, the light airy feeling of being tossed over the edge hard impact of the ground breaking bone after bone and causing such agony he could barely grunt to his brother. He knew Kili still had nightmares of seeing his big brother in that condition- hitting the ground- and often was seen staring at Fili just to make sure Fili was still there. Fingers dug into his scalp and he gasped as he struggled to keep himself from screaming while at the same time depriving himself of the necessary air to breathe. He couldn’t breathe- Mahal! He was suffocating! Had someone blocked off all airways to the room?! Was he trapped in here to die with nothing in his lungs but screams and sobs he would not allow himself? His face was soaked with the tears and he was growing paler and paler as he struggled and fought to gasp.

[galacticwildfire]

found.

Twenty Five

Pairing: Kenobi!oc x Din Djarin

Summary: Satine and Obi-wan’s daughter fought in the war against the Empire and lost her faith when she lost Mandalore. Until she found him. A lone Mandalorian searching for a Jedi.

Warnings/tags: Trigger warnings for flashbacks: suicide attempt, violence, gunplay, trauma. For the rest of the story: near death, jealousy, violent impulses, threatening, descriptions of ptsd and injuries, mentions of miscarriage, angst angst angst, Din and Lando united against Boba

Word Count: 7.9k

A/N: it gets worse before it gets better but the next chapter is angst to the extreme. I have the proceeding fight between her and Boba written but it would have pushed the chapter to 10k words so expect it in the next one. I wanted to spend some time in Boba's pov exploring the other side of their story from his eyes. Also one scene is very much inspired by the "we don't like him do we" one from ginny and gerogia,

ALSO THAT NEW EPISODE. NOW THAT IS MOTIVATION TO WRITE.

~

~

~

Boba Fett

From the cockpit I can hear the Mandalorian talking to her as if that alone could undo a missile impact. He loves her. Not that I can blame him. Once I was in the same state as him after pulling her out of that rubble after the oxygen in her lungs had been replaced with chemicals, not that she was conscious to see it. Much like now, but something tells me she'll know.

She always does.

Perhaps I said the things to the Mandalorian that I did out of spite, perhaps I respect the man, maybe I want to kill him, maybe it's the fact it was easier to voice the hate in my heart than to look at her dying in another man's arms. 

He's terrified, I was as well when I saw the missile impact.

But I was right when I told him she's both too stubborn to die and too hard to kill. A trait the rest of the Jedi didn't share, one I attribute to her sheer spite more than Mandalorian blood, but what keeps me calm is knowing I've seen her perform stranger miracles than surviving a direct hit from a missile. 

Fennec and I sit in silence as we enter the system until she finally breaks it.

"You neglected to tell me the woman who had your armour was formerly pregnant with your child."

There is frustration in her voice, almost repulsion, not that I can criticize it when she heard the whole of it. "Was. A long time ago."

She is hardly one to judge, but she does. "That information would have been valuable before engaging."

I scoff, forgetting most aren't familiar with warriors like Kyra "How so?"

"I hadn't accounted for a vengeful Jedi," she says and shakes her head, touching her throat from where Kyra strangled her. Her willingness to use the force to commit violence is something I had not accounted for, but I should have known threatening her would only make her snap. 

"Well it seems she is the only one of those left in the galaxy," I say, glad to know at least one of us has not changed. 

"We owe them Boba," she says stiffly. "For the child."

"I know," I say quietly. I owe her. If she has claimed this child as hers, whether as a padawan or a foundling, or more likely both, it's my duty to return it to her. "And we will help them if she lets me live long enough."

Physically I know she can kill me, she may be one of the few people still alive who can. I haven't been on the receiving end of an attack from her, not truly at least, but I've seen enough to know what she is capable of, it's only ever been her heart and damned code that's held her back from committing massacres. 

I've heard the rumours, that her and Skywalker walked into a room with Vader and the Emperor and only they left alive. I hope she killed them, with Skywalkers strength and her skill they are they only people in the galaxy who could. 

I'll never forget the day I stood in that throne room on Mandalore when Viszla challenged her, a hulking man with a full foot on her and still he ended up beaten. 

And that was without her Jedi tricks.

"Mando filled the space you left in the guild after the Sarlaac," Fennec warns me, I'd done my research and came to the conclusion that Kyra would only find herself in league with a man who could rival her. "I can assure you that he's just as likely to drop you once she's safe."

"Great," I find myself saying. He's taken my woman and my reputation without even realising it. "He can take what he wants, but there is no other bounty hunter like me. Only me."

"Except for the fact you're in love with the same woman," she says, more frustrated I withheld important information from the mission than anything else. "That you had also neglected to inform me of."

