#Each season of the Mandalorian gets worse and worse

[darkladylumiya]

My thoughts on Tales of the Empire

I'll start with my overall thoughts - the animation is really good, though at this point the contrast between more standard Clone Wars-style models and the more realistic ones who look like they could be from a video game is a bit jarring (though this could easily be a just me thing, I've not seen anyone else talk about this), the Barriss arc was way better than the Morgan Elsbeth one, which I doubt was a surprise to anyone, though I still have some issues with both. My big thing is that, compared to Tales of the Jedi, where we get little excerpts and character moments to fill out the characters and their progression through time, here Tales of the Empire is more or less our only source for info on these characters at this point in time. We know what happens with Dooku and Ahsoka in between their episodes - we have no clue what happened to Morgan to get her from Dathomir to running a planet for example, or how Barriss went from inquisitor to hermit healer (though this example is much less extreme).

Anyway, into the arcs proper. Get excited everyone, other force witch clans are back! Like the... checks notes Mountain clan. Not Singing Mountain. Just... Mountain. Cool, thanks Filoni. A decade later you finally make other Dathomiri clans canon, but you just shave a word off a name and now it's totally your own original idea, right? And don't worry, we'll have more totally original ideas from Filoni later, but first. Okay, the first episode is kinda like... a nothing episode. We end the episode with Morgan in the same position as she was halfway through, with a strange plot where Morgan immediately tries to seduce people to the Dark Side because... I don't know, she can? And again, we have no clue how she made it off planet. Dathomir doesn't exactly get a lot of space traffic, and apparently there are droid gunships still scouring the planet looking to kill literally any Nightsister left. Surely the first episode should have dealt with her getting off-planet? And not her sowing some dissent in a clan we've never met before and never see again? Some dissent which immediately ends and goes nowhere because most of them are now dead.

Anyway, next episode, she's in charge of a planet now because she has to be for The Mandalorian to still work - surely her getting to be in charge of a planet should have been an episode? Have the first one be her family getting killed and then her getting off-planet with some scavengers or pirates or whatever, the second episode is her rise to power over this planet and then the last is her meeting Thrawn? But sure, whatever, she's in charge already, cool. She's the designer of the TIE Defender, because they love beating my boy down. I'm not even going to ask how a Nightsister who has probably never even seen a starship before her clan got murdered figured out in the however many years it's been now knows how to design one of the best starfighters out there. Let's actually address that though - how many years has it been? The Battle of Dathomir was 20 BBY. The episode starts with a shot of Coruscant, where we see six Venators before finally an Imperial-class Star Destroyer appears. This implies to me that this has to be early on in the Empire, right? The first five years or so maybe? But then in Rebels season four there's an episode where they steal a TIE Defender prototype. So it took the Empire, or I guess Thrawn more specifically, at least seven years to go from design to a single test model? That's just strange to me, but who knows, it's been forever since I've seen that Rebels episode so maybe I'm just misremembering how they talked about it there. Anyway, the thing that truly got me was Pellaeon and Rukh. Fucking Rukh. But yeah, why was Eli Vanto not here but Pellaeon was? New canon more or less replaced Pellaeon's role with Vanto, so why is he not here now but Pellaeon is? My guess - because Filoni wanted to cover all the Thrawn bases. He read a brief summary of people and things associated with Thrawn in Legends and he put them all in one episode. We have Pellaeon, we have TIE Defenders, we have fUCKINg Rukh. I genuinely do not know why the FUCK Rukh is here.

Okay, let me explain. In the original Thrawn trilogy from the 90s, Rukh is Thrawn's personal bodyguard. Rukh is a Noghri, a species who regard Darth Vader as the savior of their people because their planet got nuked during the Clone Wars (it was an accident) and Vader came in and promised to help rebuild the planet, which he did. Very slowly, so the Noghri would always be indebted to him, because as it turns out they're very good assassins and commandos. But the important thing to note is that they're sworn to Vader, and serve him. Now in the books they work for Thrawn because they're more broadly sworn to the Empire, and after Vader is dead they end up working for Thrawn once he's in charge of the Empire. But Filoni doesn't care, the Noghri are associated with Thrawn and so here Rukh is as his bodyguard testing whether Morgan can fight. As soon as she got attacked, I immediately guessed it was going to be a Noghri, but once I saw the face of her attacker I was much less sure, because the head is completely wrong for a Noghri by the way, their head looks nothing like that. But anyway I lost it when Pellaeon said Rukh's name, because I knew I was fucking right. We're just pulling out all the sick Thrawn trilogy references, but not actually using these characters in any meaningful way - Rukh is here so his character page on Wookieepedia can have a canon tab now and so Filoni can show off his cred of pretending to have read a single book in his life. Oh yes, there is another thing Rukh is famous for by the way. KILLING THRAWN. I'm sure Filoni just forgot that little detail. Or who knows, maybe he'll just recreate it word for word at some point because he cannot do anything but steal from other people's work but do it in a worse and more amateurish way. I was so upset with Rukh being here with no explanation or justification I really did not care about anything else that happened in the rest of the arc. Thrawn shows up and recruits Elsbeth and then the third episode is just her killing a diplomat and burning a forest for no reason, yeah sure whatever who cares. I simply wish at some point there would be a notable character from Legends who is just... left there, and doesn't get dragged by cowboy hat man into whatever nostalgia bait ploy or attempt to pretend he has ever read a book, because the nostalgia bait doesn't work anymore. It just doesn't - it simply pisses me off. You're reminding me of better stories while I watch your lame shows, Filoni. Is that really what you want?

Ugh. Anyway, Barriss. I have a lot less to say because it's actually pretty good. I think it's way too short and she deserved way more screentime, or at the least not having to share an equal amount with Morgan Elsbeth (who I honestly forgot was even in the Mandalorian, I genuinely thought she was made up for the Ahsoka tv show for a while she's so forgettable). Anyway, the fundamental flaw is still that Barriss's massive heel-turn change of heart came out of nowhere and makes little sense with her character as established, so while this does a decent job at building upon that, it doesn't change that her arc in The Clone Wars makes no sense and was obviously chosen so that Ahsoka could be emotionally devastated by her best friend betraying her. A different complaint I then have is like... when did Barriss, woman who killed over a dozen people in a terrorist bombing, at least one of whom was someone she knew and liked, Barriss who murdered a woman in cold blood and purposefully framed her best friend so she could get away with this bombing, Barriss who convinces a wife to make her husband into a living bomb, Barriss who kills three clones with her friend's lightsabers to set her up even further and leads her purposefully where she has stashed more of the same bomb material, and indeed Barriss who kills someone who seemed to be her friend with the same technique she used to kill the woman who was about to rat her out - you want me to believe she suddenly has an issue with killing a village full of people? I'm sorry, but you have to actually explain how she sees this as different. Because you don't actually address at any point how she might feel about her terrorism now, or even what exactly her moral compass is. Killing innocents is good when she does it bad bad when it doesn't make the political statement she wants to make? I just don't get it. Anyway, final episode is the best of the series because it does the most to actually have a moral and message and actually does something pretty interesting? Whether she dies or not (I doubt she does personally), it's still an interesting setup for something else, either another season of this or a comic or book or whatever, to come back to and follow what the hell Lyn (and probably Barriss too) does now. I'm also glad Filoni finally remembered Barriss's specialty was healing actually, and not terrorism, even though we don't actually get to see her do any healing, with the Force or otherwise. Oh also, why does she look so old? It's like she aged 50 years over the course of 10? Like Lyn looks exactly the same but Barriss looks like she's 80. Idk, that was weird. Anyway I've rambled long enough, Filoni is still a hack who's never read a book in his life, but the Barriss stuff here was pretty good, at least somewhat enjoyable throughout. If you watch anything, watch that - all the Morgan Elsbeth stuff is terribly forgettable or outright frustrating.

5/6 edit: I’ve fixed Eli’s name (sorry Eli) and while it’s been pointed out to me that Rukh is in Rebels, a fact I was unaware of, I’m going to maintain the rant as it stands with this disclaimer here at the end - Rukh was in Rebels and was not originally added in this show. However, I still think his design sucks.

#star wars #star wars legends #tales of the empire #thrawn #morgan elsbeth #barriss offee #sw #I really wish Filoni would get out of the executive chair at this point he's so clearly up his own ass #it's to the detriment of every project he works on #also like holy shit almost every show that's come out in the last two decades has been by him #the two main exceptions being Visions and Andor #And guess what! Andor was good! While Ahsoka was mediocre at best #Each season of the Mandalorian gets worse and worse #I guess also maybe Resistance? That probably wasn't him but I genuinely don't know #Did anyone watch Resistance? #But anyway like please for the love of all that is holy let someone else cook I'm begging you #If Filoni ever had it he sure as fuck doesn't now

[sourwolf-sterek32]

Migraine

Summary: Whilst on set you suffer from a bad migraine but try to hide it, not wanting to stop filming. Pedro eventually catches on and looks after you.

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings: language

A/N: This is literally just a comfort fic that I wrote on my phone while lying in bed with a bad headache. I get chronic migraines and it sucks and wish I had someone like Pedro there to help me, so I wrote it.

Also I wanted an excuse to write something with Pedro in his Mando suit, so here it is.

It had been a long day, between meetings in the morning and filming in the afternoon, it was safe to say that you and Pedro were exhausted. But the crew still had more scenes to be shot in this location and only today to do it.

The headache that was pulsing through your skull had started around midday and had only gotten worse, despite taking probably too many pain killers than recommended on the packet.

You knew normal pain killers weren't going to fix it. You had suffered from enough migraines to know which ones would be cured by painkillers and which ones would stick around for 24 hours regardless, and this was the latter.

"Cut"! The directors voice boomed across set.

You sighed, "sorry. That was my line next, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it was." The director responded from behind the camera for probably the seventh time in the past hour. "Start back from when Mando walks into the room."

Pedro nodded from where he was standing on his mark in the middle of the room, but instead of walking out the door to redo the scene, he walked over to you. His helmet was still on, but you could feel his soft brown eyes looking at you from behind the black visor.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, still in his Mando voice.

"Yeah."

His helmet tilted to the side a little as he stared at you, and you knew he didn't believe you.

"It doesn't usually take you this many shots to get a scene right." He teased, trying to lighten the mood as if he could tell that something was wrong.

The two of you always teased and made fun of each other. After working together for Seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian and in those few episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, and now filming season 3, you had grown close, sometimes annoyingly close if you ask the crew around you. The two of you were always getting in trouble for laughing too much on set, but neither of you ever listened.

"I'm sorry." You replied, not feeling up to teasing him back.

Usually, you'd come back with some witty or sarcastic comment, but right now, you didn't have the energy for it. Not when it felt like there was a drill constantly digging into the side of your skull.

"Hey, no, no, it's okay." Pedro quickly reassured, stepping forward and grabbing your shoulder gently. "I was just teasing. Don't worry about it."

His voice had turned from playful to concerned within a split second and you were grateful that he was still wearing the helmet because you didn't want to see his beautiful brown eyes looking at you worriedly. You were fine, it was just a headache. It's not like you didn't have one a few days ago anyway, you were used to it. You were fine to keep filming then and you were fine now.

"You guys ready to go again?" The director called out impatiently.

Pedro's helmet turned in the direction of the director, but he didn't say anything before he looked back over at you, waiting for you to give him the go ahead.

"I'm good. Let's do this scene."

He hesitated for a moment like he wanted to push this topic, but he simply nodded and went over to his mark to start the scene again.

To your relief and the relief of the director, you managed to get through the next scene without any major screw ups. The next couple of hours went by in a blur. You had shot a bunch of different scenes, but you could barely remember which ones you had just done. Katee Sackhoff had showed up at one point to do a few scenes as Bo-Katan with you and Pedro, but left after her scenes were finished, leaving you and Pedro to film your last scene of the day together.

