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skyfire85 · 3 years

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-A Dornier Do 335 Pfeil on a snowy runway, some time in 1944 or '45. | Photo: Luftwaffe

FLIGHTLINE: 181 - DORNIER DO 335 PFEIL ("ARROW")

Initially designed in response to a request for a Schnellbomber, the Do 335 was reconfigured into a multi-role aircraft, though only a few were completed before Germany surrendered.

Claude Dornier founded the Dornier Flugzeugwerke ("Aircraft factory") in 1914, and was renowned for building large, all-metal flying boats as well as land-based passenger aircraft between the Great War and WWII. These included the record-breaking Do 16 Wal ("Whale") of 1924, the Do X of 1929, and the Komet ("Comet") and Merkur ("Mercury"), a favorite of Lufthansa and SCADTA in Colombia, as well as several South American militaries. A feature of many Dornier aircraft were tandem engines, a tractor and a pusher motor placed back to back. This arrangement allowed an aircraft to enjoy the extra power of having multiple engines without the associated drag of having multiple tractor installations. It also alleviated the issue of asymmetric thrust in case of an engine failure.

-A Do X in flight, circa January 1932. This was one of a number of Dornier flying boats to have a tandem engine configuration. | Photo: German Federal Archives

DEUTSCHLAND PFEILE

What became the Do 335 originated in 1939, while Dornier was working on the P.59 Schellbomber ("high-speed bomber"), which would have carried and equivalent load to a Ju 88 or Me 410, but featured a tandem engine arrangement. Work on the P.59 was cancelled in 1940, but Dornier had already commissioned a test aircraft, the Göppingen Gö 9, to test the feasibility of connecting a pusher prop via an extended drive shaft. The Go 9 was based on the Do 17 bomber, but scaled down 40% and with a cruciform tail. The test plane validated Dornier's designs, though the eventual fate of the Go 9 is not known (likely though, it was destroyed by Allied bombing or recycled).

-The Göppingen Gö-9 motor glider, designed by Wolf Hirth. flying c.1941. | Photo: Flightglobal

The P.59's general design was resurrected in 1942 when the RLM requested a high-speed bomber with a 1,000kg payload. Dornier submission, designated the P.231, was awarded a development contract and the model number Do 335. Late in 1942, the requirements were changed from a Schnellbomber to a multirole fighter, which resulted in extensive delays while the designs were updated.

FLUGZEUGSPEZIFIKATIONEN

The Do 335 was 13.85m long, with a wingspan of 13.8m and a height of 5m. Empty, the plane weighed 7,260kg, while at max TO the weight was 9,600kg (10,000kg for the two-seat trainers and night fighter variants). Power was provided by two Daimler-Benz DB 603E-1 liquid-cooled V-12s developing 1,324kW each. Due to the situation in late-war Germany, the engines were fitted to run on 87 octane "B4" lignite-derived synthetic fuel, and MW50 boost was also available for additional speed. The basic fighter/bomber variant was armed with a singe 30mm MK 103 cannon firing through the spinner and two 20mm MG 151/20 autocannon mounted in the front engine cowl and synchronized to fire through the prop disc. A single 500kg bomb could be carried internally, and two pylons on the wings could be fitted with bombs, gun pods or drop tanks, with a total load of 100kg. During flight tests, the Do 335 hit 763kmh with boost (686kmh without), making it the fastest production fighter the Luftwaffe fielded during WWII. Under single-engine operations, the plane could still fly at 563kmh. Service ceiling was 11,400m, and under ideal conditions the plane could climb to 8,000m in 14 minutes 30 seconds. Due to concerns over a pilot striking the dorsal fin or the rear prop (a common concern in pusher designs before ejector seats became common), explosive charges would sever the fin and propeller before the pilot would bail out.

-Orthograph of the Do 335 A-1. | Illustration: Richard Ferriere

-Cutaway drawing of the Pfeil showing the engines, linkages, and landing gear actuators. | Illustration: Dornier

-Mounting locations of the 335's guns and associated equipment. | Illustration: Dornier

Maiden flight of the Do 335 V1 prototype was on 26 October 1943. A total of 27 flights were made with the V1, which uncovered a weakness in the landing gear, and issues with the main landing gear wheel-well doors saw them removed for the majority of the flights. The second aircraft, V2, first flew on 31 December 1943, and featured uprated DB 603A-2 engines as well as aerodynamic changes informed by the V1's test flights as well as wind tunnel tests. Maiden flight of the V3 pre-production aircraft was on 20 January 1944, which was fitted with DB 603G-0 engines, which produced 1,400kW at take off. The V3 was also fitted with two rear-view mirrors, alleviating blind spots caused by the location of the aft engine. A total of ten preproduction aircraft were then ordered, and in January the RLM ordered five more prototypes of the night fighter variant, later designated the A-6. By war's end, at least 16 prototypes of the Do 335 and related programs had flown, accumulating some 60 flight hours.

-The Do 335 V1 during testing in 1943 or '44. | Photo: Luftwaffe

Production of the Do 335 was given maximum priority under Hitler's Jägernotprogramm (Emergency Fighter Program), issued on 23 May 1944, and the competing He 219 Uhu ("eagle-owl") Nachtjäger theoretically freed up needed DB 603 engines for the Pfeil, but in practice Heinkel continued production of the 219A. Dornier's factories in Friedrichshafen and Munchen were anticipated to produce 120 and 2,000 Do 335s, of various configurations, by March 1946, but an Allied attack on Friedrichshafen destroyed tooling for the Pfeil, which resulted in a new line being set up in Oberpfaffenhofen. The first preproduction Do 335 A-0 model was delivered in July 1944, and construction of the first production A-1 model began in late 1944. As the war progressed, various models of the Do 335 proliferated (as happened often with late-war aircraft programs) as the Nazis sought to turn back the Allied forces:

Do 335 A-2: single-seat fighter-bomber aircraft with new weapon sights, later proposed longer wing and updated 1,471 kW (1,973 hp) DB603L engines.

Do 335 A-3: single-seat reconnaissance aircraft built from A-1 aircraft, later proposed with longer wing.

Do 335 A-4: single-seat reconnaissance aircraft with smaller cameras than the A-3

Do 335 A-5: single-seat night fighter aircraft, later night and bad weather fighter with enlarged wing and DB603L engines.

Do 335 A-6: two-seat night fighter aircraft, with completely separate second cockpit located above and behind the original.

Do 335 A-7: A-6 with longer wing.

Do 335 A-8: A-4 fitted with longer wing.

Do 335 A-9: A-4 fitted with longer wing, DB603L engines and pressurized cockpit.

Do 335 A-11/12: A-0 refitted with a second cockpit to serve as trainers.

-A Do 335 A-12 trainer, known as the Ameisenbär ("anteater"), late in the war. | Photo: Luftwaffe

Do 335 B-1: abandoned in development.

Do 335 B-2: single-seat destroyer aircraft. Fitted with 2 additional MK 103 in the wings and provision to carry two standard Luftwaffe 300 litre (80 US gal) drop tanks.

Do 335 B-3: updated B-1 but with longer wing.

Do 335 B-4: update of the B-1 with longer wing, DB603L engine.

Do 335 B-6: night fighter.

Do 335 B-12: dual-seat trainer version for the B-series aircraft.

Do 435: a Do 335 with the redesigned, longer wing. Allied intelligence reports from early May 1945 mention spotting a Do 435 at the Dornier factory airfield at Lowenthal.

Do 535: actually the He 535, once the Dornier P254 design was handed over to Heinkel in October 1944; fitted with jet engine in place of rear piston engine.

Do 635: twin-fuselaged long-range reconnaissance version. Also called Junkers Ju 635 or Do 335Z. Mock up only.

P 256: turbojet nightfighter version, with two podded HeS 011 turbojet engines; based on Do 335 airframe.

In April 1945 the Allies captured the Oberpfaffenhofen factory in late April 1945, capturing 11 A-1 fighter/bombers and 2 A-12 trainers. That same month, a flight of four RAF Hawker Tempests, led by French ace Pierre Clostermann, encountered an unknown model of Do 335 over northern Germany at low altitude. The Pfeil pilot began evasive maneuvers, but Clostermann opted to not give chase as the enemy plane displayed superior speed. At the time of the German capitulation in 1945, 22 Do 335A-0, A-1 and A-11/12 aircraft were known to have been completed.

-Dornier Do 335 aircraft on the runway at Oberpfaffenhofen just after the end of the Second World War. | Photo: USAAF

-A Do 335 after being captured by the US, with American markings painted over the Luftwaffe ones. | Photo: Charles Daniels Collection/SDASM Archives

At least two Do 335s were brought to the US under Operation LUSTY, with one, Do 335 A-0, designated A-02, with construction number (Werknummer) 240 102, and Stammkennzeichen ("factory radio code registration") VG+PH being claimed by the Navy for testing. The aircraft was transported on HMS Reaper along with other captured German aircraft, then shipped to the Navy's Test and Evaluation center at NAS Pax River. Another Pfeil was tested by the USAAF at Freeman Field in Indiana, but nothing is known about its fate. In 1961 VG+PH was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, though it remained outside at NAS Oceana until 1974, when it was shipped back to the Dornier factory in Oberpfaffenhofen for restoration. Over the next year, volunteers from Dornier (some of whom worked on the aircraft originally) found that the explosive charges meant to sever the tail and aft prop were still installed and live, thirty years later. After work was completed the aircraft was placed on display at the Hannover Airshow from 1 to 9 May 1976, and afterwards it was on loan to the Deutsches Museum until 1988. The aircraft was shipped back the States after that, and is now on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center along with other German aircraft brought over during Lusty like the only known Ar 234 Blitz jet bomber and the partially restored He 219A Uhu.

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deafblindshorty · 4 years

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New Resistance Headcanons

So, I made a few posts of headcanons for Star Wars Resistance characters. However, I made those before the series ended and before TROS came out. Now that the both series are over, and we got to know the characters better, I thought of new ones!

Kazuda Xiono:

CB-23 helped Kaz through the loss of Hosnian Prime and PTSD. He didn’t want to give the FO the satisfaction of being broken emotionally, which is why he’s his normal, cheerful self in seaosn 2 (and TROS, apparently)!

When he was little, he wanted to be like his father, that is, until he attended a sky race. Since then, he has wanted to be a racer.

His squadmates from the premiere (Hugh Sion and Mia Gabon) had been his best friends since childhood.

He had every hologame ever created

He never wanted to go to military school. In fact, he did everything he could to get himself expelled. But, when he found out his father was pulling strings to keep him there, he gave in and started behaving better.

He was in his first year of military school when the napkin bombing (In the Bloodline novel) happened. When he heard about it, he freaked out and was really worried about his parents. When he heard that Leia saved all the senators, that’s when he began to admire her. That admiration didn’t fade when he found out she is the daughter of Darth Vader. Of course, his father didn’t agree with him, in fact, they got into a shouting match, which ended with Senator Xiono smacking Kaz across the face and grounding him for an entire season.

Wedge Antilles was Kaz’s flight instructor. He told Kaz stories of the Rebellion, which got Kaz interested in joining the Resistance.

