#very good noodle lads

[pallanophblargh]

*Maggie Simpson pacifier noise*

Got a few new black Kuhli loaches (pangio oblonga) to add to the existing crew and they seem to be having a blast. Also expanded the ember tetra school and added Congo tetras, which may or may not have been a gamble.

Unfortunately for y’all, I’m kinda back on my fish/aquarium bullshit. So if you want to opt out, I tag with “planted aquarium saga” and other related tags.

[b4kuch1n]

see, dearest, loving me did not save you. you scraped by just fine without. but it doesn’t hurt, does it?

[ohmygraves]

I was wondering if you could write a 141 how they react when you give them gifts. I love giving gifts, it makes me happy. Maybe even happier than the person receiving it sometimes. I bet some of them will like the excitement you get more than the gift itself, happily accepting everything you give just to see that smile.

ooh, i have to agree to that, anon. i honestly think that ghost and gaz would be the type to enjoy your reaction more than actually caring what you get them. just seeing you be so giddy when you hand them the gifts are enough of a treat, y'know?

you gave ghost a little knife carving kit, a little thank you for all the times he mentored you and saved your ass. you knew he liked knives and you thought that it was a nice activity to do instead of working out or smacking johnny's head if the scot misbehaved. and maybe he could use the knife or add it to his collection.

still, you are very excited to give it to him no matter what, as you want him to enjoy your gift. he could see you basically jumping in excitement when you see him, holding a small bag and with a giddy look on your face, cheeks flushed red and bright eyes as you hand him the gift bag.

now, ghost doesn't particularly care about gifts himself. since he doesn't have many things in general, his barracks room is really just basic necessities. trinkets like these are not something he enjoys collecting.

oh, but to see you all so excited and the way you try to contain your joy and happiness as you explain what you got him? now that's adorable, it made his heart clench that he thought he needed to get it checked with the medics.

"... thank you, love." he said softly, looking at the small box of knife carving kit in the bag. you cheered, telling him that you'd like to see the result when he finished it, bouncing off somewhere else. he hoped that you didn't notice that his eyes are basically softening looking at you walk away, the corner of his lips curled upwards under his mask seeing you so happy.

gaz's cap was getting really worn out, and you noticed that the bill had a slight tear on it, revealing the material underneath the fabric. so, as a good friend you decided to get him a new cap.

you knew that he liked some good joke, so you got him a trucker cap that says "women fear me, fish fear me" at the front, with a graphic of a bass. soap thought it was funny, and you did too. you're sure that kyle would like it just as much.

well, you didn't know that kyle has like twenty baseball caps in his barracks room, so he didn't need a new one. he collects caps.

when you see him one day, a gift bag in hand, you didn't even notice that the cap that had a tear on it was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a similar cap in color. you were too busy giggling at the idea of him wearing a cap that says "women fear me, fish fear me" to pay attention, and yet when he opened the gift from you, he didn't even complain. your cute giggles and laughs were enough to make him happy.

"really, love? 'women fear me, fish fear me'?" he scoffed, a smile on his face as he took off his hat, wearing it on his head proudly. he didn't care that soap immediately had to take pics of him, he only cared that it made you laugh.

i feel like soap would love anything you give him as well, but it's in a sense that "awh, ye got me noodle maker because ah'm too lazy to cook ramen noodles in the commons room 🥺" like this man would be excited with anything you give him, no matter how stupid the gift is.

you hand soap a wrapped gift box, knowing that he will get excited over this. you'd seen this infomercial a few times and you know that he would enjoy this gadget, given how silly it was and how oddly specific the function is. the infomercial was so silly.

of course, you gave him a slap chop.

opening the gift, his eyes went wide, smiling giddily as he looked at you, eyes glimmering. "bonnie, is this th' one where th' lad threw a slicer out th' window!?" he looked so excited and happy, you were so happy knowing that he liked the gift.

you nodded, saying that it could practically chop anything he wanted. it'll make things so much easier when cooking. soap hugs you, squeezing you as he practically squeals, thanking you for the gift. you said it was okay, and now soap can make all the salad he wanted. you left him to try out his gift, needing to go back to work.

ghost raised his eyebrows looking at you, crossing his arms as he looked at soap. "no bloody way someone like ya would eat a fuckin' salad, johnny..." he scoffed, knowing that the chance of soap eating fruits and vegetables are close to zero, since the scot is a picky eater.

soap sighed, looking down at the gift you got him. "seein' bonnie happy is good enough gift."

he'll make some crushed doritos at the top of his sandwiches or something.

price i feel is the same as soap, but only when it comes to the aesthetic of the item? he's easy to give gifts, likely smth related to fishing or cigar. he won't comment if you give him a cute shaped ashtray for example, or a floral patterned cigar holder.

as a token of appreciation to your captain, you decided to get him something that you thought he might use. price smokes a lot, so it was easy to find something to get him. you, however, are not great at picking the style for it.

ashtray is arguably one of the simplest items around. it's a small dish with sometimes notches to hold the thing you're smoking. as long as it catches the ashes, anything can be considered an ashtray. likewise, there are a lot of shapes and designs of an ashtray that you just spent lots and lots of time picking, scrolling through hundreds and thousands of pages online to find something that's both useful and nice.

you ended up ordering an ashtray in the shape of a ball, made of alloy and had lots of intricate designs of a dragon and bird. it was not only heavy, but also quite big for an ashtray, truthfully.

you started to second guess if this was a good idea, given that it looked like something that your asian grandpa would have on the table when he takes a smoke break out in the porch, sipping coffee while enjoying some hit of nicotine. maybe you should give it to someone else instead, or resell it and get something better, but soap had seen the massive ashtray and were laughing at how big it was, and his big mouth spilled the beans to the captain about how you got him a particularly garish looking ashtray. because of course, everyone told you that what you got him was a bit much for his very simple aesthetic.

having soap basically ruined the surprise, you had to give price the present either way, a bit hesitant as you handed him the box. you were worried that he'd just make fun of it, that he'd laugh at your choice.

"a bit heavy for an ashtray there, doll?" he hummed, looking at the patterns. it seems like it was somewhat like a carving of ancient chinese murals, the typical dragon and phoenix flying through the sky. it looked out of place on price's desk.

"well, i'd have to say the lid is quite a game changer," price added, smiling at you. "covers up the pile of ashes inside."

you were relieved that he seems to enjoy it for its intended function at least.

"have to say though, love, i didn't expect you to pick this style..." his fingers traced over the pattern on top. "it looks beautiful. thank you."

you're not sure if he's just being nice or if he actually enjoys such aesthetics, but you're glad to see it on his desk being used every time you go to his office.

[factual-fantasy]

29 asks! Thank you!! :)) 🦝

@abaroo @ditzyclown (Referencing this post)

XDD I'm not sure! Evil Grim seems too hot headed and mean to have any real bond with a trainer.. though Evil Sylvester belonging to some pompous rich butthead that treats him like gold seems likely <XDD

As for their good sides,, I haven't really decided if they have one at all. They are supposed to be "evil" versions of Grim and V after all..😅

And I'm also not entirely sure they'd even be friends.. since Evil Sylvester thinks that Gengars as gross, and the two of them have no respect for each other.. it seems pretty unlikely that a friendship would bloom.. 😔

...However.... 👀 That's not to say they couldn't go through some kind of character development and some kind of bond would form..

XDD Kermit you're so chaotic

@badlyblurry

That sounds like a ton of fun actually! :DD Now I just gotta find some of those wheels and challenges- <XDD

(In response to this post)

Aw man... poor little cookie.. <:(

THE BLACK PEAL GAL KILLED THE DIVER??

@briandraws

AKUCHEUFH THANK YOU!! XDDD

@soulful-rodent

I've been thinking a lot about making a master post for my Pokémon stuff, Undertale stuff, Octonauts stuff, etc.. But I just haven't gotten around to it. 💀💀 But I'll keep thinking about it thanks to your ask :00

As for evil Grim and V, I'd love to draw more of them! Maybe even evil/opposite versions of the others.. I just don't have any more ideas for them.. 😔😔😔

@khoiazo (Referencing this post)

XDDD couldn't have described their vibes better myself!

It just makes me really uncomfortable <:/ I prefer comments instead :}

@anikakitty11

Such a cute littol puppo!! 😭😭💞💞💞

I'm not familiar with many dog breeds.. but I can say that they both have the dumb and happy golden retriever energy <XDD

I haven't really thought about what other eeveeloutions he might encounter.. but I imagine a potential encounter with an Umbreon would be very similar to the Espeon encounter.

Maybe he saw the glowing eyes of an Umbreon peeking out of a bush a few feet away.. He froze in shock, recognizing the scent to be an eeveeloution. He looked away for just a second and when he turned back, it was gone..

I'm thinking that over years and years of being together they just naturally built this rock solid friendship and trust. They've had multiple experiences where their friendship was tested but it never broke.

I'm also thinking that a key factor in their friendship is them having the exact came sense of humor XDD They're both idiots

@minnesotamedic186 (Referencing this post)

XDD I see what you mean!

I've seen fanart of it floating around, the game with the.. cat.. slug.? Critters right? :00

@loud-kid2

I haven't actually beaten all the gyms yet- <XDD I've been spending most of my time drawing instead of playing Violet.😅

As for struggling with the gyms, I haven't struggled with any so far! AND THATS NOT ME TRYING TO SOUND COCKY- Most of the fun I have with Pokémon is the collecting part. So for the gyms I just use a type advantage and over level my Pokémon by like 10 levels and plow through the battle.. <XDD

I will say however, the water type gym challenge totally stumped me. <XDD For some reason I just couldn't figure it out and googled the answer in the end.. 😔😔😔

@rusty-doodles

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! :DDD 💞💞

A looooooot of patience and re-drawing <XDD (Also thank you!! :}}} )

I have seen some of it, :0 but I don't know all the new characters they added.. <:0

Not at the moment no.. I'm still on break from the fandom 😵‍💫

<XD I'm not the first person to think of Tweak dying her hair, so go right ahead! :))

@kermit-ydafrog

XDD I see the resemblance!

XDD No they're not infinite- But I was thinking that they can stretch shockingly far thanks to his mystical fairy typing XD How far that is exactly? I haven't really decided.. 🤔

@cat-noodle

I'm glad you love them! And while I wouldn't usually agree to this,, I'll give you the go ahead to cross stitch the lads XDD

@mimiocto (Sent after this post)

Aww! Sylvester needs a positive interaction after that frighting Espeon encounter <XDD

Ooo! :DD How fun! I should look into getting one too.. 🤔

(Refencing this post)

JSCSUCUSHIUHC XDDDD

[hopefulromances]

my queen is back 😭😭😭😭🤍🤍🤍🤍

just a little thought, a kindergarten teacher that has this girl-next-door/miss honey/sweetest human ever vibe and jamie meets her and is just ✨️lovestruck✨️ and maybe little snippets of how their relationship evolves, sorry if it's a lot 😭😭😭 I had a dream about this

I'm here again! I hope I can do this justice! This is such a sweet prompt!