The scene that you had been dreading ever since you felt the headache coming on.

A fight scene.

"Just like you guys did in rehearsals, okay? Take it from the top." The director instructed.

"Are we starting with Y/N holding the blaster to my head?" Pedro asked, looking over at the crew behind the cameras who all nodded.

Pedro walked over to his mark just as an assistant placed a foam mat on the floor for him to kneel down on. Once he was on his knees, you drew your blaster from the leather holster on your thigh before pressing the barrel of the prop to the side of his helmet. You closed your eyes for a moment, fighting off the dizziness. Trying, even through the pain, to remember what the steps were for this fight sequence.

"You okay?" Pedro's voice suddenly asked.

You blinked your eyes open to find the black visor of his helmet tilted up towards you, and you nodded which turned out to be a bad idea because that small movement made your headache flare.

You tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it was more of a grimace than anything. But before Pedro had a chance to comment on it, the director shouted action.

A switch flipped inside of you. The pounding headache momentarily forgotten as you shifted into character like you had done hundreds of times before. Your expression hardened, glaring down at the Mandalorian below you, finger resting on the trigger of your blaster.

"It's over Din Djarin. We have you ten to one." You said, glancing around your empty surroundings where your Troopers will be added in with special effects in post-production.

A beat of silence past between you before Pedro's gruff Mandalorian voice responded.

"I like those odds."

He suddenly shot his arm out to the side, his hand forming a fist and your eyes widened in shock, pretending to see his 'whistling birds' missiles shooting from his wrist and killing the Troopers around you.

"No!" You screamed, looking back down at the Mandalorian just as he hit your arm, knocking the blaster from your grasp.

Mando jumped to his feet in an instant and you hastily pulled out the knife from the back of your waistband and swung the prop at him, the foam blade slicing along the beskar armour on his chest.

You took a step back as Mando marched forward and you swung the blade again, but he blocked it with the armour on his forearm.

"Moff Gideon is controlling you." Mando grunted, blocking your next attack. "You have to fight it. I don't want to hurt you."

"Then you will die." You spat, swinging the blade again, but this time Mando grabbed your wrist and squeezed. Pedro didn't actually squeeze it tightly, but made it look like he was, and you fake winced before the knife slipped from your fingers.

Mando suddenly spun you around until your back was flush against his armoured chest, his forearm wrapped around your neck in a chokehold. Your vision blurred momentarily from the sudden movement, your ears ringing a little as Pedro said his next line, but you barely heard him.

The rhythm of blood throbbed in your temple reminding you of the migraine that you had been trying very hard to ignore. But as the minutes ticked by, it was getting harder and harder to ignore.

"You have to fight his control." Mando's voice said, breaking through the ringing in your ears.

"No. I have to fight you." You growled, throwing your elbow up as Pedro flung his head back at the right moment, making it look like you had hit him hard in the helmet.

His arm loosened around you and for a moment, you found yourself missing the close contact. It was nice being held against his body, wait, no. You buried that thought deep down in a box in the back of your mind because where the fuck did that come from?

You switched back into action and slipped out his chokehold with ease, but Mando was already advancing on you. He swung his gloved covered fist towards you which you easily ducked before he tried to punch you again. You were meant to dodge both fists before he would draw his blaster. You and Pedro had done this too many times to count during rehearsals and training, you knew there was a second punch to duck from.

If only your head would stop pounding because you were so focused on the pain that you completely forgot to duck to the left and the next thing you knew, Pedro's fist collided with your jaw.

A collective gasp came from the crew behind the cameras, but it was Pedro's shaky sharp intake of air that caught your attention.

The hit itself wasn't that hard. Pedro must have realised that you weren't going to duck in time and pulled his punch a little because you knew he could punch harder than that. It had happened once back in Season 1 by accident, and this was nowhere near as hard. Your jaw didn't even hurt, but the hit made the thumping pain of your head worsen as you tried to blink away your dizziness.

He was in front of you in an instant, yanking off his helmet and tossing it to the ground without a care. In the distance you heard one of the crew telling him to be careful with the costume, but Pedro didn't acknowledge them, his panicked brown eyes focused on you, and you only.

"Oh my God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't... shit, Y/N. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" He frantically questioned.

The world around you was spinning and you weren't sure if you were going to pass out or throw up, but yeah, you were okay, you had to be.

"I-I..." You began to say, about to reassure him that you were fine, but then black dots started to cloud your vision.

You stumbled back a step, but Pedro quickly grabbed your shoulders to steady you.

"Whoa, easy. Just sit down for a sec."

You didn't try and argue, not sure if you could even if you wanted to as Pedro slowly lowered you to the ground. He knelt in front of you, those worried brown eyes searching your face for some kind of reassurance that you were okay, but you couldn't give that to him. Not yet.

You rested your head in your hands and began to rub your temples, trying to sooth the sharp pulses of pain searing through your head.

"Can we get some help here!" Pedro shouted over his shoulder in the general direction of the crew.

"No, no, it's fine. I-I'm fine." You winced, lifting your head to meet Pedro's worried eyes.

"I just punched you and you nearly fainted. That is not fine." He responded, his voice laced with so much guilt it made your heart break.

"It wasn't you. The hit wasn't hard. You pulled it back, right?"

He nodded, "well, yeah. But it clearly still hurt you-"

"It didn't, but I've had a migraine all day and it just kinda aggravated it. It's fine. Just... just give me a minute and we can redo the scene." You reassured, rubbing your face with your hands as the dizziness slowly began to fade.

Pedro's eyes widened, "fuck, you've had a migraine all day? We aren't going to redo the scene, you are going to rest in your trailer."

"Pedro-" You began to protest, but he cut you off.

"This scene is not as important as your health, sweetheart."

Your heart swelled at the last word. Pedro had gotten into the habit of calling you that recently, it sort of came out of nowhere, but it stuck and you weren't complaining.

"Okay." You agreed because you did not have the energy to argue with him.

"Is she good to start the scene again? You guys can have a five-minute break if needed." One of the directors called out.

Pedro sighed, "I'll be back."

You nodded, but winced at the pain that movement caused and made a mental note to stop doing that before you watched Pedro stand up and walk across set towards the crew behind the cameras.

He was speaking with them quietly, but you couldn't hear what he was saying, although whatever it was, the director clearly did not like it if the frustrated expression on his face was anything to go by.

"Jamie, go and grab some pain killers from the first aid kit. They'll kick in within 30 minutes and then she'll be fine to do the scene." You heard the director say to one of the assistants.

"No. We're done shooting for the day." Pedro stated sternly before he turned and began to walk back towards you.

"We only have this location booked for today. It's your job to act. That is why you two are here. We have to finish the scene-"

Pedro stopped dead in his tracks, his head snapping in the director's direction so fast you feared he had given himself whiplash from the movement.

"Pedro, it's okay." You called out, slowly getting to your feet and silently relieved that the room didn't start immediately spinning when you stood up. "I can keep going."

"No." He said, shaking his head and walking back over to you, grabbing your arm as if he was scared that you would pass out on him or something which, yeah, okay that fear was warranted. Passing out was still a possible outcome at the moment.

"But the location-"

"You guys will figure something out." Pedro's stylist, Coco, suddenly called out, glaring at the director before glancing over at Pedro. "You okay with her?"

"Yeah, I got her. Can you bring some painkillers to her trailer?" Pedro asked and Coco nodded before he began to walk you out of set in the direction of the trailers out the back.

The sun was setting along the horizon, painting the sky various shades of pinks and oranges, but you squinted at the brightness unable to enjoy the beautiful view because looking in that direction simply hurt too much.

Pedro led you to your trailer, holding the door open as you stepped inside and instantly flicked the light switch that you left on and turned it off, trying to reduce the brightness. Pedro seemed to catch on because before you could say anything, he was walking around your trailer and closing all the blinds covering the windows for you to reduce the light.

"What can I do? Coco will bring some painkillers. Is there anything else you need?" He asked softly, seeming to realise that loud noises probably weren't good for migraines either.

You opened your mouth to tell him that you were fine, but then the nausea that you had been fighting earlier suddenly came back.

"Stay here." You managed to say before you rushed across the trailer into your bathroom, only just managing to kick the door shut behind you before you dropped to your knees in front of the toilet and threw up.

Your head pulsed in pain as the little food that you had eaten today came back up. This was always the part you hated the most about migraines. Sometimes you didn't throw up, sometimes you did, and you could never figure out why.

Your stomach heaved as you continued to throw up, when suddenly the door behind you opened and a second later, Pedro was grabbing your hair and pulling it out the way.

"Don't. It's gross." You mumbled.

"I don't care." Pedro's gentle voice responded.

You flushed the toilet to try and get rid of the horrible smell, knowing if you could smell it, then Pedro definitely could. But you didn't dare get up and leave yet, unsure if your body was done throwing up or not.

You leant your elbow against the porcelain edge of the toilet and held your aching head in your hands while Pedro remained silent behind you, holding your hair and rubbing soothing circles over your back.

After a few minutes, you deemed it safe to leave the bathroom and slowly stood up, Pedro quickly grabbing your arm to help.

"I'm not helpless." You sighed, glancing over at him.

"Just let me take care of you."

"You shouldn't have to take care of me."

He smiled softly, "I know, but I want to."

Your heart fluttered a little, but didn't get a chance to respond before there was a gentle knock on your trailer door. Pedro led you over to the couch and you sat down wordlessly before he opened the door.

"I got aspirin and Advil. I wasn't sure which type she wanted." Coco's voice said from outside. "I also convinced the director to give you guys the rest of the week off."

How the hell did she manage to do that? The last time you tried to ask for a weekend off, they shot you down straight away.

"You're the best." Pedro sighed with relief, taking the painkillers from her.

"I know. Don't ever forget it." Coco replied causing Pedro to chuckle softly as he waved goodbye before closing the door.

He walked over to your small kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge before he returned to your side, handing you the water before holding out the two different types of painkillers.

"You probably heard, but we got the week off now." Pedro informed as you took one of the bottles, not having the heart to tell him that painkillers won't fix your migraine.

"Thanks." You replied, swallowing down the pills with water.

You shifted one of the pillows to the end of the couch before you kicked off your boots and laid down, trying to ignore the thumping in your head.

Pedro watched you silently, but his brows furrowed a little before he looked over at the wall of your trailer like he was stopping himself from saying something. You had known Pedro for long enough to know that he felt guilty. The way his shoulders were slightly slumped and how he kept fidgeting with his fingers by his side, let alone the guilt washing over those beautiful brown eyes whenever he looked at you.

"Hey, it's not your fault." You whispered, but he just kept staring at the wall. "Look at me. P, look at me."

He sighed, but glanced down at you anyway. His soft chocolate eyes meeting yours sadly, "I punched you, Y/N."

"It wasn't hard."

"It was still a punch."

"Dude, you punched me harder back in season 1. That one left a bruise. But this?" You said, motioning towards your jaw. "Doesn't hurt."

"That doesn't make me feel better. I still punched you."

"Yeah, so? I threw us both off that speeder bike back in season 2. You have nothing to feel bad about." You reminded him and Pedro's face cracked into a small smile which you were calling a victory.

"That was a good day." He chuckled.

"I spent the rest of that day plucking sand out from between my boobs and ass, man. That was not a good day." You pointed out, but that just made Pedro laugh even more and you smiled.

The two of you fell into comfortable silence for a while thinking of that day on set. You lied, it was a good day. Just you and Pedro sharing a speeder bike that the prop team had designed and engineered to actually work. It was awesome, and the best thing was, Mando was injured and had to hold onto you while you drove it.

Nearly 12 hours of Pedro with his arms wrapped around your stomach from behind. It was a long day, but it was great. Even after you crashed the bike, the two of you still had fun.

