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#I just think sentient plants that do harm are neat! :D
zombified-queer · 3 years
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Cute date ideas 44 or “Do me a favor and be gone by morning.” from small town gothic horror, s4m. No strong character preference other than I’d like to see a less used/written about character taking a central part of it
Kamal gets Putunia into the backseat of Marv's truck. "Do me a favor and be gone by morning, Marv."
"Y'ever going to tell me what's going on?"
Hand on the door, Kamal sighs. "I, uh, don't really know. But I know it's not good."
"You trust me with these kids, though? Should I drive them to their parents?"
"No!" Kamal shakes his head, eyes wide with terror. "No, god. Just..."
Marv watches as Putunia stirs, mumbling and wiping her eyes.
"Go back to sleep," Kamal soothes. "'s okay."
"Kamal."
"I know. Just get some rest." Kamal shuts the truck door. "Marv, you have to keep them safe."
"What about Jerafina? She's more, uh, maternal?"
"It's too late for her." Kamal shakes his head. "Something's wrong in town. With the water. The air. You must've felt it too."
"Lake hasn't had fish in months," Marv muses. "Something keeps scarin' them off." 
"I think it's Habit. His greenhouse is...I dunno yet. But I intend to find out."
Marv sighs. "Well, don't get killed. Putunia would never forgive you."
"I know." Kamal glances at her. Sleeping again. "But, uh, I'll come find you guys when this is all over."
Kamal licks his lips. Goodbyes like this are never good, Marv knows. But Kamal heads back to the florist's van. And then they're gone.
Marv gets in his truck. He drives slowly, not wanting to wake the kids. All of them are sleeping except Tim Tam, who stares at Marv. 
"Wanna take over the radio, kiddo?"
"Cool." Tim Tam fiddles with the knobs. "DJ."
All the radio stations are static. All except one. It's that same advert for Habit's little greenhouse commune. It plays on loop without end, like someone forgot to shut it off.
"There's some tapes in the glovebox," Marv says. "If you want. Mostly fishing music."
"Shanty."
"Sure. A couple of those somewhere."
Tim Tam fumbles with the tapes in the dark. Finally they find one, waiting for the next streetlight to confirm it's what they want. With a nod, Tim Tam crams it in, letting the sea shanties play.
There's more potholes in the road than Marv remembers. And the woods at the edge of town are so dark and deep. Marv never thought trees could look sinister. But it's not just trees. Every bush and every blade of grass seems alive with malice.
"Spooky," Tim Tam whispers, barely louder than the sea shanties.
"You said it, kiddo." Marv has to drive carefully around the roots breaking the road apart. "Spooky."
Was this road always this broken down? Were these roots always such a problem to drive over and around? Or is something trying to keep them here.
"I hope Kamal's okay," Marv says to no one in particular. 
And then he sees it. One of those blackberry bushes moves. Not like a breeze rippling through it or an animal darting down in the thorns. It moves like it is an animal. That darting out onto the road is exactly like a rabbit.
He slams on the brakes. The truck hits the bush anyway, blackberries splattering on the hood, leaves sticking to the splatter.
"Cool," Tim Tam says. "Radical!"
"We're not going to do that again if we can help it," Marv answers when he catches his breath. "But good to know they're not impassable."
The earth shakes as one of the pine trees takes long, awkward strides into the road.
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Clone Wars    Kidnapped
Also, yeah how do you   follow up an episode like that?
    Also isn’t this like the     second kidnapped episode?
Oh
You know we actually needed the levity so that I am completely OK with the saving a   thing plot,
  Gives time to breathe-
Ho-nest,      This place looks pretty     neat,
[Though they still knowingly enabled     Tox be    hav-ior]
This is the equivalent of someone ditch    -ing productivity,      And att      -em       pt       Ing          To     Go     Straight         To     creat-iv-ity        Before      anything’s       set up,]
And I should really be careful   not   to get distracted by the pretty lights,
Wa-     rr    ior-
Well least      tox
  Whe         lp,       In-        Sti        gators       ,    Fe      ck,      -      Oh hey that   war we enabl     -ed
 Whelp
Okay, seriously who is that guy?         (Normally I wouldn’t be so nervous        (but the last few episodes                 Not Krell          The under water                   One)       Introduced a guy of a   random species that we have never heard or seen of    and he died before we ever did,
            So,
             I’m                   a                  Little                Nervous                    ,     (I like different   species,)
His design       seems      nice          ...    Neu       tral.
