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gffa · 8 months

Note

Hi Lumi. This year I’ve watched The Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Tales of the Jedi and I’m watching Ahsoka as episodes are released. But I feel like I’m missing some context as to why people are wary of Filoni. What things should I know so I’m caught up, so to speak, in the fandom discussions?

Hi! That's a lot of Star Wars to watch in a year, I hope you're having fun with it all! And I will gently remind everyone that Filoni is not the be-all-end-all of Star Wars creators--Henry Gilroy was there for TCW and Rebels, too. George Lucas was holding writers' meetings years after the show started (at least into 2010!). The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are far more Jon Favreau's shows. The Bad Batch is Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbett. Resistance was developed by him, but was run by other producers. It's just that Filoni tends to get the most camera time and has become the face of Star Wars creators. That said, the issue with Filoni is kind of two-pronged, though, they overlap. 1. He's done a lot of interviews where he's said a lot of anti-Jedi things that have drifted from reasonable critiques in the beginning to eventually "Qui-Gon Jinn was the only true Jedi. [blatantly wrong citations]" This has put a lot of people off him as a creator, because we love the Jedi Order that Lucas talks about and established, which Filoni has actively contradicted over the years, despite being promoted as someone who follows Lucas' themes. And it's hard not to be aware of his interviews when watching his shows and it's hard to enjoy shows that do your faves dirty, you know? 2. His writing has become weaker over the years for a lot of us--Rebels is a show most of us love and found to be incredible. Many of us really love The Clone Wars, which he was heavily involved in/was probably the central voice after Lucas started phasing out. But his biggest story told over the course of those series--basically, the story of Mandalore's history and fall to the Empire--has been extremely thin for a lot of us. And a lot of us get frustrated at his inability to be objective when it comes to Ahsoka's character, that we love her as a character very much, but it hasn't felt like Filoni really knows what to do with her character arc and yet almost everything he writes is centered around her. His final season of The Clone Wars? Gave her the walkabout arc and the Siege of Mandalore arc, both of which often did not hold up well under scrutiny. His episode of The Book of Boba Fett? I actually really loved it, but it absolutely just stopped the pacing of that show to focus a lot on her. More on Luke, but he couldn't resist putting her in there, either. Tales of the Jedi was half devoted to Ahsoka and so much of it wasn't even about her time as a Jedi! We're frustrated because he doesn't set things up well anymore--Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?? Why wasn't that established in The Mandalorian instead of pulling out randomly in Ahsoka? Why does Sabine Wren suddenly so badly want Jedi training, when they barely even had a conversation in Rebels?? There's a lot of good that Filoni has given to Star Wars, I think he genuinely cares about the Force and what it means--he's very consistent on how it's not easy and how it takes discipline and control, that he has been consistent on how anger and fear are paths to the dark side, even his episode of TBOBF had Ahsoka saying, yeah, attachment is a path to the dark side, because the Jedi mean "attachment" in a more Buddhist-aligned way. A lot of his writing for the character of Ahsoka is actually pretty good, like I've been enjoying her being a prickly, traumatized hot mess in the show! It's just that I kind of hate all the interviews he gives and I think he's a lot less objective than a lot of fans and media coverage that would hold him up as a perfect writer/interviewee about all things Star Wars, and it all comes together to make him kind of a hot-button topic.

So, a lot of people LOVE Filoni's work, a lot of people are frustrated by it, a lot of people are casually fine about it, a lot of people HATE Filoni's work and it can be a fun mix of any of the above or even other issues that come up. (And that's all fine! I have my views on Filoni's work, but it's fine if others hate it more than I do or love it more than I do, there's room for us all, all of it is valid.)

But I think if you want to understand some of the roots of this corner of fandom's frustration, two (admittedly long as heck) homework assignment reads would be:

- My own rebuttal to Dave's behind the scenes Mandalorian Gallery talk (this is jokingly referred to as "Davegate" because I refused to take it too seriously) - @david-talks-sw's collection of comparisons between Lucas' commentary on the Jedi and Filoni's commentary on the Jedi

This response itself is more focused on laying out the problems a lot of people have with Filoni's writing, but also honestly I still have my giant collection of Jedi source material citations that quotes his commentary, I still bring up Filoni's quotes in current meta a lot, I still talk positively about the things I enjoy from his shows, so overall there's equal amounts of both praise and criticism here. So, as short as I can make it (which isn't very, shut up, I know! XD), that's basically what people mean when they say they're wary of Filoni.

#star wars #dave filoni #meta

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scuderiadream · 7 months

Text

invisible string

reader x charles leclerc

⊹ ࣪ ˖ summary : the expression "invisible string" alludes to a traditional chinese tale about a crimson thread of destiny binding two people together, this recounts the beginning of reader and charles' love affair, which saw them go from being complete strangers to falling in love and discovering that they were connected by an invisible string

⊹ ࣪ ˖ faceclaim : gracie abrams

⊹ ࣪ ˖ author note : this might be kinda? long idk? but yea please enjoy!! sorry if this is just flopping and ou if u have any reqs dont be shy and request! bcos i'm kinda running out of idea here ahah 🥹

ᝰ masterlist

y/n and charles love story begin back then during the 2022 monaco grand prix, they were a complete stranger until one day y/n's father decided to held a very fancy gala in monaco just before the race day. charles leclerc was one of the many millionaires and celebrities her father invited to his gala. charles politely accepted the invitation, and when he showed up at the gala, he was astounded by y/n's appearance in general. naturally, one thing led to another, and they eventually went on dates and invited y/n to his races, which resulted in their most romantic relationship ever.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆

liked by charles_leclerc, username and 7.739 others f1wagshq y/n and charles spotted toegether in monaco! the couple looks like they spent an amazing day together <3

view all 2.649 comments

username ugh they look SOOO good together

username not charles liking this..i need his level of selfishness

username i want her to step on me tbh

⤷ charles_leclerc woah, back off mate

⤷ username HELPP THE JEALOUSY

username i wanna have that y/n and charles kinda love

charles_leclerc added to their story!

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆

after their romantic stroll around the city of monaco, y/n and charles enjoyed each other's company as they talk about their childhood or thier past life.

y/n pov :

i can feel his warmth body wrapping around mine as i linked my arm around his, walking through the city of monaco. i confessed to him about my childhood and how awesome it was. i told him that i remembered i was sitting on a grass, reading a book at the centennial park i used to think i would meet somebody there and how stupid it sounds.

he made an eye smile as his face lit up like a clueless little kid. "what's wrong? you're smiling like crazy" i said while i tilt my head a little to the side in confusion. as it turns out, he confessed to me that he was there too while on his vacation with his family, he was wearing a teal shirt when.

somehow we ended up laughing and giggling like a crazy person. its amazing how our stories just simply connect, were there clues i didn't see? as if all along there's some invisible string tying him to me?

charles pov :

after a few hours had passed, we continued to talk about our own experiences and how they always connected. i chuckle at how ridiculously foolish it sounds, but i feel like we were meant to be. it's funny how we went from being complete strangers to developing this devoted bond that i never imagined we would, she's what i've always been wanting for.

she sees me for who i am, as if i'm perfect. she opened the door to my heart that i couldn't open for a long time as i feel proud to call her as mine, my girl, mon amour.

liked by charles_leclerc, maxverstappen1, pierregasly and 357.889 others

yourusername one single thread of gold tied me to you

view all 46.512 comments

username deserves a couple of the year

charles_leclerc you make me un poco loco

⤷ yourusername ??? thanks i guess ??

pierregasly you're doing amazing sweetie

⤷ yourusername pls bringover kika next time we're hanging out

⤷ pierregasly on it ma'am 🫡

username THESE BABY PICS MY GOD THEYRE SO ADORABLE😭

username this is the cutest shit i've ever seen

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queen0fm0nsterz · 6 months

Note

So, if you are accepting any asks, I have a small question.

Who do you think was longer in The Spiral? And which kids were "born" there? Sorry if this is a stupid ask, or if someone already asked it.

Feel free to ignore! I just really like how you analyze and theorize 'bout everything of The Little Nightmares world; you realize things that most people most likely don't notice, and that's admirable to me!

Thank you so much!!! This makes me very happy to hear, I'm very grateful you enjoy my interpretations of the games. Your question is not stupid at all; it's a very good one, and I see there is a few misconceptions about children who are Nowhere born and children who come from other worlds.

I have seen argued that most children we meet must be kids of the Nowhere due to their ability to survive; for example, a child as young as the Toddler was able to survive for at least a while before being snatched away. However this is not an indicator of them actually being Nowhere born.

Noone herself explains how this is possible in episode one of the podcast. Quoting:

"I turned away from the window, which was only a hole in the stone wall of the curved passageway, that stretched on a long ways. This- odd feeling, told me to get up. But I couldn’t stand because the ceiling was so low."

(...)

"That same feeling told me I was lost inside a giant."

They are being guided by this strong instinct. Which explains why children as young as a Toddler can get around without dying near instantly: they inherently seem to know what to do and they are constantly on the move. If anything, children who are stagnant are more likely to be Residents or becoming Residents; they are the odd ones out. Remaining still means certain death, after all, unless you intend to join the Nowhere.

Here's a diagram to show in short who is what based on what we know about the world. The ones with the * are those who are uncertain.

Visitors

These are the most common kind of children one can meet in the Nowhere: the ones brought from outside, either by the Ferryman or from other forces. Remember; the Ferryman is a guide, not the means.

In Episode 3, Noone was pulled into the Mall, an outside force, and in Episode 4 the Ferryman was not present at all. He is not the only way for one to get inside the Nowhere, he's merely somebody with enough power to intercept some of the children coming in to bring them away with him. I don't doubt that his role is incredibly important, as he's the reason why many children even reach the Nowhere alive, but... he's a harbinger of death, no doubt.

All these children are the nameless ones. The ones whose full journeys we'll never get to see: just segments and fractions. We saw the beginning of Noone's, and the end of RCG's and RK's. Nothing more, and nothing less.

The campfire children in particular are highlighted because of two reasons:

The comics were confirmed to be partially not canonical. Obviously not everything was cut from the comics, since the Ferryman and Mirror Man are both physically there and implied to exist, but due to the vague answer we were given, we'll have to take their tales with a grain of salt.

We could only hear two of four stories; as such, only the Humpback Girl's testimony can be counted as her not being a child of the Nowhere. We can attest this because of a few lines given from her friends:

This place is haunted, though, as well as being sealed. Someone locked the mirrors away a long time ago, but! Interestingly enough, they did not break them. Maybe whoever sealed this place away was hoping for someone to come back?

