#I guess what’s interesting is that she’s what would’ve happened to Lloyd if he never befriended the ninja I guess

[rosiehunterwolf]

Twinkle, Twinkle, Are You There?

Prompts: Stars and Trauma

Word Count: 5,498

Characters: Lloyd (with reflection on Kai)

Timeline: During episode 82 (Dread on Arrival), with flashbacks to earlier seasons

Trigger Warnings: Claustrophobia, Kidnapping, PTSD, Self-Deprecation, Starvation, Dehydration

Summary: All he wanted to do was help his team. It was his mistakes that got them into this mess, after all. It would make sense that he was the one to get them out of it. But if there’s one thing Lloyd’s learned over the course of his life, it’s that things don’t have a habit of going his way.

That, and the fact that stars don’t make very good company.

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The night was crisp and clear, with a blackness that enveloped the city in a blanket of stillness, the kind that only befell in the late summer. The city was quiet except for the faint sound of wailing sirens in the distance.

And, much closer, the shuffling of footsteps and clanking of chains.

“What do you want with me?” Lloyd hissed, yanking tightly at the restraints.

“Quiet, Garmadon,” Harumi hissed, and the chains suddenly tightened, causing him to nearly lose his footing as she stalked towards him. “For too long have I remained silent while you blathered on. No longer am I the Quiet One. Now it is my turn to speak.”

“Oh, so now I can’t even talk? I’m not your slave, Harumi.”

She grinned. “No, you certainly are not. But your time will come, don’t you worry.”

Her words sent a trickle of dread down his spine, and he gritted his teeth. “You won’t get away with this. My friends will stop you, and-”

Harumi laughed, long and cold. “Your friends? They are too late. There is no way those pesky little ninja will be able to stop us. Even if they do manage to get here before your father is freed, do you really think that they’ll try to stop us when you’re in danger?”

Lloyd’s throat ran dry. “What are you going to do to me?”

Harumi smirked. “What do you think? After everything you’ve done to me?” She laughed at the look on his face. “Don’t worry. I need you alive. For now. Dead bait isn’t half as effective as it is alive, after all.”

Silence stretched on as the Sons of Garmadon hauled him up a staircase. Killow shoved him from behind, and he stumbled, being sharply tugged back up by the Sons of Garmadon holding his chains. Lloyd grimaced, looking away.

After a few moments, Harumi began to sing softly. “The spider’s in the house, sleep, sleep. The spider bit the mouse-

Lloyd gritted his teeth. He had used to think that song was cute, but now it just put him on edge. Feeling anger surge up inside him, he felt the sudden urge to yell at her.

“So this is your true face without the mask. No wonder you covered it.”

“What did I say about speaking?” Harumi hissed, whipping around. “You think you’re so cocky, but you haven’t won. Far from it. How does it feel to lose for once, Lloyd?”

“Where are you taking me?”

Harumi tut-tutted, shaking her head. “So many questions. Normally, I would not appease you. But I feel like this will be of great interest to you.” She glanced at him, waiting for a reaction, but he remained silent. She sighed. “This is where the palace used to be. Trapped here all my life, I discovered something truly extraordinary. The destruction of the palace was something that had to be done, but… we took care to protect this place. The Temple of Resurrection.”

Lloyd swallowed. The Temple of… oh gosh, she really is going to do it. She’s really going to bring him back. She’s crazy, so crazy-

Harumi turned away from him as they reached a set of double doors. Pushing them open, she revealed a courtyard stretching out in front of them. Sons of Garmadon milled around, stopping and stepping to the side to clear a path as they caught sight of Harumi. A pedestal rose up in the middle of the space, and off to the side was a contraption with two cages. One was empty, the other-

“Mom!”

“Lloyd! What happened? Are you okay?”

One of the Sons of Garmadon poked a spear at her cage, silencing her.

“Let her go, Harumi. This is between us, and only us.”

Harumi laughed. “What has been between us? Your incompetence as the city’s protector by causing the release of the Great Devourer? Or something else? Because only one of those things are true, Lloyd. And honestly, that was entirely your fault. I’m just picking up the pieces.”

Leaning forward and letting her long, white hair swish close to his face, she whispered. “There is nothing between us, Lloyd. And there never has been.”

He jerked away, hating himself as an ache spread through his chest. He was losing nothing by letting go of her. He was better off without her. If only his stupid heart would just understand that.

“Aww, honey,” Harumi cooed, a mock look of pity on her face. “The truth hurts, doesn’t it? Nothing is more powerful than a blow to the heart. Especially on you.”

To his horror, Lloyd felt tears welling up in his eyes, and blinked furiously to disperse them. “Please, Harumi. This is my fault. Do whatever you want to me. But my mom is innocent. Let her go.”

“You’re right, this is all your fault. Which is precisely why I need to keep her around. I know you, Lloyd. You’d be far too happy to take the punishment yourself. One of your little ninja friends would’ve been ideal… you would’ve done anything I asked you then… but she’ll have to do for now. Knowing you, she should be enough.”

Turning towards the Sons of Garmadon restraining him, she flicked a hand at them. “Put him in the cage. I want the utmost security on him.”

His captors nodded, and his chains were yanked sharply, and he was roughly thrown into the cage, his breath knocked out of him for a moment.

His head spinning, he glanced up, seeing the long, curved metal bars stretching above him. A cold trickle of déjà vu slipped down his spine as the reality of his situation fully hit him.

No. No, no, no- Lloyd stumbled to his feet, lurching towards the cage door, just as it was slammed in his face.

“You’re not goin’ anywhere, kid. Behave yourself.”

He felt his heart rate pick up as the familiar panic began to set in. He couldn’t- this couldn’t be happening again. Not a damn cage again.

He- he was the green ninja. He was supposed to- he was supposed to look after his team, to lead them, but he- he always got caught and thrown in a stupid cage.

He threw himself against the bars, gripping them tightly as he leaned his face towards the sky, drinking in the fresh air. It was so small in here, he wanted to get out, to go home-

But that was always how it ended up, wasn’t it? Lloyd was always the one getting caught, always the one the others had to go out of their way to save.

He was a burden. An incompetent, helpless burden. This whole thing was his fault, just like it always was, because he was too weak to stop anyone from taking advantage of him. Him and his dumb, dumb heart.

And he had the nerve to call himself a ninja.

Except this time, it had been so, so, much worse. This time was different from the time with the Serpentine, or even Morro. This time, so many more people’s lives were going to be endangered because of him. Because his stupid, soft heart had decided to trust the girl that was now going to destroy the city.

Again, he had ruined everything.

My friends will fix my mistakes. She won’t win.

Harumi’s words echoed back to him. “Even if they do manage to get here before your father is freed, do you really think that they’ll try to stop us when you’re in danger?”

She was right. He hated that she was right. He was glad his friends loved him, but sometimes it would just be so much easier if they saved the city instead of him.

Opening his eyes, he gazed at the sky above. The night was moonless, the only light coming from the spattering of stars across the sky.

Those damn stars were always there. Why wouldn’t they just leave him alone?

---

The Lost City of Ouroboros, 2012

Lloyd eyed the lock at the front of his cage warily. Ugh, if only I had a pin.

Not that it mattered, anyway. The night was too dark for him to be able to see properly enough to pick the lock. And even if he did manage to get out, he wasn’t exactly unguarded. The city was crawling with Serpentine. And he didn’t stand a chance of sneaking- or fighting- his way past all of them, thanks to the ninja’s refusal to let him train with them.

His frustration dissipated quickly, and he glanced down at his hands, wringing the edge of his black hoodie. No, that wasn’t fair. The ninja had risked their lives trying to save him today. It hadn’t been that long ago that they had met- he was just some bratty kid they had fished off the street, one that had messed everything up for them. They didn’t owe him anything. The fact that they had done as much as they had for him, well-

It was a bit overwhelming, to be honest. No one had ever cared for Lloyd like that before.

The Darkley’s students had always hated him. He was lucky to go a week without being beat up or having bugs left in his bed. Brad had sort of been a friend, he guessed- but in the end, even he had abandoned him.

His mom had left him high and dry at Darkley’s- he didn’t even remember her. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to. And she obviously hadn’t cared enough to come back, or even to write, so… he didn’t think that was an issue he would have to worry about anytime soon.

And his father-

Lloyd really wanted to have hope for his father. He really did. But it seemed like whatever he did, it wasn’t enough. Why hadn’t his dad visited him or even sent him letters, like the other boys’ parents?

Releasing the Serpentine had been Lloyd’s last hope that his father would notice him. But, like everything else, it hadn’t worked. And now he realized that he had hurt people by doing it, too. Good, innocent people, like the ninja.

They were the closest thing he had to a family, now.

But that was just Lloyd being dumb. He had made life very difficult for all of them. Why would any of them ever return those feelings back? He was just making a fool of himself by even entertaining such a notion. Forgiveness was never that easy, something he knew firsthand.

But then they had come back for him, anyway, and Lloyd was left wondering if they really did care. They had fought so hard for him. Maybe he was a part of something, finally. He was afraid to hope.

And then they had nearly died, and he had taken it all back.

He wanted them to save him, to bring him back to the Bounty, to care for him, to love him like no one had before. But he couldn’t ask them to risk their own selves for him. He was an outsider to their family. He hadn’t been there over the past months, the past memories. He was just the bratty kid. Maybe they cared about him now, but they wouldn’t give up that safety and security just for him. He didn’t want them to.

He had tried to remind himself that this was what he wanted as he had watched them flee on the Samurai X mech, watched them take the Golden Weapons to safety. Good. That was much more important than him. They could come back for him any time. Everything was going to be okay.

But then, why did his chest feel so hollow as the mech flew into the distance, smaller and smaller until it was gone? Why hadn’t that feeling gone away even now, hours later?

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders, as if the motion could shake the feeling off. The bars of the cage dug into his back- although not as bad as when he had been shoved into lockers back at Darkley’s, it wasn’t a pleasant reminder- and he shifted, trying to get comfortable, but it was no use. Instead, he tried to focus his gaze outside the cage. Ourorboros was much less active at this time of night, but there were still too many snakes lurking around for his liking. Lloyd hated the sound of their scales slithering across the ground. He had thought, after Uncle Wu had taken him aboard the Bounty, and read him that book, that he would never have to see another snake again. What had he been thinking, going after the Serpentine like he did? Sure, he wanted to prove himself, but he was no ninja. He didn’t even want to be here.

He hadn’t really felt like it had been a choice, though. He had just wanted to fix his mistakes. But he had dug himself into a hole too deep for someone as little as him to climb out of. And going after the Serpentine had only made it deeper.

If only he was cool and awesome, like the ninja. They would know what to do.

He turned his gaze up to the sky, if only to look at something other than Serpentine. The moon was nowhere to be seen, but the stars shone down brightly on him, abundant out here in the desert. Lloyd stared up at them, breathless.

He had grown up in Darkley’s, which had been on the edge of Ninjago City, and after he had been kicked out, in those long weeks before he had come up with the brilliant- or now, he was realizing, insanely stupid- plan to release the Serpentine, he had only ventured farther into the city, hoping to find food and a place to sleep.

The point was, Lloyd had always been a city kid. Before he had gotten captured, he had never been out in the blistering sun in the Sea of Sand, where Jay had grown up, or in the depths of Birchwood Forest, former home of Zane, or even to the small little village of Ignacia where Kai and Nya had once called home. In the thick of the city, he was used to light pollution brightening the skies, the nights dull with only a scattering of stars visible.

But now, out here, in the middle of the desert, the night sky couldn’t be more different. The darkness above him was littered with so many bright, white specks that Lloyd couldn’t believe that so many stars even existed. Darkley’s had taught them typical school curriculum alongside their villainy lessons- in which Lloyd had been told that there were billions of stars in the galaxy, but he hadn’t really believed it before now.

Now, he was sure there must be trillions.

He remembered the ninja’s long nights on watch, and wondered how many stars were visible from his uncle’s monastery, and if the ninja liked to watch them, too. He did remember one night- when he was being a particular pain, Kai had dragged him outside with him in hopes that he would calm down. Lloyd hadn’t been paying much attention to the stars that night- too distracted to look up.

He would pay more attention next time. He bet that Kai would watch the stars with him. The red ninja had sat so patiently with him then, mostly quiet but making conversation every once and a while before they had settled back into the easy bouts of silence. He had even made Kai laugh once. That happy, rich sound had sent warmth spreading through Lloyd’s chest. He hadn’t really known what to make of it then, but now, sitting here, cold and alone except for Serpentine, Lloyd longed for that warmth again.

He wished Kai was here now.

Well, not here-here, he didn’t want him to be captured too, obviously, but he wanted to be with him, somewhere safe, far from any Serpentine, where they could watch the stars in peace.

Maybe they could’ve been, right now, if Lloyd hadn’t been such an idiot.

As much as he hated the fear that clamped at his chest anytime a Serpentine rattled too near, he hated the feeling of hopelessness and uselessness even more. Why did he have to mess up everything all the time? If it weren’t for him, the ninja could be having those peaceful evenings still, out on the rooftop.

Next time, he would be smarter. Next time, he would be a better brother. A better asset to the team.

But at this point, he wasn’t even sure if next time would be an option. He had read plenty of editions of Starfarer in his lifetime, and people like Lloyd didn’t usually get second chances.

But that hurt too much to think about. Instead, he turned to gaze at the stars.

That was the good thing about the stars, he supposed. No matter where he went, what he did, or how badly he messed up, they never left him.

---

The Fire Temple, 2012

Lloyd pulled his knees closer to his chest as hot, bubbling lava gurgled below him. For once, he was glad to have the bars around him- although he wasn’t sure how much protection they would be if the lava seeped up towards him. The Serpentine seemed to think that the volcano was perfectly safe, barely dazed by the oozing molten around them, but Lloyd wasn’t so sure.

At the very least, the heat was sweltering down here, where his cage sat only a few feet away from where the rock dropped way into the vat of lava. Serpentine perched on many of the other rocks jutting out of the lava, chipping away at them as they searched for the third Fangblade. Lloyd bit his lip, hoping they didn’t take the whole volcano down with them.

He kicked absently at a bit of rock that had strayed into the cage, watching as it fell down, into the lava with a gloop.

This sucked. He had been in this stupid cage for about a week now, and he was so tired and scared. Somehow, he hadn’t really expected this. In his mind’s eye, he had imagined getting gobbled up by the Serpentine after a day or two, or maybe even getting rescued. He hadn’t thought it would go on this long.

He tried to be like the ninja- to put on a brave face, stay strong, come up with a plan- but nothing came to him. He wasn’t a ninja. He just wanted his dad.

Nibbling on his lip, he looked up at the chunk of sky that he could see through the opening in the volcano. It was a much more limited view than the one he had seen back in Ouroboros, but the stars were still there, as bright and unyielding as ever.

These ones were especially fascinating, the lava casting a gentle glow on the stars, staining them a faint, burnt orange color. They almost seemed to pulse gently with the flickering lava, and Lloyd let himself forget about everything for a moment, just watching them.

It could’ve almost been peaceful, if it weren’t for his situation.

He leaned his head against the bars of the cage, despite the uncomfortableness. A slight quiver reverberated through the floor, reminding him of the unstableness of the ground beneath him.

Trying to think about something else, he turned his thoughts to the ninja instead. He wondered what they were doing now. Realistically, he knew they were probably trying to find a way to stop the Serpentine- maybe even coming to save him. He knew the idea should’ve brought him comfort, but for some reason, it just made his stomach ache. He didn’t want his friends to get hurt because of him.

Instead, he imagined them hanging out at the monastery. Jay flopped over the couch with a Starfarer comic (one he had probably stolen from Lloyd), Zane and Nya sprawled out on the floor as they played Stratego, glaring at each other icily from time to time, and Kai and Cole duking it out in Fist-to-Face 2, Kai balancing on his knees and practically smashing his controller as he got more agitated, while Cole’s demeanor was much more relaxed, although there was a fierce concentration in his eyes.

Lloyd let a smile play on his lips. The image felt so vivid, so real, and he clutched onto it, longing desperately for some connection- any connection- to the others.

Tears blurred his vision. It wasn’t enough, just imagining them. He needed them. He was going crazy in here, and the slimy Serpentine were terrible company.