The first time he saw her, she was carrying a large box of - what looked like - homemade planets. He was coming home from a run as she tried to open the door to her car while juggling the large box in one hand. Trying and failing he should add. Being the gentleman he is, Jamie ran over to assist.

"Here let me help you," he said, taking the box out of her hands.

"Oh, thank god," The woman sighed out, straightening up. Finally, Jamie could see her fully. She was wearing a space themed dress and wearing Saturn earrings. She smiled brightly at him as she opened the door. "That was a real struggle."

Jamie was fucked.

She looked between him and the box before moving to take the box out of his hand. Jamie snapped out of his stupor in time to move out of her way. "Let me... there we go."

He place the box down in the car, dusting his hands off. "That's a new PR for me, lifting the entire solar system."

The woman laughed and Jamie thought he could feel his heart leap out of his chest. He smiled at her, liking the idea that he could make her laugh.

"I'm a kindergarten teacher," She explained, motioning to her whole outfit. "Today is planets."

Jamie's eyes shot down and up, trying to be discrete as possible in his checking out of her body. "Gotcha... solar system, makes sense. Gotta teach them the about the mother serving pasta or something."

The woman laughed again, her hands flying up to cover her face. "I think you mean noodles. Or nachos as some people say."

He felt himself smiling again. The woman was blushing, trying to keep her face hidden behind her hands. He held out a hand for her.

"I'm Jamie."

She took his hand, finally revealing her blush fully to him. "(Y/N). And I know who you are." Jamie's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Fuck, sorry, that sounds weird, my boyfriend... or ex-boyfriend I should say, was a big football fan."

Ex-boyfriend, huh? So, she was single then. "Well I hope you still support."

"I do" she answered quickly. "I definitely do."

She blushed again. God, that was cute. The two stood in silence, smiling at each other for at least another minute before (Y/N) looked down at her watch.

"Oh, shit! I have to go!" She cursed, starting to turn around. She mad a 360, trying to find herself before turning back to face Jamie. "Sorry, I have to go. I'll see you around. Thank you for your help." She grunted as she ran into her side mirror. "Fuck, sorry, I'll uh... I'll see you around."

He waved at her as she got in the car and started to back up. As she did, on the other side of the driveway, Roy stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You stopped your workout to fucking flirt?"

...

The next time he saw her, he was doing a charity event for the local elementary school. Roy had set it up through Phoebe's school to get some of the team to go play with the kids. And lo and behold there she was with her little class.

Today, she was wearing a dress that had a football pitch decoration on it with football earrings to accompany it. She was busy making sure all the kids were in line, ready to meet the footballer that she she didn't notice him come in.

But one of the boys pointed at him and shouted excitedly.

"It's Jamie Tartt! Jamie Tartt!" He cried out standing up. (Y/N) turned and saw him, her blush returning to her cheeks. She covered her cheeks with her hands and turned to calm the boy down.

Jamie smiled and walked over to the lad.

"Hello, there," he greeted crouching down to the boys level. "Have you been a good lad today?"

The boy nodded furiously, suddenly becoming very bashful. He grabbed onto (Y/N)'s dress and hid behind her skirt. She knelt down and whispered in his ear.

"My name's Simon," he stated loudly, holding out his hand.

Jamie shook his hand and smile. "Nice to meet you, Simon. I'm Jamie." The boy giggled pulling hand back to hide his face. "Do you want to play some football with me and my friends."

Jamie nodded over to where Sam and Isaac were standing. Simon nodded again reaching his hands out from Jamie. Jamie took the boy and hoisted him over his head so he sat on his shoulders. "Alright let's go, lads!"

The boys stayed for much longer than they were required to. Play with the children for several rounds of football and several set ups of headers until one boy hit the ball too hard and broke his nose. After that, they finished up by signing whatever the kids handed to them from jerseys to notebooks and even an eraser.

After all the children left, Jamie found his way back to you.

"So, you teach kindergarten," Jamie mused, walking up to you.

"I teach kindergarten," she agreed, turning to look at him. "And you are excellent with children."

"Would you want to get drink tonight?" Jamie's question surprised himself. (Y/N) raised her eyes and surprise and that blush that Jamie loved so much came over her cheeks.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be done in a few minutes, would you wait?"

"Yes I would, definitely."

...

Well the first date went well. And so did the next date and the date after that and soon it'd been a few months and they'd been seeing each other regularly. (Y/N) started going to games and every now and then she's come to school with gifts for the students, which they all loved.

Jamie loved to pick her up from work. She always worked later than she should and Jamie figured out just the perfect time to get her as she was leaving. Today Jamie had picked her up along with some Chinese take out for a relaxing night in. She was sitting on the couch, leaning against him, showing him the papers she was grading as Jamie fed her fried rice.

"Simon still talks about you in all of his writing," She told him, making a mark on the paper.

"Honestly, babe, how you can read that shite is impressive," he commented squinting his eyes at the paper.

"Please, your handwriting is way worse," she teased, marking an 'A' at the top of the page.

Jamie scoffed in faux offense. "My handwriting is not that bad."

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not!" Jamie grabbed her sides, tickling her aggressively . (Y/N) let out a squeal and desperately tried to get away from him but Jamie just grabbed her and pulled her back into him.

"Jamie!" She giggled, her cheeks turning red. "Stopppp!"

"Tell me that my handwriting isn't the same as a kindergarteners," Jamie demanded, never letting up his torment.

"Fine! Your handwriting isn't quite as bad as the kindergartners."

Jamie finally let up, letting (Y/N) catch her back as she fell back into him. As she laid there, head on his shoulder, letting out a chuckle as she caught her breath, Jamie felt something shift inside him.

"Hey... I love you."

Her eyes widened and she turned to look up at him. "Really?"

He nodded, his own cheeks turning red under her gaze. She shifted, turning around and resting her hands on his chest. She leaned down and kissed him softly. Jamie made a noise of appreciation as she did, his hand coming up to rest on her neck.

"I love you too, sweet boy."

And that is how Jamie fell in love with a kindergarten teacher.

[callofdooty69]

i’m feeling extra delusional today so here are some silly little cod headcanons ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

cw: (very VERY little amount of suggestive content), profanity, mention of “boob” so

captain john price

absolutely terrified of spiders to the point where he’ll practically jump on you if he sees even the smallest daddy longlegs

holds his kid by the feet on occasion

burped in front of everyone at a meeting one time. it was dead silent and the lads still make fun of him for it

laughed uncontrollably when he saw soap with his mohawk for the first time and had to convince him not to just shave it off after hearing his giggles

calls gaz his “work wife” in a very serious tone

uses “cringe” emojis like 😅😂🤬

one time he was butt ass naked at three in the morning, shaving his beard in the communal bathroom. made ghost promise not to tell anyone what he unfortunately witnessed

says “jolly good time” like it’s a prayer

the man will tease you for letting out a little toot when his farts could kill a victorian child (i’m so sorry)

kyle ‘gaz’ garrick

slaps soap on the ass at least four times a day

called ghost his “wittle pwincess” as a joke and almost got his ass beat if it weren’t for price holding him back

a huge lightweight when it comes to drinking. like one shot of vodka will have him throwing up in the nearest toilet

shit his pants in the middle of training one time because he got food poisoning from eating too many freeze-dried skittles

said “womp womp” when soap told him he got broken up with (before the two of you together)

pokes your boob when he’s bored (consensually of course)

johnny/john ‘soap’ mactavish

cried when he found out titanic wasn’t actually based off of a true story

also slaps gaz on the ass daily

one time accidentally put a shit ton of salt in ghost’s coffee, mistaking it for sugar

ghost asked him to test how many oreos he could fit in his mouth without chewing. he made it to 19 before he almost choked to death

practiced kissing with a stuffed teddy bear when he was twelve. his mom has it on video and will never let him live it down

picks you up at random times of the day. washing dishes? perfect. making lunch? wonderful opportunity to throw you over his shoulder

bites you when he’s bored and wants attention, not hard enough to hurt but he just rests his mouth and teeth on you

when in public he always has to take an anxiety piss. he could have gone right before you both left and he would still run around looking for the bathroom and take a two minute long piss

shit in the pool. you might be thinking ‘oh this was when he was a child, right?’ no. he was 26.

simon ‘ghost’ riley

one time lost his mask and had a conniption fit for two hours, which is understandable. he was wearing it the entire time. went on a violent rampage for no reason

also uses “cringe” emojis

you walked in on him trying on your bra one time. you both didn’t move for about two minutes before you pulled out your phone and sent a picture to everyone else. he punished you that night if you know what i mean

says “laugh out loud” instead of actually laughing

burned his tongue when he tried to fit an entire bowl of ramen noodles in his mouth in one sitting

laughs in horrible situations

the king of “my bad homeboy” and “on god”

one time soap told him that saying “babygirl” to someone was a form of high respect and said “you’re absolutely right, babygirl” to price in a very serious meeting and everyone laughed after a moment of silence and genuine concern for his well-being. chased johnny around base for an hour after that

he had to change a diaper for price after he had his kid one time and she shit in his face. he made the horrible mistake of not wearing his mask in that moment

lays his head on your ass and calls you his “personal plump pillow”

found out he was deathly allergic to peanut butter after eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was made up of half a jar of jiffy and less than a quarter of a tube of jelly

könig

thought “passenger princess” meant driving around with a barbie doll in the passenger seat of a car

almost had a mental breakdown when you told him that girls do, in fact, poop

got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and his phone was dead. walked four miles to a gas station for gas but then forgot which direction he came from

he genuinely thought that babies come from the butthole up until he was seventeen

you recorded him sleep talking one time when he was mumbling incoherent german and out of literally nowhere said “stream taylor swift”

watches “keeping up with the kardashians” like it’s his religion

munch

anyways… you were yelling with your friend on the phone one time in a joking way and könig ripped the phone out of your hands and said “fuck off” and apologized profusely to both you and your friend after finding out it wasn’t actual anger and that you two were just joking over the phone

****

let me know if i should make more, or if i should make some specifically nsfw 😏

anons are open as always ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

- 𝓀.𝒿

[book-of-legends]

Vinny@Sirius: The young lad spots the Prince in a rather unsettling mood. nobody should be downed in a party like this he thought. He walks towards to Sirius and attempts to make him feel welcomed

'Hey there, Are you enjoying this party so far? I notice that your not really in a good mood. Is it because you don't want to be here? Or is it your not having fun here? If you want to, we can make our own fun here like making a pillowfort or even watch some videos? So, what do you like to do for fun?'