Considering that Low and Alone are also involved with mirrors, I wonder if Mirror Man's abilities are on par with the Ferryman's, meaning he too can cross the bridge between realities. It could be a reason as to why the Ferryman does not intervene until the very end here. This post is not about him though, so moving on!

Nowhere Children/Residents

Now we're getting to the interesting part of the ask. As you can see in the diagram, we only know a few children who are Nowhere born, and of them, only one of them is 100% factual. Let's go through them one by one.

The Pretender was born and raised in the Nowhere. Period. She has her own mansion, pictures with her parents, and on top of that her family at the very least part of the bourgeoisie.

While powers are not necessarily an indicator of one's belonging to the Nowhere (if Low's powers are of any indication), the Pretender herself has quite the number of supernatural abilities that seem to have been present since her youth, making it hard for her to form meaningful connections with others. She's a very lonely child. This means that these powers most likely developed from her naturally rather than being acquired from the outside, like Six's and possibly even Low's.

(Even then, one can make a small argument to counter with Six developing a small power of her own... but there's a reason as to why I set her aside from everyone else.)

Now, here's someone a lot more interesting to discuss (both on this topic and in general): Mono.

He's a real special little guy. Taking into context the etymology of his name, the meanings we get always tie back to the idea of there being one of him. A single, unique little boy. Looking at the descriptions we were given of Mono, we can find out some more about him and his backstory:

Interesting as this is on a character perspective, what I would like to direct your attention on here is the mentions of the world. Here, it's mentioned that Mono is aware that the world outside hates him. Being a single minded child living in the Nowhere this makes a lot of sense; what is interesting here is the wording.

There is never the mention of "another world" in Mono's descriptions, unlike Six's descriptions in which it is directly mentions her not originating from the Nowhere.

For Mono, it's not a world: it's the world. Almost as if there is no other world he knows by now.

His nature is also rather unique. You see, Mono is a glitch. Not in the traditional Glitching Remain way, but still not entire enough to be considered a human being. For one, he quite literally glitches multiple times: we see it happen everytime he is near a Remain and is about to absorb them, whenever he gets too close to the Thin Man, he even glitches as he channels his powers to use them.

The Thin Man causing him to glitch is especially interesting because when he motions to grab him, Mono does not split in two like Six does. There is no body to be left behind: instead, he flies into Thin Man's hand and you can visibly see his body go both entirely glitchy and instantly limp.

(You can see it for yourself in this video; pay attention to him struggling when other enemies grab him vs how quickly he stops moving as soon as the Thin Man gets his hands on him.)

This indicates his nature as not being human the same way Six is, for example, but rather a product of the Nowhere. Due to how his cycle works, this makes sense: for the Tower to have a continuous of energy supply and access to the power of the Transmission, Mono needs to live through this experience over and over for as long they deem fit. This could also explain some other odd factors of his, such as not having to take a break when running and his almost grayish skintone.

While it can be argued that at the beginning of this whole mess Mono was a Visitor rather than a Resident, at this point in time many factors point to the version of him we play as being a Nowhere child.

The Refugee Boy is, as for the campfire kids... complicated to expand on due to the dubious nature of his story: nevertheless, I will still bring forth my evidence.

When the children begin telling Six their stories, the Refugee is the first to narrate his tale and he begins doing so by showing her a memento of his previous life outside of the Maw. This comes across as being peculiar on its own as no other child that we know of has anything of the like.

As you can read here, children in his village are given charm against the North Wind that one day suddenly stop working. This implies that, unlike the Mirror Man, the North Wind has always been a tangible threat looming over their birth land.

It could be easy to chalk this up to N.W. being a local legend where the boy used to live and he had a nightmare about him, but it is then mentioned that he and his sister have been running away from him for years. Much longer than any of the dreams Noone ever had.

This was a long pursuit. We know thanks to the LN III trailer that "normal" looking adults and cities existed in the Nowhere; this explains away both the Refugee's village existing and the other groups of people that chased them away when they brought around the North Wind.

While this evidence is good enough to stand on its own, it has a couple of points against it, which is why I marked the Refugee as "unsure".

The narrator could be considered unreliable. In this same screenshot I added right above, the narrator states that the siblings were welcomed everywhere, but we can visibly see them be chased away by the villagers. This can be interpreted as meaning "they were originally welcomed, but when the North Wind arrived as a consequence, they were chased off", but we don't have enough substance to back this up.

^ Supporting the above take, the narrator also says that the children have been running for years, but we visibly see that they remain the same during all this time. The sister not changing makes sense as the Ferryman has taken her place, but the Refugee also doesn't change at all. We don't know how fast time passes in the Nowhere, so it could also be attributed to that, but it must be mentioned for fairness' sake.

The Refugee's words: I'm not running anymore. This sentiment has never been echoed before, nor will it ever be echoed again. As I said earlier, being stale in the Nowhere only leads to two things: death or permanence. His surrendering could indicate that he has chose to remain in the Nowhere after being stuck in it for a long time, thus becoming an official Resident. If this is the case, he could classify as a "Visitor turned Resident".

With this, I suggest we move on to our last and currently final segment:

Visitors turned Residents

This one is an interesting breed. We don't get to see the act of a child turning into a permanent part of the Nowhere all that often; Noone could count as that, but we don't yet know if she ultimately decides to be still in the Nowhere or if she'll regret her choice.

We do have the most importantly character of this narrative as an example to this, however.

Six, my dearly beloved... what a terrible path she's gone down to. I have already displayed the evidence stating that Six is from a different world than the Nowhere up un Mono's section so I won't dwell on it.

Thin Man splitting her in two is what doomed her and, as hard as she tried to fight it, her trip to the Maw was the nail in the coffin. No matter how far away from it she gets: she will never be free from the influence it had on her person. When it comes to the LN I ending, this is what the writers had to say on it:

(From this interview. It's an interesting one; they also confirm that the Signal Tower and the Maw were not places that were "built" but that exist for various reasons, which supports the idea that they are entities rather than buildings.)

I think Six is not leaving the Nowhere anytime soon. If at all. She might have left the Maw, but at this point, she's ventured too far in to turn back to the person she was before. To think none of this is even her fault is saddening, to say the least, but horrifically realistic.

Sisi... is an incognita. I've only put her in this category to be fair, since we don't know anything about her. There is a possibility that she has grown up to become a Resident, but it's just as likely that she may have died off somewhere, like many others before and after her.

I will not be dwelling into the adults for now, but we do have reason to believe that some of them are most definitely Visitors turned Residents. Most notable is the Lady who, in her character description, directly expresses discomfort with how nonsensical the Nowhere is － a sentiment only someone who knows alternatives to it can have.

It also indicates a surprising level of self awareness to some extent; most Nowhere inhabitants do not question the nature of their world, not even important and powerful beings like, say, the Thin Man.

I hope this answers your question!

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valdaycare-au · 7 months

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How come exactly all of them got hired or found the job? (Like for example how did Sasha, who is literally from the russian tundra, found a babysitter job to be fitting, and how did all of them got to be in the exact same workplace???)

Heya! Iris here, in charge of most of the writing (the post text and even some of the in-character responses for the ask submissions) and lore alongside Domi who was in charge of the beautiful, crispy, amazing art you guys are being served with our blog! Now yes, there is lore, there is a story to be told about all of these and we actually planned to do a weekly post about the backstory of how the daycare came to be and how all of the sitters ended up in Little Wonders but both Domi and I are college students and alongside with the submissions, we got dumped so none of the lore tidbits we initially planned are done.

I do, however, have written very juicy notes about that so we'll give you a little preview of the sitter's backstories.

Please take note that this is written within the convenience that all of the agents are living in the same country (or in this case, are immigrants and/or have been born in said undisclosed country) and that the tale of their residence in that country isn't within the scope of this AU. After all, it is quite realistic for other ethnicities to move in and live in other countries for their own reasons.

So, let's begin! (I apologize in advance for the poor verb tenses [i made sure to beta read it, of course] and the google translated spanish. I should really get a hold of my past duolingo lessons 😔)

Sage - Ling Ying Wei

So she is the one that started it all. Little Wonders was quite the old daycare center and as an immigrant in a foreign country, it was quite hard to land a job because of racism and other horrible human things that weren't really inherently helpful. She landed the job at Little Wonders who was owned by an unknown individual who wanted to build a daycare. But the economical inflation caused prices to skyrocket, and the expenses in the daycare had grown demanding—Ying Wei ended up being alone after the owner and everyone else left due to the lack of budget and the loss of their clients because it has gotten unaffordable. (In short, you know those games like Lily's Garden? Yeah, she's Lily and the daycare is her garden.) Ying Wei felt lost, so she decided to vent it out to a friend and this friend decided to help out.

Skye - Kirra Foster

Kirra was the friend to the rescue. Having met in a forum online years (if not decades) ago, Ying Wei and Kirra are tight-knit and are like two peas in a pod that were separated from each other and had been joined again. She is, to put it simply, one of those dedicated online friends that you have. (Except that she actually managed to meet Ying Wei a couple of times and unlike most of us.)

In any case, Kirra heard that Ying Wei was suffering and told her everything. She flew to the country to console her, talk, and eventually offered to help her restore the daycare in its former glory for the reason that it held a special place in her friend's heart. She thought that it was quite absurd—why would Ying Wei, a normal employee, be left with this bankrupt daycare when it's supposed to be the owner's responsibility to rebuild it again? But nonetheless, she stayed and told Ying Wei that she'll only stick around once the repairs and the recuperation is done but like her internet bestie, she grew fond and excited for the daycare's great comeback.

We'll get through this, Ying Wei, you and I. You're the bloody rightful owner of this daycare, 'n we'll make it prosper again, yeah? [redacted] isn't going to get a single penny from when you finally make this work, hear me?

Kirra, I legally do not own the daycare nor do I hold the title. They're still going to get a cent.

Eh, fuck that! I'm telling ya, Ying, if they do come back, we're going to demand full ownership of this place, yeah? Cheer up, mate.

Sova - Sasha Novikov

He was a man destined for greatness—until some tragedy happened that had completely scraped his dream and his career down the drain. Immigrating to a different country, Sasha worked as a salaryman with a discouraged outlook in life. Despite being discouraged, he worked hard and diligently and earned promotions and raises to accompany his loyalty and services. But sometimes life grows bleaker and Sasha thought that his journey as a salaryman was now coming to a close. He decided that he wanted to do something meaningful and thought of jobs that would make him feel fulfilled—finding the hiring poster for Little Wonders flying right to his face (literally). He thought he wouldn't be accepted considering his experiences as a sitter was lacking, but he did. He immediately proved himself to Ying Wei and Kirra and became a formidable member of Little Wonders.

