#bro this is starting to sound like clone theory
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How the Bad Batch got white-washed: a script
(Don't know if this is how it actually happened, but it's my personal theory that came out after some wiiiild discussions on Discord. I don't believe this actually happened, but I do think liberties were taken to secure audience members and ratings. Enjoy, my little crumpets!)
CW: Everything. Just...at this point, in between fics and art filled with violence and Naughty Times and Doug's irrational ramblings about Toaster Strudel and SEC football, you should probably leave if you're under 18.
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(Be Star Wars animation studio, probably Florida, who knows)
Studio Executive: Yo, animator, we got a problem here.
Animator: Yes?
Studio Executive: These clones, the new guys in this new show, 'The Bad Batch'…they all look alike. All bronzed, good looking guys with dark hair and thick shoulders.
Animator: Yes, that’s, um, kind of what clones are, sir? They are genetic duplicates of an indigenous actor from New Zealand.
Studio Executive: That’s the problem.
Animator: Say what?
Studio Executive: Who is watching this damn show? Who is paying for Disney + subscriptions? Who is our main money-making audience here?
Animator: Um, I guess…families? And, uh, lonely single adults?
Studio Executive: EXACTLY. And you know what is declining, besides civility in an ever-crumbling society?
Animator: What?
Studio Executive: THE BIRTH RATE.
Animator: Uh, actually--
Studio Executive: YOU KNOW IT, I KNOW IT, THE WORLD KNOWS IT. DAMN GREAT RECESSION AND PANDEMIC AND CRUSHING REALITY GETTING MILLENIALS ALL (legitimately) SCARED OF HAVING BABIES. WE NEED MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE TO START BREEDING LIKE RABBITS IF WE WANT TO HAVE A STEADY POPULATION OF AUDIENCE CONSUMERS OF DISNEY PRODUCTS.
Animator: Well, that seems aggressively eugenics-oriented, with a tinge of classism.
Studio Executive: WHATEVER I MAKE THE BIG BUCKS SHUT YOUR ART SCHOOL MOUTH. Now, redesign those new clones!
Animator: To…what?
Studio Executive: First of all, the tech guy! What’s his name?
Animator: ….Tech.
Studio Executive: WELL THAT SHIT’S EASY TO MARKET. Anywho, get rid of the tan and the muscles and the thick dark hair. No nerd looks like that, come on. Make him a skinny white guy with receding hair, slap some hipster glasses on him too. Actually, you know what? Meander your ass over to the accounting department on the second floor and draw a few of the weirdos conducting audits in there. Base the tech guy off of them, not a buff, golden, Maori man.
Animator: But the guys in accounting look NOTHING like Temuera Morrison! This is just wrong!
(pictured above: Not the average CPA in the USA. That rhymed)
Studio Executive: Bro, get real. Are these lonely single ladies and the exhausted moms watching this show with their kids going to run into Mr. Morrison while working their office job? You think Boba Fett’s tanned self sits at the corner cubicle and tries to hit on them when they go to the copier? What are you smoking?! And on that note, make that tech character sassy, smart, and nurturing! Make him the perfect guy!
Animator: Why? I am so confused.
("Wanna come look at some Excel spreadsheets with me, baby?")
Studio Executive: Because we want all the 30-something ladies watching this show to get so hot and bothered over Tech that they decide they need to have this clown’s babies, like, now! And they’ll run over to the accounting office, drunkenly hook up with one of the auditors in a broom closet after Thirsty Thursday, and boom! Another consumer born, 9 months later!
Animator: This is sounding astonishingly like eugenics.
Studio Executive: WHATEVER. Same goes for the other clones! Make that tall bald one look like the aggressively outgoing construction worker that’s laying cement outside of the accounting office! The one that always wolf-whistles and screams ‘Jesteś piękna! Beautiful like model!’ at every woman! The one that all the ladies in the office watch and go ‘Oh, yes, take that shirt off, it’s a hot day today, daddy’. Watching that fun guy on this show means those ladies with THROW THEMSELVES at guys like this! And bam! MORE CONSUMERS FOR DISNEY BORN.
(Wrecker has raw contractor energy. ::lays pipe::)
Animator: I am not enjoying this conversation’s direction.
Studio Executive: CAN IT AND TAKE IT UP WITH HR. Now the leader, I know we’re going with Rambo, and I’m okay with it, but give him a little extra smolder and snatch that waist a bit. I want to go for a ‘hot waiter at Cooper’s Hawk that slips you his number after you tip him 40%’, vibe. 30-something ladies love Cooper’s Hawk, there’s been market research, do it.
(He'll judge your love of pinot grigio, but not how you pay him, wink wink)
Animator: No.
Studio Executive: SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB. Now, the last two…bald, calm guy that always seems tired but is still constantly there for you? Basically, every exhausted Millennial man right now? Make him extra pale because he hasn’t left his condo since 2020 and his only social outlet is playing STEAM games with his other lonely friends. Perfect. Job well done.
(He uses his scomp to play 'Dave the Diver'. You know he does)
Animator: Yeah, his name is Echo and he–
Studio Executive: Good, make him like I said, and trust me, ladies will see men like him and want to fix them, and then promptly ride said men like it’s Derby Day. More consumers born, we will have a bumper crop of tickets purchased at Disneyworld and Galaxy's Edge within the next couple of years. Excellent.
Animator: Sir, you are a sick, sick man.
Studio Executive: Speaking of which, the last guy. Just make him Clint Eastwood.
Animator:…Clint Eastwood. Isn’t he old as hell?
(Oh, Daddy Warcrimes, you and your toothpick are the Internet's Everything)
Studio Executive: Yeah, but, daddy issues abound amongst many of our consumer audience. And this is a show about daddy issues. And hopefully, by watching this, we will turn more people in daddies and KEEP OUR CONSUMER NUMBERS UP ON DISNEY +!
Wait, where are you going?!
Animator: I’m resigning and joining the Peace Corps, I can’t do this anymore.
#tbb#clone force 99#the bad batch#head canon#bad batch white washing#crosshair tbb#hunter tbb#wrecker tbb#echo tbb#tech tbb#questionable#questionable choices#daddy warcrimes#ryan-from-accounting#do it for the consumers#the clone wars#cloneforce99#thebadbatch#star wars#star wars headcanons
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HandDave (or: how I found a way to make Dirk even more fucked up)
So apparently there was this old, pre-Act VI theory that Alpha!Dave would become Lord English’s new servant as a reflection of the Handmaid. I decided to try my hand at figuring out how this might have worked.
-First off, I’d like to thank this post for introducing me to this theory (MAJOR EPILEPSY WARNING) https://www.deviantart.com/elycien/art/The-Emissary-262571445
-Second off, for reasons I’ll be merging this with one of my big headcanons; that being Alpha!Dave and Alpha!Rose being in the future with their descendants, raising them directly in this version. Broadly, I think it’s more logical than the canon version and it sets up some important stuff latter on.
-So, the big divergence here is that when Alpha!Dave & Alpha!Rose square off against the Condesce, she allows Dave to kill her. This results in Dave inheriting her curse, gaining immortality and immense power in exchange for eternal service to Lord English. As Dave loses control, he tells Rose to flee, and she promises to keep Dirk and Roxy safe before escaping; just before LE assumes full (if indirect) control.
-Dave, freshly dubbed “The Emissary”, assumes control of the Condesce’s schemes on Earth-B, running things from the shadows, setting the stage for SBURB. Alpha!Rose, after taking temporary custody of Dirk, dies fighting off Imperial drones in attempt to protect both a group of Human survivors and her children. In the process, the twins are split up, Roxy flees with the main group while a freshly activated Hal guides Dirk to safety. It’s almost a year before the soon-to-be heroes of Heart and Void are able to speak to eachother again.
-Now, imagine, for a moment, that you are Dirk Strider. You remember your Bro, quite well as a matter of fact. He raised you, trained you, taught you, cared for you more than anything else in the world. Good Bro, best Bro. For all you know, he died years ago, and as a hero for that matter.
- Now imagine, yet again, that you are Dirk Strider, only slightly further along in the timeline. You’ve been in the game for a while now, and nothing’s really going anywhere. Apparently you’re gonna get to meet an alternate universe version of your Bro at some point. That sounds pretty neat.
-Now imagine, for a final time, that you are Dirk Strider. You’ve been sitting in a Dersite cell for hours now and it’s starting to get to you. You hear shuffling outside your door, the Carapacian guards making way for the Empress herself. “Ahh,” you think, “it’s just like her to come torture her captives personally, isn’t it.”. The cell doors part, and you see…
…
N-No. This, this cant be right.
“B-Bro?”
-Jesus, when I was drafting this in the discord I swear I made at least 2 people cry. I don’t think you could make an AU that fucks up Dirk more if you tried (or at least, you’d have to try REALLY hard). I mean, Christ, the way Dirk talks about Bro in canon, he makes him sound like a damn Saint. Bro meant everything to him. Just imagine how messed up Dirk would be by all this. And gog help him if The Emissary goes down fighting like Condy did in canon. And if Dirk has to be the one to do it… fuck, man.
-And that’s not even mentioning how Beta!Dave would react to this. In canon, Dave is pretty damn unnerved by the mere thought of his Doomed Timeline clones, so having a superpowered evil version of him running around probably wouldn’t help cool his nerves. But beyond that, Alpha!Dave is everything Beta!Dave wishes he could’ve had. He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s caring, he’s compassionate. He’s everything Dave wants to be, everything he wishes his Bro could’ve been. But seeing all this happen… I shudder what it would do to him.
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Dancing With Ghosts in Your Garden~ Chapter 6- Year 1: January
(Ao3 link)
The only thing that kept Anakin from running was his grip on his mum’s hand.
“There’s no need to hurry, Ani, the train doesn’t leave for a little while longer,” And although Shmi was right, it didn’t stop him from bouncing on his toes as they got closer to the divider between 9 and 10.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited!” Anakin grinned. He’d had such a lovely break and it was so lovely to see his mum again, but the pull to adventure and magic was growing stronger with every step, “I can’t wait to hear about Rex’s holiday! And Obi-Wan’s. And now that Krell’s in trouble Rex and I are going to have so much fun!”
“Not too much fun I hope, don’t forget you still have classes,” She was smiling a teasing smile though and Anakin just giggled. Her smile did fade though as she brought them to a stop just in sight of the brick portal, “You’re sure you want to go back?”
“What? Of course!” Anakin dropped his mother’s hand to stand in front of her, “Hogwarts is the best! Why wouldn’t I want to go back?”
“Well I didn’t much like to hear about a beast attacking the school,” Shmi knelt down and brought her hands up to gently cup his face. Anakin tried to push down the guilty feeling. He hadn’t explicitly told the whole story to his mother, he wasn’t sure what the professor had mentioned and it didn’t make him eager to accidentally fill in anything else.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” He told her instead, “Qui-Gon and Professor Dooku had it under control. Plus I heard they’re probably going to kill it anyways,” He shrugged and Shmi sighed deeply, but Anakin couldn’t decipher anything more.
“I’m so glad you’re happy, but I want you to be careful, Anakin,” She pressed a kiss to his forehead and he squirmed trying to make sure no one he knew saw.
“I will! I’m careful!” He told her even though he was quite sure she knew of the contrary.
“You’ll be a bright wizard some day,” She smoothed down his hair one more time before standing, “Let’s go make sure of it,” He took her hand once more, adjusting his hold on his trunk with the other and the two marched carefully through to platform 9 and ¾.
The hiss of steam greeted him before he could fully even see the train. He waved a hand to clear some of the smoke out of his face before looking around for his friends. He spotted Satine first, which was a little disappointing, she was standing with what must have been her mum. They were deep into some last minute conversation, he saw her blush before her hair fell blocking her face. Girls were truly a mystery.
Then he saw a much larger group, and with an excited smile to his mother he pulled on her hand until they were both moving in that direction.
“Rex!” Anakin called with a wave and his friend looked up after shoving Echo to the side.
“Anakin!” Rex greeted and waved them over.
“Mum this is my best friend Rex,” Anakin told her excitedly, he’d never had a best friend to show off before and he absolutely didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity, “Rex this is my mum.”
“Hi,” He greeted quietly, but didn’t have to think of much else to say because Anakin charged ahead.
“That’s Cody, he’s head of the Gryffindor’s Quidditch Team,” Anakin pointed to each clone who looked in their direction with a confused smile, “That’s Echo and that’s Fives, and-” He stopped looking up at another brother with confusion, “I don’t know you,” Anakin frowned, but Rex just laughed.
“This is my older brother Hevy,” The Fett in question came over to ruffle Anakin’s hair.
“Nice to meet ya, mate,” He threw an arm around Rex, “Glad my little bro’s made a friend,”
“Shove off,” Rex squirmed out of Hevy’s arms and pushed him with all his strength, which didn’t do much to budge him.
Anakin took the opportunity to look around once more. He finally spotted his mentor standing alone by the train. He was wearing his whole uniform which stuck out like a sore thumb considering even Satine hadn’t gotten changed yet.
“There’s Obi-Wan,” Anakin pointed him out to his mother.
“Isn’t that the young man from Diagon Alley?” She looked at him curiously and Anakin rolled his eyes.
“I’m sure I already told you that,” He pulled them towards him anyways. Obi-Wan didn’t look their way until they were quite close. He turned stiffly, but smiled once he caught Anakin’s eye.
“Anakin, how was your break?” Obi-Wan greeted him before looking up at his mother.
“Obi-Wan! This is my mum,” Anakin told him, using his hands to emphasize his point like it was show and tell.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, ma’am,” Obi-Wan twitched forward in a sort of a half bow, and decidedly didn’t make eye contact with Anakin.
“I should thank you for looking out for my son,” Shmi smiled at him warmly and stuck her hand out to him which he took. They shook hands and Anakin watched with interest.
“He’s a bright boy, Ms. Skywalker,” Obi-Wan did look at him then. Anakin looked away quickly, feeling like he was eavesdropping.
“Pardon the interruption,” All heads turned to Satine who was approaching, “But Ben, it’s time for the prefects to begin boarding,” She held a bag quite large which he assumed was because she’d brought much more textbooks home with her than he’d ever considered.
“Quite right, Satine,” Obi-Wan nodded to her as she passed by before giving them a quick dip of his head, “If you’ll excuse me,” And he too disappeared onto the train.
“Ben?” His mother glanced down at him with a curious look.
“Don’t ask me,” Anakin threw up his hands, “Cody says she calls him that to tease him, but he sure doesn’t seem bothered,”
“I see,” His mother had a knowing look on her face as she gazed about, but what knowledge she held was unbeknownst to him.
Anakin ignored it, looking around the platform one more time searching for another person to bother, but instead his eyes fell on her. Padmé was further down the platform, laughing at something one of her friends must have said. As if things were happening in slow motion her hair brushed her shoulder as her head turned. Her beautiful brown eyes, and yes despite their distance to one another he knew they were such, fell upon him and she looked surprised before offering him a small smile before she turned back to her conversation.
“Is that the girl you fancy?” The spell was broken by his mother’s voice and he looked up at her appalled and pressing a finger rapidly to his lips.
“Shhhh! Don’t say that so loud!” He was probably glowing red and turning them both around to face away from her, though really he could look at her forever.
“Don’t worry, Ani dear. Your secret’s safe with me,” His mum laughed and he stared up at her. She was smiling at him and it was warm. The whistle blew and he suddenly felt a rock land in his stomach, “Looks like it’s time to go,” She knelt down and he wrapped his arms around her, not worrying about anyone seeing this time because he’d miss her hugs.
“Summer’s coming soon,” Anakin spoke into the collar of her shirt and he knew she was smiling.
“And I’ll be here waiting for you,” They pulled apart and Anakin stared at her a moment longer.
“Bye,” He said softly and she mirrored him.
“Bye, Ani.”
He was then caught by the pull of the other student’s boarding and soon found himself walking towards the compartment he and Rex had planned to meet in. They both leaned on the window, waving frantically at their family members before they disappeared from sight.
***
Anakin could feel Rex’s confused stare as Anakin pulled out his charms homework. Just like him, he laid out the three assigned worksheets in front of him and hadn’t even forgotten his quillset, which was positioned right beside the notebook Obi-Wan had given him for Christmas.
“I’m sorry, am I delirious or did you do all your homework over break?” Rex leafed through Anakin’s versions of the worksheets and his eyes widened comically, “Including the extra credit? Who are you and what have you done with Anakin Skywalker?”
Anakin rolled his eyes, “I don’t know if you remember, but I was poisoned a few weeks ago.”
“Well, it was a little difficult to forget!” Rex flared and looked both ways as if they were being spied on, “What’s that got to do with your sudden academic integrity?”
“Look, it had to be a grownup, is all I’m saying and who has obviously had it out for me this entire time?”
Rex paused to think and it quite ruffled Anakin that he sat in general dumbstruck confusion to contemplate this question. He smacked him on the arm.
“Windu, dummy!” He hissed.
Rex looked to the front of the classroom, where Windu began to formally collect the homework starting with Mira Bridger. He cocked his head to the side and frowned.
“So, you believe that because you slack off in this class that Windu wants you dead for it?” He sounded even more disbelieving than Obi-Wan somehow, which coiled deep inside Anakin. Why was it that despite being the center of two near-death experiences, no one seemed interested in Anakin’s theories on the matter? Wouldn’t he know better than anyone who would likely have a motive to deceive and kill him?
“I’m not sure what his reasoning for having it out for me is, but I’d really rather not give him much more of one.” Anakin said, “You know, lay low until I find out what’s really been going on.”
“We’re racking up too many mysteries, mate.” Rex said, “We haven’t even solved the Zillo Beast one just yet. Now, we’ve got attempted murder to uncover?”
“Well, you don’t have to join me.” Anakin said quietly, trying not to voice his obvious disappointment.
“Like hell I don’t.” He said indignantly, “It’s personal now.”
Anakin opened his mouth to express his gratitude, but was subsequently cut off by the distracting and expectant gaze from Professor Windu, who stood over him in such a way that the morning light from behind him cast his large shadow over Anakin.
“How was your holiday, Professor?” Anakin tried, while outstretching his homework.
Windu narrowed his eyes, as if expecting some sort of catch to the statement or for pyrotechnics to explode from the parchment. He nodded as he briefly flipped through the homework.
“This looks satisfactory, Skywalker,” His voice was still laced with suspicion.
“Well, people always tell me I should apply myself more often.” He shrugged, not sure why he had to try so hard to look innocent when he was, in fact, innocent.
Professor Windu considered him for a moment longer than necessary, before nodding and moving along to take Rex’s homework. Anakin waited until he was two or three students down the line to release a breath. He turned to Rex, who had a curious look on his face, like he finally understood what Anakin had been getting at.
Was Windu truly surprised Anakin had done all of his homework or was he simply surprised to see him alive?
***
“I believe it’s quite possible this answer key has gotten to Gryffindor house.” Mace Windu said to the other Heads of Houses.
“Did you find one?” Shaak Ti asked.
“Not quite,” Professor Windu said, “But as we discussed, I made my homework over break very specific and included a question with topics unlearned just yet for first years.”
“And?” Dooku asked, looking quite bored over his cup of tea. “Did any miscreants fall for such a question?”
“One did.” Windu answered solemnly. “Skywalker.”
Palpatine frowned, “Anakin is a very bright boy, Professor, who has been through a large ordeal. Is it not possible he simply asked for help from young Obi-Wan?”
Windu shook his head, “Kenobi also would not know where to find this information, since it is only found in Magick Moste Evil.”
“Which is forbidden even in the restricted section.” Shaak Ti gasped.
***
“You’ll be happy to know that I achieved perfect marks on my charms homework.” Anakin chirped as he walked alongside Obi-Wan in the hallway, watching his mentor’s profile for any signs of jubilation. Despite what many assumed, he did want to impress him. He just wasn’t sure how that was possible when Obi-Wan had perfect marks in every subject.
Still, his mentor smiled brightly, “That’s excellent! All by yourself?”
Anakin faltered a bit, “Well, my mum helped a little. I swear Windu puts trick questions in there.”
Obi-Wan smiled a little, but had that look in his eyes that was also a bit sad. It flickered a moment later and was gone before Anakin could even ask. He turned his head forward and quickly admonished two second years who were running in the hallway.
“Professor Windu has always taught an advanced class.” Obi-Wan said coolly. “You could stand to learn a lot from him.”
“Like how to poison someone?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and frowned, “You believe Windu is behind what happened to you?”
Surprisingly to Anakin, he wasn’t really negating this claim.
“I don’t have proof.” He said quietly, “But even Rex has noticed that the guy was eyeing me up real carefully today in class. Not just when I did all my homework either. It was like he expected me to explode or something.”
“Believe it or not, Anakin, Windu has had more troublesome students than you in the past. If the motive behind your near fatality was because the person was annoyed, Hogwarts would essentially be a gravesite.”
“So, what are we going to do? Wait around until he tries to kill me again? You know there’s an expression about third time being the charm, right?”
Obi-Wan did not look like he’d heard that expression before, but shook his head to continue, “I need you to be careful.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that like I’m the one who welcomed being poisoned?” He complained.
Obi-Wan sighed and led Anakin to his next class, “I’m not blaming you in the slightest. Just be wary of your surroundings. Trust your gut, but do not let your unyielding suspicions of Windu cloud your judgment.”
“And if it is Windu?” Anakin asked. “I’m not even sure I know who I would go to about that. I know I’ve only been here for a semester, but the chain of command here is not so hot in terms of reporting people.”
Obi-Wan winced, catching what Anakin was hinting at immediately, “You can trust Qui-Gon and myself to do right by you.”
Anakin knew this much. Obi-Wan had been the one person who utilized his power to catch Krell in a trap and to bring him to justice, forcing Windu to see what he wouldn’t. As for Qui-Gon, Anakin’s mother trusted him, which meant that by extension, Anakin did too.
Was that going to stop the dreams that kept haunting him with the mechanical man all dressed in black?
***
“Qui-Gon?” Obi-Wan hardly knocked on the door before pushing it open. Qui-Gon didn’t mind either way, he knew, but courtesy was deeply ingrained in his mannerisms. Qui-Gon didn’t glance up immediately, but a warm smile on his face was enough to welcome him further into the room.
“And what brings you to my office this evening,” Qui-Gon did look up, allowing a bookmark to slide between the pages of his book as it fluttered shut. Obi-Wan’s eyes skimmed the cover and his eyebrows drew together as he considered the literature.
“You’re reading about potions?” He couldn’t help but ask, tempted to pick up the book for himself to see what was capturing his former mentor’s attention.
“What? I’m not allowed to have broader interests?” He said with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, but that too faded, “I’m sure you recall the holiday party,” And Obi-Wan’s eyes widened just slightly, “For something so terrible to happen to a student right under my nose, well, I do want to look into it.”
“It’s not your fault, Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan felt he should say it. Qui-Gon would never let something like that happen if he’d had the means to stop it.
“Perhaps,” He answered slowly, easily dodging any such guilt that he may have, “It never hurts to look into things. If we let our eyes fall shut we’ll miss much more than just the evidence,” He smiled at Obi-Wan who finally sat down on the chair opposite the desk, “You proved such things yourself before the break, exposing injustice that slipped under the radar.”
“Well, it wasn’t just me,” Obi-Wan reminded him, “If it wasn’t for Cody I may not have known anything was amiss, and without Anakin and Rex’s involvement we may have not been able to provide enough proof.”
“It’s not much of an investigation if there are not people to investigate,” Qui-Gon pointed out. Obi-Wan considered that and the two sat listening to the crackling of the fire and the portraits above them making comments. Qui-Gon’s chair creaked as he leaned forward and Obi-Wan’s eyes snapped back to him. He didn’t have to say anything more because Obi-Wan knew he was waiting for him to answer his very first question.
“Anakin has a suspicion,” At his words Qui-Gon’s eyes shot up that had clearly not been what he was expecting, “I’m not sure I fully believe his assumptions since his judgement often seems clouded.”
“Anything is worth being considered here,” He told him, “Anakin almost died. If he has someone in mind then he at least deserves that we hear him out,” Still Obi-Wan hesitated before speaking.
“He thinks it might be Professor Windu,” He admitted, “Though I fear it may just be an accusation based mostly on his own dislike,” Qui-Gon hummed and sat back in his chair, so far in fact that Obi-Wan wondered if he’d fall.
“I’ll admit Professor Windu wasn’t a top suspect, but if Anakin thinks so I’ll have to keep it in mind,” He took a moment to think before looking back to Obi-Wan and smiling, “I’m thankful you came to me with this information, Obi-Wan,” Obi-Wan felt warm suddenly, a feeling he had to assume was pride.
“I can help you, Professor,” Obi-Wan told him suddenly, and Qui-Gon blinked in surprise.
“My dear boy, don’t you have a lot on your plate as it is?” He asked, considering him with kind eyes.
“It’s not as if I can blow off such a matter, Anakin is my mentee,” He stressed, “I was- Well, I was quite worried for him you know. I heard you escorted him home yourself,” It took him a lot of practice to be able to keep his eyes on Qui-Gon’s rather than to look away.
“I was worried for him too,” Qui-Gon nodded to him, “I suppose if I left you to your own devices you’d end up launching your own investigation anyway,” He sighed, “Prefects do tend to stick their noses into things,” Obi-Wan was about to retort, but Qui-Gon laughed, “I’d be happy to have a little help with the reading at least.”
***
School had barely begun being back in session and the halls were already ablaze with discussion on the following year. Satine had found the infamous 5th year letter folded on her bed where there hadn’t been one when she’d woken up. It seemed if you didn’t grow up with magic it would always have a sort of charm to it.
The letter was standard, reminding the 5th years that the classes they chose for 6th and 7th year would be those they took their N.E.W.T.S. for and therefore, extremely important. Before they even took their O.W.L.S. it seemed they’d be making educated guesses about the rest of their lives.
She held the parchment in hand as she made her way into the great hall. There were a few small tables pushed towards the sides of the room making for a large area in the center for students to play games or have indoor picnics; things that would normally happen outside if it wasn’t for the snow that graced the landscape. She still liked to walk around the grounds in the winter, but couldn’t deny it was much dryer to sit on a blanket in a nice warm castle.
It took her little time to spot her boys and just a little more time to dodge a flying hacky sack before she could take her place next to Cody. She’d normally have sat somewhere between Cody and Ben, but Ben was currently lying on the ground staring up at the ceiling.
“Why is this blanket so scratchy?” She shifted from where she’d been leaning on her hand to sitting so that her cloak was the only thing coming into contact with the material. Cody just shrugged, but Ben dragged himself up into a sitting position.
“Really now, you can bring the sheet next time,” He was glaring and that really did explain it.
“Nevermind that,” Satine let it go and waved the piece of parchment at them, “When did you get assigned to meet with the headmaster?”
“I’ve got mine next week,” Cody started and Satine and Ben both winced.
“Doesn’t leave you a lot of time to decide then, does it?” Satine questioned, but Cody shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter what I take as long as it won’t divert my attention away from Quidditch,” Ben looked at him curiously.
“Does it ever bother you not having a back up plan?” He asked and Cody just sighed and gazed over Ben’s shoulder.
“I’d figure something out.”
“What about you, Ben? When’s yours?” Satine poked him in the leg with her shoe and he brought out his own letter from the folds of his cloak.
“Pretty late in the month,” He showed them his letter and Satine compared it with hers.
“I’m a couple days before you,” She hummed, “I guess we’ll have time to think.”
“I’m sure giving the Ravenclaws extra time to think was intentional,” Cody pointed out with a grin.
“You may have a point there, Cody,” She looked at both of the letters before handing Ben’s back to him, “I already know I want to continue in Qui-Gon’s class, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for the advanced Arithmancy classes.”
“You would be brilliant,” Ben argued and she looked up at him surprised, “I mean, you’re already one of the smartest in the class.”
“With the other smartest one being you,” She reminded him with a wink and he floundered.
“I’m not important right now,” He shook a finger in their direction and although it was clear his wording hadn’t been intentional it still made Satine frown.
“How were your holidays, Ben?” Satine asked and Ben stared at her a beat longer than necessary.
“As good as you could expect,” He shrugged, “I’d really rather not reflect on it much. What I do want to know is where you got the impression that you’d be rubbish at Advanced Arithmancy.”
“I never said rubbish,” She narrowed her eyes at him, “But if you must know I just don’t find the subject matter as interesting as History of Magic or Charms. I’m not sure if I’d want to replace it with something else though, wouldn’t that be a waste of time?”
“Well if you are going to change it, now’s the time to decide,” Cody cut in, “It’s nearly impossible to switch classes 6th to 7th year and still score well on your N.E.W.T.S.” Satine stared at him before running a hand through her hair.
“Oh dear, that certainly doesn’t help,” She chewed on her lip as she gazed at the list of possible classes, “At least I know I’m not taking potions,”
“See that’s one thing out of the way!” Cody punched her lightly in the shoulder, “I should probably take this opportunity to drop History of Magic before I fail out, shame there’s no History of Quidditch,” Ben rolled his eyes.
“You don’t need to take a class you could teach,” He pointed out and Cody laughed.
“Then explain Satine taking Muggle Studies,” Cody poked her and she swatted his hand away.
“Even though I’m knowledgeable about muggles that doesn’t mean I’m knowledgeable in the way wizard’s believe muggles and muggle technology to be,” Satine explained, “Someday I’ll show you both some muggle things, I’m sure there’s a lot you’d be interested in that they don’t think are important,” Ben was looking at her in interest and Cody just grinned.
“I’ll look forward to it then!”
***
“Today, class, we are going to be studying the 12 uses of Dragon’s Blood.” Professor Palpatine smiled, “Please open your textbooks to page 77.”
A female Mon Calamari Slytherin by the name of Bant Eerin raised her orange amphibious hand, “Professor, does the Zillo Beast count as a dragon?”