He gave a sad sigh before glancing up at Vinny. "I'm not having fun... I don't wish to be here." He said it quietly, almost hoping they didn't hear him. He didn't feel too confident in revealing much of what happened, especially to a child whose mood he didn't wish to ruin with his sadness. "Um..."

Sirius fell silent in thought... what did he like to do for fun? He wasn't quite sure, he never took free time for himself so it never really crossed his mind what to do. Nervously he looked back to them, "I like to..."

"His idea of fun is working 15 hours, downing 2 cups of noodles in one go and passing out in the middle of doing paperwork that's not due until the next quarter." Earendel sighed, "Which isn't very fun if you ask me... Seriously Seer, you really need to start taking the off days I give you. They're there for a reason."

[lonksadventures]

Hello it is I, the simp (platonically) for your fishy warlock man in the reblogs. I just wanted to say I love him. The art? Gorgeous. The character design? Stunning. Me? Asking for his hand in marriage. Me again? Also asking to pet the dragon/serpent please. I want his gender and also to hold his hand.

Um so I don't know if you have spoken about him on your blog or if you want to but if you have any information to share I would like to listen :]

OKAY anyway I hope you have a wonderful day and I look forward to hopefully more fishy boy content but also just any of your art!!

HI IM GLAD YOU LIKE HIM!! He’s from a pirate dnd campaign I play with friends :D

Oh boy time to talk about Len lore. SO Len, or Laurelen, is a fathomless warlock with amnesia who knows absolutely nothing about his past life except that he’s pretty sure the the fishy parts and scales weren’t always there. He kinda washed up on a beach and was found by an old lady who taught him how to speak common, walk around on land and how trying to bite people is considered rude. And then the party kinda kidnapped him because pirates and shenanigans happened.

Currently in the campaign he’s learned that he is in fact a warlock, and while he doesn’t know the details of his pact, knows that he’s basically merged with an ancient sea monster (also called Laurelen hmmmm) and isn’t supposed to be mucking about on land in his current incomplete form. His “patron” (said ancient sea monster) is kinda stuck as a spectral sea serpent thing that only he can see and likes to spout super helpful wisdom like “jump in the water” and “eat raw seaweed”. He is a bastard and can sometimes possess Len's body much to the concern of the party. He has been dubbed Ghost and/or the Ghost Noodle and we hate him. Len is very much against becoming a whole ass sea monster and probably losing what little piece of his mind he still had left, so is ignoring everything Ghost says and instead is focusing on trying to recover his memories and finding a way to separate his and Ghosts souls that are kinda intertwined.

When the campaign started he was a very wholesome lad with no idea what was going on but, after some time at sea with the rest of our problematic party and a spectral noodle that scream in his ear, he's learned to be more guarded with his feelings and even learned some swear words! Man is actually pretty good in a fight if you disregard his dumbass demeanour. Though he is currently struggling a bit with the morality of killing people and generally being a pirate now but he’s fiiiine. He’s very self conscious about his appearance and knows all the scales and teeth scare people so he tends to hide them with bandages and baggy clothes. (His green eye constantly looks like a swirling kaleidoscope so he tries to cover it usually)

Fun facts about Len include:

Despite having gills and being a literal fish man he is scared of the ocean/swimming and due to fun patron curse shenanigans seems to pass out in a barrel full of salt water or more. (Yes we did test how much salt water it took we were really bored).

Being able to eat a whole seagull (he was possessed at the time it doesn’t count).

Having way too many teeth.

Assuming most animals after a form of cat.

AND FINALLY is wanted by the navy for having generally bad vibes and also being a pirate I guess.

ALSO DO NOT PET THE SERPENT that is Ghost and he deserves nothing. All he does is scream and be a little shit. Also I did not convey this well in my most recent art but he is way more horrifying in the campaign and also is just full of teeth. Moray eel combined with a sea snake but worse. And no one but Len can see him! :D

Please enjoy some of the many doodles I’ve accumulated of this man over the campaign (the “human” version was him using disguise self and trying to guess what he’d look like without scales)

[mariacallous]

La Bola is a classic Madrid tavern. Located on a quiet backstreet, it is painted lacquer red on the outside, with a dark wood and colored tile interior. We arrived during a busy Sunday lunch service. The place was filled with multigenerational families and loud groups of friends who, like us, were there for the jewel of the crown, the most Madridian dish of all: Cocido madrileño, a stew that La Bola has perfected in its 150 years of operation.

Cocido madrileño (“the stew of Madrid” in Spanish) is a rustic dish of chickpeas, vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage, and a variety of pork cuts, sausages and marrow bones. At La Bola it is still cooked the traditional way, layered in individual clay pots over coal. The stew is served over two courses, making for a full meal. First, the busy waiter poured the cooking liquid out of the cocido pot into a soup bowl filled with vermicelli noodles, to be eaten like a soup. The chickpeas, vegetables and meats were placed on a platter for the main course (some serve the chickpeas for a second course and the meat with veggies for third). The scene repeated itself at almost every table in the packed restaurant, with guests watching in anticipation as the waiters laid out the cocido spread.

But as it turns out, the roots of this Madrid staple, this pork-laden stew, are deep in the medieval Sephardi community of Spain. Specifically, in a Shabbat overnight stew called adafina (AKA dafina, tfina and s’khina). 

To understand the dish’s amazing evolution, we need to look way back.

Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the early eighth century. They brought religious moderation to Al Andalus, in addition to new dishes, spices, fruits and cooking techniques. Since Jews and Muslims both avoid pork, their cuisines at the time were very similar. 

Cooking stews overnight, over or under coal, was a technique used by Muslims while still in the Levant. But in Al Andalus, it was the Jews who were most identified with this cooking method, mainly because it was a good practice for Shabbat, when lighting fire is not allowed. The word adafina comes from the Arabic word for “hidden” or “buried,” since the dish was cooked while buried under coal, though the dish is also known as ani or calinete (“hot” in Spanish) or hamin (“a warm dish” in Hebrew, a name that was used for Shabbat dishes in the Talmud). 

Adafina, just like cocido madrileño, consists of chickpeas, vegetables, meat (lamb) with the occasional addition of hard-boiled eggs (huevos haminados) cooked together at a low temperature overnight. Adafina is still prepared by Tunisian and Moroccan Jews of Sephardi descent around the world. Through the years, more ingredients were added to the pot, most notably potatoes from the new world, as well as wheat berries, sometimes tied in a cloth, and a sweet loaf of ground beef.

According to author and food historian Claudia Roden, Moroccan adafina was served in several courses, first potatoes and eggs with plenty of the soup, then the wheat and/or rice and lastly the meat with chickpeas. Just like the cocido is served in Madrid today.

The first cookbook available to us from the Iberian Peninsula is the 13th century Andalusian “Kitab Al Tabikh.” It includes six Jewish recipes, and two of them use the technique of covering the pot with another pot of coal to keep it warm. A third recipe, described as “Stuffed, Buried Jewish Dish,” is called Madfūn, an Arabic word that comes from the same root as adafina, to bury. Although the recipe is different to what we know as adafina today, the method of cooking it for a long time under coal is the same.

With the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many left to Portugal, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, where for 500 years they kept their prayers, language (Judeo-Spanish or Ladino) and their unique cuisine, which is why adafina is present in Moroccan homes today.

Those who stayed in Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism. To enforce the sincere conversion and prevent the conversos (converts) from practicing their Judaism in secret, the monarchy used the Inquisition, an institution that kept its devastating work well into the 19th century.

One of the ways the Inquisition spied on and convicted heretic conversos was by observing their food. They published guides with detailed descriptions of Shabbat dishes, matzah on Passover, eggplant dishes and the avoidance of pork. Interestingly, the conversos themselves, having no other resource available, used those same lists in order to learn how to keep their Jewish customs alive. Neighbors and servants reported their suspicions to the Inquisition authorities. And so adafina became one of the most incriminating dishes, punishable by cruel execution.

A letter written by an eager informer to King Ferdinand in 1516 says that “nearly all the residents of this city [Seville] smell Jews, them, their houses and the doors of their houses, because they are gluttons and pigs, and they nourish themselves with casseroles, garlic and adafinas,” as documented in Hélène Jawhara Piñer’s book “Jews, Food, and Spain.”

But if the roots of cocido madrileño are, in fact, in the Jewish Sephardi adafina, why is it full of pork?

While many conversos saw avoiding pork as the most important Jewish law to keep, others deliberately consumed pork in public in order to avoid any suspicion. “The conversos of Majorca were known as Xuetes (“xua” meaning “bacon” in Majorcan Catalan), explains Paul Freedman in his book “Why Food Matters.”

“Because their ancestors cooked and ate bacon in public to show their sincerity, but they only did this once or twice a year.”

“The one way to demonstrate that they [the conversos] now are Christian was to eat pork, so they introduced pork into the most famous dish they ate, adafina,” Mara Verdasco Arevalo, La Bola Tavern’s manager and owner, told me in an email. 

For hundreds of years after the expulsion, Spain had no Jewish community and the Jewish roots of many staples of Spanish cuisine were all but forgotten. In recent years, Spain has been making an effort to revive its elaborate Jewish history. Spanish governments have worked to renew Jewish quarters around the country, began issuing Spanish passports to Sephardim and opened new Jewish museums. Hopefully a thorough research of Spain’s culinary heritage, acknowledging the Muslim and Jewish roots, will be part of it.

[saints-who-never-existed]

For the six characters ask: Golding, Young, Silna, Sir Franklin, Little, Gore

Marry - Silna! We shall have a summer wedding. We shall live the most impossibly chill off-the-grid lifestyle, enjoying nature, culture, and a variety of handicrafts. I will lovingly spoon her every night and stroke her beautiful hair and we will never again gaze upon the face of a man.

Kiss - Little! Predictable, I know, but if I'm not going to marry him in this scenario then at the very least he gets a smooch! I'm imagining him getting real clumsy and giggly with it but also very very earnest.

Be Room-Mates With - Young! Just for a laugh, honestly - it would be awful but by Christ would it be entertaining. I imagine him as fitting right in with some of the lads I went to uni with who once built a waterslide in their narrow carpeted hallway and liked to take terrible, edgy pictures of each other standing on a skateboard doused in lighter fluid and set alight. He'd still get scurvy from consuming only ramen noodles and vodka for every meal.