Wh-what the—? A hiring poster for a daycare?

Chamber - Vincent Fabron

Being a Frenchman born in a life of nobility and privilege; Vincent found himself enjoying life in another country after moving in with his parents after graduating with latin honors in Mechanical Engineering in France. It's not like his parents told him to get a job anyway and there's a vast new world to explore; so explore he did. Unfortunately, Vincent got carried away and ended up spending more and more until he was reprimanded by parents who didn't exactly care but felt like they should hold him off anyway.

He was forced to get a job. And getting a job wasn't exactly easy even with connections. If it were in France, he would've landed a job easy but this is a different country. He was forced to grovel. 5 months had passed, and he still wasn't able to find a job. In a moment of desperation, he found the job listing as a babysitter and for some miraculous reason, he was accepted. Maybe it was his strong demeanor, maybe it's his suave and silver tongue, but Vincent who only knew how to take care of dogs ended up as pretty problematic babysitter who tolerates children more than caring for them. Due to the lack of manpower, Ying Wei couldn't bring herself to fire him. He did and still does try to do his job properly and has resorted into doing administrative work more than actual babysitting for the daycare. (But with the presence of new competition, he finds himself working with the kids once more as he now sees his job being compromised.)

Madame Ling, I finally caught them like you requested.

VINCENT WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THOSE KIDS BY THEIR SHIRTS?! ARE YOU INSANE?!

Gekko - Mateo Armendáriz de la Fuente

Wanting to create money for himself and get a working experience from all those seminars his mother (practically) forced him to attend, young and bright Mateo applied for the job recently as a part-timer for the daycare under the recommendation of his family friend and considered aunt, Zyanya Mondragon (who has connections with Miss Ling but that will be elaborated in the future, hopefully?)

As a bubbly and cheerful young man with hopes and dreams (which the other sitters envy), he drew the attention of the children with extreme ease and was regarded as the rising rookie within the staff as he easily befriended the children and played with them. While Vincent saw and has since labelled the college student as a threat (just a little bitter), Sasha and Ying Wei found him as a great addition to the team and had considered hiring him as a full-time babysitter once he graduated college. Mateo is currently majoring in Architecture.

Tienes esto, pequeño. You underwent training, you even got a certification for babysitting specifically. You said you want to earn a little more money so you don't burden your mother, don't you?

L-lo sé, lo sé... I'm just worried that the kids I'll take care of won't like me... you know. They're kinda brutal, mi reina.

Ay, you're a nice kid, Mateo. Cree más en ti mismo, ¿por favor? You're going to do just fine.

Okay, okay, okay.

____________________________

In any case, these can still change overtime until it can be finalized. In the meantime, we both just want to have fun for now and enjoy writing how the sitters react to people wanting to date them. Would there be a dating sim revolving the mommies and daddies—I mean, the sitters in the future? No. JK. Unless? 🤨

We're glad that you're also having fun with this silly little AU that we have! (Hopefully you guys stick around us because we seriously have so much in store. We haven't even introduced the parents yet, but make your guesses!!) All the best and thank you so much for 100 followers here on Tumblr!!

We also created a Twitter/X Account too, yes this is an actual link and not a sentence I wanted to underline for emphasis (because we both thought that Domi might want to separate some non-AU art from her account, but we both love the reach it gives her). Please give us a follow! We love you!

-Iris and Domi

#daycareval #daycareval-ask #daycareval-lore #daycareval-comic #daycareval-story #daycareval-sage #daycareval-skye #daycareval-sova #daycareval-chamber #daycareval-gekko #valorant #valorant sage #valorant skye #valorant sova #valorant chamber #valorant gekko #valorant fanart #valorant au #daycare au

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darksaiyangoku · 9 months

Text

RWBY/Swords of Fate: Arc Kingdom

Chapter 1 - The Omen

Fairy tales. Myths. Legends. Stories with dashing heroes and sinister villains. Many of these tales share a common source and many diverge from their original tellings. No two versions of one story are ever exactly the same. They evolve, shift and adapt. This is one such a story. In two worlds of aura and magic, there was a young man who desired fo cherish and protect. He never imagined that he would be the one to pull the legendary sword from the stone. With that simple choice, he carved a new path for himself; the path of a hero and the path of a king. And so begins the story of the Arc Kingdom.

—1st June 734 AGW, Remnant - Kingdom of Atlas, Solitas—

Jaune and his team threw off their thick coats as soon as they entered Atlas Academy. Even in the summer, the bitter cold of Solitas still packed a punch. The heat from the generators hit them like a truck. Team JNPR all hummed delightfully as they welcomed the warmth.

Jaune: Woah man!! That's muuuuch better!

Nora: Ahhhhhh!!! It's good to be out of the cold.

Pyrrha: Oh my. *looks around* this place is magnificent!

Ren: *nods* It is remarkable indeed.

The inside of the building had royal blue marble floors, with ivory white walls, pictures of the various locations of Solitas and the alumni of Atlas Academy Huntsmen and Huntresses. Walking down the corridor was the headmaster of the school, General James Ironwood, sporting a five o'clock shadow. Accompanying him were two new faces. One of them was a young man with auburn hair, green eyes and who wore a white coat over an emerald green suit. Next to him was another man with long, white hair, light purple eyes, wearing dark purple suit.

James: Team JNPR, welcome to Atlas Academy. *smiles* It's great to see you again after so long.

Pyrrha: It's great to see you too, Headmaster Ironwood. Are you enjoying your summer break?

James: *chuckles* As much as I'd like to, I unfortunately can't. There's always work to be done if we want to stop the threat of the grimm.

Ren: Evil truly never sleeps, huh?

James: And neither do huntsmen and huntresses.

Jaune: *raises hand* Um, Headmaster? Who are your friends with you?

Dr. Roman: Oh sorry about that, *chuckles* I was waiting for Jimmy here to introduce us. I'm Dr. Romani Archaman, from Vacuo. Most of the students here just call me Dr. Roman. It's very nice to meet you.

Nora: Hi there, doc!

Dr. Merlin: And you may call me Dr. Merlin. I'm an old friend of Ozpin's. It's a pleasure to meet you all.

Pyrrha: Very nice to meet you too. *smiles*

Dr. Roman: James has told us so much about you and Team RWBY. I heard that you all managed to fight back against a grimm invasion in Beacon. That's insane!

Jaune: *chuckles* Well, that's a little exaggerated-

Dr. Roman: Not at all! For first year students to fight back, let alone survive is a fantastic achievement! You should all be proud of yourselves!

Ren: *shakes head* We were just doing our jobs as huntsmen and huntresses. Making sure everyone got out of there alive.

James: And it was thanks you, RWBY, SSSN, ARBN and the other students from all the academies that countless lives were saved that day. It's no small achievement, it was heroic. For that, I thank you. *bows*

Jaune: Well... uh... we're always ready to help out when needed.

James: I'm glad to hear that, because it's time I showed you what I, Roman and Merlin have been working on. Come with me.

Team JNPR followed James and the two doctors down the corridor. They approached the elevator and entered inside. Team JNPR noticed that below the buttons to all the floors was a keyhole. From his pocket, James took out a key and placed it in the keyhole, twisting it. The elevator started to go down and Nora's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Nora: Are we going to a secret basement?

Dr. Merlin: *chuckles* Something like that.

The further they went, the more ominous it felt. Pyrrha felt her skin crawl. She was reminded of what happened one year ago when she was led underground back at Beacon.

Jaune: *holds Pyrrha's hand* Are you okay?

Pyrrha: *shakes head* Not really. But thanks, Jaune. *smiles*

The elevator finally stopped and the door opened. As they stepped out, what they saw was almost otherworldly. The room was lit by a brillaint blue light. At the center was a large, blue holographic sphere floating above them. Surrounding it were several silver pillars. Team JNPR were in awe.

James: Team JNPR, I give you Project Arcadia.

Nora slowly walked ahead of her team and gazed at the sphere. She noticed something oddly familiar about it. There were shapes that looked just like the landmasses she saw on the maps of Remnant.

Nora: Is that Sanus? Anima? Menagerie? Solitas?

Dr. Roman: To answer all of that, yes. You're looking at Remnant.

Dr. Merlin: Though to be more accurate, it's a Remnant. But not your Remnant.

Nora: Wait what?

Pyrrha: I'm sorry?

James: What you're looking at here is another Remnant, one of many.

Jaune: One of many? As in like a multiverse?

James: Precisely.

Ren: Why would you have a projection of another Remnant down here? What's going on?

Dr. Merlin: *raises hand* I believe I can explain that. A few months ago, I had a vision of a great disaster that would befall the other Remnant. *deep sigh* Ozpin was dead... and the Kingdom of Vale had fallen. Nothing leff but ruins and scorched earth.

Team JNPR: What?!

Dr. Merlin: Yes, dead. At the hands of the dark witch, Salem. I believe you've heard of her?

Jaune: We've heard of her alright. She's an old enemy of Ozpin's. Ever since he's told us about the history between them, he's been training us to fight her.

Dr. Merlin: That's Ozpin for you. He's made the right decision.

Nora: O-Ozpin's gonna die? And Vale will... burn?

Dr. Merlin: That might be what the vision showed me, but I'm determined to avoid that fate as much as possible. This is where you four come in.

James: When Merlin told me of his vision, he mentioned that Salem gathered a group of rogue mages. Their magic was enhanced by a special Relic, of sorts; The Holy Grail.

Team JNPR: *eyes wide*

Dr. Roman: According to Merlin, this Relic is supposed to grant miracles. Perform feats of magic unattainable even for the most powerful mage. But if his vision comes true, that means Salem would get her hands on it.

Dr. Merlin: One way to avert this disaster would be to destroy the Grail. If that happens, Salem would be weakened. She could still be a formidable threat, but not enough to be invincible.

Pyrrha: Hold on... you want us to stop her, don't you?

Dr. Merlin: I'm afraid so. This is what Project Arcadia is; a form of multiverse travel.

James: *points to pillars* These are known as Coffins. Merlin and I were able to combine science and magic and use it for a new form of technology called Rayshifting. It transforms your body, breaking it down into its soul form, known as a Spritron. Once that's completed, you are then transferred into the universe. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work.

Dr. Merlin: As this is a prototype, we cannot physically send you to this alternate Remnant. Instead, we can send your conciousness into the body of your alternate self.

Team JNPR couldn't believe what they were hearing. This wasn't an ordinary mission. Jaune was trembling.