Yet we won’t assume the amount of   accoun-   tability necessary to     enforce it       Don’t get      me wrong;     I don’t want an  infinity war
  But if you enable, be prepared for the consequences and/or to push it back, (what      ever        You       Left,)         Whenever        it comes for your life,         For the rest of it,  (Or until you snap and       hold it accountable,)
      Pro-tection
Usual spiel    but it works.
You know that would’ve worked really well with overinvolved     positivity,
  Though at this point it’s pretty clear they are going for the clear-cut        Jedi- are      Posit         Ive          Ly         Over-          Involv        e               -d-            (Sith - negative)
  And more so         general   “everyone is a     shithead,”         Kinda         Vibe.
   Which is perfectly fine,
    Why?
   That’s a lot
 [also never mind with the     - warning - or get into lines,]
  Obi-Wan looks really young-er      in the scene for some reason
     -His face
         -it’s too smooth
           - and are his eyes a bit bigger?
  10
  Also yeah they specifically told us not to get involved and that they were going to do it on their own       I-n.       Ia        tiv        e
   But screw that
  “Let’s   escalate the situation!”
   Despite that being literally what the dude       fears and probably        his nightmares
                              [screw respecting other adult’(s) initia     tive]
    I know Dooku is implied to be really feckin tox also
   But talk means nothing
   Dude has to have the actions       Attempt it on himself and decide what to do for        himself,
     He’s decided to enable,          Ain’t nothing       that can be done         about that,
[What    was that look?
   [also did Obi-Wan not ask what happened               down there?]
               Great
                Time for   warfare
                 For the Jedi that can’t take a   “no,”             For an   an   -swer
 Gr      -e         a-t        -       ?       Voice    -act         -ing       -       People        Shield             -               What,          I’ve-         Watch          -ed             The     Watton           Boar         -         Arc-           -      -Battle
   Yeah but it’s      -also      pretty     bullshit          - (when have the separatist ever respected the Gen       eva convention?)
    Rex-        Has a           Feck’in            Point
   I
(Also that doesn’t tell them anything this could be    basic    clankers    when no   in fact they are commando droids              )
Ana       Kin’s         Voice      De-eper?
Com       -man                  do-
       [I have a feeling they’re really trying to contest           the we have no fig           -h-ters)
         Lin                  e-             -             A-g                  ain-
        O-h                           Sir,           Oh,           ,           Also, how?
     But also         ok that            guy,
               Surprisingly,     calm        ly      spoken-
    So this could make a great scene    contrasting Obi- won’s I believe   moral nature,       With another strategist that seems to be believing some kind of     chivalry
   [Also, OH SHIT,   is that where they’re keeping the     pris    oners,
  Whelp
   Anakin is a         dick to        holograms,
Seriously      you could’ve      just turned it off,
     [if you had news       or opinion to share        ?)- 
Ok, where the    fuck?
    [Don’t, get me wrong I know Anakin,         was an ex slave,           Everything else             is new..  .  
 Including his    rage towards it,
      Me,
 Hey, they’re being smart    about this,         -                        Up-   s-   et-
Yes,   thank you,   did I miss     something?
P-ast
Doesn’t     justify any of this     bullshit. .
I     mean,
Literally no one     is smarter   than anyone else
 So       Ana        Kin,      ,      OK but that’s a whole different species     and/or a group - -           this is not “past”    this is I just hate feck     -ing    sl-av        er s              -                       And possibly un-vented            anger at trauma-         -                          Either way pretty damn           va                 -lid                  -                         Dis-              trust                 -              Whe-  
Oka-y         ,          I don’t- 
  Also is that an animal or     sentient?            - A game      I find myself playing           to no         One         ‘s      Cha        -grin-         -,         Oh
    Arro         gan      -c-          e
    Ah- tak        e?          ,            Also he has a    non-evil       pet           -            That’s kinda          cute
       But also kinda sad,            Hint,ing          at the fact              Dude was probably intended to be some kind of   animal      focus        (Someone who works around or just generally likes animals - special             ity)
       Before he went     corrupt
            (Showing some    interest in keeping them out of the battlefield,                    And                  Fond-ness)
       Or this could just be a short han     d-e        d symbolism                 For              slavery          and   grooming          -          Both    -work           -             Do        -Tell           -          [oh yeah         dude totally gave away his plan,]
     Despite Obi-Wan almost clearly not being          in earshot
     Nice interaction         * introduction
   Also     ,doesn’t he         already know,            Holo-gra       -m    -         Formal     in-         tro         duc-          tions            -                Are           Nice,             -              Er-
    Seriously what is up with         these two            people?