This, of course, got the entire classroom murmuring to one another and Palpatine patiently scanned the crowd of students, clearly not surprised that this lesson plan was going down this path.
“Well, what are the characteristics of a dragon, Ms. Eerin?” He asked.
The large brown eyes at the side of her head blinked slowly as she fought to remember what they’d learned before the break, “Er…”
“No, it isn’t.” Anakin said and then slunk in his seat a bit when the whole class instantly turned their heads to the back of the room.
“Please, go on, Mr. Skywalker.” Palpatine said with an encouraging smile.
Anakin definitely would have lost points in Windu’s or Dooku’s class for interrupting, but Palpatine’s classes were always designed to be more of group discussions than the traditional lecture setting. He quite liked that until now, when he was suddenly on the spot.
“Um,” He swallowed, willing himself to regain his confidence. He found it in Palpatine’s kind gray eyes, “Even though the Beast was large and serpent-looking like a dragon would be, it didn’t have wings and it didn’t breathe fire. It breathed gas.”
“Indeed,” Palpatine smiled, “5 points for Gryffindor!”
Anakin felt himself grinning, which was only intensified by the nudge that Rex gave him. He turned to look at his friend, who made a fist for Anakin to bump.
“So, if it’s not a dragon… What is it?” Tiplar asked from across the room.
“That might be a better question suited for Professor Yaddle, who knows the most about ancient magical entities.” He said, but when the class seemed to sag forward a bit in disappointment, he relented, “I do, however, know enough about the properties of the scales to possibly weigh in some helpful theories.”
Anakin perked up as everyone else did too, feeling as though they were being privy to exclusive information.
“In short, I don’t believe there’s any sub-category that the Zillo Beast could properly be categorized in. Perhaps, if they were given the chance to evolve, there may have been its own bracket. Judging by the durability of its scales, it is virtually indestructible, meaning it had no predators in its food-chain.”
“But it was captured.” Tiplee said from beside her sister.
“Wizards were the only ones capable of destroying such a beast.” He said and smiled back at Anakin, “As the courageous Mr. Skywalker so eloquently subdued it on Halloween night.”
Everyone was back to looking at Anakin, but he didn’t mind this time. He wasn’t sure why he’d been hesitant to share the truth of the story. Their amazed stares felt good. It felt as though he was something to be ogled at, which aside from once having an egg cracked over his head, had never been the case for him in schools before.
“The scales still ooze a toxic element if one should get beneath them to the weaker interior.” He said, “It forms a poison.”
“Poison.” Rex whispered and nudged Anakin again, though he didn’t look at him this time.
“One that is virtually undetectable if brewed and charmed properly.” Palpatine added.
“Charmed?” Anakin suddenly found himself asking with a slightly high-pitched vibrato.
“Oh yes, while mixing potions is essential to a proper solution, the result would be very dangerous if the wizard in question wasn’t an absolute expert at charming the solidity of the blood-coated scale down to a liquid and tasteless property.”
Anakin nodded, but ducked his head below the tall green Rodian in front of him and looked at Rex with alarm.
“Did you hear that?” He mouthed.
Rex nodded a little, seeming to have the same thought as him. Who else would be the most capable at charming a potion than the charms professor, himself?
***
Qui-Gon watched with amusement as his protégé yawned for what must have been the 5th time in the last few minutes.
“Obi-Wan,” he called quietly and the boy turned to look at him, eyes still masquerading as awake as if he couldn’t see his eyelids drifting further down, “If you’re tired go to bed,” His instructions were greeted with a shake of the head and the turn of a page.
“I’m almost done with this stack,” He gestured to the books scattered around him as he was sat in front of the fire. He’d had some free time today and although Qui-Gon was grateful for another set of eyes, especially a set that read nearly twice as fast as him, he was less grateful for the stubbornness.
“Let me rephrase that,” Qui-Gon said instead of scooping up the student and shoving him out the door himself, “Go to bed, Obi-Wan,” When he looked like he’d argue again, Qui-Gon shut his own book and stood, “The books will be here in the morning. Or whenever you next can arrive,” He amended quickly.
“But-” He tried for arguing again, but Qui-Gon lowered himself to the ground next to him and started gathering the mess into some semblance of a stack.
“I mean it,” He told him, “I won’t be the one responsible for you dozing off in your classes.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you,” Obi-Wan frowned, but tiredness seemed to be the key to beat his stubborn streak.
“Did you read anything of interest?” Qui-Gon asked and when Obi-Wan seemed to deflate he added, “I haven’t had much luck.”
“Me neither,” He admitted and moved to reorganize the piles Qui-Gon had attempted, “I thought for sure we’d have found something by now.”
“Patience, Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon was watching him with some amusement, “Good things will come in time,” Obi-Wan frowned at the comment and Qui-Gon felt his smile fade to match.
“Good things, yeah,” He sat back on his heels.
“Is something the matter?” Qui-Gon asked. Obi-Wan shook his head, but Qui-Gon could practically see a mask slide across to cover his face.
“No, I’m sure we’ll find something,” He stood, followed by Qui-Gon, and brushed what was surely imaginary dust off his robe.
“Obi-Wan-” Qui-Gon tried, but Obi-Wan just yawned again. Face flushing in mild embarrassment as he surely considered such a thing rude, but Qui-Gon was glad he didn’t seem overly pressed.
“I’ll be back soon,” He promised as they both made their way to his office door.
“School, Prefect Duties, and Quidditch come first,” Qui-Gon reminded him and Obi-Wan waved him off.
“I know, Qui-Gon,” He tried to hide the eye roll, but Qui-Gon saw it and smirked.
“Then why do I always feel the need to remind you?” He questioned and Obi-Wan paused as he pulled the door open.
“You just like to nag,” He pointed out with a smile, “Well good night, Qui-Gon.”
“Good night, Obi-Wan,” With a good natured chuckle he waited until his boy was out of sight to let the door swing closed again. He headed back to his desk and held another quite musty book in his hands. Professors after all, could stay up as long as they liked.
***
Satine plopped her crate of supplies at the dining table, jolting a snoozing Obi-Wan awake with a start.
“Yes, Professor!” He ardently interjected before settling into obvious confusion at his not being in a classroom or confronted by a professor. When he looked up at Satine, his eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. At the rate he was at, he’d be gray long before she could even think of it.
“What have you got there?” He asked around a consuming yawn.
“What’s going on, Sleepyhead?” She asked instead of answering.
“Breakfast.” He groaned and rubbed a hand along his face. “A bit tired.”
“Are you now? Didn’t notice.” She rolled her eyes while she placed some eggs on her plate. “I didn’t think you had the late night patrol.”
“I didn’t.” He said.
“Then, what’s up with you?”
He shrugged and picked at the french toast at his plate, “I don’t know. I’m a student ready to choose what to do for the rest of my life. That’s pretty just cause to be kept awake at night, isn’t it?”
She knew from the warning tones in his voice that he would not go any further into the subject even if she tried and while she normally would try, there was actual life-or-death going on. She made the mental note to suggest an herbal tea before curfew that evening.
“You were right when you said my individual letter would not be enough to be heard by the Ministry of Magic.” She said.
“I know there’s a but coming.” He said cautiously, “Because I’m never allowed to be right.”
“However,” She pointedly ignored him, “Many different voices would be much louder and more difficult to ignore, especially if we hit them in a way that hurts.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“By inconveniencing their daily lives!” She finished with pride. “A picket fence protest!”
“There it is.” Obi-Wan sighed and held his hands up when he received one of her venomous glares that she worked quite hard on making as fierce as possible. “If everyone were more like you, there wouldn’t be wars in the world.”
“If you’re about to play Devil’s Advocate on me, you can save that speech.” She muttered, “I’ve heard enough from half the student body.”
“Satine, it destroyed parts of the school. Children could have died. Anakin, in particular, could have died.” He said, “And nobody knew it was here! That scares people.”
She rolled her eyes, “Fools. They think killing it going to keep us safe here at school? And what of the person truly responsible?”
“People love a good scapegoat.” He said and crossed his arms, “That doesn’t make it right, of course.”
“It doesn’t seem like the Aurors have much of a case.” She frowned. “I suppose until the real culprit is found, people will still blame that poor creature.”
“People do strange things to help themselves sleep easier.” He commented.
“Yes, Ben, I suggest you do something to quell whatever it truly is that’s keeping you awake at night.” She said, “And before you say you’re fine, you look like a soft breeze would knock you over.”
“Nothing gets past you.” He rubbed his eyes, “Honestly, it’s career-related, I swear. Perhaps whatever errands you’re going to send me on will help exhaust me enough to sleep tonight.”
She fixed him with another hard stare, “I’m not going to make you do anything! Only if you truly want to be a part of the conscientious side of history.”
He reached across the table in what she thought would be to take her hand, but quickly diverted to grab the butter tray instead, which was odd since he didn’t have anything on his plate to spread it on. “Why do I feel like you were much less blunt with Cody earlier to convince him to join?”
“Because I told Cody we would talk about Quidditch while we worked,” She shrugged, “I’ve learned to tune it out enough at this point.”
He chuckled, “So, Cody gets to talk about his favorite thing ever and I get a lecture about morality. Where’s the justice?”
“Hopefully in the courtroom on the 27th.” She said ruefully, “Which means we haven’t got much time to drum up an audience.”
“What do you need?” He asked.
She grinned, “How good are you at making posters?”
***
Qui-Gon Jinn was not surprised in the slightest to have his top two students on the floor of his office, arguing about the color of the posters they were trying to decorate and then charm so they would light up when someone walked by.
“Just remember not to make them too distracting.” Qui-Gon reminded them, “You know Rodian’s like Lolo are incredibly sensitive to light.”
“That’s why I’m trying to convince Ben to stop using the brightest and ugliest shade of yellow in the box!” Satine said.
“I thought you wanted them to be seen! Hondo’s dating advice ads are brighter than this!” Obi-Wan argued. “For someone trying to make a bold point, you sure are insistent on using calm colors.”
“I want to be loud, not cacophonous.” She said sharply, “The color pattern of your letters is beginning to resemble your pajamas.”
He floundered at that, gaping a bit before frowning deeply. “Qui-Gon, please tell Satine she’s thinking far too hard into this.”
“Your pajamas? They were quite horrendous, son.” Qui-Gon said as he sipped his tea and flipped through the Daily Prophet. Naturally, Perre Needmo had a lot to say about the fate of the Zillo Beast, including several pointed remarks about how terribly Hogwarts professors handled the affair and also deserved to be put to trial.
“Told you.” Satine stuck her tongue out.
“He didn’t say the poster was horrendous!” He returned.
“But it was implied!” She reminded. “Just like your pajamas.”
“I don’t know why you love to fixate on those so much!” He said, “We are trying to advocate for a living being, after all.”
“And it’s not going to work if the people reading the posters go blind looking at them.” She said.
“Satine, stop teasing. Obi-Wan, that is an ugly pattern.” He chided without looking up and knew from experience that both students turned betrayed glances towards him before getting back to work.
“How’s this?” He fluttered his wand, changing the colors from the kaleidoscope/checkered pattern, to a complimentary blue and silver.
She smirked, flicking his tie with her own wand, “I see where you drew your inspiration, but yes, that’s much better.”
“Where’s Cody, anyway?” Obi-Wan asked. “I thought you goaded him into coming with the promise of Quidditch talk?”
“Late, as usual.” She sighed, “I believe he mentioned something about a very intense Wizard’s Chess tournament over in Gryffindor house.”
“Oh, no way!” Obi-Wan brightened. “I’ve been practicing quite a bit, you know.”
“I don’t think Anakin qualifies as a worthy opponent.” She said slyly.
“He’s also getting better.” He defended, “He nearly beat me last time. I think I’m starting to rub off on him.”
Qui-Gon had to withhold from snickering, but still allowed a fond smile as he continued to read Perre’s affront that there was even debate on keeping the creature alive or not.
“You can go if you want.” Satine said casually- even if it was obvious she didn’t feel casual about his leaving. “I hear they’re hosting it in the Great Hall anyway.”
There was a pause and Obi-Wan seemed to consider this for a brief moment, eyes flickering from his ugly poster and back to Satine, whose posture was immaculately straight, her eyes purposefully cast to the light coloring she was doing to avoid his gaze. Qui-Gon knew it wasn’t his place to interject, but wanted to shake Obi-Wan to encourage him to make the right decision.
Luckily, he didn’t have to.
“No, no,” He waved her off, “This is important. There will be more opportunities for me to lose to everyone in Gryffindor House at a later date.”
While it was painfully obvious she was trying to remain cool and collect, Satine still smiled brightly at him, “It’s Gryffindor, Ben, I think your odds would be pretty good.”
***
The least Cody could do for missing making posters with Satine and Kenobi was to help set them up. He wasn’t particularly bothered with the logistics of what happened to the beast on a personal level, but it was something Satine desperately seemed to care about, so he didn’t have the heart to refuse her.
Plus, they’d made something of a game out of it.
Kenobi trotted from down the hall, presumably because he finished his batch of posters. He looked quite smug about it too.
“You only beat me because I’ve got to reach higher places.” Cody argued. “It’s more effort.”
“You’re taller!” Kenobi laughed, “That’s hardly an actual unfair advantage on my part.”
“Whatever,” He muttered and used the hand that was not tacking a poster to the wall to toss him his robe. “You left this near the greenhouses.”
“Oh, thanks.” He winced and pulled his robe on.
“Hey, Cody, Obi-Wan!” Anakin chirped as he walked over to them, “Whatcha doing?”
“Just hanging some posters.” He said.
“And losing at it.” Kenobi said wryly.
“That’s still debatable.” He said. “I want a recount.”
Anakin ducked past him to read the glowing neon poster that Cody was presently hanging near a girl’s bathroom.
SAVE THE BEAST!
Join the Revolution in Room 77B on Saturday!
See Satine Kryze for More Details.
“It’s cool that they’re blinking lights and all, but does she really think people are going to come to that?” He asked.
“Yeah, I think she does.” Cody said.
“But you don’t.”
“I did not say that.” He pointed and looked around for any signs of his spitfire friend.
“She’s not around, I checked.” Anakin said.
“What do you mean?” Kenobi furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.
“Uh, I looked both ways.” He stuttered and continued to walk alongside them, “I just don’t get why she wants to save it so bad.”
“Satine is strongly against violence.” Kenobi said. “It’s a core tenant of her belief system and always has been.”
“But… We’re wizards, we’ve got to be violent sometimes. Spells either build or destroy, right?” The blond said.
“I agree with you.” Cody said, even though Kenobi was shooting him a warning eye, “We’ve got to be aggressive if we want to achieve something, even if it’s good, right?”
“Right.” Anakin said.
“But even still, approaching things from a peaceful perspective is completely valid and encouraged first and foremost.” Kenobi said, “You should never jump to violence and should only use it only for self-defense.”
“But Satine doesn’t even believe in that?” He whined, “That beast almost killed me!”
“And yet, it didn’t.” Satine said as she walked from behind him.
Anakin backed away slowly, before remembering that they were discussing how Satine would never act with violence and straightened, “Yeah, but it could have.”
“The beast didn’t kill a single soul that night when we all know it was completely capable of doing so.” She said with crossed arms.
“I had to fight it to get it to stop and you don’t think I should have?” He asked.
“I never said one shouldn’t defend themself.” She said, “I’m not a fool. But the deed has been done. It’s over with. There’s no reason to kill it now other than to exalt cruelty, which is likely exactly what the oppressor wanted.”
Kenobi placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder, which should have been his cue to back down, but one thing Cody knew about Skywalker was that he didn’t always know when to back down from a fight. He kind of respected that.
“And what’s some stupid little committee going to do anyway?” He asked, “Cody’s right! If you want to save the beast so bad, you shouldn’t be afraid to get in there and break it out yourself!”
“Do not mistake my feelings against aggression and violence as a weakness, Anakin.” She said coolly, “Because it takes strength to resist such temptations.”
The boy actually considered that, but then shook his head, “This is too much politics for me. I’m just here to go to the bathroom.”
When he was out of earshot, Satine turned to them with eyes bright with annoyance, “There should be nothing political about saving a life.”
***
The only thing that could sufficiently distract Anakin from all things Zillo Beast and suspicions of subterfuge was the undeniable beauty of Padmé Amidala, whom he was blessed to see on a daily basis. One of the many pluses of knowing a shortcut to all of his classes was that he could spend more time lingering around the halls, which namely included admiring her chestnut-colored hair from afar.
“Earth to Anakin!” Rex snapped his fingers a few times in front of his face a few times, bringing him out of what was surely a dream-like trance.
“Sorry.” He blushed.
“One of these days, she’s going to notice.” He pointed out.
“Really?” Anakin asked excitedly, “You think?”
“I don’t think you want that, mate.” He patted his shoulder, “She might take you for a little creep.”
Anakin most definitely didn’t want that.
His attention was immediately drawn back to Padmé when a series of obnoxious whistles echoed through the hallway. Sure enough, Sebulba and his goons: Ody and Groff, were leering at Padmé and her friends for longer than was clearly welcomed.
“See that boys, my girl is looking exceptionally fine in that skirt today.” He smiled, showing off a hideous row of brown jagged teeth. Anakin could practically smell him from across the room.
“I’m not your girl, Sebulba.” Padmé said pointedly, clutching her textbooks to her chest. Her shoulders were squared back as she looked up at the Dug in the eyes. “And I never will be.”
“Never say never.” Sebulba inched closer, voice trailing off in a hiss that reminded Anakin of a serpent. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Well, you better start.” She bit back, fire in her eyes as she shook off the gangly arm that attempted to pull her into an embrace, “Because I’m not yours to claim. Now, I’ve tried to ask you politely several times to stop so please respect my wishes.”
“She thinks she’s too good for you, boss.” Sneered Groff, who wasn’t the most intimidating boy, given his dim and piggish-looking (in both shape, coloring, and smell) nature. “Who does she think she is? Some kind of-”
He was promptly elbowed in his substantial gut by Sebulba, himself, who never once took his predatory gaze off Padmé.
He stuck out a long finger to poke her chin up and grinned slowly, “You should know by now that I’m not above taking what I want. Sooner or later.”
“What Sebulba wants, Sebulba gets.” Ody chanted with Groff’s nod in vehement agreement.
Anakin went to move to her rescue, but Rex placed a firm hand on his shoulder and nodded towards the girls.
One of Padmé’s friends, Sabé, shoved in front of her, positioning herself between Padmé and Sebulba, “Just try it and see if you’ve still got all of your appendages, slimeball.”
Sebulba frowned and his friends had gone quiet, eyeing their leader with quiet patience to see how he was going to react. He backed away slowly with narrowed eyes and what resembled a snarl painted across his snout. His hunched form looked even more prepared to pounce, but seemed to think better of it giving all of the witnesses.
“You’ll see reason one day, Padmé Amidala.” He said slowly, “Every Queen needs a King, after all.”
Anakin didn’t quite understand the weight of that reference, but Padmé’s spirited anger briefly flickered and she didn’t say anything else. Evidently, she didn’t have to, because he soon retreated with Ody and Groff following shortly behind him.
“That’s it.” He clenched a fist and flexed his other hand around it, “There’s enough trouble around here without creeps like Sebulba walking around and treating anyone how they want.”
“So, what are we going to do about it?” Rex asked knowingly.
“I don’t know yet, but if how Obi-Wan handled the Krell situation has taught me anything,” He began, “It’s that sometimes, you’ve got to get a little creative.”
***
Such an answer came so clearly when Anakin was sitting in the library with Obi-Wan, Satine, and Viz. Obi-Wan and Satine sat side-by-side, discernibly and thoroughly checking their mentee’s astronomy homework. They had to correctly label a map of jupiter including the surrounding moons.
Satine finished quicker, nodding as she slid the parchment back to Viz, who relaxed when he realized he’d gotten them all right.
“And you’re sure I got all 79 correct?” He asked eagerly.
“Positive.” Satine smiled. “Seriously, sometimes I question if there’s anything else I can teach you. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve had to make a legitimate correction on your homework.”
“That’s not true.” He urged, “I’m dreadful at spelling and you are practically a walking thesaurus. And as for my improvement, I can only thank your patient influence for that.”
“I can hardly take credit for your own achievements.” Satine said, but was clearly just bursting with pride in both herself and Vizsla. Though if Anakin could draw any specific conclusions, he’d say it was mostly directed at herself for wielding such a successful mentorship.
Anakin resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, but simply waited for Obi-Wan to finish editing his work and noticed that unlike Viz’s, there was not a bright smiley face written at the top.
“How many moons did I miss?” He asked.
“All of them?” Obi-Wan didn’t sound so sure how that was possible either and scanned them again, “In fact, I’m not quite sure I understand all of these references. Like, what’s ‘Z’?”
“That’s where Emperor Zurg is from in Toy Story.” Anakin said with a shrug, “It felt like it was worth a shot.”
Satine peered over Obi-Wan’s shoulder, “Why did you draw a stick figure labeled ‘boy’ on top of the planet?”
“Because boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider!” He said as though it were obvious but frowned when neither seemed to find it very funny, “Okay, tough library, but really, how can we be expected to know all of Jupiter’s moons when NASA doesn’t even know the names of all its moons?”
“You really need to take this more seriously, Anakin.” Obi-Wan said for what must have been the fiftieth time that year, “These studies will be the formative building block for your later subjects. It might not seem like it matters now, but it will.”
“I’m not going to be an astronomer.” He huffed.
“You’re 11, you don’t have to know what you want to be yet.” He said knowingly, “Don’t go limiting yourself though by withholding your truest effort.”
Not wanting to bear anymore lecturing in front of Satine or Viz, he just nodded and released a heavy sigh.
“Fine.” He conceded.
He took back the paper from Obi-Wan and opened his astronomy textbook to look up the proper answers. He glanced over at Viz for any signs of solidarity, but he hastily turned over his worksheet to prevent him from seeing any of the answers. Again, Anakin resisted the desire to groan. Why did Viz have to be such a goody-good? He guessed it made him the perfect counterpart to Satine, who turned to Obi-Wan.
“Speaking of futures, any clarity on your own?”
Obi-Wan looked like he would rather crawl out of his own skin than endure this line of conversation, but did his best to maintain a casual shrug. “I’m still sorting it out. You?”
“I’m debating politics.” She sighed heavily, “But I suppose it’s a bit ridiculous they expect even the likes of us to truly understand where we want to be when we’re older.”
“That’s a shame, I can’t stand politicians.” He replied with a smirk and it earned him a swift swat on the arm with her textbook, only encouraging more of a laugh from him.
“Funny, since you’re not a bad negotiator, yourself.” She countered.
“I fear I lack your fiery spirit for such a career path.” He said. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d give the ministry a run for their galleons.”
Briefly placated by that comment, they fell into a comfortable silence, which should have allowed Anakin more room to concentrate, but couldn’t based on how distracted he was over the Sebulba dilemma. He briefly considered informing the two prefects, who already had Sebulba on their radars.
Before he could, Obi-Wan already spoke up, “I wish I didn’t have Quidditch practice today.”
“At least that’s one thing we know you won’t be pursuing.” Satine retorted.
“I’d practice for you if I could.” Anakin offered lamely. It was raining pretty heavily outside, but his mentor’s lack of desire likely didn’t stem from inclimate weather. He never would understand why Obi-Wan continued to play if he didn’t share much enjoyment for playing the sport.
Obi-Wan smiled at him, “What? Don’t have a poly juice potion on hand?”
“What’s that?” He asked.
“It’s a potion that allows one to take on the appearance of another for a limited time.” He explained, “It takes a skilled witch or wizard to properly brew.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” Anakin felt a smile slowly fighting its way onto his face, but hid it by turning his head back down to the map of Jupiter on the table. Maybe he didn’t need to tell the prefects just yet about Sebulba’s indiscretions, because he intended on sorting them out himself.
***
Cody was rather good at remembering his friends’ prefect schedules, if he did say so himself. It was something he never really knew when it would come in handy, but it always did. For example, he hadn’t seen Obi-Wan much recently so to rectify such a tragedy to their friendship he went to find him when he knew he’d be patrolling. Such a fool proof plan was only toppled when instead of finding one friend he mistakenly found the other.
“Satine? I thought Kenobi was on patrol?” He swung around to match her strides as they walked through the castle halls.
“We swapped, surprise Quidditch practice,” Satine explained as she drew her wand to relight a fire that had flickered out, “Why is something the matter?”
“Nah it’s just, I haven’t seen him around much,” Cody told her slipping his hands in his pockets and shrugging, “I just thought I’d check in with him,” Satine smiled softly at him as she repocketed her wand.
“You’re really sweet for a jock you know,” She teased and he grinned.
“Oh I’m so hurt! To think my strong Quidditch exterior could be cracked so simply,” He put a dramatic hand over his heart and Satine laughed.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen Ben lately? His flair for the dramatic seems to be rubbing off on you,” Satine shoved him and he was barely off balance for a second before continuing to match her stride for stride. They were quiet for a few moments longer before Cody couldn’t stand it any longer.
“I had my meeting with the headmaster today,” He said and she looked over at him in interest.
“And how’d that go? Please don’t tell me you bored Headmaster Yoda with some Quidditch trivia instead of discussing your classes.”
“I only talked about Quidditch a little!” He defended, “To be fair that is what I want to do. Play professionally I mean.”
“I’d never have guessed,” She rolled her eyes as they rounded a corner, “Do you have a team you want to play for?” Satine inquired as she peaked in an empty classroom, likely checking for illicit activities. Cody felt his very soul light up at such a question.
“If I’m honest with you,” He admitted quietly, “I don’t much care for specifics. I just want to be on a team I can be proud of, you know? Lead ‘em to victory! Fives’ll want me for the Cannons of course, but they aren’t the best at, well, winning,” He shrugged, “I suppose I could help turn them around though.”
“If I’d expect anyone could it’s you,” Satine told him, which really did mean a lot even if he knew her knowledge of Quidditch teams was only what she’d heard from him and seen at school.
“Well, that’s me, what about you?” Cody prompted. He had to wait a minute for an answer though, because Satine spotted a piece of paper tucked under a statue. She tugged it out and frowned at it, “What is it?”
“A piece of an answer key,” Satine tucked it into her robe and they started walking in the direction of Professor Ti’s office as it was closest, “But you’re not supposed to know about that,” She seemed like she was reminding herself, but neither of them were convinced she meant it, “I wish I had as strong a plan as you, but all I know is I want to make the world a better place,” Cody whistled.
“A tall order if you ask me,” He grinned, “But if anyone could do it, it’d be you,” She bumped into his arm playfully.
“You know plagiarism is a crime! As a prefect I could turn you in,” She warned.
“Hey I rephrased it in my own words,” He complained, “You wouldn’t dare!”
“I wouldn’t,” She admitted as they rounded another corner.
“What do you think Kenobi’ll do?” Cody asked as they both stopped just outside of the transfiguration professor’s office.
“I’m... not sure,” Satine admitted, “Come to think of it he has been changing the subject when I bring it up,” A scowl slowly fell onto her face.
“Do you think he’s trying to get on the Wizengamot?” He hesitated in asking, if only because Satine seemed to be stewing over all her recent interactions with Kenobi. His question is never answered however, as the door opened revealing a rather surprised looking Professor Ti.
“Satine? Cody? Is everything alright?” She looked between them concerned, but her eyes turned rather sad as Satine pulled out the parchment she’d found.
“I’m afraid I’ve found another one, Professor.”
***
It was a cold weekend at Hogwarts, but it wasn’t cold enough to deter restless students from making the trip to hogsmeade. Satine herself had been among them, hoping to find a few new books. When she hadn’t seen Ben inside the small store with the looming stacks of books, frustration struck. He was likely trying to avoid her again. She was currently making her way through the flurries of snow towards the old inn which seemed itself to sink under the weight of the snow.
She pushed the sturdy door open and was greeted by a chorus of voices as students milled around between tables, warm frothy drinks held by cold hands. She greeted a few in passing after she waved away an offer for a seat, eyes skirting across the crowd.
“Kenobi’s in the back,” She turned and Cody was grinning at her with a knowing look. Satine ran a hand through her hair, dislodging a few watery snowflakes and tried to pretend that the warmth threatening her cheeks was from the roaring hearth.
“Thank you, Cody,” Satine said instead of babbling white lies like a little girl. He just smirked taking a sip of warm butterbeer, saving her from reflecting on such things. She made her way around tables to a quiet secluded corner where no one else seemed to tread. Possibly because the only occupant could get them detention if they were caught being particularly rowdy. Satine had no such qualms as she only paused a moment to admire how the sun drifted through his hair, painting his face in a soft light.
She slid into the seat across from him.
“Satine,” He greeted without so much as a glance away from the Arithmancy textbook in front of him. Satine rested her head on her hands and watched his eyes skim the text.
“Really, Ben, you came all the way to Hogsmeade, just to study?” Obi-Wan glanced up at her before placing his quill down.
“I’ve come for a butterbeer actually, but it would be troublesome to bring it all the way back to the common room,” Obi-wan gestured to the untouched drink sitting between them on the table.
“So it’s less troublesome to haul your textbooks all the way out here?” Satine picked up Obi-Wan’s drink and stole a sip, causing him to give her a very fake scowl.
“Hardly, I only brought one,” He reclaimed his drink from her and took a contemplative sip, “You didn’t just come here to keep me from my work,” He guessed, “So what is it that you’re seeking me out for?” Satine scoffed.
“What? I can’t come looking for my dear friend and fellow prefect?” She tucked a piece of parchment between the pages of his book before letting it fall closed, “You aren’t mistaken though, I know your appointment with the headmaster is coming up,” She said letting her arms fall onto the table and fixing him with a stare.
“It is,” Obi-Wan agreed simply, opening his book back up.