Wrap a Blanket Around - Gore! Honestly, one of my wee personal head-canons with Gore is that he'd quite like to be babied and taken care of and bossed around a bit. It's a lot of pressure, being Golden-Boy First Lieut and Franklin's unwilling surrogate son so yeah, let dear sweet Graham relax for once and be cosy!

Push Off a Cliff - Franklin! Sorry, Sir John, I do pity you and often look upon you in a kinder light than most, but you can still get splatted mate.

Set on Fire - Golding! Good lord that child really is just the fucking worst. I don't even have anything insightful to say, I'm just imagining myself doing this:-

[imagine-silk]

Fallout 4; Taking care of a Teen!Asian!Sole

Travis Miles

He felt like he needed to be a good influence to you, even though he's not older than you by a lot. Around you he grows a bit of a backbone. In the Doug-out he interrupts your conversation with Vadim to take away your shot and yell at him. Only to realize Vadim didn't realize you were a kid and unintentionally pressured you into having one.

In his quest he protected you during the fight and didn't want you to go to save Vadim, but he also knew he couldn't stop you. He didn't want to see you hurt due to something that was technically his fault. Actually punches Vadim before hugging him, calling him stupid for involving himself with raiders.

You would think he would be like an older brother but the role he takes in your life is akin to a father figure. Before you leave Diamond city he checks if you have the supplies to get across the Commonwealth. When you are there he takes you to get noodles, he'll listen to your adventures while eating. You are always welcomed to stay at his house if you don't want to stay at the Doug-out. He's always there to be your rock to lean on or even just to reminisce about life before the war.

Overall, Travis doesn't treat your race as anything because it is very far into the apocalypse, the concepts of race is almost nonexistent. To him you just have features he's seen from a few other people.

Nick Valentine

He remembers before the war, that includes all the Asian hate. Luckily for you, he never believed in calling random citizens 'commie bastards' in fact he's sympathetic. The only real difference in how he treats you is he'll ask about the culture because he knows a very limited amount.

Does help you with the main quest but low-key doesn't give you an option to dismiss him. He hates that a kid was put through this and is subjected to the woes of the Commonwealth. But at the same time he doesn't want to stop you. Productivity is a way of grieving, you lost both your parents, your little brother got kidnapped, and the world ended as you knew it. It wouldn't be right for him to tell you to let it go.

Actually closes the Agency for a while to travel with you. Not that he doesn't trust you, of course not, he doesn't trust everyone else. This is the Commonwealth, land of 'get mauled by a radiated bear' and home of the 'I'll kill you for a fancy-lad'. The world's not in the best place for someone who's not equipped.

Deacon

When Des recruited you he thought she was joking and was really surprised when she put you to the test with him supervising. After the mission he knew you could handle yourself but talking to you made him realize the gravity of you being a kid, and it hit him like a bus. He yelled at Des, away from everyone of course but she was less than pleased. The Railroad couldn't afford to be picky, he knew that, but using a kid who wanted to find their baby brother was a new all time low.

He jokingly asked if you were a spy before the war and immediately regretted it. The look of pure shame on your face was unforgettable to him. He apologized real fast. You forgave him but he beat himself up about it for the next week.

He didn't want to get attached to you, he didn't want you to get attached to him. But he did and you did. Not from a lack of trying. He did the whole 'you can't trust everyone' shtick but you just kinda stuck with him. To be fair, what teenager wouldn't find him cool as hell? Dude Agent 47 his way through the Commonwealth.

[Got this pic from Pinterest X ]

[ruthlesslistener]

Hi Aren, I would actually like to ask you a question about pet snakes. I've had a 75 gallon tank sitting around and I've been thinking of getting a hamster or snake. What's your experience been so far, because I do know that snakes can live quite a long time, compared to a two year hamster. I wouldn't want to have a pet I can't care for. How difficult has it been with juniper? Should I get a snake?

I was going to type out a very long, detailed response to this, considering how passionately I feel about snakes, but then I realized something, which is that I do not know very much about hamsters other than they are extremely cute and also extremely violent and typically unhandleable. So instead I will tell you my experience with owning a snake, after a preliminary warning that a 75 gallon glass tank is far too small for a ball python and is generally unsuitable for a high-humidity species (but is plenty big to house many other pet snakes that make perfect beginner reptiles! Anything under 4 feet would work, really)

First off: Juniper is by far the easiest animal that I have ever cared for, which is a list that includes parrots, rabbits, tropical fish, and to some extent, horses. Pretty much all of the work with caring for a snake is in setting up their enclosure and making sure their temps/humidity are all perfect, which is only stressful if you didn't make sure to do it a good week or so before you pick up your little noodle. IF you do everything correctly and have triple-checked to ensure that all the temperatures are perfect, the humidity remains stable, and all the exit points are snakeproofed (if they can get their snout through, they can get the rest of their body through), then you should be good to go.

Maintenance then consists of cleaning their water bowl once a week, filling it when needed, spot cleaning substrate when they poop (which you WILL notice; snakes are scentless but their scat is not), feeding them when needed, and doing a monthly deep clean where you scoop everything out, wipe it all down with a snake-safe cleaning solution, and then put in fresh substrate. Those will be the basics for all snakes; it's not exactly rocket science with these lil lads. They need species-specific care, of course, but at least in my experience with ball pythons, the species-specific care tends to all be in the setup

That being said:

-Juniper does not like being handled. She likes coming out to explore, as far as I can tell, and she tolerates me most of the time, but do not get a snake if you want something that will feel affection for you. I have no idea if hamsters bond with their owners, given as most species I've heard of are solitary. However, I will say that snakes are far more handleable than hamsters are and far less likely to bite you (generally speaking; I have never been bitten by Juniper, but I have been many times by my birds and rabbit). Their bites will also always be much less painful than a hamster bite, because they lack the jaw strength to make it significant. With the smaller ones, their teeth might not even manage to puncture your skin.

-Figuring out how to feed can be a bit of a learning curve. Assuming you're feeding frozen-thawed- which you should- and have no problem with feeding dead mice- which you shouldn't- figuring out the size you need to feed your snake can be a bit tricky, especially if they're a rapidly-growing baby who will need to move up in size very quickly. You'll get an eye for it eventually, and snakes are pretty forgiving as long as the food isn't too big for them to handle, but I would recommend getting a kitchen scale and finding a feeding chart that does a percent by weight analysis if you don't feel confident enough in the 'same size or slightly thicker than the thickest part of your snake' rule

-I pretty much never see Juniper before 8, sometimes not at all on certain nights. Granted, this is because she is a nocturnal species who is most active around 3-4am, but snakes are also just shy creatures as a rule. If you have a good hide for them, you won't see them as often as you might like- though I WILL say that more active, diurnal species like colubrids will be seen more often than ball pythons, and that all snakes are pretty curious little creatures! Oftentimes when I see Juniper peek out at me from her hide, it's because she sensed me walking past and was curious about what I was doing.

-Snakes fart. And they fart loudly. It's not often, but when it happens, it can be terrifying before you realize what's going on. And yes, if you get a nocturnal species, this can and will happen at night.

-Snakes are not very well-loved pets. Expect to get some mixed results when/if admitting to owning one. Personally, I love this, because it drives away the people I don't want to deal with anyways (and keeps my dad from visiting), but if you're a sociable person, that might be a bummer

-Finding a good reptile vet can be extremely tricky. Look around first before you get a snake- the shortest lived pet species that I've heard of are the tricolour hognoses, and those last 8 years (though any pet deserves medical care, no matter the length of their life, I've found that the longer they live the more fuckery they get into). You want a reputable vet on hand before getting any exotic pet. The types of snakes recommended for beginners are pretty tough critters who likely won't get ill unless you mess up their enclosure (which again! check before you pick a noodle!), but it's always best to have a vet on hand, because again. Fuckery.

-Handling sessions are great, but you need to be careful not to scoop them up after they've eaten, because the stress might lead them to regurgitate on you, which is no fun for you and terrible for the snake. Also limit handling when they are in shed, as they are grumpy, itchy, blind, terrified of the world around them, and overall in a vulnerable state. Be careful when scooping them up before a feeding session, because some of them are very enthusiastic about their food and will just grab whatever is in front of them to try to nom on. Again, if you have a 4-foot snake or under, this will likely not be a big issue, but it might put them off food. Or not, if they're a kingsnake. Kingsnakes are great eaters, and will try to eat themselves just as readily as your hand, the tongs, or the mouse you're actually trying to feed them

-Don't get a petstore snake. You don't want a petstore snake. Yes, I got Junie from a reptile chain, but it was a well-maintained, privately owned store by people who really knew their shit and had a large selection of healthy hatchlings available, so I was willing to risk it. A petco or petsmart ball python, on the other hand? Those are farmed snakes, and that's a gamble. It's better to get from a breeder online or at a reptile expo than to buy from a store

-As you said, they can live LONG. I'm hoping for 30 years or over with miss Juniper, but that's a long commitment, and long commitments are a lot of responsibility. I'm lucky to have a mom and friends who'd happily snakesit if necessary, but do you?

Overall, I think that snakes are the lower-maintenance, easier pet to care for than hamsters, but keep in mind that I am very biased as a snakekeeper, both because I have a deep passion for reptiles and also because owning any animal with a 2-3 year lifespan would simply break my heart. If you don't want a long commitment, garter snakes or tricolour hognoses only live around 8-10 years, but if you change your mind, then there are a plethora of snakes that can comfortably live in a modified 75 gallon. Do your research first! Every pet has its pros and cons- I can't decide which is better for you, I can only tell you why Juniper works for me. The blog @/is-the-snake-video-cute is great for learning about snakes and snake husbandry if you want to learn more from someone with a greater variety of experience

(And hamster owners, feel free to chime in; I have no experience with the lil beasts other than what my mother told me, so I can't offer any insight into the benefits of their care. Multiple minds are better than one!)

[jgvfhl]

The Number Lads (gn) Make Killer Memes

HAPPY NOVEMBER the Lads are back, and they're about to make someone's life very difficult. Hopefully, this marks the start of a monthly posting schedule again for this fic, but the holidays at the end of the year might delay things slightly in January. We'll see. But enjoy some new Mandalorian friends!

Words: ~7000 Warnings: some violence and some very bad humor Link to Masterlist of Chapters on tumblr Link to the full story on Ao3

Do-si-do sincerely hoped his sergeant never found out any details of tonight’s events. They had a sneaking suspicion she might not approve of their stealing a speeder bike from the Guard, then helping to lead a wild mynock chase through the Senate District on Coruscant. Still, they were doing an excellent job at not dying or crashing, even with about two dozen Guards on their tail.