"Fucking the same woman," I correct. "I never said anything about love."

"I'm not deaf," she shortly, no doubt having heard the conversation below. "I thought living with the Tuskans was what made you soft, not her."

"She did," I force myself to admit. "And it got me all but killed."

"Better not make the same mistake twice then," she says and that's the end of the conversation, yet for just a moment I remember what it was like to have Kyra beside me in this cockpit, remembering it all too well. Right from the first time we met, when she paid me to smuggle her to Mandalore after her mothers death, hiding behind a veil and giving no name.

"First time dealing with a bounty hunter?" I asked her, having picked up on the fact she was some aristocrat but I never could have known the Mand'alor herself was sitting beside me.

"Something like that," she answered. "I sat in that Cantina for hours, I approached you because of that armour you wear, those who follow the old ways have a code of honour about them for the most part."

"Then why are you suspicious of me?" I asked her, her body cues obvious enough.

"Because suspicion has kept me alive."

I was almost impressed although cautious when I realised I had a refugee onboard. "Would I be right to assume you aren't quite friends with the Empire?"

"No one is friends with the Empire," she said, and there was a regal yet frustrated tone to her voice that should have alerted me to who she was as it was all too similar to the Duchess Satine's. "We all live under their rule, for some that is more difficult than others."

"We all do what we must to make a living," I told her, just wanting to make my way through the galaxy with some credits in my pocket. "Why make life more difficult for yourself?"

"That's a good question," she said, she was a young woman but spoke with a self righteous wisdom that felt too familiar. "Some of us are born into difficult situations, it's all we know."

"With the wealth you have it can't have been that difficult," I dismissed. "You sure have enough beskar to keep yourself comfortable."

"Blood money," she replied and those words sparked my intrigue.

"What money isn't blood money?" I asked her, but she knew that and still judged it with the true hypocrisy of a Jedi. "Did you forget who you hired?"

"A bounty hunter," she answered simply. "And from the price you charged that man on Tatooine a very good one I suspect, expensive enough for these parts anyways."

"If you've lived your life on Tatooine you would know it is the rate for Bounty Hunters of my experience, it's in the outer rims where blood money runs thick," I said and tilted my head towards her. "Unless that is just another part of your story."

"You doubt I'm Mandalorian," she said and then left me stunned as she spoke in Mando'a. "I am more than most who claim to be."

Oh little did I know just how much until we were entering Mandalore's atmosphere and she was telling me to fly past Imperial ships straight for the palace and I felt like the greatest fool in the galaxy realising I was sitting beside the spawn of a Mandalorian duchess and a Jedi, a Jedi I'd once tried to kill. 

She'd kept up her game of disguise all the way from Tatooine until that moment, even after I'd found the bodies of the stormtroopers she'd left on a layover planet the moment I'd let her out of my sight. I'd sat here in this very cockpit dumbfounded at having been blindsided for one of the very few times in my life, that the aristocratic woman I'd agreed to smuggle was a very capable killer and I didn't even know it. That I didn't know I was sitting beside someone who moved like a ghost and shed blood without blinking an eye.

I think that was the very moment I knew I was fucked.

Maker knows I still am and she might not even make it to Cloud City. But I can't afford to think like that, after all she's endured she won't die today. She can't. Not like this. 

She's older now, closer to the age I was when I met her, and with age has certainly come both beauty and bitterness. She's no longer a girl shouldering the weight of Mandalore and the Jedi on her shoulders, but a battle scarred woman who has lost more than most could ever fathom. Something I did not understand, not until the murder of the Tuskans. It is easy to blame those with a responsibility until you are the one carrying it, and having failed. 

I went to her on Tatooine not just for the armour, I didn't beat Cobb Vanth just for beskar, but for her. That was when I discovered the Mandalorian and knew something had changed.

All those years during the war, from retaking Mandalore after her mother surrendered it to that day on Tatooine, we found our way back to one another. No amount of hate or betrayal could ever change that. Even that last night together no matter how much she hated me it didn't stop her from pulling me into bed. 

I tried to convince her to abandon it all, but she wouldn't. Even so, after Cloud City I turned on Vader. She can scoff at me and deny I'd ever draw a blade on him, but I did when he told me he knew she was pregnant when he tortured her but it was too late to undo the damage that had been done. I never knew she'd lost the child then.  For months I tried to get back to her until I lured her to Tatooine, expecting her to be half a year or more pregnant and there she stood as I'd last seen her with such rage in her eye that I believed what Vader told me she would do and she let me believe it.

Vader twisted both our minds, and now I know the truth all I feel is shame. Shame that the one good thing in my life, my one chance at a future to be a good man as my father was, I ruined it.