You must have fallen asleep at some point without meaning to because when you opened your eyes, you realised that there was a blanket now draped over your body that definitely wasn't there earlier.

How long had you been asleep for?

You looked around your trailer in confusion trying to find your phone to check the time before you spotted Pedro sitting on the chair across the room reading some kind of book.

He was no longer in his Mandalorian costume. The beskar armour now replaced with his yellow vintage Lakers shirt and grey sweatpants.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." You said, speaking up to try and stop yourself from thinking about those damn grey sweatpants.

Pedro practically jumped out of his skin, not expecting you to be awake as his wide eyes shot over to you in surprise. "You're awake. How do you feel?" He asked, concern written all over his face.

Your head was still aching, but the sharp pulsing in your skull had gotten a little better, so that was a win.

"A bit better." You answered honestly.

"Good. Good." He nodded, seeming relieved with that news. "Why didn't you tell me that you had a migraine?"

"I didn't want you to worry. It's no big deal, I get chronic headaches anyway. I'm used to it."

"I never knew that." He whispered in shock. "How long have you had them for?"

You shrugged, "ever since I was a kid."

"Shit, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. What are you reading?" You asked, changing the topic.

If Pedro noticed your quick change of topic, he didn't point it out. Instead, he looked down at the book in his lap with a small smile.

"It's The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann."

"What's it about?" You asked curiously.

He flicked through the pages and chuckled to himself before looking over at you. "It's basically a 706-page book about, uh, death."

You laughed, but that laugh turned into a wince when pain in your head flashed hard and hot. "Don't make me laugh."

Pedro's expression softened, "sorry. I can't help it. I'm just a naturally funny guy."

"More like naturally annoying." You shot back.

"Ouch." He gasped, resting his hand over his heart dramatically. "You, my dear, wound me."

You rolled your eyes at his antics before you sat up, wrapping the blanket around your body tightly as you looked around, still trying to figure out what time it was.

"It's about seven-ish. Do you think you can eat something? Coco offered to drop off takeaway if we wanted." Pedro suddenly said, like he could somehow read your mind.

"I'd like that."

"Great. I'll call her now." He beamed happily. "What do you feel like?"

"Whatever you want. I don't mind."

He sighed, expecting that answer after knowing you for so long. You could never choose where to eat, and he knew that, despite his best efforts over the years to make you choose.

"Five Guys? They do a really good strawberry milkshake." He suggested instead of trying to force you to pick something.

"I would love you if you got me a strawberry milkshake."

"You love me anyway." He teased, bookmarking his novel before pulling out his phone from his pocket.

"Yeah, I do." You replied honestly.

He would never know how true those words actually were though, but that was okay. There was no way you'd admit your feelings to him. You'd rather have Pedro as your best friend than risk losing him forever.

His beautiful brown eyes locked with yours across the room when he mentioned two large strawberry milkshakes over the phone. He smiled brightly at you, and you couldn't stop yourself from smiling back at him, soaking up the moment not wanting it to end.

-

THE END.

-

MASTERLIST pinned to profile.

Commissions open! Link in bio & DM for enquiries❤️

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x you #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal imagine #the mandalorian

[livyjh]

Keep Going

Din Djarin x Reader (AFAB reader, no gendered terms used, just body parts)

Rating: EXPLICIT 18+

Word count: 1.9k

Summary: The Mandalorian gets hurt while trying to capture a bounty. He comes back to the Razor Crest and you patch him up, making him feel better in more ways than one.

Can be found on ao3 here

Din Djarin Masterlist

A/N: I’m thinking this takes place before season 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Stop moving.” You tell Mando.

“It fucking hurts, Y/n.” He hisses as you clean the front of his wounded shoulder.

He wasn’t usually one to complain. Not like this, anyways. He’d just bite the bullet and suffer through the pain. But you could tell he was really hurting when he was verbal about it.

“I know. I’m sorry. Just let me take care of you.” You sigh, finishing cleaning his wound with alcohol before applying bacta spray.

He sighed with relief as the cool bacta met his skin, helping to numb the pain a little. You applied a gauze pad and taped it to him, standing back and looking at your work.

He was sat on the edge of his bed compartment, only in his helmet and pants at the moment. When he’d gotten back with his bounty, he was groaning as he put the criminal in carbonite.

You came down from the cockpit to see what was going on and saw how banged up he was. You helped remove his armor and boots and then turned away so he could quickly remove his helmet and shirt, turning back only when he told you it was okay.

You’ve been traveling with the Mandalorian roughly three weeks. He hired you as a maid of sorts. Doing all the menial tasks that were below his pay grade. Cleaning his weapons, armor, and ship. Keeping food stocked. Doing mechanical maintenance on the ship when needed, but he always liked to help with that part.

You put the med kit away and then turn back to him. You stare at his chest for a moment too long, then lift your eyes back up to his visor.

He was breathing hard, hands on his thighs, occasionally making a fist when a wave of pain washed over him. The bacta was fast. Just not that fast.

You step closer to him, now able to smell his woodsy scent. “Anything else I can do to help?”

There had been sexual tension between you and the Mandalorian from day one. That, you knew for sure. When he first interviewed you, to make sure you were the right person to hire, his handshakes lingered. He thought hard before each response to you. You’re pretty sure his helmet was tilted down just slightly towards your chest several times while he was questioning you.

“You’ve done plenty. Thank you.” Mando nods.

“A massage maybe?” You suggest quickly before he gets up.

He sighs. “It’s been years since I’ve had a massage. I would be grateful.”

“Alright, lay down on your stomach.” You smile at him and he does what you say, moving (slowly and carefully so he doesn’t hurt his shoulder worse) to lay down.

You admired his ass for a moment as he did so before climbing up into the compartment and straddling the back of his hips.

He lets out a long sigh as you do this, and you’re pretty sure he’s been touch-starved most of his life. In fact, based on what he’s told you about himself, you know it.

You start with his shoulders, careful not to press down on his injured one too much. You dig your thumbs in gently, repeatedly pressing them forward up the backs of his shoulders. He’s still breathing hard.

Your hands move down, gradually reaching his low back and moving back up.

He groans when you touch a particularly sensitive spot on his mid-back.

“Sorry. I can try and loosen it up. Or I’ll leave it alone if you want.” You offer.

“Please keep going.” He breathes.

You do as he asks, rubbing the spot in gentle circles to try and relax the muscle there.

You decide to dig a little deeper and you lean down, pressing your elbow into his back.

“Fuck.” He gasps.

“Shit, sorry.” You’re sure you’ve hurt him.

“Keep. Going.” He orders with a soft whine and you lean down once more.

You put your elbow against his back, pushing down and circling it. Mando’s breathing picks up, not harder, but faster. You watch as he fists his hands in the blankets by his head and it makes heat pool between your legs.

Once you feel the spot is relatively loosened up, you go back to using both hands to massage his back up and down. He lets out a shaky sigh.

“Don’t move.” He says quietly. Then he quickly turns over underneath you and-

Oh.

Oh.

Mando is hard as a rock, pressed against your heat.

You gulp. “Are we doing this?”

He nods up at you, hands resting on your thighs for a moment before slowly moving them up over your hips.

You bite your lip and grind down against him, moaning softly. He lets out a low sound, gripping your hips. You rock them back and forth against his crotch, wishing there was less clothing on you both.

You pull your shirt and bra off and his hands come up to cup your breasts. He squeezes them lightly, kneading them and playing with them, making your eyes flutter shut.

His hands move down after a minute, unbuttoning and unzipping your pants. One of his hands goes down into your panties, quickly finding your clit and teasing it with his fingertip.

“Fuck, Mando.” You breathe out.

“My name is Din.” He says sweetly as he pushes a finger into your wetness.

“Din…” you moan, opening your eyes again, looking down at him.

“You look so good like this. Feel so good.” He groans, thrusting his thick finger in and out of you slowly. “So fucking wet for me.”

You nod frantically, grinding down against his hand. “All f- for you.” You whine.

“I know, sweetheart.” He hums and pushes a second digit into you.

You gasp and brace yourself, hands on his chest. If he keeps going like this, you’re going to cum on his fingers.

He starts thrusting them faster, making them dip deep inside of you each time. You dig your nails into his skin, “Oh, Maker, yes.”

Din growls up at you, his hips bucking once to remind you how aroused he was. He continues fucking you with his fingers, getting you closer.

“Gonna- I’m gonna cum.” You breathe out, jaw dropping.

“Cum for me, baby. Come on, you can do it.” He coos, encouraging you.

You squeeze around his fingers as your orgasm hits you, cumming hard and whining his name.

“Fuuuck.” He sighs, working you through your euphoric high.

After a few moments, his fingers slow down and eventually stop, pulling out of you.

His free hand lifts his helmet just enough for you to see his chin, then his fingers covered in your slick come up to his mouth. He sucks on them for a minute, moaning around them and rolling his hips against yours.

“Maker.” You gulp. He has fairly groomed facial hair. Not too much, not too little. You wondered if he’d ever take the helmet all the way off for you. But for now, you were satisfied with this.

He pulls his fingers away and lowers his helmet once more. “Knew you’d taste good.”

You bite your lip and smile softly.

“Take off the rest of your clothes, sweetheart.” He rubs your cloth covered thighs.

You nod and get up for a moment, quickly getting naked. You watch him as he pulls out his cock and strokes it a few times. You almost gasp at the sight of it. It’s a beautiful cock, you think.

Din pats his hips at you, “Come sit.” He hums.

You gulp and nod, climbing back on top of him. You hover for a moment as he lines up against your entrance. Then you sink down onto his hardness.

“Oh, fuck.” You let out a broken moan, lasting until you were fully seated on him.

“You’re so tight.” He’s panting, gripping your thighs as he watches you.

This was probably the most perfectly full you’ve ever felt. No other person or even toy could compare to how this felt right now. He was throbbing inside you as you lifted your hips and then pushed down once more.

His short nails managed to dig into your thighs as you did this, leaving little crescent moon shapes. You bit back a moan, starting a medium pace of thrusting your hips up and down.

He held onto you like you were going to float away if he didn’t. His head was tilted back right now and you could see his beautiful Adam’s apple and the edges of his sharp jaw. Maker, you wanted to kiss it.

You plant your hands on his ribcage, supporting yourself as your body rolled on top of his. You lean down and press your lips to his collarbone and he shivers.

“You okay?” You look up at him.

“Haven’t- fuck… haven’t been touched in so long.” He breathes out.

“Like I said earlier…” you trail off, kissing his neck. “Let me take care of you.”

Din whines as you start to thrust down on him harder, barely nodding in response so his helmet didn’t hit your head with how close you were.

He’s almost shaking now, holding onto you tightly. One hand breaks away from your leg, reaching to the buttons on the wall inside the compartment. He shuts the door and then turns out the light inside.

“Woah, I cannot see anything.” You laugh a little.

“That’s the idea.” He says and you feel his arms reach up, take off his helmet and set it down by his head before grabbing your face and pulling you up to kiss him.

You whimper into his mouth, pussy squeezing around him. You’re both panting into each other’s mouths, tongues swirling and lips teasing each other’s.

“Din, you feel so good.” You whine and kiss him hard.

He kisses back just as enthusiastically, one hand moving down your back to grab your ass. The other hand finding your clit and rubbing it in circles with two fingers.

You groan against him, thrusting faster and rubbing down against him. You feel your thighs start to shake as your second orgasm gets closer.

“Not yet.” He moans into your ear, sucking your earlobe into his mouth. Your eyes roll back in your head as you try to keep from cumming too soon.

“Almost.” He reassures you and kisses your neck, his facial hair making you tingle delightfully.

“Fuck.” You whine into his ear, not knowing how much longer you could go.