He has gone on a few dates, but the girls he dated were only with him because he was rich or because they felt sorry for him.

He’s actually pretty smart when it comes to academics. He got the scar on the side of his head from a training accident. He tripped and fell onto a sharp ledge and had to have surgery. The injury affected his mobility, which is why he’s so clumsy.

He is (was?) close to his mother, who loves him and supports him in everything he does.

He had a nanny droid who was like a second mother to him.

His mother would take him to the Hanging Gardens and lunch at the cafe there, and Kaz secretly loved it.

He thought about starting a family when he was good and ready, and vows never to treat his children the same way his father treated him.

He has only been drunk once. He stumbled around town and broke into a store and made out with a mannequin. Since then, he vowed never to drink more than one glass per week.

He hated attending Senate dinners and banquets, but, in order to please his father, he kept still and hid his emotions behind a smile.

His only other language is binary, but he picked up a few languages after being on the Colossus.

He often imagined telling Tam, Neeku, and Torra the truth about why he was on the Colossus. Deep down, he knew that Neeku probably would have told the entire station within the hour, and Tam would have turned him in the first chance she got.

After Torra told him she knew he was in the Navy, he was secretly relieved that at least one person besides Yeager knows some truth about who he is. He would tell Torra stories about the Navy and Hosnian Prime. He promised her he would take her there someday.

He started to develop a crush on Torra, but instantly shook off those feelings when he found out how old (well, young) she is. If he pursued her, then Doza would kill him slowly and painfully.

He had nightmares about the Hosnian Cataclysm. Every time he’d close his eyes, he saw Hosnian Prime being destroyed.

He hid his grief for his home and his family and friends from everyone. In private he would sob his eyes out while clutching his lucky trophy like a lifeline, but otherwise, he’d put on a smile. Yeager and Torra know he’s lying, but decided to let him grieve his own way.

He bears no ill will towards the Resistance for not coming to their aid or failing to save the Hosnian System. Instead, he’s grateful they saved his life by recruiting him.

He feels bad about doubting Captain Doza, and even worse when he found out his wife is in the Resistance.

On their way to their missions, Poe would tell Kaz of his adventures throughout his life. Kaz loved hearing those stories, and was surprised to learn that Poe was from Yavin 4.

Deep down, he cannot understand why Tam is so intolerant towards him, but is okay with Neeku.

Initially did not like Yeager that much, but over time, he became like a father to him.

Kaz found a big brother in Poe, a little brother in Kel, and little sisters in Torra and Eila.

When he meets Rey, he is in awe. He’s never met a Jedi before. They instantly hit it off, bonding over mechanic-ing, piloting, and having an evil family member (If Hamato is with the FO).

He tries not to show it, but he is beyond sick of people doubting him and teasing him about his clumsiness and shrieking every five minutes.

It took every ounce of his willpower not to attack Hux at the Titan.

Jumped at the chance to join Lando’s fleet at Exegol.

“Hit those underbelly cannons. Every one we knock out is a world saved.” Kaz knocked out eight: five for the Hosnian system, one for Tehar, one for Aeos, and one for Castilon.

He was shocked that Poe used to be a spice runner, but accepted it and moved on.

He helped the Resistance rebuild and redeem the New Republic.

Yeager:

Yeager was born on Batuu during the end of the Clone Wars. Marcus was born ten years later.

Yeager joined the Rebellion a few months before the destruction of Alderaan.

His parents were killed by the Empire before the Battle of Endor.

He was in Green Squadron with Shara Bey (Poe’s mom).

He met Leia, Han, Luke, Cassian, Mon, Ackbar, Wedge, Norra, Shara, Kes, and Hera. He actually had a little crush on Leia until he heard she was taken.

He met Doza during the Battle of Jakku.

He and his squadron took down the main star destroyer. That destroyer had all the main computers and weapons for the battle.

He met his late wife after he was injured at the Battle of Jakku. She was a doctor.

He looked after Marcus after their parents died.

He and his wife tried for many years to conceive a child, finally succeeding nine years after the Battle of Jakku.

His ship was named after his late wife, Ayala.

He babysat Poe a few times.

He was there for Poe and Kes after Shara died.

After the death of his family, he punched Marcus, told him he never wanted to see him again, then disappeared.

Like Kaz, Yeager grieved in private. He became emotionally detached. When he hugged Marcus after the Platform Classic, that was the very first time he hugged someone since his family died.

Each night, he’d take his family photo to bed and talk to it about his day.

When Tam applied for a job at his shop, Yeager was instantly reminded of his late daughter (as well as Marcus). He accidentally called Tam by his daughter’s name once. They never spoke of the incident again. Tam was everything Yeager imagined his daughter would be like.

Over the years, he came across attractive women, but he never acted on them because he felt he’d be betraying his family.

The destruction of the Hosnian System reminded Yeager of Alderaan and his own family’s deaths. He hugged Kaz, but it was uncomfortable for both of them.

He was initially glad that Poe didn’t recruit him for the spy mission, but as he grew to care about Kaz, he kind of wished he agreed to do it in the first place.

Tam:

Tam was born on Kuat. Her mother died when she was a baby.

Once she was old enough, her father dragged her along to all of his races.

She heard stories about the Empire and the Rebellion from her father, who watered it down.

Her grandfather was actually forced to work at that Imperial factory. Sort of a reversed Jyn and Galen thing. Jyn thought Galen worked for the Empire because he loved it and hated him for it, but realized he was forced to work for the Empire. Tam actually loved her grandfather for working for the Empire, and thought he worked at that factory because he loved it.

Tam’s father died of bloodburn when she was eighteen.

Tam was angry after losing her ship and that race. Yeager calmed her down and talked to her a few times about it. He became like a father to her.

Hype was her first real friend. When he forgot all about their friendship, Tam took it really hard.

She was hesitant upon making friends with Neeku, but over time they became really good friends.

After Kaz joined Team Fireball, and everything that’s happened afterwards, she felt like her world was collapsing at an alarming rate. Kaz took her friends, her ship, and her father figure. She even envisioned smothering Kaz in his sleep.

She was surprised when Supreme Leader Ren wanted to meet with her. They bonded over joining the FO because they were lied to and deceived.

She gave the Fireball to Kaz, feeling that she doesn’t deserve it after everything that happened.

Neeku:

Neeku grew up on Tatooine (he came from a long line of bantha herders, and his species prefer desert climates).

He is the anti-Anakin: loves sand, was born and raised free, and did not like racing; but loved watching races.

He is either autistic or he has Asperger's.

He spent some time at Mos Eisley, which is where he’s seen bounty hunters.

When he arrived at the Colossus, he wandered around trying to make friends.

He and Rey would instantly bond over growing up on desert planets and being mechanics.

#star wars #star wars resistance #headcanons #star wars headcanons #sw headcanons #kazuda xiono #jarek yeager #tamara ryvora #neeku vozo

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marvelvsmarvel · 4 years

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Marvelvsmarvel Year in Review Pt I:

Looking back on Agents of SHIELD

I’m a Friends fan and I see this photo and it’s undeniable that AoS is the Friends series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead of doing a breakdown of my thoughts on Marvel’s longest running tv series’s final season and possibly being overly critical and potentially negative I’d rather do a look back on some of my favorites of the show and how important it was for the small screen corner of the greater MCU.

Favorite Character: Daisy Johnson aka Quake formerly known as Skye sometimes called Destroyer of Worlds. Seems kinda obvious and Chloe Bennet is bae but Daisy has great depth and development from the beginning and literally all the way to the end. The sacrifice play. Not maintaining the mantle of Director of Shield. She’s continually a badass and continues to quake at her own frequency (really bad pun) and eventually ends up with the loving family, biological family, and love life that she had always been searching that she wholly deserves that we have all been pining for her to find.

Favorite Plot: The Framework and Hydra World of Season 4. The 2015 Secret Wars Hail Hydra series is also one of my favorite comics depicting a Hydra run universe and while this wasn’t exactly that THIS was a well done alternate universe storyline that absolutely flipped the show in my opinion. Ian De Caestecker was phenomenal as a villain the Doctor. Good double agent Grant Ward was such a great kicker. Finishing Aida off with a Coulson Ghost Rider is just beyond epic. The most epic part of the show for me. Ugh! Love it!

Favorite Episode: Season 3 Episode 13 “Parting Shot”. I know we all cried but dammit if I don’t mind crying over that scene a million more times! And it was just such a great episode because of that amazing twist of a moment that sent Bobbi and Hunter off. Plus the concept of having them individually cheers a shot to them to say goodbye is just so cool and and worthy of a spy’s goodbye.

Was AoS a perfect show? No. I even admittedly tell people to skip the first season if they want to try to get into it. And yes I didn’t particularly like the direction they took it the last two seasons although space and time travel are always fun. But was it a good Marvel show? It quite literally should be considered the best based on the longevity alone. The show was handcuffed from the start never to be a relevant Marvel show without any A-list characters and never to receive any recognition from the MCU films. But despite this AoS gave us that fun bunch of friends in that picture above with strong, beautiful, smart and diverse leading ladies, men who were not set out to be correct or the sole heroes but who simply tried to do the right thing and were always open to love and change, and of course they were anchored down by the one person actually from the films the incomparable Clark Gregg as himself Phil Coulson. And I can’t stress enough how important it was for this show to have been successful. This flagship show for Marvel Television opened the door for the more heavy hitting Netflix series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher all of whom also needed to reference something of the films to show continuity but not expecting to ever get to crossover with them. And these Netflix series now brought to fruition the Disney+ series like Wandavision, Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki that are recognized as important parts of the MCU that will literally lead into the films. The journey for the cast and crew was indeed a real life mission in itself. As a fan a huge thank you to Jeff Loeb, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming Na Wen, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Ian De Caestecker who were there to start it off and fought for it to go as long as it did. We will forever be fans of yours and despite the better judgement we will always hope you might get the opportunities to relive your characters on the big screen someday. Special shoutouts the Samuel L Jackson and Colbie Smulders for making the cameos and to every other person who was ever a cast member on the show. It was an awesome run and one that should not be forgotten.

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eirenare · 4 years

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TROS junior novelization: “Stay here. I’ll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise” + some post-TROS era thoughts

I’ve been writing a big ass post compilating all of the “Stay here. I’ll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise” throughout the books up until TROS and analyzing them, and I wanted to wait for my TROS junior novelization to arrive to keep building it and post it but I’m just too excited because THE VOICE IS BACK so I gotta talk at least about this

Some days ago I did a post (which you can check here) talking and speculating about the TROS junior novelization and how it was upon us, and that I could’ve misunderstood the voice in the TLJ junior novelization (I talked about the voice months ago, compiling the parts where it appears in the TLJ junior novelization, here), and funnily, I HAD misunderstood it but at the same time I HADN’T

The reason? Yes, the “Stay here. I’ll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise” was a coping mechanism of Rey... but there was more to it, something I started to suspect again after reading pre-TROS some more times a certain fragment from the TLJ junior novelization where “the voice” and the phrase were mentioned

The TROS junior novelization may look like it has lots of yikes for what I saw on some pages floating around, but look at THIS (analysis below):

“The Force surrounds you, Rey. Feel the Force flowing through you, Rey. Let it lift you. We stand by you, Rey.