Last they’d seen, Loops and Trees had commandeered a larger air speeder from the Guard and had split the pursuing forces a bit further. Maral was still here in her totally amazing, beautifully painted gauntlet starfighter Moon Saber, and Fours and Commander Bacara, the absolute madmen, had successfully gotten two of the transport shuttles off their tails as well. So, all in all, it wasn’t going terribly! Do-si-do had seen the commander and Echo get into the chancellor’s office, so he had to assume they would do what they set out to do. The rest of them couldn’t really help them out here.

Do-si-do swung their bike around a sharp corner, aiming for a shadowed overhang to get some cover and take a short breather before they had to head back out. It worked, but only barely. They had just dismounted and hunkered down behind the bike when the patrol of Guards zoomed past them. Fortunately, none of them stopped. Do-si-do let out a breath, then nearly jumped out of their armor when their comm started blinking green.

They answered quickly, transferring it to their helmet’s internal system in case they needed to get on the move again.

“This is the prettiest pilot this side of Trip Zip, what can I do for you?”

There was a pause. Then, Trees answered, “I’m not going to comment on that. General Unduli contacted me and told us to meet her and Kenobi in Little Sriluur. Something’s happening.”

That was vague. “Any better ideas on what that something is, or are we just guessing?”

“I was not given more information that that, no.”

Do-si-do nodded, easing the bike out of cover slowly, looking around for Guards. “Got it, Little Sriluur. Is the Clubhouse good?” What if someone had found out Sevenset and Fives?

“I do not have any more information to give you, Do-si-do,” Trees told them.

“Okay, okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” The comm disconnected before they had a chance to say anything else. That was Trees, they supposed.

Right. Little Sriluur. Their sense of direction, like any good clone, was impeccable, so they weren’t worried about finding their way there. But just in case they had to take some creative detours, they used the speeder bike’s control panel to enter the Noodle Bar’s name into the mapping system. The speeder bike hummed along beautifully as they put it into gear, shoved off the platform, and sped out onto the flight lane beside their temporary hideout.

Without the impending danger of Coruscant Guardsmen (who may or may not be acting with free will), the ride through Coruscant’s maze of buildings and alleyways was almost peaceful. They were a pilot, so of course the feeling of free movement through spaces otherwise confined by flight lanes and gravity was always invigorating. And, at least for now, there was no one shooting at them. That was a win. A few people honked at them or shouted insults when they flew a bit too close, but Do-si-do ignored them. They were too busy scanning the area for Coruscant Guards or security probes.

There were plenty of them, of course, but as they flew farther away from the Senate Dome and the government offices, their numbers thinned. A few more blocks, and it almost looked normal. About a block away from Little Sriluur, they startled a little when a Guard speeder appeared on their left, but they settled when they recognized Loops and Trees in the cab.

“Sweet ride!” they shouted over the rushing wind.

Trees’ helmet turned to them. Do-si-do imagined one of his finest, emotionally flat expressions on his face under it. “I am not happy about anything happening right now!” he shouted back.

Do-si-do laughed. “Hey, Loops! Where’d you learn to fly a speeder?”

Loops didn’t take his attention off of the flight lane in front of them. “Uh… General Koon,” he said.

“Nice!” they grinned, watching the bright lights and lit signs of Little Sriluur come closer and closer. “Where are the Jedi, anyway?” they called over to the other two. “Or do we just follow the sounds of lightsabers?”

“The transmissions on this speeder haven’t given us anything useful,” Trees said, pointing to the speeder’s control panel.

Do-si-do was a little put-out that they hadn’t thought to listen in to the Guard’s own transmission channels. “What did they say?” they asked.

“To ignore the ‘small disruption’ in Little Sriluur,” Trees answered, putting air quotes around the emphasized words.

That didn’t sound good. It meant whatever was happening in the neighborhood, they were on their own to deal with it. Well… no turning back now. They’d all either get medals for this, or it would be the last thing they did in service to the Republic. Do-si-do tried not to think about the last option. In a moment, the three of them were cruising into the heart of Coruscant’s weequay neighborhood. The sign for Sun’s Noodle Bar was visible at the end of the street, and at least initially, Do-si-do didn’t see anything amiss nearby. Hopefully, that meant Sevenset and Fives and the other inhabitants of the restaurant were still safe.

Hopefully, they could keep them that way.

“Do-si-do!” Loops’ shout pulled their attention back to their friends flying next to them. Trees was pointing off to their left, a little ahead of them.

It wasn’t clear right away what was so important over there. After a few seconds, bright lights flashed, and Do-si-do recognized a plume of smoke rising out of the cityscape.

Well, shit.

“I guess we know where the Jedi are!” they said, trying to find some silver lining here. “I’ll follow you guys!”

The air speeder veered to the left, zipping down a side street. Do-si-do followed, still keeping an eye on any probe droids or Guard patrols in the area. There were a concerningly few number of them both, and neither of them seemed too interested in checking out the “small disturbance” two blocks up. What they did start seeing more of were frightened civilians running or flying away from the plume of smoke. Loops and Do-si-do each had to execute a little fancy flying to avoid an oncoming civvy speeder going way faster than they should be in a flight lane this size.

Something had them seriously spooked. They were not looking forward to finding out what it was.

About two blocks up, they started hearing noises more at home on a battlefield instead of the heart of the Republic. A familiar clanking was the most ominous of them all. They turned right back towards the main thoroughfare, and immediately were faced with a blockade struggling to contain a mass of panicking citizens. A line of droids had cut them off from escaping down the side street, and were slowly but surely walking them back towards the main street.

Loops pulled his speeder up sharply, and Do-si-do followed, knowing it was a losing battle to try to calm down a crowd of that size on their own. Not without Jedi, certainly.

“Hey!” a droid yelled, noticing them finally.

As they approached the bigger street, one of the droids, an officer with yellow accents on its body, held up an angular hand. “Halt! No one passes—”

“We’re passing, thanks!” Do-si-do shouted as the two speeders zoomed over their heads. A flurry of red blaster bolts appeared in the air around the two speeders. Luckily, the droids were still lousy shots.

They burst onto the scene taking over the main thoroughfare, Do-si-do instinctively swooping higher for a vantage point. The pilot in them just liked to see as much as possible, and there was a lot to see. The blocks adjacent to the street that had led them here were all packed with people and droids—the bad kind of droids. It looked like the droids had worked to contain several large groups of citizens on the ground, holding them in place as collateral. It was a horrible, vile practice, but one the Seppies had no issues using as long as it kept the Jedi at bay. On the subject of Jedi, Doi-si-do still couldn’t see any Jedi, or even the occasional flash of a lightsaber that might give them away.

What they could see, however, were Commander Bacara and Fours holding their ground at the center of one of the walkways crossing the flightlanes. The droids seemed torn between containing their civilian hostages and sending more numbers to take on the pair of Marines.

Loops flew his speeder down to land between them and one side of the bridge. Do-si-do was quick to mirror the action, landing on Fours’ side.

“Where are the Jedi, sir?” Trees asked, ducking low in the vehicle to avoid the blaster fire.

“Dealing with Dooku!” came the reply. “Up the block to the northeast.” He tilted his helmet slightly up the street, unwilling to move his hands from where they were aiming his pistols.

“Dooku?” Do-si-do repeated, shocked. “Why the hell is he here?”

“I’m not gonna ask him!” Commander Bacara shot back.

Fair.

“What can we do, Commander?” Loops wanted to know.

“Try to break through these blockades,” the commander answered. “Getting the civvies out of danger is our first priority.”

That made sense. It robbed the droids of their leverage, and cleared the field of noncombatants at the same time.

Do-si-do nodded. “On it! Sir!”

They kicked off the ground again, hunched low to the handlebars to make a smaller target. Nearby, they watched Loops’ speeder lift off as well. They punched in Trees’ comm frequency to make it easier to… well, communicate.

“Which group are we aiming for first, boys?” they asked.

“The smallest?” Trees answered, sounding slightly unsure. To be fair, none of them had any leadership experience on the field. But that didn’t mean their other experience didn’t count for something.

“Maybe the one closest to where the Jedi are supposed to be?” Do-si-do suggested.

“You want to get closer to the Sith lord and the two Jedi fighting him?” Trees replied.

Do-si-do shook their head, turning their bike around in the air and aiming up the street. “I’m thinking we get the civvies closest to danger out of it,” they said sharply. “Now, come on!”

Trees didn’t reply, but the comm stayed open. When they glanced back, Do-si-do saw the Corrie speeder turn around and start to follow their path.

“What’s the plan?” Trees asked.

Honestly, Do-si-do wasn’t sure they had a plan, per se, more of a… vague idea. “You two stay this side of the street and take out the droids there. You can use the speeder for cover. I’ll head around to the back of the group and get the civvies a way out that way.”

“How?”

“I am a master at improv!”

There was a pause that Do-si-do barely registered as they approached the group of terrified civilians. “No, you’re not!”

“I’m not an officer, okay? Gimme a break!” was the only response they managed to find to that. They just had to hope Loops and Trees would actually carry out the skeletal plan.

They swooped down, skimming over the group of droids and other people until they could veer to the right down a one-lane sidestreet, similar to but smaller than the one the three of them had used coming here. There were six B1 droids guarding the back of the group on the walkway hugging the building next to the sidestreet.

“Duck!” Do-si-do shouted as they angled the bike downwards.

Luckily, the collection of weequay and other races heard them, and listened. The people closest to the back of the group crouched down, some people pulling others to the deck if they were too slow. The droids, always a slower study, had only just noticed their hostages had moved before Do-si-do and their bike registered as a threat.

Do-si-do turned sharply, temporarily dropping the thrusters’ levels as low as they dared without killing the engine as well. It was nice to know machines. Gravity and physics did the rest, and they crashed sideways into three of the droids, laying them out flat on the deck as they kicked the thrusters back up to normal levels. As the bike slid over the droids, Do-si-do leaned down and swiped one of their blasters from its owner. The other three droids were chattering in surprise, just now leveling their blasters at them. But the Kaminoans hadn’t spent all that time and money to put out lousy soldiers.

Do-si-do shot down two of the droids before the speeder bike had even stopped moving. The final droid was quickly seized, disarmed, and deactivated by some proactive citizens while Do-si-do made sure the three on the ground wouldn’t get up again.

They steered the bike off the walkway, up and over the slight railing that kept people from toppling into the flight lane. “Go!” they said, gesturing down the open walkway. “Get out, let’s go!”