“Well?” Satine prodded, closing his book again with a little more force than was necessary, Obi-Wan wasn’t getting away from her that easily, “What are you planning to tell him?” He made a half-hearted attempt to open the book again, but she kept her fingers pressed on the cover, to prevent his escape. He huffed in mild frustration before leaning back in his seat.
“My father has recommended I go into Advanced Arithmancy, as well as, continuing my studies in wizarding history,” Obi-Wan stretched his arms over his head, and Satine took a moment to glance away, “I’ll be doing Apparition of course-”
“What about Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Satine pressed suddenly and Obi-Wan’s eyes were now looking anywhere but her.
“My father doesn’t think-” He started, but Satine threw her hands up.
“Ben, I didn’t ask you what your father thinks,” Frustration leaked into her words and Obi-Wan’s eyes glinted in automatic defense as he retaliated.
“Satine, you know my family is counting on me to uphold the Kenobi image. I can’t just do as I please,” Obi-Wan said stiffly, almost as if he was repeating something he’d heard time and time again. Satine took a deep breath, pushing past her frustration and constantly growing distaste for Obi-Wan’s family.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” She started and the tension seeped out of Obi-Wan cautiously, “It’s just,” She waved a hand around in the air as if it could help her gather her thoughts, “You’re naturally gifted in Transfiguration and I know you’re extremely interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts,” She didn’t say she knew this from how his eyes lit up or how he practically vibrated in excitement the first time they got to try a defensive spell for real, “Although you’ve gotten very good at Arithmancy, you’ve never held the same passion for it, and you constantly complain about all the parchment we go through writing for history.”
“Well yes, but I-” Obi-Wan tried, but Satine reached across the table again to place her hand on his briefly.
“I know your family is of status and wants you to follow in your father's footsteps,” She tried her best to say it without frowning, “But they can’t decide your future for you,” Obi-Wan, who had been staring at the hand she’d touched, slowly raised his gaze to meet hers.
“What you say is true,” He almost struggled to agree with her, before continuing cautiously, “I’m not sure how best to go about it, my father was very clear he didn’t want me pursuing Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Obi-Wan admitted and she shifted slightly grabbing his attention once more.
“Didn’t you tell me once or twice that you were interested on being an Auror? That’s still the case isn’t it?” Satine read him with searching eyes, and watched at the slight flinch that he hid too easily.
“Well I-” He tried, “But father is insistent that-”
“So case closed, you have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts then, or you’ll never be in the running at all,” Satine nodded to herself and sat back watching as Obi-Wan fought a mental battle with himself.
“Satine,” He complained, “You act as if it’s that simple,” She shrugged.
“Perhaps that’s because it can be,” They sat in silence for a few moments, Satine tried hard to look firm, or as firm as a 5th year prefect can look and Obi-Wan fought the urge to play with his quill.
“I suppose I could put in a request for a time-turner,” Obi-Wan considered out loud and Satine held up a hand immediately.
“If you do I will personally put in a request for you to be denied,” She argued, the ice returning to her words as he looked like he was about to retaliate, “You already have too much on your plate between Prefect duties, Quidditch practice, classwork, and your mentee. I will not allow you to take on more classes,” He looked away from her and she knew that meant that she’d just won.
“I suppose I could find a way to please father enough that perhaps he’ll overlook my blatant rebellion,” He conceded.
“Oh yes, perfect student, Obi-Wan Kenobi, is such a rebel,” Satine broke the tension between them, with a laugh hidden in her voice.
“Satine,” He chastised, but she could see the hint of a smile threatening to break onto his face.
“Oh no please, Mr. Prefect, do tell me about all of your rebellious ways, did you perchance get an A- on the last Arithmancy test?” She did laugh then and was joined by his quiet laughter a moment later. Worries about the future could perhaps be postponed until after they got back to Hogwarts.
***
“Okay, I think you’re missing the big idea!” Anakin insisted as he and Rex shuffled down one of the hidden tunnels to their History of Magic class. “It’s really not that complicated.”
“It’s incredibly complicated!” Rex insisted, throwing his hands up, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to brew a polyjuice potion?”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m quite good at potions!” Anakin insisted.
“Being good and being the professor’s favorite are two very different things, mate.” He said.
“Yeah, well, I’ll show you.” He wrinkled his nose. How dare Rex suggest that all of Anakin’s success came from being Palpatine’s favorite? Would he say the same about charms where Windu had a clear and obvious bias against Anakin? He still excelled there. Just because he couldn’t identify all of Jupiter’s moons did not make him any less of a wizard than say, Vizsla.
All he needed, believe it or not, was another book. This book, according to Professor Palpatine, could not be retrieved since it was in the Restricted Section, and would require teacher approval for a student to retrieve it. Seeing as Palpatine had already given Anakin a map he likely shouldn’t have, Anakin wasn’t going to ask for another favor of that level. Besides, he had his own ways of getting into the Restricted Section.
He carefully stepped over the space where he’d fallen through the floor on Halloween, even with the knowledge of it being sealed up, and walked over to the “M” section, finding “Moste Potente Potions” with considerable ease. This book, at least, didn’t shriek at him.
Knowing it would be unwise to take the book with him (Windu had eyes everywhere), he simply tore the page with the polyjuice potion recipe clean out of the book and placed it back. He paused, waiting for some magical retribution, but when none came, quickly bolted to the side and back into the path that was formerly disguised by a bookcase.
It turned out, Rex might have been onto something when he insisted that the potion was typically brewed by extremely advanced wizards, because the directions were far more complicated than any of the simple bubble juice potions they made so far.
One obstacle was the matter of obtaining some of the ingredients. The recipe called for a creative array of resources that Anakin didn’t fully understand what they were, let alone how he would obtain them. Determined not to give up on his grand plan, he got to thinking, and realized that everything he could ever need was neatly labeled in Palpatine’s closet of supplies.
It felt a little like chancing fate these days when he meandered the castle by ways of the tunnels, but he’d gotten so accustomed to exploring that he didn’t see any real use in stopping. He didn’t always use the map either.
He did take note that Dooku kept disappearing from school grounds. It certainly drew him to question what he and Palpatine had been talking about the night of the party. This time, however, Dooku wasn’t alone. He was with Windu.
He shook his head, trying to take Obi-Wan’s advice and be mindful of all possibilities. Besides, he was taking care of an entirely different problem anyway. If it concerned Padmé, it was obviously of higher importance.
Another thing, it would apparently take an entire month to properly brew the potion, which Anakin really did not have. Had he taken the time to read the rest of the book, he might have found a workaround, but as it was, he was committed to finding his own. For instance, if he merely used more ingredients, it would likely take less time to brew, right? That made sense to him at least.
***
Obi-Wan sighed as he closed yet another book before setting it on the completed stack with a little more force than necessary.
“I feel like we’re getting nowhere,” he said already feeling Qui-Gon’s questioning gaze before turning to see it, “We’ve looked through practically every book in the library and not a single one of them has mentioned the Zillo Beast.”
“I believe your mentee’s lack of patience is rubbing off on you,” Qui-Gon said with a glimmer of amusement shining in his eyes. Obi-Wan turned away from him to run his hands across his face in frustration.
“Well at the risk of sounding like Anakin, I thought we’d have found a lead by now,” He grumbled, reaching blindly for the next book, but feeling nothing except air.
“All in due time,” Qui-Gon hummed, “Something’s bound to show if we keep our minds open.”
“I’m out of books,” Obi-Wan told him, turning around, “Did you happen to grab any more?”
“Ah there you are, something to do that’s a little more exciting,” Qui-Gon teased as he pushed some parchment around on his desk until he found the one he was looking for, “You don’t mind running an errand for an old man do you?”
“You’re hardly old,” Obi-Wan stood and tried to snatch the list out of Qui-Gon’s hand, but he moved at the last second causing Obi-Wan to miss.
“Perhaps you’re the old man then. Your reflexes seem to be waning,” Obi-Wan snatched the parchment as he tried to move again with a smile.
“Perhaps you are getting a bit senile,” He read over the list as Qui-Gon laughed, “Moving into the charms section are we?”
“Well we have read nearly every book on potions ever written,” Qui-Gon smiled and Obi-Wan groaned, putting a hand to his temple.
“Please don’t remind me, I’m well aware,” Then he paused, “Are we moving into charms only because of Anakin’s suspicion?” He asked with a frown, but Qui-Gon shook his head.
“Charms is an exceedingly broad topic,” Qui-Gon explained, “If the poison was not brewed it may have been spelled. It’s worth investigating, Anakin’s claims or not.” Obi-Wan nodded and shortly thereafter found himself in the library.
It was quiet as it should be and Obi-Wan found the charms section easily. Spending so much time in the place he found it exceedingly easy to locate everything on the list. Qui-Gon once told him the library occasionally rearranged itself, but Obi-Wan had never witnessed it in all of his 5 years, perhaps it was wishful thinking, but he hoped it would stay the same until he graduated.
Bringing his quill to the parchment he rechecked his list, making tidy check marks along the left until he found cause to pause. A book was missing.
“Exceedingly Exceptional Charms, for Exceedingly Exceptional Wizards,” He whispered the title and looked around. It wasn’t in his stack, of that he was sure. He read through the books along the shelf, running a finger across the spines as he did so, but alas it wasn’t there.
He frowned, picking up his rather large stack of books and heading out to find Jocasta Nu. Madame Nu oversaw the library; she could be rather fierce to those who used the library for rather indecent activities, but for those who wished to learn there wasn’t another witch quite as bright. Though perhaps eventually, Obi-Wan figured, Satine’s own knowledge would rival hers.
“Madame Nu?” Obi-Wan asked quietly, setting down his stack of books as gently as he could, “Could I trouble you a minute,” She stood leaving the book she’d been looking at lying open on the table. Curiously, it seemed a page had been ripped out. Still despite any possible book vandalism crimes that she was investigating, she smiled when she saw it was him.
“Mr. Kenobi, of course. To what do I owe the pleasure,” Obi-Wan pulled the list out of his robe and handed it to her.
“Qui-Gon sent me for a few things, but I couldn’t find the last charms book, you wouldn’t perchance know where it’s gone off to?” He asked as her eyes skimmed the parchment. He really needn’t ask if she knew as she always did, but he’d hate to be impolite to the one witch who could easily bar him from one of his favorite places in the castle.
“Aren’t you lucky, Mr. Kenobi,” She smiled handing the parchment back to him and reaching to a stack of recently returned books, “Professor Windu just brought this one back a moment ago,” She handed it to him with a smile, but he suddenly felt a little cold. He pushed down the memory of Anakin’s accusations to try to remind himself that this was easily a coincidence. Professor Windu was just as welcome in the library as anyone.
“Professor Windu?” he asked, keeping his voice level as he nonchalantly cracked open the book. He let it fall open and the pages fluttered in the air before falling where the spine had been worn.
“Well he is a master at charms, that’s a rather advanced spellbook,” Madame Nu continued to speak, but his eyes had fallen on two words in the middle of a paragraph. Had he not been searching for those words for some time, he may not have even noticed it tucked in amongst very specific instructions for casting, but he did. His heart was hammering so loudly at the possible implications that he started when Madame Nu placed a withered hand on his, “Is everything alright? You look a little pale,” She looked concerned and he swallowed, trying to force the adrenaline to leave him as he did.
“I- Yes I’m quite alright, perhaps a little tired,” He carefully released his hold on the book to let it fall on top of the others. He had to get this to Qui-Gon as quickly as possible, “Thank you for your help Madame Nu,” She was still looking at him funny, but she allowed her lips to twitch back up.
“Of course dear, anytime.”
***
The door to his office banged open with so much force he actually dropped the porcelain tea cup he’d just been about to fill. Obi-Wan was standing in the doorway panting like he’d run a marathon, one hair out of place (which for him may as well have been total disarray), and holding a stack of books that he quickly let fall to the floor.
“What happened?” Qui-Gon straightened, tea long forgotten as he made his way across the room. Obi-Wan just breathlessly thrust a book at him with so much force that he took it immediately even though he’d much rather have placed a hand on the student’s shoulder.
“Open the book,” He managed between breaths, “Page 52,” And Qui-Gon did as he was told, in fact the book fell open to that page anyways, as if someone had quite liked this particular spell. He was skimming the page too fast however, in his eagerness to finish so he could see what had Obi-Wan in such a state, he had to start over and look slower. When he found it, he looked up sharply. Obi-Wan had swept a hand through his hair bringing it back to its usual state and he was looking at Qui-Gon intensely, “The last person who had that book was Professor Windu,” He was sounding much less winded, much to Qui-Gon’s relief, but this was troubling information.
“I see,” Qui-Gon frowned, “And you came across this information how?” He thumbed through the pages eyes searching.
“It wasn’t on the shelf,” Obi-Wan explained as he bent down to correct the other books he’d dragged along in his mad dash. They’d fallen over when he dropped them, “I asked Madame Nu,” Qui-Gon nodded and silently let the book fall closed once more.
“We cannot discount a possible lead,” Qui-Gon admitted gravely, “Though I can’t much imagine Mace to have done such a thing, I will have a look into things.”
“I can help!” Obi-Wan told him eagerly and although such a sight made him smile he still shook his head.
“In this matter it’s best I take a look myself,” Qui-Gon warned, “Although you’re welcome to join me in reading through the rest of these,” He gestured to the stack of texts and Obi-Wan looked at the books with a barely noticeable look of disdain and Qui-Gon couldn’t help, but tease, “I never thought you’d be one to tire of books, considering you may as well be a walking one,”
That broke any tension left in the room and Obi-Wan crossed his arms.
“There’s nothing I love more than reading,” Obi-Wan told him defiantly and Qui-Gon quirked an eyebrow, “I could never truly tire of it.”
“Nothing you say,” Qui-Gon contemplated, “Not a single thing, a single soul could top flipping through some decaying parchment?” He watched Obi-Wan with a playful smile and the boy just scrubbed a hand across his face.
“And you complain of me taking things much too seriously,” He complained with a yawn. Qui-Gon looked over his shoulder to the clock ticking on the mantle, the minute hand was broken always pointing towards six, but the hour hand was resting proudly on the 10 and he frowned.
“You keep staying here much too late,” He lectured, “Really now you’re making me look like a terrible influence.”
“Maybe you are?” He suggested and ducked as Qui-Gon lightly swatted the air over his head.
“Such preposterous accusations!” He shook his head, but smiled. It was near impossible to be mad at Obi-Wan, even if he ever wanted to be. There were those who would be though; mad at the bright young boy whose eyes were glimmering in amusement as he lightly knocked Qui-Gon’s hand away. Qui-Gon would never understand such a stance.
He watched as Obi-Wan waved good night. He watched him round the corner away from his office and still Qui-Gon took another moment to smile after him. The book weighing down his hand brought him back to the matter at hand eventually and he flipped it open once more.
The charm discussing such a rare ingredient as Zillo Beast blood, wasn’t enough to damn Mace, but it did the man no favors having had such a thing in his possession. Still Qui-Gon believed in giving others a chance, something that seemed to have rubbed off on his other favorite student he considered with a smile, or perhaps she had rubbed off on him. He let the book fall to his side again, he would have plenty of time to pursue his investigation come morning.
***
Despite the strength of her convictions, Satine was understandably nervous for Saturday. Obi-Wan could practically sense her anxieties rolling off of her in waves. Unlike him when he was stressed, she tended to over-talk, as if she was meaning to sort her way through the feelings with words. Obi-Wan found that if he ever did that, he would surely say the wrong thing.
“Hey,” He placed a hand on her shoulder as they were leaving to exit the common room, “It’s going to be okay. Take a deep breath.”
She inhaled and exhaled, forcing herself to relax at least a little bit before nodding at him, “I just fear that it won’t be enough.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” He said and gave her shoulder a squeeze, “Besides, if anyone can make it happen, it’s you. You just need a little support.”
A lot of support, but Obi-Wan wasn’t going to make the mistake of saying that.
“Hopefully, they appreciate my ideas.”
“I know I do.” He smirked, “Even when you rattle them off unsolicited.”
She smiled a little at that and nodded again, but this time with the assurance and confidence that he admired about her. She steered her chin up and her head high before pushing open the doors and descending down the stairs. He followed closely behind, silently hoping that there would be a turnout for this thing. While he honestly did not want to see the beast perish, he also didn’t want to see Satine’s heart crushed over it either.
When they entered classroom 77B, he was flooded with instant relief at the surprising sight of a massive mob of children from various houses and age groups. They all seemed quite passionate about it too, even if this was an extra meeting to tend to on a Saturday.
“I can’t believe this.” She beamed at him and really, he couldn’t help but smile too.
Cody quickly trotted forward to meet them, looking strangely nervous. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure if the classroom could or should hold this many overzealous students, but he figured at worst that meant they’d have to relocate. Satine was brimming with pride and excitement and Obi-Wan felt an upswing in confidence too. Maybe this actually would work. A protest required masses and the classroom was essentially filled to the brim.
“Do you see all of these people?” Satine marveled, “And they’re all here for the beast?”
“Oh, they’re here about the beast alright.” Cody winced as he yanked a sign from one of the second year’s hands.
Satine and Obi-Wan hovered over Cody’s shoulder, reading what he’d just absconded and any of the hope and relief that he’d previously felt evaporated into cold dread.
It was one of the many posters he and Satine had designed to advertise the occasion. However, it looked very very different with a key change in detail. Where it used to say “Save the Beast”, a gruesome red line was drawn through the letters and underneath, written in jagged text, the word “Kill” was capitalized in a way that was clearly made to look like it was carved with blood.
Upon closer inspection, waving swords (whether real or not was debatable) did seem like a counterintuitive prop for a peaceful protest.
As he took a second glance around the room, Obi-Wan noted, with horror, that everyone was shouting a chant about taking down the “murderous” beast themselves and sinking their teeth into it before it could try and take one of their own. Some were being horribly crude about it and even reenacting what such an action would look like. In the crowd, Obi-Wan noticed that some of his Quidditch mates were amongst the rally.
“Eeth, what are you doing here?” He asked, “You can’t seriously mean to join part in… In a mob?”
“You weren’t stowed away with Slytherin waiting for a day that may never come, Obi-Wan.” He said severely, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
He turned to look back at Satine, who essentially had all the color drained from her face. Her fists were clenched tightly, the one sinking her nails into the posterboard.
“KILL THE BEAST! KILL THE BEAST! KILL THE BEAST!” People chanted and clapped in excitement as none other than Asajj Ventress took front and center stage, leaning casually against a teacher’s desk.
“What’s wrong, Duchess?” She taunted, “Not like the creative liberties I took with your signs?”
“You-” Satine growled, taking on tones of disdain he hadn’t even seen from her before. “How could you?”
“I’m securing our home.” She spat, “Unlike you, who wants to lead a pity party for a bloodthirsty evil creature.”
“The only evil creature I know of is right in front of me.” She said and began to stalk forward, but Obi-Wan and Cody stepped in front of her to prevent the two from getting any closer.
“Ventress, why not go ahead and make your own posters for your own meeting?” He frowned, “Did you have to go ahead and ruin someone else’s?”
Ventress turned her attention to Obi-Wan, “I wouldn’t say ruin. I’d say… Enhanced.”
“Cruelty for the sake of it never enhances anything.” He said.
“Come now, Kenobi, you of all people should be on my side in this.”
“Ben would never support you.” Satine countered.
“It’s cute that you think that.” She winked and then shrugged, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a meeting to run and a beast to slay. And I don’t believe the three of you are welcome here any longer.”
“We don’t want to be here anyway.” Cody rebutted and before turning on his heels, he gently pulled Satine by the arm. Obi-Wan shook his head disapprovingly at Ventress as he followed.
“We’ll be sure to invite you to the funeral, though, Duchess!” She cackled.
***
Satine made it her personal mission to rip down every single poster that was ever laid across Hogwarts. It seemed Ventress had gotten a bit creative with some of them, choosing to offer a “merciful” option of enslaving the beast as opposed to curtly murdering it. She felt tears stinging her eyes, but refused to cry for such a thing. All hope wasn’t lost, even if it felt as much.
Obi-Wan and Cody tried to help her, but she was much too cross for their kind and quiet support. Well, Obi-Wan had been quiet. Cody… Was a ranter and while she often appreciated both of her friends in their own ways, she just needed to be alone for a while.
“Excuse me?” A quiet voice said from behind her.
“If you’re looking for the murder meeting, check in with Ventress. She’s taking over for the Grim Reaper.”
“Um, no, I was going to ask if you had designed the original poster?”
Satine turned to a thin, short girl with wide and sympathetic eyes that matched her hair color in their deep brown. Said hair was maneuvered in a peculiar fashion, interwoven with what appeared to be several glittering butterflies in the back. If she weren’t so down, Satine might question how she managed it, seeing as her hair was curled so pristinely. She did still note that the wings on the butterflies were enchanted to flutter.
“Oh… Yes.” She said.
“Well, I was wondering if you were still taking inquiries.” She smiled gently.
“You want to save the beast?” Satine clarified, just to be sure she was understanding.
“Of course!” She insisted with an eager nod, “I- Well, it’s not its fault what happened. We talked about it in class today and it’s obvious that it was just a pawn.”
She looked no older than 12, but held a lot of kindness and intelligence behind her gaze, which seemed desperately intent on appeasing Satine.
Satine smiled, “I am most definitely still looking for activists, if you’re up to the challenge.”
“Brilliant.” She nodded, “I’ll tell some of my friends. I know they would be interested too. It’s not a lot, but my parents always told me to do what I believe is right… No matter how hard.”
Satine’s resolve started to build again. It wasn’t the mob of people she’d initially believed would be on her side, but rebellions often started from a small group of visionaries discussing ideas. She knew that with some work… That could be them.
“I’m Satine.” She stuck out her hand.
“I’m Padmé.” The girl smiled and took it.
***
Rex wasn’t sure what to think when Anakin asked that he meet him in the Gryffindor locker room on a Sunday morning. Nobody was holding practice that day and he doubted that based on Anakin’s success in the sport, that he was requesting any tips. However, his answers of why he was roused by a pesky owl pecking on his head were quickly answered when he rounded the rows of lockers to see Anakin standing proudly in front of a small copper cauldron, hands on his hips and beaming at Rex.
“That’s not what I think it is..” Rex said slowly.
“You said it required a skilled wizard so I went and got one.” He boasted with crossed arms, clearly waiting for Rex to ask who he’d managed to retrieve. That being said, upon closer inspection, the potion didn’t look quite right. Rex had never seen one up close, but assumed that it didn’t normally foam and spill over like a baking soda volcano.
“You made this, didn’t you?” He asked instead and Anakin faltered only a little bit, before steering himself straight.
“It just needs the final ingredient: a piece of DNA from the person in question.” He pulled a little pink plastic brush out of his back pocket and waved it around, “Behold! The finishing touch!”
Rex grimaced, “Do I want to know how you managed that?”
“I don’t know why you doubt me.” Anakin smiled. “This is going to work.”
Rex couldn’t deny wanting it to work, if only to see Sebulba learn his lesson. The previous year, he’d nearly killed Fives in a friendly match between the backups. It wasn’t even an official match by the school and the very reason that practice required a professor’s supervision.
Plus, he really couldn’t be going around acting sleazy towards any and every girl he feels fit.
Even if he wasn’t on board, Anakin certainly wasn’t going to let that stop him. He didn’t even allow Rex to come close to the potion and watched as a large black bubble popped and spilled some gunk onto the tiled floor.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Rex winced as he noticed the little splotch of goo burned a small hole in the ground.
“The book said it was supposed to be sorta muddy.” Anakin frowned, “I took a few shortcuts of course, for the sake of timing.”
“You what?” Rex barked, “You could blow the place!”
“I almost did.” He said, “Don’t go into the boys room near the potions classroom, by the way.”
“And you intend on drinking that?” He asked, “You’re braver than I thought.”
Anakin smirked and scooped up a cup of the murky fluid as it seemed to calm down. He inspected it, noting that it no longer seemed to burn through whatever it touched and took that as a good sign. It still didn’t look quite right to Rex.
“Should it be… Wiggling?” He asked.
“Probably just the leeches.” Anakin said casually.
He shivered, glad that he didn’t have to ingest anything like that.
“Do you have any sugar?” He asked after a long moment.
“Sugar?” Rex frowned, “Is that supposed to go in?”
“No, but my mum gives me a spoon of sugar when I take medicine for when I’m sick.” He said. “It helps.”
Still, he didn’t hesitate any longer before downing the cup and wrinkled his entire face in concentration on not throwing up. A gurgling sound came from his stomach as it slowly coursed through his system and for a moment, was perfectly still. Anakin looked at Rex and then at his hands and torso, trying to see if there were any notable changes.
“Huh… Maybe I shouldn’t have doubled up on Boomslang skin when brew-” But then, he was promptly cut off by a violent shaking that seemed to distort his bones and later reflecting in violently warping the skin around it. He shot up in height a couple of inches, long brown hair erupted from his head, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head and when they shifted around, were brown instead of blue. All at once, he shifted horrifically before Rex’s eyes into a cartoon character that finally popped into place.
“Well?” He finally asked after all the sudden movements stopped and the room seemed to still.
“Well, you sound like a girl.” Rex said.
“My voice hasn’t changed!” He whined. “I was asking how I looked. Did it work?”
“Uh…” Rex looked at the Padmé clone in front of him trying to detect any discrepancies aside from the boy’s uniform that was a bit too small on her in height. “Pretty? I guess?”
“Perfect!” He said, though the voice was obviously still Anakin.
“I just don’t see how telling Kenobi wouldn’t be a more valuable solution. He managed to thwart Krell and he’s way worse than Sebulba.”
“You should have seen how tense he was about his meeting with the Headmaster.” Anakin said, “I’d hate to put this on him too.”
“Plus, I think you just want to impress Padmé.” Rex suggested.
“This has nothing- well, it doesn’t have everything to do with her.” He immediately corrected himself, “I’d prefer she didn’t find out about this stunt, actually.”
“That’s going to be difficult if another version of herself is wandering about the castle.” He pointed out.
“That’s where you come in.” Even looking like Padmé, it was difficult to mistake Anakin’s mischievous grin and Rex knew that despite not being the one completely changed into a whole other person, that he would not get off scot free.
***
To say that Sebulba didn’t look absolutely elated that Padmé finally accepted his “offer” for a date would have been a bold faced lie. Though the long-snouted Dug tried very hard to keep up appearances of toughness and disinterest, there was little room for denial that he was at least smug over the prospect.
They had a picnic, away from prying eyes, at “Padmé’s” (Anakin’s) insistence and while it was proving difficult not to gag at being in Sebulba’s very presence, he was trying to manage for the sake of the mission. Feigning enthusiasm and happiness as the long and wiry arm wrapped around his shoulders definitely made him feel sick, but he fought through it, not really considering what would happen if Sebulba tried to kiss “Padmé”. From the corner of his eyes, Anakin peered at those crooked little teeth and long tongue in horror.
“So, what did you make for us this lovely afternoon?” He asked as they headed out to the greenhouse, which was essentially the only way anyone could have the pleasant illusion of being outside in the dead of winter. When herbology classes weren’t in session, Professor Plo Koon saw to it that it resembled a lovely spring day at all times within the tents and encouraged all students to hang out and relax or study.
If this were a real date, it wouldn’t be a bad location at all. Then again, Anakin really never expected his first date would be with Sebulba. He really didn’t think he’d be dressed as a girl either, but these were all just details and as far as he was considered, practice for what not to do on the real thing.
“Oh, just some of my favorites.” He said with what he hoped was a convincing little giggle. “I just felt so sorry for how I treated you the other day.”
“All is forgiven.” He waggled what Anakin assumed were eyebrows, “Besides, I’m sure you could make it up to me.”
“Don’t vomit, don’t vomit, don’t vomit.”
“I just… Don’t know how to express my feelings all the time.” Anakin said, “But around you… I feel like I can be myself.”
“I wouldn’t want anybody else.” He grinned ferociously and kissed (more like licked) Anakin’s hand, which he immediately tensed at. Was this the kind of thing she had to endure on the regular? He should have jumped in sooner.
“Good,” He forced a smile and took his hand back, “Because I really hope you like sardine sandwiches. They’re my favorite.”
“Oh?” He leaned back and looked inside the now open-picnic basket, “I- I’ve never had them.”
“You’re really missing out.” Anakin said as he took a big, obnoxious bite and began chewing with his mouth wide open in a way that would make his mother gasp in embarrassment. It was disgusting and took a great deal of work to not act appalled at the flavor, but the look on his date’s face was well worth it. He was sure to slosh it all around too, “Extra garlic and onions.”
Sebulba swallowed, craning his hunched figure over the basket to see if there was anything more edible inside, “And dessert?”
“Well,” Anakin grinned, showing a face full of food, “I was hoping you’d ask! Because I made a pie!”
“A pie! Excellent.” Sebulba said and removed it from the basket, “I might just skip lunch and go straight for dessert. It would not be the first time.”
Though when he (rudely) took a bite straight from the dish, he drew back and spit on himself in disgust, “What’s in this?”
“Oh, I used real jellyfish jelly.” He said, “To be authentic. What? You don’t like it.”
He shook his head and wiped his mouth, “No matter, you’ll learn to cook my favorites when we become betrothed.”
“... Right.” He said, cursing himself for believing it might actually be that easy. No matter… He hoped Rex was able to keep the “real” Padmé busy for long enough.
***
Padmé was stressed. She wasn’t sure how she’d managed being locked in a broom closet with the youngest member of the Fett family, but here she was, late for a lunch. She and Satine were supposed to discuss the sit-down protest they were planning in regards to the Zillo Beast. She’d managed to draw her friends Sabé, Yané, Eirtaé, Saché, and Rabé to join in and was really looking forward to meeting who Satine recruited. That being said, she was presently trying not to appear annoyed with the younger student. It wasn’t his fault they were trapped.