Looking back up at the sky, he let his gaze fall on the North Star. Lloyd didn’t know much about constellations or different stars, but he knew that one. It wasn’t too hard to spot, especially on this dark night- bigger and brighter than all the rest.

Lloyd remembered what Brad had told him back at school- that supposedly you could see this star from anywhere. It was a guide, a wayfinder, a path back to home.

Biting his lip, he glanced around to see if anyone was watching him. No one was- of course they weren’t, why would they be- so he turned his gaze on the North Star and whispered under his breath.

“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.”

Closing his eyes, he thought the wish in his head as hard as he could- saying it out loud would make it not come true, of course- and hoped against all odds, that this time, for once, his wish would actually be granted.

Opening his eyes again, he fixated on the star again.

Maybe, wherever the ninja were, they were watching that star, too.

---

Stiix, 2015

If there was ever a time in his life that Lloyd had wished he had brought a jacket with him, it was now.

Not that he had really had an opportunity to get a jacket in the first place- it would’ve had to been when he had first gone down to investigate that stupid museum robbery, weeks ago at this point- but his point still stood. He was freezing.

A cold breeze rattled eerily through the bars of his cage, swaying it slightly, and Lloyd pulled the dirty, worn mess that was his gi tighter around him. Alright, he got that Morro wanted him to suffer in every way possible, but did he really have to hang his cage all the way up here?

Another gust rocked the cage a little harder, and Lloyd grabbed hold of the bars, whiteknuckling as he tried not to look at the churning waters of the lake not too far to his right. It was all too easy to imagine the cage rolling into the dark, choppy waves if a strong enough gust were to knock him loose.

The hands that gripped the cage bars were pale and trembling, so that Lloyd barely recognized them as his own. He cursed himself- even this brief, fleeting moment of relief from Morro’s possession really wasn’t much of a relief at all because of how much his body was screaming in agony. He was so weak, and even if, by some miracle, an opportunity was presented for him to escape, he would never be able to take it. He wasn’t even sure if he could move.

As if to accentuate his point, Lloyd’s stomach suddenly growled loudly, agonizing cramps ripping through it as he curled in on himself, moaning. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had eaten. He bit his lip, trying to distract himself from the unbearable hunger pangs. Even Cole’s nasty chili sounded heavenly about now, and he felt himself start to cry as he thought of the black ninja, wishing his friend was here now, with or without food.

But the only person there was Ronin. Lloyd craned his neck to peer through the hole in the roof of the man’s pawn shop. Ronin was scowling, his hands securely tied up behind his back as he glared at the floor. He was looking a little better than he had a half hour ago, his skin less of an ashy shade, and some of the color seeping back into his cheeks, but he still was slumped over weakly, trembling slightly.

Even though Lloyd hardly knew him, he felt his heart go out to the man. He was one of the few people in Ninjago who knew how it felt, to be possessed by a ghost- and honestly, Lloyd was impressed that Ronin had recovered this much in such a short amount of time. The first time Lloyd had been released from Morro’s grip, it… well, he preferred not to relive the memories, but it had not been pretty.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a flicker of translucent green glide past Ronin, and Lloyd lurched back from the edge, pressing his back against the opposite side of the cage, gasping. He was still lurking around. Lloyd didn’t even want to look at him, he didn’t want to think about how, all too soon, the ghost would be slipping back inside him, filling his mind, taking over his bones-

Lloyd cut off the flow of thoughts violently, breathing heavily as he tried to contain it. He- he couldn’t think about that now. There would be plenty of time for trauma later, but now his poor body couldn’t handle anymore.

Trying to get his pounding heart to slow, Lloyd swallowed- and immediately regretted it as his throat seared. Ow, he groaned silently, not daring to speak. His throat felt impossibly dry- Morro had given him some water a little while ago, after he was safely out of Lloyd’s body, but the stale, warm liquid had done little to alleviate the raging heat in his throat. Just the thought of water made his head throb, and Lloyd clutched tightly onto the bars, trying not to pass out.

He had barely gotten over his dizzy spell when his stomach suddenly cramped again, loud gurgles and whines bubbling from it as he braced himself.

The pain came much worse than any time before, and it was only the promise of pain from his throat that kept him from crying out. The cramping continued to flare for much longer than usual, and Lloyd began breathing heavier, tears pricking his eyes as he prayed for relief, which came a few moments later, slowly and reluctantly.

Dammit, I haven’t had it this bad since my days wandering the streets, back when I was nine. How long has it been since I last ate?

He hoped Morro would feed him soon. The ghost would need to put some fuel in Lloyd’s body if he wanted to continue to use it, and Lloyd wasn’t sure how much longer he could run without food. If he didn’t get anything soon, he would probably have to ask Morro to give him something, which was always humiliating because the ghost always found some way to make him beg for what he wanted.

It wasn’t like he could ask for anything in this state, anyway. Why did it feel like every part of his body was actively trying to kill him?

Needing something- anything- to distract him from his pain, he found himself looking up for the first time since he had been there.

The night skies of Stiix were breathtaking, stars littering the air like glitter. Even with everything going on, Lloyd felt himself stop for a minute, taking in the beauty of it all.

It would’ve been a perfect night to go stargazing, back home.

Lloyd’s fascination with the stars hadn’t faded since his capture in the desert all those years ago, and he had kept his promise to himself to keep watching them. The others would accompany him once in a while, although he sensed that it was mostly just so that he wouldn’t be alone.

Kai’s feelings, however, had always been more genuine. He and his friend had spent hours studying the different constellations, charting the stars, and going out on the prime stargazing nights. The outings weren’t just about the stars, either. They would chat for hours- about silly things, serious things, or nothing at all. Out there, alone in the darkness, it had just been the two of them and the stars. There had been something intimate and comforting about it, especially on the hard nights. If he was having nightmares again, all he would have to do was wake Kai up and they would go, no questions asked. Sometimes they talked about it, sometimes they didn’t. But what was important was that Kai was always there, as unfading and unfaltering as the stars themselves.

Yet here he was, the stars shining above him, and Kai was miles from here. The last time he had seen him, Lloyd had tried to kill him. His best friend.

No, he reminded himself fiercely. That was Morro in control then. I saved Kai’s life by fighting back.

But he should’ve done more. He had seen his friend escape with cuts and wounds, while Kai had tried so hard to not hurt Lloyd.

Damn, none of that mattered. Kai would forgive him, he always did. Lloyd just wanted to see him again. He’d know what to say to make Lloyd feel better.

Or, at least, he would just hug him. Lloyd really wanted to be held. The only person who had touched him recently was the ghosts, who more so phased through him than touched him.

Wrapping his arms around himself, he looked up at the stars again. Maybe Kai was staring up at them now, too, thinking of him.

The thought made a smile flicker across his lips, and for a moment, he thought he felt a shoulder pressing against his.

He turned his head. No one was there. Of course they weren’t.

Lloyd looked back at the stars desperately, longing for the sensation again. But, unsurprisingly, nothing happened. He had just imagined it.

It was just Lloyd and the stars, together again, yet lonelier than ever.

---

The Temple of Resurrection, Present Day

Lloyd gasped, blinking back the tears that were welling in his eyes. The sky above him came into sharper focus as he did so. But this time, when he gazed up, he didn’t get the little skip in his heart he always felt when watching the stars. Perhaps it had something to do with being so deep in the city, but they felt colder and more distant than usual.

Even the stars were against him tonight, it seemed.

Maybe his luck had finally run out.

That was probably for the best. It seemed like every time Lloyd got himself captured, Kai managed to plunge himself headfirst into danger, and would almost get himself killed.

Lloyd really hated that about him. If Kai ever died trying to save him, he would never forgive himself. It would be better for everyone if they stayed far away from here.

But then Harumi will succeed in bringing my father back.

Lloyd put his head down. He didn’t know what to do. He just wanted everyone to be safe, but he always managed to mess things up, to throw a wrench in their plans.

And this time, he had messed up so much worse. His father was going to come back, the city was going to be destroyed, Harumi was going to win.

And this time, he didn’t know how to fix it.

Suddenly, a flash caught the edge of his vision, and Lloyd whipped his head towards it, sucking in his breath. A shooting star. He hadn’t seen one of those in years.

Those are lucky, he thought, unbidden. For special wishes.

He was being silly. That was just a dumb old superstition. He wasn’t a little kid anymore, he had stopped wishing on stars a long time ago.

“Make a wish, Lloyd.”

“Go away, Kai,” he grumbled. “You’re not really here. The last thing I need is the Sons of Garmadon laughing at me for talking to myself.”

The red ninja pointed to the sky. “You’re going to miss it.”

“I’m not going to wish on that stupid star, okay?”

“Why won’t you do it anymore? I miss when we used to talk about the stars.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not a kid anymore.”

“It’s never too late, bud.”

“Yes, it is!”

“Why?”

“Just leave me alone!”

When he looked up again, Kai- or rather, the illusion of Kai- was gone.

“... because I can’t,” he whispered, to whom, he didn’t know. “Not anymore. My life hasn’t been that simple for a long time. Even the luckiest of wishing stars isn’t going to change that.”

Closing his eyes, he blocked out the twinkling lights above him, letting his vision succumb to blackness.

#ninjago #ninbingo #my fic #rosie writes #ninjago lloyd #ninjago kai #ninjago harumi #this was supposed to be lloyd reflecting on his whole family... #but it turned into just kai #figures XD #FINALLY i felt like i was never going to finish this one lol #oof and sorry it was so angsty #that just kind of... happened lol #hope you enjoyed! #reblogs appreciated!

[sketch--booked]

rant abbbooouuutt harumi

Dude, Harumi was amazing, both as a villain, a character, and I really approve of her realizing what she’s done after she sees that, what happened to her as a kid, is happening again because she refused to let go, refused to let anything but anger lead her. And then how she died, not only being watched by the resistance and Lloyd, but also drawing Garmadon’s last straw and making him snap.

She was able to bring out parts of a character that no one else had done, and managed to both directly and indirectly break my heart.

Her backstory was well done, and her personality reflected her past and her current actions so well. I’m glad that the show went in the rout of bringing an old event to the present, showing that there are always repercussions. Yes the ninja won when they defeated TGD, but even in season 2 it was acknowledged that it was truly Garmadon that had defeated the snake.

I will say, I know the reveal of Harumi was supposed to be shocking, but my over-analyzing brain kept picking it apart in a story sense, so I could already guess she was a bad guy the moment she sneaked out with Lloyd (I really approve of the giving to the poor thing. Not only was it quite a Robin Hood move, but she is also said royalty that would’ve been taking from the poor. I like my reverse parallels). However, I do like the way it was revealed and how Lloyd immediately understood he’d been lied to.

He didn’t do the bullshittery that is “No! It can’t be! I refuse to believe you were evil this wH ol E time?! And I never saw it!!” that I usually see. Instead we got to see that Lloyd aint yo average protag, slowly piecing it together and being more-so, shocked that she would go to such extremes of killing her royal family, and that really sent Harumi over the edge. But putting on the mask of hatred. Also makes ma just 😩👌

Perfection.

Her motives were a twisted sort of revenge but also naivety. She got her revenge on Lloyd, taking away everything precious to him as she believed they did to her, and she’s technically right.

Had Lloyd not released the Hypnobrai, TGD would’ve never been unleashed and Garmadon would not have been brought back by Wu to defeat it, meaning that the events of season 1-3 would never have happened (and likely 4, as Zane would have not died and they wouldn't have a drive to go to Chen’s tournament) and her bitter hatred towards him for this is entirely reasonable. 

You feel bad for her, especially when you see the nurses talking to her, and she’s just staring silently into nothing. You understand her on a personal level and makes you wonder if Lloyd really is a good guy? This is all his fault so why shouldn’t he be punished? He gets praised and loved for “saving” the city from destruction he caused. He get’s to be the green ninja and his sins are forgiven like pulling out a splinter.

I loved Harumi because she was a victim of circumstance, and all of it was caused by our so-called h e r o.

She only realized this was a bad idea after some preeety big red flags, and you see that she’s beginning to regret those actions slowly. And Mr. E’s death was so heartbreaking, not just for Harumi, since she did seem to have some care for him, but also because she looks right to Ultra Violet and I think Killow? And damn those two,, you can see that thay already are regretting what they did, they are already beginning to questions Garmadon and likely Harumi herself.

I really liked Harumi as a villain, she was interesting and deep, and her mental state is questionable, but the thing is--She’s not wrong... And that’s what’s terrifying. I loved her so much and I’m glad as well then S12 gives us that brif moment for Lloyd to face “Harumi” and finally get out his frustrations and get over her. It was still clear that in S13, Harumi still left an imprint on Lloyd and that’s what’s so amazing. She died, she is genuinely deceased and Lloyd saw it. But she still leaves and incredible weight and imprint on him.

.

It wasn’t really a rant and more just--- me gushing over how well she was writtenkgkhkh but damn bro she was wonderful, absolutely amazing start to post-movie Ninjago. ngl I was concerned for ninago after I had watched S1-7 and had been told that S8 took some things from the movie. But there was no disappointment. Epic Villain, deliciously dark, ngl the new designs are pretty tasty (jay’s freckles thoghghg), and a wonderful story. I also really liked how the ninja were dealing with the loss of Wu and them having to make it through ARGUABLY the worst fight of their loves, without him. She took advantage of that and I love it---

.

So I hoped you like my input, Harumi top tier villain and character, would mentally scar a child again--

#ninjago #ninjago season 8 #ninjago s8 #ninjago harumi #aaaaaaaa she was so goood i loved every part of her

[gracelesslamb]

“Don’t Talk”

Rated: Explicit

Fandom: Code Geass

Pairing: Cécile x Lloyd

Summary: Lloyd will do anything for giant robots. Even show an interest in girls. Sort of. There’s not really a plot it’s mostly just smut.

“Cécile, you’re a woman aren’t you?”

Cécile Croomy holds back her grimace at the obliviousness of Earl Asplund’s question. Could the guy get any more cliché in his cluelessness?

“Yes. I’m a woman. Where are you going with this?”

The Earl chuckles, running his fingers through his light violet locks idly. “Obviously it is to ask a favor of you. I require practice in the art of copulation—“

“ExcUSE ME? That ISN’T something you just ASK for practice in. Look, I get that you don’t understand how human attraction works but you don’t just ask your subordinate, who is not your betrothed to...do stuff like that with you!” Cécile fumes, turning back to her work, her cheeks flaming a bright crimson.

Another condescending chuckle. What was wrong with this man? “Science is trial and error. I want to please my future wife, Miss Ashford, so I can get my hands on those antique Knightmare frames, and I have no experience whatsoever with the opposite sex. Odds are if Miss Ashford isn’t pleased with my performance, the opportunity to study those frames would slip through my fingers!”

Cécile sighs. “Then take Miss Ashford on a date or something. Why should I help you practice?”

“Because you would give me honest feedback. I do see you as my conscience after all. I don’t exactly know how I am supposed to conduct myself in such situations and I will probably need instruction. Besides...it has been awhile since you’ve had a lover.”

The heat rising in Cécile’s face rose to a boiling point. He was right. It had been awhile since she had gotten any action whatsoever. Instead she was just making eyes at Suzaku, who really didn’t notice her or anyone else since Princess Euphemia died and honestly she couldn’t blame him. But...Lloyd? She was pretty certain Lloyd was asexual and sleeping with him would be like going to the doctor’s office except with penetration.

Wait.

Why was she even thinking about it? Granted the Earl of Pudding was easy on the eyes, with his fluffy lilac hair, somewhat handsome face, his lithe frame and...those hands. She wasn’t a prude and had occasionally indulged in casual flings and one night stands before, but never with someone she would actually see daily. Granted, she definitely knew that Lloyd would have no problem pretending their little fling never happened because he was...Lloyd.

“S-so...let me get this straight. You want me to...what? Let you go down on me for science?”

“Correct. In fact, I don’t believe we will need to have intercourse. Unless you want to, of course. If that’s the case I will provide adequate contraception.”

Cécile cringes a bit. He’s so..clinical about this. But...she was intrigued enough by the idea of Lloyd going down on her that she nods hesitantly.