I ruined her.

And yet I can't accept what is right in front of my eyes.

That she loves this strange Mandalorian in a way she did not love me.

All those years of running around the outer rims together so her family would never know about us and now this Mandalorian seems to know them all. That was what told me all I needed to know in my questioning. She loves him, I knew that when I watched her find him bleeding out on Tatooine, but here she suddenly is with a child and a man she'd brought to meet the people she loves most. The two things her and I never had, the two things that were impossible for us despite how close we came to having it.

Everything I wanted for us, the freedom to travel the galaxy with just her and our child, a life together without the war or the Empire or the Rebellion. Just us.

Everything I wanted, everything I spent years fighting for, suddenly she has with another man.

That wounds me more than any words she could ever say.

I would have done anything for it, but she would never abandon the Rebellion for anything, not me, not Mandalore, nothing.

We were in bed together in an inn on a world where no one would know us, it was the unspoken condition of our arrangement following our reunion after Mandalore. We were each others secret.

My arm was around her shoulder, tired smiles on both our faces as I watched her inspect my new blaster. She was warm in my arms, the only soft thing I had in my life.

"It's expensive," she said, despite her insistence that blasters were uncivilised in comparison to a lightsaber she had no problems wielding one.

"I'm expensive," I reminded her, not that she needed it.

"Oh I know," she assured me and it earned a low chuckle. I watched in quiet amusement as she lined the blaster up with a decorative plate on the wall, making blaster sounds with her mouth.

I raised an eyebrow at the display "It sounds a bit more sophisticated than that."

"Yeah alright shut up," she laughed and I reached around to put a hand over hers. She didn't need any instruction with a blaster but I knew she liked it and so did I.

"It's silenced," I told her as I watched her face. "Yet still able to penetrate the thickest of armour. It's a smooth design, not bulky. Perfectly rounded edges."

"Hmm," she hummed as her already naked body warmed and I ran the barrel along her jaw knowing how she liked it, and there was nothing more erotic than watching her face as I fucked her with my blaster. Nothing. She bit back a moan as I ran it over her lips, getting her just how I wanted her as she tilted her chin up towards mine, her eyes fluttering closed as she murmured my name "Boba."

"Princess," I said, liking how she melted with a single touch and tried in vain to get her to leave that damn inn with me when I had her in the only state I could ever get her to beg in "You should come with me for a while, wherever you want to go."

Her eyes opened and that lovestruck look was gone. "You know I can't."

"You can, you just won't." With that she sat up and held the blankets to her chest and I sighed as I tried to bring her back "Kyra-"

"Don't," she said harshly as I broached that one subject that was sorely off limits.

"Is it so wrong to want you with me?" I asked her and pressed my lips to her shoulder. "Would anyone know if you disappeared for a few days..."

"Yes, considering I'm leading an attack in a few days they would," she revealed, always in anger giving more than she would otherwise and sighed "Boba, you know I want to."

"Then what's stopping you?" I asked her, bit by bit trying to get her to see what she was too stubborn to admit. "The rebellion will survive without you."

"If you want me that badly then come with me," she countered, as defiant as ever.

"That would make things more complicated than necessary," I said, by then she'd had to have known what I was doing and who I was working for, how couldn't she when I was running into her rebel friends in the field.

"You're the one making things complicated by hunting down my friends," she finally snapped and I leaned back in defeat knowing it was only a matter of time before she brought up the last altercation. "Fuck Boba, of all the targets you could take-"

"Solo pays the most," I said and the way she shook her head in anger spurred something in me. "Why do you care?"

She said it as if it was obvious, painfully in denial Solo would fuck her if given the chance and she was far too defensive of him for my liking. "Because he's my friend."

I scoffed "Why are you fucking him too?"

Her eyes widened and I knew I'd certainly hit a nerve in the way she slapped me hard without a moment of hesitation and I grabbed her wrists, pinning her down beneath me despite how she struggled and spat out "Fuck you Boba."

"Are you?" I repeated and saw a sick pleasure in her eyes at riling me up how she did despite how deeply the accusation angered her.

"Why would you care if I was?" she countered, and this time it was her who crossed one of our many unspoken lines. "Don't tell me you love me?"

It had been two years since she'd found me in that cantina, since she'd paid me in beskar to take her to Mandalore and had somehow convinced me to stay as her commander. She was arrogant enough not to take no for an answer and for some reason I allowed it. Of all the work I'd taken, being paid to fight for her and then fuck her every night was far from the worst of it.

Until it became more than that.