Jaune: Wait a second... I don't get it. Why do you need us to help you with this mission? What's so special about us?

Dr. Merlin: Those are fair questions, my boy. In the vision, Ozpin was surrounded by the bodies of knights. Among those were you, your Team and Team RWBY. Clearly, he sees great potential in all of you. Why else would he train you to fight Salem? Or choose one of you to be the host of the Fall Maiden?

Pyrrha: How did you-?

Dr. Merlin: Nothing gets past me, Miss Nikos. *smirks*

Jaune: *slowly backs away*

Pyrrha: Jaune!

Nora: Woah there! *gently grabs him*

Ren: Do you mind if we think about this for a moment?

Dr. Roman: Of course. We understand that we're asking a lot from you. Take one of the vacant dorms and rest up for the night.

Pyrrha: Thank you, Dr. Roman. Come on, let's go.

[Atlas Dorm]

Jaune sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling. The more he stared, the more he could feel an overbearing weight on his chest. Beside him sat his friends, unsure of what to do.

Pyrrha: Is everything alright, Jaune?

Jaune: *turns to Pyrrha and sighs* I dunno, Pyrrha. I just... this is a lot to take in. I mean, we're talking about a multiverse here! On top of that, they want us to go inside... ourselves to prevent Vale's destruction? That's a lot of pressure!

Nora: You're telling me. I mean, they expect us to just drop everything and say 'yes' to this? We're dealing with unfamiliar technology here. What if something goes wrong?

Pyrrha: These are friends of Headmaster Ironwood. Ozpin seems to have put a lot of faith in them. If he trusts them, then so do I.

Ren: Just because Ozpin trusts them, that doesn't necessarily mean we should. Something about Merlin doesn't seem right. For all we know, he could be lying.

Pyrrha: Ren, you're being ridiculous.

Ren: Am I? I don't think it's wise to just take what Merlin is saying at face-value. The fact that they want us for this mission and not have Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang or anyone else join us is pretty suspicious if you ask me.

Pyrrha: Look, I'm not saying that it isn't weird or that we shouldn't be cautious. I agree that something doesn't feel right. But think about it for a moment, what would Merlin have to gain from lying to us? And why would Headmaster Ironwood, a friend of Ozpin's, want to go along with it?

Nora: Agh! This is making me my head spin! Jaune, what do you think we should do?

Jaune: ...I need some air. *promptly leaves the room*

Jaune slid down the wall in complete exhaustion. He felt like he was letting his team down. He was the leader and he knew that they were counting on him to make a decision right now. But he was struggling. No matter how many times Jaune thought about it, there wasn't an easy answer to this. He reached into his pocket and took out his scrollphone. He dialed the number of the one person who understood the most; Ruby. Facing the camera, he waited until he saw her face. He felt a wave of relief upon seeing her again.

Ruby: Hey there, Jaune! How's Atlas?

Jaune: Hi Ruby. Uh, yeah... it's... okay.

Ruby: *frowns* What's wrong?

Jaune: *sighs* It's kind of a long story.

Jaune explained to Ruby about the dire situation he and his Team were in. His fingers were trembling so much that he nearly dropped the scrollphone.

Ruby: Hm. That's pretty rough. Do you think you can trust this Merlin guy?

Jaune: I'm not sure. I mean, if this other Remnant's survival hinges on us, shouldn't we go and help it?

Ruby: Well... what does your heart say?

Jaune: *small, nervous chuckle* It says I should go. I've always wanted to help others and protect those who need it. Even if that Remnant isn't my own, I should go and protect everyone there. Heroes go and fight the battles make sure we all live a better tomorrow, right?

Ruby: *giggles* Well if that's what you feel, then you have your answer. Good luck, Jaune and tell the others that too.

Jaune: Thanks Ruby. You're the best.

Ruby: *shakes head* No, you're the best. Make sure you come back in one piece, we still need to hang out at the Sweet Shack. *giggles*

Jaune: You can count on that, no problem. See you, Ruby.

Ruby: See you, Jaune.

Jaune hung up the scrollphone and held it close to his chest. Seeing Ruby made his heart flutter. He put his scrollphone away and opened the door to come back inside, only to see Nora, Ren and Pyrrha tumbling onto the floor.

Jaune: What the?! Were you guys evesdropping?

Nora/Pyrrha: ...no?

Jaune: Even you, Ren?

Ren: ...I got curious.

Jaune: *shakes head* Never mind. Look, I think we should help out Merlin and Ironwood. We all signed on to be huntsmen and huntresses. That means we do everything we can to save people from grimm and other evils. It'd be pretty irresponsible to just back out.

Pyrrha: That's a very mature decision, Jaune. I'm with you.

Nora: You can count me in too. If we can handle an invasion in our world, then a witch from another world is no problem at all.

Jaune: Ren?

Ren: I still think something's off about this... but if you feel it's the right thing to do, then I'm with you all the way.

Jaune: Thanks guys. *smiles* Now come on, we've got a cup to destroy!

#rwby #rwby au #rwby fanon #fate series #fate fanon #swords of fate #rwby swords of fate #arc kingdom #rwby arc kingdom #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #team jnpr #romani archaman #general ironwood #merlin #chapter 1

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spacedykez · 10 months

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why Jack by the forgetmenauts is a queer allegory* to me

*or metaphor. i don't really know which one this would qualify as

(even though i know i am probably wrong about this i cannot stop thinking about it and im going way too deep into this but its driving me insane and i need to talk abt it)

Brave boy, give your mother a kiss The woods are not as dark as they seem Don’t tear your shirt on brambles Don’t wander from the path

the first verse is from Jack's mother, warning him not to stray from the path, not to go where she tells him not to. she warns him there is danger if he leaves the known path. very similar to how society tells us not to stray too far from it, not to go where it can't control us. it warns that there is danger in anything it doesn't know.

Don’t talk to any strangers And be home by supper time

Again, we are told to be obedient, told not to talk to anyone we don't know. Not to go beyond what "mother" tells us is safe.

My fine young man! I’ve got something that you might like Stray a little farther from the road

Here, Hawker, similar to the foxes in Charlatan in Red, could be seen as representing queer people. Representing them telling Jack/us to go outside of what is "safe" or acceptable, and luring Jack/us in.

Not everything is as it seems! Don’t heed your mother’s warnings You’re almost grown

In these lyrics, we see Hawker telling Jack/us to be distrustful of "mother", who has told us to stay on the path, to stay where it is safe, and that anything outside of that is dangerous. He tells jack/us to challenge what we think, and sows that seed of doubt in "mother."

If every boy in every story had listened to his mother There’d be no more tales to tell 'round the fire

this one is a bit of a stretch, but to me, this lyric is saying that it's good to stray from the path. that life would not be interesting if we simply listened to what we're told. If we consider the "path" to be fitting in, conforming, and straying from that to be challenging societal norms and embracing queerness, then this lyric is saying that queerness is what makes life interesting!

La-de-de-de-de-da, la-de-de-de-da Come a little closer, Jack… La-de-de-de-de-da, la-de-de-de-da It’s time to wander from the path La-de-de-de-de-da, la-de-de-de-da Tuck this little treasure in your pack La-de-de-de-de-da, la-de-de-de-da You can take it, but you can’t take it back

And here we see Hawker telling Jack to come closer and leave his mother's control. Telling Jack to leave the path, to not conform to society. "Tuck this little treasure in your pack, you can take it but you can't take it back." You can't go back to falling in line once you've seen what else is outside of your narrow world. You will never be able to conform again, once you've realized you're queer. There is no going back. Once you've realized that the path/society isn't as it seems, and once you begin not conforming to society/not following the path, you can't go back to just falling in line, to following the path.

THANK YOU for listening to my deranged ramblings <3 please be nice >.< i am very much digging into this song and could easily be completely wrong. but. my queer interpretation of Jack!! because i am very neurodivergent about this band

#the forgetmenauts #be nimble be quick #the otter splashes

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queenofbaws · 5 months

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ho. ly. cow.

it's been a minute, huh??? well hi there, just a quick update from me, your friendly local scavenger animal hiding behind park trash cans: this holiday season sure can...holiday, amiright???

alas, i'm not going to be sharing any snippets in this one since i'm currently focusing on secret santa stuff and to share that would be, y'know, defeating the whole 'secret' part of things 🤫 but i'm really, really hoping to get back into some flash fiction during the final 2 weekends of december, so if you're lookin' for some sort of NYE drabble this year, now's the time to start cookin' those prompt ideas in your brain hehehe

but other than that, as i've been telling my dear, dear, extremely talented bud @unicornaffair (go read her stuff rn i promise you'll thank me), i'm hoping that 2024 will be the year where i can tie off a bunch of loose ends on my wip list. i am. desperate. to finish some of these, hahaha, so for the sake of accountability, i'm gonna throw my (ROUGH) writing plans for the year under a readmore. if you're interested for a sneak peek of what 2024 MIGHT bring, feel free to check it out!

as always, i hope you're all doing as well as you possibly can right now <3 the end of the year can be a tough time for a lot of reasons, so i'm doing my best to take my own advice and take it easy on myself. i hope you are too! <3

Projects I'm focusing on FINISHING:

-Until Dawn CREEPs: Of Mummy Men & Bathtub Soup (so close. so. so close.) -Dragon Age: The Tale(s) of the Champion (ooooh we're halfway there, ahhhhhh it's Hawke with the steel chair) -The Quarry/UD: Like Wringing Blood From a Stone (this one is. extremely fuckin ambitious, but what i've POSTED is ALMOST the halfway point of the story, and i have. a disgusting amount waiting to be posted so who fuckin knows. maybe.)

Projects I've been working on INSTEAD of my priorities and that I'm really hoping to be able to share but refuse to elaborate on because if i get too excited about them i'll forego the projects above:

-UD CREEPs: [Secret Title], a CREEPs fic from Ashley's pov - The fridge ghost returns -UD CREEPs: [Also a secret title], a CREEPs fic from Josh's pov - They JUST finished remodeling! -UD: If Found, Please Return - Sam writes Hannah a letter -UD/TQ: before the dawn, a bad moon rises - Emily Davis gets her hair sniffed -TQ: Fireside Tales - You kids really should've stayed in the lodge like Mr. H told you to -Little Hope: Storytelling 101 - Don't trust the guy running the souvenir shop in the burnt-down witch village. Please. Just don't do it.