“F-fine. But if you’re weird about it, I’m gonna make you stop, okay?”

“Yes, yes. I understand. I’ll drop by your place tonight at 8:00 sharp.”

Cécile nods again, blushing profusely and not daring to look her future bed partner in the eye. Jeez. What had she gotten herself into?

——————————————-

Later that night, Cécile was ready. She had settled on some deep purple lacy lingerie that was covered by a fluffy white robe. She was fresh out of the shower and sitting on her bed in sheer anticipation. God, why did she agree to this? Sheer curiosity about how her boss would be in bed? That’s a good explanation as anything else she could come up with.

The doorbell rings and she gets up and opens the door. Lloyd, wearing his standard uniform, strides in as if he owns the place. A simple messenger bag is slung over his shoulder, which she assumes has the box of condoms inside. Hopefully he won’t work her into such a frenzy that they’ll need them.

“So, then. Where is your bedroom?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at her current state of dress. “I see you’re ready to get started, hmm?”

A blush rises in Cécile’s cheeks as she points in the direction of the bedroom . “I-It’s that way, you jerk!” she mutters.

Lloyd grins at her embarrassment and walks toward the bedroom, setting his bag on the side of the bed. Cécile, still red-faced, walks into the room and closes the door behind her and dimming the lights to set a less clinical mood. Well. Here they were.

She hesitantly sits on the bed, patting the spot next to her. Lloyd takes the hint and sits beside her. “So, where do you want to start? Some kissing? Or do you want to just get undressed right now?”

Cécile swats his arm lightly. “Just...just shut up and kiss me.”

“Hah. As you wish.” Without hesitation, Lloyd crashes his lips onto hers, threading those delicate fingers through her drying hair.

The kiss was sweet. Sensual. Slow. Enough so that Cécile’s eyes flutter shut and she just lets him nibble on her bottom lip and surprises even herself when she allows her lips to part and the kiss deepens. Eventually, though, the absurdity of who was kissing her was too much to bear and she breaks the kiss, pushing Lloyd away, who just smirks in response.

“What’s wrong? I thought my skills were adequate, judging by your reaction.” he remarks smugly, in such a way that made Cécile want to clock that smug smirk off his stupid face.

“N-nothing’s wrong I was just...expecting something different from you.” Hesitantly, she pulls him into another kiss, which Lloyd reciprocates by pulling Cécile into his lap as she snakes her arms around his neck, slightly toying with his soft hair. This was...surprisingly intimate.

Eventually Lloyd pulls on the robe’s sash, letting the material fall open. Cécile, in turn unbuttons his lab jacket, causing both of them to break the kiss and discard both lab jacket and robe.

“I see you’re enjoying yourself, Cécile.” Lloyd murmurs in her ear before pressing kisses against the skin of her neck, causing a quiet moan to leave Cécile’s lips.

“Ooh, I like that noise. Do it again!” Lloyd comments, before heating up his kisses, adding small bites and suckling to the mix. Céline, already embarrassed that she made such a noise, bites her lip before another moan comes out. “Lloyd, shut up!” she hisses.

“Yes, yes. Just making an observation. How am I doing so far, might I ask. Pretty good judging the noises you’re making, hm?” He pulls her into another heated kiss, swiping his tongue across her bottom lip, begging for entrance. Cécile breaks the kiss to answer, “Passable.”

“Well...I suppose I need to step up my game then, hmm?” Lloyd grins, pulling her back into the kiss, deepening it immediately and sliding his tongue inside of Cécile’s mouth, causing tingles to emanate throughout her body every time his tongue collides with hers.

While they kiss, Lloyd’s hands begin to wander from her back, to the inside of her thighs, causing Cécile to gasp softly into the kiss. His hand creeps upwards and cups one of her breasts through her bra while the other hand reaches behind and...attempts to unclasp the garment, causing Cécile to break the kiss and collapse into giggles as he struggles. “D-do you need help?” she asks, biting her lip as she buries her face into his shoulder, pulling down Lloyd’s turtleneck to press teasing kisses against his neck while he struggles.

“No, no. I simply need both hands to unlock this contraption.” Lloyd mutters breathily, looking over Cécile’s shoulder to see the clasp. Finally, after a few moments of more struggling, Lloyd finally unclasps the bra with a triumphant, “HAH! Success! Now, can you get off of me and lay on the bed?”

“Only if you take off your shirt too.” Cécile fires back, tugging at his shirt.

Lloyd sighs as he complies . “Very well. I suppose that’s a fair trade.” He pulls off the shirt revealing a fairly wiry body with very little body fat or muscle, but it was still pleasing to look at.

Cécile gets off of Lloyd’s lap and slides out of her bra, carefully laying down, avoiding the Earl’s gaze as she does.

Lloyd climbs on top of Cécile, engaging her in another kiss as a hand caresses a modestly sized breast in his palm. Breaking the kiss he murmurs, “I’ve never seen one of these up close before.” Moving down to her breasts, the Earl pokes at one of them with a look of fascination on his face, making Cécile roll her eyes. This man was 30 years old, five years her senior, yet he acted like such a child sometimes. Most times. All the time.

He spent a good amount of time playing with them, poking and prodding at them, squeezing and flicking at her nipples, causing several moans to escape Cécile’s lips, against her better judgement. He had got her going and now she was definitely feeling heat between her legs as he continues to play with her breasts.

“Y-you can put your mouth on them if you want.” Cécile murmurs, gasping softly as Lloyd takes a nipple into his mouth, tracing his tongue around the nipple, causing Cécile’s eyes to flutter shut as she bites her bottom lip to hold back another moan, her legs rubbing together as her lower regions begin to throb with anticipation.

Of course Lloyd was completely oblivious to Cécile’s thighs rubbing together and he continues to play with her breasts far longer than Cécile would’ve liked but she gave the Earl some slack — he’d never played with boobs before.

Eventually, Lloyd decides it’s time to move on and he kisses his way back up to Cécile’s lips, leaning in her ear. “So...how do you want me to pleasure you?” he asks. “With my hands?” His deft fingers rub at her clothed core, causing Cécile to sigh in pleasure. “My tongue?” he nips at her earlobe, “or..” his voice lowers into a whisper. “My cock.” With that he rubs himself against Cécile’s aching core, causing her to moan louder than she expected. He was...a decent size judging by what she had felt through his pants.

“A-all three?”

“How greedy.” Lloyd murmurs softly, pulling down her panties and immediately stroking her core, which by this time was soaking wet. “I guess I did promise to go down on you for science.” he mutters. “But now I need to take care of my own arousal too. How annoying. Do I have permission to penetrate you after cunnilingus?”

Cécile’s face burns bright red as she nods quickly, too embarrassed to say anything.

“Excellent. Then let’s get this show on the road, shall we? Spread your legs for me!” Lloyd exclaims, as if he was about to test a new feature on the Lancelot.

Slowly, Cécile spreads her legs, revealing her core to the Earl of Asplund, who grins with delight as he settles between her legs. “Now, let’s see if I remember my female anatomy correctly.” he murmurs, experimentally sliding a finger inside of her, his face flashing in surprise as her insides just suck him in. “Oh my. That’s..interesting. Just sucks you right in there, huh?”

Cécile was getting impatient. Her loins were on fire and needed relief. “Just get on with it, Lloyd. Please!”

“Fine fine.” Lloyd begins to thrust that finger inside of her, once twice, three times before adding a second, and locating her clitoris, which he presses his tongue against, causing the other scientist to moan softly. “K-Keep doing that” she murmurs under her breath.

“Hmm...your taste is..hm. Interesting. It’s not bad it’s just..” another lick. “Strange. And a bit salty.”

“Stop—mm! talking!” Cécile says, her eyes feeling heavy and fluttering shut as her head tilts back against the pillows as Lloyd thrusts his deft fingers inside of her while swirling his tongue around her sensitive button. With all of this stimulation, it wasn’t surprising that her first orgasm quickly approached her and she fell over the edge with a loud gasp of pleasure, panting slightly.

Lloyd looks up from his ministrations and pouts. “Aw. Did you finish already? I was just getting started. Oh well. Guess that means it’s time for the main event, huh?”

He sits up and removes his pants, underwear and all, revealing a very hard, decent sized shaft. Unashamed of his nakedness, Lloyd hops over to the messenger bag he had brought, finding a condom wrapper and tearing it open and placing it on his shaft.

Cécile watches him while he does this, still trying to catch her breath after her orgasm. He was a virgin, so he probably wasn’t going to last very long, but given the fact that he was 30 years old and not a teenager anymore counted in his favor.

Lloyd climbs back on top of Cécile, pulling her into another passionate kiss just to get her blood boiling again, rubbing the tip of his cock against her entrance, thrusting inside of her sharply, causing both of them to gasp. Cécile tangles her legs with his as Lloyd begins to move in and out of her. Their breathing is heavy and the movements of their bodies results in the bed rocking and creaking back and forth in time with their movements.

Their coupling was surprisingly intimate as the Earl was too winded to offer much more than a few gasps and moans, making the entire ordeal much more erotic rather than the clinical nightmare Cécile was dreading. In fact..she wouldn’t mind this becoming a regular thing. The only problem was that outside of obligation, Lloyd had no interest in sex whatsoever and the obvious: he was engaged.

Cécile didn’t have feelings for Lloyd, rather she would definitely admit to having affection for the eccentric young man who just really liked building giant robots and pudding. Maybe that counted as feelings.

Lloyd’s thrusts begin to speed up and the bed creaks louder paired with the sound of their bare skin slapping together and their shared gasps and moans. He was definitely close. Cécile holds on to the Earl’s waist as they chase their orgasm together, her body arching into his as they both reach their high almost simultaneously.

As they come down from their high, Cécile pulls Lloyd into a gentle lip lock, which he reciprocated, surprisingly. It was gentle and intimate and as they pull away, they both smile, pressing their foreheads together, his glasses almost falling into her face.

As they lay there, arms wrapped around each other, Lloyd finally breaks the comfortable silence. “...So what are your thoughts? I am expecting a report after all.”

Cécile rolls her eyes and laughs. “I’ll give it to you in writing later. For now just...don’t talk. Alright?”

“Alright.”

#code geass #lloyd asplund #cécile croomy #fanfiction

[watchingninjago-archive]

Season 4, Episode 8 - Day of the Dragon

So, uh… hopefully we get some explanation about that dream dragon that we’ve been seeing.

[21:17] Guess we’re trying to weed out Chen and Clouse. I hope that Skylor is okay.

[21:13] (Lloyd) “She wasn’t able to pick her family, but she was able to pick her friends.” Stop saying weird shit that doesn’t even help that much, Lloyd, it’s a bad habit you’re picking up from your uncle, but… man. I can see WHY he would choose to say that, considering the first two seasons.

[21:09] Alright, that is… not her choosing but like, I guess so, kid.

[20:31] hey so uh (sees the Falcon pecking at the screen) (i begin bawling)

[19:17] I… I don’t like the looks of where this is going.

[18:47] I can smell those manipulation tactics from a mile away. I get he’s the villian, but still, that’s his daughter what the fuck

[18:06] He is fully okay with his own daughter DYING because of what he’ll get out of it.

I’m going to fucking murder Chen. You try and stop me.

[17:32] okay but if Skylor doesn’t get much focus / only gets focus as the love interest of kai in the later seasons i’m also going to fucking murder the writers she’s very OP and that has a lot of potential

[16:37] Wait, Mind can do that? Messages? That’s neat as hell.

look i’m guessing the Competition Gang isn’t going to be in the show much after the season so uhhh fuck the writers for ignoring perfectly good characters if that’s the case

i could change So Much about this show already and in the later seasons it’ll probably get worse :/

[16:15] Wait, why has Jay’s leg magically healed? Why does continuity make no sense? It’d be fine if the show was episodic but that is not at all the case so… ugghhhh

[15:50] hi dareth. you’re still here.

[15:23] ZANE LISTEN TO YOUR GF AND SLOW DOWN THIS IS WHAT YOU GOT

[15:15] dude we JUST got you back c’mon

[14:55] pixal just fucking calling him out, “perhaps is an understatement”

[14:47] ~like he’s been here before~

Okay, but like… I wonder if anything happens in this series that I could properly insert the song Here Before by Vashti Bunyan into. That song is so good, you guys, give it a listen.

[14:43] Anywho, hi dream dragon

[14:35] Like, what is the deal with Zane? Pixal can’t see what he’s panicking about, so that means that what we’re seeing isn’t the visuals being picked up by Zane’s eyes, but Zane IS seeing what we’re seeing, so this has to be from another cause.

[14:19] OH MY GOD… POOR ZANE. HE… WHATEVER THIS IS, PIXAL CAN’T EVEN HELP AND IT’S JUST STRESSING ME OUT THE POOR GUY

[14:08] What the hell was on this island before, anyhow? Did the people here live before Chen was exiled here?

[12:24] WELP, BIG F

[11:17] okay but look at them! look at those fucking dorks! they’re just chaotic teenagers

[10:54] aww. your romance may have been somewhat rushed but if it’s not got some neat moments

[10:27] oh dammit

[10:14] huh. sure is a fight scene.

literally though if anything majorly Bad happens to Garmadon i’ll commit murder. i know i sound tired but that’s just because i am

[10:06] oh, Come on! Why the fuck did you open the Cursed Realm?

[10:00] Um.

[9:53] UH?

[9:46] fffuck.

[9:43] ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

[9:32] Oh my god. You absolute piece of shit, Clouse.

[9:24] hahaha why the fuck is this happening

[9:08] OH GOD OKAY GARMADON IS GOING TO GET SOME USE OUT OF WHATEVER HE CAN DO BEFORE HE GOES DOWN.

AND IF THAT MEANS DRAGGING CLOUSE TO HELL, THEN HE CAN DRAG AS HARD AS HE GODDAMN WANTS TO.

[9:06] God bless flimsy vines, sometimes.

[8:53] OH THANK F U CK OKAY GARMADON IS OKAY HE’S OKAY

[8:44] BACK TO THE OTHER TRAUMATISING THING

[8:37] Pixal, love you, but you reaaally aren’t helping

[8:22, round about] (Zane) “I am not the White Ninja. I am a replica. I am… afraid.” HEY WRITERS DON’T RIP MY FUCKING HEART OUT AGAIN

[8:17] oh my god he doesn’t realise it isn’t actually real he’s using his powers and thinking he isn’t able to stop something that isn’t there

[8:00] I did not go into this Lego show to get emotionally beat up. I went into this because I thought it wasn’t that good, it would be good joke material, it would just be a somewhat tedious but fun exercise in just what on earth is out there. And… true, it fufills some of those things, but it also has me putting off watching a character say he can’t be who he is, he’s a replica, a fake, he can’t do anything to stop a threat only he can see, because that shit hurts. It’s good that it hurts, but it was never on my mind I would feel that way when everyone in the show is a Lego minifig.

[around 7:48] (Zane) “I am not the White Ninja. I am not the White Ninja.”

(Pixal) “Who are you, then?”

[7:39] (Zane) “I am… the Titanium Ninja.”

[7:34] (Zane) “I… I am the Titanium Ninja!”

THAT’S MY BOY!!!

[7:07, also round about] (Zane) “I am the Titanium Ninja!” LOOK AT HIM!!! LOOK AT HIM GO!!!

like there’s dialogue between this but like seriously coming to terms that you’ve changed as a person, and that you’re never going to be the same but you’re better for it is just… a good message yknow.

[6:59] Back to the Competition Gang’s kind of… what? Prisoner-holding area? I  guess?

[6:52] Oh, shit. The back of Garm’s shirt is undone. You can see part of his tattoo. Only the other Ninja excl. Zane know about it.

[6:43] OH FUCK IT’S LIKE THE DARK MARK

[6:29] oh god oh fuck this isn’t going wellllllOH MY GOD

OH. OH NO.

[5:24] OH NO. OH HOLY SHIT THIS IS NOT GOOD

[5:21] honestly the fact that this hasn’t garnered THAT MUCH shock is… surprising considering how out of nowhere garmadon just turned into an anacondrai but ok

[5:08] Well!

[4:16ish] (Jay) “First it was four arms, then it was a dragon. Do you mind picking a body and sticking to it, please?” jkewlf

[3:48] KAI JUST WHOLEASS SET CHEN ON FIRE

[3:42] and he would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for your meddling thick hides!