     Also why did dude           growl?
    For people that look like cats      they sure act like dogs              (Bor- d       -er)        (Nothing wrong with that-        just-         curious-             “      -i
    How?
    Also they’re just really shout-ing their      plans out here      aren’t they?
    S-u        -rr          en-          der-            -           Obi- won    still playing        along..     ——           W-help            -           He       gave        him            a         chance             -         Whelp-
    O-k
  Honestly he’s acting pretty calm and      diff-erent-ly characterized,             The Kenobi we know wouldn’t raise             a hand to help even himself                   (In ani.)             Also            I’m surprised Aniken hasn’t stumbled across anything by           now,
       Thought that would be the        crutch            of the narr-ative tension in the          office,
       But          Aight           ,         Calling the chips early is completely fine I will never have an issue with chara-     ter     -(s-     acting slightly smarter than expected,
Though wish Anakin had shown some kind of      initia-       tive-
 Like the stories telling us that he’s really      pumped up   “about      the     whole      slave      thing,”          . . .         But has just found          nada when it comes down to      rescuing the slaves,         Or just finding any hints about this    oper     -ation      in general,
To summarize;     What the heck has Aniken been doing the last minute      and a half             ~              ?            No-thing
[like if everyone had told him to chill due to his       clear aggression     believe he caused some harm      in his rage,
   And sent         Ahsoka         in-stead
         That would make a lot    more sense,
  [and make up Obi- wan look like less of a              Irrational Dick        By sh(ar-ing) Anakin‘s backstory         without any permission       or reason,
    While there    he might have to explain to       Ahsoka    why he’s sending her      and not Anakin,]
  Just-        Writer       Th-       ough   -t-         -      Treat-        ment          -    “ You have broken        through my         defenses,”
   Emotionally             or            ...      physically?             . .           Never           mind-
        Would’ve              been nice      if someone actually took him up on that          offer               -              (Like some villain(/enabler) is like you know what my job sucks,    my boss sucks, I could really use an       nap...
    Sure]     ..     They were just standing there          ...      doing nothing,
     Like,      Dude literally just said       there were bombs planted all over the city,
  And, no one’s in a ru-sh            to fix that-
       Or use them to find the           kidnapped people..
[I   mean      fair       ...    but      geez.
   Colo      -nists,
     Again,      where are they?            . . .             You supposedly sent Anakin to find       - them but we haven’t seen anything           -               Also yeah the dude is totally going to give up    his only bargaining     chip         . . .           After being          out gunn        -ed-            -            Well             -           Also you have one button that only activate(s     one mine?
          Like did you, set that up just for the purpose of    in-timi     dating people
   Also congrats    you likely threw away    your only bargaining chip                 -      because from his point of view     the explosion already went off-                        -       And he doesn’t know that you had one     specific button just for that      one mine-             -      (Like it   doesn’t sound that loud but he could’ve gotten     hear-ing probl-em (s-) from the      near- by      explosions,     )
  We-         ll-
   “Col-on-ists,”
  Oh     good thing you told him after you destroy-ed the       thing-
   And he didn’t go into attack mode and you have a light saber press-ed to your throat-
   dumb
I’m sorry but that’s just so adorable
   Look         at            it;
   Man like(s soft squishy things and    he doesn’t seem to be      hurt          ing-           -it,
      Like,           How               ?
        Also, did       no one check               for               that               shit?
Like,      No-
Me-      dic
 Wh-       el        p-
  Bo-
 Several people      -just died           And he         comforts the    robot.. .