Rey, the Force will be with you, always.

There were so many up there—so many stars, so many voices—Rey could not keep track. But there was a light inside her that shone brighter and spoke louder than all the others.

Stay here. I’ll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise.

She looked deep into that light and saw there were two. A binary star. And though the voice that said those words was her own, the love behind them was not.”

Okay, so, first of all: *unholy pterodactyl screeching of excitement*

For what it seems, each voice in the World Between Worlds (because yes, this is the WBW, the descriptions of this scene in the TROS non-junior novelization just leaves no room for doubt: “the battle above disappeared. Instead, Rey saw a perfect sky, vast with stars. Peaceful. Light-filled. It was like she was staring through a window to somewhere else, a place between places.” [...] “More voices came at her fast but gentle, as though she lay at a confluence of the Force, possibilities, futures and pasts all stretching away from her, or maybe leading toward her. The cosmos, time, energy, being—nothing was the way she’d thought it was.” [...] “Presences filled her awareness, some recent, some ancient, some still anchored to the living in a strange way. Rey didn’t understand. But she accepted.”) corresponds with a light... and when Rey peers into a light inside of her which is brighter and louder than all the others, she hears the phrase AND sees the light is A BINARY STAR

... So, a light brighter than the rest—which is fitting with Ben’s description in the TROS non-junior novelization, where it’s said that his light is so bright it helps Rey resist Palpatine’s influence: “Rey continued to approach. His power was intoxicating. She found herself raising her weapon, almost against her will. If not for the other presence in her mind, bright and shining with light, she would not have been able to resist him."

And that light inside her, brighter than the rest, being like a binary star—which fits as well, and only with, Rey and Ben being one in the Force

And apparently the words were hers, but the love behind them was not—so, Ben’s feelings echoing through their Dyad bond (and the WBW? Through both?) across time and space because a Dyad bond (just like the Force) cares not for such boundaries

Also if I remember well (need to find the pic or get a photo myself when the novel arrives), in the TROS junior novelization, when Ben and Rey are circling each other in the hangar of the Star Destroyer (on Kijimi) they’re described like in a way that looks pretty much like a binary star reference

I’ve been basking in all of this for days, even though thinking it’s Ben basically sends me back to the heavy feels lol

I mean, these words Rey repeated to herself for 14-15 years seem to be (it only makes sense to be) echos of Ben (of hope) from the future, and that helped her survive and cope with her own pain and despair... I’m not okay your honor

And there’s just no way it can be anyone else but Ben, given all of this and the contexts. I’ve read comments saying maybe it could refer to her parents or even Luke and Leia, but... it just doesn’t fit? The light is INSIDE Rey, brighter than the rest, and it’s a binary star. It’s simply Rey and another person, and that other person can only be Ben, her soulmate

The best thing is that they actually could use this to bring Ben back to Rey if they wanted, because they didn’t go very deep into the theme of the Dyad AND when the WBW is involved ANYTHING could happen (and it’s not as if these could be the only methods to bring someone back)

To quote the TFA junior novelization: “Rey did not want the owner of the voice to come back. She wanted the speaker to stay.”

Disney/Lucasfilm have a golden opportunity now to either cast the group again for a live-action or animated series, or a movie (or movies), fixing stuff. It’s not gonna make TROS go away nor fix it all, but there’s A LOT of stuff that could end up in a WAY better place than it ended up in TROS, and I’m pretty sure if they pick up some people that know what they’re doing and the premise is good, the cast would want to be back to fix the mess

If they can’t get the cast, just... do an animated series. Or, heck, if it could be done, both would be soooo amazing? (Although I don’t think we’d end up with both, if we end up with something it’ll be one or the other I think) A movie would be ideal to fix stuff, but a series (live-action or animated) would be ideal for something that could go on for a long time with new adventures. DLF could just attract back so many fans (including the new ones, which they should know already are vital to keep a franchise alive) that they’ve pushed away with TROS

I mean, look, if even my lizard brain can come up with viable ideas on how to fix so many mistakes from TROS, DLF certainly can, and there’s people with the talent AND care to do it, so... yeah

We’re getting some WBW mentions (and things that could be hints too) after TROS, other characters have been able to come back from worse and less vague deaths, we still don’t know what a Dyad bond is fully capable of *coughs in suspicions that The High Republic might show some of this and maybe serve as a preamble to Ben’s return*, a good post-TROS fix is absolutely needed, and DLF would make an obscene amount of money if they brought Ben back and did a post-TROS mending a lot of things, so right now I’m proceeding with cauting and keeping my feet on the ground just in case, but my hopes are kinda going up

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middleinthenight21 · 5 years

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‘’Ain't that the worst thing you ever heard? 1''

@ravenfan1242 You are beautiful and I have no words

Thank you ❤❤

***

They didn't talk for a week, and that was enough so that the tension could be cut with the edge of a knife. She could feel it, his emotions were always easy to detect, his aura shone in different colors, marking the yellow tones representing happiness and joy, emotions that were difficult to achieve for someone who is half demon, whose control over her feelings and emotions contained her powers or these would consume her human side, and unwittingly would be liberating her father to destroy the world that for years participated in her salvation.

She was sitting next to him with the phone in his hand taking selfies for his social media and interacting with his followers, Raven had a book in her hands as she slurped a tea pretending that her mind absorbed every single letter, But she couldn't stop thinking about the moment everything broke down.

Were they too different for it to work? Should she have been surprised when everything went wrong?

She felt his indifference, as he also pretended not to have seen it and she could not blame him. Nor could she blame herself.

Sometimes she wondered what would become of her if she were a normal girl, if her fate wasn't a constant struggle, her worst nightmare ran through her veins and had imprisoned a demonic being destroyer of worlds in a glass resting on her forehead that responded to the name of her father, who was also the murderer of her mother and all the people who were part of her upbringing, What would happen to her if she was still that girl?

She had no right to forget all those people, who died on a childish whim.

She did not forget her heritage, going back to the worst-case scenario, but even with all that she could not help but see more. She glanced sideways at Garfield, who was resting on the sofa with a small smile on his face, tapping into his phone, felt a pinprick of emotion running through his body, his sadness resting between the layers, and she continued to dig as soon as she could contain it.

It wasn't hard to feel his emotions, Garfield was never someone who held back and lived every day as the last. Two drops from different ponds.

When they started dating months ago, everyone in the tower applauded. He was so happy that he wanted to post it on each of his social networks, but Raven had grimaced, because she wanted to keep her privacy to herself; no one should know. She wasn't ready for a public-domain relationship, she wasn't happy that everyone knew about her intimacy, so she wouldn't let him.

Garfield turned out to be a loving boyfriend, he wasn't afraid to touch her in front of the titans, when they watched movies he'd circle her shoulder resting his head against hers, After the missions he'd come over and put one hand down on her waist and smile happily for defeating all those bad guys by placing a kiss on her forehead, every time he had a chance to touch her he did, like she was something he could claim. Raven wasn't used to being touched, her last tokens of affection she remembered had been from her mother, before her life was completely transformed and ended in hell where contact with her father and half-brothers was as painful as the flames of fire, it had made her reluctant to show affection to her friends. She never initiated contact, nor desired to receive it, but Garfield was cut from a different cloth.

She was awakened by that feeling, that emotion of desire that she detected whenever the young man's thoughts moved away from reality, as if he were desperate for something or someone he would never have, and it was not her.

Raven figured it out. She was just hoping that one day she could forgive him, but she had understood, she didn't own his heart and she had grown tired of thinking that it would be Terra's life if she had given herself one more chance and stayed with them, Garfield would sigh every time he appeared in the halls, his emotions were strong enough for her powers to be detected from her room. It was different than what she noticed when they were together.

She remembered how his jokes and good humor could ease her reserved personality, cast his head back laughing like a little boy, as if he had never witnessed gruesome crimes and the deaths were only obstacles that jumped with a smile on his face, but there was a sadness in his eyes that he refused to reveal before her. Maybe his was a masterpiece until the two of them destroyed it.

He gave her flowers and let them die, she'd wanted him to open up, be serious for a few moments and tell her what was hurting him, but he didn't.

She wanted him to sit next to her and have a moment of peace, a space where he would walk away from social media and try to understand each other. Raven felt like she was the one who noticed the internal bleeding, she didn't mention it, and he kept giving out samples that didn't fill her heart anymore, she just felt cold every time he kissed her.

She knew he was doing his best.

Raven hadn't seen him until that breakfast. That morning she rose early, the sun hardly caressed the city, the fog covered the port and from a distance she saw the activity on the dock, small figures loaded the forests, collected the nets and filled containers with products of the sea; That tiny boat that took tourists along the coast of the city was hoisting their fictional pirate flags.

The steam from her tea burned her fingers, but she didn't care. It was a typical winter morning covered by a gray sky like a thick, spoiled soup, and the teenager sat in the chair facing the window in her pajamas, which consisted of a thin fabric blouse, shorts and thick woolen stockings.

She drank her herbal infusion, poaching on her tongue.

Turned off her father's voice, but her mind was restless and distant. She thought Garfield was probably still sleeping, seeing her consume tea would make him grimace and express how disgusting it is to drink hot flavored water; he would eat his yogurt with cereal and make so much noise until others would be bothered.

'Isn't it too early? ' Damian showed up in a sweaty sport outfit. Titus was walking behind Batman's son with his tongue hanging out of his muzzle, gasping, but he was still wagging his tail when he saw her in the kitchen "Come" He took the leash off his pet.

Damian had grown since he first arrived three years ago. His bones grew so big that Raven felt her pain at the first sprout of growth, his hair was short and dark black like the color of tar, his eyes green and his chin took a square shape; Anyone who saw him without his Robin costume would relate him to Bruce Wayne, it was his vivid image, except for the color of his eyes and the toasted tone, inherited from his Arab ancestry.

"Good morning to you too." After all this time she had to remind Damian of his manners. She drummed her fingers to the rhythm of a loose melody on the table. The marble brought the cold on her skin, it was like touching a snowflake "You want to take a cup of tea?"

He nodded, passing a towel around his neck to keep the perspiration away. His sweatshirt was broad in a black hue matching the pants, probably from a European designer whose surname she could barely pronounce.

They sat in front of each other in silence. They weren't very talkative people, Damian had been one of the few people who kept their emotions and feelings hidden behind an impenetrable wall, trained since childhood to be the perfect soldier and not make mistakes, never give the enemy the chance to use any emotion as a weakness, yet he was the person who understood most possibly because they had no social skills and had pasts from which they could not escape. Birds of the same feather.

Both had made an involuntary connection by saving each other.

There were uncomfortable silences, he was not easy to deal with and preferred to maintain distances before interacting, he had heard the whispers saying how creepy she was and did not fit in the middle of the group, In spite of being a heroine, there was an aura of mysticism and rarity that she couldn't shake off.

Damian turned out to be the least social Robin, keeping his appearances in the alleys of Gotham, patrolling and fighting criminals since he was a child, a stranger. He listened to the news in the online newspapers, testimonies from apparent nearby sources, and home video footage of witnesses as the team ended up with a criminal showing Robin's distance from the Teen Titans.