All he’d wanted was assistance on moving a cart out. He said he was helping Professor Qui-Gon retrieve some books and couldn’t move it. Before she knew it, they were locked inside by accident.
“Are you sure it’s locked?” She asked for the third time.
“I’m sure.” He muttered, dejected. “I’m very sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, “Someone will find us.”
Still, Rex didn’t seem very calmed by that.
***
“So, you’re meaning to tell me that you learn all those hairstyles by… Practicing on your armpit hair?” Sebulba cringed.
“Why, of course!” Anakin boasted, “At this rate, I’ve got even more than my father, but I’ve practiced on his back hair too. My mother’s too!”
“Your mother has back hair?”
“I hope I will too one day.” He said, “It’s extremely genetic.”
That seemed to deter him slightly more than when he managed to convince him that Padmé spent most of her days building model castles out of her toenail clippings, which he actually found quite humorous, since he did a similar thing. It was actually difficult for Anakin to continue finding more “deal-breaking” reasons for Sebulba to reject Padmé. After all, Sebulba looked like a big grasshopper. He wasn’t a looker by any means unless it was a “look the other way”.
“Charming.” He said, “I suppose when you’re rich you can have any sorts of hobbies though.”
Padmé was rich? Anakin didn’t know that, but he played with it.
“Rich? Oh, no.” He scoffed, “That’s all for show.”
Sebulba straightened his back fully, possibly for the first time in his entire life, in absolute shock, “What?”
Anakin resisted another smile, “Yeah, we’re actually pretty broke. My dad slums it as a dentist on the side to make extra money.”
“A what?”
“He works with muggles!” Anakin laid it on thick, “Works on their mouths and makes their teeth polished and pretty. He’s practically their servant.”
“Codswallop! You’re practically royalty!” He snapped, “You’ve- You’ve got old money. Money that I will have.”
It was good to know his intentions were pure.
He shook his head, trying to catalogue these comments for later questioning should the moment arise, “If by old, you mean the people that actually had it were old, sure, but I’ll never see a pound of that.”
Sebulba hopped to his feet, eyes burning with fury, “You’re meaning to tell me I wasted the past two years on you for nothing?”
Well, that was an interesting way to phrase the narrative, but Anakin didn’t question it.
“Sebulba, sweetie, what’s wrong?” He asked, beckoning him back to the picnic blanket.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong,” He seethed turning to pace and distance himself from who he believed was Padmé, “I thought you were special. It turns out, you’re no better than some filthy mudblood!”
“I thought you liked me for me!” Anakin pleaded.
“Who would ever like you?” He scowled.
Anakin was nearly celebrating when he realized something within him was stirring madly and his legs felt awfully tingly. He glanced down and realized he was already shrinking back to regular size.
Panicked, he knew he had to wrap this up and seal the deal.
“But Sebulba!” He protested, feeling the hair in his head shrinking and not liking what was going on in his digestive tract, “I love you!”
“Of course you do!” He said and turned, eyes blowing wider than Anakin thought was possible “Bloody hell! Why are there leeches crawling all over you?”
Sure enough, when he raised a hand, there were three leeches on each hand and going up his arms, which were a strange shade of purple that didn’t bode well for Anakin.
“This is a beauty regime!” He lied, keeping his voice as calm as possible. “And it could be yours too when we have kids.”
“Kids?” Sebulba shrieked. “With your back hair? Bathing once a week? Constant farting and burping? Collection of feet photographs? I would never ever marry you.”
“Never say never!” Anakin stood to his feet, ready to run as far as his now shaking legs could carry him as soon as Sebulba made the first move. “What happened to taking what you want?”
“And I’m taking my leave. Now.” He shoved “her” to the side, hard enough where it was definitely angering that he would ever lay his hands on any version of Padmé like this. He turned on his heels and Anakin had to duck, realizing his own nose was appearing on his face much sooner than he would like.
“The rest of the school will know how you really are. See how people really feel when they find out you collect vases of your own urine.”
“I’ve collected some of yours too!” He said as Sebulba raced out of the room.
When Anakin stood and looked more like himself, but purple, covered in blood-sucking leeches, and very sick to his stomach, all while wearing a skirt, he still felt proud for what he’d done.
That being said, he would never rush a potion again if it meant not spending an entire night puking and with diarrhea that was literally on fire. Especially since it only lasted an hour.
***
The quiet of the Ravenclaw common room was only broken by the frantic beating of wings as Satine’s owl hauled a rather massive bundle of parchment. The thump as it hit the table was enough to cause Ben to startle, dropping the text book he’d been staring at into his lap.
“What’s all this about?” He huffed, but Satine just turned the page in the massive law book on the table. She laid a finger on the paragraph that she wanted to reference before finally turning to look at him.
“I requested the case details from the ministry,” she explained, reaching for her quill, “It’s been quite awhile since I initially asked, but I suppose pestering them enough has done the job,” She gave him a wry smile, “I suppose letters do have their uses, wouldn’t you say Ben?” He shook his head, but had a wide smile giving himself away.
“They probably didn’t have the files ready when you requested them,” He said and before she could argue the unlikeliness of such a statement he reached towards the stack, his hand pausing right before the bit of twine knotted around it, “Do you mind if I take a look?”
“You’ve pledged yourself to the cause, so I suppose,” She fake contemplated before moving her hand to copy from her book.
The room went back to the quiet: a crackling fire, the turning of pages, even the conversations between a few groups of students seemed to fade into the background. She carefully printed a few pieces of law she thought would be useful to their cause. There was so little information on the creature that she was practically building the case from the ground up. She was treating it like any case for a magical creature, but still pulling any information she could get out of any professor or ghost who was unfortunate enough to look in her direction.
“Ben do you think-?” She’d meant to ask if she should perhaps, use a clause about creatures and home invasion, but he was frowning at the documents. That alone wouldn’t have given her much pause, but it was the way his breath was caught and how his shoulders were tensed. Had he not still been reading, his hands would be trembling.
“What’s the matter?” She asked, attempting to view the papers from over his shoulder, but she didn’t get much of a sentence read before he angled it away from her, “Ben-“ she went to complain, but then stopped. The look in his eyes was unreadable so she just sat, leaning a little too close to him and waited.
He skimmed the first page about a dozen times, though she knew he didn’t need to, before he flipped quickly to what almost seemed like a random page. He skimmed over that a few times as well, before Satine could not take the silence anymore.
“Ben,” At her call he let the top pages fall back in place and wordlessly handed the papers to her. She searched the page for anything that would clue her in, but nothing jumped out at her. From the research they’d done it seemed like an average case file, as if he could read her mind without even glancing in her direction, he ran his palms across his slacks and answered her unasked question.
“My father will be attending the trial,” He told her and she went right back to skimming the page, but a Kenobi was not listed.
“How do you know?” She held the page out to him and he pointed rather quickly at a line towards the top, ‘The Wizengamot has taken over the case from the Department of Magical Creatures’.
“I can’t put my name on our case,” He told her, looking rather wary of her reaction and she did feel a burst of anger flare up, but she tried to stomp it down.
“Are you to leave us?” She asked setting the files down overtop her law book, “Answer me honestly, Ben, I can’t have you laying our case open for the opposition to see.”
“I would never betray your trust,” He looked taken aback.
“Not even if your father caught wind of what we’re doing?” She asked him. Her skin practically felt like it was buzzing. If their case reached the wrong ears at the wrong time they would surely lose.
“If I don’t sign anything, I’ll have plausible deniability,” He spoke slowly.
“Are we even sure how he’ll side?” Because truthfully she was assuming his stance without much evidence except for having met the man.
“Considering many of his past cases into such things, I’d say he’ll side with killing the beast,” Ben looked a little uncomfortable admitting it. They lapsed back into silence before nervously he turned to look at her, “I’m surprised you aren’t angry with me,” Satine looked at him. He was so damned earnest and it frustrated her more than anything.
“I’m going to need signatures,” She said in lieu of getting lost in his eyes, “And it’s rather frustrating that I cannot count on you in that regard,” She admitted and he tried very hard not to look hurt, “It sounds as though you do intend to continue aiding where you can-“
“I will.”
“Then I will have to take what you can allow yourself to give to me,” She felt tired as she looked down at her notes, practically filling a particularly long piece of parchment, “I can’t do it all on my own, not in such a short time frame,” She admitted, “Padmé’s been a massive help as well, but after the stunt pulled by Ventress... I don’t have many people who are on my side,” Ben leaned towards her, putting a hesitant hand on top of hers, which caught her by such surprise that she barely remembered to look back at his face.
“I will do all I can,” He vowed before moving his hand as if she’d suddenly lit it on fire, “In fact let me start with this,” He took back the large stack and replaced his long forgotten textbook with it.
“Weren’t you working on something?” She questioned and he shook his head.
“Nothing I won’t have time for later,” He told her and she placed a hand on top of the words, blocking his attempt to read.
“I appreciate your help, but you don’t need to drop everything to help me right this moment,” She reminded him, but he stubbornly pried her fingers off the page and scooted a little farther away.
“Perhaps I don’t need too, but I’m doing so,” He flipped a page and Satine rolled her eyes so hard they practically stuck inside her head.
“You’re absolutely insufferable,” She poked him with her socked foot, but they both knew it was a lie. She couldn’t help watching him a moment longer as he got engrossed in the words. She was still frustrated, but it was hard to blame him when the fault really laid upon others.
***
Since there were witnesses that rescued Rex and Padmé from their strife of being locked in a broom closet, nobody actually believed the absurdities that Sebulba began to spread around school with feverish anger. He’d made a big show of it in the Great Hall, which earned him detention by Satine for an attempt of defamation of character of another student.
“You still look a little off-colored.” Rex commented when Anakin hesitantly sat down for lunch. “How are you feeling?”
“Puked up the last of the polyjuice potion.” He grimaced, “Luckily, Madame Nema didn’t test me for anything and everything that came up went straight down the toilet. Thanks for dragging me to the hospital wing, by the way.”
“You’re really lucky she didn’t question why you were wearing a skirt.”
Anakin shrugged, “It’s nice to know she’s progressive.”
“Most of the professors around here would be.” Rex said confidently, “It’d be stupid not to.”
From across the room, Sebulba quietly sat with his friends without so much as looking up at Padmé or at anyone, who were all still staring at him like he was crazy to lash out so belligerently about a girl who had very openly rejected him. It seemed the most unbelievable of all his claims was that she would ever entertain a date with him.
“I guess all Sebulba needed was a little public humiliation to humble him out.” Rex nodded, “I’ll admit, it was a pretty good plan. I’m just surprised you never plan on telling her what you did.”
“True,” Anakin no longer felt quite so ill when he gazed at Padmé, who from down the table, laughed with her friends, who playfully asked if she had a stack of photographs that she was hiding from them based on Sebulba’s claims. “But look how happy she looks.”
Rex shrugged, “I still find it odd that you didn’t use the tunnels.”
“Didn’t I?” Anakin winked.
The next day, Sebulba’s bunk had mysteriously transformed into something of a portable swamp- immediately dousing the Dug with mud and gunk as he fell onto the surface of his mattress. He’d had to force Ody and Groff to yank him through the sludge, but the two were reportedly of very little assistance as the prefects had to rescue him. Anakin almost wished he was a Slytherin to see his own handiwork.
Maybe he should have let it go, but he couldn’t resist showing off just a little bit.
***
“How’d it go?” Satine asked Obi-Wan as he returned from assisting the Slytherin prefects with interviewing the entirety of the Slytherin boys’ dormitory. She hadn’t told him she’d wait for him in the library, but he’d rightfully assumed as such and took his seat across from her. With her upcoming Zillo Beast protest on the horizon, she wanted as much in her arsenal of information as possible.
“No suspects.” He said simply.
She leaned on her forearms, “But you’ve still got a theory.”
As was becoming the norm for him lately, he looked quite tired, but the slow smile that took center stage gave life to his features.
“Am I that transparent?” He asked.
“That’s hardly doing justice to the five years I’ve spent learning to decode you.” She retorted.
“As if you ever struggled that hard.” He said.
Actually, she struggled significantly when it came to reading certain aspects of his demeanor. It wasn’t as though he walked around with his feelings on his sleeve. On top of that, Satine was not always sure what she’d hope to find in those enigmatic blue-grey eyes of his. It was a relief that he believed she read him easily, because that meant she wasn’t as obvious as she feared.
“We could discuss my reading aptitude til the day is done or we could talk about what you really believed happened to Sebulba’s bunk.”
“Truly a model prefect.” His smile broadened, but he continued, “Anyway, no one claimed to notice anything strange about their dormitory, but Sebulba returned at mid-afternoon.”
“So most students weren’t hanging about in bed.” Satine finished.
“No one was in the room, even by Sebulba’s account. Every student in Slytherin’s dorm- even the girls- had what I believe were sound alibis.”
“And were those alibis researched?” She asked.
“We’re still waiting on a few confirmations, but thus far, air-tight.” He folded his hands neatly as though they were in the midst of a business negotiation. It should have been bad news, but she could tell something was brimming on the surface that he was excited to tell her. His back had straightened and it was tough to deny that he’d essentially lit up while talking in this sort of manner. A small part of her acknowledged appreciation at the change.
“Even Hondo’s?” She quirked a brow, because she still had to ask, “This sort of prank sounds just like something he would sell.”
“Hondo was in detention.” Obi-Wan said, “I even confirmed with Professor Dooku, myself. If you were curious, he’s very heartbroken to not have thought of this in the first place. Though I’m sure he would appreciate your thinking of him.”
She wrinkled her nose at the thought, “Tell him that and I’ll mention to Qui-Gon that it was you who busted his Remembrall during third year.”
His eyebrows comically shot to his hairline in affront, “You wouldn’t!”
“Are you as good at reading me as I am you?” She challenged with a smirk, knowing he could very well see that she was serious. Satine wasn’t one for violence, but that didn’t mean she was one to be underestimated.
“Right,” He cleared his throat, “We even consulted the walls of which Slytherins must present the passwords to enter and they confirmed that nobody returned before Sebulba came back and that Sebulba had been the last one out.”
Satine frowned, “So if it wasn’t any of his peers… Then who?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Obi-Wan stroked his bare chin in a way that was a direct emulation of Qui-Gon, but she chose not to comment on it.
“So, it wasn’t someone from Slytherin house.” She concluded. “Meaning someone snuck in.”
Clearly, she’d arrived at Obi-Wan's point, because he seemed to glow even brighter beneath the dim torch dangling above them. While she normally didn’t love being behind him, she hadn’t seen him this lively all month.
“And I do believe there is another ongoing investigation involving sneaking around.” He said casually.
“The tests.” She said, even though she’d already drawn that conclusion. “Our cheater is expanding their horizons.”
“It looks that way.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, “But why?”
“This was a very specific attack.” Satine said, “Unlike the test papers, there must be a motive. Trouble is, Sebulba harassed many a student during his time here.”
“And it effectively removes Sebulba from our previous suspect’s list.” He added.
She nodded, gaining momentum in their theorizing, the energy around them bubbling like a chemical reaction, “Yes, unfortunately, unless Sebulba did this to himself.”
“I briefly considered that,” Obi-Wan said, “It would be an exceptional way to edge himself out of the troublesome spotlight, but I can’t imagine that he would purposely endure that much public humiliation just to get out of speculated trouble.”
“Nor do I believe him that smart.” She snorted.
“That too.” He agreed. “It’s too elaborate to assume that all of this was to simply remove him from the equation.”
“We didn’t even have any definitive proof it was him before.” She said, “So, he would have no reason to believe we were onto him.”
“The only thing that drew us to Slytherin house was that any students that were caught purchasing the test papers claimed they got them off of a Slytherin boy.” Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, “But instead of pinpointing Slytherin-”
“-That nullifies their possible involvement.” She completed the statement and the two of them stared at each other with wide eyes.
“A Slytherin certainly wouldn’t need to use some external method to get inside their own common room.” He said, still unmoving from the gaze that seemed to shoot straight through her soul. She didn’t complain, of course, even as sparks of heat pricked at her ears. While this year seemed unpredictable even by Hogwarts’ standards, there was something so fulfilling about piecing together the truth and seeing that success reflected in her best friend’s eyes.
“But how did they know the room would be empty?” She asked aloud, even while knowing neither would have the answer to such a question just yet. “They would have to be absolutely certain they’d go unnoticed in performing such a spell.”
“It’s not like the dorms are guaranteed to be empty.” Obi-Wan continued right where she left off without hesitation or necessary communication on where she was going with this. “And how did they get in?”
“That’s the same question we’ve been asking ourselves since November.” She said, “But Hogwarts is a conglomerate of mystery. Anakin was able to stumble upon the Zillo Beast chamber completely by accident. Who knows what other tunnels exist?”
“That’s a damn good point.” He said thoughtfully, “And do they stretch through the entire school?”
It should have been troubling, to have so many more questions than answers, particularly when it was beginning to feel like they had a neverending list of mysteries being thrust upon them. However, Obi-Wan did not appear frightened nor did he seem discouraged by any of this. Instead, he approached the many questions with the grace of a person approaching a formidable puzzle.
Instead of adding more to the pile, she looked at him thoughtfully, “You like this investigative work, don’t you?”
He blinked a couple of times in surprise, “Oh? Well, we’ve sort of been thrust into it so it’s only natural that I-”
She smiled and didn’t allow him to finish whatever dismissive thought he was going to try, “-You’re quite good at it.”
He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times before looking at her almost shyly, “You think so?”
“Yeah,” She grinned, “I do.”
His eyes went somewhere beyond her in the distance, twinkling a bit in brief thought. It was so rare he allowed himself to be this unabashedly happy that she didn’t dare break it with something as trivial as words.
Still, he returned to her with a small smile of his own, “It’s easy when you’ve got a pretty good partner.”
***
“What do you think about this Zillo Beast thing?” Rex asked Anakin as they lounged in the common room that evening. They were trying to sort out their History of Magic homework for the next day and struggling tremendously, seeing as neither had read the pages on the Soap Blizzard of 1378. Typically, Anakin and Rex took turns with their required reading and then informed the other of the general synopsis to spare time, but their schedule got mucked up with the new semester.
“What do you mean?” Anakin asked from his position hanging upside down over the couch.
“You saw the thing up close, mate.” Rex said, “They could probably use you as a key witness or something.”
Anakin had seen enough procedural police shows to know what Rex was referring to, but never imagined what a wizarding court would look like. While part of him found the idea very exciting, it also meant that he would need to discuss in full detail what happened that night, which was tricky, since Anakin had a tough time wrapping his own head around it.
“In favor of or against it?” He said, “Because that thing destroyed the school and it tricked me into believing it was good and then nearly offed Professor Palpatine! It’s too dangerous to be left alive! It could destroy the whole world.”
“Hey, guys!” A familiar angelic voice said and sure enough, Padmé Amidala descended down the stairs dressed in casual pajama pants and a pink t-shirt. Anakin almost flipped over the back of the couch. He was so surprised she was addressing them that he feared he might pass out. Maybe too much blood had rushed to his head.
“Hey!” Rex said.
“Hi!” Anakin tried to play it cool, like he wasn’t the little boy she saw him as. “What’s up?”
“I need to return this book before curfew,” She waved a red book as she walked over to them. “What are you guys up to?”
Anakin turned rightside up, deciding she was much prettier that way, “Just how I went toe-to-toe with the Zillo Beast on Halloween.”
Padmé nodded slowly, seeming surprised by this line of conversation despite the fact that the entire school was whispering on about it constantly. “Oh! Yeah, that was quite a crazy night.”
“Had I not stepped in, Professor Palpatine would be no more.” He leaned against the back of the couch, trying to appear as though wrangling Zillo Beasts was a typical hobby of his in his spare time. He wasn’t sure how many little kids she knew that could pull that off.
“I heard.” She nodded and then placed a hand on her chest, “It’s a shame that poor creature was used as a device to destroy the school.”
His eyes flew open wide, “You- You don’t want them to kill it?”
“God no!” She implored, “It’s not even sentient!”
Anakin didn’t know what that meant, but he knew better than to believe it meant that Padmé would support his earlier argument. “That’s so crazy!”
“What?”
“I was just saying the same thing!” He said and nudged Rex, who frowned at him.
“You said killing the beast would protect-”
“-Only the guilty shadow man!” Anakin gritted with wide eyes that hopefully begged for his friend to get the gist. It seemed he did, because after a pause and a look between Padmé and Anakin, Rex nodded his head slowly.
“Anakin is quite against the death of the beast.”
“You are?” She smiled, “Oh, Anakin, that’s wonderful! You could be a real asset to the cause, seeing as you know the Zillo Beast better than anyone.”
“And I will!” He said with a wider grin.
“Excellent, I can’t wait to tell Satine that she just gained another supporter for the defense of the Zillo Beast protest.” She clapped, “We definitely need more caring souls like your own aboard.”
“What can I say? I’m a carer!” He shrugged.
“I’ll see you at the next meeting then?”
“I’ll be there early. It’s kind of my style.” He said.
She just grinned and left the room in a hurry to return her book before the approaching curfew for students to be in their common rooms. Anakin, meanwhile, felt his heart was the only thing hurrying and felt some of the blood finally leave his face. He really didn’t always remember his interactions with Padmé that clearly, just that they happened and that was enough.
Rex didn’t look as impressed and was staring at him with raised eyebrows that indicated only incredulous judgement.
“What?” Anakin asked.
“You are so full of it.” He sighed, seeming to give up before turning back to their homework assignment. “What’d you get for the third question?”
***
That next meeting, Anakin was the very first person in room 77B to meet about the Zillo Beast, even before Satine, herself, had actually arrived at the scene.
“Anakin?” She questioned and immediately narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you free the beast, of course!” He said with a smile.
“I thought you couldn’t be bothered with a stupid little committee such as this one?” She frowned, “Or is this all part of some elaborate prank?”
“You wound me, you do.” He said and placed his hand over his chest, “But nope! My motivations are perfectly pure-”
“-Oh Anakin! You made it!” Padmé grinned.
Satine glared at Anakin and then turned back to Padmé. “This was your new recruit?”
“Yeah, who better than the actual witness to the Zillo Beast?”
It seemed Satine could think of a lot better.
***
“A little birdie told me you had your meeting with Yoda today,” Qui-Gon effectively made Obi-Wan jump spinning away from the window he’d been gazing out of. Qui-Gon just bent over him to see what had him so enraptured. A group of Aurors were running what seemed to be drills outside on the grounds. Despite the snow on the ground they moved with grace and skill, lighting the area with different colored spells and jinxes.
“Yoda said that was confidential,” He complained, and Qui-Gon looked down at him.
“Yoda wasn’t the one to tell me,” He winked at him and Obi-Wan glared off towards the Ravenclaw common room.
“Satine,” he grumbled.
“Most correct,” Qui-Gon straightened, “She seemed worried since she hadn’t seen you since lunch. You aren’t the type to skip classes,” Qui-Gon pried, but Obi-Wan shook his head.
“I’m not skipping, Yoda told me I didn’t have to go,” He tightened his grip on the books he was holding.
“And you actually took him up on that offer?” Qui-Gon frowned, Obi-Wan sighed deeply and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Qui-Gon followed suit- though he was sure his knees wouldn’t thank him for it.
“Satine doesn’t understand,” He started softly, “She has the world open for her, two worlds really. She can do whatever she wants.”
“Would you prefer she didn’t?” Qui-Gon suggested and Obi-Wan looked affronted.
“Of course not!” He practically shouted before lowering his voice again, “She should have those opportunities; she deserves them!”
“What do you think she’d do if she didn’t?” Qui-Gon queried, just the same as he would if he was asking his class about the operation of a light-switch. Even so Obi-Wan saw through him.
“It’s not the same,” He muttered and Qui-Gon just smiled.
“Oh how so? Do you really think Satine would let anything stop her?” He ignored the non-answer in favor of pressing further on the problem.
“Of course not, Qui-Gon. I’m not stupid,” He huffed, “But-“ And he hesitated. Qui-Gon very gently placed a hand on his shoulder, “Well, Satine’s always been much braver than I am. She could have been a Gryffindor if she wasn’t made for Ravenclaw,” Qui-Gon frowned in thought.
“Obi-Wan, please tell me if I’m mistaken,” He hummed and Obi-Wan gazed at him in veiled interest, “But were you not there alongside your friends during the Zillo Beast attack?”
“What? Yes of course, but Qui-Gon-“
“And are you not helping Satine with her case even though the odds are rather stacked against you?” He continued with vigor, “And is it not you, who’s been helping me endlessly to uncover a conspirator?”
“Qui-Gon-“
“Obi-Wan,” Obi-Wan was practically squirming from the conviction of Qui-Gon’s backwards compliments, but he refused to let Obi-Wan think he had nothing more than a little wit, “You don’t have to have Cody’s reckless Gryffindor brand bravery, or Satine’s ability to be loudly outspoken about issues she believes in. You’re brave every day in your own way.”
“I don't feel that way,” He admitted and Qui-Gon laughed.
“I highly doubt Cody or Satine feel particularly brave either. Satine would say she’s only shedding lights on the facts,” Qui-Gon shrugged and Obi-Wan sighed.
“Cody would say he had to act on what was right,” Obi-Wan added reluctantly. Qui-Gon smiled warmly at him before standing up again, knees popping, and turning to leave when he paused at the scramble he heard behind him, “Aren’t you going to ask me what I’ve decided on?”
“Do you think it’s necessary to?” Qui-Gon turned around again. Obi-Wan had abandoned his books on the floor in his haste to get up and Qui-Gon felt his heart pang at the hidden desperation in Obi-Wan’s eyes, “Here at Hogwarts,” Qui-Gon said carefully, “There is really nothing locking one in. The staircases move as they please and our students likewise,” He approached Obi-Wan again and placed his hands on his shoulders, hoping he could send the message home, “What we chose to do can be fluid; growth never really stops does it? I could quit my job tomorrow and go work at Zonko’s. I wouldn’t,” He added at the slight pull of his mentee’s brows, “But I could and would you deny me of my choice?”
“No?” Obi-Wan answered and Qui-Gon released his shoulders in delight.
“There you have it then!” He grinned at Obi-Wan’s confused expression.
“Are you telling me to change my mind?” Obi-Wan tried, but he shook his head.
“Goodness no! What sort of professor would I be then?” Qui-Gon asked, but Obi-Wan was still staring at him, “I’m telling you, you always have a choice.”
***
Obi-Wan was on his way to the Great Hall, where Satine and Padmé were gathering the group they’d organized for their sit-out. At risk of betraying his father, he could not publicly endorse this move, but he did stay up impossibly late into the evening writing and revising Satine’s “Zillo Beast Manifesto”, which listed out the rights and liberties of the creature. He would arrive as moral support and remain out of the limelight and as guilty as he felt, it was the most he could do.
It was strange to think that his father was somewhere on the grounds. It didn’t feel quite real. However, it was incredibly real, seeing as the amount of anxiety stirred up by the impending court date was to be manifested into a true answer later that afternoon.
When he entered the Great Hall and saw the crowd of students, his first reaction was to be nervous this was another one of Ventress’s tricks, but noticed that the clones were all palling around with them and that Padmé and Bail Organa were also intermingling with the group.
Anakin had his face painted at the front and was leading a chant of “SAVE THE BEAST!” on repeat. It might have started as Anakin’s ulterior motive to get closer to Padmé, but the boy did seem rather enthusiastic.
It was possible some were only here for an excuse to sit out of class, but Satine needed bodies for her protest and would take whatever she could get.
Strangely enough, when he looked around, it seemed everyone but Satine was present. He exchanged a curious look with Cody from across the room, who supplied him with a shrug in response to the unasked question.
Before he could develop the presence of mind to panic, Pre Vizsla came running into the room, winded and frenzied as he waved around a piece of parchment.
“They moved the time of the trial!” Vizsla breathed and hunched over, trying to catch his breath.
Obi-Wan snatched the parchment from the boy in a way that was most unlike him and scanned the document, knowing by experience that this was an official decree stamped by none other than the Minister of Magic, himself.
Verdict: Guilty.
***
They found her sitting at the edge of the astronomy tower. The falling snow decorated her hair making it seem to sparkle as they both edged their way forward. Obi-Wan took a seat on her left as Cody took the right.
“I really thought I could do something,” She spoke, staring out across the grounds towards the forbidden forest, “I thought if my case was strong enough… but maybe it wasn’t,” Cody threw an arm around her shoulder.
“Your case was plenty strong, no one else in this school could’ve done better,” He told her, but she shook her head.
“Maybe I was too involved, there must have been something I missed,” She had that calculating look in her eyes.
“You didn’t,” Obi-Wan spoke firmly, which was only offset by the shy way he also wrapped an arm around her, “I don’t believe it was your case that had such fault. Professor Yoda couldn’t have done better himself.”
“They hardly even heard your case,” Cody let his chin rest on his hand, “It was unprofessional.”
“They had a clear bias from the start,” Obi-Wan added carefully.
“Even so, I wish I’d been able to change their minds,” She moved and slowly returned their previous gesture. Obi-Wan felt his breath catch in surprise as her hair brushed his cheek, “Thank you for coming to cheer me up.”
“I don’t think we’ve been very successful in that,” Obi-Wan admitted and she turned to glare at him. Their faces were much too close.
“Allow me to have a nice moment here will you?” She pouted and he turned away suddenly feeling a little hot despite the snow pouring down around them, “I may not be happy,” She continued, “But at least I’m not alone and wondering.”
The air stilled save for the fog of their breaths as they sat awhile longer.
***
With every snowflake that drifted to the ground Anakin was desperate to race ahead or throw a snowball or flop down and make a snow angel. It took great patience that he was really proud he had to keep pace with Professor Palpatine as they slowly, very slowly, made their way around the edge of the lake.