I never expected to want to stay, I never knew how invested I'd become until she decided to give it all up to return to the rebellion and left Mandalore in the hands of her aunt. Being the daughter of a Jedi and a pacifist the vengeful temper was a surprise I couldn't place, not until I met Bo-Katan Kryze. They both knew that Bo-Katan was everything Kyra could grow to become, while Kyra was everything Bo-Katan could have been.

Bo-Katan had been defending the palace with the darksaber Kyra had handed to her upon pointing her regent whilst Kyra fought on the front lines against Darth Vader and his legion before the bombs came. They both survived, I don't know what words were exchanged but it was enough for Kyra to bring down the ruins of the palace upon herself while her aunt and her Nite Owls lived. 

I didn't know I loved her until I pulled her out of that rubble on Mandalore, but I couldn't admit it, not to her. I was Boba Fett and she was an inconvenience, one I found myself indulging in every chance I got.

"Don't be stupid," I said but she looked right through me and I hated it. "I don't like other men touching what's mine."

"Last time I checked I'm not yours, not when the only time I can have you is like this." 

"I'd beg to differ."

She pushed against my hold on her but I didn't let up until she said "No I'm not fucking Han you jealous bastard." Maybe I wanted to believe it so I had an out but the moment I released her wrists she grabbed my face and pulled me down between her legs as she told me "I have what I want." Her next words were the closest either of us could come to telling ourselves and each other the truth. "And that's you Boba."

I watched her eyes darken at the feeling of my blaster between her legs and knew I had her as I gave her a single command "Show me."

And even as she sunk down onto the blaster she still believed she was in control, but if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was to take what she wanted.

It was that attitude that put her on the throne of Mandalore but it was her loyalty to the rebellion that lost her it, her misplaced loyalty that put us on opposite sides of this war. For a moment I was more than a bounty hunter, I was the right hand of the Mand'alor, an honourable man. I watched her fight every challenge to her reign, I watched as she tamed the clans who would have overthrown her if they saw a moment of weakness.

That was until she received one call from the Princess of Alderaan and she put the darksaber in her aunt's hands to run off to the rebel base with her battalion of warriors. That was when it fell apart, the screaming match in the empty throne room in the dead of night. All because she was too afraid to lose her so called family, all because she was that vengeance mad after her parents deaths. I understood the thirst for vengeance and would have been by her side to take it with her, but not when she thought vengeance meant returning to the rebellion.

She should have been glad she was born after the fall of the Jedi order, or else she would have been cast out for her insufferable heart. Her one and only weakness.

Mandalore would have withstood the Empire under her rule if not for it. If she'd made decisions without it instead of letting her own stubbornness and vendetta against the Empire leave Mandalore unstable and open to attack. She was always too much like her mother in believing through sheer willpower alone she could save Mandalore and they both lost it. In the end her mother surrendered it to the Empire so it would survive whilst Kyra did it so she could avenge her parents.

Now she's running around the galaxy with a Mandalorian who won't take off his helmet and a kid that was one of Yoda's species without a clue in hell what she's doing. 

If I know anything it's that she protects and avenges what she's lost with the fierceness of a true Mandalorian. I left the Mandalorian to die and the kid was taken whilst we had them at blaster point. We enter the planets atmosphere and I know if she doesn't murder me when she wakes up I'll call myself a lucky man.

"Slave I, turn your ship around or be met with force," the air traffic controller says and I just sigh having anticipated no less.

Before I can try to tell them their beloved rebel hero is on board the Mandalorian comes up to the cockpit and buts in to speak into the com.

"This is Din Djarin, tell Lando Calrissian I have Kyra Kenobi on board and she is gravely injured."

There's chatter in the background before being asked "Is Boba Fett on board?"

"Yes but the General needs immediate care or else she will die," he says, sounding how I feel. "Let us land without violence, either Calrissian or Solo will vouch for me."

I can't help but scoff at him being chummy with those two and Fennec gives me a warning look, clearly acquainted with this Din Djarin and not wanting a fight.

"Alright, proceed to land."

And so I land the ship in the same spot where she ran to me upon arriving on Cloud City, not knowing the Empire was already there and it being too late for her to escape.

Perhaps this time I can make things right.

I have to.

~

Din

The moment the landing dock opens I'm carrying her limp body out of that ship, being met with city guards and finally Calrissian who rushes out.

"What happened?"

"She has internal injuries," I say, knowing how is not urgent right now. "She's barely breathing.

"We've got a bacta tank," he says but just as we rush forward towards the building he comes to a stop, only just taking in the ship and immediately reaches for a blaster "Did he do this to her?"

"No," I say, gathering Calrissian knows their history. "We can deal with him later she needs help now!"