His hips start bucking up in time with yours, pushing somehow even deeper into you. “N- now.” He sighs as his cock twitches and he releases inside you.

As he fills you, your body goes into overdrive, second wave washing over you. “Din-!” You gasp, slamming down onto him hard.

He grunts as he fucks up into you, both of you gradually slowing. Once you’re both stopped, you stay on top of him, warming his cock.

“We should’ve done that weeks ago.” You sigh happily.

Din’s chest vibrates as he laughs softly. It’s the first time you’ve heard him laugh without the modulator in his helmet and you could really imagine getting used to it. But you tried not to get too far ahead of yourself.

“We only met a few weeks ago.” He hums.

You kiss him sweetly. “I know.”

#fanfic #fanfiction #smut #imagine #imagines #din djarin #reader insert #din djarin smut #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #din djarin fanfiction #mando x y/n #it's mando hours #mando x reader #mando fanfiction #mando x you #mando fic #mandalorian smut #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #mandalorian #hurt/comfort #Hurt!Din Djarin #afab reader

[rise-my-angel]

People pretending like The Book of Boba Fett was so bad that it's worth ignoring has snowballed into this season also ignoring it.

Sorry, but I found the loyalty and friendship between Din and Boba Fett to be well developed and touching.

Boba has no one but Din left on his side and assumes he'll be leaving too. Din assures him that he won't, that he swears by the loyalty set by his creed. Boba quietly asks if he really believes "that bantha fodder".

Din doesn't hesistate to say yes. And Boba, very quiet but extremely relieved goes "Good." And thats it.

They are friends. They respect each other and stuck by each others side and use their strengths together and cover their weaknesses. And their fighting scenes was some of the best multi Mandalorian action scenes in both shows.

I am dead serious go rewatch those last episodes of both season 2 and tbobf. And tell me that that was WORSE then what season 3 is trying to push.

It's not. Say what you will about the show as a whole, but pretending like it's flaws outweigh the deep and touching companionship Din and Fett developed is insulting to both of them.

Bo Katan insults Din with no care of his feelings or loyalty, and then stomps all over him and gets to be better and save the people. Boba NEVER let their differences in belief effect how he viewed and respected Din, and they worked together to fight the Pykes without one ever outshining the other.

You wanna claim Din is helping at Bo's side? Then why do none of their scenes together ever feel like these

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian season 3 spoilers #the book of boba fett

[brujitaadinbo]

I find it curious that many people who did not understand the "sanctuary" chapter in season 1 of The Mandalorian, have the luxury of criticizing chapter 22 of season 3 of this series without solid arguments.

Practically in "The Sanctuary" they show us a clear mirage of what Din longs for in the deepest part of his heart; belong and create bonds, have a house and someone who loves and waits for you. The point was that he couldn't take that temptation, that illusion, with Omera or Sorgan. Because he did not feel part of that world, Grogu came into his life, the changes began and his life began to get on track. It's not that I don't want it; He is waiting for the perfect moment and the right person.

It seems pathetic to me that they want to deny Bo katan, as a possible interest and connection to Din, just because of his "age, rank, status" when he himself told him that those things did not matter to him.

That they want to pigeonhole him to a "simple" life when practically being a Mandalorian is the least simple thing about SW. And by adopting Grogu, of course, the tasks grow.

It's stupid to want to fit Din with a character like Omera; when she was from the beginning a secondary character, that not even the creed could respect.

They see Omera as the prototype of a “submissive couple” and how sad that they pigeonhole her into that and worse that they say that Din needs or wants a partner like that; when we have seen that what Din is least looking for is a nanny or housewife (be careful, these roles should never be ridiculed because it is not correct)

But it is no coincidence that in an entire chapter like 22 Show us that Din and Bo work so harmoniously.

We see them as that team that seems to have known each other for a long time and in reality is not like that; there is synchrony. Then all the symbolism of couples that could have been; those that were not, those that are and those that will be. coincidence??

And love is really like that; It does not have a pattern or guide, it is not even tangible but it is felt. So; Why continue denying chemistry?

Just because Bo Katan has always broken with those stereotypes of "weak women" Bo katan is a warrior, helpful, a woman who has had to make difficult decisions, someone who fights for what she loves; It makes sense that Din would be attracted to someone like that, someone who has given him a greater purpose.

It causes me a lot of noise that at the moment the Duchess hands the key to Bo; a key that is a clear symbol of something that can open many doors, be the guardian of that something, on the planet of "Pleasure" They are given a symbolism of that size, a key so big

What do they want? Because something that size is not easily lost, unless it is stolen. Something that size stays very close to you. coincidence??? I don't believe it.

Then the Duchess closes with that "You can come back here whenever you want, you are welcome."

You really mean what? Invites you to return to the planet of "pleasure" How appropriate, don't you think?

Showing that bond between the three of them and then saying that they are not like a new family… my god, not even they believe that.

And worse, there are people who say that Din imposes motherhood on her; when she little by little became interested in the child at first to rescue him, even though she already had her own priorities. Afterwards she bonds with him and treats him as an equal, she doesn't see him as a stuffed animal, she sees him as a thinking and emotional being. And she takes care of him and is affectionate. For God's sake, you really have to connect your neurons before "criticizing"

It surprises me that there are still people who say "this boring season, what changed?"

God, did I pay you an appointment with the eye doctor? did you really watch the series?

I just want to close with this; Grogu is a sworn knight of the Duchess, from Plazir 15, coincidentally he is a sworn knight of Bo katan and this new shipment with his father…

coincidence?? I don't believe it this is the way.

#the mandalorian #star wars #dinbo #bokadin #this is the way #bo katan kryze #bo katan x din #din djarin #din x bo #clandetres #lucasfilm #loveislove #clan of three

[antianakin]

Just saw a comparison between Sabine/Ezra and Obitine as ships and like. There are quite literally zero similarities between these ships besides the male character in the ship being a Jedi and the female character in the ship being a Mandalorian.

Sabine and Satine, despite the unfortunate similarity in their names, are nowhere near even being similar characters. Sabine, obviously, is very much not a pacifist. Sabine also appears to actually be competent at the things the show tells us she is competent at, recognizes when she probably shouldn't be a leader because she just doesn't have the qualifications for it, and is allowed to have flaws that she can grow past. Satine manages to be completely and insanely incompetent at everything the show says she is very good at, is a leader despite seeming to be pretty shit at it, and never has any of her flaws acknowledged so they come across less as intentional flaws to make her more nuanced and more like just horrifically bad writing and she never gets to grow at all.

Obi-Wan and Ezra DO have more similarities, primarily because both of them follow the same general code with similar values and priorities due to Ezra having learned from Kanan who is passing on the same values Obi-Wan would have grown up with.

But Ezra's dynamic with Sabine is so wildly different from Obi-Wan's with Satine that it isn't even funny.

Obi-Wan and Satine have zero chemistry, all they do is take pot shots at each other mean-spiritedly and never end up being able to understand each other when they're not facing a life or death situation. What little romance they manage to have in their scenes is melodramatic and generally inappropriate to the situation they are in and they're never both invested in the romance at the same time (for example, Satine tries to have this big moment with a romantic confession that Obi-Wan actively tries to argue her out of because holy hell is this not the time for it). They also seem to just actively make each other worse. Satine seems to have far more understanding and tolerance towards Padme's views and priorities than she ever does towards Obi-Wan's, despite Padme and Obi-Wan having similar positions. Obi-Wan gets incredibly unprofessional in front of a lot of important political people just to argue with Satine and gets nearly misogynistic towards her.

By comparison, Ezra and Sabine, whether you view them romantically or not, actively make each other better. Yes, they tease each other. Yes, they sometimes disagree and argue. But there's never that feeling that they just don't like each other or can't truly understand the other person's feelings and are unwilling to even try. They always come back to talk things out and work to be better with each other afterwards. Both are allowed to be wrong and have to admit to as much. They never truly have any big romantic moments with each other since most of the "romance" that's more explicit exists in earlier seasons with Ezra being very awkward around Sabine and Sabine gently rebuffing or ignoring him when that happens, but they have big emotional moments together where they seem so in sync with each other and completely on the same page. Again, regardless of whether you view that as romantic or not, it's undeniable that Ezra and Sabine have a very strong, deep connection to each other that allows them to work as a really good team.

Comparing Ezra and Sabine as a ship to Obitine is really the most skin deep of comparisons you could possibly make. Obitine make each other SO miserable if they have to spend more than about 10 minutes together. Ezra and Sabine are family who chose each other, in whatever way you choose to view that. They make each other happy, they make each other better, they understand each other so deeply and respect each other's values and priorities even if they aren't the same.

#ezra bridger #sabine wren #ezra x sabine #star wars #star wars rebels #swr #anti satine #obitine critical #anti obitine #anti satine kryze #satine critical #satine kryze critical

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Nick Gindraux for The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 6, The Prisoner. The Mandalorian is depicted firing down a corridor as battle droids approach. Cells are visible along the corridor.

Din Djarin sighed. He had hoped this would be a quick job and that he and the child would be able to gather some intel from Ran and find someplace safe to hunker down. It became clear that nothing like that was going to happen. Dank Farrik.

First, he thought he was just going to take Ran’s team somewhere and  just drop them off. He had done that often enough when they originally worked together. To find that he wasn’t even going to pilot the Razor Crest was not welcome information. It hadn’t been easy to acquire and it would be even more trouble to replace if anything happened to it. 

Second, he didn’t find out that they were extracting a prisoner from a New Republic prison vessel until it was too late to refuse. Picking someone up from a rival group was as different from springing a guy from a New Republic prison ship as the Razor Crest was different from an Old Imperial Dreadnaught. This job just went from bad to awful.

Finally, the crew. Uff. The Mandalorian was surprised that any of them had managed to avoid being held in a New Republic prison transport themselves. They were a hot mess. One was violent, one was just a mass of muscle, another was trigger happy, and the worst one was a reprogrammed protocol droid. What had he signed himself up for when he contacted Ran and asked if they could work something out that was mutually beneficial?  This was not what he had hoped to be doing and he certainly hadn’t expected to expose the child to such a motley crew. 

At least he could control for that. He’d left the little one in his cabin and locked the door. He wasn’t going to open it and let any of them see his small companion. Based on what Ran said to him about getting crosswise with the guild made him worry that his old ‘friend’ knew all about what happened on Nevarro and that meant he couldn’t be trusted to know about the kid or anything else. Just like old times.

Old times had been one nightmare after another with all of the old crew doing one dangerous, often stupid thing, after another. Sure, Ran had made credits and Din Djarin had as well, since even his old armor had protected him from the worse of their misadventures, including Xian’s persistent testing of his reflexes with her knives. But, there were a number of good reasons they had parted ways. 

Ran had shorted his cut of the take on more than one job. Xian had cut up so many members of their team that Din Djarin spent as much of his time patching people back together as he did planning missions and providing cover fire. And Xian’s brother, Qin was just as much a problem. He was just slightly more cheerful while he picked locks and subdued guards than any of the rest of them. A Mandalorian bounty hunter was expected to display more discipline. More consideration. More sense. A lot more sense. 

Dank Farrik. 

Then Burg, the big muscle for their team decided to be nosey. Well, Din Djarin had shut that down as quickly as he could. But not before the door to his cabin was opened and there was the child. Standing up and carefully observing each one of them. He could only imagine what the child might think seeing them all. When he was that age, well, he hadn’t actually reached the child’s reported age yet, but when he was a youngling, he hadn’t met anyone who carried weapons with so little concern. At least, not until he’d been saved by the Mandalorians on Aq Vetina. 

That brought back memories he didn’t want to think about. Including his general concerns about the child he’d decided to protect. Had he known his parents? Had he any idea where he came from? Was he an orphan or abandoned or did he have a family who was frantically trying to locate him? The Mandalorian had no idea but he certainly didn’t want this group of people to think about the child in any way at all. 