The crowds needed no further instructions. They surged forward en masse, right over the droids that had been holding them captive moments earlier. They moved down the walkway, heading away from the bigger street as fast as they could. Do-si-do grinned, rather pleased their haphazard plan had worked. They saw Loops and Trees standing among the scrapped bodies of the ten or so droids that had been guarding the hostages on that side. They flew over to them, hovering on the walkway beside the main street.

“Good plan, right?” they said, grinning still.

Loops shrugged and Trees just stared from behind his helmet.

“Alright, contain your enthusiasm,” they said. “We’ve got other civvies to deal with.”

Loops and Trees climbed back into their speeder and followed Do-si-do back into the air. There were two remaining clumps of civilians held hostage by droids. One was across the street and under active assault by Commander Bacara and Fours. The other was down the block on the same side of the street.

“Has anyone checked on the Noodle Bar?” they said out loud after checking the comm channel with Trees was still open.

“In what copious spare time would we have done that?”

“I was only making sure the Seppies aren’t after Sevens and Fives” they replied, ducking under a string of colored lanterns hung across the flight lanes. “Do the Seppies know? Is that why they’re here?”

“Shall we ask them nicely?” Trees answered, his voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm.

“Okay, cool it, Green Bean. Let’s get these natties dealt with first.” They tried to keep the worry out of their voice. It was hard, though. Sevenset and Fives were right there. If the droids found that out, they had no trouble believing they’d storm the place without hesitation. Considering that, they felt a little more confident that the droids didn’t know where they were.

They had just passed the Noodle Bar, still aiming for the group of hostages held a little ways up the block from the restaurant, when a large crash and a distant humming reached their ears. They looked over their shoulder for a second. Flashes of blue and green caught their eye.

The Jedi, finally.

There was also the small issue of a large lit sign being ripped off its building and hurled towards the Jedi. It missed, but ultimately crashed into the opposite building and the walkway adjacent to it.

The humming noise was getting louder too. Do-si-do recognized it as some kind of air transport, but they couldn’t tell what exactly the vehicle was yet. They hoped it was more allies, but they had to be prepared for it to bring more enemies too.

Trees’ voice cut into their thoughts. “Do-si-do, it looks like the droids are bringing reinforcements.”

Well, joy of joys. “How many and what kind?”

“Mostly B1s, but I can see at least ten SBDs.”

“Great! Let’s see if we can get these civvies outta here first,” Do-si-do told him, urging the speeder bike faster. Kriffing SBDs—seriously?

“Clones!” cried the first droid to noticed their approach.

“Clankers!” Do-si-do called back. The droids had been too slow in reorganizing to react to the new threat, so Do-si-do swooped as low as they dared, knocking the first droid on the head with the back of the speeder bike before skimming over the crowd of gathered natties to the far side of the group. Hopefully, Trees and Loops would get the hint.

They whirled the bike around to face the droids guarding the back of the group, quickly shooting two of them down like before. There were five more, plus the other seven Loops and Trees were responsible for scrapping. Plus the ones coming down out of the sky any second now. Wonderful.

Do-si-do ducked a blaster bolt and steered the bike around to point at the droids. The natties wouldn’t thank them, but they never did. They drove the speeder forward, bowling into two of the droids, who toppled to the ground as the crowd gave way. Not as brave a group as the first one, it seemed. They kept the bike over them to keep them in place. The two either side of them couldn’t quite decide if they should use their blasters at this close range, or just grab them. Do-si-do wasn’t too keen on letting them finish that decision.

They grabbed the droid on their right, shooting a hole through its chest from the neck down. The other droid did actually try to grab them, but they quickly smashed their blaster into its face to buy time to swing themself off the bike to shoot that one through the chest as well. It was honestly annoying how careful they had to be not to let the bolts go through the droids and into the crowd of terrified and screaming civilians next to them. The last droid shot at them, but missed (barely), hitting the wall of the building instead. Do-si-do lunged forward, crowding into its space so it couldn’t use its blaster as effectively, and shot it down.

That done, they returned to the bike, glad to find it still worked and hadn’t suffered any stray blaster bolts. “Alright, people!” they shouted as they rose a little higher. “Get going! Head south as much as you can,” they said, pointing away from the sounds of Dooku and the Jedi.

As before, the crowd surged forward down the walkway, hopefully to safety. Well. Somewhere safer than here.

They darted over into the flight lane to avoid the crowds and return to the main action. They still had one more group to free, after all.

Okay, the main action had gotten a bit more… active. Trees’ warning about more droids arriving had been well-deserved. About two or three dozen more had arrived, including those SBDs Do-si-do wished they could will out of existence. Up the street, they could see flashes of blue, green, and red as Kenobi and Unduli battled Dooku across the upper stories of the buildings. So far they hadn’t come too close, but the hum of sabers was audible between the high pitched whine of blasterfire. The main force of the new droids had gathered across the street, concentrating their strength around defending the hostages. Fours and his commander had backed down the footbridge over the flight lanes until they were hunkered down with Loops and Trees, all under a hail storm of red blaster bolts.

The SBDs were leading a march across the footbridge, their reinforced armor plating making it much harder to just pick them off like the B1s. Do-si-do steered their speeder bike higher, hoping to get some advantage to help their friends. They climbed until they were about as high as the division between floors in the buildings either side. Glancing around the scene, they tried to work out any weak points in the droids’ formation around the hostages. Just as they leaned to start turning down yet another sidestreet, something struck their bike from the side out of nowhere.

They yelped, torn between hanging onto the bike or hanging onto their blaster. What had hit them? As the bike’s spinning slowed, they could make out a small handful of B1s whirring around the air on small air speeders. Oh, those little shits—

Do-si-do snarled and aimed to give chase. They were sorely missing their starfighter’s aiming and hostile detection capabilities right about now. They took off after the nearest airborne B1, but only got a few seconds ahead before something much, much bigger came up behind them and swept them completely off their bike and knocked the wind out of their lungs and the blaster from their hands.

“Where are the fugitives.”

Once the momentary panic had started to subside, Do-si-do recognized the low, monotonous voice of an SBD. They all had jet boosters in their backs, right. Great.

“Where are the fugitives.”

“I don’t know!” Do-si-do yelled, watching the street and their friends fly by in a blur under their dangling legs.

The SBD’s metal hands tightened around their torso. “Where are the fugitives, or you will be destroyed.”

“Up yours, you karking oil stain!” No way they were giving up Fives and Sevenset. No way in hell.

The SBD stopped moving forward, hovering above the open flight lane that led down, down, down towards the lower levels of Coruscant. Do-si-do stopped looking down, knowing it would only make their stomach churn at this point. See, this was just another reason they liked being a pilot: getting shot down in space meant a very quick death, either being burned up or just freezing to death in the vacuum of space. But falling from this height? There was no guarantee. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t hit one of the footbridges crossing the flight lane and bounce off into who knew where. They might hit a speeder and only get broken bones, and since they were a clone, no one would even bother bringing them to a medical center, most likely.

For the third time in as many minutes, Do-si-do’s train of thought was interrupted by a collision. Something solid slammed into the SBD holding them. They couldn’t tell immediately what had hit it.

Then they felt the droid’s grip loosen as it deactivated. So someone had shot the SBD. That would have been great news, had Do-si-do not been dangling several hundred feet above the nearest flat surface below.

They started falling, uncaring of how undignified their screaming was, because they were falling, Force dammit!

Just as suddenly, they stopped falling, after a jolt of impact. They looked down to find someone’s armored arms wrapped securely around their torso.

“Can I go two kriffing seconds without getting hit by something or someone in the air?” they demanded. They were stressed and upset and they were allowed to be a bit pissed off.

“Yeah, you were looking a bit like a bouncy ball for a second there, kid,” said whoever was carrying them. The voice came through a filter, so whoever it was had a helmet too.

“Did you shoot that thing?”

“Nope! Someone has a sniper perch in one of the restaurants over there.” They zoomed over the street, weaving between the strands of lanterns strung across it, until they arrived where the other Numbers and Commander Bacara were still holding their ground against the force of droids across the street.

Do-si-do was set down on their feet next to Trees.

“You troopers want some help with these guys?” their rescuer asked.

Turning around, Do-si-do saw a Mandalorian in full armor. The armor paint was… garish, almost. Bright colors and odd designs faded and flowed into each other across the entire set, forming a stark contrast against the dark grey of their flight suit. Do-si-do looked back to the helmet, expecting to find a black T-shaped visor like so many had. There was… no visor. The front of the helmet was smooth and painted over like any other part of the armor.

This person had saved them… in mid-air… blind.

Holy shit.

They stopped gawking and ducked behind the walkway’s railing when red blaster bolts came a little too close for comfort.

Commander Bacara glanced over at the newcomer from where he was crouched behind cover. “Clan Ves?”

“‘Lek!” the Mandalorian answered, sounding almost chipper. “Maral called us in. I’m your Aunt Faye. You’re Bacara, right?”

“Elek. How many are you?”

“Two others. My ad and my vod.”

“Where are they?” he asked.

Faye pointed across the flight lane on the street corner opposite the crowd of hostages. “Over there somewhere. Trying to keep the ad out of this, since he hasn’t passed his verd’goten yet.”

The Marines commander turned to look at her. “You brought a child here?”

“I got a call! I didn’t have time to find a daycare,” she answered, gesturing to the general situation. “Besides, they’re thirteen. They’ll be fine with their ba’vodu.”

“Can we discuss this later, sir?” Trees demanded, completely flattened against the back side of the speeder to avoid the steady stream of red blaster bolts whizzing by overhead.

A huge crash brought everyone’s attention farther up the block towards the Jedi and Count Dooku. Their fight had continued to migrate, working its way down the block, closer and closer to the group of civilians they still hadn’t managed to free. This could get ugly if they didn’t get the hostages to safety soon.

“We need these SBDs taken care of!” Commander Bacara ordered. “I don’t care if you have to blow up the footbridge to do it.”

Faye checked one of their vambraces as they all crowded together to concentrate their fire on the approaching droids. Do-si-do assumed that’s what she was doing, anyway, since she never actually looked down at her wrist. “I don’t have enough Whistling Birds for all of them, but I could take out three.”

“Do it!”