I can't keep the urgent edge from my raised voice, not when she's all but dead and we run inside. I'm cradling her head to my chest to keep it as still as I can as he leads me through the halls until finally we reach a medic bay. Calrissian immediately starts giving orders for the tank to be readied while I strip her of her armour to her underclothes without hesitation, this not being how I'd planned on taking it off when I first saw her walk out of that ship guns blazing in beskar. 

Calrissian brings over the harness to hoist her into the tank and the two of us get her inside it, in any other situation I'd cut a man's hand off for touching her in this state of undress but it hardly matters now when she's minutes from death. 

"Be careful, her head-" I begin as the nurses secure the breathing apparatus and it's in the way her limp body hangs as she's hoisted inside the tank for a moment I'm sure I'll be sick and I'm bracing myself on the wall, trying to keep myself from collapsing on the spot now she's out of my hands.

"Sir I need to ask you some questions," the doctor says and I struggle to compose myself as he begins "How did she obtain these injuries and how long ago?"

"Direct missile hit around an hour ago," I answer and watch the colour drain from her face. "She- she's a Jedi. The same missile blew my ship to ashes but somehow she survived."

Calrissian's swearing under his breath and nothing feels real as I'm bombarded with more questions he ends up answering.

"Age?"

"Twenty eight."

"Pre-existing health conditions?"

"Severe post traumatic stress," Calrissian answers as I step closer to the glass, putting a hand on it as if I could touch her, feel her pulse no matter how faint to assure myself she's still alive. "Previous head traumas, long term damage to her organs and nervous system from electrocution." 

My head snaps around towards him at those words, suddenly finding myself overcome by panic at having not known this whilst she was dying under my watch. 

"Force lightning it," he tries to explain but those words don't help. "It doesn't matter how but she's had heart palpitations for years but stopped taking medication for it. She has cognitive processing difficulties, memory loss and disassociation as lasting effects of torture. It's a long list of health conditions but nothing overly out of the ordinary for a war veteran."

Well it's too long for me and I repeat "Lightning?"

"The Emperor," he says and I only tilt my head in confusion. "She hasn't told you about when her and Luke went to kill the Emperor?"

I feel my eyes widen beneath the helmet and I look back at her in pure shock, I knew about Darth Vader but somehow she never mentioned that.

"They killed the emperor?"

"No, technically not but she definitely tried-"

It's then we're interrupted by Boba Fett "She still alive?"

"You can get out!" Calrissian snaps at him and immediately my hand is on my blaster as he appears in the doorway too calm for my liking. 

"In the purge she suffered chemical burns to the insides of her lungs and crush wounds," Fett reveals whilst I stand there ashamedly ignorant of this information, knowing none of it aside from the effects of torture. "She suffocated and I had to restart her heart manually before I could get her help, you'll want to keep an eye on her vitals."

"Noted," the doctor says and hesitantly looks between the three of us before asking "Now before we can do a full body scan I need to ask if there is any chance she could be pregnant."

I freeze beneath my armour, utterly still at the possibility that has not occurred to me before now. I don't know how many times I've been inside her in these past weeks, countless, almost every chance we've gotten away from the kid and everytime I was always as deep inside of her as I could have been when I finished. She never mentioned any protection and I never asked despite knowing I should have, perhaps selfishly wanting the consequences of such an act to happen and silently hoping so did she as she always wrapped her legs tight and held me inside of her after we'd both finished. 

Now after everything I've learned, that she was once with child... there are so many things we never discussed that we should have, so many things I never knew.

Finally I stammer "Yes- she could be."

Boba Fett stays wisely silent, that is until Calrissian awkwardly steps in and says "She has a birth control chip, it shouldn't be expired."

He doesn't look at me and I don't want him to, having tried to forget what I heard in the cockpit when she spoke to Solo after the attack on Tatooine. I was stressed over Fett coming after us when I'd heard Solo telling her they should let off some steam together, I certainly saw the panic that took hold of her and then the frustration when I asked if I'd have to worry about this one coming after us as well after she took off to hunt Fett down in the night.

She told me the truth about Calrissian with little emotion other than guilt, that he wanted to marry her and she ran away. Something that hadn't surprised me after that night. Although I was more than surprised to see him when I met her family, but quickly realised if she deems him family that is something I have to accept. 

And as far as I'm concerned right now he isn't the one I need to worry about.

"Well I'll be damned," Fett says and realise Calrissian can't look at him either. "She let you fuck her after what you did?"

I'm caught off guard, trying to keep an eye on Kyra in the tank to see if she's making any visible improvements, but those words certainly draw me back into the conversation.