“You don’t have to babysit me you know, Professor,” Anakin pointed out for what was probably the seventh or eighth time, “I know everyone’s been keeping an eye on me, but I don’t need it,” he kicked a little snowdrift.
“You can’t keep them from worrying, Anakin, that’s what we professors do,” Palpatine smiled gently at the young boy and paused in his step so that Anakin would as well, “I’m sure it’s a little frustrating for a boy of your merit,” He placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder and he sighed.
“I’m eleven, I can take care of myself,” Anakin muttered and Professor Palpatine laughed.
“Oh I’m most certain of that, young Skywalker,” His eyes twinkled and Anakin felt some of the pressure he’d been feeling drift away, “And anyways I’m not here to babysit you, I thought we might chat about potions class for a moment,” That caught Anakin’s attention and he tilted his head to the side.
“I thought I was doing good in potions?” His brow furrowed as he tried to think of any instance where he’d failed miserably. He wasn’t perfect, but he hadn’t lit anything on fire since last term.
“You’re doing wonderfully my boy,” Palpatine gave his shoulder a pat and started walking again. Anakin scurried to keep up, “I didn’t mean to insinuate otherwise, in fact I think you’re showcasing a brilliant hidden talent for potion making,” Anakin frowned from behind his professor, he certainly didn’t feel that way. His poly juice potion was definitely flawed. Praise was praise though, he supposed.
“Thank you, Professor,” He chirped, a lightheartedness returning.
“It’s not a problem, Anakin,” Palpatine continued, “Should you wish to learn a little more advanced potions, you should really just let me know, I’d be happy to show you a few more tricks.”
“Well-” Whatever Anakin was going to say stuck to his throat as the ground suddenly shook with such force that he had to grab onto his professor’s cloak for balance, “What was that?” He yelled up at Palpatine, but the older man had a scowl on his face and was reaching for his wand.
“Nothing good it seems, dear boy.”
The whole forest seemed to shake and groan with the vibrations that threatened to tear up the ground they were standing on. The castle seemed to scream as dust showered down as stone rubbed against stone.
Like a flood, witches and wizards suddenly poured from the forest purple cloaks fluttering about as if they would all take flight from their fear. They brushed by the professor and the first year without a glance and managed to knock the older man to the ground.
“Professor!” Anakin tried to help him stand when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He turned slowly towards the forest where trees were bending under long scaly fingers and the maw of the great beast pushed its way out of the forest. It bit through a chain like it was butter and eyes struggled to focus in the sudden light. It emerged from the forest more and more its tail whipped around, smashing into the base of the astronomy tower causing the whole castle to shudder once more. It caught a glance at them, Anakin and his professor frozen in their position near the lake. It’s eyes seemed to narrow in rage and it screeched an unholy sound and jumped towards them.
“No!” Anakin shouted he jumped in front of the beast his arms stretched so wide they trembled, or perhaps it was the adrenaline. To his great surprise though he didn’t feel teeth sinking into his flesh, instead he cracked open his eyes to see the beast inches from his own face.
They stared at each other, Anakin not daring to breathe and the beast frozen in its rage. Finally it opened its mouth and roared with such force that it slicked Anakin’s hair back with moisture and quite terrible breath, before it leaped over them and dug its claws deep into the dirt as it pushed itself quickly forward in a hasty escape.
Anakin stayed frozen to the spot for so long he didn’t move until Professor Palpatine, who had made it to his feet, put a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s alright Anakin,” He told him and slowly Anakin let his stance fall, “That was some real bravery you just displayed there my boy,” he pointed out and Anakin couldn’t find anything to say so he instead sucked in a deep breath, “I’ll be awarding 50 points to Gryffindor.”
“But,” Anakin struggled to find any sort of word and Professor Palpatine took a moment to gaze off after the beast.
“It seems I’m not very popular with our friend the Zillo Beast,” He sighed, “Let’s get back inside shall we?” Anakin nodded quickly at that and he followed Professor Palpatine back up the hill towards the entrance on shaky legs.
***
Satine held her breath until the beast was out of sight. Every time her eyes blinked shut she could feel the tower sway and none of them dared to move much longer than was strictly necessary.
Ben was the first to slowly unwrap his arms from where they had flung around her as if holding her would have done much of anything. It was a feeling she was trying not to think about in her dazed stupor. Cody followed his lead and released his grip on Ben’s cloak and the railing before skittering backwards away from the edge, she supposed even he feared falling from such a height when not on a broom. Satine’s grip on Cody’s cloak had slackened as he fell back and she let herself let go of the railing finger by finger.
“Bloody hell that was scary,” Obi-Wan breathed a laugh, “If I wanted to fall to my death I’d play a few more rounds of Quidditch,” Cody shook his head frantically.
“At least you have a chance if you fall off a broom,” Cody scoffed, “And you know, you’d be prepared for it.”
“You’re not going to suddenly be afraid to play are you?” Satine couldn’t help, but let a very small smile fall across her face.
“Of course not!” Cody was suddenly on his feet looking like he was about to deliver quite a rousing speech, “I’m not going to let a near death experience stop me from winning the cup! We’ve got a lead and let’s not forget our new beater! Plus next year I-”
“Cody, it’s not that I don’t want to discuss strategy,” Ben interrupted as he slowly moved to stand and offered a hand to Satine, “But quite frankly I’d like to get much closer to the ground so I can think a little clearer,” Satine took his hand and let him help her to her feet. She let her hand linger in his for just another moment as they both took a step away from the railing.
“Well at least there’s some good news out of this,” Cody grinned as they headed down the spiral staircase with a little more speed than they’d ever admit.
“And what’s that?” Satine asked. Keeping her eyes firmly fixed on their descent.
“They didn’t manage to kill the beast.”
***
Anakin was having difficulty sleeping as of late.
So much so, he found his eyes no longer needed to adjust to darkness. He was one of the few to never pull the drapes of his bed closed at fear that such darkness would swallow him whole.
If he slept, he knew it would only get worse.
It wasn’t something he discussed with Obi-Wan or even Rex at fear of seeming like a scared little kid. Even if the crux of the issue was just that. He was a little kid and even more so, he was scared. Try as he might to seem impervious to the stresses of near death, it was chilling that someone was on his tail and that this particular someone had a strong grudge held for him.
He so desperately didn’t need to be looked at by his peers as though he was misplaced when the sorting hat elected to place him in Gryffindor. Bravery was something that ran deep and while he reckoned it likely took some practice, was a trait he was determined to prove rang true from him.
Not for the first time all month, he missed his mother. She never judged him for one moment when his nightmares drove him to her bed- where the only refuge could be found in soft words and a firm embrace. He didn’t have that reprieve at Hogwarts and could only distract himself so much until those thoughts unraveled and blended into the very fears that haunted his sleep and kept him awake.
These nightmares felt like someone was trying to speak to him and reach through the fabrics of his mind in order to grasp reality.
As always, he tossed and turned until he didn’t see much point in it anymore and pulled the allusive enchanted map from under his mattress. Checking his surroundings and ensuring that no one was awake, he threw his legs over the side of his bed and crept across the stone floor. His feet were immediately cold, but he didn’t allow that to startle him from his intentions.
He was small enough to slip between the space that separated his bunk and the wall, knowing good and well that behind the curtain, a doorway would appear if he offered optimum focus. He stumbled over a robe, which was curious, but not improbable since he didn’t always take much care for his belongings.
Even if they ended up playing chess until he fell into what would hopefully be a blissful sleep, it seemed wisest to go to Qui-Gon, who would have to be the closest he could get to his mother’s presence at a time like this. Besides, he quite liked Qui-Gon’s company and though he would never admit it aloud, was beginning to enjoy Wizard’s Chess.
However, despite Qui-Gon’s claim that his door was always open, it was not, much to Anakin’s disappointment. Even more puzzling, was that he heard the soft murmuring of serious conversation through the door. The one voice was clearly Qui-Gon, though he couldn’t make out what he was saying. The other, while familiar, alluded Anakin. He raised his hand as though to knock, but thought better of it, since even someone as friendly and welcoming as Qui-Gon likely had his own affairs.
This time of night was certainly an odd time to be tending to guests, but Anakin didn’t question it too much. Professors didn’t otherwise have that much time during the day. There was also the spark of fear that it was another professor with him, who would possibly be much less forgiving for Anakin breaking curfew.
He made his way to scurry back to the entrance he left open inside one of the broom closets off to the side of Qui-Gon’s office, but ran face-first into the stiff torso of Professor Windu.
Anakin felt his fears go into overdrive at the unimpressed stare of his head of house, who’s seemingly permanent frown deepened. His dark eyes were even more intimidating in lowlight and Anakin internally cursed at being so foolhardy as to forget checking the map before exiting the broom closet.
“Oh, hello Professor.” He tried for a perky tone, which he hoped was high enough for Qui-Gon and his guest to hear him. As far as Anakin was concerned, the more witnesses, the better, when it came to Mace Windu.
“Skywalker.” He crossed his arms and ducked his chin down to his chest to properly glower at him.
Anakin lowered his head to seem ashamed, even if it was partially out of fear for being alone in the hallway with who he believed was his attacker. He tried to look around him with the hopes of finding a path to run if the time came for it, but the large man was firm and dense, shrouded in exquisite mauve-lined robes even at this late hour. He effectively blocked any escape route possible to Anakin, even with the knowledge of the tunnels existing.
For once, he decided no words were probably better than final ones.
“There’s a muggle studies exam tomorrow.” He said curiously.
Anakin tilted his head up in surprise, not quite sure what that had to do with anything. It wasn’t like the poetically dark tones he’d taken on Halloween night. That, and it wasn’t relevant to Anakin.
“Huh?” He asked intelligently.
“I’m sure you knew of that already though.” He said.
“I did?” Anakin frowned, “I just wanted to talk to Qui-Professor Jinn.”
Windu raised his eyebrows at the near-slip of informality, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he studied Anakin carefully, drawing many conclusions that he would possibly never understand. What did he do to make this man hate him so much?
“It appears he’s busy.” Windu said, eyes flickering to the light under the door, “Whatever message you’ve had that couldn’t wait until morning, you can relay to me.”
Anakin shifted awkwardly in his stance, appearing like someone that had to use the washroom. “Uh… I had a bad dream.”
It sounded like a lie, even to Anakin, despite it being the cold truth. Unfortunately, Windu didn’t know that nor did he believe it. His face was passive and unimpressed, even disappointed, that Anakin didn’t reveal some greater truth that would have transcended reality.
“As unfortunate as that may be, I don’t recall that being an exception to the rules.” He said, “10 points from Gryffindor.”
It was the least of Anakin’s worries, even if the response did irritate him, but he would be remiss to say he wasn’t relieved that it was all the professor seemed intent on giving him for the time being, especially with how calculated Windu looked. It was as though he was sure Anakin was the very answer to a dark mystery.
“Yes, sir.” He said while finally feeling like he was granted permission to walk away from him.
“Skywalker,” Windu called and Anakin spun on his heels.
However, the large man kept his back to him, looking all the more like a shadow than ever before. His voice was deep and terrifyingly calm.
“Professor?” Anakin answered.
“Should I catch you wandering the halls at this time of night again, I assure you the consequences will be far greater than what transpired tonight.”
Anakin’s eyes widened and a cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach. “O-Of course sir.”
“Do not accept this mercy as a moment of weakness either.” He said.
“I won’t… Sir.”
“Very well.” He said, “You are dismissed.”
Anakin all but ran back to Gryffindor’s common room, sure that despite his best efforts, he would certainly not be reaching sleep this evening. In fact, he was almost near the point of throwing up at fear that he seemed to be the only person to know of Windu’s dark side. Everyone seemed intent on respecting him instead of seeing him who he really was. And why shouldn’t they? He was just a child and nobody believed children.
For the second time that night, he wasn’t quite paying attention to where he was going and came across Professor Palpatine, who looked at him with eyebrows drawn together in concern.
“Anakin, my boy! What’s the matter?”
It was a far cry from the unpleasantries he’d shared with Windu, who didn’t seem at all concerned with Anakin’s true reasons to be up and about, and Anakin almost cried at the kindness in Palpatine’s voice.
“B-Bad dreams.” He swallowed and this time, sounded much more authentic.
“Oh dear me, that’s terrible.” Palpatine paused and placed a hand on his shoulder, “It happens to the very best of us.”
“You have nightmares, sir?” Anakin asked, looking up at him and beginning to calm down.
“But of course!” He said and briefly, Anakin saw something cloud over his eyes. A memory, perhaps? It was gray and ever-passing, but it still reminded Anakin of how his dreams of the Phantom Man plagued him. “Everyone has bad dreams.”
“Even Professor Windu?” He couldn’t help but ask.
Palpatine raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Well, he is human. We’ve never discussed the intricacies of them, but I’d imagine yes, he does have bad dreams. He was an Auror at one point, after all, dealing with that much darkness… It’ll change any man.”
Anakin thought hard about that. Was that what Windu was a product of? Coming too close to the dark that he swore to prevent?
“Anakin?” Palpatine squeezed his shoulder. When Anakin met his gaze again, he smiled a little, “Sometimes, it helps to talk about them.”
“Professor Windu sent me to bed.” It was a weak protest, but it needed to be acknowledged.
“And you will, but not with a head full of evil clouding your rest.” He said and guided him down the hall, presumably towards his office. Anakin knew the way quite intricately as a result of his pranks towards Sebulba.
As they walked, Anakin followed at his side, “What are your nightmares about, Professor?”
Palpatine kept his eyes trained forward, “Nightmares take on many different facets. After the other day, I’ve been dreaming about the Zillo Beast unleashing its wrath yet again. I’m assuming you do too now.”
Truthfully, Anakin didn’t, but he didn’t admit as much.
“My dreams seem dead set on the man behind it all.” Anakin said.
“How logical of you.” Palpatine said, “It was a very traumatic event, so no one would blame you for replaying the events of that night.”
Anakin paused, “You think I could find out more information from my dreams?”
Palpatine shut the door to his office and invited Anakin to sit down, “Would you not agree that facing one’s fears is the best way to surpass them?”
He did not have to pretend to be brave to give his answer.
***
Tyranus didn’t understand why his master insisted on keeping the boy alive. It seemed like a waste when the opportunity to strike was so clearly right in front of them. He was cornered in his master’s very office, unsuspecting any danger in the slightest. However, when Tyranus was called in the dead of the night to assist in augmenting the effects of the boy’s dreams to both delude their meaning and find answers, he came, pensive in hand.
And he played his part. He acted as the tactile teacher and caring aid. He did not lead on to either of their positions.
Anakin did not have the skills to master Occlumency, so Tyranus had no such issue leaping into his dreams and erasing the bits that might cause suspicion.
He may have altered a thing or two as well. Nothing too noticeable in case someone else should search the boy’s mind’s eye. Just enough to be damning.
“The purple robes!” Anakin gasped as he awoke in full, oblivious to the way Tyranus tampered his visions.
“What of them, Anakin?” His master asked in such a practiced tone of concern that Tyranus could see through like glass. It worked well enough on everyone else.
“I… I don’t know.” He wiped a hand through his hair, which was coated in sweat from the effort and then seemed to pause, mulling over his own thoughts. He didn’t trust them. Not fully. That was far more okay with Tyranus than it was with his master.
They should kill him. Spare the charades and get it over with. Sidious’s eyes flared ever so briefly red from his place in the corner, warning Tyranus of the ramifications for doing such a thing and he nearly scoffed. As if he didn’t possess any self-control. Tyranus was merely being practical, not hungry.
He was, however, quite curious of his master’s clear fascination with the other figure Anakin Skywalker saw in his dreams.
A man called Vader.
***
Both assigned to early morning rounds, Obi-Wan and Satine opted to walk together as they ensured that no student dilly-dallied on their way to breakfast that day. Satine was considerably quiet, never having been much of a morning person, but was still a comfortable presence to have. She’d shifted her fiery excitement over the Zillo Beast back to determination of finding the person behind the cheater/pranker.
Obi-Wan had other ongoing investigations, of course, but was also curious about the affair. Plus, he had his meeting with Yoda imprinted in his mind. The little green man seemed unsure with Obi-Wan’s decision, but didn’t speak on it. He hadn’t yet told Satine, even if she knew where he’d landed.
It was odd. He assumed he’d feel free after choosing his life’s path, but he guessed the image of a closing door would dissipate with time. He’d do a lot of good at his family’s law practice. The opportunities there were endless. With his family’s support, he would be able to make real change. He would.
Right?
“We should probably check the closets.” Satine yawned, breaking through his heavy thoughts. “Professor Shaak Ti believes that many transactions are happening there.”
He nodded and tried not to give any indication of his troubling internal debate, “That, or we’ll just stumble upon more snogging students.”
She snorted, “If they’re so desperate that they’re willing to snog with rancid morning breath, power to them.”
He chuckled and reached forward to open the nearest closet door, intent on closing it the moment they didn’t see any bodies, but halted when Satine’s hand met his chest in surprise. He ducked his head inside the closet and gaped, with stunning shock, at a wide opening in the side of the wall.
Obi-Wan and Satine shared equally wide-eyed shock and without expressing a single word on the matter, wordlessly followed where the tunnel led. He ignited his wand and huddled close to her, rationalizing the need to hold her hand so as not to get lost, and pushed through the darkness.
There were no drawings on the walls as Anakin described in the Zillo Beast lair. Instead, the walls were smooth with no clear end in sight. There was nothing but darkness eclipsing them and despite the fact that they did not know where this path led, he couldn’t find himself to be scared. They persisted and Obi-Wan felt Satine squeeze his hand, urging him to stop.
He shined his light down at their feet and noticed with confusion, a small cloak on the ground. He picked it up, noting how small it was as well as the fact that they were at a dead end.
“It was a Gryffindor then.” Satine whispered.
Obi-Wan didn’t answer her and instead released his hand to push on the wall in front of them. It didn’t require much effort in the matter, but Satine joined him all the same. Sure enough, light crept through the cracks to outline a doorway before flooding a full beam of natural light that almost blinded them. Neither could fit through the opening, but they could see drapes of red and gold through the small gleams of space that were allotted to them.
“Oi, mate, you look rough.” Rex’s voice stood out.
“I didn’t sleep well.” Anakin said.
“Out late?”
“Something like that.” He said around a yawn.
Obi-Wan could feel Satine’s stare burning through him, but didn’t acknowledge it, nor did he have it in him to inspect the robe in his hands that had a tag that was clearly marked “Skywalker” on the inside.
Despite how damning, he was honest when he admitted to himself that he couldn’t believe it.
#anidala#obitine#clone wars#obi-wan kenobi#satine kryze#anakin skywalker#padme amidala#star wars#prequel trilogy#magical forces au
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6 and 9
nice
6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?
I thought a lot about this question and I’ve narrowed it down to 3 answers which are posted here in experienced order:
Daredevil 1x10 Nelson v. Murdock - i rewatched all of daredevil with my roommate during the quarantine part of the spring semester and had a blast. foggy finds out matt’s secret (being a superhero, his super senses). the Betrayal of it all. the way they show them ugly crying instead of like letting out a single man tear. fuck. “then again, maybe i would. what the hell do i know about matt murdock?” the cutting back and forth between their present day fallout and their meeting and developing friendship. it’s SOOO much it’s like Specifically Crafted for maximum pain and i eat it right up. foggy: are u even really blind? the show: *immediately cuts to a flashback of them meeting and foggy learning that matt is blind* foggy: was anything ever real between us? the show: *cuts to the two of them thick as thieves and making plans to form their law firm together and matt almost revealing his secret*. matt: this city needs me in that mask, foggy. foggy: maybe you’re right. maybe it does. but i don’t. i only ever needed my friend. the show: *cuts to them starting their law firm together.* also the scene where ben is in the hospital with his wife and we see her forget him on screen. ouch. a lot happens in this episode but tbh i just focus on the Friendship Falling Out. it reads even better if you think they’re in love with each other, as i obviously do. man daredevil Hurts.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars 7x12 Victory and Death (series finale) - the panic in rex and ahsoka as they have to get off this LITERAL sinking ship filled with enemies that used to be their brothers, who had just within the week painted their armor, one of the few things they can customize to express themselves, to resemble her, who they know would never willingly turn against them, and a fucking wackjob killer wildcard. the growing tension and cornering is fantastic. when ahsoka takes off rex’s helmet and he cries because he’s facing killing his brothers. the cute droid squad. i’m always a sucker for non-humans. the fact that they had special orders to kill ahsoka, who was no longer a jedi, from palpatine, meaning he thought she was a threat still and she IS. she’s up there with obi-wan in terms of attachments anakin has. the action is truly epic (though i do have to say the maul ahsoka fight was better). the fact that ahsoka and rex didnt just leave the clones there and they dug graves for them. the shot of ahsoka in her cloak in front of all the helmets painted like her face on sticks will be burned into my brain forever. vader coming down to the planet himself much later and finding and igniting one of the sabers he as anakin LITERALLY remade for her. just the image of vader holding a blue lightsaber is going to be the death of me. a literal representation of who he was. it’s too much. it’s too much for me to deal with. i started crying as i was typing this. also when you look closely you can see his eyes through the helmet lens. it hurts man. (possibly) morai flying away as this happens. man, star wars can be good.
Supernatural 6x20 The Man Who Would Be King - ok so i know the question said year but man has show really defined my like last two months. as for this eps specifically, im predictable is what this says. i like tragedy and unhappy endings. i like gay angel. i like self-aware narration. i like reflection. i like the moment before it all goes wrong. this episode is the literal point of no return for s6 cas and i want to scream. it’s like when anakin cuts off mace windu’s hand. “but cas, youll call right? if you get into real trouble?” “and the worst part was dean, trying so hard to be loyal.” “for a brief moment, i was myself again.” “wonders never cease, they trusted me again.” “of course, i didn’t realize it at the time, but it was all over, right then, just like that.” “the big lie, the winchesters still buy it. the good cas, the righteous cas, and long as they still believe it, you get to believe it.” “it sounds so simple when you say it like that. where were you when i needed to hear it? / i was there. where were you?” “you know the difference between you and me? i know what i am. what are you, castiel? what exactly are you willing to do?” “i believe it’s what you would call a... tragedy from the human perspective... i’m asking you, father, one last time. am i doing the right thing? am i on the right path? you have to tell me. you have to give me a sign, because if you don’t... i’m gonna do whatever i... whatever i must.” like are you kidding me. not to talk about star wars even more but like. when rots novel said “the blurred line between our best and our worst” hhhhh. this makes me crave a 150k fic from cas’ perspective in season 6 where we see all the terrible things he’s doing for his well intentioned plan and how he keeps digging himself in deeper and deeper until it’s too late. and if i had the skill and time i would write it. alas.
runner ups: billions 5x05 contract (the epic lows of hearing taylor say they wanted to fire winston, the epic highs of 4d chess theory. the shitpost memes i immediately made. did not make the list as i made it a requirement that i actually enjoy the content in my winners list). supernatural 15x18 despair (lost out to man who would be king because i Care Cas, but i will never get over cas going out the way he came into this show; calling dean OUT on his bullshit).
9. Best month for you this year?
bro who can even remember the months. ok i just looked at my calendar and i guess i’ll say may. i finished up my spring semester the week before. clone wars finale aired then and billions season 5 started airing which was a “fun” time. had a job. things were alright.
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Foresight is 20/20 Chapter 12
Chikage
I axe kicked a giant rock in half. That was fun. I also found floating around not with demon sage cores but with glittery red fairy wings made from demon sage chakra to be enjoyable as well. Because I was pure chakra, I was actually a lot better at handling natural energy than weak, inferior carbon-based lifeforms and could absorb more without any kind of negative effects. Sure, there was some instability if I went too high, but it was nowhere near as bad as the side effects on a human, and I could expel the excess pretty easily. "Dang," Kouki said from where he was sitting on another rock. I turned to face m-him. "So I guess you're just default a lot stronger than me. Makes sense, you're basically a mini biju." I could tell through our connection that he was a little off about how he couldn't access the red chakra that was now me, but that was mostly overshadowed by his marvel over the potential of Demon Shadow Clone Jutsu, the jutsu that created me. He fidgeted a bit, causing his arm to mutate slightly, red scales forming instead of the frog limbs that comes from using toad oil as a medium. "Dangit." The demon sage cores orbiting him sucked all of the natural energy out of him, setting him back to square one.
I grinned and "sat" on the air in front of him. "You having trouble, bro?" Kouki had decided that with the extra control granted to him whenever we were separate, combined with the fact that he couldn't fall back on red chakra without me, that he should finally learn how to make sage chakra the right way.
He glared at me. "You know as well as I do that this isn't easy to do properly."
I grinned and started telekinetically messing with a leaf using my sage aura. "Do I really?" I spontaneously combusted it.
"Haha." He closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out in concentration.
"Right," I said. "Imma go see what else I can do." I melted into the ground, merging the energy that made up my body with the shadows of the grass. It turned out that, while I couldn't move fast at all when projecting myself as a shadow that didn't already exist, whenever I entered a real shadow, I could move... well, I didn't know how fast exactly because I hadn't gotten around to figuring out how to calculate that, but at the very least it was fast enough that it looked like teleportation even when Kouki pulled a little trick with the Shoraigan to slow down the "footage."
So yeah, I got to the the trees pretty dang fast. I flew out of the shadows in my "biju form," which was really just me as a fox with fur the color of my clothes with the exception of a "mane" the same color as my hair, and sliced a tree in half with my claws. I opened my mouth, compressing red and blue chakra in a way that just felt... right. Even with sage mode it was small and a little draining, but it was still a biju dama. I launched it at a tree, obliterating it into smoking mulch. I sighed at the relatively small AOE, but then grinned about the fact that I just made a biju dama. Unfortunately, my victory was cut short by Kouki calling for me to come back through our telepathic link. That meant it was time for our experiment, which he wanted to be whole for just in case something went wrong. I shrugged. "Guess it's for the best," I thought to myself. "Was probably going to just throw around dama 'til I ran out of chakra." I melted into the shadows and zipped off to Kouki.
kukukuku~
I sighed as I felt Chikage returning to me. It was reassuring to have my red chakra back, even if I didn't really use it that much. Still, I suppose I did have the demon gems to fall back on, on account of how my connection to other sources of my own red chakra was uninterrupted. I crossed my arms behind my back and turned around, my eyes closed. "Finally," I said. "A project months in the making, about to be fulfilled. I'm assuming you're here to watch, eh, Tenko?"
Ai laughed. "That's a lot less intimidating if we know you can sense us, kid." I sighed and opened my eyes. "And wasn't it only one month?"
I shrugged. "Felt like more. Might just have been from that one part where they read my journal..." I held my hands out in front of me and the giant scroll I'd taken to sealing as much demon Sage chakra into as possible once I'd filled the demon sage seal on my body, the Scroll of the Demon Sage, appeared floating in front of me through a summoning instead of a sealing on account of how its power meant I couldn't seal it in my inventory scrolls and actually keep anything else in it as well. "This is it. What might be the second most powerful thing in Konoha." The scroll unfurled slightly, revealing a seal tag that as of then contained most of its power. Uzumaki are really good at handling stupid levels of energy, okay? At least I'd also managed to complete my first mini biju dama paper bomb... "Are you ready to receive this power?" I asked Ai.
"Is this really necessary?" Tenko asked, worried.
"No," Ai and I both said at the same time.
"But really, what's the point of amassing an insane amount of dangerously powerful chakra if you don't infuse as much as possible into the best known person for taking in stupid amounts of chakra just to see what happens?" I elaborated.
Ai nodded and gingerly took the demon sage seal tag from its place in the scroll. "Right, so I'm guessing you have somewhere you want me to stand?"
I slung the scroll on my back and pointed over to an area I'd prepared in advance. "There. I've already set up four cores with orders to use the Four Violet Flames Formation should anything go wrong." A nice thing about having multiple potent sources of chakra at my total command, I'd found, was the fact that I could potentially use collaboration nin- or genjutsu without actually having to collaborate with anyone.
Tenko sighed. "That's not reassuring."
Before Tenko could actually object, Ai slapped the tag on her chest. "Toolatealreadyusedit!" She quickly shouted. The red lines of the seal tag began to glow orangey-gold, then started to spread to cover her entire body in a thick chakra cloak. She laughed maniacally, floating into the air as nine tail-like chains made of the same chakra sprouted from her backside. The chains spread to curl around the entire training ground, a red, domed barrier coming into existence at the edges. I don't know if she meant to or not, but her barrier materialized just before the shinobi that I'd had posted nearby via Sandaime just in case of a worst-case scenario, cutting them off.
"Kouki-kun, what did you do to my wife?" Tenko asked worriedly.
I grinned. "'Wife?' So did either of you finally pop the question?"
She flinched, then blushed. "I... haven't yet... I do have the ring, though."
I shrugged. "Hope for the best with you two. And by the way, I'm sure it'll go over fine." Ai's maniacal laughter grew louder, causing me to turn my attention back to her. She put her hands in front of her, as if she was holding an invisible ball. Oh. "A thought occurs to me," I said, making sure to keep my voice calm.
"That doesn't sound good..." As if on cue, Ai started to slowly form a disconcertingly familiar-looking chakra ball in between her hands. In addition to that, countless streaks of energy began to slowly form in the air, gravitating to the epicenter. That epicenter being a modified biju dama.
"So there was this one clan with a Kekkei Genkai that allowed them to passively accumulate natural energy and then use that to mutate themselves. Because they didn't work for it, though, the natural energy caused them to become uncontrollable, entering homicidal rages. Because of that, they were almost completely wiped out." At that point, I started to feel a slight tug on my chakra, though I was able to resist it.
"So what you're saying is..."
"She's drunk on power, yeah. Whoops."
"How, exactly, did you not notice that'd happen with your eyes?"