Trees shoved a droid’s blaster into their hands, and Do-si-do wasn’t about to ask him where he’d picked it up. They kept firing with the rest of the Numbers, but they couldn’t help but watch out of their periphery. They’d never seen Whistling Birds in action before, but they’d always liked the sound of them from stories. Six pinpoints of light shot out of Faye’s vambrace with little bursts of noise. They left tiny trails of smoke or compressed air in their wakes as they sped across the air, homing in directly on the SBDs. The first three jolted slightly as two miniature missiles embedded into their armor and detonated. The droids stumbled, then fell, the red light in their visual sensors fading as they crashed to the deck. It slowed the rest down for a few seconds, giving the Numbers and the commander a chance to down two more of them. That left just five marching across the footbridge towards them.

Suddenly, and enormous chunk of signage came hurtling through the air and smashed through the metal footbridge. The bridge and chunk of metal disappeared into the gap, now careening through the lower levels of Coruscant.

“What the shit!” Do-si-do yelled as Loops and Trees both made wordless yelps as well. Fours and his commander and Faye seemed less surprised.

In the pause in blaster fire, flashes of blue and green made them all look up. Generals Kenobi and Unduli were leaping back and forth across the gap created by the flight lane. Do-si-do looked and found Count Dooku had hitched a ride on one of the B1s still in possession of a small speeder, and was skimming through the air towards the group of hostages.

Well, this wasn’t good.

A loud noise came from the building just up the block, and they looked to the source in case it was something dangerous. It was, just not for the Numbers and their allies. The building in question was the Noodle Bar. Apparently, someone had a rocket launcher pointed out the window, and had just fired it at the speeder holding up the Sith Lord.

A split second before the missile made contact, Dooku leapt from it, landing directly amongst the hostages across the flight lane. The B1 on the speeder was not as lucky, and it exploded violently in the middle of the air. Kenobi and Unduli landed on the street corner up the block from the Numbers’ current location. They looked tired but far from finished.

“Come no closer!” Dooku yelled, raising his voice and his red lightsaber. The civilians around him were quite literally shaking with fear. Do-si-do didn’t blame them.

“Really, Count?” Kenobi replied with a curled lip. “That’s stooping awfully low, even for you.”

“Leave the civilians out of this!” Unduli added on, gesturing with her green blade.

“I want what I came for,” the Sith replied. “But you Jedi are always in the way, and now look.” He gestured to the crowd around him with his free hand. “You’ve put innocent lives at risk.”

“Nar’sheb! You landed there on purpose!” Faye yelled at him. Do-si-do jumped a little, not used to people aside from Jedi doing the talking during these confrontations. “Let the young ones free, at least, and negotiate like a civilized person.”

“A Mandalorian asking for negotiations?” Dooku said. “You must be desperate, Kenobi.”

“I’ve never actually met that Mandalorian before,” Kenobi said, glancing at Faye.

She waved. “I’m Faye! Clan Ves! Su’cuy!”

The Jedi each gave little waves in return before resuming their conversation with Dooku.

Commander Bacara looked at Faye. “Any chance you have a Whistling Bird left for him?”

She shook her head. “I wish. Kriffing demagolka, but no. Used ‘em up on the Supers.”

“Didn’t you say someone had a sniper perch in the Noodle Bar?” Do-si-do asked her. Maybe that person could take out Dooku, or at least distract him?

Faye nodded, but didn’t get a chance to respond. A chorus of cries and protests rose up from the hostages. The B1s and SBDs surrounding them had turned inwards, now aiming at the hostages instead of their adversaries. Do-si-do’s stomach swooped uncomfortably.

“Dooku!” Kenobi shouted. “This is barbaric!”

“My master gives clear instructions,” the Sith shot back, still waving his saber around to supplement his speech. “I am to find the clones in question, destroy them, and not let anyone stand in my way. You, Kenobi, are in my way.”

“Threatening the lives of innocents doesn’t help your cause!” Unduli told him, walking slowly towards the small footbridge that connected the two city blocks across the sidestreet. Kenobi followed her. Their movements were deliberate and steady.

Dooku frowned. “It seems my message is not clear. Do you need a demonstration?”

He lunged into the crowd around him and dragged a young child to him. The girl looked no older than twelve, with tan skin, smooth black hair, and big brown eyes filled with tears. At the same time, the B1s surrounding the group all did the same, grabbing a random civilian and holding a blaster against their heads or torsos.

“I want those clones, Kenobi!” the Sith snarled. “Anything else, and these people will die for your inaction.”

Commander Bacara growled as he looked down the sights on his blaster. “I can’t get a good shot on anything. The SBDs are blocking the way.”

Faye sighed sharply as she did the same. “Yeah, me neither. Kriff.”

Do-si-do saw the commander’s comm light up, and watched him answer it in his helmet. His head tilted in a slow nod. “Okay. Saleha and Mira think they can take out the B1s without getting the civvies hurt.”

“How?” Trees asked.

“They have the sniper perches in the Noodle Bar,” he told him.

That made sense. Do-si-do did recall Saleha dragging a long case out of the hall closet while the rest of the clones were packing up to leave with Maral. Since Ahsoka Tano was still staying with Fives and Sevenset, they were fine with the two old ladies pointing weapons of war out of the restaurant windows if it meant taking out Dooku.

The two Jedi had made it almost across the smaller footbridge that would lead them right to where the Numbers and their allies were gathered. While the larger footbridge across the flightlane was destroyed, Do-si-do had no problems believing the Jedi would just hurl themselves across the gap anyway. The Sith still hadn’t budged, however. He still held the shaking little girl firmly in one hand by the collar, watching the Jedi’s every move.

Kenobi, living up to his nickname, was still trying to negotiate. “Release the hostages, and we’ll settle this on even footing.” Perhaps he was just stalling. It didn’t look like anything was getting through to the count.

Movement to the left of the huddled group of hostages made Do-si-do look away from the Sith Lord for a moment. On yet another street corner, this one across from the crowd of hostages on the far side of the street, a lone figure was visible. They were also in full beskar armor, all painted in black and purple, with a few white accents beside bare silver steel. A long staff protruded from behind their shoulder, possibly another weapon—probably another weapon. More Mandalorians? That must be the vod Faye had mentioned.

The movement had been this new person standing up to full height. “Hey, Dicku!” they yelled, even carrying across the way from behind their helmet. “Let the girl go.” They leveled a blaster pistol at the count. “Her name is Ligma, and she’s under my clan’s protection. You really wanna piss off an entire clan of Mandalorians?”

Do-si-do blinked. They bit their bottom lip gently to keep the ungraceful snort from coming out of his mouth. “Ligma?” they muttered to Loops.

“Yeah, I know,” he answered. “Not gonna question it.”

Behind Do-si-do, a thunk sounded. They glanced over their shoulder and saw Faye had slapped her palm onto her helmet’s front. “I’m going to slap them,” she muttered, then raised her head again. “And then I’m going to kill them.”

Before they could ask why, Dooku was speaking again. His tone was absolutely dripping condescension. “Explain to the Jedi that as soon as I know where I might find the fugitives in question, little Ligma here—”

The little girl screamed. “LIGMA NUTS!” In a second, the girl’s tan features gained a shade of grey-ish green and her eyes flashed yellow. Her arm came up, suddenly holding a miniblaster like Saleha had used to stun Nines earlier that evening. Only, this one wasn’t on stun. A bright red flash was all that could be seen before Dooku was doubling over with a cry of pain.

In quick succession, several more blaster shots rang out all over the street. One came from the Mandalorian across the way, and it slammed into Dooku’s head, killing him instantly. Four green shots came in rapid sequence from the Noodle Bar, scrapping four of the B1s threatening the civilians directly. Immediately, the Jedi leapt across the gap, using the Force to launch themselves directly in front of the droids surrounding the hostages. Faye took to the air on her jetpack to follow them.

Commander Bacara stood, aiming his blaster. “Fire at will!” he barked, already aiming for the rest of the SBDs.

Do-si-do needed no further prompting. They, Loops, Trees, and Fours followed his lead, picking off the B1s carefully. The Jedi never made careful too easy, and once again, Do-si-do found themself wishing they were back in a starfighter instead. Everyone kept moving around, blocking shots, and there were still the civilians to keep safe as well. It was a mess. A mess they were not entirely practiced in cleaning up. Luckily, Loops, Trees, and Fours seemed more than comfortable.

It was all over in under a minute. The droids lay in sparking pieces on the deck if they hadn’t been Force-pushed off the edge. The civilians were terrified and many of them weeping, but they were all alive. The little girl had disappeared. Do-si-do had lost her in the action, and couldn’t see her anymore, anyway. But he did see Faye meeting up with her vod, smacking them upside the helmet, and then embracing a young Mandalorian with gold accents on their chestplate and vambraces, and a gold helmet.

“Threat neutralized,” Commander Bacara said. He raised his comm, then stared at it when it started blinking green before he’d pressed any buttons. After the initial hesitation, he answered it. “Bacara.”

He must have had it connected to his helmet, because there was a stretch of silence before he spoke next.

“But you’re all unharmed?” He nodded in response to whatever answer he’d gotten. “No, we’re all done here. Dooku’s dead. The Noodle Bar is safe.” There was another pause. “I’ll tell you about it later. We will take care of the several unconscious and-or injured people inside the Clubhouse, yes.” After one last pause, he nodded. “Bacara out.”

“Was that the—er, Commander Sixes, sir?” Do-si-do asked.

“Yes. He and Echo are fine.” He turned to the Jedi still ushering the civilians away from the mechanical carnage. “Generals! A word!”

After a minute or so of being Jedi and comforting scared people, Kenobi and Unduli jumped back across the flightlane and walked over to the group of troopers. The Mandalorians all followed with jetpacks, the adults both carrying the young one over the gap.

“Thank you all for your help and your bravery tonight,” General Unduli said when they had all gathered.

“Yes,” Kenobi seconded. He looked to the Mandalorians and offered a small salute, bowing slightly with his right fist over his heart. “Vor entye, Aliit Ves.” Then he smiled at the Numbers and Commander Bacara. “And of course, thank you, troopers. This went far beyond the scope of your usual duties, and you all served bravely, as Master Unduli has said already.”

Do-si-do knew their helmet obscured their face, but they smiled widely. The Jedi could pick up emotions anyway, right? They’d know. Commander Bacara gave a curt nod.

“The chancellor is dead,” he said flatly.

There was a short silence while everyone adjusted to the sudden change in mood and subject. The Jedi’s faces both remained fairly neutral, almost impassive. Eventually, Unduli dipped her chin and closed her eyes.

“I had sensed the Force grow lighter,” she said softly. “But I had assumed it was because of Count Dooku’s death.”

“I had as well,” Kenobi agreed with a distant look in his eyes. “But, no. This is too much change to have been just the count. The chancellor held more Darkness than we had ever imagined.”