A few weeks ago, a video had gone viral that showed him after a battle where Damian was wounded, and Starfire came up to help him stand up but rejected her by waving his arm. The others weren't surprised, it was just Damian being him, however, people made it a topic of discussion whether or not Robin was a jerk to his peers, None of them would have found out if it wasn't for Garfield who expressed his dissatisfaction at seeing Robin in trends and not his name, but seeing what was going on, he told the team.

Damian snapped his tongue over the subject and went to his room. The whole drama moved people into twittering on Twitter about Robin's bad behavior towards the team, Justice League even with Batman himself showing blurry pictures of his fight a few years ago with Batman and before you know it Robin was canceled on social media without having any.

Garfield calmed things down by sending a friendly Tweet, but it was too late, and Robin's name was already tainted.

Now Robin was dealing with the constant images and videos taken on missions criticizing what he did. It would be easier if Damian was an anonymous person, but he's the son of one of the most powerful billionaires in the whole world and people were obsessed with knowing who he was dating and how the years made him into someone desirable in the eyes of teenage girls there were constantly photos of his body being on social networks under yellow titles such as: Bruce Wayne's son is already a man, look at his picture, Incredible!

Damian took a hard sip of his tea.

"How was the warm-up? "

He shrugged "I guess good."

He finished taking the last sip of his hot drink and got up to wash his cup.

"Do you have the first edition of David Copperfield?"

Raven raised an eyebrow, now curious. She turned around leaving her cup still soaped and her wet hands dripping on the floor "Have you read David Copperfield? "

He frowned analyzing the cover and back cover. The book was covered by a thick soft green fabric to the touch, had stains and pages fattened with a yellowish tone, plus a permanent old aroma, Raven had gotten it in a used book store and cost her two months' savings, but it was worth it.

Damian nodded and her heart leapt from emotion, but quickly neutralized "Yes. A few years ago."

"What did you think?"

"It was fine."

Frowned "I love your emotion."

Raven turned around and finished washing her cup by taking advantage to store the few dishes from the dinner the night before. Okay, maybe David Copperfield can be just ''It was fine'', but it's a book that needs to be analyzed more deeply and had more meaning.

"It's not bad" She froze "In fact, it's a good book, although a little childish for my taste and we all know that David wasn't going to stay with Dora."

She smiled "I have to agree with you. I think David always knew that the right one was Agnes, but he doesn't belittle Dora or that he didn't love her."

Arms around her waist stole the words she was about to say. She looked down, encountering green limbs, which left her quickly to kiss her hair muttering between yawns a greeting.

Looking at him, he was still in his pajamas and judging by his messy hair he had just woken up.

"Hey, Damian, you're all over the internet."

He folded his arms wincing at the sight of Logan, if there was one thing Damian hated was lazy and noisy people, Garfield getting up late and stirring the refrigerator in search of his favorite yogurt was the combination.

"Am I still canceled?"

Her boyfriend smiled with his mouth full of dried cereal "Robin, of course he did. Damian Wayne, heir of Wayne Enterprise, went out for a run with his pet, it was so adorable and hot that you're all over the gossip pages."

He picked up the phone showing a collection of photos of Damian jogging through a city park accompanied by Titus, in some photographs he was shirtless shaking his clothes from his pet's hair, in others he gave the dog a bottle of water to drink, Which drove the internet crazy.

"Worse."

And walked away.

Garfield shrugged, brushing the subject aside. Raven hugged the book on her chest and waited for him to finish breakfast, the silence was a monster that consumed her inside and wanted to break this, but she didn't know how.

She looked at his face, wondered if he noticed it too.

It made her feel like she was crazy, like she saw things that were never there. Raven wanted to know why they were keeping this thing afloat when it clearly leaked from the start, because he didn't see it, because Garfield kept clinging to it, she wanted to ask, but he was never that open.

He smiled at a post and slid his finger down, surely sharing with his followers.

Raven let the relationship go first, before it ended up destroying them both. He didn't love her.

It was a painful but powerful truth and she had refused to understand it until then.

No matter how much her heart was broken, she could not replace anyone or love a person who gave his heart to another. She'd made mistakes in her past, her road to hell had been full of good intentions, yet she wouldn't do that to him, she wouldn't do that to herself, In her time on earth he learned a thing or two about relationships and hers was doomed to failure from the beginning.

The others had known it. When the demonstrations of affection ended, they understood that the story had an end.

Not all couples are like Dick and Kory, who in spite of time and distance kept sticking together, going back to each other at some point; Raven had seen the connection to the minutes of seeing them facing each other, felt the nerves, lust and love floating between the heroes, like a thread that was electrified with every touch. She knew it.

When she was a child she had not believed in love, that of myths and legends that were so tragic and passionate that culminated with the death of lovers, nothing but explanations of natural phenomena, however, she did not expect herself to understand it in a bad way.

***

Walking down the street carrying the grocery bag for that weekend, they were heavy packed with a collection of products of different shapes and sizes that struggled to escape from the cloth bags.

It would have been a good idea to be accompanied, so I could share the work with someone else. She volunteered to make the purchases trying to get away from the tower, even for a while and did not accept the offers of her companions.

She wanted to be alone for a few minutes, but she didn't expect how difficult it would be to walk the streets with two bags loaded to the brim. The fabric was strapped through the circulation of her fingers, and her limbs were pulling as if she was carrying the bluntest weight in the world. She snorted, reminding herself that she should exercise more in the future.

An apple fell from the bag rolling into an alley and cursed.

'"Girl idiot, you deserve everything that happens to you"

"Shut up."

A figure cleared up next to her and was familiar. Damian was dressed in civilian clothes (which is strange) he wore a sweatshirt three times his size, some loose pants and on his face a white mask that made others think he wanted to get away from a potentially dangerous illness, but he never got sick. She never saw him once.

This covered outfit was given to be nothing more than a disguise so that no images of him would emerge and then she thought about what people would say if Damian Wayne were close to a stranger in an activity as casual as carrying grocery bags. She could feel the annoyance, caution and irritation of her friend, which was normal in him, but this time it was directed outward, towards anyone with a cell phone in their hands.

She genuinely felt sorry for him, for Robin was an identity where he had always felt comfortable and allowed him to go unnoticed. Damian always preferred action to conversation, privacy to public demonstrations and didn't ask for recognition; she looked at him sideways wondering what it felt like to be embedded in a family of vigilantes, the weight on his shoulders, to bear an inheritance so great that he could not escape. Raven could relate to that.

She remembered something.

"Weren't you on patrol?"

His eyes turned to the apartment building, a white-colored concrete block; it looked like a residence for wealthy people. She was able to feel his reluctance to talk about the issue of patrols.

"It's no longer so simple" He folded his arms "Every time I fight criminals, I only see the cameras pointing at me. People make work difficult."

Robin's name was currently repudiated, she found it somewhat strange since the reception of the previous Robin was good, and every child wanted to be Batman's helper. Boy Wonder.

She adjusted one of the bags over his shoulder with a grimace.

"You're popular on Twitter."

"Being canceled is not the same as being popular," he snarled. His voice behind the mask sounded thick "Before I can avoid it a new act is already being added to a thread. People have a lot of free time."

She gave herself a few minutes to think "Garfield calls it cancellation culture."

He made a face when she mentioned that name.

"I heard you broke up."

Raven put her head down. It had been three weeks since that conversation at breakfast, the wound was not fresh, but it was still there; she wondered if she had made a good decision. The doubt haunted her every time she heard him laughing with Jaime while they were playing video games and watching him approach other people giving out hugs, but it wasn't so painful anymore. She made peace with not having him in her life.

She was surprised that Damian brought up the subject of her previous relationship, not that he was very interested in the Titans' love life, and when they announced the relationship he put on an expression of boredom. Raven didn't expect any reaction, he never got along very well with beast boy barely withstanding his screams.

They were friends, so he'd have something to say, wouldn't he?

Damian always had an opinion.

"We did," she replied.

They passed by some shops where big posters were displayed announcing discounts, apparently wanting to get rid of last season's products. Jump City was located at the beginning of the summer, the rays of sun burned the skin of its inhabitants and dyed the city of an apparent atmosphere of festival proclaiming in each of the local media the upcoming events and fairs.

A group of teenagers was making their way to a clothing store. One of them pointed at Damian's face with her cell phone, and he hid his face in the sweatshirt, walking faster, holding her arm, and got into a car parked a few blocks away.

He looked back "We lost them."

She had not realized the extent of the people's persecution of Damian. She glanced at him sideways as he took off his mask showing his sculpted jaw, his face was free of imperfections and he looked like something from an old film where he played the gallant protagonist.

In Azarath there was a word to describe how precious and charming beyond words, that beauty that hurt and made you wonder if something like this could exist, she had not found a translation or a word that could describe that feeling, so she left him as he was Arratax sounded in her head when she looked at his profile. Raven knew that Damian was conceived and trained to be perfect, designed, but that didn't stop her from feeling a pinprick of anger, for a demon's daughter, someone with unholy blood, beauty escaping from her hands.

"I hate this."

Raven arranged the bags in the back seat of the car. You could feel the aroma of new leather, the interior is luxurious and well cared for, it was probably a car made to withstand high speeds, last generation, probably exclusive.

"Do you think someone filmed you?"

He put his hands on the steering wheel "I don't think so, but they did take pictures of me."

She grimaced.

"I'm sorry" Raven apologized for all the shit that was going on, even though she had nothing to do with it.

Damian stared at her for a few seconds with a frown, as if he were figuring out the meaning behind her words, measuring whether there was a double intention. He started the car quietly and headed for the Titans' tower.

She looked out, the buildings and houses passed through her vision in a blink of an eye and leaned her head against the glass. She closed her eyes, quietly repeating a prayer taught to her by the monks, a plea for tranquility and new beginnings.

After months of a stormy relationship, a painful breakup and change after that, she needed some peace. For the first time in a month she really felt calm, yet it still seemed to her that this summer had been cruel, full of ups and downs.

She started it by being in a stable relationship, or at least that's how she classified it, if they'd told her she'd break up with Gar, she wouldn't have believed them because everything was fine. What an irony.

"Whatever," he said. His fingers tapped softly on the steering wheel like he was sending out a message in Morse code "It's not like it matters."

Raven bowed her head.

In her hands rests a book, she had not been able to finish it during these three weeks, unable to focus her attention on words. She kept the stories of Edgar Allan Poe clinging to her chest, as if to guard the letters.

"Have you read The Raven?"

"I think we all have. It's the writer's most popular story."

Damian folded through the intercept; his greenish gaze fixed on the road. There was something comforting about talking about books while he was driving, an atmosphere hovering over the two, a soft, protective mantle.

"I read it for the first time in the library."

She had to imagine that the Wayne mansion had its own library, after all Bruce Wayne was known to be a billionaire who visited charitable events talking about current issues with powerful people. He may be a playboy, but that didn't make him a fool.

His library probably had first editions and collections that would cost houses.

"What's your favorite?"

He glanced at her sideways, it was a fleeting glance. His brow was still wrinkled in a frown, and his mouth twisted in a grimace, like a pouty child when he was rebuked. Damian didn't like to talk, rarely had he shared with the Titans beyond the missions, so they saw him with a book in his hands, name a certain character or quotes were surprised, But Raven knew it, saw the momentary interest every time he watched her read or made sure she wasn't disturbed.