"Figured out a way to make sure that nothing bad enough I can't fix it will happen while still not spoiling me on what happens. Use exclusively that for my experiments now," I explained. I noticed a bit of chakra chain straying near me and had an idea. "Hang on, let me fix this." I tried to grab the chain with a chakra thread, but it was just sucked in, so I aborted almost immediately and just lunged at it. It was starting to get to the point where I needed to have my demon gems actively cling to me to make sure they weren't sucked in. That would be bad. Thankfully, I managed to grab the chain and my theory was right. Just like how Kurama still held some link to my red chakra and Kaguya still had some link to his chakra, I could feel my connection to the chakra in the modified Adamantine Sealing Chain. I grabbed it with both hands, wrapped one side around my arm, then tugged the two sides in opposite directions.
With a bit of willpower applied, one link snapped and got spaghettified by the still-growing ball of impending doom, leaving me with a really long chain of chakra that I could control wrapped around my arm. "Right, let's hope this works or Konoha probably becomes partially made of smoking crater," I said, glad that I'd picked one of the farthest training grounds from Konoha proper, then pulled a leaf out of Ai's new book and sucked the chain into my body, making sure to strip enough natural energy off of it that I didn't become a glittery garden statue. "Oooh," I grunted, then sucked in a breath. I noticed that with one chain down, the chakra-sucking had slowed back down, though I knew it was going to pick back up if I didn't do anything.
"Are you okay?" Tenko asked.
"Yeah, just a bit of a rush," I said. "Sorry. Well, here goes..." I concentrated on the chakra that I'd absorbed. After a few seconds, I was able to form two purple chains of chakra that emerged from my sleeves. I drew on the power I'd stolen from Ai to lengthen the chains significantly, taking the shortest possible paths I could to intersect her chains with my own. Once I'd gotten all of her chains, I tugged on the chakra in them, converting Ai's golden chains to my purple chains. The effect cascaded, eating away at all of her chains until her chains were fully turned, making the barrier fall and stopping the suction effect fully. I jerked my arm, causing nine chains to sprout from Ai's arms and wrap around the biju dama. I started retracting the chains back into my body, removing almost every last trace of demon sage chakra from Ai's body. Thankfully, she didn't fall on her face, as she was able to recover almost immediately and shoot some now non-glowing yellow chains into the ground and lower herself down gently.
"I have no idea what just happened, but I'm assuming it worked because I can make chains out of my chakra now," she said.
I nodded, concentrating on the ball of dangerously explosive chakra I was slowly reeling in. "Tenko, I need you to take the scroll off of my back and open it up a bit." She did as I asked, holding the scroll up so I could easily access it. I slowly put my hands on the scroll, converting the chain into the seal. The chain, no longer attached to my body, continued to reel in the demon sage chakra. As it did that, I placed my hand on the chain, removing the impurities the chakra gained from being in Ai's system. I greedily absorbed those bits of chakra. As I suspected, my body accepted it as readily as it did Shukaku's chakra.
"What exactly happened there?" one of the shinobi asked now that they'd arrived.
"Science," I answered.
"What were we even supposed to do about that?"
I shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't expect that to happen. I just figured Ai wouldn't have very good control of her chains at first. Turns out that that much sage chakra means going crazy, though."
"So I'm guessing I shouldn't use that seal for a super mode?" Ai asked after walking over to us. I swiped the empty tag that still stuck to her.
"No, if I segment it to lower the dosage, then it both becomes multi-use and lets you keep your sanity, at the tradeoff of power, obviously. Just make sure to use it for emergencies only. And while we're at it, I should be able to eventually teach you how to enter proper sage mode, which you could do any time with just a few minutes to charge up." I looked back up to survey the mostly concerned, but with one happy, faces looking at me. "I'd say that this little experiment has been a success."
kukukuku~
Yeah, I got chewed out by my dad. In hindsight, though, I really couldn't blame him. Thankfully, I was able to get off with just a tongue-lashing and promising to make absolutely sure to test out anything that could theoretically have a large blast radius by making a gem take it far away from Konoha and remote detonate it or just not do it at all. To be honest, though, I was bracing myself for a grounding, so I was actually fine with that. And he even organized a lesson on nature transformation for me. After giving me another lecture, this time on not doing things that could potentially destroy my hands or other parts of my body unless absolutely necessary. And so there I was, leaning on the wall of the Hyuuga compound courtyard. I'd made sure that there was a chain of shadows that Chikage could use to get away from me because I knew Kakashi was going to use that one chakra paper thing on me and I didn't want to have any interference from her/my power, yet still have her accessible once we started the lesson in earnest. "Sup," I said when Kakashi arrived.
"So you want to learn how to use nature transformation?" he asked.
I shrugged and licked my lips. "I already know how to use wind, but I'd like to learn at least the basics of the others."
"Right, learning it now if you have the chakra for it is actually probably a good idea." He pulled out a piece of paper. "I doubt you can do much with it at the moment, but at the very least, you'll be able to practice until you're ready for the big stuff." He used the paper, crinkling it. "This paper is made to test one's elemental affinity. Channel a light amount of chakra onto it and it'll react in different ways depending on what your primary affinity is. Mine's lightning, so the paper became wrinkled." He gave me a second piece of paper. "You try."
I complied, channeling a bit of my chakra into the paper. "Well what a coincidence," I said, referring to the fact that my paper was now as crumpled as his was. "We have the same element, don't we?"
"Yes, that's what that means. I suppose we'll start with the lightning exercises, then?"
I called Chikage back, and she reentered me without Kakashi even seeming to notice. For whatever reason, her chakra signature was muted whenever she was inside a shadow, and she could easily suppress her signature even more and spread herself out to lower the density of her chakra in the shadows, so the only way he would've noticed was when we joined or if his Sharingan was out. It would've been the perfect ability for stealth if not for the fact that she couldn't bring anything with her, and I was already trying to think of ways around that one little weakness. Well, there was also the little snag of how she needed shadows, but really, where aren't there shadows?
"Let's start this lightshow, then," I said with a smile.
kukukuku~
And now for something completely different.
A rabbit bounded across a field near End Valley. It did not know what its destination was, just that something was... calling to it. It stopped by the roots of a great tree and began to sniff at the ground. Whatever it was looking for, it was there. It found it after a few minutes of searching. A small red stone, barely a flake, that glowed with some unearthly light. Now that it could see it, the rabbit's every instinct screamed to get away, that this stone was a predator, but it couldn't stop itself. Its body wasn't its own anymore. The now-terrified rabbit tried to fight back with all its might as its head came closer to the gem, but to no avail. The stone already had a hold over it, it just needed to touch it and it would be over. A spectre of death seemed to emerge from the jewel of death, ready to embrace the rabbit. When the rabbit's head was close enough, the stone lifted from the ground and adhered to its forehead. The rabbit screamed as a foreign presence entered its body, burning away its very soul to make room for something else.
I grinned a rabbitty grin and hopped around a bit, testing out my new rabbity body. It was a shame that I could only gain a proper body by stealing it from a living creature, but what can you do? I sniffed at the ground with my new nose. The rabbit's sense of smell was different from my original's, but when I took over the rabbit's brain I gained complete access to all its memories, so I was able to adjust soon enough. Plus I noticed that I could understand rabbits now. I sent a telepathic message back to Kouki and Chikage.
"You find a body?" they asked.
"Yup. Rabbit. Surprisingly good chakra affinity, despite being wild," I replied.
"Cool. Right, you should probably act natural for at least a month, to build up plausible deniability." they instructed. "Then you can start doing supernatural stuff. Cannibalize the body and continue your mission."
I sent a scoff through our link. "I know what to do, I have all your memories."
"Stop being so sarcastic, you're not supposed to be me."
"Right."
"By the way, did you pick out a name?"
I gave a small rabbit grin. "Of course. If my first body after my 'resurrection' is to be that of a rabbit's, then why shouldn't my name be Usagi?"
"Cool. You'd better give at least one 'name of the moon' speech though."
"Certainly. I would never pass up such an opportunity." It may have purely been within my mind, but I was already preparing my cover by practicing my new mannerisms, at the very least those dealing with how I spoke.
"Right, I'ma get back to this stupid leaf, you go do your rabbit thing. Rabbit." I hopped around a bit, searching for some food. A deep cover assignment. It was going to be marvelous.
kukukuku~
I growled as I passed my chakra through the leaf. No matter what I did, it just wasn't getting wet!
"Did you try turning it off and turning it back on again?" Chikage asked me as she floated over me.
I rolled my eyes, cut off the flow, then let my chakra flow over the leaf like water once more. "Don't think that helped."
"Dude it's been a day," she said. "You're not Naruto, you don't have an army of clones to poorly manage yet still somehow get your thing done. Just take a deep breath, accept that this is going to take some time, and do the other three exercises that you actually did make some headway in. You don't have Tsunade-levels of control when we're unfused yet."
I stared at her for a second. "How are you taking this better than me?" I asked.
"I mean, two heads are better than one. I have the perspective that you're being a lil dummy."
I stopped trying to wet the leaf and started trying to set it aflame instead. Because I already had experience doing it with and as Chikage, it started to smoke after a few seconds. I removed my thumb, seeing a smoldering thumbprint on it. Chikage picked it up, then it just disintegrated. "Showoff," I griped.
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So...I just watched The Rise of Skywalker
And it was...a movie
Now, if you don’t want it spoiled, then don’t click keep reading, because I will immediately start after that.
Got it?
Good
Now that that’s out of the way
THERE IS A CANON LESBIAN COUPLE IN STAR WARS AND THEY SHARED A KISS, I AM DEAD
Sorry I just had to get that out of my system
I am not a movie critic, and for the most part I just enjoy a movie unless it bores me. But I have been saying that I will do this review, and I will, so I will just go over important part by important part.
Good?
Good.
The first scene
This is, hands down, my favorite scene in the movie. The way they introduced Palpatine and that we never really see his face in the scene is really menacing, but still oddly hilarious.
I mean, the man is hanging there quoting himself. He later literally said do it!! I’m surprised he didn’t start to tell the story of Darth plagueise the wise.
Plus, the fact that Kylo doesn’t want to join Palpatine and become his apprentice, but just kill him, is really cool to me. It shows a little different side of his character, that he wants to be his own and not just the next Vader.
Also, after Palpatine saying “I created Snoke”, there’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment of a deformed looking Snoke in a cubicle, so that’s that character's backstory. He was a failed clone all along!
Poe, Finn, Chewie & the Spy
The start of this scene is just pure fluff between our dear space husbands and their mom’s, husband's dog.
The revelation of the spy was cool, but I kinda immediately guessed that it would be either Hux or Phasma.
I really liked the chase scene, plus the banter between the characters. Character interaction is a thing I love in franchises, and this movie does a good job with it
Master Leia
I LIVE FOR LEIA TRAINING REY TO BE A JEDI
The Rey training scene though was...unnecessary, dunno why it was there.
Rey’s always been a kinda on-off character for me. I like her when she’s loose and chill instead of a “badass”. In this movie...I mean she has her moments, but for the most part I didn’t want her there
C-3PO, R2-D2 & BB-8
The fact that BB-9e wasn’t in this movie is a crime
I like Threepio, like most other fans, but he’s just like always been...there for me. In this movie though, holy shit did he shine!
To be quite honest, he was probably one of my favorite characters in it, just because he kept that lightheartedness in an otherwise angsty movie, with some occasional fluff.
What I really like about him is that they made this his movie! Artoo and BB-8 were barely in it, and when they were they didn’t do much, so Threepio could really shine! Literally, he’s made of gold. The latest eight movies he’s basically been bullied by every character on screen, no one really seems to like him (Poe did it in this movie, so it’s still a thing) but they gave him a lot of screentime and I like that!
I don’t like BB-8. He’s mostly there to sell toys, and I get that that’s what Star Wars is all about these days, but don’t make it obvious!! Cough, cough PORG!!!!
Artoo was underused as kriff in this movie. He did basically nothing, despite being one of the franchises most popular characters. My favorite moment in the movie however is when Wiped Threepio And Artoo reunite, and he actually sound HURT when Threepio doesn’t recognize him!! He calls him his best friend okay!?!?
Lando
!!!!
His introduction was so fricking cute! Chewie just went to hug him instantly, because that poor fluffy boy has lost enough!!
Threepio going to explain who he is, and Rey just going “We know who he is!” Is so heartwarming, like he’s a war hero! People idolize him that’s so cute!!!
Knights of Ren
Will get more into them in another section, but look really cool but really underused
Stormpilot, Jedipilot, Stormjedi & Stormjedipilot
Let’s get this over with
All three of the first ships are evident in this movie.
Rey and Poe arguing about BB-8 and The Falcon at the start of the movie...is basically all we get for Jedipilot but what’d you expect?
Poe making Finn general, their banter throughout the movie, the little very unnecessary fight they had, the reunion at the end of the movie-
THIS
Rey: So what were you going to tell me?
Finn: We’ll take it later
Poe: What, you mean when Poe’s not here?
YOU JEALOUS BRO???
Finn wanting to tell Rey something was most likely confessing some feeling for her, but then they survived and yeah, and it was fucking dropped?! Did JJ just forget about that???
Plus, I’ve never noticed this before, but Finn yells Rey’s name a lot.
The reunion hug between the three of them at the end of the movie is what kinda made me like Stormjedipilot. Poe and Rey holding their hands over Finn’s back while he buries his head into their shoulders, like yeah I like that.
Chewie’s “death”
I, to be honest, kinda wanted Chewbacca to die a little here. It would have made Kylo’s turn so much more compelling.
So it is my personal headcanon that Kylo did not know that Chewie wasn’t on that ship, and for a few minutes he actually thought that he, Uncle Chewie, had died. Because I couldn’t be the only one who saw a bit of pain on his face.
Kijimi
I first did not like Zorii, mostly because I thought she and Poe would have had a “relationship”.
Though, when Rey held a lightsaber against her throat, and she just impressively said “Not that it matters, but I like you.”
Gal, you GAAAAY
And also that twice, twice, Poe asks if they should kiss and she dismisses both tries, that I like. Good job movie, god job.
During the raid, you can hear female Stormtroopers, and I think that’s really cool. We’re in movie nine and first now does there exist female Stormtroopers that isn’t Phasma!!
Threepio’s wipe is sad and I liked it, but I feel that they made it a little too sad, considering it was afterwards mostly played as a joke and then they gave him his memories back
Hux the spy
Again, Chewie should have remained dead, but whatever.
I have no problem with Hux as the spy, I was just sitting in the theater mumbling ‘Fulcrum’ while my brother was looking at me weirdly, but what I don’t like is what they did with it.
For Hux just to be shot by some General we’ve never met before is just the equivalent of a letdown, especially since so many people like his characters. Including me, he’s one of the best parts of the Sequels!!
Rey Palpatine
Just so everyone knows, I saw this coming. I mean sure, I still liked the Qui’ra theory more, but when Palps started talking about how he knew who the girl was, then I was just like okay she’s a Palpatine.
What I don’t like is how they don’t talk at all of how this came to be. Like, I don’t even know which one of Rey’s parents who’s Palps child. Who the hell did he fuck?!?!
So yeah, whatever twist, bad execution.
Endor’s Stormtroopers
THIS SCENE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY I DON’T LIKE REY
They often do this in movies. Heroes have to do something, they can’t do anything at that moment so they have to wait, main Hero does it anyways.
IT’S ANNOYING AS HELL
Finn and the Ex Stormtrooper I can't remember the name of’s bonding moment was cute, but I just kept thinking to myself “Are they siblings? Because it wouldn’t be the first time this has happened,”
Finn getting mad at Poe is weird as shit and I don’t like it.
Dark Rey vs Rey
Huge letdown didn’t like it next
Rey vs Kylo, final battle
It was...fine, I guess. I like that Rey fucking stabbed him, that was cool.
Leia dying to redeem Kylo was dumb! I get that they needed to kill her off in a natural way and not just off-screen but come on!
Plus, if you would ask me, Kylo didn’t need a redemption arc. I think he should have died. As a bad guy.
Han Solo And Lightsaber Toss
Han Solo talking to Kylo was cool, though how does it work?? Was it a vision? Luke manipulations the force? Kylo only saw what he wanted to see?
That Kylo just tossed his lightsaber was symbolic and stuff, but a really stupid decision from his part. How are you gonna protect yourself now, huh? THE FORCE?!?!
Rey going into Exile
THIS SCENE WAS FUNNY AS SHIT!!
Just, Rey, thinking that every Jedi goes into exile, when they don’t feel like dealing with it anymore, and she’s fucking right!!! Yoda, Obi-Wan And Luke would be proud!!!!
Luke’s force ghost also has nearly identical hair to Anakin, which is adorable. Dunno how many that noticed that, since the people I’ve talked with about the movie didn’t, but that was literally all I could think about.
Knight Leia
When Rey picked up her lightsaber, my brother beside me was like “That’s Luke’s green one!” And I got mad because that’s not his lightsaber design at all. Know your facts bro!
That Leia was a Jedi is understandable, I mean was Luke not going to train her? But I’ve always seen her that she could use the force, but didn’t use a lightsaber because she’s badass.
I kinda also wanted her blade to be purple? I think it would have fit her much better, as she is probably the most balanced Jedi we’ve had for a while and she’s got a lot of anger that little Skywalker, but blue works fine I guess. Better than green.
Star Wars Endgame
I liked this scene, it was cool, Artoo got something to do, and Finn and Rose riding those horse thingies is an inside joke between those two at this point, convince me otherwise.
Lando And Chewie arriving though, and the First Order stating that they are “just people”, was really beautiful. Cool scene all and all.
Rey and Palpatine
Palps is still quoting himself! He fucking said “Do It” JJ knows what’s up!!
One thing that I’ve been trying to figure out since I saw the movie was what the hell was Palps’ goal? He said for Rey to strike him down (Said the same to Luke, is he suicidal??) and then he would become? Apart? Of her? What?
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense.
Kylo vs Knights of Ren
So these are Kylo’s guys, right? His inquisitors, per say.
Except these used to be Jedi, his clanmates, his friends.
So why the kriff did they all turn against him like that?? AND WHY DID HE JUST FIGHT THEM BLINDLY DUDE THESE WERE YOUR FRIENDS!!
If I could have changed anything in this movie that has nothing to do with ships, then it would be that at least ONE of the knights would have supported Kylo and not just blindly turned against him.
Though I must say, Rey giving Kylo Luke’s lightsaber through their bond, was pretty badass.
Palpatine steals Kylo and Rey’s bond
The. Fuck.
WHAT KIND OF FORCE POWER IS THAT?!?!
IF YOU CAN JUST STEAL A JEDI’S FORCE BOND, WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THAT WITH ANAKIN AND OBI-WAN PALPS?!?!? HUH?!?!?!
But for real, stupid decision, could have gone without it.
Jedi Rey vs Sith Palps
It was cool, a cool moment, I sat excitedly and whispered to my brother all the voices I recognized, I think Ahsoka could be heard??
...
I looked it up and yeah her voice is there, which means that she’s dead R.I.P Snips.
One of the better scenes of the movie, though I think it’s cheating because of nostalgia and love for these characters.
(I LOOKED UP WHICH THE VOICES WERE, AND WE’VE GOT FRICKING AAYLA SECURA, LUMINARA UNDULI, ADI GALLIA AND KANAN JARRUS!!!)
Reylo
*Sigh*
Ya know, I really hoped this wouldn’t happen. I almost wanted to skip this, and really make all the Reylo fans mad.
But I have to talk about this.
This kiss, should not have happened.
Now if you are a Reylo shipper, that’s good for you, I ship way stranger things than that, but to actually make it canon?!?!
Kylo having a crush or something for Rey? Sure, I can understand that’s he’s pretty much obsessed at this point. But for Rey, badass Rey who is pretty lesbian, to have feelings for Kylo? THIS IS NOT A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP PEOPLE!!
And that they made a toxic relationship canon, but not a gay one, really says something about Star Wars doesn’t it.
Death of Kylo
I laughed out loud during this scene. Not joking, people around me were annoyed. And that his clothes didn’t disappear? Is Kylo a naked force ghost? Did he do that for Rey?
Wait
Don’t answer.
Happy Rebels
The Lesbian couple that kissed was obviously queerbaiting, and you should never praise that, but that is probably all we will get Gays, so let’s just take it and cry on the inside.
Is that Stormtrooper gal Lando’s daughter? Because my brother whispered that to me, and I got those vibes too. Or is she way older than what she looks like and we were supposed to see her as a love interest?
The hug was cute.
Rey Skywalker
I will never accept this as canon ever.
To see the moisture farm again was nice, I liked that.
And for Rey to finally have her own lightsaber, and a yellow one too (I read a fanfic where she had a yellow one, was that like pre-seen??).
But the Skywalker thing...eh.
I would have found it cute if she’d said Rey Palpatine, as if she’d embraced her origin and decided that the name Palpatine isn’t just to be afflicted with the emperor, but also with her, the last Jedi.
Also, did she go into exile? Because damn, those Jedi do that a lot!
All in all, I liked this movie! I wasn’t bored a single bit while watching it, as there was always something going on, and I like when that happens. I don’t think that had happened since Empire with a Star Wars movie.
It isn’t in my top three, but it’s up there, and better than The Last Jedi.
Though I must say, they did take some things from Return of the Jedi and put it in this movie, specifically the ending.
Though I must say, and don’t hate me for this, it was better than Return of the Jedi okay bye
#the rise of skywalker#The rise of skywalker spoilers#The Rise Of Skywalker review#Stormpilot#finnrey#damerey#Finnpoerey#Reylo#I can't believe I used that tag
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The Lexxpocalypse: Prelude
(AKA, Dots seeks shelter in the Denny’s as she begins the hunt for the Lexx blogs’ true identities)
“...You know we’re supposed to be closed, right?” Tali asked the lone hooded ghost who sat at the bar of the Denny’s. Yes, the Denny’s has a bar now. No, they don’t sell alcohol, because too many of the ghosts are minors and aren’t allowed, but they does sell a pretty legit sea-salt soda, which Tali can’t seem to get anyone to try for some reason.
“I know, I know. But this is the only place I could go.” The ghost side and pushed back her hood, revealing the face of the Denny’s own infamous cook, @d-o-t-s. “I can’t take it anymore. They’re conspiring against me, Tali.”
“Who is?” Tali frowned. Dots leaned over the counter, seizing the neck of her jacket.
“The Lexx blogs,” she hissed, eyes wide. “They’re everywhere, all over the ghostzone!”
“Lexx�� blogs?” Tali asked while polishing a dumpster-shaped glass. “Sorry, I was with Technus on a trip to the human world this last week. Did something happen?”
“Something? Tali, everything happened. This is even weirder than the Phight Club.”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “I mean, I know the phandom’s been dead so long we’ve all lost our sanity, but I thought it would be tough to beat that.”
Suddenly something banged on the doors. The dim diddles-piddles lights flickered ominously.
“Don’t take my word for it,” Dots said, yeeting herself over the counter to hide behind it with Tali. “I think you’re about to find out.”
Then the door burst open, revealing a flood of Lexosaurus duplicates. They swarmed the Denny’s, laughing and snoring and meming so violently they destroyed half the fidget-spinner shaped tables in under five minutes. One Lexx even yeeted an avocado that exploded next to Tali’s head.
“O-kaaaaaay… I’m officially concerned,” Tali said. “When did Lexx learn how to duplicate? I thought Bug was the only phighter who did that?”
“That’s the thing! They’re not Lexx!” Dots replied, gesticulating wildly. “These are all other ghosts who’ve changed their appearance to impersonate her!”
“Wow. That’s some dedication right there.”
“It’s not dedication, it’s – it’s madness is what it is.” Dots crossed her arms, dodging a door that got thrown behind the counter.
“Hey, repair staff is on break! Gah…” Tali shook her head, patting the floorboards fondly. “The Denny’s wasn’t ready to handle another giant phandom shenanigan so soon. She needs her rest.”
“Rest is very important to all growing buildings!” One of the Lexxes said brightly before launching into a lecture on the importance of sleep.
“That one would be Lexosnorus,” Dots explained to the shell-shocked Tali. “Each incarnation of Lexx has a different theme. I’ve categorized over twenty-five different species. I have theories that some may actually be duplicates of the same ghost, but it’s all still in the early stages.”
“...You’re starting to sound like Wes.”
Dots sighed. “I get that a lot.”
“Hey, it might not be such a bad thing. You’re going to need his kind of dedication and skill to figure out who all these Lexxes are.”
“Dang right I am. But I can’t do it by myself. I’ve got agents across the ghost zone, but no place to base my operations. You mind if I use the Denny’s?”
Tali shrugged. “Once we get these Lexxes out of here, it’s all yours.”
“Thanks!” Dots beamed. “But… how are we gonna do that?”
“She’s got a few tricks,” Tali said with a smirk. “Denny’s, engage intruder defense system! Mark ally D-O-T-S! Protocol zero-three-YEET!”
As soon as the command was finished, a fierce wind swept through the building. Several of the Lexxes called out in confusion and chaos as they were blasted off of the premises.
“Huh. That was surprisingly easy,” Dots noted.
“Wind core.” Tali tapped her chest with a fist. “Some of the security staff helped set up the link before they went on vacation.”
“They didn’t do a good enough job, apparently,” a mysterious voice said from the other side of the counter. Tali and Dots both jumped, peering over it carefully.
“Another one?” Tali whispered, seeing the remaining Lexx clone. “Why didn’t my security system take them out?”
“That’s their general,” Dots whispered back. “See the ectoplasm dripping from their mouth? That’s @lexovorus.”
“Lexov– ugh.” Tali smacked her forehead before emerging from behind the counter to confront the Lexx. “Look, we don’t serve vore here, bro. Besides, we’re closed.”
“I’m not here for you, Tali. I’m not even here for the Denny’s. Not this time.” Lexovorus smirked, and Tali frowned.
“Then what the heck do you want?”
“Oh, you’ll see. But more importantly, Dots will see.”
“I will see!” Dots shouted, bursting from behind the counter. “I’ll find out who you are, Vorus! And all your Lexx friends too!”
Lexovorus chuckled darkly. “I look forward to seeing you try.”
And with that, Vorus vanished into the shadows. Dots’ eyes darted around, as if expecting them to reappear at any moment, but the Denny’s was still.
“Sheesh, I leave for one week and everything explodes.” Tali sighed. “But you know what’s going on?”
Dots nodded. “I explained most of what I know. They’re going around confusing everyone in the ghost zone. Some of them seem innocent enough, but others…” She shook her head. “Well. They all need to be exposed, by the end of this.”
Tali nodded. “One Lexx is about all the ghost zone can handle, if you ask me. Do you have a plan for how you’re going to find out who they are?”
This time it was Dots’ turn to smirk. Her white eyes glowed brightly.
“Oh, I’ve got more than a plan. Those Lexxes are going down.”
The Lexxpocalypse has been going on for a while, and after some discussion with Dots and some of the Lexx blogs, I’ve gotten permission to make a fic of it a la the Phight writeups! The other installments will feature Dots herself as the main character as she takes on the Lexx blogs one at a time. Each post following this one will reveal the identity of one Lexx blog. The goal is to get at least one installment up per day, but this may vary depending on my schedule. Posts will be tagged #lexxpocalypse and #lexxpocalypsefic so feel free to blacklist those if you were only following for the Phight!
#lexxpocalypse#mod tali#prelude#they kept setting everything in the denny's#it was too good an opportunity to pass up#much like with the phight writeups there might also be some other surprises C:
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Second Friday YJ appreciation
1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26
—————————— Private security
- Will has the dad belly! Lian is cuter and cuter! <3 (But it’s just me or she seems less Asian than in season 2? Where’s Jade?)
- Lucas Carr! :D (For those who don’t remember him, he appeared in the first YJ comic book and in season 2 when he teachs Gar at Mount Justice.)
- Why Dr Jace stays at Luthor Grande Hotel, in Metropolis!
- Bowhunter Security! With orignal Roy/Arsenal, clone Roy Will/Red Arrow and clone Jim Harper/Guardian (So if he’s Guardian again, what about Mal? He’s still a hero? Which one?) I love the dynamic of the Harper family and Roy calls Will bro!! He has finally dealt with his trauma (he seems to) and considers Will like he’s older brother! :3
- Dick in a security costum! Just like in Titans with the policer costume. He has a new outfit every Friday!
- “An old soul in an young body” Another clue for the Motherbox theory! So the first Halo is still alive inside or gone for good?
- Zatanna! TT.TT
- American genetically modified beef! xD
- Am I the only one who sees Jeff x Dr Jace miles away?
- “To the SUV!” My new war cry!
- Now Brick has red skin, it means he activated his metagene. How did he get out of jail by the way?
- I love how they show the Prince’s not understanding. He asks questions instead of jugement and “it’s a machine. I don’t understand.” instead of “You’re dumb” or something.
- I’m kind of afraid of Wolf sleeping. Don’t tell me he’s getting old and will die soon :(
- All Halo knows from her post life is violence, torture and hatred. No wonder she doesn’t want to remember...
- Don’t forget the clipboard! xD Will is more loyal to it than to his hat!
- OMG! Giovanni aged so much in just 7-8 years! He’s what? Between only 40-50! Side effect of Dr Fate’s control?
- “Wall” My heart, why? TT.TT So heartbreaking than Dick is too afraid to be part of a team because he lost Jason and Wally and Barbara gets injured.
- “I’m older than Jim.” So Jim was made after Will. interesting!
- Harper’s family business! Need more episodes with those 3!
- I really loves the humour in this episode! xD
—————————— Away Mission
- Forager! Orion! Wait, what a bastard! :o
- Gregor tries to protect his little twin brother and has compassion for the Quracis refugies. I love him!
- Bear! Wait there’s a thing between him and Dreamer?! The notebook with the photos! The nostalgia!
