#so the twins themselves get older and visibly worn and ragged with time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hoofpeet · 2 years

Note

Going off the Ingo and Emmet had a big fight before Ingo gets ebbie debbied.

I can only imagine how Spice would feel about this. Like they try to psychologically torment Ingo who only as fragments of memories, at best, of who he was and the people in his life. Spice fails, ends up being the warden's partner, and worst of all ends up having an emotional attachment with this man. Spice won't admit it, but he's come to like the strange human.

Fast forward and Ingo get undebbied from the past. Spice and the other pokemon follow cause they care deeply for Ingo and don't want him to be on his own like he was in Hisui. A wacky adventure begins and everything really looks hopeful from here on out.

And then they find Emmet and then it all goes south. Spice (in his Zoroark form) and the rest wait out as the brothers talk, until they can hear yelling. They hear the slamming of a door open and see Ingo yelling at Emmet to just listen to him, but before he can finish Emmet pushes Ingo to the ground.

All hell breaks loose. The other pokemon react but Spice is faster. He gets in-between Emmet and Ingo putting some space between the two, and while facing Emmet, he transforms. Emmet now faces himself but this him is not smiling and his eyes are full of scorn.

Emmet's Psychological Torture 2: Electric Boogaloo. This time with intent to kill

Ougggh... good food

#hoof draws #replacement ingo au #<-i actually like the concept of emmet being irrationally furious at ingo for a second after they reunite #like. processed as 'all this trauma and grief happened because ingo disappeared' --> it's ingo's fault #also tangentially. i like spice and sugar being like. shapeshifting entities who don't necessarily change or age with time #so the twins themselves get older and visibly worn and ragged with time #whereas sugar and spice are still mimicking the mid 20's version of their respective trainers #and eventually become representative of this tragic 'we can never go back to what we were before' thing #neway. all that to say emmet storms off to brood in his brooding spot while sugar tries to comfort him #while he's like. trying to rationalize being so angry at ingo . and after a bit looks up at sugar #who looks the way he remembers ingo in their younger years when they had a great relationship. watching movies together and whatnot #and emmet has a moment of like. god . i miss my brother :[#--> and has to go running the city looking for ingo #(he's passed out from crying in spice's lap at the park. spice threatens to bite emmet if he gets any closer when he shows up)

936 notes · View notes

manjehaal · 4 years

Text

Ignite the Stars: Chapter 2

Read on AO3

My Lady…

Her steely pink eyes snapped open at the intrusion, bringing a halt to her meditative trance.

“Speak,” was all she said, tugging her consciousness away from the vast recollections she had set it on, but placing her focus on the commander's muffled voice instead. It was better this way. To not be distracted by colorful hindrances, but to focus on painless tasks, and the will of her malevolent Emperor.

Lady Mayura, the plans are not aboard the ship and no transmissions have been made. However, an escape pod was jettisoned during the fight, with no lifeforms aboard.

What a sly princess, Mayura marveled, holding her fist tight at her side. “She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. See to it personally, Commander, that a detachment is sent down to retrieve them. The Emperor will be dissatisfied if the plans slip from our fingers.”

Yes, my Lady.

There was a moment of pause and then a hitch in his breath, just as Lady Mayura moved to silence him.

“Commander?” she asked, voice thick with indignation, having had enough of pointless conversation with hubristic imperial officers.

I’m receiving a transmission from his majesty, Emperor Papillion…

His voice came off as weak, much like the breathless drone of a corrected admiral. But he cleared his throat, evenly continuing. Lord Hawkmoth wishes to speak with you, My Lady.

“Very good commander, see to that detachment,” she said, voice hollow, as she ceased the sound of her communicator and presented herself to face her master. Her dedication to him was without question, but she knew the prices paid by her Emperor’s fury and the venom of his voice. News that a young princess had gotten the upper hand in their civil war was not the news she wished to present to her lord. Not while breath still remained in her chest.

“Yes, my Lord,” she said evenly, dropping herself onto the cold floor with her sturdy bow. “How may I do your bidding?”

* .

* '

* *

They move slowly through the Tatooine sands, leaving their trails visible to any creature that possesses eyes. Civilians pay them no mind, but the monsters of the desert are quick to follow their trails.

“How did we get into this mess? I really don’t know,” muttered the protocol droid. “We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life.”