He was full of surprises.

"Oliver Twist."

His gaze relaxed and for a few seconds his mind escaped, as if flying in a different direction. She didn't need to be empathetic to understand that it was a private memory.

The rest of the journey was peaceful, but Damian gradually became more bitter, spoke less and frowned more, as if a being were returning to his body.

Damian Wayne's exhibition and Robin's cancellation had only made him distant (more than usual), he realized how his friends could find themselves in the tabloids and media for more than missions if they were discovered by his side. Damian Wayne captured attention for his heritage, Damian Al Ghul was destined to lead the world's most powerful league, Robin is the companion of one of the most popular and beloved heroes, who is also part of Justice League, But the Damian who drank tea cups and added brown sugar reading poetry, won prizes at the fair for children and was amazed at the taste of sweets, enjoyed the silences and whispering conversations; that Damian didn't appreciate it.

Raven sighed as the car pulled up in front of the Tower of the Titans.

Back to reality, it was said. She had pretended to be a lonely evening, she wanted to engage her thoughts in something other than that fateful morning, in her failure of love that her father mockingly reminds her of declaring that demons fell in love, that it was her fault and doomed to destroy everything, just like she was meant to destroy the earth.

She had been angry, tired and hurt, and the walls of her room already threatened to drive her crazy. Normally she would be in her room meditating, drinking tea or reading a book, but not anymore.

She needed to get out.

She seriously considered making up an excuse to be away for a while. She looked upon the city, the rays of the sun reflected on the windows of the buildings like lit candles, and the mountains were dyed a pastel pink shade.

The first stars appeared in the sky. It was getting dark.

"Thank you for the ride."

She felt the need to speak, though she knew she would get no answer from Batman's son, so she got out of the car with the grocery bags. "You're welcome."

Raven stopped wondering if she heard, but the car was already pulling away.

***

In her head everything went well, he called her and replied with a smile, but it was all a montage.

A montage she wanted to erase from her head.

Garfield would knock on her door, offer a smile in peace and feel the world fall at her feet. His heart would pound into his chest, his fingers would itch to get her close, to taste her skin, and how it would feel to say she was his. The worst lie ever.

She sat on the floor of her room facing the window, the city was a dark painting filled with thousands of lights turning on and off. The sight comforted her, sheltered her heart and she remembered why she was doing this.

Raven turned off the light and remained silent, just looking out.

She had been described as a lonely person with whom she was difficult to deal, her past was a chain she could never cut, could learn to wear the chain and share when she weighed the chain. A few years ago, she had said she had a bad judgment, believed that she had not changed at all.

She wondered if she would ever learn from her mistakes.

Love was not for her; she was much better off alone; no one had to deal with a demon's daughter. As much as she hated her father and would ignore each of his words, she recognized that he was right in a sense, people like her were not meant to be loved, for others to give them their hearts.

I could live with that.

***

After that mission Robin's name echoed on social media, apparently someone had taken a picture of the moment the superhero hit Beast Boy in the stomach after he yelled in his ear. Damian's reaction was bad, he didn't like surprises, so every time someone managed to scare him, he would respond with blows.

That's not what they said on Twitter.

Garfield was a beloved titan, as much as his peers rolled their eyes when they saw him doing live on their social media and posting everything that happened to him was not a world opinion, his more than five million followers lived for each of his interactions, So, they didn't react well to the image.

Garfield tried to calm the situation, But the photograph of Robin's fist crushing his stomach and the justification he gave was enough for his followers to believe he was some kind of martyr and make petitions gathering signatures so that the Boy Wonder would no longer be part of the Titans.

"OMG… Robin assaulting another of his companions, what a surprise'"

"Beast Boy is a love. He doesn't deserve this''

''We should all cancel Robin. I don't understand how Batman can have him as a partner, and even the Titans, he just shouldn't be there''

''Beast Boy is a very calm person, he's never bothered anyone, but Robin treats him very badly #JusticeforBeastBoy''

The hashtag became a worldwide trend with the video going around the world. The Justice League intervened saying that Robin is just a boy and that his action did not reflect on the Titans, and Batman found himself contacting Starfire.

Damian rolled his eyes away from the situation. In the last few days he was quiet, spent his days training or patrolling being invisible, a shadow appearing to save them and disappear in smoke.

In the few moments he was in the tower he was absent when he heard any comments about social media, Starfire had suspended the posting of photos on the tower or other titans, as well as the mention of a certain team member.

Garfield protested, but Kory's frown was enough for him to nod.

Being around Damian had only caused her emotions to overwhelm her.

The teenager was a tide of anger and frustration, she felt it in his veins, like a monster waiting for a provocation to come out. His emotions were there, deep down he was affected by the situation, had something else to show besides latent anger.

She was not mistaken when she said that inside he is a noble and generous soul, she still believed he was that person, but sometimes she would like to do more than just scratch the surface.

Interrupted her meditation by paying attention to his blade by tearing apart a hologram. He was not wearing his uniform, only a pair of shorts and a loose T-shirt revealing his arms, his frown falling drops of sweat and holding the sword stronger than necessary. The last time he was like this was after a discussion with his father about a mission.

"You've been gone five hours, Damian."

He didn't pay any attention. "It's okay. Ignore me."

Raven was not in the mood to put up with Damian's mood, could normally bear his rough edges and understood that none was easy to deal with, however, this time she preferred to walk away.

She headed for the exit.

"Are you still reading Edgar Allan Poe?" He frowned.

She was struck by surprise, took a few moments to understand his words and process a response.

Was he stopping her?

"Yes" She turned. He looked into her eyes but bowed his head and the sword swung in his hands without purpose. "I almost finished the stories."

Damian sighed.

He ran a hand through his hair. His face is covered with sweat, small drops descended on his forehead and he put the sword in the holster; he walked towards the controls and for a minute she thought he would reschedule the program from the beginning, but he took a book out of a backpack.

Raven wanted to look away, she sensed it was a book she planned to read, but the title made her look back at the play. She recognized it wherever she saw it, she'd been looking for it for days on the internet sighing disappointed at the price.

The first edition of The Raven had been sold out, yet the price was enough to make her pocket hurt. The book is dark, of a worn color, on the cover a raven on a pillar with the title barely standing out from a yellowish shade, and its pages thickened over time.

"How?"

He shrugged "Family Library."

Oh.

"Keep it" He paused "If you want it… "

Only Damian could make accepting a gift sound like an order. She made a mental note not to underestimate his detective skills, however, by her lips slipped a smile against any thought of exhaustion about the behavior of the younger Wayne.

He handed her the book, while he was away with the sweat on his forehead with a towel. She stared at the work passing one hand across the cover feeling the softness of the paper, as well as the relief of the title and the dust accumulated between its pages, as if it were awaited by Raven for a long time in the most hidden place in the world.

"Thank you very much, Damian."

He did not respond, but she could feel his shoulders relaxing and the tension seemed to leave his body. The emotion came to her like a wave on a quiet day, a softness that invaded her spirit and almost let out a sigh.

There was something intimidating about the scene, Raven holding a book leafing through its pages like devouring its contents, Damian drinking water and wiping sweat from the body.

They had a good relationship, they went through a few moments of roughness when they met and that is that the circumstances could not have been worse, but they were forged since then. She begged him to stay away, now she just wanted to keep him close.

Her heart was forming new strings around him, handled by the worst puppeteer she'd ever met in her entire life. She put that feeling away before it came up, it was just excitement for the gift and nothing else.

You want to take advantage of the boy. Her father's voice roared in her head, a tone of mockery and the smile disappeared from her face, Are you that easy, you filthy witch? Demons devour love, feed on feeling, and make it worse. We are made for this, ungrateful. When are you gonna learn?

Raven frowned at that.

She stared at the book, it was so beautiful that in a few seconds it became a sign of uncertainty, a reminder of the fate of all this. She wanted to return it, just like the little injection of feelings that shook her heart and nip it in the bud like a rotten thing before it branches off elsewhere and she couldn't do anything, just cry in the dark at the end.

She watched Damian, the boy was at the height of his reputation, each of those people who took the time to write comments against him hated him, repudiated his image and wished him out, as Damian Wayne was no better, the world was leaning at his feet and was haunted by magazine photographers starving for an update on the life of the Prince of Gotham's son, So much so that it affected the teenager's personal life by avoiding going out, and when he did, he tried not to be recognized on the streets. She felt that people should see him beyond titles and flaws.

Do you want to ruin this one too?

"What is it?"

He put the towel aside and came over. When there was something that aroused his curiosity, he demanded an answer and was content with nothing but the truth, she felt exposed and overwhelmed, perhaps it was because of her father's voice that no matter how much it cost her he was right, she never learned from her mistakes.

Put an end to it before the prologue is written and ends badly.

Raven retreated in one step, then two, but Damian continued to approach.

"What is it?" he repeated.

She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, unable to utter a single word, but what would she say? what if this was just a nice gesture and she was confusing everything, she didn't want to ruin a friendship by a prick of confusion.

She Looked into his eyes. In a second her whole mind lit up completely and she realized that that feeling was not unknown, his green eyes brought her hope and strength in the moments when the world was falling apart even when they were just getting to know each other, they had seen so many bad things, they could have opted for a life of pain and destruction, but here they were waiting for the best, that kind of familiarity embraced her and made her entrails turn.

The feeling was not new.

They were inches away. She raised her head squeezing her lips out of sheer nervousness, wanted to divert attention to whatever it was, but Damian's eyes were demanding, being empathetic she felt his anxiety about knowing what was going on, It was almost as if he was calling her and emitting a magnetic force that made it impossible to lie to him.

She embraced the book on his chest "I…'

"You're all over social media, Wayne"' Jaime stopped dead. He appeared holding a cell phone and showing the teenager casually conversing with a waitress in a restaurant; the latino exchanged a glance between the two and scratched his hair, insecure "I'm sorry."

Damian frowned and rolled his eyes as he processed the words. He collected his belongings with angry grunts, probably tired of all the media scandal surrounding his life.

He made a grimace of discomfort.

"Brother, everyone is linking you to the waitress and all the girls are suffering," said Jaime. He had pretended that the words were a mockery, but no longer knew if his friends would take it as a joke, in any case, not that he had a sense of humor; he would swear that he was not welcome "Rae, you should read the comments."

She looked away from him.

Raven shrugged "I'm not interested."

"I don't want to know anything!" Damian put his backpack on his back and walked to the door in strides "I can't order coffee anymore" he snarled.

Garfield showed up with his tablet accompanied by Conner "Look what they did to Robin…"

Damian pushed him, and he slammed the door so hard he sent a draft of air. Beast Boy backed away issuing complaints, the device almost slipped between his hands like butter.

Conner laughed, gripping his stomach, mocking his friend.

"What's wrong with him?"

Raven sighed.

Sometimes she was surprised at how dense the three are, Jaime could be calmer, but as for the feelings and what his companions experienced, he was totally unaware of it, while Garfield only saw the truth if he came face to face and danced to it.