- So the New Gods use metaslaves? O.o
- Traci, Jaime and Bart! :D And Jaime finally talks! Now Scarab’s turn! “There’s no sound in space. The physics on the show is so messed up!” It’s Jaime or Scarab who speaks? Or Jaime took the comment habit of his bug friend? I definitely see Scarab saying something like that! xD So Traci watches the shw for the story or for Gar? “Hello Megan!” Their ringtone for the missions is the generic of this show! So cute!
- Cassie and Tim have a conversation without yelling at each other. That’s an healthy relationship. So I hope they won’t break up :( “Awkward...” Sorry Virgil, you seem pretty alone :(
- Jaime, why do you massage your side? Bart didn’t hit you that hard, did he? And he calls him amigo, sorry Bluepulse shippers... (Well, at least it isn’t hermano, so maybe Bart’s just pinning, whatever that means.) I was expected Scarab to yells “Incompatible!” to the boom tube... “Who watch the show for the physics? Who uses a boom tube for the physics?” I love the dynamic of this trio! And Traci is so adorable! Bart’s haircut changes every frame or what?
- “I hacked the Justice League’s computer!” That’s my boy! xD And G designation is for Grayson right?
- M’gann and Cassie are two mad girlfriends, poor guys (Jaime, Bart and Virgil) they didn’t do anything wrong :/ “Superoblivious!” xD
- “Excuse me?” xD The Yj comic reference with Lucas Carr! Brion who wants to impress Halo.
- Even in bug form, M’gann is still white! :) It’s me or Blue just growls?
- Guys, stop stressing Brion, you gonna make him fail :( What did I say? —‘ “My trees” So Lucas Carr is a neightboor or something? “Excuse me?!” New color for Halo: Yellow is for attacking. I want to see what the green does!
- I love how M’gann put down her little brother like the older sister she is. So she used to hide behind a green form and her little brother behind a beast? You can see M’gann growth throught the comparison with her brother. “I have been dealing with the red and green oppression.” Wait, so there are red martians too? And is for Darkseid he made the bugs made at the New Gods? So they have less allies against him?
- Every metateens we saw so far doesn’t look human anymore. I don’t know if thee Light are doing that on purpose so we could not recognize them anymore or it’s because the forced evolution is too much for their body :(
- Is Halo healing herself like a reflexe or does Sphere help the processus to begin? Violet? That’s so cute! Wait, another supermartian parallel!
- Bart still has the same energy! (I hope this is not an act this time...) I love the Team dynamic: Virgil helping Cassie and thir hand five, Bart trying to stop the bugs from attacking Jaime, Cassie rescuing Jaime, Jaime helping Traci :3 The weapon has to be similar to Genesis tech to hurt Blue however...
- Baby martians look... cute? I think when he kills the green martian, it was on the mental plane and not a memory since he has that beast form. The nostalgia! Everyone is back in season 1 and with their season 1 version of themselves, except Artemis and... why do you have to bring Wally in every single damn episode?? Conner is M’gann shield!
- And two more metateens dead TT.TT Wait, failsafe? Poor Forager! He just wants justice and kindness :( I love how Cassie and Jaime jump on his side and M’gann adds two arms to adapt to his appearance. I’m sure M’gann’brother made the green bug mad telepathically, because Mantis already knew Forager brought the Earthlings and Bear on New Genesis when he first stopped the bugs’ attack.
- I need more of the trio Traci/Jaime/Bart to see their friendship, Traci’s story. And more Cassie and Virgil screentime because we barely saw them in season 2 and in this episode :(
- Why Blue seems so angry all the time? He had like one positive line in this episode. Is he still dealing with his trauma in season 2? Is he angry at himself? I don’t know if it’s anger, frustration or self-hatred :( I just want him to be happy after the nightmare in season 2 :( But I think it would be more human if he still has to deal with himself after being mindcontrolled for months...
—————————— Rescue Op
- Black Spider and Terra. The goggles have to much screen time to not have an importance after. Who was Jackie? “All the bosses will be proud” So Shadows + Light + Darkseid?
- So Barbara is indeed in a wheelchair :( I love how she still can push Dick down :) And barbdick are a new couple :) We need another ship name, a more YJ like one :)
- The Outsiders trio is so cool! So Forager don’t use pronouns so much. So he’s a he, she or them? Wow, Halo knows a lot about New Genesis. Another clue for the Motherbox theory. M’gann is so done to explain she’s not a earthling: “I’m not from Earth” “I’m from Mars!” “Brion is the alien to Forager” this is so true. Thanks for putting this! I love how Brion is so enthousiastic to meet aliens :) He looks like a kid! So bioship is in a car camouflage. Maybe that’s why Halo hurt herself so bad :( Mars town xD “That’s what we were thinking too. We? Uh Me” (and Oracle xD) So is Tara controled, brainwashed, has her memories rewritten? Or is she willingly working for the Shadows?
- Why I think Forager x bioship will become a... ship? xD Like Will x clipboard xD
- Dick, if you don’t want them to go to the Shadows, why did you show Brion their localisation? --’
- Halo’s enthousiasm is so cute! Forager’s too!
- Why it feels like Sensei is manipulating Brion with words just to make him mad? I’m sure he’s lying.
- Can we talk about Brion’s extreme reaction to Halo’s death? Parallel to Spitfire maybe? And can we please stop killing Halo? I know she will ressurect but it’s still painful :(
- Why the ninja fighting style reminds me of Robin? Like an older Damian?
- It’s indeed Sphere who starts the healing processus. “Is Halo a new god?” Another clue for the theory?
- When Ra’s mention “the Detective”, Dick growls. Is he mad at Batman? Or at the comment? Ra’s isn’t with the Light and at the head of the Shadows anymore. So who? Sportmaster? Cheshire or Deathstroke would be good clues! Ra’s should be mad at Jade with how he said “Get out!”
- Talia with Damian? So who is... Jason?? An amnesic Jason. Ok. I’m fine. I just need to... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? (I don’t like the deisgn of Talia which is too close from the animated movies: no bra is definitely not a good idea to fight and she looks too white for an Arabic person :/ Damian is ok I guess?) Do Ra’s want to “return” Jason when he will have his memories back or to use him against the batfamily? Jason should have been trained by Sensei for Dick to not recognize his fighting style.
- Brion really looks like Conner’s mentee with his clothes xD The parallel with the first trio (Robin, KF and Aqualad) Why are you breaking my heart like this? Except they did save Superboy when we don’t have intel of where Tara is :( Dick is still so sensitive when we talk about Wally :( And he looks so much like Batman now: same speech. Same situation, same result: another team is born! Poor Violet :( And the guy with the spiderweb tatoo could work with the Shadows? Or am I confusing with RWBY? xD
3 episodes = 3 trio. I love it! :D I know we will have more scenes with the Outisders but I also need the other trios: more screetime with the Harperfamily (the bowfamily?) and the Team!
I guess we will see the Batman Incorporation next week? Since we didn’t see them at all in 6 episodes. And more second season team would be great too, they only have one episode so far :(
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The value and place of “good game design”
Last year, noted game design theorist, developer and podcaster Keith Burgun softened his stance on the theory of strategy games and game design as a discipline. I wrote 90% of this as a response to his podcasts back then, but when I read my own words it felt too negative. I don’t want to dunk on somebody for a commercial failure from the relative safety of not even having tried.
I’m posting it now though, because it ties into my ideas about Jam Games and Short Games, which I want to develop further, as well as my previous post about starting with simple games like Pong, Flappy Bird, and Minesweeper: Starting with simple ideas might not be enough. Top-down game design might be important after all.
Why not Game Design?
Part of Burgun’s change of heart was for what I would call “political” reasons, and I try to avoid politics on this blog. I hate how the conversation around game design grinds to a halt when some troll says “Aha, this looks like a game a Communist would make!“, and then the designer tries to explain himself and his politics and we stop talking about game design or the game itself altogether.
It’s one thing to talk about the politics, the political ideas and implications of a game, and quite another to look at the author and to try to read the authors politics into every game developed by that author. This is especially important when the author is outspoken about politics. People can be politically active and have strong convictions and just plain fail to convey their ideas through their game design.
Another reason for this shift was trying to give people more space for self-expression. Maybe you want to make something new and exploratory, or something short and poignant, or some “experience“ or “virtual installation” that is game-adjacent, but not even meant to be a game. Trying to ground “game design” in lessons learn from existing games, or trying to be precise with your terminology might be counterproductive. There is little overlap between the mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics, or affordances of Smash Bros and Firewatch (unless you count The Quiet Man, an artsy game that manages to combine worst of both worlds into a buggy mess). This difference between Command & Conquer and Bioshock is huge, and you can only find commonalities in the individual disciplines like graphics, UI design, or programming, and in high-level psychological and narrative principles of pacing and world-building.
Lessons in game design implicitly tell you how games should be. General statements about “game design” are bound to alienate some people. Artists who make short interactive pieces that are both experimental and personal at the same time, like Tale of Tales, Robert Yang or Anna Anthropy, are most susceptible to this particularly easy to disparage by accident if you don’t choose your words very carefully.
Lastly, it looks like the long development of Escape The Omnochronom, with many iterations on the game design and player feedback in early access, has informed his new approach to game design - just like Auro was the game that embodied the Clockwork Game Design theories. This quick look back on the development of ETO is interesting and sobering: https://keithburgun.net/escaping-the-omnochronom-and-moonshot-game-design/.
Wasted Design?
From a commercial point of view, it looks like a lot of the game design effort on ETO has been mis-spent: More than about interesting decisions and carefully balanced gameplay, players on Steam seem to want tons of content, random loot, and an epic, tragic backstory.
Most indie developers probably wouldn’t have completely scrapped all four prototypes, but released some of them as stand-alone games or as prototypes - either on itch, on Newgrounds, or a on mobile app store. One iteration of the concept - then called “Push The Lane!” - looked and felt more like a puzzle game, and might have been developed into a somewhat successful puzzle game on a mobile app store.
I might be wrong about this. There are many old, failed prototypes of mine that just didn’t work. True artists hate to see their practice pieces, and I don’t want to polish my all of old failed ideas that didn’t work until I can release them. I know why they don’t work. I’d rather try to make the ones that already work better. I’d rather start from scratch than working on a game idea when I know that it won’t work and why.
If you’re looking at somebody else’s failed prototype, you may think it warrants further exploration, or that it can ba salvaged, when the dev has already tried most of your suggested easy fixes and found that they don’t quite work. Ideas and game mechanics that work well in a short game, interesting based on their novelty alone, often cannot sustain a long-form game on their own - and that’s where game design as a discipline comes in.
If you’re just starting out, I can only urge you to fail faster, within days or weeks rather than years. Get feedback from players and other developers! See what works and cut your losses early! Don’t try to make a failed design work if you can use a better one! Try to start with a small game that works!
But if your goal is to make a long-form game, maybe the jump from a small jam game to a larger one is not just quantitative, but qualitative. You can’t just keep adding more stuff to Flappy Bird and hope it becomes Half-Life somewhere along the way.
Maybe the commercial bottleneck is not game design, but market research. The cool kids are all playing Fortnite now. By the time you finish developing your Fortnite clone, the cool kids will probably have moved on the the Next Big Thing. (I wrote this before the current wave of Auto Chess games. The next big thing only took half a year.)
Who needs Game Design anyway?
So Good Game Design(tm) seems to be only relevant once people have started playing the game. According to conventional game marketing wisdom, iterating on a part of your design can be all for nothing if you realise late in the cycle that the core loop has to be re-worked, and you need to create new content for the new mechanics.
According to conventional game marketing wisdom, a mechanically bland action platformer with good graphics can sell better than a well-designed strategy game with abstract black-and-white graphics.
An accessible multiplayer game can outlast a well-balanced multiplayer strategy game: You need your player base to grow beyond the critical mass to sustain online matchmaking and a competitive scene in the first place.
A game idea that is a great fit for a mobile game, small prototype, demo, or coffee-break browser game cannot always be turned into a long-form game. Many long-form games are impossible to distil down into a five-minute slice.
All that doesn’t mean that there is no market for good game design. There is certainly a market for well-made games, for good design in games, and for carefully designed games. These are not the same as game design though, if you go by the ideas from Burgun’s podcast. Game design is more fundamental, more about mechanics and interactive feedback loops, not about visual design, game feel or intuitive user interfaces.
The bigger your game gets, the more urgent a concern the actual game design becomes. If you’re aiming for a big commerical release, you need to make a long-form game. If you’re making a long-form game, you need better game design than you can get away with in a shorter one. When you start with a small core and add content and features, game design can sneak up on you, and you may end up with No Man’s Sky or Anthem.
My Funnel Model
First Impression: The first thing a player sees of your game is probably a pithy description of the game, and then screenshot, maybe a short video. What gets him interested in installing is a novel, clever premise (like ”puzzle MOBA” or “you play a crazy cat lady”), and your promotional screenshots.
When your potential new player looks for reviews of the game, only opinions, sound-bites and screenshots will reach him, because good game design cannot be easily captured in words and pictures. If the game design is hard to explain or doesn’t translate well to trailers or screenshots, you already have a problem. Labels like “fantasy“, “noir“, “battle royale“ or unique visual aesthetics can give you a way in, or they can turn players off.
Accessibility: This does not mean accessibility to people with disabilities in particular (which is ”Barrierefreiheit” in my native German, the freedom from barriers which exclude certain groups of people), although that kind of accessibility is also important. Accessibility in general means how easy it is to get into the game, in a similar way to how certain books can be very inaccessible by starting off with weird jargon you need to get used to, or fifty pages of dry exposition before the plot gets started.
Tetris gets difficult quickly, but stays accessible, whereas Dear Esther is impossible to fail, but quite dense and inaccessible in its own way. Whenever possible, it makes sense to introduce complexity and difficulty only gradually.
Innovation: Next you have to compete with all the other games in the user’s game library. If the novelty of the elevator pitch doesn’t translate into innovative gameplay, your player might just go back to playing Minecraft, Fortnite, or Hearthstone again. If the game is not accessible and engaging early on, then the player might quit early and not even get to the novel or innovative part. The innovative part must be accessible in itself, without feeling forced or tacked on, and it must feel natural to use it.
Some AAA games try to solve this by early on giving the player “a taste” of what’s to come, for example by giving all the spells in the magic system to the player during a flashback sequence in the first level. Then they take away the innovative game mechanics and proceed with a bunch of boring third-person action adventure RPG shooter things for half the game.
Core Gameplay Loop: This is where the good game design comes in. This is also the part that makes your players recommend the game to their friends.
In addition to good game design, adjacent qualities like responsive control design/game feel, clear visual feedback, legible game state, and quality-of-life features also become relevant when the player goes through the core loop a couple of times. Even when the controls and mechanics of your game are easy to learn, they can still be boring, tedious, or distracting.
Earlier this year, a game with an interesting premise, cool visual aesthetic, and some innovative mechanics on top of the classic JRPG formula was released on the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, neither the mechanics of combat nor the NPC dialogue were very engaging, or fun. The game got a lot of attention, but that attention culminated in mixed to bad reviews.
Getting the steps up to here right will give your game more eyeballs, and will get people to try it or even write about it. Getting the core gameplay loop right will make people enjoy and play your game more after that.
Scope: The more content there is - that can be quests, levels, guns, monsters, puzzles - the longer you can keep the core loop going. The amount of meaningfully “new” content you can put into your game is limited by the game design though. Just adding “two billions of guns“ won’t cut it if the gameplay difference between different pieces of content is not meaningful. The value of additional content also depends on the game design. Some games get more value out of their content. Mario Kart 8 for the Nintendo Switch has ten pre-arranged tournaments with for racetracks each. That doesn’t look like a lot of content, but the game gets a large amount of replay value out of them.
Sometimes the scope of a game is limited by the design and the core loop. Some puzzle game mechanics have only a handful of interesting puzzles in them, and are more appropriate for a one-off puzzle set piece in a larger action game than for a dedicated puzzle game.
Some game genres, like point-and-click adventures, are mainly constrained by the scope of the content, and a piece of content can only be used once. Puzzle- and strategy games can often squeeze a lot of value out of content by re-using the same units and mechanics in a new context or a different combination. RPGs are somewhere in-between, by re-using monsters, dungeon architecture, loot, and crafting elements, while quests, NPCs and villages must be uniquely crafted.
“Elegant” game design is not only good for its own sake, it also allows you to add more stuff into your game in a cost-effective way.
There is a flip side to this: Prototypes, jam games, mostly story-driven games, and demos don’t really need good game design at all. One can build a small game prototype based on novelty alone, without a way to expand the scope, maybe even without an engaging core gameplay loop. The core gameplay loops two or three times and then the game just ends.
If you want to make a long-form game, you have to think from the beginning about scope and longevity.
Grand unified theories of game design(tm) become more applicable the larger the scope of your game is. In a small game, individual aspects like game feel, visual design, music, “funny/edgy” dialogue or characters, and novel mechanics outweigh balance, level design, world-building, and well-written characters.
Depth: I am using “depth” somewhat loosely and colloquially: Depth is what keeps players coming back, and talking to each other. That can be endgame content, high-level competitive play, lore, or a modding/mapmaking scene. Depth can be speedrunning, or finding new, clever solutions to puzzles. Depth is finding new meaning in content you already know or played.
After I beat Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, or after Waking Mars, I uninstalled the game and moved on. Nothing is making me come back to Mark of The Ninja, Dear Esther or Thomas Was Alone. I don’t think I will ever want to revisit Torchlight, the first or the sequel. I enjoyed each of these games - or in the case of Dear Esther at least I appreciated it, on a detached, intellectual level. I played Nuclear Throne until I had beaten the game, unlocked every character, seen every gun, and gone to most of the secret stages. Then I quit playing. I have no interest in looping.
I played a lot of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. I played custom matches with my friends, I played on the ladder, I looked up strategy tips on TeamLiquid, I watched live streams of competitive games, and then I watched Day[9] analyse competitive games in-depth.
Back when I was a child, I played lots of multi-player games of WarCraft 3 and Worms: Armageddon. It never got stale for me. I played some multiplayer matches of Swords & Soldiers, but there is not a lot of variety, and it got stale rather quickly.
I know this evaluation of games and my concept of “depth” are both rather subjective. In content-heavy games, this kind of “depth“ can be hidden content, endgame content, side quests, and lore. In mechanics-focused games, depth and longevity are facilitated by game design(tm).
The recipe for popularity?
The funnel goes like this: First Impression > Accessibility > Innovation > Core Loop > Scope > Depth. At every stage, you lose some players, or potential players. If a potential player doesn’t hear about your game, that’s it. If a player looks at a let’s play or a review, and doesn’t understand what the game is about, that’s it. If your game is reviewed by a professional site, you can expect that they play through the main content. The longer players stay with your game, the more relevant game design(tm) will become.
Depth is beyond the scope of a review, but it will make people stick with your game for longer, and can make players show or recommend it to friends.
Depth and scope will make people stick with your game for longer, and make your game show up in Steam and Discord friend lists.
An engaging core loop will lead to good reviews and probably also good user scores.
Unfortunately, good game design is usually not the limiting factor, because we live in a word where we are bombarded with new game releases every day, and we have to decide which ones to buy, which free ones to download and play, or even which reviews to read, because there are just so many games that the limiting factor is time and getting attention in the first place, not how good - or “fun”, or “engaging” - the game actually is.
AAA studios already have our attention, or at least the attention of big gaming news sites, so they can compete for making the game with the best shooting or the biggest open world. AAA studios have an easier time getting a consistent player base for online matchmaking. In contrast to this, indies have to compete for attention in the first place.
However, once you have the attention of players and reviewers, you still have to convince them that your game is any good.
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Years in Review
Shiro and Matt have been dating since before the Kerberos mission- so what did their life look like after the Kerberos mission?
Spoilers for Season 6!!!!!! Very big spoilers for season 6!!
Also available on AO3
Also available on Fanfiction.net
Little known fact about Takashi Shirogane- he was in love with Matthew Holt.
Little known fact about Matthew Holt- he was in love with Takashi Shirogane.
Fact known only to Takashi, Matthew and Samuel Holt- Takashi and Matthew were dating when they went on the Kerberos mission that went so very, very wrong.
“Please go to sleep.”
“Shiro- we’re going into space tomorrow.”
“Exactly, so we need to get some sleep.”
They were lying in Shiro’s bed, which was admittedly too small for two people, but Matt and Shiro didn’t care.
“What do you think we’ll find?”
“Ice.”
“I mean, yeah, obviously, that’s what we’re going for- “
“Babe- “
“But it’s the edge of the solar system- “
“Matt, please- “
“So, what if we find aliens or something.”
“Honey, I’m begging you, please go to sleep.”
“What if we find crop circles?”
“Crazy theories are Katie’s thing, aren’t they?”
“How funny would that be?”
“It’s almost 2am.”
“Then you better shut me up Shirogane.”
And so Shiro did just that. Almost an hour later, when they decided to try to sleep again, Shiro rested his head on top of Matt’s and took a deep breath, enjoying Matt’s warmth and the familiarity of being with the person you love.
“You were so thirsty for blood you injured your fellow earthling.”
All of the air whooshed out of Shiro and he tried to remember how to breathe.
“You attacked my brother? Why?!”
No, it wasn’t possible- it made no sense. Shiro loved Matt, he knows he does, so why did he attack him? Why would he want to kill his boyfriend? He couldn’t remember any of this experience.
“No- it can’t be true.”
“I was there. We all were.”
No, no, no, he thought, he would never hurt Matt, he wouldn’t do it, how could he do it?
“I don’t believe it, there’s gotta be more to the story, I couldn’t have hurt my… friend.”
“I’m not gonna make it,” Matt said, sounding close to tears, “I’ll never see my family again.”
“You can do this.” Shiro said, but Matt only looked down and whimpered in fear.
Shiro moved on instinct. He dove forward, yelling and grabbed the closest weapon before turning on Matt and slicing his leg. There is no way he can fight if he can’t stand.
“This is my fight! I want blood!” He leaned down close to Matt and felt his face soften as he looked at his boyfriend. “Take care of your father. I love you.”
He was grabbed from behind and thrown into the arena. He tried to ignore the fact that the last time Shiro would see the man he loved would be after he had just severely injured him.
“Pidge, there you are.”
“Why did you hurt my brother?” Pidge asked, looking down, “You were his friend.”
“I did it to save him.” Shiro said.
“What?”
“My memory of the event came back when we were fighting the monster.” Shiro began. He sat down next to Pidge and told the story. Except for one line. I love you. It hangs in the air around him now. The first and only time he had said it and it was right after he attacked Matt. Great timing Shiro he thought miserably.
Pidge hugged him close, crying now and apologising for doubting him.
“I can tell you miss them. I know they miss you too. You brother and father would be proud of you Katie.”
Pidge gasped and looked up at Shiro.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Though Matt would kill me if he found out I brought you up here he thought to himself. The Holt’s all had one thing in common- they would do anything to protect their family.
Matt had never thought he’d be a part of a rebel group, let alone a rebel group out in space that fights against evil aliens who are trying to take over the universe. He also never thought he’d be found by his little sister who was a paladin of Voltron a.k.a. the defender of the universe.
And finding out his boyfriend was also part of Voltron and had crash landed on earth only to wormhole his way to the other side of the universe with his little sister, Shiro’s little brother Keith and two other Garrison students was just the icing on the multi-layered, gigantic cake.
But when he actually saw Shiro for the first time since the arena incident where Shiro saved Matt’s life it was… well… weird.
At first glance Matt didn’t even want to believe it was Shiro- it looked like him and talked like him- but something was off.
For years Matt imagined what his reunion with Shiro would be like; them both crying and running into each-others arms, Matt finally being able to say I love you and kiss Shiro’s grin off his face.
But reality was harshly different.
The awkward handshake, the awkward bro hug that was a semi-romantic hug for a fraction of a second, and a whole lot of strangers watching. Well, strangers to Matt, family to Shiro he supposed.
“Shiro?” He’d asked, stepping towards him in awe, “it’s so good to see you, um, sir.”
That’s when they hugged. Matt obviously knew they had grown a little since they’d been apart, but the way that Shiro held Matt just didn’t… feel like Shiro.
“Pidge never gave up on finding you.” Shiro said in response, with a voice that wasn’t quite right and a tone that didn’t fit. Does that mean Shiro stopped looking for him?
“Yeah, she can be pretty stubborn at times.” Matt responded light-heartedly.
Nothing with Shiro was really the same after that. They had become two different people and so Matt decided that they should take a break from their relationship. If they still wanted to they could try again after Zarkon was defeated.
They never did get back together.
They barely spoke after Zarkon was killed and Matt stayed with the rebel forces, Shiro staying with Voltron. And that was that. Matt felt like a part of him was missing, or something was broken, or he was physically injured. Being apart from Shiro was hell, but it wasn’t this new Shiro that he missed. He missed Takashi Shirogane, his boyfriend and the one he loves. But he must have died in that arena, when he was tortured and experimented on. He died long before they were reunited.
“Hey Pidge, who were you just talking to?” Shiro asked as he walked into the common room, watching as Pidge put away her communicator.
“I was just explaining what had just happened to Matt.”
“Wait, what?” Shiro asked, his head spinning. “Did you just say Matt?”
“Yeah, he went really silent and said he’d be here as soon as he could.”
“Matt’s alive?” Shiro whispered, almost to himself.
Shiro spent the next two days in a daze. The other paladins chalked it up to him getting used to this new body and the new prosthetic that Pidge and Hunk had made but he couldn’t stop thinking about Matt.
Shiro avoided Matt when he arrived, claiming he wasn’t feeling well and they could catch up later. Pidge had just shrugged and run off to see her brother. He could only avoid everyone for so long though, so eventually he put on a brave face and joined the others.
And there he was. Matthew Holt, standing a little further to the side than everyone else, just watching. Matt immediately turned when Shiro walked in, their eyes meeting almost instantly.
“Shiro?” Matt asked tentatively as he entered. Shiro couldn’t ignore the way he felt lighter when he saw Matt and the relief he felt when he spoke. Matt was alive. Matt was here. Matt was once again in the same room as Shiro.
Matt stepped forward once, hesitant and half reaching out, like he was afraid.
“Takashi?” he whispered.
Shiro couldn’t help himself anymore, and he pulled Matt into a hug, not bothering to fight back the sob that formed in his throat.
“God Matt, I missed you so much.” Shiro said, squeezing Matt even tighter. Something seemed to open in Matt and then he was crying too, gripping onto Shiro like a life-boat.
“It’s you,” Matt said through his tears. “It’s really you.”
Shiro pulled away from the hug but didn’t let go of Matt- who had moved his grip to Shiro’s upper arms.
“I should tell you what happened when I met clone-you.” Matt said, obviously working himself up but Shiro beat him to the punch.
“He fooled everyone Matt, so I’m not going to be angry or anything. You honestly don’t have to tell my anything if you don’t want to.”
“No Shiro, that’s not- “he cut himself off and huffed before starting again. “We sort of kind of broke up? I guess?”
Shiro felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He lowered his arms and took a step backward, trying to put space between him and Matt. Trying being the key word because Matt refused to let go of Shiro and stepped right back into Shiro’s space.
“Let me finish,” Matt said. “I could just tell it wasn’t you, but I didn’t want to believe the worst, so I just assumed we became different people after the arena, so I called it off. But it felt different and weird because it wasn’t really you. I knew it wasn’t you the same way that I know that you are you. If that makes sense.”
“So… what are you saying?” Shiro asked, the cogs turning in his brain.
“I’m saying that I knew it was a clone, so I stayed away but now that I’ve got the real you here I am never letting you go again.”
“Really?” Shiro hesitantly placed his hands back on Matt’s waist, enjoying the warmth. Matt was grinning now, and he stepped closer, his face coming within kissing distance.
“Your sister is definitely watching,” Shiro murmured, but he didn’t move away.
“I don’t care if you don’t,” Matt said, tilting his head slightly.
“I don’t care,” Shiro confirmed before closing the gap. Matt felt exactly the same as Shiro remembered. Shiro tightened his grip in Matt’s hips as Matt’s hands wandered into Shiro’s hair, tugging a little and earning a small moan from Shiro in return.
They separated only because they were grinning too much to keep kissing, but then Matt leaned away and looked at his hands, which were now smeared with blank ink.
“What the hell?”
Shiro felt a flush rise on his cheeks. “When Allura transferred me back into this body, my hair turned completely white. So, I’ve been putting this product into my hair to act as a hair dye.”
Matt burst out laughing, hunching over and gripping Shiro’s arms to keep him upright.
“God, I love you,” Matt said, still laughing as he straightened. Shiro gasped at that, his grip going slack on Matt’s waist.
“Say it again,” Shiro whispered, pulling Matt closer. Matt’s smile grew soft and he placed his hands on either side of Shiro’s face, before putting their foreheads together.
“I love you Takashi Shirogane,” Matt said, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Shiro whispered back and then they were kissing again, slower this time. Matt pushed apart Shiro’s lips and then they were kissing more franticly, like they had only just remembered how long they’d been apart and they had to make up for lost time.
“CAN YOU GUYS STOP THAT I DON’T WANT TO SEE THAT I NEED TO BURN THIS FROM MY MIND!” Pidge screamed, her voice a much higher octave than normal. Shiro and Matt pulled apart sheepishly and Shiro put his arm around Matt’s waist, so they were now standing side by side, looking at the other paladins.
“How long has this been going on?” Keith asked, stepping forward.
“Since the garrison,” Matt replied.
“WHAT?” Pidge and Keith yelled simultaneously. Then the last thing Shiro was expecting to happen happened. Pidge ran forward and gave Shiro a hug, tears forming in her eyes.