“What is it? Like a pet, or something?”

Mayfeld asked the question to see if he could push the Mandalorian’s buttons.

“Sure. Something like that.”

Easier to pretend the child was a pet then have them think he was anything else. Although as soon as he said that, the Mandalorian was certain that the child had made a face or a sound that indicated his disapproval of that whole notion. It wasn’t the first time that the bounty hunter was happy that he wore a helmet that shielded his face. The notion that small being was scolding him about a necessary cover story was just too funny. He couldn’t imagine the grief he’d take from Xian or Mayfeld if they had seen his grin or his eyes crinkle at their corners or saw how red he got in the face from trying not to laugh. It wasn’t worth it and it wouldn’t protect the child.

After that moment of levity that no one knew about except for him, the Razor Crest dropped out of hyperspace and he and the child and everyone else went bouncing around the storage bay. That wretched droid didn’t give a circuit relay about what was happening to the actual living members of their party. Which reminded him that he didn’t want that thing to know anything about the child. Nothing. After what happened with the IG unit on Arvala-7, the Mandalorian didn’t trust the protocol droid as far as the child could… no, as far as he could throw him. 

He spoke to the child quickly and quietly and gave him a rations pack to eat, while the others were preparing to board the vessel they had landed on. He hoped he wouldn’t find it used as a paint pallet again with assorted symbols decorating the walls of the cabin like the last time he’d had to leave the little one alone for a few hours. The walls cleaned up pretty easily, but getting the little one out of that coverall to bathe him and then trying to get him back into the thing had been a true trial of Mandalorian perseverance. 

He had hoped he wouldn’t have to survive that trial again for a couple of days instead of a mere twenty hours. Maybe he should get them a pet. Then it could clean the little one up when food was used as paint. It was worth a try, right?

#calendar prompt a day #the mandalorian #grogu #din djarin

[ravenalla]

I so agree with your statement about Season 3… I didn’t even finished it, it was too much. And the shippers here didn’t help either lmao. My boy needs no woman and certainly not an ex death watch.

He was doing fine till now, they made him look like a damsel in distress so SHE can save him, she can be a goddamn good girl… Like her past is erased from everyone minds? They have amnesia? And he became a second character in his own show?? Yup, no, call me when everything became normal again

I know it’s not technically canon yet but it reminds me a lot of when a character’s entire purpose is just to support their partner in a ship. Also people can ship what they want of course but in what way has anything between them been explicitly romantic in canon? They’ve just been working together on missions and barely talking about anything besides the matter at hand. I saw more desire for a relationship between Boba and Din than this. If they decide to suddenly say Bo and Din had feelings for each other the whole time in the two episodes we have left I’ll be so mad. Omera was Din’s obvious love interest if they were going to give him one, but no lets put him with the white terrorist lady who insulted his and others entire existence.

Also people forget that Din isn’t stupid. The fandom likes to make himbo jokes sure but Din is incredibly smart, he spent however many years working as a top rated bounty hunter, one of the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy, Din got beaten up all the time but he also had so many wins and badass moments, they balanced each other out so he wasn’t invincible but he wasn’t incompetent either. Most of Din this season is just him needing to be saved or aided by Bo-Katan so far, because apparently SHE is the Mandalorian everybody suddenly needs to use their brains or they’ll combust into flames or something I guess 🙄 and spoiler warning for the next episode under the cut.

So leaks say that Din gets captured by Moff Gideon at the end of the episode and Bo has to rally Mandalorians to go save him. Man how much more impactful would that be if Din was Manda’lor, Bo had the chance now to become it with him gone, but she actively chooses instead to help him after being bitter and aggressive towards him all season, thereby giving her growth that doesn’t actually mean turning her character back 180 out of nowhere. I like the idea of Din getting captured on its own and coming face to face with Gideon again but after he’s done literally nothing all season and has had no personality other than “help Bo”? That’s insulting af, Din just looks more and more helpless. Like again what if he was Manda’lor and trying to prove his worth both to Mandalorians and himself? We could have gotten a really cool scene where he questions his abilities as a father and as a leader, wondering if other types of Mandalorians would even come for him and ending the season with an episode about Din finally coming into his own with the darksaber while other Mandalorians rally behind him to defeat Moff Gideon once and for all.

But no. It’s probably gonna be a chance to display how Bo absolutely deserves another chance at ruling after proving nothing about how she is different from last time while Din is just there as bait and they’ll kiss or some shit afterwards. God this season has turned out so bad, I really am hoping they don’t go that route and make it somehow worse. I don’t blame people for hopping out now.

#the mandalorian #din djarin #grogu #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian season 3 #mando critical

[awholelottayeehaw]

Mandalore Reunited? (spoilers)

After marinating in the ending of this season the last three days I think another issue I have is over how people are just... okay with the darksaber being destroyed that easily. I've seen people argue about the symbolism of it no longer being needed to reunite Mandalorians and lead, but I honestly think it'll do the opposite and I'll be surprised if I'm wrong with any upcoming season/show that reflects on the planet's future.

Bo-Katan led to the planet's current state after disagreeing with her pacifist sister on how they should rule the planet. For Satine, it was with peace. For Bo, it was through their warrior heritage. The problem with Bo now being Mand'alore after so long of trying is that... we still haven't seen her character growth. She hasn't atoned for what she's done nor has she been honest and open about her actions with the people who's about to rule. The show could/should have had Bo mention Satine and, in a single sentence, both honor her dead sister's wishes and show her growth by verbally confirming that she was going to lead by combining their ideas of democracy to form a perfect balance of both. Bo-Katan just last season was still racist with terroristic tendencies and that doesn't just... go away. There was a reason why her fleet abandoned her the moment she couldn't get back the darksaber for the Nth time.

So my problem overall with it is that we don't KNOW if Bo has reunited Mandalore yet. Lighting the forge, Axe battle crying his nationalistic pride, and the Mandalorian version of clapping doesn't equate to peace amongst Mandalorians. If anything, it reminded me of how we all united to help one another during and shortly after the horrors of 9/11. For a moment, we all were just people helping each other. Then came the surge of xenophobia and Islamophobia that presented itself in a way that we hadn't seen before and it only got worse since. Yes we had xenophobia, religious prejudice, and racism before; but everything after 9/11 just felt... different. More intense.

Will that happen with Mandalore? It may not. But I have a hard time believing, after so many years of division and prejudice, that the Mandalorians from Din's covert, Bo's fleet, and the Survivors would magically get along no problem. There's already Mandalorians, like the survivors, who were there before the Purge and their nostalgia may make accepting any different political outcome difficult. You have Bo's fleet who believe you have to be pureblood to rule or be considered a Mandalorian, and then you have Din's covert whose strict ideas of The Way are reminiscent of a spiritual community that anyone can be baptized into and not born into. If that were the case we wouldn't have wars or conflict, or even have future conflicts in Star Wars.

Are Mandos going to be okay with others not wearing their helmets all the time? Are Mandos going to be okay with sharing space with people who never take off their helmets? What is the weight of Ragnor's baptism for those not in the covert? And if there's no darksaber anymore to determine who the ruler is, then what are the plans moving forward for leadership? There's technically never been an established order of leadership, the planet had always been led by Warlords and Satine was (I believe) the first to inherit her father's titles after his death and that was extremely controversial. Paz and Axe couldn't even peacefully argue over a game of SW chess, it's naive to assume a moment of unification to take back a planet will erase that decades long prejudice. Not even Din has been able to get over his droid thing that he's had since he was a kid.

Honestly, putting it to words, I won't be surprised if this caused another civil war. The prior one was fought between the New Mandalorian peace movement and traditional nationalists (Satine vs Bo) and with three very different sects of Mandalorians uniting on the planet for the first time in years, I can't fathom the peace lasting long. I can't imagine people not arguing about what The Way is, or overcoming decades long prejudice and resentment after the purge all because they got a planet back.

It's sweet and idealistic to imagine this would be the case, Mandalore as a planet deserves it. Future Mandalorians deserve to not live under warlord leadership. But that would require Bo to not only overcome her own prejudices and the lack of patience she has for diplomacy (ex: the robot bar and the Ugnaughts), and it'll take time for us to see if she learned anything from Din and his people during her time with his covert. And although Bo not needing the darksaber to rule or unite the planet and its people is a sweet idea rich in symbolism, it's naive to accept it as a final truth when Mandalore and Bo-Katan's complex histories loom over the future of the planet regardless of turned leaves and open minds.

Again, I might be completely wrong. Maybe they took the easy way out and decided, for once, Star Wars can just leave out the Wars part regarding Mandalore? Maybe Bo did learn her lessons and with The Armorer she's able to find a middle ground for everyone? Maybe everyone is able to put things aside for the planet and won't need Din and Grogu to come and play diplomat between everyone again? I guess we'll see, and despite all of this, I am excited and curious to see the future of Mandalore moving forward in this show and others (and movies!) that take place in the future.

#The Mandalorian #Season 3 #Spoilers #Season 3 Spoilers #Mandalore #Mand'alore #Bo-Katan Kryze #Din Djarin #Axe Woves #Satine Kryze #Mandalorian Civil War #Clone Wars #Clone Wars: Rebels #The Mandalorian Season 3 #Darksaber #Grogu #The Armorer #Paz Vizsla #Death Watch #Darth Maul #Youtube

[gravvitywritestrash]

Dincember Day 7, Prompt: Blanket

gender neutral reader!

Warnings: none!

Series Masterlist

You were freezing.

The Razor Crest’s power system had started malfunctioning, forcing the mandalorian pilot to emergency land it on the closest planet before it shut down completely. Unfortunately for your small crew of three, he had landed the ship in the middle of an open field on the side of the planet currently going through its winter season. The past three days had been cold, but today was unforgivably so.

It wasn’t snowing, luckily for you. The wind was a problem, though. It blew against your bundled frame, threatening to knock you over onto the snow covered ground. Even though you had layered up and were currently tightly wrapped in your thick winter cloak, the wind still managed to seep through the thick fabric and bite at your skin.

Once you had landed on the snow covered planet, you were able to quickly find the cause of the problem. Some of the circuits to his fuse box had started to fry, causing many of the fuses to short. It was a simple fix once you could get your hands on the right parts. Your problem started out fine, an easy fix and a relatively short hike to the nearest city, which was only a few klicks away. The problem became worse when you weren’t able to find the parts, instead having to wait three whole days for the parts to be delivered to the city. And if that wasn’t enough, this massive wind storm had started only an hour after you had left the city.

Mando hadn’t liked the idea of you traveling to and from the city alone, but the ramp to the crest could only be opened and closed from the inside, thanks to the power short. It also wasn’t safe to bring the kid out in these freezing temperatures. And since you knew exactly what needed to be bought, you had insisted on going. That left you to fight the bitter cold alone. You were lucky that the path to the ship was relatively easy to follow back, if it hadn’t been, you were sure the wind would have knocked you off course by now.

The thick blanket of snow made it very hard to move quickly, but once you saw the Crest, you picked up your pace, trying to move as quickly as possible. Luckily for you, Mando must have spotted you through the viewport and was currently manually lowering the ramp as you neared.

The inside of the hull was a little cool, but it was much warmer than outside. The space heater set up on the ground provided the small space with some warmth, warmth you were so happy for. The wind had kicked up a great deal of snow along with it, causing your cloak to be damp and almost frozen to your body.

The kid was happily babbling once you made your way near the space heater, trying to get close enough to start warming up. You pulled out a slightly frozen cookie for the kid, the once beautiful icing covered sweet now covered in icicles and stuck to the wrapping. But the kid was not deterred, and still happily grabbed it from your hand once you managed to get the wrapping off.