Projects that remain up in the air under a flashing ?????? sign but definitely live in my wip folder and stare at me every time i go to write:

-Dragon Age: Well...Shit -UD: THE PIG FIC -UD: A very unexpected Valentine's Day -UD: Fuck No: The Movie: The Beginning -Dragon Age: As-of-yet-unnamed Hawke/Varric fic where they pretend to be married SPECIFICALLY to antagonize a marriage counselor -TQ: Firewatch AU -UD CREEPs: Dr. Hill and the Curator's very own fic, the fic <3

#queenie rambles #one of these days i'm gonna figure out how to be more organized and prioritize things appropriately #today however im going to continue filling notebooks with random projects until something comes together aklsjdfkljs

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oceansprompts · 8 months

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𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕪 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕤: ℝ𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝔸𝕔𝕥 𝟙

Quotes taken from Summerfall Studios' Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, from Act 1's first two opening scenes. . . change pronouns and text as needed. . . I tried to keep this lore-specific spoiler free, but spoiler warning.

❝ Four hours in a rented gym that still smells like socks and childhood trauma, and where did it get us other than -- bored? ❞

❝ You know, I had a dream where this exact thing happened. Except we were on stage. And naked. ❞

❝ We could be the Naked Band, coming soon to a really private auditorium near you! ❞

❝ I know you've kind of been at loose ends since you left. I was just hoping tonight would cheer you up. ❞

❝ It's... it's just a sobering dose of reality, you know? What if it never get easier? What if I never figure this out? ❞

❝ You will... You're too hard on yourself. ❞

❝ I think you fit. You know that, right? ❞

❝ Is the world too much, or is it just me? ❞

❝ Everything I set upon, unravels at my feet. ❞

❝ Everything I've learnt, wasted on a girl, who doesn't know how to be free.❞

❝ Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I just... I heard you from outside. ❞

❝ I'd give anything to join you. ❞

❝ All the steps I didn't take, and paths proved untrue. Is there any path through? ❞

❝ Though I'm about to wreck, you still have your life ahead of you. ❞

❝ All things that lose their way can find it again. ❞

❝ I also know what it feels like to be lost, to feel as if you have no place to turn. That's why I had to come inside. ❞

❝ I just... I didn't want you to think I was deranged or something. ❞

❝ Weirder things have happened, I guess? ❞

❝ May I ask you why you feel so... adrift? You're so young. Surely your life is just beginning. ❞

❝ Well, you know the story: nothing ever work out like you think it should. Times ten. ❞

❝ I hope to see you again. Perhaps soon. ❞

❝ I didn't know where else... I'm so sorry! ❞

❝ Wh -- what happened? Who did this? ❞

❝ I didn't want to do this to you. I... not like this. I'm so, so sorry. ❞

❝ Oh, um... I can wait. Take your time. ❞

[ sighs ] ❝ She really is dead, huh? Maaaan. ❞

❝ Look, I can see you know squat about this. So I'm gonna explain quick, but then you gotta come with me, okay? ❞

❝ No no no, wait! Where did you bring me? How did we get here! ❞

❝ I'll just wait here, and, uh, not touch anything. ❞

❝ Ha. My, my, you have had quite the day, haven't you? ❞

❝ Someone died in my arms. Where is this? How did I get here? Who are you people? ❞

❝ If you were real, you'd be all-powerful. You wouldn't be hiding, or... ❞

❝ Mm. Don't pay much attention to those old tales about us. They weren't very true to begin with, and... well, truth be told, we've diminished since those days. ❞

❝ That doesn't mean we're helpless, of course! Far from it. Yet, at the end of the day, we too are just people. Trying to get by. ❞

❝ Oh, I know, I know. Once we roamed marble halls, and now? Fashionably appointed apartments. We have wi-fi! ❞ [ chuckles ]

❝ We move with the times. We have to, if we're going to remain hidden and survive. ❞

❝ Oh, no. No, I'm not trying to make you believe anything. Not at all. ❞

❝ The only thing I do need you to grasp is that you are here. This is real and, like it or not, it is happening. ❞

❝ I know this will all come as a shock, and I'm so, so sorry to say it, but... I'm afraid you have to die. ❞

[ laughs ] ❝ What do you mean? What do you mean "you have to die"? ❞

❝ You can't do that. What about a trial? You aren't the police. Wh-why hasn't someone called the police? ❞

❝ You can't hide from this reality. ❞

❝ I'm not hiding! Though, a little lost here... ❞

❝ If you are lost, little girl, this bears explanation. ❞

❝ You must know I didn't do it! ❞

❝ Is this weird this is in song? ❞

❝ Did I... hear that correctly? ❞

❝ You've been quiet this entire time. Why speak up now? ❞

❝ Then we need to find out. Don't you want justice? ❞

❝ Oh, I thought we'd agreed this was justice. What would you have us do? ❞

❝ Wait, wait. I'm going to get some help with this, right? Some direction? ❞

❝ What do you want me to say? I can't possibly do this? This is unfair? You know all that already, right? ❞

❝ So I'll do my best. That's all I've got. ❞

❝ Otherwise, do whatever you must to find the true killer... if they exist. ❞

❝ And do help yourself to a cookie. ❞

#roleplay memes #rp sentence meme #sentence meme #sentence starters #roleplay #roleplay prompts #roleplay starters #ask box #ask box prompts #stray gods rp #stray gods roleplay #stray gods sentence starters #stray gods prompts #stray gods sentences #starter prompts #sentence starter prompt

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grjarchive · 10 months

Text

Fool For Love (1989)

The next day was hanging day, the sky was overcast and black Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink The hanging judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts — Bob Dylan, "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts"

Seems like the cover artist was a bit nostalgic for the Lonesome Dreams era with that art, eh? In fairness, so was GRJ; those of us who look into such things have noted that Fool For Love is probably the biggest throwback of the Strange Trails novels, and the most "western" of this more modern (well, at the very least, firmly twentieth-century-set, if a couple decades back) series. Not too surprising, then, that we get the most extravagant depiction of George's Place as a "western" bar, and Either Buck Vernon or Remy Fusil (more likely, given the etymology of his name) with a pistol that doesn't actually figure into the story.

Ironically, this is one of the few Strange Trails stories that isn't a throwback in some sense, in that it's not a story in flashback. No, this one takes place on the very night that all the previous novels have been told as stories, and it marks the point where the night really goes off the rails.

... Or maybe it doesn't, because maybe it's not connected to the canon at all. Right at the beginning of this one, Buck Vernon, our narrator once more, admits to the reader that "sometimes, I see things that others say they cain't. I don't think that makes 'em unreal, but may well be I'm watching like through the window in the dark at the bottom of a broken bottle, seeing my other lives." That's as close to a fourth wall break as you'll get directly from GRJ in any story, here disguised as a fifth or sixth wall break, shattering layers of reality beyond the simple biniverse of story-truth that we all pass through without thinking on when we pick up a musty paperback. This before he tells a whole story using names that weren't in the bar up until then, and a lover named Lily who sounds almost, but not quite, like lovely Lee, whose story was just told. Li-Lee? Objectively, before we really get going, we do know that Buck came out to spin some tunes for the crowd at George's, that the set's done now and he's sitting back having a few too many while Dylan plays on the jukebox - that very tune in the epigraph is the one described, and it's notable that in the story Buck narrates in real-time, names of characters come into play.

The WBUB special based on this book didn't help with the character confusion either. Don't judge the book by the adaptation, obviously. That's always the rule.

A young fool (Buck himself, thinking he'll play the victorious Jack of Hearts in Dylan's tale?) psyches himself up and picks a fight with Big Jim (Remy Fusil?), lover of Lily. The World Enders, who are still hanging around, and the Tumbleweeds, who we're just meeting now but may be the descendants of Sri Tumbleweed's thugs from Time To Run, get caught up in things. The brawl spreads, chapter by chapter, to bring everyone in, even crashing into the Cambodian opium den behind George's which we only heard referenced in Love Like Ghosts. But things don't go well for our hopeless romantic Buck of Hearts. After a seeming escape from the chaos, Buck finds himself in a back alley where, well, spoilers, but there's a reason that the rest of the Strange Trails stories, especially Buck's, run evermore fantastically through that deep dark wooded valley between the ridges of death and life.

Keep following this blog for more insight into Johnson's work through the years.

May you live until you die!

#fool for love #strange trails #george ranger johnson #grj #vintage pulp #pulp #buck vernon #pulp art #remy fusil #lee green #vintage paperbacks #western

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tolkien-feels · 2 years

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No please tell me more about your Eowyn is the Beren to Faramir’s Luthien agenda 🥺

I will try to keep this short but I predict I'll fail.

Okay so, the core of it is that there's a very, very strong theme of winter turning into spring that is repeated in both stories, in very similar ways. I would dismiss it as being a fairly generic metaphor, except, check this out

[Beren] did not fear death, but only captivity, and being bold and desperate he escaped both death and bonds; and the deeds of lonely daring that he achieved were noised abroad throughout Beleriand, and the tale of them came even into Doriath.

Which should bring to mind

‘. . . I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.’

‘What do you fear, lady?’ he asked.

‘A cage,’ she said. ‘To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’

It's not just that, though. It's much more prominent in the poetic Lay but Beren's reaction to the massacre of the Outlaws is described in very similar terms to Eowyn's arc. After burying his father in an unmarked grave and shouting promises of revenge, we're told

And then [Beren] turned, and did not weep:

too dark his heart, the wound too deep.

Out into night, as cold as stone,

loveless, friendless, he strode alone.

Almost each of these words actually has a matching passage for Eowyn in LotR, but it'd make this post too long to quote them all. But she's described as "a figured carven in stone" on the same chapter as she expresses her anguish over always being left behind - actually, the very scene where Aragorn offers her pity rather than love or even friendship, and she stands alone. And of course, that Eowyn doesn't weep and seems made of ice is such a recurring theme I don't even feel like I have to give you a quote.

When Beren first meets Luthien, he begins to cast away some of his despair almost immediately

A night there was when winter died;

then all alone she sang and cried

and danced until the dawn of spring,

and chanted some wild magic thing

that stirred him, 'till at last it broke

the bonds that held him, and he woke

from dreaming deep and cold despair.

The very first time Eowyn speaks to Faramir, this happens

She did not answer, but as he looked at her it seemed to him that something in her softened, as though a bitter frost were yielding at the first faint presage of spring. A tear sprang in her eye and fell down her cheek, like a glistening rain-drop. Her proud head drooped a little.

There's also a whole thing about how Luthien comes to Beren again and again, not unlike Faramir who has Eowyn walk with him in the garden. But that's pretty circumstantial.