[3:08] welp things are going to bibbity bobbity hell

[2:48] shit. they’re leaving.

[1:58] ZANE M’BOY!!!

[1:22] KAI TOO!!! REAL GODDAMN DRAGON HOURS

[0:44] (Kai) “Chen brought us here so only one would remain. Well - we *are* one!”

[0:38] Was going to comment on the lack of Weekend Whip, but I guess we’re getting some mild closure on Jacob instead.

[0:00] minor comment on the fact that apparently there is a turkish dub (not my native language but i am the child of two turkish immigrants so i do somewhat care about it) but netflix doesn’t have it in the options. i wonder what these people also do. and also why is the öz- prefix so common you really want to emphasise the “pureness” of the word in your surname, 1920s turks deciding on said surname, huh?

#jaime binges ninjago season 4 #ninjago #day of the dragon

[neverwatchedonepiece]

511-513: "Unexpected Relanding! Luffy, to Marineford!", "With Hopes It Will Reach My Friends! Big News Spreading Fast!" and "Pirates Get On the Move! Astounding New World!"

Lafitte showing off his soft skills.

Now these three episodes were worth every minute! This is, hand on heart, my favourite part of any arc epilogue: when the seeds of new plots are sown and you get to see what everyone else is up to.

And there was a lot of that in 511-513.

I’m still messing with the format. I’ll stick with the three days a week posts but watching six episodes at a time was too much. The post ended up way too long and I couldn’t get into much speculation (which is the most fun part). Three at a time might be a better balance. :)

Luffy’s Message

This was the Main Event for me. It was why I was so keen to watch the next lot of episodes. That cliffhanger drawn out over so many episodes! What could have caused the Strawhats to react so spectacularly? What the hell was Rayleigh up to? Why all the secrecy?

And most of all...

Why the hell would Luffy go back to Marineford?

The answer? He wanted to send a message. And Rayleigh had crafted his plan so skillfully that this message would be different depending on which side a character was on.

The build up was great. 511 opened with a Marine debriefing meeting. Marines were getting the hairdryer treatment because Monkey D. Luffy, the notorious rookie pirate, had not only escaped their grasp but had the audacity to return to the scene of the crime with the Traitor Jimbei and The Dark King Rayleigh.

This was not good PR. And we all know the Marines are all about PR.

What happened was this: a lone Marine ship sailed right into the bay without clearance and fired a blank. Then three figures were spotted on board: Luffy, Rayleigh and Jimbei. Of course, they were fired on. The ship caught fire and sunk, but Luffy leapt ashore with Rayleigh and Jimbei and set about... doing some really weird stuff.

He rung the Ox Lloyd’s Bell (a Marine tradition, apparently. It’s rung at New Year: eight times to salute the passing year and another eight to welcome the new). Okay, I thought. I have no idea what this means. Let’s see where this goes.

It became a bit clearer when Luffy walked through the dumbstruck crowd, laid flowers into the chasm and removed his hat in a gesture of respect. Okay, I thought, this is funeral stuff. He’s returning to Marineford to pay his respects to Ace. This was to give Luffy closure so he could continue to live his life without being crippled by guilt and depression.

Except it was bigger than that, but I didn’t realise it until Luffy, Rayleigh and Jimbei exited via getaway whale sharks and the action returned to the debriefing meeting. The Marine in charge was Oda’s mouthpiece. Ringing the Ox Lloyd’s bell was a challenge. Luffy rang out the old Pirate Era and rang in the new one. That Rayleigh (symbol of the Old Era) was at his side was Significant. The Marines believe that Rayleigh has backed Luffy to be Roger’s successor. (This might be true. It was Rayleigh’s plan, after all. He knows all about pirate symbolism and how to make a statement. He was on Roger’s crew.)

Annoyingly, I didn’t realise the Return to Marineford would also be like the bat signal to the Strawhats until Vivi picked up the newspaper and I saw that photo of Luffy (I’m still salty she didn’t join the crew).

And I noticed something interesting. Those tattoos Vivi mentioned. 3D2Y. I have seen that combination of numbers and letters before on the CR arc list. Does this mean Luffy will only reunite with the Strawhats in 3D2Y (whatever that is)? According to the arc list, I have Fishman Island to go first.

I also have no idea what 3D2Y could mean. Maybe it’s a calendar thing? 3D is crossed out (the old pirate era) and 2Y is the new pirate era? Maybe it’s a new model of Star Wars droid. I have no clue.

But I can’t wait to find out! :D

The Strawhats

Of course, the Strawhats picked up on it right away. (Vivi did too, which is why you should have joined the crew, Vivi, why do you have to be such a good and dutiful noble?)

Zoro’s and Chopper’s reactions to the Marineford Return were most in-depth, so I’ll talk about them here just now. I’m assuming from the 514 preview that we’ll get Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Robin, Franky and Brook later.

They didn’t give us much of Zoro here. It was a short scene but his reaction was the most interesting. While the other Strawhats said: “Awesome, Luffy. Got the message!” Zoro was actually suspicious.

“Luffy doesn’t do sneaky, clever stuff like that!” he said to Perona. “This must be Rayleigh’s plan.”

Clearly, Zoro knows Luffy so well at this point that he can tell Luffy’s style of planning. I liked that.

And Chopper...

I still have that major soft spot for Chopper. I still cannot watch the flashbacks of his past without tearing up. Every time Chopper cries, I kind of want to take him aside and say, “Shhh, Chopper. I can’t handle your little reindeer tears.”

It was when Chopper returned to Birdie Kingdom that the penny dropped. The Strawhats wouldn’t reunite yet. They all have to go through training. Now everything from the last few episodes made sense. Maybe the Strawhats I thought would get away without training will have to do it after all.

And Chopper definitely got a good deal here. That library! I was as shocked as Chopper (but at least I didn’t say it out loud, haha, that was funny).

Chopper’s loyalty to Luffy and the Strawhats has upped a few levels post-Sabaody. He said something really interesting (and kind of worrying). Remembering his past, when he was reviled as a monster - outcast from human and reindeer society - he never wanted to go through something like Sabaody again and is now willing to “become a real monster for Luffy.”

Wow... Chopper’s about to get an upgrade. I mean, he’s always had so much potential. Monster Point, anyone? Those Rumble Balls? And he’s a great medic? Hopefully, Oda has good things planned for Chopper.

And speaking of plans... not all is well in the World Government hierarchy! I wouldn’t like to say they deserve it, but... they deserve it.

The Gorosei?

I think that’s who these guys are. I counted five in the shot and they are all old guys in suits, so I’ll go with it for now. There was no confirmation in the episode. Neither were names given, so I’ve made some up. I feel like I need to distinguish them because they all seem to have a different take on the post-Marineford situation.

Ringlets was worried about Luffy. He is a controversial figure. Of course, Luffy is Garp’s grandson, so that is a given.

Saruman was concerned about smoke rising from Mount Doom... Nah, kidding. He’s worried how Luffy knows Rayleigh. He thinks Rayleigh won’t return to centre stage but implies that maybe Rayleigh will support Luffy from the shadows.

Handlebar was salty about Jimbei. Was annoyed he finally turned against them as he was a symbol of intertribal peace. (The ‘finally’ implies they always suspected Jimbei would snap one day.)

Baldy was concerned about the imbalance of power in pirate society. There is a vacant Yonkou seat and THREE to fill in the shichibukai. How to fill those vacancies? Is there anyone qualified left? Glasses was also annoyed that the D. names were receiving so much PR lately and making the WG look bad.

Blonde has his eye on the New World. The power structure imbalance there now Whitebeard is gone is troublesome. They will have to choose the strongest to be Shichibukai. He also gave us an update on Blackbeard, which was nice. Wasn’t expecting to hear from Teach for ages!

Apparently, Teach has already made waves in the New World. He has an advantage over others who want that Yonkou seat because he knows everything there is to know about Whitebeard’s territory.  No one has ever eaten two Devil Fruits in history except for him. Only another Yonkou or Marco and the remaining Whitebeards could take him out. Is that a statement on Blackbeard’s new power level? Is he training too, so he’ll be an effective adversary for Luffy by the time they inevitably clash again the New World?

I have my fingers crossed for it.

And there’s something else the Gorosei should be worried about...

Human Resources Will Be Snowed Under Right Now

I forgot who Kong-san is, but I bet he has his work cut out for him right now.

There are a lot of changes afoot at WG and Marine HQ. The biggest shocker is that SENGOKU HAS RESIGNED!

I am so happy about this. Now, all he has to do is join the Revolutionary Army and I’m all set.

Garp continues to exasperate. He has “virtually resigned” but lacks whatever he needs to be truly brave and take that final step. He has kept the Vice Admiral title and is now tutoring younger Marines. I suppose it’s good he’s still around to keep whippersnappers like Akainu in check, especially now Sengoku did not recommend Akainu to succeed him.

Aokiji, the mystery wrapped in an enigma, will be Fleet-Admiral.

I... it’s weird. I can’t see it yet, but it’s definitely a better choice than Akainu. Maybe he would’ve been better with Kizaru. Oh well, it’s Sengoku’s choice. I trust him. He’s a wise man. “Old soldiers shouldn’t cling to power,” he said. “Justice is based on values and those change every generation.”

He ain’t wrong.

And I’m guessing now Garp is training young Marines that Coby, WHO HAS AWAKENED HAKI, will be first on the list. Here’s another one who will go through training to become a worthy opponent of Luffy.

Smoker also went to see Aokiji and requested a transfer to G5 branch. Aokiji had doubts. “That’s not a place you go voluntarily.” Apparently, G5 means Grand Line, 5th Branch. It’s in the New World. Smoker wants a New World placement.

I cannot handle this much awesome.

To Top It All Off, The Pink One Is Also Causing Trouble

How can he sit like that? Surely that is not in any way comfortable?

Remember when he ambushed Moria at Marineford? Turns out he didn’t quite get the job done (phew!) I should stick to my No Corpse, No Death rule more often.

In the words of Doflamingo.... “Poof!”

Moria disappeared just before Doflamingo landed the final blow. He insisted Moria was dying, so even if he did get away, he wouldn’t go far. Unless he came back as a zombie. (You joke, Doflamingo, but I would not put that past Moria for one reason: Hogback!)

The WG official accused him of sloppy work. Then Doflamingo lost his cool. I’ve never seen him act like that before, so it was interesting. “Who do you think you’re talking to? When did you become my boss? When I lose interest in doing business with you guys, I’ll quit being a Shichibukai at any time.”

I guess this really highlights the tenuous relationship the Marines have with these guys. Plus, Doflamingo seems like he’s Mr Chaotic Evil (or at least Mr Neutral Evil) incarnate, so maybe not the best guy to rely on?

Especially when the New World has descended into utter chaos.

So Who’s All Enjoying The New World?

Everyone who is anyone will head there eventually. Crocodile and Daz Bones will have another crack at it. Law has plans but is content to wait for his time (smart). The Strawhats, obviously, are a Work in Progress.

Buggy has reunited with his old crew (I forgot about Richie the Lion. How dare I?) and also has a massive bunch of Impel Down followers. Maybe he’ll have a crack at it too, now he has Alvida and Galdino to be the strategists? Plus, he just got that letter from the WG. Maybe he’ll end up on the run.

The rest of the Rookies have ventured out.

As for the Supernovas (sans Law and Luffy) I have predictions.

Who Will Make It:

The most obvious candidate is Kidd. He’s made for the cruelty of the New World, has already crushed another crew and has declared himself an enemy of Luffy. Sweet. Battle points.

Hawkins is another one who has crushed a crew. Again, battle points.

Apoo isn’t dumb. He’ll run if he has to. Smart points.

The Jury’s Out:

Urouge has stumbled across The Thunder Plains (from Final Fantasy X) and met some weird old ladies who look like they’ve just stepped out of Macbeth.

Who’s Probably Not Okay:

Gang Bege’s ship is in fragments. X-Drake has just clashed with Kaido’s crew. I don’t see them lasting much longer.

And Jewelry Bonney...

When Your Fave Is Problematic

Hard pass, Teach. A very hard pass.

I loved how the intro caption to this scene was: “Some Burning Island”. Then I saw the Blackbeards and thought, “Praise Oda! My villainous faves have returned in style!”

I thought the only news I would get on them was from the Gorosei. This was a nice bonus.

Of course, they were bickering. The Blackbeards always bicker and snipe at each other. There was a definite tone change here, though, as though Oda wants to step their villainy up a gear.

Take their argument over the ship they sailed in on. Teach said, “We should have stolen a Marine ship. The Raft wasn’t great.” Shiryu’s retort was tolerated: “You guys don’t prepare for anything.” But Avalo Pizarro’s (I finally know his name!) joke, “Want me to be captain, Teach?” earned him this response from Lafitte: “Shut up or I’ll kill you. We are Blackbeard Pirates.”

Teach is gaining more authority and loyalty from his crew. The ones who have always been with him are fiercely loyal and the newer ones have yet to learn the ropes. Lafitte (is he the first mate?) is also flexing. Do I sense tension between the established and newer members of the crew? Maybe, but they seem to get along well enough.

Among the new ones, I already have the ones I like (Shiryu and Catalina) vs the ones I’m not keen on (Avalo, San Juan and Vasco. Their personalities haven’t really emerged yet, so there’s time).

While the island burned, the Blackbeards stuck around necking Jacky D (haha!) because they were waiting for the Marines.

Why? Were they about to do another deal?

Yeah... but not one I was expecting.

They had crushed Bonney’s crew, chained her up and were about to trade her in for a ship.

That was shocking. I hadn’t expected Bonney to catch up to Teach so quickly and be defeated, but the outcome wasn’t surprising. Of course Teach would do that. He’d done it to Ace before and it worked. Sasuga Teach, I guess. What he did next stepped up his villainy a few notches.

He turned on lech mode, which I didn’t know was in his repertoire.

“I can’t believe they gave you a hundred million bounty! The New World is the sea for the chosen strong ones. You can all the way from South Blue. But you’ll go no further. You’re too weak to join my crew, but you can come with me, if you become my girl.”

Her response was excellent. “SCREW YOU, YOU BEARDED PIG!”

Honestly, Teach. You deserved that. And you were shocked at the rejection? You were going to get the Hard Pass. Apart from being a traitorous, murdering scumbag, you’re also a rubbish flirt. I mean, expecting her to go out with you after you beat up her crew, called her weak and laid her out as bait for the Marines? Not a great sell, Teach. Work on your people skills, like Lafitte.

Their plan went awry when Van Augr spotted Akainu on the approaching ship. Obviously, he would not do any deal (and I bet he’s steaming mad Aokiji will be Fleet Admiral before him). So they scarpered.

I’m worried for Bonney, though. Akainu picking her up? That’s the worst luck... :(

TEAM SELFIE AFTER A HARD DAY’S PILLAGING! #blackbeards #nofilter #okayonefilter

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #monkey d. luffy #monkey d. garp #sengoku #fleet admiral sengoku #roronoa zoro #tony tony chopper #strawhats #silvers rayleigh #dark king rayleigh #jimbei #jinbei #portgas d. ace #nefertari vivi #sir crocodile #daz bones #mr 1 #gorosei #donquixote doflamingo #doflamingo #admiral aokiji #aokiji #admiral akainu #akainu #sakazuki #admiral kizaru #kizaru

[mycasandstarrs]

SPN 10x05: “Fan Fiction”

As a former theatre kid, this episode brings me so much joy.

“Ghost? Meet Winchester.”

There’s our girl!

“Where is the Samulet?”

“Oh! I took it off. It kept hitting me in the lips, and...”

“That amulet is the symbol of the Winchesters' brotherly love!”

!!!

“There is too much drama in the drama department.” Well...yeah.

“Why couldn't they just do ‘Godspell’ like good little skanks ? Instead it's this... awful, unbelievable horror story. Hmm! Like that stuff really happens! Huh, theater is about life, you know? Truth! Truth! Where is the truth in ‘Supernatural’?”

What the fuck kind of teacher is this??

I had a theater teacher who told us theatre was magic. I think she would’ve liked Marie’s play about Supernatural.

There she goes.