The smaller droid ignored Threepio’s wailing, moving onward dutifully with a one-track mind for her majesty, Princess Marinette.

“I’ve got to rest before I fall apart. My joints are almost frozen.”

Bleep blip, was the only response he received, being willfully ignored by the steady persistence of Artoo, scouting out the land for the woman that the Princess had pleaded for. And so he turned, despite C3PO’s many protests, venturing into rocky land in search of settlements. Bleep blip, bleep blip, bleep blip…

“What mission? What are you talking about?”

Whistle, beep, beep.

“I’ve just about had enough of you. You’ll be malfunctioning in a day, you nearsighted scrap pile. And don’t let me catch you following me, begging for help because you won’t get it.”

And in his own malfunction, with the ignorance of a droid, Threepio parted ways with his companion, leaving each of them left lonesome, free for the taking of the night time monsters.

On the smooth path walked by the muttering See-Threepio, cloaked creatures with glowing eyes walk toward him silently, knocking him sideways and then quickly dragging him into the darkness.

Artoo, just a dome-shaped droid of blue and silver, rolls through as eyes peek through the jagged rocks. Though startled by the lit eyes of his attackers, he is defenseless against their numbers, being pushed to a halt and dragged backward into their transports.

Without defense, they have no choice but to let themselves be taken to the den of the monsters.

* '*

A line of dusty machines was spread out across the plane of dessert, being presented to Etienne and his handful of credits. Each model was unique in its own right, beaten and amuck with dirt, but of use, nonetheless.

Adrien paced his way beside his uncle, allowing him to bargain frugally while he pretended to observe the other models. His uncle had his focus on a red droid, and though it may do him good to pay attention, Adrien allowed his gaze to head back to the horizon, where the twin suns were ghosts of themselves, just two heavy moons that cooled off Adrien’s sunburnt cheeks.

Earlier, if he had seen it right, he swore a star destroyer had graced the air, leaving a streak of light across the northern sky. He had allowed himself, for the first time in many long weeks, to let himself hope. Even Nino had agreed, peering through the scope, that it was a rare thing to see. For something of that size to so closely touch the backwater planet of Tatooine. It often seemed like this was the only life out there, with no way in and no way out. People just didn’t leave. Not the ones who lived there, mind the bounty hunters and smugglers.

Adrien had seen the ship as a sign. A sign of an escape. A way out. A way to freedom. And he couldn’t keep himself from clinging to it.

“We’ll take the blue one,” his uncle said, placing a hand on Adrien’s shoulder and positioning him to look at the machine. Adrien just nodded, smiling at his uncle in approval as he began to inspect the droid for himself. Just as soon as he forced himself to focus, Etienne called to him, examining a gold-painted protocol droid, motioning for his nephew to come and follow. “Take these two over to the garage, will you? I want them cleaned up before dinner.”

He frowned, meeting his uncle’s eyes, but kept silent.

Adrien had hoped he would have time before nightfall to meet Nino at Tosche’s Station. It was a desperate attempt to gather the parts he needed to fly, to one day take off and leave the desolate planet. But more than that, it was Nino’s last night on Tatooine, being that he was sailing off at dusk to join the Alliance. Leaving Adrien behind in the confines of his protective Aunt and Uncle, as a useless farmer, with nothing to offer for the greater good of the galaxy.

He shouldn’t have ever hoped for anything else.

“You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done,” Etienne said gruffly, nudging his nephew toward the droids. “Now come on. Get to it.”

He sighed, turning to the golden droid beside him. “Alright. Come on.”

* .

* '

* *

He couldn’t help but feel as if he was running out of time.

The Empire’s steel grip loomed heavier each passing day, like a dark shadow on a once golden galaxy, stripping life and replacing it with oppression. For many years, the shadows didn’t reach the outer rim the same way it did the capital, but as all things did, even Tatooine was changing. Freedom was a myth. A place of safety was nonexistent. Everybody knew the Empire was corrupt, but nobody was brave enough to consider how to stand up against it.

Not until the Rebel Alliance.

Adrien had always been sheltered from the chaos of the infectious Empire since he had been a boy, being told not to ask questions and to focus on what he could control, like his work. But that was easier said than done as he grew older, being exposed to calamities he couldn’t disregard and news that he could never forget. Nino had been his first friend who had ventured outside of Tatooine, filling him in on many of the things Adrien would never have heard of otherwise.

The Rebel Alliance was one of those things.