More interesting I find a different parallel. It's too long so I can't quote either, but it's just before Eowyn and Faramir learn the war has been won, and in the Leithian, it's the beginning of Canto IV (iirc). There's a whole discussion of fate and darkness both times, and both Beren and Eowyn raise the possibility that maybe they were wrong to have hoped for the return of light.

What is even more interesting, though, is the extremely similar body language:

. . . she came

at the sweet calling of her name;

and thus in his her slender hand

was linked . . .

Which is mirrored by

And as they stood so, their hands met and clasped, though they did not know it.

And then also this

her arms about his neck did go,

and gently down she drew to rest

his weary head upon her breast.

Which, while not an exact parallel, reminds me a lot of

And he stooped and kissed her brow.

Like. Any one of these parallels could easily be a coincidence, but there are so many, that if Tolkien wasn't consciously making a parallel, he was at least thinking of similar concepts.

I'll also point out that when Beren and Luthien get together after their death and everything, they retire to "Tol Galen the green isle" and Beren nopes out of any further Great Deeds™️ and instead

. . . the Land of the Dead that Live became like a vision of the land of the Valar, and no place has been since so fair, so fruitful, or so filled with light.

Which should bring to mind

‘I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,’ she said; ‘and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.’

Also, I couldn't find anywhere to include this, but both Faramir and Luthien walk a fine line between being kind and merciful and being unflinchingly brave and strong to the point where they're dangerous if pushed.

It's not exactly that Faramir and Eowyn parallel Luthien and Beren in the way Arwen and Aragorn do, it's more like... How to explain it....... It's almost like Tolkien gave Arwen and Aragorn the Leithian story arc and Faramir and Eowyn the Leithian character arc. More or less.

......I should shut up about it because I promised I'd be brief. But as you can see I'm very normal about this

#slightly edited for typos

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skaldish · 2 years

Text

Bear with me while I brain-dump some hard polytheistic thoughts for a second

In fandom, the way we interact with characters goes something like this:

We first get to know a character through their original source material.

Then we workshop that character through independent thought and fandom interaction, through which we pick up headcanons we like and discard those we don't.

Eventually, we create an image of the character we like and can connect with.

Now, the Norse gods and spirits can't actually be approached this way because their source material is not actually their stories, but the world itself. Contrary to what we're taught in North America, the Norse stories are just the byproduct of the experiences people have had with the world. In Sweden, these stories are called sägner ("legends").

Let me give an example with one such legend: Jötnar, or giants, inhabit the uninhabitable wilds and are largely inhospitable towards humans. We know this because they'll try to throw rocks and boulders down on the heads of unsuspecting travelers trying to pass through their wild domains.

This legend was told to me as I passed through the mountainous region of Jotunheimen in Norway. It makes sense when you consider the mountains look like this:

The Scandic mountains are extremely old. Hundreds of millions of years have eroded their once-jagged peaks down to domes, leaving behind only dark, hard granite. The gray color of the rocks makes it hard to distinguish the mountains' features, especially on overcast days. Their peaks are constantly shrouded in clouds and fog, giving them an otherworldly and mysterious appearance. When a rockslide happens, it's as if it comes out of nowhere.

The giants' legends are the result of physical and metaphysical experiences people have had with the mountains over the centuries. In a way, the giants themselves have told us who they are. Sure, we can create a story about giants who aren't hostile towards humans, but that would fall into the realm of saga ("fairy tale") as opposed to sägen, which serves a different function within the cultural mythos.

As a culturally Calvinist nation, North Americans are largely taught that religion is an interpretive exercise of old stories, devoid of anything to do with the land and transcendent of all Earthly activities. This gives us the impression that religion is basically an exercise of thoughts and feelings, as opposed to something we create based on what we see, touch, taste, smell, and hear, be it physically or astrally.

(This is probably why Americans haven't known what to make of Heathenry for the 60-odd years its been here.)

Character and fandom interaction is also largely an exercise of thoughts and feelings. When the same mechanisms are applied in Heathenry, we begin to remove it from the context it was built upon from the start—animism.

It's very much why I encourage everyone to formulate their own UPGs via direct interaction with the entity they want to know about.

#norse paganism #norse heathenry #forn sed #forn sidr #asatru #heathenism #heathenry #I'm a hard polytheist though so take this as you will

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lullabyes22-blog · 1 year

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You've mentioned points you like about Silco? Is there anything you dislike?

Oh lmao, I have a whole bunch. But that's mostly dislikes on the writing choices - and my own politics and biases coming into play.

They will come into play, of course, because the consumption of art is inherently filtered through one's own biases. It's why I enjoy the series so much, because each take tells me so much about the viewer's own life experiences and worldview (CaitVi is adorable vs CaitVi is faux-woke Copaganda, Silco was a manipulative shit vs Silco is the best dad ever, Jinx blowing up the Council was an act of irredeemable terrorism vs. a reckoning both justifiable and overdue etc.)

But regarding Silco:

One of the factors I feel weakened Silco's character was the lack of coherent plan re: the nation of Zaun. A five-point manifesto etc that would detail what he wants for Zaun as an independent nation - and explain why people like Sevika backed him in the first place.

We get a brief chickenshit version during his parley with Jayce (amnesty, access to the trade routes via the Hex Gates etc). But the very amnesty concept is bulldozed by Jayce's demand for Jinx, and Silco just folds and laments in a way that's completely out of character.

However, I blame that less on the character than on Riot games in general. Anyone familiar with their MO knows they write their revolutionaries as spiteful assholes with no end-goal beyond ~*chaos! mwahaha*~

Silco is no exception to this. They likely also knew that giving him a concrete plan for Zaun's independence would take away from the villain status he's meant to occupy, and make audiences start to question, "Why is this guy actually making sense?"

It happened for a lot of the audience anyway. But much like Magneto in X-Men and Eric Killmonger in Black Panther, the narrative quickly gives him lots of Kick the Dog moments as if to remind us that the guy actually bothering to champion for respect is soooo evol whereas the centrist Papa Wolf type (ilu Vander, but dude…) who is preaching patience and passivity while their people are literally assaulted in the street is squarely in the right.

Of course, we're told the story through Vi's and Powder's perspective, so the man who kidnapped their dad won't win any brownie points. But the centrism-is-good/all-we-need-is-love narrative is deeply on brand for Riot. Heck, even Screen Junkies has called out their 'very fine people on both sides' style of storytelling. As if a Fair Cop with *misfit syndrome* from an immensely privileged background and a bunch of pampered pricks at the top of the social ladder are somehow equal in their level of suffering to a group of outcasts whose literal air and water is poisoned thanks to their indifference.

Jayce is interesting in that he's clearly meant to be middle to upper middle class. He's also the placeholder for many of the engineers and artists within Arcane's production team itself, so his struggles to leave a mark and break through social barriers for the sake of recognition mirror their own.

It's a sweet underdog tale, and compelling in its own right. But then they have Jayce inadvertently serving as the shining innovator foil to Silco's dark opportunist. And that's where the comparison falls flat because a boy from humble beginnings, but still in Piltover's inner-fold, is nowhere near the same as a man whose whole character is typified by poverty, corruption, and ostracism.

It's why Viktor serves as a much better parallel to Jayce (also the whole sciencebros thing is cute.)

Meanwhile, the popularity of CaitVi often tends to automatically exempt Caitlyn from blame, because she's not manipulative or fame-hungry, just ignorant. By the end *Her Eyes Have Been Opened* (and possibly her thighs, but I digress...) However, ignorance is by definition both a privilege and a danger, especially if it's ignorance at the expense of someone else's suffering. I guess in S2 they'll maybe low-key 'punish' her for it with (possible spoiler - Cassandra Kirraman's death), but we'll cross that bridge for her character arc when it happens.

Back to Silco though. Development into his Nation of Zaun dream was sorely lacking beyond wordy abstraction. I get that they wrote him as a 'svengali' type, so verbal thaumaturgy is his shtick. But if they really wanted him to be a 'sorta villain' as opposed to a full-blown one, then nuance re: his lifelong mission would've gone a long way. Ditto for him and Jayce being subtle mirrors re: the heights and depths of innovation, which didn't work, and which made the final parley scene feel kinda trite.

I, of course, welcome counterarguments. Just keep it polite<3

#asks #arcane #arcane league of legends #arcane netflix #arcane silco #silco #silco meta #silco headcanon #arcane headcanon

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team-heavenly · 7 months

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Drumroll‚ please! 🥁

It’s been some time, and I managed to slip on my promised deadline once again (thank you for your patience)... But finally‚ we return to the story of Teresa and Andrea in our Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Randomizer!

A few items of note before we get started (and yeah sorry this is overly detailed and lengthy because idk what it means to be concise, just scroll down if you're not interested):

Please be aware: updates to Team Heavenly’s story will not be as frequent as they were during main. I now work a full-time job in a field where my schedule is somewhat contingent on unanticipated emergencies. And in general‚ I’m just a very busy adult! So I unfortunately can’t give you an exact (or even rough) timeline of when posts will be released— It basically comes down to whenever I have the time to do it. But rest assured‚ the entirety of this tale will be told… eventually!

I’ve gotten my hands on a newer tablet since last year, so my camera quality is much better now! …However. While snapping pics for this post‚ a seemingly unavoidable digital blue glare persisted‚ no matter how I adjusted my screen brightness. When I subsequently ran these photos through the auto function‚ they didn’t really… improve? So I had to do a lot of manual tweaking… Anyway‚ all of that to say if one shot doesn’t look visually consistent with another, it’s because each image got edited a little bit differently.

I will link multiple posts for a single "chapter" (see last bullet) in the same manner as before, with preceding and succeeding parts linked at the beginning and end, respectively. I’ll also update the table of contents in the pinned post for continued ease of navigation.

Also, please note... last year, my older iPad somehow managed to circumvent any sort of (consistent) image limit. But that is not the case this time! There is a strict hard limit of 30 images per post. It's therefore likely that post-game chapters will have more parts than the main-story chapters ever did. (Though whether that actually equates to a "lengthier" chapter is up for debate.)

As the post-game content does not get separated into official chapters‚ I will be partitioning the story based on subject matter! For example, this first act will focus on the guild’s graduation exam, the next will include Sky Peak, and so on. I also intend to use a random number generator to select chapter names from this list. (I mean, c’mon, that's part of the fun of a randomizer!) But for the sake of clarity, I will be including the actual subject matter after the chosen title in (parentheses). Thus‚ this first unofficial post-game chapter is known as…

Chapter 21: Would you like to eat moss?

(AKA: The Guild’s Graduation Exam)

As a result of Teresa and Andrea’s heroic actions… The destruction of time was stopped and peace returned to the world of Pokémon. They went back to Totodile’s Guild and fell back into their daily routine of vigorous training.