"What I did was nothing compared to what you did," Calrissian says but that sparks enough alarm in me that my hand is on my blaster.

"What you did?" I repeat and Calrissian's eyes are on the floor, guilt written across his face.

"Ah, you don't know," Fett says, almost amused. 

"I know what you did," I counter and draw my blaster on Fett, Calrissian quickly drawing his own as well. "I know you're the one who betrayed her."

"I couldn't have done anything if Calrissian hadn't betrayed Solo and the others first by inviting Vader into the city to ambush them." 

I keep my blaster hand still as Calrissian replies "I never invited him, and if I recall you were the one by his side as they laid siege to the city."

"But not before you'd told Solo they were safe here," Fett argues. "She would have never stepped foot in this city if you hadn't betrayed your old friend first."

"I was there that day Fett, I heard her screaming for you to kill her after you turned her over," Calrissian says, repeating what I know from Kyra to be true. "Don't act innocent."

"Oh I know I'm not innocent," Fett replies. "But neither are you."

"Enough," I say sharply, not having the patience for any more of this and tell Calrissian "Moff Gideon took the child and I need to find a lead. He had to take Kyra out with a missile to stop her from cutting through his troopers and I'll need her with me. How soon will she be awake?"

His face falls and he tells me "I'm sorry, I know what that child means to both of you." He looks at Kyra before saying "I don't know how long it will take, but you got her here in time to save her life that's what matters. As for the kid I'll call in the cavalry and we'll make a plan."

I give a single nod, it will have to be enough for now. It has to be enough to keep me from losing my mind. She trusts her family, and I have to trust they won't let any harm come to her child.

"You should leave," I tell Fett and Calrissian points his blaster at him. "Or she won't be the one to kill you."

"Her and I have business," Fett replies and looks at me as he says "I'd say find me when she wakes but I have no doubt she'll do that herself."

He leaves and Calrissian and I stand there, the doctor stands in the corner of the room with her head down going over the vitals and organising the medical droid to run tests. 

"Fett's going to be a problem," I immediately say, not wanting to know what business he has planned. 

"He always is," Calrissian warns. "I was there when she found out he was still alive, I broke the news to her and she went straight to Tatooine to kill him so why is he still alive?"

A good question, one I don't want to answer.

"I've learned she likes to draw these things out," I tell myself, I'd settle for watching her torture him over the alternative.

"You going to kill him?" he asks and I have no doubt he wants to almost as much as I do.

"He tries anything I'll take care of it," I answer, my finger itching over the trigger, the only thing stopping me is Kyra. It's her blood to spill not mine, no matter how badly I want to. 

But what is truly stopping me as much as it makes me want to kill him where he stands is the thought she doesn't want him dead. That somehow she still loves him.

I'd suspected it from the start when I knew she'd come to Tatooine to kill the man that armour belonged to, with every piece of information she revealed I'd suspected it but it wasn't until that night after the attack when I woke to find her gone I realised it went far deeper than I could have known.

Unfortunately something tells me I'm about to find out just how deep.

~

Hours later I'm sitting there alone, the doctor out running the test results and from what I can gather she's confused as well as concerned. She should be dead, but after spending this much time with the kid I know these are things no scientist or doctor could understand let alone explain.

All I can do is guard her body as she rests before me suspended in the tank, as unresponsive as she was when I brought her in despite the doctor assuring me her vitals are growing stronger. 

Despite knowing she will live nothing has ever felt so dark. 

The kid is still gone and nothing will feel real until I have them both in my arms, until I can kiss her and do the one thing I thought I'd have more time to do.

I won't make that mistake again

Calrissian's called Solo to Cloud City since he's in the outer rims, if she's still unconscious by tomorrow morning I can rely on him to get me to Navarro so I can put a team together to get the child back. Time is running out and I need to do it with or without her as much as the thought terrifies me. 

I want to keep her safe, I don't want to put her in the field if she isn't able to fight, but she's the best fighter I've got. She was able to cut through those battle droid looking troopers with her lightsaber when our blasters could barely take out the Death Troopers. If we face the ones who took the child I doubt blasters will do the job. 

I'd dreamed of seeing her in beskar and it was as much of a sight as I'd imagined it to be if not more, having never seen armour in such a design before but considering her fighting style it makes sense. Seeing her wearing a helmet made me want to get down on my knees as much as I'd anticipated it could.

I just never thought it would be on my knees screaming her name in vain.