“I mean, it's close, but it's just.... It needs a little more grrrr!”

Our very special title card.

“Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot

Our beautiful Baby.

Dean awake before Sam? A shocker.

“A teacher in an all girls school went missing in Flint, Michigan. She was heading to her car, disappeared, and nobody's seen her since.”

“Dean, there's nothing here that even remotely suggest there is a case.”

“There is nothing that even remotely suggest there isn't a case. Boom!”  

Logic!

Hell yes!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Robbie Thompson.

“Ugh, theater kids. Great.”  

“What? I was a theater kid.”

“Barely. You did ‘Our Town’, which was cool. But then, you did that crappy musical.”

“The - ‘Oklahoma’? Hugh Jackman got cast off of ‘Oklahoma’.”

“You ran tech, Wolverine.”

Hey, Techies are just as important as the actors.

They missed the huge banner advertising the show??

hahahaha, their faces are hilarious. Granted, if I found out someone made a musical about my life, I’d be speechless too.

“If there is case... It probably has something to do with all of this.” It has everything to do with it.

Marie, writer/director, and Maeve, the stage manager. (Fun fact: I was a stage manager once! Lots of fun, work, and telling people to shut up and pay attention.)

“I'm Special Agent Smith. This is my partner, Special Agent -”

“Smith.”

“Smith. No relation.”

Again with the joke.

There’s plenty of singing in Supernatural, mostly from you, Dean.

“If there was singing, it would be classic rock. Not this Andrew Floyd Webber crap -”

“Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

Love the improv correction.

Don’t shoot down “Carry on Wayward Son”, Sam.

I also had a theater teacher who went through a divorce.

“Maeve, right? You're the stage manager?”

“And I understudy Jody Mills.”

Maeve would make a great Jody!

“I'm gonna throw up.” Shush, Dean.

“I mean, I gotta say, it's kind of charming. The production value, and the...” I love Sam’s sincere interest tho.

Rule #1: You never touch the props.

“Why are they standing so close together?”

“Um...Reasons.”

“You know they're brothers, right?”

“Well, duh! But... Subtext.”

We gotta address that.

“You know, back when I did tech in school, we had two CD decks-”

“I'm sorry, I have to go sign the delivery.”

Aww Sam! I would love to hear his theater stories.

Pfft, Sam.

“There's no space in Supernatural.” We got close to it...

“Chuck stopped writing after ‘Swan Song’. I just- I couldn't leave it the way that it was! I mean, Dean not hunting anymore, living with Lisa?! Sam, somehow back from Hell, but not with Dean?! So, I wrote my own ending.” I don’t blame her.

“Dean becomes a woman.” Would still wanna see that happen in an episode.

“So, Sam came back from Hell. But without a soul. Then, Cas brought in a bunch of Leviathans from Purgatory. They lost Bobby. And then, Cas and Dean got stuck in Purgatory, Sam hit a dog. They met a prophet named Kevin, they lost him too. Then Sam endured a series of trials, in an attempt to close the gates of Hell. Which nearly cost him his life. Then Dean? Dean became a demon. Knight of Hell, actually.”

S6-9 summary, courtesy of Dean.

Here comes the second hand embarrassment.

“That is some of the worst fan fiction that I've ever heard ! I mean, seriously, I don't know where your friend found this garbage!” Oof, I still don’t like that.

“Siobhan and Kristen are a couple in real life. Although, we do explore the nature of Destiel in act two.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Oh, it's just subtext ! But, then again, you know, you can't spell subtext without.... s-e-x.”

!!!!!

Hi, Jensen.

“I don’t understand.”

“Me either.”

“I mean, shouldn't it be... Deastiel?”

LMAO SAM.

“You know... How about Sastiel? Samstiel?”

“Ok, alright. You know what? You're gonna do that thing, where you just shut the hell up. Forever.”

Teasing brother, Sam.

“This whole musical thing, everything, it's... It's all a coincidence? There is no case?” When is it ever just a coincidence?

“Get in the car!”  

!!!!!!!

BUT HE NEVER DENIED IT THOO, that’s all i’m saying.

“You know, we should've done ‘The Outsiders’, like I told you.”

Maggie’s the second person to get kidnapped.

“I called the cops, and a bunch of adults just told me I have an overactive imagination.” :(

“It is all real. And so are we. I'm Sam Winchester. That's Dean.” NO NO NO.

“You guys are way too old to be Sam or Dean.”

“Oh, yeah!”

“More of a Bobby/Rufus combo? Maybe.”

How old do they think Sam and Dean should be???

“We are what the books called hunters.” They believe that.

First guess: a tulpa.

“How do you kill an idea?”  

“Well, in ‘Hell House’, Sam and Dean burnt the house down, to take out the one tulpa they hunted.”

Correct!

“Gird your loins. It's horrifying.” Umm...okay.

I love how reluctant Marie was to burn her prop.

“What?”

“It’s not a tulpa.”

“Say it one more time, but just a little bit more Arnold--”  

LMAO, Dean.

Calliope.

“According to the lore, Calliope manifests creatures from the story she's tuned into.”

The show must go on.

An understandable panic attack over the possibility of getting eaten.

“Is Marie gonna get eaten?” Shush.

I love when Dean calls people “champ”. It’s so sweet and endearing.

“If Sam and Dean were real, they wouldn't back down from a fight. Especially my sweet, brave, selfless Sam. There's nothing he can't do.” !!!

“I used this for my one-woman ‘Orphan Black’ show, last year.” Marie is the theater kid I would’ve lowkey wanted to be.

“Writer. Director. Actor. I'm gonna Barbra Streisand this bitch.” FUCK YES! KICK IT IN THE ASS!

Dean fixing Stage!Cas’ tie!!

Funny Sam asked for Chuck...

“Oh! I-I, I love him. I do! But honestly, the whole author introducing himself into the narrative thing, it's just not my favorite. I kind of hate the meta stories.” I politely disagree.

“Alright, listen up, girls. Now, you're all here, because you love ‘Supernatural’.”

“Actually, I was hoping we'd do ‘Wicked’.” 

“I want you to get out there, and I want you to stand as close as she wants you to, and I want you to put as much sub and add text, as you possibly can. There is no other road. No other way. No day, but today.”

“Did he just quote ‘Rent’?”

“Not enough to get us into trouble.”

“Ghooooost-facerssss!”  This episode just adds wonderful years to my lifespan.

You know what I would pay to watch this play in full???

“The Road So Far”

There it is.

The misunderstood thumbs up, lmao.

Sam goes bye bye.

Maggie and the teacher.

They were in the school’s basement.

Hello, Calliope.

“I’ll Just Wait Here Then”

Nothing makes me more emotional than seeing the audience fall in love Stage!Cas, much like we did with our real Cas.

“If I have to sit through that second act, one more time... There's robots, and tentacles, and space. I can't even.” lol

“A Single Man Tear”

That exorcism special effect is so wonderful! I can see how they do it now, but from the audience’s POV, it’s absolutely magical.

What the hell did the audience think Dean was doing??

“We're through the looking glass, here, people. Strike the wendigo set, let's prep the priests costumes. And Sarah? Get understudies into hair and makeup.” Maeve’s a A+ stage manager.

“Supernatural has everything. Life. Death. Resurrection. Redemption. But above all, family. All sorts of music you can really tap your toe to. It isn't some meandering piece of genre dreck. It's... epic!” Agreed.

Stage!Dean is a pro if she could keep singing with everything going on in the background.

lmao at the one guy putting on his poncho.

Original Stage!Sam knocks out Calliope.

Understudy!Sam kills the Scarecrow.

Sam kills Calliope. A trifecta of Sam Awesomeness.

RIP Calliope. Killed by Sam.

The audience must be wondering how they managed to do that for years.

“Take a bow, Sammy.” Take a bow too, Dean.

“Thanks for saving my friends.”

“Sure.”

“You know? If you'd cut your hair a little, you'd make a pretty good Dean.”

Aww.

“Dean? You never should've thrown this away.” YYYEEESSS

“It never really worked. And, I don't need a symbol to remind me how I feel about my brother, so...”

“Just take it. Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

I love Dean’s panic when he realizes he just called a teenage girl a “bitch” without meaning to, lmaoo.

Take it away Stage!Winchesters!

Let me tell you, I literally bursted into tears when they started singing “Carry On Wayward Son”. It’s beautifully done.

Starting with Stage!Mary, who is more or less Square 1 of the entire story.

i remember a lot of people being upset about Cas not being part of the family lineup at the end, and I get it. But if Marie was only going off of the first 5 seasons, it makes sense that she didn’t see Cas as family yet because Sam and Dean didn’t see Cas as family yet. They’re just one year shy of that.

BUT the same girl who plays Cas is on stage as Adam, a technical Winchester. You could say Cas took over Adam’s role as the third Winchester “brother” because canonically speaking, that’s the highest title Sam and Dean have given Cas.

“Who's that?”

“Oh, that's Adam. John Winchester's other kid. He's still trapped in the cage, in Hell. With Lucifer.”

lmaooo. Awkward.

“Don’t you cry no more.” I sing, while crying.

I wish he had kept the Samulet Part 2 on there.

A picture perfect ending.

...One last surprise.

“Oh my gosh! But wait... That means that- Calliope came for me or for-?” Did Marie know who he was?

I thought it was Cas...

I legit lost my goddamn mind when I saw him.

A perfect episode of Supernatural, in my most humble opinion.

#supernatural #spn summer rewatch #spn liveblog #spn 10x05 #fan fiction #our 200th episode :')

[mbtizone]

Rebekah Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries/The Originals): ESFJ

Dominant Extroverted Feeling [Fe]: Emotional expression comes easily to Rebekah. She has no problem telling people exactly what she’s feeling. Most of her choices tend to come from her emotions and she can easily sense them in other people. Sometimes, she gets enjoyment out of toying with other people’s feelings and hurting them emotionally. She is very sensitive and her feelings are intense. Rebekah is loyal to Klaus no matter what, even when his interests conflict with her own, which sometimes causes her to make sacrifices for his sake. She wants to be liked, but she also has no trouble putting people in their place when she feels she’s been wronged. Rebekah can be extraordinarily empathetic and put aside her own feelings for someone else’s sake, such as when she gives Marcel what he needs to save Sofya once she realizes he is acting from a place of love. Even though it hurts her to see him love someone else, she admires his motives and wants to help him. Rebekah is good at mediating in conflicts. When Marcel and Klaus are fighting, she reminds them that they need to work together and tries to get them to bury the hatchet. Rebekah’s morality is external. She has spent a lot of time being selfish and putting herself and her family first, but she admires Matt’s morality and he inspires her to be better, causing her to latch onto him.

Auxiliary Introverted Sensing [Si]: Traditions are important to Rebekah. She’s the one who suggests reviving their family’s bonfire ritual. She enjoys reminiscing about happy times. Because she’s a vampire, Rebekah never had the opportunity to have a normal life and missed out on having human experiences. She wants to be able to try to live her life as a human. She wants to go to school and have a prom. She wants to be a cheerleader. Rebekah wants to fit in and be liked, but resorts to compelling people to be her friend because that’s the familiar way of doing things for her. She wants to be able to find true love, settle down, and have children and it kills her that she’s unable to, which is why she was so motivated to get the cure. She tends to have trouble letting go of her past romances and forgives her family for all of their crimes because they have centuries worth of history together. She has a strong connection to her past and can vividly recall details from events that occurred decades ago. She has a lot of resentment towards Klaus for everything he’s put her through over the years, but is simultaneously fiercely protective of him and loyal. When she speaks of his crimes against her, no matter how long ago the incident took place, she feels it so strongly that you would think it only just happened. Rebekah takes some time to adjust to the world after spending so many years unconscious. She doesn’t immediately embrace the latest styles and is quite appalled by the current trends in fashion and music.

Tertiary Extroverted Intuition [Ne]: Rebekah likes to travel and enjoys adventure. Though she always returns to her family’s side eventually, she wants to get out into the world and experience things. Rebekah is good at sensing people’s true intentions and motivations. She knew that Damon was only trying to distract her at the bonfire. She was able to deduce that Klaus wanted the cure for Elena and brought Stefan over because Klaus knew that Stefan would help him find it, even though Stefan hates Klaus. She’s also skilled when it comes to thinking of inventive ways to accomplish her goals. When Elena runs into the section of the cave that vampires can’t enter, Rebekah shows up with a cannister of gasoline, which she begins to pouring onto her. She tells Elena that she can either come out of the cave or burn to death. When she and her siblings find the caravan filled with clothing, it is Rebekah who suggests stealing them and posing as the victims because they were en route to a nearby castle. Rebekah likes to bring a touch of creativity into her schemes. She compels Elena, Caroline, and Stefan and forces them to sit in a classroom and answer her questions. However, because she is a romantic who yearns for love and acceptance, she can sometimes fail to see the signs that she’s being manipulated. Rebekah can be a bit of an idealist at times and always hopes for a better future for herself and her family.

Inferior Introverted Thinking [Ti]: When Rebekah feels attacked, or if the people she loves are threatened, Rebekah can be quite brutal. She can be good at assessing situations and using her findings in arguments, or to isolate the best solution to a problem. If Elena doesn’t want to come out of that cave, Rebekah will just threaten to set her on fire if she doesn’t. Sometimes, Rebekah is capable of being detached and cold in order to protect her loved ones, which leads her to make very heartless choices, such as causing Matt and Elena to drive off of the bridge, or contacting Mikael, knowing he would run Klaus out of New Orleans so that she would be free to be with Marcel.

Enneagram: 2w3 (I can’t really narrow down an instinctual variant because they honestly all seem pretty prominent in her)

Quotes:

Rebekah: Elijah, being a human means a fresh start. I can grow old and have a family and fill my days with meaning, knowing that each one matters.

Rebekah: Go right ahead. Laugh at the girl who loved too easily. But I would rather have lived my life than yours, Nik. No one will ever sit around a table telling stories about a man who couldn’t love.

Rebekah: [preparing to leave] I’ve lived a lot longer than you have, Marcellus. I have seen kings rise, and fall, but there is one thing I know to be true. It is that no matter how matter how big your empire becomes, it is nothing if you have no one to share it with. You want New Orleans? Have it. I won’t be here to stop you.

Klaus: What is it you want, Rebekah? Rebekah: The same things I’ve wanted since I was a child. I want a home. I want a family. I want someone to love me, and I want to live.

Rebekah: Nik, you do not need me anymore. I know that I’m your favorite sibling and of course I adore you, but there is space in my heart for something more. I want love, I want a family of my own and wouldn’t it be nice if we could part on happy terms for once. No daggers, no exile, just so long for now I’ll see you again soon.

Klaus: I love my family. You, Elijah. I loved all of you. I know I can be difficult, but I did not make myself this way. It was Mikael who ruined me. Rebekah: He ruined me, too. That’s what you forget. Centuries later, each of us is broken. You with your anger and paranoia. Me with my fear of abandonment. And poor Elijah; he dedicates himself to everyone but himself. We are the strongest creatures in the world and yet we are damaged beyond repair. We live without hope but we will never die. We are the definition of “cursed”… Always and forever.

Klaus: …Fierce Rebekah, willing to risk everything on the chance that she might one day find happiness…

[Rebekah is looking through a rack of clothing while Stefan leans against the doorframe.] Rebekah: The colors, the fabrics…The eighties were just…tragic. You know, I think shoulder pads rival 17th-century puritan smocks for crimes against fashion. Stefan: Looking for something to wear to the dance? Rebekah: Aye. Are you asking me to a date? Stefan: Actually, it was canceled. [Stefan walks farther into Rebekah’s room, and she is clearly upset.] Rebekah: So why are you here? Back for more dagger talk? [Stefan laughs.] Stefan: Somebody has some trust issues. Rebekah: It’s called a healthy skepticism. I know you were trying to sneak out this morning. I’m not stupid. Stefan: Sorry, I’m…I’m still trying to get used to this. Rebekah: Do you regret it? Stefan: No. Rebekah: Do you want it to happen again? Stefan: Maybe. Rebekah: Even if I don’t give you the dagger? Stefan: You think that I would sleep with you just to get the dagger? Rebekah: Don’t give me that innocent look. You’ve done plenty to me in the name of getting what you want. Well, I guess I should pack up these racks. Just another failed attempt at getting to a high school dance. Stefan: Why do you care so much about a high school dance? Rebekah: I don’t. I was just bored. Stefan: Right. Well, we can still go, if you want. Rebekah: Not if it’s canceled, we can’t. Stefan: Since when do you care about the rules?