One morning‚ several months later…

Pineco: “:/ Hey hey, why can Teresa and Andrea take the graduation exam before we do? We’ve been around a lot longer…”

Tropius: “…They literally saved the world and have proven themselves to be worthy many times over. Also skill issue lol.”

Don’t feel bad for Pineco though; he’s not the only one getting roasted.

Lol rip.

Anyway‚ Andrea asks the very sensible question of what exactly this exam entails…

Dark Chasm? Evil MANSION?!

Are you— are you sending us back to the future‚ Totodile?! WTF??

Oh! That’s easy enough though. I mean‚ compared to scaling a collapsing tower while Time itself crumbled at our feet? Pshaw! This will be a cakewalk!

...You know, this is really the first thing that should have tipped me off as a kid 🤦‍♀️

🤨 How convenient.

Okay, so he's not gonna be any help, unfortunately. Looks like we're going in blind. (Haha unintentional pun...unless?)

But for real, anything that makes Mewtwo cry out in fear and run away is a force to be reckoned with indeed.

As we enter Nautical Cottage to begin our preparations, we run into our stand-ins for Teddiursa and Ursaring! After a quick chat, Horsea reveals they are also headed to the Dark Chasm...

*seen (sorry).

Also, at the risk of beating a dead Horsea (aHA! TWO FOR TWO ON THE PUNS!), y'all go play WHERE? *gets hit immediately by a Snipe Shot*

Andrea immediately suspects something is sus. Unfortunately, this is the smartest she's ever gonna get about it.

Anyway, it's been a hot minute, so I go to check my storage and evaluate what I have to work with...

BRUH?? I do NOT remember picking this up omg 😳

So my plan is to equip this for the exam, right? But then I totally forgot to do that 😅

Also I don't have a picture for this but I was able to buy 3 Poké from the Finnkecleon shop for free lol

✅Mission: set ✅Destination: arrived ✅Chance of success: 💯😎🎆

Oh my god, this really is the future of darkness!! I guess our efforts to save the world weren't enough, damn 😓

🎶I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways🎶

A couple of Gummis later, Teresa learns the Lava Evader IQ Skill! Neat!

Me when Ivysaur used Fly:

Believe it or not, this actually almost killed Andrea at 96 damage. But the stairs were nearby and I wasn't too worried about it until...

Go figure, amirite?

Then Andrea reminded me of the awesome power of Blizzard and we knocked out everyone except Combusken and the Kabuto on the first turn <3 And she got right back up again in no time with the Fast Healer skill!

Does anyone remember that one time when I had the foolish idea to forget Quick Attack in favor of Helping Hand? Yeah, not one of my smartest moves. But I managed to find a TM in this dungeon that does the same thing as Quick Attack but better!

Here's the info for Quick Attack:

And here's the info for Mach Punch:

Higher power and hit ratio? Yes please! (Yes, I'm aware both are only one star stronger. But hey, every bit counts.)

I teeechnically have enough room for three more images, but this feels like a natural transition point so click here to advance to Part 2!

#pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd explorers #randomizer #post game #the guild's graduation exam #chapter 21

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mogoce-nocoj · 5 days

Note

I ALSO HAVE AN ELFKRIS WIP HELP 😭 i need to know about ur elfkrises please (both) it's like the most perfect au for him ever

skskkss it is!! it really is. I'm glad we're both trying our hands on elf!kris 🤝

elf!kris (sad) is past!bokris getting together but Kris kind of. accidentally bewitching Bojan? because of his elvish nature, and he doesn't want it because they don't need it but he can't stop it and it gets all sad and angsty

“My dear.” The hand on his face is gentle, parental, and Kris wants to duck away from it. “My dear, this will tear you apart.” “It won’t,” Kris whispers but his mother shakes her head. “You can’t forever turn a blind eye to it.” It only takes a hand softly pressed against his eyes and words murmured into his ears, a melody as intimate as it is strange, to make his resolution crumble in front of him. He grimaces but doesn’t cry when the images become clear to him, all the blink of an eye moments when the affection tipped into obsession, when fondness became madness in the briefest of moments. “Let him go, and you both will be all the more stronger for it.” “How will I know, then? How will I know that this is real?” “Give it time, and you will see.” And Kris hates it, hates how time can take on the meaning of nothing and everything, how to him a second can stretch into eternity while eternity still remains too elusive for him to grasp, never having been equipped with the tools to deal with it. He’s heard of it, of how dangerous strong emotions can be for the fae, nature only too eager to tangle the lines between sincerity and obscurity, a mischievous riddle to be solved. His mother has told him of love stories that have taken ages to unfold, of humans who didn’t live till the end of their day to see it and he fears for what time will bring for them.

but then I was like, man this is sad. really just too sad, even for a sort of fairy tale. i don't want them to be that sad. how about I don't write them angsty for once in my life and this is why I started elf!Kris (not so sad); which is basically Kris having such strong emotions that they affect how music is played, even though he's not really aware of it. But then they notice it and ask him about it at some point and he has to admit that's uuuuh. love magic! and that there might be a person he kind of fell in love with from the very beginning on, shocker.

“I swear such a person can’t be real,” Bojan says, eyes following Kris Guštin’s figure as he leaves the practice room. “He has everything, and still is — like that. What’s wrong with him, seriously.” Martin gives him a look, sympathetic at first, and then only shakes his head. Somehow, the next time they have another practice session, the chords flow smoother into each other and Bojan can swear that there’s a weird sort of spark in the air, right where Guštin’s eyes met his for the first time.

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starlightrows · 2 years

Text

1 — First Impressions

Hiding In Plain Sight

Pairing: Commander Wolffe x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: Canon typical violence and direct parallel to the show

Summary: Follows the events of the first appearance of our beloved commander Wolffe and folding you into the story

“The fleet is holding its position, sir” Commander Wolffe reports to the tall Kel Dor Jedi Master gazing out the front view port towards the massive red planet.

“I think it wise, to report our position before we attack” He replies, turning to face his commander and walking past him towards the command control panel. Wolffe eagerly follows beside him.

“Skywalker's fleet is nearby, in the Bith system”

“Good. Perhaps he can reinforce us” Master Plo comments, knowing his favorite padawan learner will likely be in tow with Skywalker

“From what I hear, Skywalker's always ready for a fight.” Wolffe comments, his brothers Rex and Cody have told him some tall tales regarding the young and… ambitious General Skywalker.

“So I've heard” Master Plo agrees

Wolffe listens as the Generals and young Togrutan padawan speak, until the transmission begins cutting out.

“There’s too much interference sir, we’ve lost them” he reports, trying desperately to get the holo back up online.

You were just finishing replenishing your field kit when your com beeped indicating an incoming transmission, General Skywalker’s chain code. You zip up your kit and shoulder the bag, not even knowing what the mission is yet but knowing you should probably start making your way to the hanger.

“General?” You answer the com as you speed walk towards the hanger

“Busy Captain?” Comes his usual boyish and informal tone

“I think I’m about to be sir” You speed up your pace, hearing the sound of his own rapid footsteps, presumably also heading towards the hanger

“Hanger 3” he chuckles

“On my way” You disconnect the com, and break into a run to make it to the hanger

“The enemy ship is closing!” Commander Wolffe yells, informing all of the staff on the bridge

“Prepare for battle!” General Plo commands.

The bridge is alive with activity. Raising the shields, preparing the laser cannons, getting men into fighter jets ready to deploy on the General’s command.

“We're picking up a large energy reading from the target, sir” Wolffe barks, feeling anxiety rising up within himself, looking at the numbers… it’s a massive energy reading and it’s still growing

“Open fire!” General Plo shouts

“We're not in range yet, sir” Wolffe informs him.

Outside the front view port, the enemy ship shoots a massive purple plasma beam

“Brace for impact!” General Plo shouts

The plasma beam passes over the Triumphant, and the other two ships in the fleet behind the flagship. All systems on the ship immediately begin failing, the control boards sizzle with electricity and what little sanity has been maintained on the bridge seems to fall apart with it.

“We're losing all our power!”

“That energy field has left us defenseless!”

“They're tearing us apart one by one!”

General Plo gets on the coms and alerts the entire ship to the disaster

“Quickly! Into the pods!” He urges troopers into the pods, refusing to get in until the very last second “We don't have much time! Get inside! Hurry!”

The pod door seals and ejects from the ship, just in time for the Triumphant to explode and send the pods and tons of debris careening through space. When the pod slows up from the force of the blow, Wolffe takes a look around his pod to see who else is even inside with him. Sergeants Sinker and Boost, and General Plo Koon… that’s it? That’s all that made it into this pod? He hopes the other pods had more men in them.

“We've no engine, communications, or... Or life support recharge.” Wolffe indicates

“So, we'll just sit here and hold our breath.” Sinker says, honestly feeling rather hopeless about the situation

“Someone'll come looking for us, right?” Boost asks

“Let's get the power restored so we are here to be found” General Plo cuts them off, attempting to calm their anxieties by handling what parts of this situation could be helped in this moment.

You run through the doors of hanger 3, and see the back of Ahsoka’s little lekku as she darts up the ramp to her masters ship. You follow behind her and hit the button to close the ramp behind you and slide into a seat in the cockpit behind the Jedi and his droids.

“Someone call for a doctor?” you joke, strapping in as General Skywalker takes off

“Maker you’re quick when you want to be, thought we’d have to wait on you” Skywalker jokes powering up the ship and taking off quickly

“If it looks like I need to be somewhere in a hurry, people don’t ask where you’re heading and try to talk you out of it sir” You make yourself laugh “Speaking of, where are we heading?”

“The Abregado system” Ahsoka fills you in “Master Plo and the 104th need our help”

It’s been over three hours, Wolffe’s legs are starting to feel a little stiff “The air in here is getting a bit stale” he comments. A true observance, but he mostly just wanted to break the eerie silence that had fallen over the group.

“Don't look at me. It's Boost, sir. He only takes a bath when he's on leave” Sinker accuses his fellow sergeant.

“Save it. Just keep working on the pod, not your jokes” Boost snaps. These two are usually nipping at each other's heels and getting on each other’s nerves. At least that feels normal.

“Do you think we've got a chance, General?” Wolffe asks, hoping beyond all reason the General will say something to inspire a little confidence.

“I don't believe in chance, Commander. I know if we work together, we will stay alive, and someone will find us” General Plo says evenly. The 104th has always been under General Plo’s command, but they haven’t worked with him directly before this. This is one hell of a first impression to make on your commanding officer.