I eye her saber sitting beside her armour and take it, having only held it to give it back to her and study the mechanics of it, wisely pointing it away from myself as I activate the ignition and the yellow blade ignites. It's lightweight, making a sound as I move it through the air, easy enough to maneuver so simply but nothing like how I've seen her move it. I can't imagine the years of training required for her to be able to wield it how she does with such deadly precision and mastery. 

I disengage it as Calrissian enters the room telling me what I already know "She should be dead but she isn't and the doctors can't explain it."

I find myself repeating Fett's words "She's hard to kill."

"She is," he says and begins "Her and I... that had finished a long time ago, years ago, I only knew about the chip because we'd slept together a few times since then but that was over well before you two met."

While it's assuring to know she isn't still sleeping with him I don't care about that, not now. Now when she isn't in my arms and someone else is waiting for her to wake up. 

"How much as she told you about Boba Fett?" he asks me, going where I didn't want to. 

"Enough," I answer. She had told me everything important, except for one detail that I've gathered she'd convinced herself wasn't real, or at least tried to force from her memory. "She was pregnant when he betrayed her?"

He gives a stiff nod and lowers his voice "The empire had already garrisoned the city when she arrived. I saw him give her to Vader, saw her screaming for him to kill her and I saw the aftermath." He shakes his head, unable to look at her. "Leia and I found her in the cell after Han was taken away, we'd heard her screaming and trying to break out, there was blood all over the floor and she kept saying to Leia she didn't know." 

I feel sick knowing now the true extent of what the Empire did to her and understand now why she's so fiercely sought to protect the child by any means necessary. I now understand her vengeful streak towards the Empire and know when she wakes I'll be by her side as she takes it.

"In all these years we never spoke of it, I think part of her had blocked it out completely," he says, confirming my suspicions. "I never knew her before that day, I only knew who she was after that but Leia told me she was never the same as what she had been before. Leia was the only one who'd known her before the Death Star. I loved her, but I wondered what she would have been like if not for the Empire."

"She told me you bought her a ring," I say and he nods in confirmation and that dark paranoia in the back of my mind from that night she ran haunts me. "She told me Boba Fett was what caused her to run."

"It seemed like it should have worked her and I, but it didn't. I loved her in one way but in these past years it's been in another, as family," he confides in me, not hiding his care for her. "I would have married her but I was never what she wanted or what she needed. Boba Fett was what she wanted and in her own twisted way she still loved him after she struck him down. That was until you and the kid came along." I still at hearing those words from a man who once loved her, words that couldn't be more different from Fetts. "You're what she needs and I know you're what she wants."

"And I need her," I say and it's then I catch movement out of the corner of my eye from the tank. "Kyra?"

We both stand and what was a movement of her fingers quickly turns into kicking and thrashing as she tries to free herself and I'm yelling "Help me get her out!"

~

Kyra

I stood in the ashes of Mandalore after having escaped Vaders ship. My aunt, the last of my blood, turned her back on me and left me there on my knees. 

The world was dead, and so was I. 

Cold tears ran down my cheeks beneath the beskar of my helmet. There was not a thought in my mind, only the crushing weight of the darkness. Vader had felt it too as he twisted my mind. Death would have been more merciful, but he would not let me die. No. He wanted to turn me, to make me his apprentice in his final act of vengeance against my father.

Everything was still, a wasteland of the life I'd once had and the girl I'd been. 

Vader would come for me again, he was likely already on his way.

For the first time I believed if he finished what he started I would fall to the darkness. That despite my fathers counsel on the strength of those who resist the darkside I was no longer that strong anymore.

And so I slowly removed my helmet in the ultimate act of defiance against the Empire, against Vader. I would not die at his hands like my parents did.

The air was toxic, that much I knew with the first breath and I raised my gauntlet to record one final message knowing Leia would find me. Knowing she was the only person in the galaxy who would understand why I did it.

"Leia," I said, hearing the rawness of my own voice. "I survived the bombings but Mandalore is glass and ashes. There is nothing left." I knew it would break her heart, but she would understand. "Vader won't kill me, he won't stop until I turn and become a monster." My voice broke "I will not let him touch me again." The tears came and I whispered "I love you, and I'm sorry, but I can't let him make me into what he is. I can't live knowing my people are dead because of me. I can't." My voice was a mere whisper, feeling as if I'd broken the sacred vow between us two princesses after watching her survive her own planets destruction and Vaders torture, something I could not do. "I'm so sorry."

I wasn't afraid as I left my helmet in the open so they'd know where I was buried and stepped inside the ruins of the palace, it and I both barely standing. With each step forward I heard my fathers voice telling me to turn around and go to Luke and Leia and that was the first time I cut myself off from the force so all I would hear was silence as I got down on my knees and raised my hands to bring the palace down upon me, channelling the force for long enough I could hear my fathers voice in that final moment.