   Dick
Also, Maybe       It’s be       cause         Cody         is     Obi-Wan’s        Gen.       (Generation          or      General)            Doesn’t     make much         of a        dif-ference?            -         That          this        flies?      (I mean I can        understand him not giving       too much of a heck,       Due to this being a war      caused by this guys’             Gen,         But     seriously,)
     Also yeah            kinda          ,dick             ,          Screw         medical     attention,
      Well,
     That’s a lot of faith          for a whole              lot a          nothing,
     Also let’s go do the thing       we were supposed to be doing            this entire time,
   (I think)
  My brain started going numb and I half paid    attention            -         Oh, wait 
now we’re getting into the back      story?
 After they’re on the planet
  Without any       pre-emption?
 -Er
My brain      cells      are    asleep,        -        Al        -ive         -           Seriously, what is up with the   -bird     thing,
   (I really hope     it factors into his character)
   Or is brought up
  Frust-      trat-      Ion
“Zy,”
  Dude they’re slave traders    I really don’t think     you want to do that          (Just           a       thought)
Also maybe     suggest     trading        him some       exotic animals,
   Dude seems to have a pen      -chant
   And he seems to treat them    re-     lati       vely       well,
   (There   are some in cages but that just seems to be for      transport,                         ) -  no I thought you should ever take animals        out of a pre-         ferr              ed         Safe  climate
       But he could have one set up            abet a smaller one,
        Wha?             (The      voice acting           there           was         weird,)
       Also, really?
    That’s the     competition?
 (Is there ever a tradition..   
    That isn’t fighting?)
  Also, okay,
 but is it like some kind of style of fighting?
     (I swear he you challenges him to sword fighting.)
   Then again Zy-         ger-          Ian-       fighting-
  Dif-ferent rules   could be interesting
   Possibly establish           Obi-Wan                 as                a          well traveled              man,
                   (So long as he isn’t allowed to use his                         feck -in light saber,                             -) (Which     Anakin      hasn’t        been       doing         at all,
 Also lower      ed risks     are nice,
Again, not saying anything about     deactivating em,
Also what the fuck is with that guy’s facial   expressions,
  Like ever since that moment       it has gone     insane,       (As in I can’t for my life     read what they’re trying to express,       And that is the closest     translation;       I can come up with,
Never   mind      -   he’s an asshole      -    Even th-
  Screw         It
  (The       logic         is not on        the high setting           with this one.”
       Any way,              Per-
        That’s
         [do you know how back when I was revie-       wing the movie I thought about how the escalation one from         1 to 10 and the characterization switched on a dime?
               -Not to   insult,
    But this is starting to feel a lot like   that-
 My brain already very checked out at this   point-
Because I     really   don’t    need      it for     this-      -   W-
  Constant      Characteri-zation?!
   What-  
[Excuse me while I sit over here drinking my       ‘wtf just happened,’          juice
   You know      when I was reviewing (Earlier) scenes       like this;           I used to give it somewhat of a pass    saying;              (Some        thing       along           the          lines            of)
       Well people change on a dime,
  Which I’m starting to realize    getting further into this;        Is that you need some kind of sentiment       Or pre-       -empt         To        Connect          Those           Thoughts      -             The           eyes             need              to           narrow                 -               The             body          language            needs              to             change                 -      The     music       (perhaps)        a subtle       change in tone;         -        It can’t change on    that much of a dime        -
            I               don’t               need                   a                  lot;                 Just some kind of indication about what the      feck just happened,     -             Because otherwise it’s just    spaghetti      -         Like I’m sorry     but it’s true-              -      The expressions before were completely unreadable      and down          right-        unhuman,
      There was no word      ,cues to indicate anything
      And the music     which could’ve been a brief    Cue,        Of whether this is supposed to be        abrupt or         instigated,             Well I don’t,     think there is any,   
                        Fix scen;                                    e
                     This guy smirks, possibly chuckling, the bird leaving his           arm-, possibly pre-facing it with, “ well then,  let’s          be-gin,” or a body posture is simply leaning in before     pouncing,
      Telling me    this is part of the plan,
        And that’s Zygrians value a more wild style of fighting with the element of surprise      being      emphasiz       ed-
    Which makes sense considering what seems to be a      hunting         focus,
    With snark following up either confirming or     denying,  
    That as true           (Or          False)
     That his actions were        prec-        edent-        ed         or        not,
      As it stands,  
   There was no      Cue
    And I’m        completely          lost.              . . .           Whel            -p
                           Well that was a bunch of nothing                                                                                  .  .  .                               Which is a shame because it had a lot of good     subjects to focus on, Slavery, the difference between Wild and Order, tam-ing, groom-       Ing,      Cap-       tivity              -         The concept of an invasive species,