About Conner, well, she doubted he saw anything but his own vanity.

"He's frustrated," she said.

Garfield and Jaime exchanged glances, finally shrugged, while Conner continued to mock his friends for a reason that eluded her knowledge. She was used to people reacting like that when she spoke, as they related it to her powers and her mysterious aura, they assumed that she saw something that others did not, in some cases it was real, in others the problem was them.

Raven stared at the book.

The gift in her hands, the beating of her heart, the fire in her cheeks, which would burn to ashes.

She wasn't meant to love.

#damirae #fanfiction

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m4a1-shermayne · 5 years

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Well it’s been quite the ride since 2013 and after a while I’ve finally reached 7,500 followers.

So for the hell of it today I will teach you about the M3 75mm gun and it’s uses.

First off I want you to forget about the whole Tiger/Sherman and Panther/Sherman debate for a moment and focus on the primary reason the tank was created in the first place: Infantry support and breaking through defensive lines.

The M3 it’s self finds it’s roots going back to a French Cannon known as the Canon de 75 mm Modele 1897 which was widely regarded as the first modern artillery piece at it’s introduction during the end of the 19th century.

Now you might be thinking “woah Sherm what does this have to do with a tank cannon from the 40s” well, everything! The biggest reason the Modele 1897 was so popular was due to it’s HE and timed shrapnel shells, infact it was popular enough that the French had several thousand still in service before the German invasion of 1940.

The Modele 1897 was used on a handful of other vehicles during the First World War including the Char Saint-Chamond.

The French and other nations also mounted these vehicles on trucks and used T30 shrapnel shells for Anti-Aircraft duty.

The US obtained numerous weapons during World War One including tanks and planes, they began using them during their time in Europe, Renaming the Modele 1897 to the 75 mm Gun M1897, the US was so fond of these guns that close to 2,000 of them were on the field in US service when the War ended in November 1918.

US production rates of the M1897 reached 1,000 total, but only a handful of those guns in particular got to Europe before the war ended. Which means they ended up with a large surplus of US made M1987s. Development of the M1897 led to an experimental anti-aircraft gun known as the T6. The barrel was shortened by 5 calibers from 36 to 31 and Nordenfelt screw breech replaced with the sliding block breech.

The time between 1918 and 1939 was great for weapon tech, from Biplanes to Monoplanes, from Carriers becoming a lethal and key capital ship in Naval warfare, to the smallest but fastest armored vehicles. The US had spent it’s time quite wisely building up and researching technology that would but it’s self into a relative sweet spot by the time the next Major conflict would arrive.

The M1897 would undergo modernization in the hands of all who used it, The French built the later M1897A2 and M1897A3 models while the M1897A4 would be built in US factories. The A4 model consists of the removal of rollers and sweeper plates with felt pads, and elimination of a portion of the jacket of the gun which is replaced by steel rails and bronze strips attached to supports on the gun.

The German invasion of France in 1940 caught the attention of the Americans, they looked into what made them so effective. One of the notes they made was the use of self propelled artillery. When looking at their own arsenal it was made apparent that the United States lacked vehicles that could fulfill such a role.

Debate and discussion followed and eventually it was decided to mount the M1897A5 onto the new and upcoming Half Tracks. Using the M3 and M5 half tracks the gun would be mounted and used in numerous roles such as Anti Tank and Indirect Artillery Support.

Known as the T12 or M3 GMC (Gun Motor Carriage) this vehicle would be sent to North Africa along with Operation Torch and find it’s self neck deep in German/Italian Tanks. However technology had moved too quickly and due to the fact the weapon was mounted on a half track and not a heavier vehicle, losses weren’t exactly minimal for the M3 GMC. Eventually the M3 would be replaced by the heavier M10 Wolverine, but that doesn’t exactly mean the M1897 was to be taken out of service.

At a similar time the M3 Lee was being produced as a stopgap for the problems US manufacturers were facing with the up coming M4 Medium. The War Department noticed the all purposeness of the M1897 and decided to develop it a bit further. The M1897 was shortened and adapted to the role of Anti Tank.

The gun would be known as the M2 75mm and it would arm all Lee/Grant tanks and during their time in North Africa they showed promise, but as time goes on technology always advances and being a stop gap doesn’t exactly mean time is on your side. However the T7/M2 would be used briefly on the Sherman.

The T6 was the first Sherman prototype, armed with the T7/M2 and boasting four .30 caliber machine guns, it had a handful of features that it would share with the Lee which would be eventually removed such as the side hull door. It should also be noted that the Lee’s hull door had periscopes embedded in it, the T6 prototype did not. Also the white circle is to bring attention to the fact the antenna was getting caught by the gun.

Eventually the M2 would be refined into the M3 which would feature a lengthened barrel and not much difference.

The M3 was highly praised for it’s High Explosive capabilities and Armor Piercing capabilities in the North African desert. But of course as the story goes when moving through Italy and France the M3 struggled against heavily armored targets. But it wasn’t exactly the gun’s fault.

First off, it should be noted that Shermans were not designed to engage heavy vehicles. That was the job of the tank destroyer units that stuck around. Just like it wouldn’t be the job of the tank destroyer to push heavily fortified areas.

Second, a certain individual is to blame for the inefficiency of the M3 75′s AP capabilities; General Lesley McNair. There are numerous types of munitions that these guns use, but the ones in question would be the M72 AP and M61 APCBC shot. The capabilities of the M61 APCBC shot had enough to punch through the Tiger at close distance and enough to punch through the sides at at least 500 meters. However due to McNair’s orders the M61 wasn’t issued to troops while the inferior M72 was in fact issued. McNair believed that Tanks were not the best way to fight tanks.

This is a USSR Archival photo of testing against a Tiger tank. The USSR tested virtually every type of ammunition to determine the capabilities against it. They found that the Sherman was more than capable of killing one if the proper measures were taken.

But nevertheless, the M3 turned out to be an amazing gun for infantry support and bunker busting. Infact the Army was so thrilled by the HE capabilities it was having a tough time switching the M3 out for the M1 76mm which had better AP but worse HE.

There are two other version of the M1897 I’d like to mention before finishing off. The M5 and the M6.

Attacking ships is serious business. They’re usually filled to the brim with anti aircraft guns so you’re usually forced to use rockets, bombs or torpedoes. But the US loves it’s kinetic action.

Lightened and stuck into the nose of PBJs and B-25s, the M5 was fitted with a automatic reloading mechanism which allowed it to be used more than once.

The M6 is based on the M5 and used in the M24 Chaffee which was a very potent light tank when comparing it to the M3 or M5 light tanks.

Couple final notes. All major version of the gun could use the same ammunition.

The ammunition included: M72 APC

M61 APCBC

M48 HE

M66 HEAT

M89 Smoke

M64 White Phosphorus

Other rounds such as HVAP and Shrapnel were also developed.Crews would typically take 50% HE, 40% AP, and 10% Smoke/WP.

The last thing i’d like to mention is that France still uses two M1897 guns for ceremonial purposes.

Thanks for sticking around, I don’t really post tanks that much anymore but I’ll try to change that.

#Military #History #Shermanposting

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sandyhookhistory · 2 years

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(The far more-detailed version is on FB; link in bio) “Tragedy In Alaska – Remembering the USS Worden” 80 Years Ago, Today: (Tue) Jan 12, 1943, Amchitka Island, the Aleutians, off Alaska: In June 1942, the Japanese invade Kiska and Attu Islands. It is the only invasion of American Soil during the war, and the first since the War of 1812. The US had to retake the islands as soon as possible, which is no easy feat as the Aleutians are 1000 miles long, and the Japanese were at the far end. And while a Japanese loss, it ties down 140,000 US troops, and resources badly needed elsewhere. This protracted 14-month fight at The Top Of The World was very bloody. In the middle is empty Amchitka – the US realized they could squeeze airstrips on it, so today’s landing in Constantine Harbor, is unopposed, but not without disaster. The harbor is filled with uncharted, submerged, razor-sharp rocks – one of which rips the hull of the veteran destroyer USS Worden (DD-352, Farragut-Class, Pics 1-4) Her engine room floods, killing power and leaving her dead in the water. A tow-line from another ship snaps; heavy winds drive her hard on the rocks. She begins to break apart in the waves. Photos 5-10 show her final moments. Her Commander orders the crew to abandon ship as huge, freezing waves wash him overboard. He was rescued, unconscious. Worden has a total crew of some 220 Officers and Sailors. Small boats from ships and the invasion help pluck them from ship and sea. It is so brutally cold their oil-soaked clothes are frozen solid. A head count reveals 14 men are dead. Three die after rescue, one body later washes up, and ten more are never found. They are: EM3c John A. Anderson, age 21 S1c Leland F. Bass, 25 EM3c Don A. Blue, 31 F1c Keith L. Briley, 22 RM3c Robert W. Keiser, 19 S1c Francis D. Musgrave, Jr. (Unknown) F1c William F. Reddeman, 22 F2c Leo L. Schultz (Unknown) S1c Stephen S. Seltz, 28 S1c Harvey J. Senne, 22 F2c Willard E. Shinabery, 19 F3c Jerome J. Wolshock, 20 WT1c Charles F. Wood, 24 S1c John H. Wright, 28 They are part of the list of 1,400 Americans who are killed in the Aleutian Campaign. Never, EVER, Forgotten. 🇺🇲❤️⚓️ (at Fort Hancock, New Jersey) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnVDZcxPNAR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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spnreactionblogging · 4 years