“With all due respect, General, strategically, it doesn't make any sense for someone to come look for us. If I was in command, I'd be hunting that weapon down” Sinker says a little dryly.

“I value your life more than finding that weapon” General Plo replies. There is something about his tone that makes Wolffe feel like he’s telling the truth. Many politicians, military officials and Jedi claim they care for their troops. But somehow can’t be bothered to use the chosen names of their men. Come to think of it, General Plo has never used… or even asked for his designation number.

“Sir! There's another pod out there!” Boost shouts, probably a little too loudly for this contained space. Everyone’s head’s snap towards the view port, to see the aforementioned escape pod drifting through space.

“If we only had power, we could contact them” Wolffe muses, trying to wrack his brain again for a possible way to jump start this heap of junk.

“Well, how about we just wave hello when the viewport comes around?” Boost shrugs. It’s not exactly a bad plan, but it certainly isn’t a good one.

General Plo extends his hand, and waves it purposefully. The other pod shifts, and slowly swivels so the viewport comes into view.

“They're dead!” Sinker’s horrified voice gives life to what everyone surely sees

The glass is shattered. The body of a fallen brother hangs halfway out of the pod, and another’s floats aimlessly away from the wreckage. It turns Wolffe’s stomach. He can’t tell from here, but he wonders who’s out there… and what happened to them.

“Someone busted that pod wide open” Wolffe says as the reality of this situation dawns on him

“We are not alone out here” General Plo says, and air of suspicion and concern in his usually calm voice.

“So what I’m hearing is, strictly speaking, we’re not supposed to be doing this?” You ask with a twinge of excitement, it’s an unspoken truth that you can practically get away with murder if you’re just following orders from your General. Going for a joyride with Skywalker and Ahsoka sounds like an adventure to you.

“Problem?” General Skywalker asks, glancing over his shoulder

“Not at all sir, just making sure I know how to answer if someone asks me where I am right now” you grin

“No, that's not it. This one goes there, that one goes there” Sinker corrects more forcefully than he means to. Maybe the air really is getting stale in here.

“Are you sure? We don't want to make things worse” Boost just sounds tired. He’d been on the nightshift before all this mess happened, now he’s been awake for over 24 hours and still trying to work the problem and restore power to the pod.

“How are we gonna make things worse?” Sinker on the other hand is feeling anxious, this small space feels like it’s getting smaller by the minute.

“When you ask for trouble, you should not be surprised when it finds you” General Plo says over his shoulder, hoping to dispel some of Sinker’s nervous energy with his attempt at a joke.

“I think trouble already found us, sir” Sinker has hopelessly

“What if we connect these two wires right here?” Boost says clamping two wires together and glazing over to his commander at the control panel.

“I'm getting something” Wolffe says, tuning into the radio frequency

“This is pod 1977! We are under attack! Is anyone out there?” Another voice comes over the coms.

“It's one of our other pods!” Wolffe feels immensely relieved. Not that they’re being rescued but that there are others. Other’s survived this calamity. His brothers are alive!

“I repeat, we are under attack! Is anyone out there?” The voice is panicked. Wolffe’s joy turns to ash in his mouth.

“That signal is weak. They must be close by” General Plo says, looking over Wolffe’s shoulder.

“They've locked on to our ship! They've locked on to our ship!” The voice is full of a kind of fear Wolffe has never experienced “Our position is mark 12 at. 26”

“I have visual contact” Wolffe says pointing out the viewport

“Pod 1977, do you copy?” General Plo says into the mouthpiece

“The droids are hunting for survivors. They're cutting through!” Suddenly the sound of laser cutters slicing through metal and screaming is the only sound that can be heard. No one in this pod makes a sound. All they can do is listen, watch through the viewport as their brothers are murdered in front of them by roaming droids in a skipper designed to pry open these kinds of pods.

Then there is silence.

“Things just got a lot worse” Sinker breathes out

“What is it, Artoo?” you ask turning to the little astromech who’s beeping away behind you

“He thinks he's got something on the emergency channel” Ahsoka says excitedly

“Can he trace it?” Anikin asks

Artoo beeps in response and transferred the tracking coordinates to the main computer

“Well let's get going” Anikin pilots the ship towards the distress call.

Wolffe peers out the viewport. The droid skiff is getting closer, they’re heading towards the pod. “I think they see us” Wolffe points out

“It is time to go” General Plo says calmly

“Go? Where are you going, sir?” Wolffe is a little taken aback

“Outside, to destroy the enemy. I can withstand the pressure for a brief time. Put your helmets on” General Plo instructs Sinker and Boost as he heads towards the door.

“If you say so, sir” Sinker says putting on his helmet and sealing the bottom

“This is a difficult situation, but there remains a possibility we will survive” General Plo tells them. It’s not a promise, but it’s a chance.

“That's good enough for me. Come on, let's go” Boost seals his own helmet and lines up behind the General.

“Wolffe, keep the communications signal alive. It is our only chance someone will find us” General Plo instructs Wolffe before leaving the pod.

“Let's just hope someone's looking for us” Wolffe says under his breath, turning his attention back to the control panel.

Wolffe hears more than sees what’s going on outside. Exchange of blaster fire. Shouting on the roof of the pod, the droids making some kind of retort and return fire. Wolffe focuses on keeping the signal alive and praying to the maker that someone out there is searching for them and will pick up the signal. His head is starting to feel a little fuzzy. With no functioning life support system, he’s running out of oxygen. He tries to remain calm, but he can’t help but worry that no one will come. Or no one will come in time… Suddenly there’s crackling over the radio and a female voice on the other end.

“ —there anyone out there? Come in! This is Captain—” the audio is spotty at best “Is there anyone out there? Come in”

“Someone’s out there! They must be close!” Wolffe says through the coms to his men and the General. Someone is looking for them, they have a chance!

“Keep the signal alive, Commander” General Plo commands. Even he is feeling cautiously optimistic.

But as the battle continues, the pod is taking more and more damage. Wolffe clings to this woman’s voice. He wills this woman to keep following the trail, to not give up on him. But the signal is fading.

“We're losing the signal! The pod can't take much more damage!” Wolffe tells the General. No response. Instead he watches as Sinker goes flying towards the clankers, blasting all the while. He also hears the General’s lightsaber ignite. Wolffe turns his attention back to the radio. The voice is so faint. Wolffe’s heart sinks.

Sinker and Boost turn their coms back on so he can hear all of them speaking outside the pod.

“Well, General, this is another fine mess we've gotten into. I don't mean to say I told you so, but I never believed anyone would come looking for us” Sinker says

“Sergeant, why are you so certain no one is coming?” The General asks. Wolffe looks up towards the ceiling. The voice on the radio is gone. The pod is too damaged. He looks up towards the ceiling, where he guesses his brothers and general are holding on so they don’t drift away. He feels like he’s drifting away. He can’t even stand anymore, all he can do is sit on the floor and try to breathe as normally as he can with the limited oxygen and rising fear of his own disorientation.

“We're just clones, sir” Sinker says with a grim honesty “We're meant to be expendable”

And that’s the truth of it. The truth all clones know. That we are born to die.

“Not to me” General Plo does not hesitate and has no hidden meaning to his words. He genuinely cares.

Before Wolffe or any of the others can really process this exchange of words, a blinding light suddenly engulfs them.

“There they are!” Ahsoka cries out in glee

“Ready tow cable” General Skywalker orders.

“Cable loaded, General” you respond

The tow cable deploys and drags them into the ship. You get out of your chair and rush with Ahsoka to the cargo hold to assess the men for any wounds or other need for medical treatment. The doors slide open and you sling off your medical pack in favor of helping the two men down off the roof of the pod

“Are you okay, Master Plo?” Ahsoka asks, assisting her friend and mentor.

Wolffe propels himself forward, and managed to get a hand on the viewport of the door

“There's someone still in the pod!” You manage to get the door open and hear it hiss as air rushes into the space. The man inside slumps forward into your arms. You get him down to the floor and start assessing his vitals.

“Will they be all right?” General Plo asks you, nodding his head towards Wolffe but meaning him as well as the other men.

“Their pressure suits gave them some protection, but we’re gonna need to get him to a medical frigate. Now” you nod towards Ahsoka.

—————

When Wolffe opens his eyes again, sterile white light floods his eyes. He blinks a few times, it does nothing to dim the offensive overhead lights, but it does bring the world into focus. He struggles to sit up from the bed he’s laying in, he’s got a gnarly headache. He hears more than sees the door to his room open, and the lights in the room dim a little bit.

“Commander Wolffe?” a voice calls out to him

He turns his head and sees you standing in the doorway, he stares at you, watching your face come into focus. He recognizes you… seen you around the various bases maybe.

“Captain…” he can’t recall your name

You kind of catch on that he’s fishing for your name, whether he ever knew it or not, this is your first time officially meeting one another. You tell him your name “But people just call me Doc”

“You were the voice responding to the emergency channel” he says accepting the cup of water you hold out for him “How did you know to come looking for us?”

“General Skywalker’s new padawan is very fond of your General. She would stop at nothing to rescue you guys” you explain, taking a seat at the edge of the bed with him

“That sounds about right when it comes to General Skywalker and Ahsoka” he says with a shrug “Are you the medic for the 501st, I thought Kix was their CMO”

“He is, I’ve been transferred around quite a bit the last few months. The 501st are interesting to say the least, never a dull moment in that group” you chuckle lightly

“Never a calm moment with that lot either” Wolffe scoffs “You should transfer to the 104th we… well… we used to run a tight ship”

It is at that moment, Wolffe realizes that his entire legion is gone. He, Sinker and Boost are all that remain.

“There are other men already assigned to the 104th that have already arrived on base” you tell him “But they will never replace your brothers”

“Thank you Captain” he says with a grateful look. Too often the feelings of loss and grief are swept under the rug or dismissed during war. General Plo has always encouraged his men to take time to process their trauma when time permits. It’s nice to see someone else serving in the GAR following that philosophy as well.

You stand again from the bed. “Well Commander, I am happy to report that you are cleared to leave when you are ready. I hope I get to see you around sometime, just try not to land up in a med bay again”

“I’m serious about that offer Captain” he says after you as you walk towards the door “If you’re bored of the 501st’s chaos, the 104th would love to have you”

“Thanks Commander, I’ll look into it” you smile over your shoulder

“Hey doc” he says

You tilt your head, listening

“Thanks for not giving up on us out there”

#Commander Wolffe #commander wolffe x reader #my clone husband #wolffe’s wifey #Hiding In Plain Sight #HPS

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