While Mando closed the ramp back up, you busied yourself with training to get the bag of supplies and your cloak untabled from each other. It seems the wind had somehow wrapped a part of the cloak around the strap of your bag, and you were currently stuck with both still wrapped firmly around your chest. You were so caught up with trying to figure out how to untangle yourself, you hadn’t noticed when Mando moved behind you, but you jumped when his warm gloves ran over your neck when he tried to grab one of the straps off your shoulder.

“You’re freezing.”

He noted, while gently lifting the strap, and most of the cloak, over your head. Him lifting the bag like that removed most of the cloak from around your form as well, as now it was only tangled around one of your arms. But once he had it over your head, he thrust the bag back into your hands and walked to the back of the hull.

You muttered a quiet thanks while fighting the cloak off your arm. He was right, despite the space heater providing warmth to the hull, you were still freezing. You wanted nothing more than to wrap up in a blanket with a warm bowl of soup while sitting next to the heater.

And it seemed like your wish was going to come true, because once you had managed to wrestle the cloak off, and gently set down the bag of parts, Mando was back, in front of you this time. Your head shot up to look at him while he wrapped a thick blanket around your shoulders. His hands dropped from the edges of the blanket once you grasped the edges of the blanket. His hands smoothed over your shoulders, guiding you to crate the kid was currently perched on.

“Sit. I’ll make you something warm.” And then he was gone again.

You caught a whiff of something warm, and a little spicy as you wrapped the blanket tightly around yourself. You angled your head down to the blanket, and it only required a small sniff to realize that this was his blanket. And you tried to fight the urge to bury your nose in it and inhale deeply, knowing Mando was only a few steps behind you. You didn’t want to embarrass yourself by sniffing his blanket so openly.

But it smelled so good, you couldn’t help taking a few quiet deep breaths in. It smelled metallic, scented with leather and something you could only describe as warm. It smelled like him.

Maybe it was a little silly to be so moved by a little gesture, but it sitting there on the Crest next to the kid you adored and being taken care of someone you considered a friend, you were content. Though you were still a little cold, you couldn't deny the fuzzy warmth that spread through your face and chest at the gesture. His blanket, wrapped around your shoulders, by him.

It meant more to you than it probably should have, though you'd allow yourself to revel in it, just for a little while longer.

-

taglist: @honeydjarin

#dincember 2022 #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin #din x reader #din djarin x reader #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian reader insert #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader

[purpleheartskies]

(These are general thoughts and not directed at anyone in particular.)

I recently got into The Mandalorian a month or so before its s3 started coming out. At first, I'd told myself I'd wait for the whole season to come out and then binge watch it, but I caved a few days after the first episode came out and watched it. Since then each week, I've been watching each new episode, reading fan comments, and watching how the fandom responded. If you haven't watched Mando s3, I'm not gonna spoil anything in this post. I'm just going to do some reflecting on how fans have responded to Cobra Kai in light of how fans responded to Mando s3.

Honestly, it's been so refreshing to watch a real found father-son story in which no child of any species has been replaced in the process. Din and Grogu's story has been so fun and heartwarming to watch. Many CK fans claim that Johnny and Miguel's story is a found father-son story, but it's clearly not presented to be, primarily because the entire context of Johnny and Miguel's storyline throughout the 5 seasons has been that Johnny abandons/neglects (including emotionally) Robby in favor of Miguel. Their stories are all interwoven to show the clear contrast between Johnny's behavior wrt Miguel and Johnny's behavior wrt Robby. Johnny has a son who needs him and who Johnny willfully abandons/neglects for a random kid. (From Robby's pov, Miguel is a random kid). This is still an important part of the story in s5. Also, an important part of the story is how Robby has been affected by Johnny's behavior throughout the series. Robby's behavior in s5 (fawning) is truly nothing to cheer on, like the majority of fans do because they got the endgame they wanted: Johnny's dream family with the Diazs, and Robby tacked on as an afterthought. (I've talked in detail about Robby and Johnny's relationship in s5 in this post.)

As I mentioned, I wanted to talk about the fan responses to CK and the fan responses to Mando s3. Getting CK seasons as 10-episode dumps followed by a period of waiting is somewhat similar to getting an episode of a season and then having to wait a whole week for another episode. It gives time for the hype of the new story content to die down, for disappointment to set in and permeate, for more analyses to happen, and for different groups of hive-mind thinking to form and echo throughout the fandom.

I really enjoyed watching how the story unfolded as each episode of Mando was revealed. There were those who, like me, recognized that this is a story and, well, storytelling is taking place. We enjoyed watching the pieces being laid out, the layers being assembled, things slowly coming together, etc. However, there were those who were just bashing the season, saying things aren't making sense, they're not getting the story they want, the writers don't know what they're doing, etc...

This made me think of how the CK fan response has evolved with each season. As each season has come out, the fan response has gotten worse. People aren't getting the story they want, they're insulting the writers and the storytelling, they're complaining that things were too "rushed" and this is a "dumb" show so the serious elements don't matter, they're claiming that their fics would have been better, "this is the way it should have gone... [insert fic with completely wrong characterizations]...", etc.

I know I'm a rarity when it comes to loving Robby's character and not hating on the writers' storytelling abilities. I'm disappointed with them for sure for the messaging so far, and I completely understand why some have quit the show and the fandom. (The topics explored in CK (childhood trauma, mental health, dysfunctional relationships, etc) can be very personal and how they're depicted, even in the interim, absolutely matters. Also, interacting with fans who don't care about these topics can be draining.) However I will say this: the writers have a really well-thought-out story that has been consistent and has been building this whole time. They have always said that they have their major story beats figured out and some endgames in mind, and that hasn't changed. With all the analyzing I've done, I believe them. However, I also do understand the disappointment that fellow Robby fans feel. I had certain things I would have loved to have seen happen in this story too. But, for a while now, I try to remind myself with every show/movie I watch or book I read that I'm not writing the story. I'm just along for the ride. I know with moving to Netflix there has been a change in how things look in the show. However, if someone analyzes the patterns in behaviors and dialogue in order to understand the characterizations, they'll see that the storytelling approach and characterizations are still consistent.

Watching Mando as its new episodes dropped and browsing that fandom each week has helped put some things about this fandom into perspective for me. I've browsed other fandoms as well, but I'm mostly immersed in these two fandoms these days and the similarities in fan responses in these fandoms just stuck out to me. Storytelling is an art, and I wish people would be more open to treating these stories like stories.

Despite how much people hate the writers, they're the ones who gave us Robby and keep him the best, most central character in the show, regardless of how much he's resented and his traumas are minimized in the fandom. The writers still treat him like the most important teen, and imo, the most important character because Robby overshadows/drives Johnny's character journey as well. For example, in s5, Johnny still kept mentioning Robby when it came to the baby. If Johnny were redeemed or absolved, he himself wouldn't keep bringing up his failures with Robby. Robby's relationship with Johnny is still complex and painful and his relationship with the LaRussos is still complicated and meaningful. Robby was the key to bringing Daniel back and getting everyone together against Cobra Kai, something established in s4 when Sam first went to Robby to get him to come back and when Daniel realized he needed Johnny's help to coach Sam in the avt because Robby had taught the Cobras Miyagi-Do. Robby was also still the only character with people he cared about on both sides of the dojo war, as has been the case since s1. Robby's scene with Silver in s5 especially establishes Robby's importance amongst the teens. Silver mentions the 3 senseis, and Kim says that they're pests and they'll swat the next one that lands on their arm, and then Robby walks in immediately after. No other kid gets equated to the senseis like Robby does. There's more I can say about Robby's significance in the story, but that could be another post later on.

Out of all the characters, Robby's story is the deepest. He's a teenager trying to overcome his worsening c-ptsd (due to childhood trauma and other experiences) using the different karate styles/philosophies while everyone, especially the adults that "care" about him, keeps failing him, even in s5. I know the karate part sounds silly in a way, but there's nothing silly about c-pstd or coping with it. Robby's trying to apply what he learns to cope with it while caring about who he is. He's trying to overcome all the odds that keep stacking against him and to be the better person he wants to be. And part of his struggles with his traumas is that he's too hard on himself about how bad of a person he is. He's literally one of the best people in the show. If only he and the people around him could see that too. Robby coming out on top in karate and in life next season will be the most inspiring story this series could possibly come out with.

Like I've posted recently, I want to keep talking about the story and its nuances because Robby's story especially is important and represents the struggles of many in society who have experienced or are experiencing similar traumas to those he has experienced and is currently experiencing.

Robby is THE underdog in the story.

Cobra Kai is Robby's story.

I have spoken.

These two cuties 🥰

#cobra kai is robby's story #robby keene

[lol-jackles]

Have you seen season 2 of Good Omens? Honestly and season 1 I would hardly call it a masterpiece or perfect. It was just fun, sweet and kind. And the biggest plus is the cast - Michael Sheen and David Tennant. They are both extremely talented and charismatic. And they are the ones who carry season 2. The rest of the characters, although not bad, but they don't catch on. And the biggest problem is the plot. When the story revolves around the main characters the series is interesting to watch, but when the focus shifts the feeling that the series sags. Also glad that for the first time in the series we got canon(?). Of course everything didn't end happily, but the tie-in for season 3 was necessary. And in a way, I'm personally happy with this finale. Otherwise everything would have looked too sugary and unnatural. So a certain drama is maintained and that's a plus. And of course it's funny to watch the anger and frustration of the hellers who still think they've been robbed of canon from a couple who were never originally involved in each other, much less interested. Unlike Aziraphale and Crowley. Though I'll be honest, I never thought or expected them to be a couple. It takes season 3 to become a couple though. And here's my main problem. With all things considered, is all of this enough to get a season 3? I think with everything I wrote above, the series may not be renewed and I would be truly sorry not to get the story of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship. What are your thoughts and bets?

I enjoyed season 2, though I remember thinking while watching the first four episodes "are they ever going to get to the point?". I was getting impatient and kept thinking how so many of these tv streaming series are better off as 2-hour movies (Kenobi, third season of The Mandalorian, etc).

And then it finally got to the point, it was about love.

The love between Gabriel and Beelzebub reminded me a bit of the love between Sam and Dean: selfish and honest. Gab and Beel only care about themselves and each other, they didn’t want to deal with Apocalypse2.0 and they didn’t want to protect the humans or earth. And yet Gabe and Beel showed that love could be easy if you're honest, so it was easy for them to give up everything for each other.

Aziraphale is not selfish, he is willing to give up everything he loves - his bookshop, his food, even Crowley - just to save the earth. He also wants to make heaven into the good place it should’ve have been, and he thought giving Crowley back his angel status is what he deserves, because Azi have seen over and over again the good Crowley has done and that he's actually good. But Azi doesn't understand that isn't what Crowley wants, who makes it worse by not doing a good job communicating this to Azi. Granted, they both were not truly listening to what the other is saying because they already made up their mind before the conversation started. Crowley believes Azi choosing heaven over him while Azi believes Crowley, by rejecting heaven, is also rejecting him. Despite what Azi believes, he still "forgives" Crowley.

Those two have a lot to unpack, which is all a set up for season 3. With that said, the "sad" "bittersweet" ending kind of saved the whole season for me because otherwise, as you said, it would have been too saccrhine and unnatural-ish and why I was getting impatient for the show to get to their point.

I agree the characters other than Azi and Crowley were ....just there. I was glad that Nina and Maggie didn't end up together just yet since Nina is on a rebound. Crowley thinking all it takes for human to fall in love was getting them wet and looking into each other eyes is never going to be not funny. Crowley, are you sure you didn't know Jane Austen was an author and not just a master spy?

Will Good Omen get a season 3? I read it was the #1 comedy on Amazon so the odds are in their favor. Unlike season 2 which didn't really have a story arc, they set up season 3 to be a callback to season 1's Apocalypse storyline with the Second Coming, so a foundation is already established.