     Unfortunately the writing is so inconsistent,      And generally        poor,         That it can’t carry a beat for longer than a few     min-utes
        Well I’ve noticeably praised the attempt to take on a higher intensity material
         That doesn’t give an     excuse for the apparent drop in quality
          Often; i’ve said that            stupid villains are fine
        However       the thing that often irritates me         in those episodes;           Isn’t that the villain’s            Stupid   
          It’s the lack of          self-awareness             (Not in the poking            fun of one’s                 self                 way)
  Is that it isn’t        framed that way,
  (No snark,    very little realistic the consequences without drawing attention to it,        And very little change       except the     villain is now Stupider          Though it attempts to keep the same dramatic tension          and stakes)
   In sum        -mary:
    While I think this episode had a lot of interesting concepts to work with they will unfortunately             Wasted                   By the episode lack of commitment, consistency, and constant characterization,
      Most        notably;
     - Anakin’s resent             -ment                    Of          slavery             (His care of it turns off and on like a light switch and his intensity             varies)
         Functioning less like a Berzerk/.              accountability button                  (Mild               Responsibility)  
               And                 more                  like                   an                excuse            to have him             flip his lid,
             Make                   odd                 facial            expressions,  
             And generally put, shout  put emphasis In a nonsensical bordering on                  inhumane way
                What seems to be a disturbing trend (with the characters       ;)
               Specifically the                  Zygarian                     here
                 And                      Ani             
              -The                 difference               between            wild and tamed;                   Along with a constant theme of slavery,                  It’s paired with the constant imagery                 of animals in cages
             Which would be fine if it was actually presented as an               excessive detail,
             But the focus is put on it and nothing ever seems to come of it
            (Almost as if it’s expected that just by having      it there, the motif comes with it)
             Which no
             Animals in cages and...            What?
             Like, I have an idea         what they’re trying to hint at,
             But until           the story commits;
             “These animals           are very much like you,”
               Then it remains in                        limbo,
 As wasted time          And wasted     emphasis,            -
      The Zy-             Gar            Ian             (s)          backstory;           Note      this works off another point         about captivity,
        Now, from the little bits,  I could get from the conversation;
        The Republic                inter                   fer                  r                   e                  d,                   Note; this seems to be a pretty big deal
   The antagonist      esp          ecially             affec               t-                e-d
           By                  It,
  But we never learn much about it      or him        (How it affected)
    Yeah he re-peats           Some          po-ints;            But it’s never elaborate-         d on
         What exactly       hap-pened to him?
          What exactly       hap-pened with the conflict?
           How?
            To be more                  precise;                     This presents the idea of a rather fas-       cin-        at        ing      conflict about the over- involve-ment of an outside species into              a           Nother’s            Planet          -           And I don’t think it really       utilizes it
       Drop      ping it almost instantly,          For an almost emotion-    less        fi-        gh          t,        Where are dude repeats ‘they were happy,        And generally everything except “I”             (How he was affected)                 Or any authentic emotion
       Just unread         able        inhumane       expressions            . . .       Not much in the way of themes,        motifs,            Or anything of         real        sub-      stance-         -       Sub      Category;           The clones got injured in an            attack;             This is not treated with any sort of        heaviness              -             Or even note             (Nor to the status/            theme of captiv-               ity- or                Sta              Tus                In               The              Empire-)
            Or         represen-tation               of             order,
           (And is quite point blank pointless)
           Not to speak of the ending where the Anakin is         almost point-blank informed                  That the captives are being held on                    Ty-                    Ger                        ia/                        By the Ty-                       ger-ians
                Po-int being;                      This is pretty subst                  antless                          Sn                            -ack,                             That lacks any kind of consis          tence
       - And isn’t.          worth the                watch,
           (With             nothing              set up)
          (Might’ve wanted to go with an                 R2-D2/ (CpO?) episode)                   Work on that tone                first
               Before trying anything serious,                   With that robots scream of absolute terror                  upon its death..
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