Rebekah: Funny. So is everything about the eighties so…excessive? Stefan: It had its charm. “Say Anything” – Lloyd Dobler standing outside of a bedroom window with a boombox over his head, desperately trying to get back the girl of his dreams; “Princess Bride” – Wesley slays giant rats for love; “The Breakfast Club” – one detention turns a bunch of outcasts into allies. Rebekah: So it was a decade of sentimental drivel, as well? Stefan: Well, I was going to say love, friendship, the possibility of anything happening. You would’ve loved it. Rebekah: [smiling] And why is that? Stefan: Because as much as we both hate to admit it, we care about those things.

Rebekah: Go ahead, take it. You’re right. I do care. I want stupid koala corsages and a prom. I want to have kids with someone who loves me enough to stand outside my window with a stupid boombox. I want to be human. So let Klaus put down my brother. Let’s go find the cure.

Rebekah: Name me a more human experience than senior prom.

Elijah: Rebekah, it’s no secret that you are impulsive, emotional, and at times morally questionable. Prove to me this isn’t just another one of your whims, that you know precisely what you are giving up here.

Matt: You haven’t seen Bonnie, have you? Rebekah: She’s probably in the bathroom. Every other girl is. And if you haven’t noticed, I am sitting here all on my own. So, please, will you put me out of my misery and dance with me? Matt: I don’t think so. Rebekah: Matt, please. This is a girl’s worst nightmare. Please? I thought about what you said, about being good, and you’re right. It won’t be easy, but it’s worth trying. Matt: I don’t understand why my opinion is so important to you. Rebekah: Because you’re everything that I want to be. You’re loyal, honest, kind. People root for you to succeed. Elena even died for you. Matt: I’m a bus boy, Rebekah, okay? It’s not like I’m out saving the world. Rebekah: But you’re human. You’re so beautifully human.

Matt: April, April, come on, please wake up! April, come on! Please wake up! [Rebekah comes in.] Rebekah: Matt, why did you call– Oh, my god. Matt: Can you feed her your blood? Rebekah: Can’t we just call 911 or something? Matt: She’s dying. Please help her! Rebekah: I can’t. If I heal her with my vampire blood, Elijah won’t give me the cure and I won’t get to be human. Matt: How is this even a choice right now? You want to be human? Prove it, be good, do the right thing and save her life.

Rebekah: Right. You’re that werewolf girl my brother, Klaus, knocked up. I was expecting to see some kind of supernatural, miracle baby bump. Guess you’re not showing yet. It’s Hayley, isn’t it? Hayley: You have your brother’s manners. Rebekah: And his temper, too, so watch it. Where’s Elijah?

Rebekah: Do you think I want to spend what could be the last few hours of my life having idle chit-chat with a girl who literally stabbed me in the back? Of course not. But for some reason, everybody seems to want to bend over backwards to save your life, which is incredibly annoying, but makes you the perfect hostage. So, why don’t you sit down and shut up before I ruin everything by ripping your head off.

Rebekah: I suspect he just needs to be asked nicely.

Klaus: Dear sweet April Young. Now, there’s a girl with a future. Rebekah: She was dying, and I acted with human decency. You can’t get more human than that. Klaus: Actually, you can. You can stand idly by as poor April takes her final breath. You can ask, “Why does this always happen to innocent people? Where do the spirits go? Was there anything I could have done?” That is what it means to be human, sister. You give humanity too much credit. Rebekah: You’re gonna tell Elijah? Klaus: No. No. You are.

Rebekah: Is that what it is? You are once again worried that you will be left behind? Has history taught you nothing? We don’t abandon you, Nik. You drive us away!

Elijah: I’m not trying to impress the girl. Rebekah: Well I should bloody hope you are. Why else are we out here? Come on, Elijah. You’ve fallen for her. Admit it. It may do wonders for the stick that’s lodged up your enduringly stoic ass if you did.

Rebekah: I was the one who brought him to New Orleans because of your wickedness! I wanted love and happiness, and you denied me the freedom to have either. Yes, I hated and I was afraid of our father, but he was a lesser evil than you. My bastard brother who loomed over me, threatening me as you are now. I wanted rid of you, and given the choice, I’d do it again!

Rebekah: It’s bonfire season! And I am reviving a family tradition! Especially since we’re all going to be together.

Rebekah: Well, we’re just missing a key ingredient! Klaus: No, we’re not. Rebekah: Yes, we are, Nik! Back me up, Elijah! Elijah: I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes. Hayley: What are you all talking about? Rebekah: Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck! It was Kol’s favorite part when we were kids! Klaus: It’s further evidence as to why we should ignore it! Hayley: Hope’s first bonfire season. I like it! We’re doing it!

Rebekah: Do you still love Stefan? Elena: Yes. Rebekah: Are you still in love with Stefan? Elena: No. Rebekah: [to Stefan] Did that hurt? Having someone you love drive a dagger through your heart. Stefan: Go to hell. Rebekah: Did... that... hurt? Stefan: Yes. Rebekah: Welcome to the last 900 years of my life.

Rebekah: There has to be more to this dress. Klaus: There's not. Rebekah: So, women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes, then. You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers. Klaus: You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing.

Rebekah: Why don't you just give me the cure so I can judge you silently elsewhere. Elijah: And what could you possibly want with the cure? Rebekah: I want to be human again. Elijah: How do you know that being human is the answer you're looking for? I mean, it's nothing but a romantic notion. The grass won't necessarily be greener, Rebekah. Rebekah: You might be right. But I don't care. I want to live a simple life as a normal person and when it ends, it ends. We've had 20 lifetimes together, Elijah. Isn't that enough? Elijah: I just don't understand. I mean, why must you always consider our family a burden? "Always and forever." I mean, those words are as important to me today as they, as they ever were. Rebekah: You will always be my brother and I will never stop loving you, but now it's time for me to live and die the way that I choose. Not the way you and Nik want me to. Please. Please just give me the cure.

Rebekah Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries/The Originals): ESFJ was originally published on MBTI Zone

#2w3 #Rebekah Mikaelson #The Originals #The Vampire Diaries #Type 2 #enneagram 2 #TVD #mbti #mbti types #mbti personality types #fictionalcharactermbti #fictionmbti #tv mbti #enneagram #enneatypes #enneagram type

[moved-to-moothebloo]

Ninjago Season 1, 2, and 3 Analysis  (Part 1)

Season 1 /  Rise of the Serpentine

Summary:

The first season of Ninjago, Rise of the Serpentine, 13 episodes are dedicated to our main characters Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane stopping ancient race of evil snakes from destroying the world from a bigger snake, while trying to deal with Lord Garmadon’s son, learning to get stronger on the way, and who is going to be the destined Green Ninja.

By the sounds of that summary, this sounds very weird and cluttered, and trust me, there are much more things this season throws in, like a mysterious Samurai who is also trying to stop the snakes, the ninja trying to find their “true potential,” and Wu bringing the evil Lord Garmadon from the... wherever he was. Yes, this sounds like a big mess, but for a kids show, it actually balances everything out very well.

The pacing in this season is spot on, and makes it very easy to follow, while also keeping us interested enough to know what was going to happen. Everything is there for a purpose, Lloyd Garmadon, a kid who seems very useless throughout most of the season, actually ends up becoming an important main character. The show never feels like it gets slower or faster, it all flows very nicely. The episodes that are dedicated to exploring our main characters still have stuff happening in them so they aren’t pointless.

Speaking of characters, for a kids shows about lego ninjas, the characters are a lot of fun too! The cast is small so it’s very easy to focus on them equally and give all of them good character development, even the side characters do have some stuff too, like how the Samurai turns out to be Nya, which I really appreciate. For a kids show clearly being directed twords boys, it would’ve been really easy to write her off as a character who does nothing, but she does help. A whole episode is dedicated to her beating the ninja into the ground.

The villain of this show is simply put, amazing. The Serpentine are alright, they all have unique traits and all, but the one everyone remembers is Pythor. And for good reason, he’s a lot of fun. The voice actor Michael Dobson is doing a fantastic job, and you can tell he is enjoying every second of it. Pythor is very fun to watch in the way he’s animated and just how deliciously evil he is. Manipulating anyone he wants, kidnapping children, a possible cannibal! The ability to swallow people whole and to disappear with camouflage makes him terrifying to any child watching him on the screen. Pythor is everything a kids show villain is supposed to be.

The main characters also get a lot of good stuff. Zane is probably the best character in this season. He is already an interesting character in the way he acts, and the voice acting is pretty good too, but any Ninjago fan will say that the episode “Tick Tock” is one of the best episodes in the entire show, and yeah it’s pretty good! The episode continues in it’s silly vibe of the show, but also has a lot of heart and effort put into it. All the other characters get that treatment too. My personal favorite is Kai’s arc in Episode 10, “The Green Ninja.”

In fact, that’s how I can describe this whole season. Silly, but has a lot of heart and effort.

Season Rating:   8.4 / 10

Season 2 / The Final Battle

Summary:

The Serpentine have been defeated, and Garmadon has gotten away and ready to plan how he’s going to defeat the ninja and take control of the world. Meanwhile, Lloyd has to train to be the Green Ninja that saves the world in the future, while the Ninja fight off Garmadons plans at world domination.

You know how the first season has a lot of details but still managed to balance everything out? Well. This season has a pretty simple plot, but somehow is a lot more clustered and uninteresting than the first season.

The first season had a lot of silly things in it, but still managed to flow things naturally, and in a way that only focused on things that mattered. This season spends half of its episodes with meaningless plots and stories that go no where, almost as if the people who were making the show were just dry on ideas, and just made episodes based on kids shows cliches, like an episode where they have to fight evil versions of themselves, an episode where they fight pirates, where they turn into kids, even an episode where they join in some kind of racing competition. And while the episodes, I guess aren’t completely pointless because they do focus on Gamradon with the weapons... a little bit. It isn’t enough to make me care. And halfway through the season he looses the weapons anyway sooo... that was all pointless!

The one episode that was good in this group of trash was episode 5 “Child’s Play” Where it is a little entertaining, and there is a thing that happens that does affect the rest of the story.

The other half of the season, episodes 7-13, while are better, still aren’t great. Important story elements do end up coming together, and the ending episodes are really great! But there are still a lot of problems. The pacing still isn’t right, there are a lot of episodes that feel very slow in pacing, and the new villain characters are not enough to save it. One thing I can say about them are the climax episodes, which has a superb finale. Season one had a great Part 1 hype episode, but a disappointing finale, this climax has not just a great part one and two, but THREE awesome climax episodes that are really really fun to watch, and leave you on the edge of your seat. The fight to get to the Overlord ontop of the tower in the final episode does everything you can do with a final episode.

Speaking of the villains, lets talk about them.

The stone army doesn’t really have much of an identity like the Serpentine, and are pretty forgettable. The Overlord, and I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me on this, but I think he’s really boring in this season. He just kind of floats around obviously tricking Garmadon to do what he wants, he’s not at all threatening until the final episode, which is a long time to wait for a villain to become slightly interesting.

Garmadon is probably the one good thing going on. His relationship with his family and how he’s split between wanting to rule the world, but not wanting to hurt his son, is very interesting, while the first season had this too, and did it very well, this is more interesting. However, most of the time in the season he doesn’t really do anything other than play pranks on the ninja and sit while his minions do all the work. And when it’s his time to fight, like an idiot, he gets tricked by the Overlord.

The main characters don’t really get a lot of more interesting developments, except for Zane, Llyod, and Garmadon. The main four most of the time are just cracking jokes and fighting bad guys, nothing else most of the time.

To sum up the season, It isn’t really that entertaining in the long run, and is really hard to be interested in, you can skip the first few episodes and start at Child’s Play to be less bored. It still manages to have some really awesome moments, especially near the end, of the season, but other than than there isn’t that much to see.

Season Rating:   2.3 / 10

Season 3 / Rebooted

Summary:

We skip into the future since the battle against the Overlord, and the ninja seem to not be needed anymore while Ninjago gets more advanced in technology. But when the Ninja go to visit Ninjago City, they are tasked by Cyrus Borg to defeat the Overlord who has returned in the form of code.

Talk about a very unusual season.

This season has some of the weirdest choices I’ve ever seen in the show. Bring in a bunch of different characters, “reboot” an entire location in the show, and make the characters go to some of the weirdest places and do the weirdest things. And the weirdest thing is.. it actually kind of works! .... to an extent.

(Edit: Ok I have A LOT to say about this season, this is going to be a long analysis because this season had a lot of new stuff in it. You have been warned.)

So, what’s good about it. Oddly enough, it’s how you never know what’s gonna happen. The show does do a good job on keeping you guessing and sometimes even in suspense, which is really difficult for a kids show to pull off. Also I want to mention the pacing. This isn’t the kind of pacing we’ve seen in the past two seasons. The pacing in this season is much quicker, which is probably because this season has fewer episodes than the past ones, but like I said before, it still works. In fact, I prefer this faster pacing over the slower pacing of before. It fits the silly power ranger style adventure vibe of the show.

The best thing I can say about this season is the action. When these episodes have to  In the episode “Enter the Digiverse” we are greeted with an episode where the ninja are about to fight the Overlord again, the side characters have to fight off an entire army, AND Lloyd is trying to fight off not dying in a weird draining glass thing. It’s pretty intense, and amazing! My personal favorite is in “Blackout” where everyone is flipping around, getting stuck, getting trapped, and Zane can’t completely fight. It’s a lot of fun to watch.

Another thing I want to add is that this season seemed to take a lot more chances. As in, this was the start of new characters being added all the time. It wasn’t just one season we would get a Lloyd, and then the next, a Dareth. Now, it’s a bunch more. So lets talk about them.

Garmadon, now as a good guy, is a really good character! To be honest, even as a kid I never really enjoyed Garmadon. He just seemed like a cliche villain to me. But him as a good guy, is much more entertaining than before. He’s funny, he’s awesome, he’s a fully developed character! He’s just a great character. I love the relationship he has with his son, and seeing them journey outside of Ninjago is very interesting to watch as we get to know his character in very subtle ways. I don’t get it, THIS is the guy who was overshadowed by Wu? I don’t know what else to say. You love him, I love him, next characters.

Pythor and the Overlord come back, and they are actually pretty good! Even the Overlord, who I didn’t really like in season 2 actually is very threatening in this season. I love the scene were he crawls out of the coffin thing, just for how freaked out I was when I first saw that scene. Pythor is also pretty good in this too. He’s not as awesome as he was in season one, but really that’s just because we don’t see him a lot in this one.

And once again. Michael Dobson still does a fantastic job.

Next we have Cyrus Borg, and this guy is one of my favorite characters in the entire show. This guy is such a lovable character. Every time this guy is on screen I get a big smile on his face. You can tell the voice actor, Lee Tockar, is really trying to show off this guys wonderful bubbly personality. And the best thing is, he’s not just a one dimensional character. He does feel guilty for everything that happens in the season. He has dreams, he has fears, he has things he doesn’t want to loose. He’s just great. Now.. with Pixal.

... Dang it! I’m sorry, I really tried to like this character. But this is the most pointless character in the show! I get if you just want to give Zane a love interest, but couldn’t you have made her a bit more interesting?At least Skylor, even though she was just there to make Kai gush, she at least had a purpose and a little bit of an identity. Pixal is the most standard character you could’ve put here. Why couldn’t it have been a girl who was human, and then was made with robot parts, giving Zane a reason to be interested in her. There, I just created a more interesting character in ten seconds then you guys did in months.

I will be honest though, even though I don’t like the character, Zane and Pixal are pretty adorable together. Yeah it’s not really that believable considering Zane really has no reason to like her, but they still have some really good chemistry.  One reason why I really like the episode “Blackout” is because I love the idea of two people needing eachother in order to fight, just like Ruby and Sapphire, another adorable couple. But I think the reason it works is because Zane caring deeply about anyone is already adorable by itself, so that does lift some weight on Pixal’s part. So.. yeah, it’s good.