That was a terrifying thought, considering that man had nearly taken control of the entire GAR, and could have exterminated the Jedi Order as a whole with a few well-placed transmissions. But he hadn’t. He was dead. Dooku was dead. Ventress had abandoned the Separatists months ago, if rumors were to be believed. That just left Grievous to deal with, and there was no shortage of people gunning for a chance at scrapping the wheezing maniac.

Kenobi’s comm went off, and he answered it. “Yes, Anakin?”

“Master, the Force feels different.”

“Yes, I would imagine it feels very different,” he replied easily. “Lighter, perhaps?”

“I… guess? I’m not—I was kind of busy, I might have missed some things.”

Kenobi rolled his eyes fondly and held up a hand as he turned away to find some privacy for the conversation.

General Unduli took up the conversation. “With the chancellor no longer able to control the Guards, it would be safe to move your injured friends to the Temple’s Halls of Healing, if you would like.”

They were all a little taken aback by the offer.

“The Temple, sir—ma’am?” Loops asked.

“We still can’t be sure there aren’t others who can control the chips,” she explained. “Until then, especially in the upcoming wave of attention and public reaction to the chancellor’s death, it might be safer for them in the Temple.”

Unfortunately, she made good points. Do-si-do didn’t want to know what kind of backlash or outcry or whatever would happen after word got out about the chancellor’s true nature, and about the clones who had brought him down. They nodded, looking to the other Numbers and the commander.

Commander Bacara seemed to hesitate for a second. But, eventually, he nodded too. “Yes, ma’am, that sounds like the safest plan. We have a ship we can call for transport.”

Faye raised a gloved hand. “So do we, Bacara, if you need the extra room.”

General Unduli nodded. “I will let you take care of your own, Commander,” she said with a smile. “I will meet you all at the Temple.”

She turned to follow Kenobi, presumably to find whatever transportation they had taken here. Or maybe they’d just take the shuttles back. Do-si-do was far more interested in the Mandalorians they hadn’t met yet.

“Well, that was fun,” said the Mandalorian in black and purple armor. The remark sounded genuine. “I’m Aykhaal Ves. If you must refer to me, you can use they, them, and their pronouns.”

Do-si-do smiled under their helmet. Aykhaal sounded so confident saying that. It was nice. It was… hopeful.

Faye shook her head, one hand resting protectively on her kid’s shoulder. “Apparently, they had the bright idea to sneak this little one—” she poked her kid’s helmet— “over there to surprise Dooku.”

Do-si-do tilted his head. “That was you?”

The kid nodded. “I’m a clawdite, yeah. I’m Iskender.” After a glance at Aykhaal, Iskender added, “And if you have to refer to me, please use whatever gender makes the joke funniest.”

Aykhaal chuckled while Faye shook her head yet again. “Anyway, it is very good to meet you all. You fight well. Maral’s been talking about her little brothers for ages now, so it’s nice to meet at least one of you,” she added to Commander Bacara.

He looked at her for a second, his face unreadable behind his helmet. “Thank you,” he said finally. “We have several unconscious people to transport,” he went on, pointing to the Noodle Bar. “We should do that now.”

Aykhaal gestured to the way ahead. “Lead on, al’verde.”

How's that for a way to get rid of a Sith lord? I think it's hilarious, personally. All of Clan Ves belong to @23-bears and they are all wonderful, I hope you enjoyed them. @theultimatesandwich @rndmpeep @mercurydancer @thechaoticfanartist

[unabridgedisbetter]

Y’all, since I have NO impulse control and I was very worried about spoilers, (don’t worry friends no spoilers from me) I went ahead and finished Dracula the book during this dry, no email period. And when even THAT wasn’t enough I decided to start watching a bunch of “Dracula” movies. So here are my noodle thoughts

The first one I tried was the 1992 Dracula with Winona Rider and Keanu Reeves. I have a whole other post explaining the intense emotions related to that movie but the three biggest opinions is that 1) it is VERY inaccurate to the book all the while acting like it is Very Faithful 2) younger Dracula looks like a goth Willy wonka 3) it was so wildly horny I couldn’t finish it. (I wish we had an alternative reality movie with the same cast that was a good book to movie adaption) Over all the disappointment was so strong that I was wary of trying any other movies

Momma didn’t raise no quitter tho so my husband convinced me to try the 1931 hour long Dracula and this ALSO was NOT LIKE the book but I forgave them for a lot after the drama of the last movie. Honestly for me the best part was Renfield. the actor was old timey attractive, quoted book renfield, and was in general a Mad Lad. I’m sure there are some spoilers to the book because this one covered Main Plot Points but everything is glossed over because it’s only an hour long. Also the actress for Mina was adorable and any vampire violence couldn’t be shown on screen because of the time period, Which I found to be rather charming. That being said their biggest sin was reducing my boi Jonathan to a literal SIDE CHARACTER. He wasn’t even a Lawyer 😭.

I watched Van Helsing the other night, and Hugh Jackman was The Best Part as a vampire hunting goth cowboy. At this point I had given up all hope of any movie being like the book which is good because this was DEFINITIVELY the REMIX. Over all I enjoyed the film (I want to know what shampoo Van Helsing uses because his hair was very luxurious) but it was SOOO not accurate to the book that anyone could watch it and still not have a clue as to what actually transpired in Bram Stokers telling.

It is rather odd to me that Dracula has inspired SO MANY MOVIES and yet as far as I can tell no one has sat down to create an accurate movie (or mini series). On one side the variety of movies is fun (I’ve seen Dracula untold and like it, though again it’s a very different retelling of Dracula) but on the other hand would it kill the directors to leave Van Helsing a middle aged man, have all three suitors, make Jonathan an ACTUAL MAIN CHARACTER, quote the book dialogue for more people then Renfield and let the horror slowly creep over everyone instead of investing in jump scares and crazy theatrics? Basically I want the people who made the six hour BBC Pride and Prejudice (that was faithful to the source material) to make a six hour Dracula (equally faithful to the source material 😂. )If anyone knows of a more or less faithful Dracula movie please let me know.

[definitely-not-samayoi]

The translation is complete, so please have some more saemaji. That's only the next chapter, there are several more incoming! The first part below:

Majima came home late that day. He looked somewhat terrible: blood from a split eyebrow flooded his face, a purple bruise was forming on his cheekbone, and when Majima smiled broadly at the sight of Saejima, he saw bloodied teeth. Saejima sighed heavily and without further ado pulled out a first aid kit from the cabinet.

“Some bastards from Omi,” Majima explained eagerly, hissing as the antiseptic hit the wound. "What the hell are they even doing here?"

"Whatever they're doing here, yer very lucky yer still alive," Saejima said with a chuckle as he worked on a bruise on Majima's cheekbone. “Musta been some small fry, or you'd be lying in an alley somewhere with a bullet in yer head.”

"I wouldn't!" Majima snapped decisively. “I tried to talk to them in Kansai-ben, but…”

“Ya have Tokyo written on yer forehead,” Saejima snorted, imagining Majima trying to pass in front of Omi as their own. “And ya can torture people with yer kansai-ben. No wonder they figured it out.”

Majima frowned in disgust, but Saejima knew full well that he was listening to his every word. From the very next day, Saejima began to notice that Majima was diligently copying his accent.  At first, it looked ridiculous, and Saejima couldn't help laughing a couple of times, for which he immediately received a sharp elbow punch in the ribs.

Yasuko's surgery was scheduled for a week later, and Saejima was becoming increasingly anxious. He slept poorly and ate poorly, something even Patriarch Sasai himself noticed when Saejima accidentally bumped into him in the corridor of the headquarters.

"Listen, lad," Sasai patted his shoulder paternally. “Yasuko-chan will not be happy at all when she leaves the hospital and sees a weak shadow instead of her older brother. And don't forget that I need you to be able to carry out your duties. What kind of yakuza are you if any of the bastards that roam the streets knocking pocket money out of elementary graders can kick your ass?”

"Oyaji," Saejima bowed so sharply and low that Sasai burst out laughing.

"You won't be able to take good care of Yasuko-chan if you don't take care of yourself first. So you better get a grip, Saejima!”

Saejima bowed again, and Sasai, thinking that Saejima had been sufficiently impressed by his speech, left with a final nod to him.

Of course, Sasai was right about everything. . Before Yasuko had been admitted to the hospital through his efforts, Sagejima had not given much thought to their future: there were too many things in the present that required his care. But now that Yasuko's return was only a matter of time, Saejima couldn't find a place for himself. Yasuko has to go to school. She also needs to eat well to recover from her surgery. Saejima himself had to make do with instant noodles; sometimes he'd manage to snatch a box of expired bento at a good discount. Saejima's stomach could probably digest nails, so he didn't worry about himself. But Yasuko…

Majima, of course, was also aware of his condition. During their time together they had learned to read each other as no one else could, to the slightest change in the tone of voice, the tiniest wrinkles between the eyebrows. 

"Hey, kyoudai," Majima stubbed out the butt of his cigarette on the lid of the urn. “You're a pain to look at. I know you're worried about Yasuko-chan, and that's fine, but… Look, you're not alone now, are you? I... I've actually decided to join Tojo, too. I'm gonna help! At first it'll be the little things – you know how it is – but then…”

"Kyoudai," Saejima sighed deeply without looking at him.

“Don’t kyoudai me! I'm talking serious stuff here! And if you start your “I don’t want to owe you” bullshit, I'll kick your ass so hard Yasuko-chan won’t recognize you when she returns! And, besides…”

Before Majima could finish, Saijima grabbed him, squeezing him tightly in his arms. Majima froze, but then relaxed, hugging Saejima back.

[vi-enti]

SUGAR HONEY ICE TEA (idt ice tea is a question so hi gmorning tell me how your day is going)

sugar: tell me about your first crush

- the first crush i can remember was when i was in 5th grade, recently moved so was doing my last year of elementary school at a Brand New Place with none of my old friends. being a very shy, nerdy kid, i’d just go hide in the jungle gym during recess time and read a book (the hiding in the jungle gym was necessary so the teachers would think i was socializing and not force me to talk to people)

- anyways there was another kid who did the same thing, not bc he was shy and had no friends, but because he preferred to use recess time to study and hung out with his friends at other times (his class nickname was the Calculator). anyways what is a young nerd to do but to have a puppy crush on the only other person reading in the jungle gym??

honey: type out the last text you sent

- “cheeeeeeeeeseeeee”

ice tea: not an option lmao

- good afternoon! i just woke up and it’s almost noon, which is the mark of a great day tbh. my whole plan for the day is to eat noodles, catch up on One Piece, and play Lethal Company with the Lads, so i don’t predict it’ll go downhill from here!