Adrien burned at the thought of escape, to join such an Alliance, to have a cause. Moisture farming kept civilization going, but it hardly filled him with relief. Nor did it fulfill him the way it did his family. Not the kind of fulfillment he could find in blasting the Empire’s oppressive shadow to ashes all across the star systems.

Instead, he found himself scrubbing down a droid with a damp cloth while lowering another into an oil bath. “Very important stuff,” he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow and setting the rag down on his workbench.

Clearly, all of this was much more important than freeing entire races and civilizations. At least, that’s how Uncle Etienne seemed to see it. As something that couldn’t be helped. As something that had to be ignored.

“It isn’t fair,” he said softly, crossing the workshop with a fresh cloth. “I’m never going to get off this rock. Nino’s right,” he said, clenching his teeth as he dug away at the worn dirt of Artoo’s countless missions. The droid beeped sympathetically, turning his upper dome to acknowledge the attention of Threepio.

“Is there anything I might do to help?” the man of gold intervened, still lowering into his oil bath.

“Can you alter time? Transport me to another system? Quicken the harvest?” Adrien asked with a sigh, tossing the rag to the side.

“I don’t think so, sir. I’m only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyway,” he continued on. “As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure which planet I’m on.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, preparing himself for many hours of the droid’s rambling. Company is company, he decided, digging around for something more effective to clean Artoo.

“If there’s a bright center to the universe, you’re on the planet that is farthest from it.”

“I see, sir.”

He was growing tired of the formalities. “You can call me Adrien.”

“I see, sir Adrien.”

“No,” he said, chuckling softly, comforted by the company. “Just Adrien.”

“Adrien,” the droid repeated. If the droid could smile, which he couldn’t, Adrien was sure he would have been now as he enthusiastically made his introduction. “And I am C3PO, human-cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart, R2D2.”

“Hello,” Adrien said casually, beginning to scrub yet again.

He liked droids a lot. Though he didn’t go around admitting it, he spent most of his childhood interacting with artificial intelligence, finding company in the likes of scrap metal and wires far more than he ever did the other children. He had always been so secluded from the other civilizations, being demanded to work long hours on the farm while the other children hung out closer to Mos Eisley. Nino was the only kid at school who would walk the trek to the Mars farm, and even then, he couldn’t do it often. So droids, though artificial, had served as good companions more often than not.

Beep, beep, blip ...was the blue droid’s greeting.

Adrien was making no progress with the droid. “You’ve got a lot of carbon scoring here. Have you two been caught in a lot of blaster fire?”

“With all we’ve been through sometimes I’m amazed we are in as good condition as we are, what with the Rebellion and all.”

Adrien paused, his hand slipping, eyes lighting up instantly as he turned to the talking droid. He blurted it out faster than he should have, nearly leaping to his feet at the droid’s words. “You know the Rebel Alliance?”

“That’s how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning, sir.”

Adrien’s hands pulsed, turning to face the droid completely. “Have you seen any battles?”

“Several, I think. Actually there’s not much to tell. I’m not much more than an interpreter and not very good at telling stories…well, not at making them interesting, anyway.”

He chucked, letting his eyes dim slightly at the droid’s reluctance to tell him more. Usually, droids were more forthcoming than humans, which is one of the reasons he valued them so much. But due to humans, droids often had restrictions on what they could and couldn’t say, and details of a revolution such as the Alliance were things not meant for the eyes of a young farmer.

So he tried to let it go and focus on his work.

Adrien’s hand was getting sore from digging, wiping away at the worn machinery. He was fed up with the dirt lodged in the droid's mechanics, making it difficult to access his inner structure.

Pulling abruptly on one of the Artoo unit’s bolts, a sudden flash of blue light passed over his fingers, causing him to stumble backward. And then, lifting his eyes to the configuration, just a flickering silhouette of a girl, with eyes wide with dread, but yet hope. With strength, her voice carried a sweet spirit.

A girl.

A beautiful girl.

Help me, Caline Bustier, you’re my only hope...

. . . *

. * . . . . . . + .

. . + . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . +. + .

. . . .

. . . * . . . . + .

#Ignite the stars #miraculous ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Chat Noir #marinette dupain cheng #Ladybug #Adrinette #Ladynoir #marichat #ladrien #Miraculous Love Square #love square #star wars #miraculous fic #fanfic

6 notes · View notes