We get a love triangle in this... a completely pointless and forced one that has nothing to do with anything. Just like Pixal and Zane, there is no real reason for Cole to want Nya, they never had any special moments in the past or any interest at all. It’s the literal definition of forced. However I don’t hate it as much as everyone else does. Because, to be fair we do get some funny scenes from it, and it’s not like they focus on it for that long. I don’t know, I personally don’t really mind that much, but I don’t think we need another.

And of coarse, I can’t hide the elephant in the room for any longer, the finale. The big scene near the end, we all know what I’m talking about. Zane’s death. Now this finale episode was already pretty good, I can’t say it’s as good as season 2 because it takes about 15 minutes to get to the Overlord, and them trying to get off the moon isn’t really that funny silly, instead, just more stupid. But once it gets going its very entertaining. The Diet pill joke is hilarious not only by itself, but their plan being to stop the most evil thing in the world by just making it small is really funny and perfectly describes what this show is going for in terms of mood.

But yeah. The death scene. And to be honest, what can I say about it that no one else has already said.

It’s kind of hard for me to judge how sad this scene is, considering this guy was my childhood favorite character, and seeing him die like this is going to spark some emotions in you no matter how the scene is done. But let me try my best to remove the nostalgia goggles and look at this from a critiquing view.

Rewatching it, not thinking about the past, having no connection with this character, I still have to admit, It’s still pretty awesome.

I think the thing that really sells this scene here is the soundtrack music. To truly understand how amazing this music is, just listen to it without any visuals. This is a link to the soundtrack song to this scene. Don’t even look at the screen, just listen to it, because it’s really amazing in terms of instrumentals, and timing.

So. I just said a bunch of stuff, what do I think of this season?

I think for what it is, it’s good! This season really tries to do a lot. And most of it works! I really appreciate it when something tries to do something different because it shows they are not afraid to fail. Does this have problems? Definitely. But is it enough to ruin the season? Not really.

Season Rating:   6.8 / 10

Ok that is a Full Critic’s Analysis of Ninjago seasons 1, 2, and 3. Part Two will be dedicated to seasons 4, 5, 6, and even 7! So look out for that!

Sorry if I wasted your time, because in the end, this is just my opinion. Honestly, I’m not expecting this to really get any attention because who would care about some rando’s opinion. But I promise I can and will try to make my opinions worthwhile. Thank you for reading, if you have your own opinions, you can share them! Everyone is allowed to share their own opinion because Ninjago is about bringing people together!

@eyeofthewolfe @ninjamelissajulien @textsfromninjagoblog

#ninjago #ninjago masters of spinjitzu #lloyd #kai #zane #cole #jay #nya #garmadon #sensei wu #serpentine #overlord #cartoon network #lego

[lost-tanuki-tales]

Prompt fill - TDF

Prompt: First Encounter. Word count: 6.2k.

"In case you haven't noticed, Doc, I was a direct participant in creating and calibrating my body."

Doctor Whittler chuckled to herself. "Yes, I did notice, especially the times when you went and undid my modifications without my say-so or consent because you thought yours were better."

"They totally were," said Leo. "Look, I don't need a techie, I can handle myself just fine. I've been doing most repairs by myself."

"Exactly, most," said the doctor as she pulled open the door to the building to let Leo walk through. "There are some you can't do alone and it would be especially dangerous to leave you by yourself while you're stranded in space. Why are you so against the idea of having a person to help you?"

"Techies are really pushy. This one time I asked for cool knee guards, right, and I told them I didn't like the square shapes. They pulled a face like I was spitting in their soup. They insisted the ugly, chunky ones were optimal."

"You tried to force them to change everything after they were done with their work, of course they'd be annoyed," Doctor Whittler reminded her.

"Well they should've listened to my first request! I'm the one who's gotta live with those knee guards," grumbled Leo.

"Whatever the case, you don't have a choice in the matter. You've pushed back getting your assigned technician long enough, everyone else has one."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm sure you'll make friends with them. You're going to spend some time up in space alone after all."

"Tell me about it." Leo stepped forward, holding the door open for the doctor this time. "It's cool to be a part of this but I also would rather stay on Earth."

"That's completely understandable. How's Jay doing, by the way?"

Leo made a face. "Sad that I'm leaving. I am too, obviously, but I try to be cheerful when we're together. It would be the worst if we both moped around until it was time for me to go."

Leonida had been mandated to investigate the disappearance of the network signal on the Kautauri belt, one of Earth's smallest space colonies which was co-owned with the Ophena planet's government. It had gone completely silent just under a week ago. Signals were ingoing but never outgoing, and when Earth had contacted Ophena about this matter it had turned out that they had the exact same problem. It had been decided that the infamous Captain Leonida Trust would be able to handle this situation. All she had to do was go there with Ophena's ambassador, check and report what was going on, and eventually serve as Earth's representative herself in any of the decisions the government of Ophena and Kautauri would take to fix the issue. Stealth was an important part of her mission if things ended up being dangerous and Leonida had the order to turn back and call for backup in that scenario; she was basically going to scout out the situation, which was one of the reasons Earth and Ophena were only sending out one common ship. Another reason was that the Kautauri colony wasn't the most important prospect for either planets so they couldn't really be assed to send out more people unless the situation was dire enough to officially require a whole fleet for backup.

Doctor Whittler threw her a compassionate glance. "I'm sorry this had to happen right before your party."

"So am I," sighed Leo. "I was looking forward to it, too, but I guess it'll be for another time. At least it was a surprise so there's no big disappointment for Jay. Still sucks."

"Yes."

"I'll try to celebrate it just the two of us even if we'll probably not be in the best of moods. I'm probably gonna cry at one point. Jay too, I'm pretty sure. I'll send updates of my trip so we won't feel so alone once I'm away."

"How long will it be?"

"Well, obviously you know what they calculated, a few months at best and a lot of them at worst. Honestly, I think I could get us to the colony fast enough. It's how long I'll have to stay there that's vague since I might have to stay and fix things for a while."

"I hope not, for your sake."

"Yep. But hey, at least I get to meet people from another planet. Apparently Ophena's ambassador is a giant frog, how cool is that?"

Doctor Whittler smiled. She always smiled when Leo got excited. "Pretty cool, I'd say."

"Right?"

Doctor Whittler walked up to a pair of heavyset doors and paused before pushing them open. "All right, we're here. Ready? This is an important choice so we have to be serious about it."

Leonida drew her shoulders back in a picture of professional authority and grinned at her. "When am I ever not?"

They walked in the room and were greeted by two officials, a short stocky brown-haired woman with impassive gray eyes and a tall blonde man who warmly smiled at them and shook their hands.

"Captain Trust, Doctor Whittler. I am Staff Sergeant Graham and this is Corporal Lloyd." The woman at his side nodded a salute, and he continued speaking. "We were informed that you were coming so you'd be assigned a private technician, and we've selected the eight best elements from our Advanced Engineering and Technology Program so you could make your choice. Corporal Lloyd will assist you, as she talks to these men on a daily basis, while I will oversee the exchange."

"Sounds good to me, Sergeant," said Leo.

"Please lead the way," Doctor Whittler said.

They followed the pair deeper inside the building and were lead to yet another room where Leo counted about twenty soldiers at one glance. A few of them lifted their gaze up from the small mechanical contraptions they'd been working on to curiously eye the four of them until Corporal Lloyd curtly said: "Back to work."

They quickly complied and Sergeant Graham said: "Privates Colm Price, Arkady Dragunin, Eathen O'Doherty, Bret Hardin, River Weston, Samuel Delacruz, Keelan Simon, Rohaan Mays, stop what you're doing and listen up."

The men all looked up- almost all of them.

"Dragunin," sharply called Coporal Lloyd.

One of the soldiers belligerently looked up from his work as if he would've much preferred to focus on his project than to even care about any of this. He didn't look at Leo nor at Doctor Whittler. There was a sudden tension in the air between the private and his corporal and Leo sensed there was history there. Private Dragunin was possibly a conceited jerk or a fellow rulebreaker. Maybe both.

Sergeant Graham graciously ignored what was happening. "This is Captain Leonida Trust, first of the five mechanically and technologically enhanced soldiers, and Doctor Whittler, one of the head researchers in the MATES project. They're looking for a personal technician who will be assigned to Captain Trust for an indefinite period of time as well as on a reconnaissance mission in outer space. For those who might've heard of it, it's the operation meant to recover communication with the Katauri belt."

The soldiers' eyes lit up and those who hadn't been called upon still glanced at Doctor Whittler and Leonida despite their orders to focus. Either they were an unruly bunch, either both women's appearance in this place was a bigger deal than Leo had perceived it to be. These soldiers were in engineering, after all, so they were bound to be interested in technological prowess. The rebellious Dragunin also turned his gaze on them and now seemed just as fascinated as his peers.

"The eight of you will pass an interview with both of them so they can decide who they would like to choose as the captain's assigned technician."

Gazes lingered on Leonida as Sergeant Graham finished explaining what the interview would consist in, and then they stepped in the room next door to start the process. Sergeant Graham didn't say much but Corporal Lloyd gave her recommandations from the start, informing both the captain and the doctor that O'Doherty and Mays had always presented remarkable success rates and intelligence far superior to the rest of the class. Leonida only paid attention to the first and fourth interviews. Colm Price seemed like a calm and level-headed man whose specialty lied more on the medical side of engineering and he reminded her a bit of Cantrell, which was what caught her attention. She was in a rather pensive state during O'Doherty and Simon's interviews, and then Dragunin walked in. Now that he was standing so close, she could tell that he was a bit younger than the guys before him. Mid twenties, maybe? He had short brown hair but everything else about him was pale, which was why she was quick to notice the thin smattering of dark freckles across the bridge of his nose. The soldier was lean and tense, brows slightly furrowed. Probably out of stress, thought Leo. They'd all seemed a bit nervous and impressed by her presence- the appearance of one of the MATES experiments on this day in their lives probably really was something huge for them. Doctor Whittler kept saying Leonida didn't really give herself enough credit for what she was.

Dragunin wasn't nearly as talkative as the O'Doherty genius, and he never smiled which was completely contrary to Simon's easy charm. He didn't just look tense, he looked wary, and his eyes weren't always trained on Leonida and Doctor Whittler like the others' had been. He was watchful of all the reactions in the room and that included Corporal Lloyd's and Sergeant Graham's.

Dragunin's specialty was building weapons. He wasn't very expansive on his knowledge and abilities during the interview and Leo felt like he wasn't actively trying to show off his skills, even though it was obvious he was interested in her and Doctor Whittler. A reserved rulebreaker, then? Curious.

Leo leaned forward and said: "How confident are you in your skills of technician? Would you be able to pull it off if you had to modify some aspects of our ship without guidance?"

"I'm positive I could, as long as I was allowed to study all of its blueprints," he answered with no hesitation. Arkady Dragunin had an accent which Leo couldn't place because it was so faint.

"Would you feel the same confidence in repairing me if the need arose?"

"Yes, with the same condition as for the ship. I can adapt to new technology and build whatever you need me to as long as I've aquired the basics."

Leonida looked down at the details of Dragunin's file. His scores corroborated with his self-proclaimed versatility, though he did have several weak points like in the medical and linguistic domains. She found it very interesting that Dragunin's best talents resided in combat engineering, notably explosives and fortifications, as well as in armament engineering. This mission wasn't supposed to require firepower but Leo rather enjoyed the prospect of talking with someone who shared her interests.

She looked back up and said: "If you did end up coming with me, we'd be stuck in space for a while. It might be a lot longer than just a few months. Do you still want to play a role in this mission knowing this?"

Dragunin's gaze flickered to the left, in the direction of the Corporal and the Sergeant, and his jaw was set when he answered without looking at her: "Definitely."

"Private Dragunin," said Leonida, authority slipping into her voice just as years of experience as a higher-ranking individual had taught her to speak. "The one deciding your future right now is me, not your Staff Sergeant nor your Corporal. Look at me when you answer."

Dragunin's clear gaze sharply returned to her and he curtly nodded. "Apologies, Captain. Yes, I want to be a part of this regardless of how long the mission will last."

"Okay," said Leo. "That's all for me. Doc?"

Doctor Whittler gazed at her and then at the soldier. "That's all for me as well."

"Dismissed," dryly said Corporal Lloyd. "Get back to work."

Dragunin glared at her, clearly rankled by her tone, and he saluted both of the women in front of him before leaving. Reserved maybe, but Dragunin wasn't shy, not with the way he openly glared at his Corporal. Leonida was really curious now about the situation between the two. She was distracted after that, focusing on Corporal Lloyd more than she did on the other soldiers. The woman wasn't expressive at all so it was difficult to know what she was thinking. One thing was for sure, however, and it was that her tone of voice was not once as severe with the rest of the soldiers as it had been with Arkady Dragunin.

The door closed on River Weston, the last soldier to be interviewed, and Leo leaned back in her chair to say: "So, Doc?"

"I'm having a hard time deciding between Rohan Mays and Keelan Simon. What about you?"

"Dragunin," said Leonida with no hesitation. Corporal Lloyd blinked, expressionless as ever, and Sergeant Graham looked a bit surprised.

Doctor Whittler frowned at her. "He barely talked compared to the others."

"Don't you think his name is cool? Dragunin. It has a nice ring to it. You think it means dragon in some other language?"

"Really? Leonida, this isn't just a matter of cool names!" exclaimed the exasperated doctor.

"If I may," intervened Corporal Lloyd, "Arkady Dragunin's teamwork is lacking and as I've stated before, there are brighter recruits among those we've presented to you."

Leonida leveled a keen gaze at her. "He's part of your eight best elements."

"High scores resulting from a good understanding of engineering do not always equate sufficient wits out on the field," steadily replied the corporal.

It sounded like a load of bullshit and Leonida crossed her arms over her chest, deciding she really didn't like Corporal Lloyd very much. "What's the purpose of allowing him to be part of this process then, Corporal, if you didn't want him to be chosen as my technician?"

The woman's brow creased ever so slightly. She definitely seemed like the type to hate getting challenged regardless of hierarchy.

"You already made your recommendations earlier, Corporal Lloyd," intervened Sergeant Graham. "It's up to Captain Trust and Doctor Whittler to make their choice now."

Corporal Lloyd nodded shortly and fell silent. She could have been pointing out Arkady Dragunin's weak spots because she genuinely wanted Leonida to choose a more talented individual to accompany her on her trip to outer space, but the way she'd singled out the soldier felt more gratuitously demeaning than concerned.

Doctor Whittler looked at the three of them and said: "Corporal Lloyd knows these people best, Leonida. Don't you think we should trust her judgment?"

"I also like to think I can trust my own judgment, Doc. If he's in this program and among those with the best scores, then he's more than qualified for this operation, isn't he? You're asking me to choose the best of the best but I don't need the best of the best. I just need someone who knows what they're doing and I want someone who won't bore me when it's just the two of us stuck in a ship thousands of miles away from Earth. Private Dragunin seems to fit the bill."

"You always did have a soft spot for weapon building so I'm not surprised you'd want to get to know someone whose specialty is exactly that," reluctantly said Doctor Whittler. Then she let out a soft sigh. "Well, you're the one this choice is up to, ultimately. I told you what I thought."

"Yes, and thanks, but I'm not changing my mind." Leo looked at the Sergeant and Corporal. "I've made my choice. It'll be Dragunin."

They headed back outside in the room of soldiers. Corporal Lloyd stood next to her sergeant and with her legs firmly planted apart in front of them all, she declared: "Captain Trust has decided that Private Arkady Dragunin would be her assigned technician. Follow them, Private."

Heads turned in the stunned soldier's direction and Leonida felt a chill in the room. She'd expected jealousy to some degree because of how eager they'd all seemed to meet her, but she'd also expected some sort of celebratory atmosphere. During her time as a Private, her fellow crewmates had been happy for her when she'd gotten promoted. This was different. The air was oddly tense and the faces surrounding Dragunin were dark.

Looks like I might've picked the problem child, she thought to herself.