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DESPAIR

SPOILERS BELOW / tw suicide sort of

ah the title really does sum this up. I am filled with such dread going in. I know cas gets sent to super hell, I know the destiel shippers are declaring it canon (but then, when haven't they), and I've heard from a reliable source that the show officially as of just now is queerbaiting for real by making it vague and easy to ignore it instead of actually confirming anything. plus nobody seems to give a fuck about jack, as usual, and sam didn't get to say goodbye? god how can this get better???? I hope buckleming got to fucking murder castiel! that would really improve this for me!!! the cherry on the shit sundae for real so okay here goes. ugh. I have this angel's envy bourbon at 1PM, oops. I feel like I will need it for this one more than the others I also am ensconced in my castiel trenchcoat + "be super good" shirt, and cas, crowley, and sam the q-pals are joining me. dean is banished to remain in the tote bag they live in. god I want to scream. this fucking synopsis "With the plan in full motion, Sam, Dean, Castiel and Jack fight for the good for the common goal." oh the plan to use Jack as a suicide bomb???? great idea. lol I hate this. whose "common good"????????? ah but yes dean runs a dictatorship right. no wonder chuck butts heads with him dean looks so fucking smug in the amazon prime video app, hovering over the episode where cas will die horribly. fuck. there is nothing that can emotionally prepare me for this episode the show is going to end with sam and dean because it started with sam and dean and chuck/the IRL writers are bitter about it I guess??? delete fucking everything god, very fucking cute of dean to be like WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!!! you fucking piece of shit you forcememed this to go as quickly as possible because you want Jack fucking dead, don't pretend you care god. fuck. jack apologizing for dying, to the empty. I hate everything so much ah, so that's why the opening title screen has been that. gross. horrible. a jack singularity is that it? really? jack's dead? just like that. okay. awful. oh he's MAYBE dead. reassuring. I see that briana buckmaster and jim beaver will be joining us my cat is sitting in front of the TV trying to prevent me from watching this, trying to save me from myself oh and felicia day oh this one's written by robert berens, I mostly trust him I think sam should've photocopied the book first oh hey RSJ directed this one I'm glad to have rachel miner back in any capacity that's... alpha/omega on the side there? makes sense I hope it's a fake book god I love sam sitting on the like. what is that, weird equipment panels? more confirmation sam is queer, you heard it here what leverage does dean even think he has cool jack's just getting tortured now "the boy is still useful" at least billie isn't pretending to care about him. oh she left the book thank fuck cas goes to him right away, please hug this child alcohol is not gonna help you guys sleep oh here's dean's half-assed apology. "sorry not sorry that I just couldn't stop, I couldn't help it, I just wanted to get what I wanted, and now that I didn't get what I wanted, sowwy uwu I guess" "you've snapped me out of worse" yeah don't minimize this, sam oh yeah michael exists. I notice dean refers to him as michael and not including adam. way to go I notice that sam does not drink right away "to somehow" those eggs look great "no guns at the table" is a solid rule not only for how miserable that is, but because everything surrounding firearms is a carcinogen and doesn't need to be near food please love yourself charlie please eat good eggs am I supposed to know stevie, was she part of the alternate universe, I still like never watched most of 10-13 oh we're gonna kill MULTIPLE queer characters in this episode, awesome. we gonna kill charlie AGAIN??????? we brought her back just to kill her off, AGAIN? LIKE KEVIN? and bobby I guess?? can I just say how much I hate the concept of a "final boss fight" like why is it always ending in a fight, why is violence always the answer, and why do we feel like one final violent action will solve all the problems huh charlie's shirt looks like a tycho album cover okay so I didn't forget stevie, she was brand new? maybe? I love cas and jack :( feels strange because this all sucks there's no such thing as destiny, jack don't fucking die for sam and dean and 'the world' damn right, cas, he doesn't need "absolution" well that's true for you, cas, you care because he's him. dean just wants to use him cas and jack are good. charlie this was so not your fault. as usual this is the winchesters' fault. tell 'em charlie!!! get 'em!!! you're not sorry, dean. "What now?" is a huge fucking mood, dean oh, greg! our old friend! greg was a real one (but not anymore) yeah eileen's screwed. this includes sam too. and dean i guess. sam is a good person who cares about people despite dean's best efforts to stop him I can't see who he's texting. are cas and jack in the back? poor eileen :( god poor sam having to basically get eileen in front of eyewitnesses who can attest that she disappeared cas and jack are in the backseat yeah I wish he'd tell her she's never gonna reply now yeah she's gone. interesting use of technology that they couldn't've done earlier in the series, to show she was typing but then stopped god that's awful. fuck. "If I let myself go then I'll lose my mind. I can't, right now." that's a huge fucking mood sam let's just postpone all that grief for later. gotta shove it down. huge fucking mood. god I'm so sorry somewhere central... the... bunker? don't split everyone up dean, fuck yes revenge is definitely the answer. killing things is the answer. "not having a choice" is obviously the answer. you fucker we get a sam and dean hug but where's the one for cas. you can like... see it in sam and jack's eyes that they are worried they're never gonna see them again. I'm horrified that cas isn't getting to say goodbye to jack nor sam. I can't handle this. I guess this scene is where they took that last group photo that misha posted back in march? RIP :( oh hey donna jack, that feeling is TheDepression oh gas-n-sip sam's sweet to try to give jack some autonomy here instead of having him just... being shuffled around like baggage. is that eileen's car then this music is intense don't burn the fucking library also wow dean with the reaper blade again is oof. wow. yikes. dean is become death, destroyer of worlds for real. jesus that is fucking horrifying to see. aren't you, dean? aren't you a bringer of death. remember when you hated doing that back in season... 4? 5? later? dean has learned nothing. sam's been trapped in a silo before hasn't he. or that panic room or something. donna is sweet. jack is good. jack deserves better. sam :( donna is very kind I like hearing jody and garth mentioned even if they're not in this episode (?) oh hey charlie sam at least knows how you feel, charlie I like this set god I've missed jim beaver is jack going around with spraypaint? I'm like oh god there's no ventilation. I guess it's a paint bucket but still the fumes are bad. better than being evaporated though I guess big man on campus. RIP stanford sam at least there's a bucket. praeses magna. "president large"? thinking about how it would be impossible to have extras for episodes 19 and 20 I like watching jack paint RIP that plant. apparently he has his powers dean walks around way too comfortably with the reaper scythe. oh but the plan has changed. did billie leave that book and nobody read it?????? dean you don't have friends, bud. yeah how did you tink you would even stand a chance, dean. this is the worst plan ever I'm so tired of seeing cas get tortured. I don't want to see billie get hurt either. is "billie" actually the empty or something "Has virtutes conliga. Eas integra. Eas firma. Nos omnes serva." = "These virtues bind. Those infected. These are strong. We keep them all." idk google translate, I feel like that may not be "infected" but more like integrity I like the effects they did on the wardings there yeah pretty much you can't stop god oh I'm real sad about that couple who vanished together :( bye charlie bye bobby. :( bye donna??? oh that like gold paint gossamer looking shit going on with billie's arm is cool god I'm glad billie smacked him in the face, dean deserves it. I just rewound it to see dean get clocked again, it's so worth it so they went back to the bunker... for what? billie can just go there. sam and jack are gonna have such a rough fucking day. all those double cheeseburgers are back for revenge on dean billie's right actually. dean always thinks the rules don't apply to him because he thinks he should be making the rules. castiel should be with jack, not with dean. fuck. can't cas still heal people the scythe on the wall is a good visual. I really like lisa berry, she does an amazing job is this the same room with the ma'lak box always happy to bleed for the winchesters. christ. fuck. even with dean's pocketknife. cas I'm so sorry. sweetheart you don't deserve this. 7B? so Jack was trapped in 5B, this is a different room but probably the same actual setpiece just rearranged do you just... have to wait her out yeah yeah dean you suck. correct, you never should've left sam and jack. wow I feel zero sympathy for dean at all. you do it to yourselllllf you do, that's what really hurts. oh baby don't summon the empty please :( I'm so glad to know that cas never told them about how he saved jack, it's none of their business yeah it would be with jack, cas. you should be with him man this is shitty. this is like a bad fanfic for real. wow these shots are like, when it cuts between them it's so obvious these were not the same camera lmao fuck. how many takes was this god i hate dean. he has not done this for love. dean is a spiteful person. "you're the most caring man on earth" literally kill me. I want to die. jesus fuck. i want to be dead this is awful this sucks this actually really hurts. this sucks so much. dean you squandered this angel's life. now jack has no father. i hate you dean winchester. i hate you. you don't deserve cas loving you jack knows, jack can feel it. I hate hate hate hate hate hate that jack is left alone with the winchesters. i hate this. jesus fuck i hate this so much i hate this jack sweetheart I'm so sorry dean you fucking ass please pick up the fucking phone. please answer sam. i hate you god dean i hate you fuck dean you are the worst. fuck my life. fuck all this. fuck this show. i'm so angry castiel deserves so much better than this. fuck i'm so mad. why wasn't his moment of happiness knowing that JACK WASN'T GOING TO DIE. i hate this. I'm so upset. fucking shit-ass writing. and it's still not fucking canon you morons at least uh they don't have to have extras for the last two episodes? did they add that footage after? is that what got changed up? everyone's gone huh. god just. dump the show right into the trash. bye. also for fuck's sake nobody gives a fuck about jack like I didn't even know he survived. nobody cares. "sam didn't get to say goodbye" FUCKING JACK DIDN'T GET TO SAY GOODBYE fuck this so much. fuck, is dean just chuck's OC? made in his image and furious that his mini-me isn't acting the way he wants? is that why he gets exonerated at every turn? "all the evil shit you did is fine dean you're the MOST LOVING AND THE BESTEST EVER!!!" fuuuuuck

#s15e18

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bittysvalentines · 6 years

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Three Times Jack Zimmermann Saw Eric Bittle Without Meeting Him (Plus One Time Jack Didn't See Him but They Met Anyway)

From: @missweber

To: @n3rdyl4cy

Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann

Tags: eventual meet cute, slow burn before ever meeting, implied homophobia, references to unsupportive parents, coming out, cameo appearance by Zdeno Chara, AU because real life NCAA rules apply, Jack didn't go to college, Bitty gets scouted by the Falconers

Summary: Jack saw Eric Bittle for the first time over a year before they actually met, but it was still as if someone had set a match to a fuse that would burn slowly but inevitably until it reached its end.

The first time Jack saw Eric Bittle was the February of his third year with the Falconers. It wasn't in person, but it was enough for Jack to have a flash of he's cute that was harder to shove back down than it should have been, especially since the photo Tater texted him was kind of hilarious.

Tater was at the Beanpot tournament with Thirdy and some pals from the Bruins and kept texting Jack updates and photos of the game.

Jack could have asked him to stop, but that would involve explaining why thinking about college hockey inevitably set him off balance and got him lost in a world of what ifs.

But then a photo came through that triggered three reactions in swift succession:

What the hell?

Ha ha, that's pretty funny.

Huh. He's cute.

The picture was of two people. One was a Samwell player, flushed and grinning even though his team had just lost the championship round to Boston College in overtime. The other was Zdeno Chara.

The Samwell player barely came up to Chara's shoulder even though he was on skates and Chara wasn't. According to Tater, the player (#15, Eric Bittle, Junior) was only five foot six to Chara's six foot nine and was 'quick like bunny!'

Jack tried to focus on what kind of speed a player like that would have to have play Division I hockey and not end as a smear against the boards, but he kept getting drawn to the sunny smile and the dark eyes that were unusually striking paired with honey blond hair.

Cute. And he kind of looked like Kenny.

But Kenny had never smiled like that.

An ex-girlfriend used to send him borderline explicit selfies when he was on the road. Those pictures had made him smile, but Jack had never found himself staring at them like this.

Jack put the phone down and forced himself to count breaths until he stopped shaking.

Once he could trust himself, he responded to Tater with a haha.

Then he deleted the photo and the entire text thread along with it.

* * *

The second time Jack saw Eric Bittle was a little over half a year later, right in the middle of training camp. Like before, it was a photograph. This time, though, it came via his news feed.

Samwell University Selects First Openly Gay NCAA Division I Team Captain

The photo was obviously a headshot from the team's site, but the brilliant smile and warm brown eyes were as lively as if it had been a candid shot.

Jack didn't get to the article itself for ten minutes.

When he did, it wasn't what he was expecting. It was as bland and banal and calculated as any item that came from a team's PR shop. Generic sounding quotes, no sign of anything resembling a controversial opinion (other than the fact that a gay player merely existing was controversial in and of itself), no personality, no depth.

There were only two startling revelations in the article, neither of which was more than a mention with no further explanation.

One was that Bittle came from Georgia. That was definitely unusual, and Jack wondered how someone who was not only short and gay but Southern ever managed to get into hockey in the first place.