In the darkness my life flashed before my eyes from the start to an end I'd never seen before and the rubble crushed me, my chest feeling as if it would collapse from its weight and my lungs burned from the inside out. I was all but gone from the world when I heard a ship circling above and then a voice screaming my name as the darkness closed in on me.

"Kyra!"

In my slow death as the last bits of consciousness slipped I fought one final time at the sound of his voice and gasped out with ashes in my burning lungs, choking on the chemicals that replaced any oxygen left in the atmosphere, everything pure agony as I tried to dig myself out of the ruins.

"Kyra!"

 But it was not the voice I remembered. No. It's his.

"Din!" I scream finding the strength to truly fight this time. This time my limp body won't be dug out of the ruins as I barely cling to life, this time my hand breaks through the rubble and reaches for his. "Din!"

"I've got you," he says as he grasps my hand, pulling me from the darkness. "You're safe."

I'm gasping for air as I come to, finding myself weighed down until I'm pulled free, my body falling against hard familiar beskar. "I've got you, I've got you cyar'ika."

"Din?" I gasp out and cling to him as he clutches me in his arms, dripping and shaking with no comprehension of where I am, only that I'm with him. That I'm safe. "Din."

He cradles my head, his own hands shaking as he pulls a blanket around me and I look up at him, hardly hearing Lando leaving the room yelling for someone to contact Leia until the door slams shut and I don't understand the fear, the pure devastation that consumes him.

"Din?" I whisper, my head spinning as I try to make sense of where I am and what's happened, but I don't even have a moment to think before he's pulled his helmet off and his lips are on mine, hard and desperate as I taste tears. 

I'm frozen in bewilderment until he pulls away and orders "Open your eyes."

The request leaves me shaking my head, knowing something isn't right. "What-"

"Please," he whispers so heartbreakingly that I have no choice but to obey and my eyes open to look upon his face for the first time, finding beautiful brown tearful eyes and reach for his face wondering if this too is a dream. "Cyar'ika."

In my dreams he'd smile not weep, and I'm too overwhelmed by his own agony to truly take him in as he deserves to be. In my dreams I'd kiss him and tell him he's beautiful and mine and that I adore him. But in this moment all I feel is fear.

In this moment nothing feels real.

"Din?" I breathe, trembling as I search his eyes and my heart stops knowing only one thing could do this to him. "Where's Grogu?"

He shakes his head and pulls me to him, hand buried in my hair with my face pressed into the beskar of his chest as he quakes "He's gone, they took him."

Those words all but convince me this is a nightmare and suddenly I'm ten years old again, screaming as I was stolen from outside the palace walls of Mandalore except this time I'm feeling my own fathers horror at his child being taken from him.

Pure devastation washes over me as he clutches me tight and my shaking hands come to touch his beskar and yet I feel nothing as my fingertips run over what should be cold and know this can't be real.

But with the sound of a ship flying past it comes back to me in flashes.

Slave I.

Boba.

The child.

The Empire.

The missile.

My body jolts as I step out of Din's embrace, hyperventilating while I search for my saber, my armour, until I find them both nearby.

"Kyra," I hear Din say but the words echo around me, nothing is real. Not him, not me, nothing. Nothing but the cold rage that overcomes me. "My love."

"No," I whisper, my trembling hands moving to arm myself. "No-"

"We're going to get him back," he tells me as I struggle to even hold my armour with the feeling in my hands all but gone. "Cyar'ika-"

He turns me back to him and I look upon his face with cold tears running down my cheeks and he takes my hands in his, bringing them to his lips as I stand there a trembling mess, unable to remember how I got here. Unable to remember anything but flashes.

"We're getting him back," I grit out, looking into the eyes of the man I love as I swear to him "We're taking our son back, now help me with my armour."

He does, but not before kissing my forehead, the weight of what he's done unable to truly sink into either of us in this state and I pull his lips to mine, tasting his tears and mine both before the sound of footsteps has him pulling his helmet back on and helping me dress myself in my armour.

He's pulling my sleeves up and securing my weapons belt when I sense Lando and blink in confusion, it's only then as I truly look around I realise where I am.

Cloud City. Din must have brought me here knowing I'd be safe with Lando.

"Are you alright?" he asks me as he rushes in, speaking too fast for me to comprehend. "Leia knows you're here and the Falcon's just arrived." Still I struggle to comprehend the words being spoken to me until he says "Boba Fett is still here."

Boba.

Still all I remember are flashes, guns blazing and threats made until one sticks.

"I can kill the kid, like you killed our son."

He did this.

And he's going to die for it.