And then, just like that, smiles appeared all around and some words of congratulations were said to Dragunin as he started making his way to the front of the room. Someone even patted him on the back and Leonida caught the way he tensed up. Yep, probably the systematic bullied recruit. Leo didn't like that this was a thing in the army but she'd been unable to stop it in her division back in the day and she'd long since given up on trying to make herself heard on the subject. Even if she was pulling this one out of the fire, another one would take his place. It was disheartening and Leo didn't linger on disheartening thoughts, so instead she smiled brightly at Dragunin and clapped him on the shoulder. He was shorter than her and the height difference made the gesture easy.

"Congrats, Private. We're going space-travelling together."

His eyes briefly flickered down to her hand first, and then he looked at her face and very seriously said: "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

She stuck out her hand. "Might as well introduce ourselves correctly. The name's Leonida Trust."

His was a bit smaller but his grip was very firm. "Arkady Dragunin."

In an entirely meddlesome afterthought, she added: "It's nice to meet you. Or as they say in Italy, piacere di conoscerti." She let her sentence end on an inquisitive note, hoping he'd get it.

The look in his eyes lightened a bit and his lips slanted in some sort of half-smile which kinda made it look like he wasn't used to doing that all that much. "Priyátno poznakómit'sya, Captain Trust."

Great, so he could read between the lines. Leonida squinted a bit. "Is that Russian?"

"It is."

"Still got it," she beamed. "By the way, since we're going to be hanging out 24/7, you can drop the Captain Trust and call me Leonida."

"That'll take some getting used to, sir," he told her. He sounded somewhat cautious.

She laughed to put him at ease. "Sure thing, Arkady."

"Leonida!" Doctor Whittler called out as she motioned for them to come closer, which distracted Leo long enough that she didn't notice the way the soldier's shoulders had stiffened.

She turned back to him and gestured towards the doctor. "Come on, we're going to tell the higher-ups about your new position before we get to the interesting part."

Arkady didn't say anything when he followed her.

 Leo had wanted to promptly expedite the meeting with her superior but Major Arthur Cantrell had apparently decided to spell out the expansive list of their duties on this mission to both her and Arkady. The major didn't hate Leonida for allowing his nephew to die out on the field but he'd definitely stopped appreciating her existence since then. Leo, for her part, didn't like getting reminded of Miles, but that was something she had little chance of avoiding since she often had to refer to Major Cantrell whenever she was done with one of her missions. He was also implicated in the MATES project and had a hand in overlooking its five elements. None of the other MATES were as highly ranked as Leonida so she was unfortunately the one who met up with the major most frequently.

Doctor Whittler was there too. She could've gone back to the lab but had insisted on assisting to yet another debrief about the Katauri belt communication operation with Leonida. They sat around the table in the clean, wide room as Major Cantrell explained all over again what the operation would consist in. Granted, there were some added details about the giant frog ambassador's species, but Leo was bored and she figured that if she needed to know more about it she'd just ask it directly. She was pretty sure human knowledge of opiels wasn't as trustworthy as opiels' own knowledge about themselves. Leo took advantage of the debrief to cast side glances in Arkady Dragunin's direction. He looked very focused on what Major Cantrell was saying, so that was good. Leonida knew she tended to be a bit air-headed herself at times and that a serious subordinate was a good way to balance it out. That was how she'd worked so well with Warren Mullins and David Werner back when they'd formed a small, cohesive special ops unit with Miles Cantrell. She just hoped Arkady was less of a party pooper than Warren had been, God rest his soul.

"This concludes my presentation. Do you have any questions?" asked Major Cantrell, his dry voice pulling Leonida back to the present. She just shook her head without saying anything but Arkady spoke up.

"Sir, one technician for a whole ship's maintenance seems a bit short, especially when it's meant to hold a crew of four."

Major Cantrell studied him. "You come from the Advanced Engineering and Technology Program, correct?"

"Yessir."

"I was assured that a single element from that course would be enough for this mission. Are you telling me you're feeling overwhelmed by the responsability your superiors have elected you to carry?" Major Cantrell looked at Leonida. "Or that maybe Captain Trust hasn't made the right call by choosing you?"

Arkady's blue eyes had turned wary and his gaze quickly flickered in Leonida's direction before returning to the major. "No, sir. It was just something I wanted to point out."

Major Cantrell turned his attention back to Arkady. "Your remark has been acknowledged, Private. Now is there anything about this mission you believe you might be unqualified for?"

"No, sir." Arkady's voice was steady but he sounded a bit resentful.

"Good. Then if there are no other observations, this meeting is adjourned." Major Cantrell turned off the projection and retrieved his identification badge from the computer, and before leaving he said in the exact same level tone he'd used during the presentation: "And Captain Trust? Do try keeping your subordinate alive."

Well, maybe Major Cantrell hated her a little.

 After that, Doctor Whittler lead Arkady and Leonida to one of the lab rooms so she could show him the blueprints for Leonida's body and teach him the basics of what he needed to know about it. Doctor Whittler intended to give him several lessons and chances to practice before they were due for their departure from Earth. Arkady looked kind of conflicted between looking impressed by the intricate technology of Leonida's body and keeping a neutral expression, and he even looked somewhat wary of Leonida herself. Leo didn't know what she'd done to make him uneasy in any way, but Arkady's caution was there and unmistakable. Maybe it had something to do with the way he'd been treated by his corporal. Arkady was absolutely not an asslicker, that much was clear, but he did seem to hold hierarchy pretty close to his heart.

Doctor Whittler had started by explaining what Leonida's blood was made of and how Arkady would have to ensure that it flowed seamlessly through vessels and additional circuits, but Leonida was already growing impatient.

"Doc, drop the boring science talk, I want him to see all the cool stuff I have," she interrupted.

Doctor Whittler shot her a look and then sighed. "Fine, Leonida. Go ahead and show off."

Leo grinned at Arkady. "Ready?"

Arkady uncertainly stared at her and then shuffled slightly backwards like he expected her to explode. "Ready for what, Captain?"

"For this!" exclaimed Leo, and she let all her compartments slide open at once.

Arkady's pale eyes widened when he saw the arsenal she always carried with her and let out a short: "Chert voz'mi." From the sound of his voice, it probably meant something along the lines of 'holy shit'. He passed his hair through his short brown hair in incredulous awe which he couldn't hide when he looked at the two women to ask: "And there's no risk for any of that to get set off without the captain's control?"

Leonida and Doctor Whittler glanced at each other, and the doctor said: "No. There were some hiccups in earlier stages of development but we've made sure it would never happen again."

Arkady didn't notice their silent exchange. He was leaning in closer to Leonida, fascinated, all prior caution forgotten as he read out the labels on the four canisters positioned in a square at her midsection. "Tear gas, oxygen. What are the two at the back?"

"Anesthetic and fuel."

"What kind of fuel?"

"Flamethrower fuel."

Arkady's head snapped up in disbelief. "You have a flamethrower?"

"This baby right here." Leonida waved her left arm.

"This is insane," murmured Arkady.

"Pretty damn cool if you ask me," smugly said Leonida. "I've got a built-in transmitter, LRAD, first aid supplies, ammo, you name it."

Arkady glanced downwards. "What about your lower legs?"

"They're reinforced to enhance my fighting ability. I pack quite a kick," said Leo with a wink.

Doctor Whittler let Leonida boast for ten more minutes, which was longer than she would've usually allowed and Leo suspected it was because she was just as intrigued as her to see Arkady act so openly interested about something. He'd seemed very stoic and sullen up until now. His excitement right now still looked a bit restrained but it was clearly because he couldn't help that it was showing in the first place. Leo determined that those excellent grades of his in weapon-related courses hadn't been a fluke, and that Arkady really was passionate about this kind of thing.

Then once Doctor Whittler and Arkady had gone over the basics of a MATES' maintenance, the technician had to leave to get a look into the ship he'd have to take care of for the forseeable future. Leonida had gotten her information on it already and this was a deeper analysis of the ship she didn't think she'd need to know, but she went anyway, just in case. Having a technician was probably handy and she knew to delegate duties but she liked to be able to rely on herself just as well. When Arkady noticed that she was coming with him, he threw her an odd look but didn't comment. His careful enthusiasm had faded as soon as Doctor Whittler's lesson had ended and he was back to his sour-faced, quiet, wary demeanor.

Arkady only stayed in Leonida's vicinity when they were both listening to the ship guide and as soon as he was allowed to check the ship by himself, Arkady strayed away from her. One moment he was right there looking at the fixtures between the wall panels, the next he was gone from the room. Leo tried to find him but there were many possible spots he could've retreated to and maybe he just needed some time to himself after this recent change of positions, so in the end she just left.

Only, it turned out Arkady seemed to need a lot of time to himself even in the days that followed. Leonida didn't cross paths with him as often as she'd thought she would and she was rather busy herself with planning out the route of their space trip, adjusting contingency plans, testing communication devices, talking with her superiors, and barely finding any time for evenings with a downtrodden and slightly resentful J. It wasn't easy seeing her caro so sad to see her leave, especially since Leo wanted nothing more but to stay home so they could be together all day until she had to go but couldn't allow herself to because of her obligations. When Leo's lips started wobbling and her brow creased during dinner on the third day of the week, J teared up in turn, and they ended up spending the whole evening cuddling on the couch in front of Leo's favorite movie eating their emergency supply of junk food. It wasn't sexy, but it was as much comfort as they could get in their respective states.

Leo and Arkady did both have High-G training at the same time and they did both meet up with Doctor Whittler to continue Arkady's formation and check for any last-minute necessary updates to Leonida's systems, but the technician never followed Leonida and Doctor Whittler in the more personal conversations. He remained professional when he talked and was engrossed in understanding her components the rest of the time. Leonida was starting to fear that he'd be less entertaining than she'd given him credit for when they'd be in space together, but the other part of her could tell something was up. Arkady continued side-eyeing her like he expected her to do something and Leonida still didn't know what it was exactly. She wondered if Arkady would have behaved differently with her had she not been his superior.

It was two days before the launch when Leonida went to triple-check that the ship had enough of her spare parts in her assigned containers, and she found Arkady in one of the open rooms while she was walking down the hallway. The young man was in a plain grey tank top and faded orange coveralls which were tied at his waist by the sleeves, and he was crouching close to the ground with his arms reaching out into a hole where he'd pried away a section of the wall to see the electrical wiring behind it. It didn't look like he'd heard her approaching, which wasn't that surprising considering Leonida's steps were always very quiet. The doors automatically closed behind her when she walked into the room and that was the moment Arkady realized he wasn't alone anymore. He whirled around and saw her coming closer.

"Hey, Arkady," Leo said with a smile. "What are you doing here all alone?"

He didn't smile back, of course, only vaguely gestured towards the hole. "I'm looking over the ship's electrical grid to check that the doors are all wired right."

Leonida stopped next to him. Arkady didn't budge and kept staring up at her.

She asked: "Is this what you've been doing lately? Checking on the ship by yourself?"

"Yes. I want to make sure I know it in its entirety before we leave Earth."

"About that. We're going to leave Earth in two days, don't you want to hang out with people a bit more before we're stuck in space? Whenever I ask others where you are they say they almost never see you."

"I'm fine the way I am," answered Arkady.

"Hm," thoughtfully hummed Leo. Then she asked: "Are you the kind of guy who doesn't like people?"

"...I don't dislike people."

Leo waited for him to continue, but instead Arkady just kept tinkering with the grid. She would've thought that maybe this was a sore subject if not for the fact that every subject she tried to broach seemed sore with the way Arkady reacted to her questions. She ventured: "Any family to see, then?"

"Not in these parts."

"Oh, okay. That's unfortunate."

Another silence. Leo wondered, again, why Arkady always behaved so aloof despite saying that he wanted to come on this space trip with her. He'd looked determined to be a part of this operation during his interview. As she watched his back, she found it looked more lonely than hostile. Maybe he was stressed by the prospect of leaving Earth and this was how he reacted when faced with stress, distancing himself from everything that reminded him that he was, in fact, leaving Earth for months without knowing exactly when he'd return. Maybe he wasn't as unfazed as he seemed to be. Had he even taken the time to enjoy the stuff on Earth that he'd surely miss out there, once they were far from home? Maybe he didn't know how. After all, he'd recently been pulled out of that engineering division and had been mostly left to his own devices since then, and Leo knew for a fact it felt weird to suddenly not have any more orders to follow at every hour of the day. Leo decided she might as well try to convince him to go out to that bar she and the others had planned on visiting, see if she could get him to loosen up a little for once in his life.

"Hey, Arkady? The guys wanted to go out tonight. Do you think you'd be interested?"

There was a very short sigh which Leo probably wouldn't have heard had she been a regular human, and then Arkady pulled away from the hole in the wall, leaned back on his heels and shot her a heavy look. "Captain Trust, I need to focus on my work. I know you probably think that I could be doing better things than spending all my time here but I don't want to take any chances with this ship, especially since I'll be the only one fixing it."

Unfortunately for grumpypants there, Leonida wasn't one to give up so easily. "Come on, Arkady. I'm not the only one who'd like to get to know you better." She crouched next to him and settled a hand on his shoulder with a teasing grin on her lips. "Are we not good enough for your company?"

Her hand could have burnt Arkady through his clothes and his reaction would've been just as instant. His eyes widened at first and then he shot up and away from her, words spilling out of his contorted lips like a snarl. "Don't get too familiar with me, Captain."

Leonida lifted both hands in the air, surprised by his sudden aggressiveness. "Woah, calm down! What's the matter?"

Arkady glared at her like he was trying to see through her. "Why do you want me to hang out with you people?"

"Hey, it was just a suggestion. I thought we could try and be friends, you know? No need to get so angry over it. "

"Don't get the wrong idea. We're nothing else than subordinate and superior," curtly said Arkady.

Leo frowned. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Captain Trust. Seriously. If there was nothing else you wanted from me then let me continue my work."

Captain Trust. Arkady had told her it would be difficult for him to get used to calling her by her first name, and in fact, he'd never once done it since she'd told him to. She stared at him some more and then moved to get up. Leonida noticed the way Arkady stepped back when she did this so she slowed down her movements, puzzled by the man's distrustful attitude. "Well... Okay then. Jeez, I don't know what's wrong with you but there are nicer ways to say you want to be left alone."

A muscle in Arkady's clenched jaw jumped and he retorted: "People like you don't seem to understand nicer refusals."

"People like me?" echoed Leonida, feeling somewhat offended but mostly very confused. Her technician's behavior had just undergone a whiplash change from kind of cold to straight-up rude and she had no idea what had set this off. She hadn't been even been mean to him.

"Nevermind." Arkady's voice was bitter. "Are you going to leave?"

Leonida put a hand on her plating-clad hip. "You do realize we're going to be hanging in this place together all the time for a long while, right? Whatever's got you acting like this, you need to get your shit together. I'm not going to tolerate this kind of behavior."

"Don't ask me to be anything else but your subordinate and we'll be perfectly fine."

Annoyed, Leonida said: "You're really uptight, you know that?"

"I've been told that before, yeah," he challengingly replied.

They glared at each other.

"Fine," moodily relented Leo. "We'll maintain a boring professional relationship and nothing more. I really thought you'd be more interesting than this, Arkady."

"I also have a rank and a surname, Captain Trust." Arkady pointed at his insignia. "Private Dragunin."

She snorted in disbelief. "Oh, come on. You can't be serious. Are you really that stuck-up?"

"I'm completely serious," he gravely answered.

Leonida abruptly decided she'd had enough of this conversation. "You know what, I'm just going to let you cool down and work until you get over your stupid mood swing. I like to think I don't get pissed off easily but if you disrespect me like this again I'll have you doing pumps until you cough up blood, you hear me?"

Arkady's blue eyes were expressionless now. "Loud and clear, Captain Trust."

Leo sighed and let her hand drop from her hip as she turned away from him. She walked across the room and through the automatic doors, then suddenly spun around in the middle of the entrance to tell him: "Whatever your issue is with me, Dragunin, you better tell me what it is before this goes too far. And I'm not gonna be calling you Private when it's just the two of us, that's stupid."

Then she walked away and the doors slid shut behind her.

#tnktwrites #tdf leonida #tdf arkady #the disaster five #prompt fill #oneshot prompts challenge #first encounter #cw: bullying mention #cw: hazing mention #military setting #tdf #tdf tale