The other was that Bittle's team knew he was gay before they had voted him captain and had voted him in unanimously - which was the only time that had ever happened in the history of the team.

Jack figured the article was only the opening salvo. There would be follow-up interviews, no doubt. You Can Play would be all over it, and so would Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

All that happened though, as training camp ended and pre-season began, was that several opinion pieces came out and Jack added more names to his list of which reporters could and could not be trusted.

(The one article that went viral did so for the wrong reasons: it was a passionate, pompous, and self-important screed about gay rights in international sports that might have had more impact and less unintentional hilarity if the author had not been operating under the assumption that Bittle was from Georgia-the-country and not Georgia-the-state.)

Also, Kent texted Jack.

did u see the news?

Jack didn't reply and didn't read the other texts that followed. But he did tell George he needed to talk with her. Alone.

"I'm still not planning on coming out," he informed her right out of the gate.

"This is about the Samwell thing, isn't it?"

He nodded. He wished she hadn't put it quite that way. If NCAA hockey had been an option for him, Samwell would have been his top choice.

In retrospect, going to the Q had been a mistake in more ways than one. Thank God the Falconers had been willing to take a chance on him after rehab.

"Jack, I'm glad you trusted me all those years ago, but it honestly doesn't matter to me one way or the other if you come out now, or later, or never."

"I just..." He kept his eyes focused on the corner of her desk. "There are" - he circled his hand - "rumors."

Rumors. Gossip. A few photos he wished he could wipe from existence. Fanfic.

"You know I don't care about that, Jack."

He nodded, eyes still cut down and away. By never denying the rumors about him and Kent, he'd confirmed them for her, and he didn't know what to do about that. At least she was willing to maintain the polite fiction that she had no idea who Jack had dated back in the Q.

"Just... If You Can Play comes around and wants me to do another clip..." He blinked away the stinging in his eyes and why was this rattling him so much? "I don't feel like I can say no."

But what would he say if he said 'yes?' He couldn't offer other queer athletes any kind of advice that wasn't about hockey. But just existing would say so much in and of itself...

"I'm not ready but I should be ready, shouldn't I? Especially now."

"Jack. There's no should about it."

"But somehow this kid can be brave enough to come out, while I - "

George held up a hand to cut him off. She shook her head sadly. "I don't think he had a choice. This," she said, pointing to a copy of the article on her monitor, "is a pre-emptive strike. From what Martin Hall tells me, Bittle was out to his classmates and before he was on anyone's radar as a top prospect. And apparently, his online presence wasn't at all discreet and he has a sizable following. Hall said Bittle decided it was better to get the story out on his own terms before someone put two and two together and made a call to Deadspin or worse."

Jack understood. It would only take one picture from 2009, one recollection from a team-mate, to get the story out of his hands or Kent's. He should think about getting ahead of things, but...

... he wasn't ready. He wasn't sure he ever would be.

* * *

The only reason Jack didn't see Bittle again until March was because he had his own hockey to focus on. Then finally, the annual nightmare of the trade deadline finally passed and speculation started churning about what might happen after the playoffs.

Free agent frenzy technically didn't start until July, but there was a lot of early buzz about the young men who would be coming out of the NCAA and where in the NHL they might go.

One of these young men was Eric Bittle. There was more talk about whether Bittle was too small for the NHL than whether he was too gay for the NHL, but Jack still avoided watching the video clips Tater kept trying to show him.

(He couldn't explain why he avoided watching them any more than he could explain why he only sometimes responded to Kent's texts, but he suspected it came from the same dark place in his mind.)

And then Samwell made it to the Frozen Four. Jack didn't watch, but he felt a thrill of vindication when he heard that the Wellies (and Bittle) won.

Maybe Bittle would sign with an NHL team or maybe he wouldn't, but the short, gay, Southern kid had scored the game-winning goal in the NCAA championships, and it felt like something in the world had shifted and wasn't going to shift back.

Jack was still mulling it over when he arrived at the practice facility that morning, and George had to shout at him twice to get his attention.

"Jack, can you come in here a moment?"

The request brought the usual spike of anxiety even though he knew nothing awful was likely to happen. He followed George into her office.

"I thought you would want to hear this from me before you heard it from anyone else."

Jack's breath froze halfway up his throat. He had no idea what his face must have looked like, but George patted the air in front of her as if the soothing motion would reach him. "It's okay, it's okay, it's nothing bad, but I didn't want you caught unprepared. Did you watch the NCAA finals yesterday?"

Jack shook his head. George didn't seem surprised, and he wondered what she'd put together about him when he started looking into online degrees.

"I want you to take a look at this." She turned her monitor so he could see it. A video clip played. In it, a small player with the number 15 on his back zipped between opposing players like a destroyer through a fleet of battleships.

The third time Jack saw Eric Bittle was the first time he actually saw him play hockey.

"Play it again," he rasped once the clip was done. This time, he watched while knowing what to watch for. The way Bittle read the ice. The way he sent the puck unerringly not to where his liney was but to where his liney would be. The way he was obviously reluctant to take a hit, but had turned that avoidance into a weapon, with one feint in particular sending one Denver player crashing into the boards and his teammate plowing into him a half-second later.

The soft hands. Eyes that were as full of determination as they were of fear.

"He might need a year in the AHL first - trust me, you'll plotz when you hear how much hockey he didn't play before college - but can you imagine having that on your line?"

He could. Very much so. "And you're telling me first because..."

She sighed. "Because you're my friend as much as you are one of my players, and I keep thinking about that first conversation we had about Bittle, and about what it would mean to come out. When or if you decide to be out is one hundred percent up to you. I know you're out to a few people on the team, but I wanted to make damned sure you know that if we sign Bittle, it does not mean I'm expecting anything from you except to play damned good hockey and live the best life you know how to live. Got it?"

Jack nodded, swallowing hard and blinking the brightness from his eyes.

"Good. And if we sign Bittle and that brings any attention back to you that you don't want, we'll deal with it, okay?"

"Okay." His attention went back to the monitor, which was frozen on the moment when Bittle was hoisted into the air by two D-men who were each half again as big as he was. His expression was caught somewhere between joy, indignation, surprise, and... sadness?

He looked more closely. There were lots of other people on the ice. Parents, siblings. The goalie was openly sobbing on an older woman's shoulder. One of the two D-men holding Bittle had a woman in a hijab smiling up at him. The other had a gaggle of redheads crowding in around him.

It took him a moment, but he finally registered what he wasn't seeing. He thought about the 'pre-emptive strike' article, and how there had been so little press and no interviews or profile pieces that he could recall.

Jack may have had any number of issues with his own parents over the years, but they had always, always, always been there for him.

And in many ways, they had been there for Kent as well, even during the dark times when he and Kent hadn't been talking at all.

"George?"

"Hm?"

"There's something I want to do, when you go meet with Bittle."

* * *

The first time Jack actually met Eric Bittle was at Samwell.

Maman and Papa would meet him at dinner, after Jack and George had finished talking business. Meanwhile, they were taking a nostalgia tour of campus.

"We're meeting Bittle at the hockey team's house," George explained. "I'm also hoping to talk to a couple of his teammates." She must have studied a map before they arrived because she set off like she knew exactly where she was going.

They crossed a quad that was bordered on one side by a pond. Jack wondered if it ever froze over hard enough to skate on. Knots of students were scattered on the grass, some studying, some napping. A lively pickup game of soccer ended abruptly when someone kicked the ball into the pond.

Jack could imagine himself in a place like this, but the imagining didn't hurt as much he expected.

Maybe it was because he had figured out somewhere along the line that not being able to play college hockey didn't mean he couldn't go to college one day.

Or maybe it was because something about this place, even though he had never been here before, felt like home.

George turned right just past the quad, but Jack missed it because he was watching the soccer players trying to retrieve their ball without getting in the pond.

And, of course, he plowed right into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

A slender (but still solid - Jack felt like he'd been checked) young man had landed on his ass. He had a phone in one hand, and a miraculously unspilled latte in the other.

The man tucked his phone into the back of some (very short) red shorts and reached out to take the hand Jack offered.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going - I've got this meeting I've got to get to and then I got a text so I thought..."

The honey-smooth drawl trailed off as the young man looked up to see who had knocked him over.

"Jack Zimmermann??"

Jack could feel the flush rise to his cheeks and was glad he couldn't see how red he must have been turning.

"Haha. Yeah. And you're Eric Bittle, eh?"

He was even cuter in person.

"Um..." Bittle seemed reluctant to let go of his hand. Jack could sympathize.

"Hello, Eric. I'm Georgia Martin - it's nice to finally meet you in person." George must have realized that Jack wasn't right behind her. "I hope you don't mind I brought company along. Did you still want to meet back at your house?"

"Oh! Yes!" Bittle reclaimed his hand, and headed off the same direction George had been going. "I made a pie for you - there should be enough for us all, even if Chowder - that's our goalie - comes home early."

George nodded in approval. If Chowder was Chris Chow, Jack knew she was hoping to speak with him, too.

"Pie, huh?" Jack asked.

Bittle nodded emphatically. "Yes, sir! I hope y'all like pecan pie," he said, pronouncing 'pecan' completely incorrectly.

Jack couldn't help teasing. "Bittle. You need to eat more protein if you're going to be in the NHL."

Bittle gasped in exaggerated shock. "You did not just say that to my face!"

"I said it to all of you," Jack deadpanned. "Not that there's a lot to say it to, eh?"

Bittle's eyes narrowed, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Why do I get the idea that you're going to be a whole lot of trouble, Mr. Zimmermann?"

"If you want trouble, wait until you meet my parents. They're joining us for dinner tonight."

It wasn't often that he started this kind of back-and-forth with someone so quickly. But something about it didn't feel quick.

It felt like a long, slow burning fuse that was first lit back when Tater sent that ridiculous picture had finally reached its end.

Meanwhile, Bittle started rambling on about how he really should make a second pie if he was going to meet someone's parents.

Jack fought back a smile. Tater was going to be so pissed he wasn't invited along.

"Sorry I'm babbling on like this, but this is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me!"

"I know what you mean, um, I mean, I remember what it was like when George came and talked to me."

George was a few feet ahead of them, but he could hear her roll her eyes.

"I don't know if you ever heard the story of how I joined the Falconers, but... well, I was in a rough spot. And I knew I would be safe with them. That I would feel safe with them."

"I'd love to hear that story sometime," Bittle said gently, reaching out to touch Jack's arm, then jerking his hand away quickly.

"I'd love to tell it to you." He didn't quite reach out to Bittle, but it was easy enough to let the back of his hand knock against Bittle's as they walked along.

It would have been nice to do more, to promise more, or just say more, but he wasn't ready for that.

"I wasn't expecting to meet you today, but I'm sure glad I did." Bittle smiled let his hand brush tentatively against Jack's in return.

Some other time, Jack might have said out loud what he was thinking, that it felt like he knew Bittle, like he knew this place, knew what it was like to walk side by side with him. Like part of him already knew what it was like not to walk hand in hand, but half embracing as they walked back to Bittle's house.

No, he wasn't ready for anything like that, not yet, but for the first time it was easy to imagine a time when he would be.

#bittyjack #fanfiction #bittysvalentines #bv2019 #omgcp

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