#good omen 2

[chalterdh22]

First Impressions

Summary: *Story takes place a month after Season 3 of The Mandalorian. Suri is a daughter of our favorite hanger mechanic Peli Motto. Returning back to live with her mom in between jobs, Suri finds out that a certain Mandalorian and a little green guy are close friends with her mom. She chooses to help them on their next adventures, developing relationships she's never expected and learning more about herself and her abilities than she ever thought possible.

Chapter 1: Why Are First Impressions the Worse?

It’s a good thing I’m strong, or my mom uses droids like slaves, because I swear, she would never get anything done.  I’m thinking this to myself as I’m tightening a few bolts under an old A-Wing.  The space is so small I can’t fit a wrench in it, so I resort to using my hands as vice grips.  I hear our comm go off as a ship descends into our bay.  Sighing, I use my legs and roll out from under the ship.

A beautiful Naboo Starfighter just landed.  Hmm, I haven’t seen one of those in a while, I thought.  They are super-fast from what I remember, but I have never flown in one.  I grab a rag and wipe all the sweat and dirt from my face, trying to be somewhat presentable in my dirty tank top and pants with holes in them.

As I toss the rag aside, I look up at the passenger.  No way!  A Mandalorian?!  I have never actually seen one in real life, but here he comes hopping out of the Starfighter, with a huge whip of his cape flowing behind.  “Hey, what can I do for you?” I asked with a smile on my face.

“I need to talk to Peli.” He replied in a monotone, direct voice.

“Ah, she’s not here right now.  Is there something I can help you with?” I ask why still walking to him, wiping off my hands on my pants.

He stops, looks at me, I think blankly, and says “I don’t think so.  When will she be back?”

I stop at this point, and by now, I’m getting a little defensive.  Folding my arms on my chest, I say, “I don’t know, an hour or two.”   He continues to stare, so, because I’m super mature, I stare right back.  After what seems like an hour, I finally ask, “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?”  I almost yelled at him! 

He shakes his head no, turns and says as he’s walking away, “I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Or two!!!” I yell, always getting in the last word, I guess.  I shake my head as he turns the corner out of sight.  Who has mom been hanging out with?  Geeze!  I sit back down on the roller and finish this tedious job.  I’m asking mom for a raise when she gets back, I swear…

I’m wiping off some of the edges of the ship now where I made a mess.  “Suri, come help me with these parts!”  Mom yells from the back garage, making me jump a little.  When she says come help me, it means, use your muscles, and bring all this crap in for her.  I don’t mind though.  She’s an awesome mom.  We get along well.  We both are very loud and sarcastic.  I look more like my dad I guess, being short like mom, but stocky and muscular like him.  I only knew him up until I was 17 or so, and I haven’t seen him since.

“Coming!” I yelled back in her direction.  “Whoa,” stopping in my tracks.  She had a whole cart filled with…… junk???  “What is all this crap, mom?” I ask.

“Hey, it’s not crap!  There’s a lot of good parts here!  Practically wanted to give it to me for free!”  she yells back.

“Because it’s junk!”  I say, not being able to hold a straight face.  She’s so funny.  I just shake my head and start walking over to help.  And by help, means she’s done, and I’ll unload everything.  I start grabbing whatever and bringing it into the garage out of the back bay.  After a few trips back and forth, I hear her yell, “Mando!  Where’s the monster at?  You better have brought him!”

Shoot!  I completely forgot to tell her he had stopped by.  I walked up front, and they were walking towards each other.  I stop in the middle of them.  She seemed happy to see him at least. 

Suddenly, from behind the Mandalorian, I see this green blob jump right at mom!  With quick reflexes, I jump out, grab it, and roll to the ground, wrapping my arms around this little beast.  As that’s happening, the Mandalorian pulls a blaster on me and mom is yelling, “Wait, wait, Suri!  No!”

“What?” I yelled at her.

“That’s my grandson!  Put him down!  Mando, put down the blaster, that’s my daughter!” she turns and yells at him.

“Wait, what?”  I ask.  “Grandson? I think I’d remember that mom!”

“Well…… I adopted him!  Put him down!”

“You should do what she says,” the Mandalorian said, slowly lowering his weapon.  I looked down at the green thing as it was looking up at me with these big black eyes.  I looked back at mom, slowly setting him down.  He waddled as fast as he could over to mom and jumped super high and fast into her arms.  She seemed so happy, giving him lots of hugs.  By the time I looked back at the Mandalorian, he was standing next to me with his weapon holstered. 

We both just stared at them enjoying each other for a few seconds.

“Uh, mom, you want to tell me what’s going on?”  I asked.

“What, I can’t have people in my life you don’t know about?” she asked.  I sighed and shook my head.  The Mandalorian just stood there very still, watching her with the green thing.  She finally turned back to us smiling.  “What do you need now?” she asked.

“I need a new ship,” he said.  “Something that can transfer………. cargo.”

“Cargo, huh?  What kind of cargo?  And I’m not getting you a razor crest, so don’t even ask for one!”  She yells.

“It doesn’t have to be that, but something similar.  The kid and I need room to spread out and I need areas for my weapons and……….my cargo.  Do you have anything like that?”

“I might, but it’s gonna cost you!  Super rare this is!  Practically had to steal it.  And hey, just got some brand-new parts in today, top of the line!”

I roll my eyes.  Here we go again, I thought to myself.

“It’s not put together though.  If I had some help, it may take about 2-3 weeks,” she says eyeballing me and him at the same time.

“What is it?” he asked.  “Then I’ll decide if it’s worth my time.”

“Is that all I am to you?  A one stop shop?  Geesh!”  She puts down the creature and starts walking to the back.  “Come on, let me show you.”

I’m curious now.  What does she have back there.  I didn’t see much, but then again, mom’s full of surprises.  We turn the corner and there is a large……… ship????  I think?  What the.?

#mandalorian and grogu #the mandalorian #pedro pascal #din djarin #grogu #star wars

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

Ok so I just have to get this thing off of my chest about the Mandalorian and seeing the whole religious philosophy debate. First of all is never cool to hate on religion but it's even worse to discriminate people outside of your religious beliefs and be a bigot.

I think Mandalorian is trying to address the debate of its important to respect everyone forge their own faith and not push your beliefs onto them.

I'm going to be addressing both sides of the coin here quickly. I'm Nonbinary Aromantic Asexual and have grown up all my life Mormon so unlike some people I can see why Din clings so hard to the way so much, he's willing to sacrifice his own life. I don't think people realise the damage of growing up somewhere and being told hey you can't stay anymore because your existence and actions is something I don't believe in. I'm still in church because I know without church I lose all the people I have known since childhood and have no one else because I'm neurodivergent and I'm terrible at making healthy support networks. I will leave my church and become agnostic when I'm ready but I need to rethink my faith first and what it means to be me and get rid of my religious guilt about my identity. Picture Din who has had nothing, he lost his parents at the age of 8 and the covert is the only thing he's ever known since they practically saved his life and raised him in their way. Would he have been different raised under the nite owls we'll never know but right now after losing his ship and almost his child, Din is clinging for his family, he still hasn't fully processed his truama. To him breaking the creed for the kid was a huge thing as it was like stepping into an alien world with no one to support him. Right now he needs the creed until he can let go of his parents and fully process that truama its what he needs. It's also what he needs so he can lift the Darksaber without it breaking his limb. Yes the armour and Paz are red flags but unfortunately there are bad people in every religion and its something that's not our problem unless it effects human rights as we have control of our faith.

I want S3 to be a middle ground between the religious traumatised peeps saying it's a cult and the religious people that are hurt and ashamed by people saying that. Mandalore will only be united if all the tribes can unite and respect each tradition. I never understood that to some religious people might interpret Dins helmet as a hijab or something else as I was looking at it through a Christian Catholic lense especially with the baptism ceremony.

But Star Wars is about interesting mortally gray people (Excluding the empire) and how not everything is black and white.

People forget Truama can bleed into how we read fiction so how do you think a ton of religious traumatised people including myself are gonna react when we see the tribes ways. I haven't seen the episode but the fact that they welcomed Bo and said she can leave anytime was humble and shows how again Mandalore can only be United if all believes are respected.

I think people's biggest problems are with this covert is that they judge their way of Mandalore as the truest and don't respect other people's ways we saw that originally with Din in season 2. Respect is the key thing its not their authority to claim who Mandalorians are. It's a bit rude to tell Mandalorians who were born and raised there that they are not Mandalorian. Mandalorians are only not Mandalorians when they choose to give up their armour. Its like Satine (still love her) calling Jango and Boba Fett none Mandalorians when they are as they are foundlings with their own beliefs. Its like trying to erase an essential part of Mandalorian culture (The warrior side) without a middle ground and I believe that's what the children of the watch and other Mandalorians need to do.

But that's just my thoughts please be respectful and not bigoted otherwise I will block you and disable comments. I'm just so tired of people looking at Children Of The Watch and Dins involvement in a black and white lense when not everything is like that especially in Star Wars of all things.

-Melody-

They/Them

#star wars #the mandalorion spoilers #mando spoilers #fandom criticism #religious guilt #din djarin #bo katan kryze #armour #children of the watch

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: December 2022

And so another year draws to a close. It was surely a strange one and I have this weird feeling that 2023 is going to be a good one? Just a hunch. Anywhere here’s all the art I experienced this month.

……….FILM……….

House (1977) I knew it was gonna be dreamlike and indescribably weird but I was still consistently surprised. Fun and sad and beautiful and again...weird. We watched the interviews included with the Criterion Collection DVD and it added so much. I never would’ve known “Mac” was short for “Stomach”! Just bursting with ideas and I saw someone describe it as a cinematic I Spy and that really resonated. Lots of details that are easily missed so I’ll definitely be watching this again.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) Incredible. Everything I wanted (and didn’t know I wanted) out of a Weird Al biopic. I wasn’t expecting so much of the humor to land for me and if you at any point enjoyed a Weird Al song I think you’ll dig this movie.

Mean Girls (2004) A really great watch, even to this day. Aged better than a lot of teen comedies, though I did find the soundtrack distracting this time? Were teen movie soundtracks always so...shoehorned? Oh well you still can’t beat such classics as “That’s why her hair is so big, it’s full of secrets”, “You go, Glen Coco”, and “get in loser we’re going shopping.” 

Gremlins (1984) An annual holiday tradition and one that really gets me in the Christmas spirit. It’s something about those carolling creatures and them all singing along to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that does it for me.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) Another annual tradition and the artistry in the Rankin/Bass specials hold up so well.

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) Having never seen this before, I was interested in watching a Rankin/Bass film without the lenses of nostalgia. Surprisingly dark in a lot of the story, but just as weird and charming as the other productions.

……….TELEVISION……….

Andor (Episode 1.01 to 1.01) Season 2 of The Mandalorian was probably the last Star Wars media I’d watched and wasn’t planning on checking this out...until everything I heard was raving about it. You know what? It’s worth checking out. Really great character-driven television that has something to say! I really hope Andor season 2 doesn’t fall into the same trap as The Mandalorian.

Cybergunk (Caleb Gamman, Youtube) Okay I don’t normally include stuff I watch on YouTube but this series made me realize I should! I’ve been burning through Gamman’s catalog but his Cybergunk series is really resonating with me. It feels like it’s explaining the technological stall we’re experiencing right now in a concise and entertaining way. Watch it here.

……….READING……….

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale (Complete) An interesting, and depressing, read. Though to be clear, it’s not a hopeless read. I really appreciated each chapter ending with researched suggestions for reform. It really does make the case that most problems that the US polices are made worse by policing. Maybe some of them wouldn’t even be problems if they weren’t policed? As a non-US reader it definitely acted as a cautionary tale and with that in mind, I wholly recommend.

Alice: Through the Needle’s Eye by Gilbert Adair (Complete) Books that build off of Carroll’s work is often hit or miss for me. The trend seems to be dark, brooding, and skewing towards YA. Nothing wrong with that but that doesn’t click with me. This. This clicks with me. It’s a spiritual successor to the first two stories in the tone, plotting, and style. You want whimsical poems and wordplay? You got it. You want nonsensical characters? There’s a full cast here. Anyway, big fan.

Spider-Man: Blue by Jeph Loeb and Time Sale (Complete) It just feels right to read this in the winter, you know? All the snowy skyscraper scenes and Peter getting sick from the cold. Classic stuff. 

……….AUDIO……….

I’m Your Empress Of by Empress Of (2022) Just started listening to this but really digging it so far!

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The holidays meant we only played a handful of times but it was a great couple of sessions! The broke into a castle, stole a book, discovered strange rock creatures have infested the Munchkin District’s capital, and more!

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 group is spinning a lot of plates at the moment. They’re hunting newts so that they can enter a cave and return an eye to stop a terrible evil from being released. Super fun!

And that’s it. See you in January!

#monthly media #kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

[palpipeen]

The Pit Crew Intro

Seeing everyone talking about their OCs makes me wanna talk about Pit Crew SO BAD so that's what I'm gonna do

My content is NSFW and for those who are 18+. MINORS DNI.

So to start: I've had four of these boys for more than a decade now. Back when Republic Commando first came out and I became completely enamored with the concept of clone troopers/commandos, back before I could post my writing online (entirely due to me not knowing how to). So I'll be listing the OG 4 first, then by rank the rest of Pit Crew!

CT-1307 || Sgt. Tock - Dad friend who takes no shits and puts the safety/security of his men first. The most seasoned out of all of them and a bit paranoid because of it. (Also, very damaged bc of it.) Doesn’t like to let others close and has had a hard time getting along with the newcomers to his squad that joined after Quickshot. But once his loyalty is earned he’s in a person’s corner for both their natural lives. Stubborn to a fault, but not unreasonable. Can adapt quickly and is very good at making snap decisions that usually end with positive results.

Trivia: Tock's name used to be 'Tok,' and came from this made-up language for my original species that would eventually become the Corvys. Tock's tattoos are the closest to 'Mandalorian traditional tattoos.' (He has them on his chin/neck, chest and shoulders.) Back when I revisited Tock's character, I rewrote him to be a bisexual disaster of a man who had a LONG list of paramours on about a dozen different planets. Now I'm sort of thinking he's either ace or demi

CT-3309 || Riggs - He's already had his own intro, but here's the info again: The literal definition of a spitfire. He will not hold back when he lets a person have it - really, he probably doesn’t know how to hold back. Which gets him into trouble. Frequently. But he only goes off because he cares. This boy cares a lot. But he tries to make it seem like he doesn’t. A bit of a daydreamer, he thinks a lot about what will happen after the war. Butts heads with his superiors a lot, but he’s smart, so he knows what he’s talking about. Has a LOT of self worth issues that are made worse when Tock tells him about Tick, and then never tells anyone else on the Crew about it.

Trivia: Riggs's wounds did, indeed, destroy his chip's functionality in regards to a few specific orders. Order 66 being one of them. He has a thing for red heads. (No, it's not because he dyes his hair candy apple red, he swears) The two snippets of fic I've written about Riggs paints him in a very serious light, but Riggs is actually known as the squadron's comedian. His delivery is often very dry.

CT-6447 || Tony - This man has an ego the size of all the known galaxy, and is unrepentant about it. He’s good at what he does - shooting up clankers. Although he might need to talk to someone about his hatred for droids, as it extends to all of them. (Even the ones on the Republic side.) Tony also likes to think he’s the universe’s gift to all women and will flirt with any and all of them if he thinks they’ll be receptive. And he’s very good at picking up on that. A bit of a narcissist. One of Whiskey’s batchmates.

Trivia: I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him. I. Hate. This. Bastard. Like genuinely, I've poured all of the toxic traits I could into him. Complete and total narcissist. Wears his hair super long. IDK, I don't care about him and neither should anyone else.

CT-3616 || Quickshot - Please let them rest, they're the only thing that’s kept all of Pit Crew from killing themselves or each other for so long. Quickshot (or Q, or Quick, they answer to anything) is the medic. While Riggs will talk back to his superior officers, if they’re wounded and endangering themselves or others, Quickshot can and will (and has) knock their asses out for their own safety and health. Quickshot fears no man, woman or other, and really only fears two things. Losing their vod and snakes. (Don’t ask, they won’t talk about it to ANYONE.) While they are the quietest out of the group, Quickshot is arguably the most emotionally grounded. Is the one that quietly judges the rest of the Crew for their bullshit shenanigans.

Trivia: Q is non-binary and I love them sm <3333 Quickshot and Riggs have a friendly rivalry in regards to hair and have annual competitions of 'Best Hair in Pit Crew.' Q dyes their hair blue (like, true blue, not neon but certainly not muted) because one: it's their favorite color, and two: blue is superior to red and Riggs could never pull it off They're also about 75-80% covered in tattoos and have the most body mods. (Yes. Those kind, too.)

And the rest of the Pit Crew, PLUS their commanding officers:

CC-2662 || Hornet - A bit of an asshole, but only because he has to deal with the general directly and took the blame for when half their ranks were wiped out. The Pit Crew is a constant reminder to him about why he needs to work harder to keep everyone alive, because he sees them for what they are. A really weird family. Hornet is incredibly intelligent, and quick thinking. Both are completely necessary when following the general's orders. Has a very dry sense of humor and half the time, no one can tell if he’s actually joking.

Trivia: Riggs is the only person in the entire battalion to ever see/get this man to laugh. (Afterwards, he told Riggs 'no one will believe you' and walked away.) Has a bit of dark side corruption that no one is aware about. Wonder why that is....? 83c I imagine that Hornet dyes his hair to reflect his name - sort of. It's probably something like, dyed a bright yellow with zig-zag patterns on the sides of his head that are his natural hair color. His namesake comes from his mentality of 'get in, strike hard, and get out before they know what hit 'em'

CT-7088 || Captain Whiskey - Literally the heart and soul of the battalion, and one of the only things standing between the general and the rest of his men. An absolute mother hen who probably shows a bit too much concern for his men, but they really are his vod. Seems to know what everyone needs before a requisition is put in for it. But when he’s on shore leave and you see him at a bar? No you didn’t. Whiskey isn’t here. Don’t talk to him, don’t come near him, do not perceive him - shore leave is the only time he doesn’t want to deal with anybody. He just wants to get so drunk he forgets everything - hence his namesake.

Trivia: Whiskey was named after one of Pedro Pascal's character, and that sums up a lot of his personality. (If you don't know, look up Agent Whiskey and you'll see. That's him, just without the surprise ending.) Has a bit of a tumby he's kinda self conscious about. Has never seen a space western in his life.

CT-1308 || Tick - A literal ray of sunshine personified. Tick’s whole life seemed to be about cheering up his brothers - but especially his ‘twin.’ Tick and Tock were like night and day - Tick would never think before he acted while Tock has always been very particular and careful. Tick expressed his emotions frequently while Tock buried his, and his entire identity. But Tick saw through all of it, all of his siblings’ attempts to hide their pain, and would go to great lengths to get them to smile again. Really wanted to see more of the galaxy alongside Tock and hoped that one day he could convince his twin that there was more to life than this war. Tick just knew there would be more for them.

Trivia: The only one out of his batch to have gray eyes. It wasn't a bright gray, just like 'all the color seeped out' of a clone of Jango Fett's natural eye color Had ADHD, 100000%. Him and Hardcase crossed paths more than once during their cadet years and were pretty fast friends. Would have had ALL the tattoos and piercings - if he'd lived long enough to get them after the Battle of Geonosis....

CT-6974 || Worm - Hates his name, HATES it and has tried multiple times to get others to call him something else. Has a chip on his shoulder about it but once you get past that, he’s a really great guy. If you’re willing to look around his tendency to cause mischief. Worm is a thorn in the side of whoever is his commanding officer, and currently he’s Tock’s thorn. Many would assume that would end up with Worm getting the shit kicked out of him - but Worm is as charming as they make them back on Kamino. He uses this to his advantage frequently, and so far the only situation he can’t talk his way out of is his damn name.

Trivia: A transfer from the 501st - he definitely isn't salty about it Does NOT like the general and is shit at hiding it. Worm just doesn't have a good feeling about the guy. He'll follow orders, sure - but at every opportunity he manages to throw barbs at him. The reason he got his name is actually cute - because he wormed his way into the hearts of all his trainers. Unfortunately, 'Worm' just stuck, so he has to deal with it

CT-8889 || Jynx - One might hear Jynx’s name and think ‘wow this guy’s unlucky.’ On the contrary - he’s very, very lucky. The sole survivor of his last squadron kind of lucky. Not that he’ll ever talk about it. He’s also not superstitious in the slightest and thinks superstitions are all a load of shit. Jynx is a giant tech nerd and hoards whatever tech he can to either take it apart, analyze it, or jailbreak. Will talk a person’s ear off about his latest finds or his favorite ones - explaining how things work and what they could be used for. Tries not to get too close to anyone in the Crew but him and Tony are thick as thieves from pretty much the moment they meet.

Trivia: His relationship with Tony is Not Good. Tony is an emotional vampire that perpetuates Jynx's survivor's guilt in very subtle ways Had a bit of a stutter as a kid that ended up with him being the butt of a lot of jokes. It's gotten better with age, but when he's stressed or excited it tends to come back Unfortunately has absorbed some of Tony's manipulation tactics and can be kind of shitty to be around

CT-2051 || Naak - Is convinced his entire life is a joke and takes very few things seriously. His name literally means ‘peace’ - him, a man spawned in a fucking vat to fight a war that he never signed up for. Oh he’ll follow orders - he’ll be the best goddamn soldier in the battalion and never think twice about it. But this boy is so jaded and so snarky and borders just shy of being downright cruel. The only people he’s kind to are his squadron, and even that’s sort of debatable at times. Is always the first to try and make light of a situation, and always has to have the last laugh.

Trivia: Knows the most Mando out of Pit Crew - he doesn't ever explain how he learned it all. Would have been great for ARC training, but the amount of times he's been found with contraband (alcohol) have nearly gotten him court martialed Collects shells. He's not sure why, he just likes them

CT-9792 || Jawbreaker - A giant sweetheart. Literally in both cases. Jawbreaker knows what all the clones were made for. He understands that perfectly, and when given an order, he’ll follow it to the letter. But gods if this boy’s heart isn’t the most tender thing about him. He is deeply empathetic and just wants to enjoy beautiful things now and then, not that he knows how to tell people that, and hides it behind a stony facade that many have struggled to get past. Few have succeeded in seeing it - the exception being Riggs, of all people. Riggs will just have none of that bullshit, but doesn’t ever force it out of him. Now and then the two talk about what life after the war might be like. Riggs talks about family and Jawbreaker about a flower garden.

Trivia: JB is a plant parent, but it goes beyond wanting a flower garden. He can practically revive ANY kind of plant JB was in the same battalion back when Tick died, but wasn't part of Pit Crew until after the Battle of Geonosis when his affinity for fixing heavy weapons was discovered JB takes part in the annual 'best hair' contests, but his is always his facial hair. (It counts, okay)

Aaand that's all for now! I do have a commando squad that I need to pick away at but for now, that's Pit Crew. I love them all so dearly <3333

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#My OCs #Tock #Riggs #Tony #Quickshot #Hornet #Whiskey #Tick #Worm #Jynx #Naak #Jawbreaker/JB #Clone Wars OCs #Clone Trooper OCs #Clone Commander OC