“I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you,” Pidge said, her voice muffled through Shiro’s shirt. “You should have told me, but I think I get it. Talking about him when he could have been… anyway, I get it.”
“Thanks Pidge,” Shiro said, squeezing her tight. She pulled away from him then and sniffed as she wiped her eyes.
“C’mon guys,” Keith said, raising his voice so everyone could hear him, “let’s give these guys some space.”
As everyone walked off Shiro tilted his head and kissed Matt’s temple, breathing him in.
“Matt, do me a favour,” Shiro said against the side of Matt’s head. Matt hmm’d in response. “Let’s not get separated ever again.”
“That’s not really up to us,” Matt responded, twisting in Shiro’s arms so they were face to face again.
“It is if you never leave my side.”
“That,” Matt said, leaning in with a grin stretching across his face, “I can most certainly do.” They kissed again, only briefly though. Shiro pulled Matt in for an embrace, content to just hold Matt, to bury his face in Matt’s neck and simply breathe again, in a way he hasn’t been able to do since their last night before the Kerberos mission.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it. Likes and Reblogs are massively appreciated.
#shatt#shiro x matt#takashi shirogane#matthew holt#matt holt#shiro#voltron#matt x shiro#season 6 spoilers#vld#vld s6 spoilers
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Fic Rec #4
Date ending: May 21
Below the cut are the fics chosen by us for our monthly rec! Including two community rec’d fics
You can also check out our rec page HERE for future and now past recs, and use the filters and tags to find something you like
If you have a fic to submit or rec, feel free to! But please read our FAQ first with rules and instructions on doing so <3
YOU’RE ALL THE WARMTH I NEED BY CHERITSUNDERE
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance | Hunk & Keith & Lance
Additional characters: Allura | Coran | Pidge | Shiro | Matt | Lance's Family
Tags: Tales of Zestiria AU | sorta - Freeform | Oblivious Lance | platonic klunk | Friends to Lovers | Friendship | Found Family
Stats: Words: 6253 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
In this world, Spirits, or Seraphs as they are better known, and Humans live in perfect harmony with one another in a symbiotic relationship. Humans provide Seraphs with energy through a bond with their happiness while Spirits in turn help Humans with their magical abilities, such as providing light magic in their house, blessing them with luck charms for good fortune in their occupation, or even preparing food or giving transportation to them.
Lance has been bonded to his best friend Hunk, an earth seraph, since they were little kids. Together they work at Lance’s family-run grocery store, where Hunk helps grow the produce and Lance does just about anything else. It isn’t until meeting and bonding with an abandoned fire seraph that Lance truly feels his life is complete though. With the new addition to their home, Lance finally has all he really wants in life. This is the story of that fateful day, of the days after that, and of the day that Lance became probably the luckiest human in the world.
FATED BY KATSUDONACE
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance
Additional characters: none
Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy | Alternate Universe - Magic | annoyances to lovers | Fate | Fate & Destiny | Curses | Witch Curses | Curse Breaking | Alternate Universe - Wizards | Wizards | Fortune Telling | Prophetic Visions | Fluff | Light Angst | Keith can't cook | Mutual Pining | Pining Keith | Pining Lance | Hurt/Comfort | Abandonment Issues | Soul Bond | Self-Esteem Issues | Lonely Lance | Socially Awkward Keith
Stats: Words: 11283 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
In a world of magic, Lance is a wizard and traveling performer. He possesses a special talent, the talent to read the fates of those he meets, which he uses to bolster his act. Life is good, though lonely, until he meets a hermit wizard named Keith, and both have their fates changed forever.
SAY MY NAME (AND EVERY COLOR ILLUMINATES) BY TALKING_BIRD
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance | Hunk & Lance | Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Keith & Shiro | Keith & His Dad
Additional characters: Keith's Family | Lance's Mother
Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates | Dreamscapes | Alternate Universe - College/University | Alternate Universe - Modern Setting | Alternate Universe - Flower Shop | Alternate Universe - Reincarnation | Colorblind!Lance | cheesy montages | Fluff and Angst | Angst with a Happy Ending | its the happiest ending tbh | Emotional Hurt/Comfort | Mutual Support | Pining Lance | Cancer | it's not keith or lance tho | Minor Character Death | Slow Burn
Stats: Words: 27834 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
“Well, that’s what you are, right? My subconscious talking to me? That’s what my aunt says dreams are, but it’s kinda weird that my subconscious hasn’t seen the ocean before since I’ve been around the ocean my entire life.”
“What? No! I’m--I’m not your subconscious, I’m your--” Keith starts, but he slams his lips together in a tight lock, then looks at the waves, while Lance sits up taller and leans in closer to him.
“My what?”
“Just--!” Keith starts, getting frustrated and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m real, okay? We’re not--this isn’t--we’re having a shared dream.”
Lance never thought he had a soulmate, but when he finds himself dreaming about a boy on Varadero Beach and in a southwestern desert, he learns they have an incredibly rare soul link–-one that allows them to form an unusually strong bond before they meet, but also exposes their greatest vulnerabilities to each other.
DARK BLUE CHAPTER 10 BY TALKING_BIRD
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance | Hunk & Lance | Matt Holt & Shiro | Keith & Shiro
Additional characters: Shiro clone | Allura | Pidge | Lotor | Coran | Ezor | Zethrid | Narti | Acxa | Alien OCs
Tags: Corrupt!Lance | Corruption | Mind Control | Manipulation | Emotional Manipulation | Emotional Hurt/Comfort | Canon-Typical Violence | Canon Compliant | Canon Continuation | Self-Esteem | Mutual Pining | Angst | Lance-centric | Slow Burn | Major Character Injury | Injury Recovery | Angst with a Happy Ending | Reunions | Kidnapping | Prisoner of War | POV Multiple | Free-indirect discourse | Quintessence used as a mind control device | Garrison flashbacks | Action/Adventure | Female Pronouns for Pidge | Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | canon continuation of season 3 | Team as Family | broganes
Stats: Words: 115078 Chapters: 10/19
Summary:
As the war between the Galra and Voltron continues, Lotor has a plan to tip the odds in his favor including a well-placed android, the power of quintessence, and a kidnapped Paladin.
Good thing Lance was never the complacent type.
BREAK EVERY CHAIN ON ME BY KATSUDONACE
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance | Keith & Krolia
Additional characters: Kolivan | Lance's Family
Tags: Blade of Marmora Lance | Blade of Marmora Keith | Season 5 Spoilers | Post-Season 5 | Angst | Angst with a Happy Ending | Mutual Pining | Pining Keith | Pining Lance | Abandonment Issues | Self Confidence Issues | Violence | Injury | Visions | Trials | Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings | Mother-Son Relationship | Cuban Lance | Homesick Lance | Lance is Bad at Feelings | Keith is a Mess | lotor is evil | This fic works under the theory that Shiro is a clone | Insecure Lance (Voltron)Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron)
Stats: Words: 14406 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
Lance is tired of no one listening to him, tired of his fears and concerns being brushed aside. With his suspicions about Shiro and Lotor being ignored, Lance decides to go to the one person group that he knows will believe him, Keith the Blade of Marmora. However, emotions run high and situations become complicated. Lance must grow to move forward, but that's easier said than done when his insecurities bind him.
Keith was finally carving out a spot for himself in the Blade, finally feeling as if maybe he belonged somewhere. That's until his mother decides to return to the main base, and his crush suddenly shows up unannounced. It's hard for him to face his feelings when he's so used to fighting them. He needs to confront his issues or forever be locked in place, never finding a place where he fits.
THE STARS ABOVE NEVADA BY QUASARII
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance | Keith & Shiro | Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Keith & Pidge
Additional characters: Iverson | Keith's Father | OCs
Tags: Major Original Character(s) | Gay Keith | Bisexual Lance | Laundromat AU | a dash of angst | lowkey slow burn | Gays In Arcades | Wannabe Contemporary Novel | Coming Out | Lance Likes Philosophy | Bilingual Lance | Cuban Lance | Texan Keith | Pretentious Philosophy | Alternate Universe - Laundromat | Don't Ask Me How This Fits Into Canon | Galaxy Garrison | Keith has Social Anxiety | Shiro Is Flawed But We Love Him | Pre-Canon | i guess | Don't Examine This Too Closely | some time skips | finished fic | Greek Mythology References | if nevada-boo was a thing like weaboo i'd be it | a ton of broganes
Stats: Words: 92071 Chapters: 36/36
Summary:
“Tell me,” Keith asked, finally tearing his eyes away from the sky to look at Lance.
Lance frowned in confusion. “Tell you what?”
“What the desert whispers into your ears.”
–
One night, a few hundred years into the future, in a dark laundromat in the middle of the vast Nevada desert – Keith ends up meeting Lance by a turn of fate.
When they meet again in Galaxy Garrison for their junior year, an unlikely friendship blooms between them, as lively as the star-scattered skies, and as strong as the desert wind.
OUTWARD HONOR FOR INWARD TOIL BY
ASTRAL-KLANCE (KILLJOYCATLADY)
Rating: General
Pairings: Keith/Lance
Additional characters: Pidge | Shiro | Allura | Matt | Lotor
Tags: Slow Burn | Alternate Universe - Royalty | Arranged Marriage | Enemies to Lovers
Stats: Words: 28070 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
As the rival nations of Márea and Altea form an alliance after years of tension and border issues, Prince Lance is forced to deal with a treaty that is far too involved in his personal life, an infuriating Altean knight surrounded by shady rumours, and the rising threat of the Galra empire closing in on Lance's kingdom.
Community Rec
ON THE LINE BY NOTROVER
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance
Additional characters: Shiro | Allura | Pidge | Hunk | Coran
Tags: Alternate Universe | firefighter keith | Policeman Lance | Work-related Incidents | Pining | Mutual Pining | Allura is a great wingman | And Lance has a dog | also this is so cheesy im | Shiro's a total bro
Stats: Words: 14357 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
“Is it as fun as it looks? Sliding down the fire pole, I mean.” Lance’s voice was full of curiosity and what sounded like a tinge of envy. His breath curled into small clouds due to the cold.
Keith pretended to think about it. “No, it’s not.” He paused and gave Lance a smirk. “It’s more fun, actually.”
Lance laughed. “Way to rub it in, Red.”
“You asked,” Keith said, grinning. Lance made a face.
“I’d let you try it for yourself,” Keith continued, “but it’s a sacred right of brotherhood handed down from fireman to fireman. I’d be kicked out if I let you try.” Keith pretended to get teary-eyed for a moment. “Shiro would be so upset.”
Lance scoffed. “You’re so full of it, Red.” But Keith could hear the laughter that threatened to bubble out of Lance’s voice and suppressed his own smile.
“Maybe. But you’ll never know for sure.”
Alternatively: Keith is a firefighter and Lance is a cop.
WE’RE INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCES (TANGLED UP AGAIN) BY NOTROVER
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Keith/Lance
Additional characters: Hunk | Pidge | Matt
Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates | Fluff | Light Angst | Alternate Universe - College/University | Time Loops are a thing | also it's not a date but it's totally an aquarium date
Stats: Words: 6301 Chapters: 1/1
Summary:
When Lance wakes up to the second Monday in two days, he knows there's only one explanation: He's come into close proximity to his soulmate.
If he doesn't want to be stuck repeating the same day for the rest of his life, he needs to find his soulmate. The only problem? He's started falling for someone else.
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THEORY TIME FOR BNHA EPISODE 54
*takes a deep breath*
so, theory time. IN FACT BUCKLE UP CAUSE I’M GONNA TRY AND PREDICT A LOT OF WHATS GONNA HAPPEN BASED ON THE OP, THIS ONE EPISODE, AND A HUNCH WHICH ALL CAME TOGETHER AS I WAS GETTING PICS FOR THIS LIKE THE STARS ALIGNING IN MY MIND
So my initial idea was as follows: (I guess spoilers if I get this right, tho I don't count theories a spoilers ‘cause what the fuck do I know right? But I really think I’m onto something and I know some people do so u have been warned! Oh and legit spoilers for everything before Season 3 Episode 54)
I've been thinkin since the opening dropped that the uraraka and idda shots looked...
...off. (uraraka less so but mostly just cause it comes right after the Idda shot which is REAL SKETCH)
So.
Now.
After this episode I think it's safe to conclude that those are the two disguises that the naked chick from this episodes gonna use in the future.
But.
I am significantly more concerned after seeing how she acted.
Because.
To me...
SHeS SO CLEARLY THE CRAZY KNIFE LADY RIGHT?! FROM THE LEAGUE WHO ATTACKED BEFORE?! IM NOt THE ONLY ONE SEEING THIS YA?! SHES TOTALLY JUST PRETENDING TO BE A StuDENT TO FUCK UP THE WHOLE EXAM AnD THATS HOW THE LEAGUE OF ASsHATS IS GONNA BE IN THIS SEASON!!!
(And it is totally her right? the knife sounds? the weirdly sexual pining while fighting like she did with uraraka? The creepy obsession with Deku? The way she talks? THE WAY SHE MOVES? THAT WEIRD DISAPPEARING SHIT SHE DID? In fact I have half a mind to think they used one of the villain themes during that scene???? I CHECKED AND THEY DEF DID)
But then
I gotta question
How her quirk works
Cause can she turn into anyone? And how did she scratch deku? Can her transformation hide her knives???? But! I think considering her introduction (with blood and knives which seems more a motif of those who’s quirk also involves blood), the amount of time we spent focusing on her taking blood from uraraka and them taking time in the episode to be like 'but y pretend to be uraraka specifically?' I say it's a safe bet to say she needs blood from a person to turn into that person ye? That seems suitable to context and creep factor for a villain ye? So then
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STUDENT SHES PRETENDING TO BE RIGHT NOW?!
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY!
WHATS ShE GONNA DO TO MY BOY IDDA?! CAUSE THEY NEVER FOUGHt BEFORE?! SO HOW WOULD SHE GET HIS BLOOD?! WhAt ArE U GoNnA dO To mY bOY!?
OK but then I’m lookin at the OP ye?
And she’s one of the only villains around in this spit second shot. furthering my suspicion. With? Who else. Twos or twins or whatever, the guy we KNOW can make duplicates of people and control them like a puppet like he did with Dabi in the forest before- adding credence to the thought that knife lady also has some sort of infiltration-like ability. Since at the end of the last arc there was the idea hands-dude is gonna start fighting smarter each go around. Now the important question: does his clone have to be made by a willing party? Or can he make one of anyone (like an unwitting student) and replace them?
But u see it doesn’t mater
cause looking at the OP we see
This group-shot followed immediately by the singling out of
THESE’S TWO! (whom I may note are both hiding they’re eyes in the group shot but reveal them now when alone which is super symbolic bro) One of which I already suspect as knife-chan and one that could easily be a clone of any member of the league hidden by all that hair!!!!
BUT EVEN FURTHER STILL
DUE TO THE BLUE EYES IT’S PROB A DABI CLONE AGAIN!!!
AND SINCE IT’S A CLONE THEY CAN QUICKLY LEAVE VIA DISINTEGRATION IF DISCOVERED!
WHILE KNIFE-CHAN CAN SWITCH WITH ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE SHE ATTACKED DURING THE EXAM OR PREPPED BEFORE HAND!
BUT THAT’S JUST A THEORY, AN ANIME THEORY THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK PEACE
#bnha spoilers#bnha 54 spoilers#ep 54#bnha#theory#theory time#headcanon for this arc and character#im calling this ish right now!#thats the knife lady!#knife-chan#I haven't read the manga so DON'T CONFIRM OR DENY THIS FOR ME#I want that smug smug satisfaction of having it play out on screen when/if this happens
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What The Matrix Resurrections Trailer Reveals About Neo and Trinity’s Return
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Back when most blockbuster movie franchises became standalone trilogies and not cinematic universes, The Matrix Revolutions seemed like a definitive end to Neo’s story. He’d struck a deal to save Zion from the Machines and deleted Hugo Weaving’s infinite Smiths once and for all. But what had it cost him? His sight, his life, and losing the woman he loved. It was a bittersweet end to The Wachowski’s magnum opus, but a conclusion nonetheless.
Until now. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will reprise their respective roles as Neo and Trinity for The Matrix Resurrections, which is directed by Lana Wachowski, who wrote the script with novelists David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon. The unlikely sequel is billed as a revival, not a reboot, and will also bring back Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe, Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian, and Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson. Conspicuously absent from the list of returners is Laurence Fishburne, who also doesn’t know why he wasn’t asked to bring back Morpheus. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, Eréndira Ibarra, Priyanka Chopra, Andrew Caldwell, Brian J. Smith, Ellen Hollman, and Christina Ricci round out the movie’s sizable cast.
Even before Warner Bros. finally revealed the title of the movie at CinemaCon this week, “Resurrections” was long rumored to be the verb that would accompany “The Matrix” this time around. It makes sense: a new movie starring Neo and Trinity will have to explain how the hell they’re alive almost 20 years later when they very clearly died in Revolutions. You could maybe argue that Neo’s death in the original trilogy-closer isn’t quite so clear cut: at the end of the film, we watch as the Machines carry the One’s body away, presumably to be liquefied but maybe not. Perhaps the Machines really do have the ability to plug people back into the Matrix, even dead ones (Cypher seemed to believe this). But even this doesn’t explain what’s going on with Trinity, who was straight up impaled in the real world when she and Neo crash landed in the Machine City. Sure, Neo revived her once in Reloaded but even Trinity said “not this time” in her final scene in Revolutions.
Needless to say, “Resurrections” isn’t just a cute way to say “revival” or “we’re back.” It means that the mystery behind Neo and Trinity coming back from the dead is central to the new movie’s plot. Just like “Reloaded” was really nodding to that movie’s big third-act revelation that Neo’s journey is on an endless loop that reloads itself each time he completes his purpose, and “Revolutions” was referencing the fight to break from that cycle once and for all, “Resurrections” is a clue.
This seems especially true now that some members of the press have watched a trailer for the movie. Also screened at CinemaCon, the trailer gave the audience their first look at a surreal return to the Matrix where an older Thomas Anderson never became Neo or met Trinity. io9 posted a shot-for-shot trailer description that reveals a few other intriguing details about the new status quo: Thomas Anderson is going to therapy (his psychiatrist is played by Neil Patrick Harris) because he’s having dreams that almost feel real. He’s prescribed mysterious blue pills that may explain his current state of mind — ignorant to the truth about the Matrix and his role within it.
At one point in the trailer, he runs into Trinity at a coffee shop and she asks him, “Have we met?” Later, Thomas meets Abdul-Mateen’s character, “who looks just like Morpheus (shaved head, tiny sunglasses),” according to io9. He offers Thomas a red pill…and then all hell breaks loose. Thomas and Abdul-Mateen are fighting in a dojo, Thomas and a blue-haired woman with a tattoo of a rabbit (a recurring symbol in The Matrix trilogy) get shot at by a sniper from inside a train, and then Thomas goes Peak Neo, stopping bullets and missiles in mid-air while doing other cool Matrix stuff with Trinity, all accompanied by Jefferson Airplane’s trippy tune “White Rabbit.”
“You’re going back to where it all started,” a businessman played by Groff says to Thomas at the end of the trailer. “Back to the Matrix.”
cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });
It sounds like 1999 all over again! But what else is the movie hiding behind the veil of nostalgia? The trailer makes a point to show that the things that happened in the first Matrix movie are happening again, but Neo isn’t in the same place. This could be a version of the story where Thomas chose the blue pill instead of the true understanding offered to him by Morpheus in 1999 and is still haunted by the choice he doesn’t remember making all these years later. But if Thomas’ purpose is to become Neo and resolve the anomaly within the Matrix, he can’t so easily escape his destiny.
Or perhaps the Neo we know has truly been “resurrected” inside the Matrix but doesn’t remember who he is. This could be a side effect of being plugged back into the simulation (again, Cypher hoped to forget all about humanity’s miserable reality) but he’s slowly starting to remember his past now.
Another possibility is that the Thomas in the trailer isn’t Neo the human at all but something else, perhaps a program created from the snippets of code left behind by the One’s residual self-image after his death, a new kind of anomaly that is becoming self-aware and must be corrected. The Matrix Reloaded introduced the idea of programs within the simulation that refused deletion, such as Smith or the Merovingian’s werewolf and vampire henchmen, so it’s possible that something similar has happened with Neo. Maybe the only way to correct this glitch is for the Machines to jump start the events of the first three movies.
The fact that Trinity is back too after dying in the real-world and not in the Matrix lends itself to the theory that Resurrections simply follows a new cycle of war between Zion and the Machines in a new version of the Matrix. Despite Neo’s victory at the end of Revolutions, the cycle is inevitable and events are simply repeating themselves anyway — it’s a bleak reading to be sure. But if it’s a new cycle, shouldn’t that mean that it should be a new group of humans fulfilling the roles played by Neo and Trinity in the last cycle since time continues to flow uninterrupted in the real world? Can Machines clone humans, too? Are these Neo and Trinity clones being grown in one of those fetus fields?!
One thing Resurrections could be setting up is a passing of the torch, with Neo and Trinity guiding a new generation of heroes (Jessica Henwick has long been rumored to play a pivotal role in this movie) who must fight for Zion. Perhaps Neo and Trinity have only returning long enough to show the new heroes the way as the Oracle once did for them.
I could be overthinking all this, but it’s hard to believe The Matrix Resurrections is simply peddling nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake as other revivals have, not with a storyteller as gifted as Lana Wachowski back at the helm. Ultimately, we’ll learn how deep the rabbit hole goes when the movie his theaters and HBO Max on Dec. 22.
The post What The Matrix Resurrections Trailer Reveals About Neo and Trinity’s Return appeared first on Den of Geek.
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I finished season 4 and i have feelings. Let’s do this.
I’m fresh off of season 4 so let me just kind of vocalise my opinions before I wander into discourse and have to reevaluate everything. Lets just do a pros and cons list.
Pros!
I think I had fun?
My boi Shiro is the black paladin again and I fully enjoy that (Though I have to wonder what refusing to let him fly was all about but we’ll get back to that.)
Pidge finding Matt was a really excellent episode. The writing and voice acting were top notch. Definitely the stand out episode.
Pidge in general this season is great! It was so fun to see her showing Matt around and being happy.
Matt is a fun addition. I like that the writers definitely have him and use him now, but he’s still separate. He doesn’t attend team voltron meetings. He’s not an honorary 6th paladin. He’s separate and I think that’s what the show needed.
Fun alien designs as usual
I really love that Lotor’s generals... just fucking bounce on him? Like they could have done a bunch of agonising over “oh jeez, what should we do? I loved Narti, but can we betray Lotor?”. Thats so done and predictable, and it’s not how real people behave. He crossed a line and they’re out. I dig it.
Lance and Allura have some really nice moments.
Episode 4 “The Voltron Show” is such a fucking stupid and pointless episode... but damn if I didn’t laugh a lot. And I think with the breakneck speed this season moves, you need that episode to just laugh at voltron on ice and Jurassic Park references.
Once again, the fan theory that Lance is going to sacrifice himself and die/get hurt is disproven. Which is good. I generally hate that idea.
They kind of fucking mention that Allura can magic? Kind of? God guys we’re so close to referencing one of Allura’s abilities in the previous seasons. I can taste it.
That little moment where Matt is like “Hunk, you’re a genius!” And Hunk’s just like “Bitch, I know it.”
Captain Oilia is a furry OC but I would die for her.
Hey! Female Galra! Neat!
Cons
Keeeeeeeeeeithjjhuerhwefoqfqofjewofpow!!
YOU COME HOME RIGHT NOW YOUNG MAN!
Seriously, i know he’s like finding himself and shit, but I ... missed him?
I was reeeeaaalllly hoping that Matt and Shiro would be best bros? Like guys I just... I just so badly want SHiro to HAVE SOMONE. And I don’t mean romantically. Like as an equal. Just someone that he doesn’t have to keep a brave face on for, and that he can kind of turn to and admit “I’m responsible for these children and I can barely keep myself together. How the hell can I do this?”. I was really hoping Matt might be that for him, but as soon as Matt called him “Sir” I was just like “.....aw dammit.”.
Fart jokes guys? Really? Seems insulting. And of course it’s towards Hunk.
THIS SEASON MOVES AT BREAK NECK SPEED
Allura and Lance’s moments were so nice, but I’m now starting to worry about Allurance being canon? Don’t get me wrong! That’s hardly the worst ship to become canon! When I first watched Voltron over a year ago, I totally thought Allura and Lance would become the thing, but.... Look basically guys I don’t want to be queerbaited. Allurance is not the worst AT ALL, but it’s not an lgbt relationship, so I’m skeptical about where that will come from. These writers have mentioned representation sooooooo.... where?
LOTOR YOU GET A REDEMPTION ARC WHEN YOU’VE FUCKING EARNED IT.
Did... anything happen? Like this is gonna sound really shitty but I mainly feel like what happened was: Voltron successfully took over a large chunk of the empire, found matt, Lotor’s outcast and he might be trying to come up with a temporary truce with voltron.
This wasn’t a character development season is all I’m saying.
No addressing Shiro’s whole deal. Clone/sleeper agent theory on hiatus. But it just makes you wonder why the lion swap happened at all.
Still no addressing Shiro and Keith’s relationship/backstory, Keith’s galra heritage, Lance’s homesickness and inferiority, ANYTHING ABOUT HUNK...
This was a fun, but a bit sloppy season. I’m getting a bit tired of getting more questions than answers though. Next season I would love to learn some character’s backstories and see some things addressed that were not here (i.e. How did Lotor come into existence? Does he know his mum is haggar? How’d he meet his generals? Allura has pink magic, can we please discuss.)
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A Wound Too Deep: Swapfell x Underswap (Part 2: Hitting the Ground)
Sometimes monsters fall down, but they don’t always turn to dust. Sometimes they fall into a new Underground, a bright and safe Underground....
Contains: language
(Under the cut due to length)
Snow had blown over his unresponsive body; he cherished the thought of being buried next to Sans. Just a little bit longer. His fingers brushed the soft fabric of his brother’s scarf. I’m coming, m’Lord. His eyelights faded into nothingness, and his sockets slid closed.
“Papyrus!”
For a soul-wrenching moment, Mutt almost mistook the voice for his brother’s, but it didn’t quite match. It couldn’t be him anyway. His brother, his Master and Lord… he pushed the thoughts away. If he stayed here, kept his eyes closed, kept his mind blank, he could pretend it hadn’t happened, that it was just some sick and disturbing nightmare. If only that voice, that voice so very much like Sans’, would leave him in the snow to dust.
“Papyrus!”
Why? Why did this ghost of his brother’s voice have to torment him? It sounded like an echo from the past, a time when Sans had been young, innocent, vulnerable. He clawed his skull, trying to drive the images from his mind- walking hand in hand with his babybones brother, Sans winning his first fight, beaming proudly and still holding the blood-soaked bones he’d summoned, his unguarded face when Mutt had carried him, unconscious, off the battlefield after he’d secured his place in the Royal Guard, a gaping wound over his eye dripping hot red blood into the thirsty ground.
His sockets stung with fresh tears. Never again. He’d never see his brother again. I don’t want this. I don’t want this life anymore. Not without him. Just let me die.
“Papyrus! Get up,” the voice pleaded, now much closer ... pleaded, not commanded. This speaker did not possess his Lord’s sharp tone or easy confidence, yet Mutt could not disobey. He couldn’t disappoint Sans.
He staggered upright, then swayed on his feet. How long had he laid there? Time meant nothing to him. The only thing that meant anything to him was the red fabric clutched tightly in his fist, and the voice that had compelled him to move.
He couldn’t bear to turn his head and bring the owner of the voice into view. He couldn’t bear the thought of a fate as cruel as seeing some other monster standing there, imitating his lost brother, but he also couldn’t stop himself as a weak and dying spark of hope twisted his broken soul. He lifted his head.
Sans.
Mutt extended a shaking hand towards the round, unmarred face before him- so like, yet unlike, his Lord. Maybe... maybe his brother had come back. Maybe this softer, rounder form indicated some sort of rebirth, some sort of karmic reward for the hardships of their existence. The Sans in front of him looked like he’d never seen battle, never had to kill, to starve, to suffer. Unsharpened teeth, eyelights a pale blue with no shadows to haunt and darken them, and an immaculately clean and undamaged battle body provided a glimpse of what the Maleficent Sans’ life could have been. It couldn’t be real, yet a desperate hope pounded in his chest.
If only this strange doppelganger wasn’t staring at him in abject horror. Those bright, pale eyelights traveled down his body, stuttering to a stop at each shocking sight they encountered- his cracked mouth and gold tooth, his spiked leather collar, the blood on his shirt, the scars on his hands that hinted at more of the same, hidden by his clothing. It became abundantly obvious to Mutt that he had not been restored.
Recognition turned to doubt on the features of the smaller skeleton. No. No! This couldn’t be happening. He lurched forward, struggling to control the movements of his tired and broken body. Sans retreated, fear widening his sockets and replacing his doubtful expression. No, no, no!
“M’Lord,” Mutt rasped, the phrase harsh with emotion. He was so close to Sans, a different version of him, but still Sans, and the smaller skeleton looked ready to bolt. He couldn’t lose his Lord again. He couldn’t survive his brother abandoning him. He wobbled unsteadily as he took another step forward. His legs buckled, and he pitched forward into the snow. Forgive me, m’Lord.
“Papyrus!” His not-brother ran forward and knelt at his side. He wouldn’t dust alone. Sans was here, and that was enough. Mutt smiled contentedly as inky darkness swallowed the world around him.
A (future) Royal Guard always stood his ground, but that policy was easier said than done when Sans discovered a skeleton monster with a striking resemblance to his brother half-buried in the Snowdin forest. He managed to get the not-Papyrus on his feet, but he couldn’t help being a bit intimidated by the other monster’s appearance. Imagine his surprise when the big, bristling skeleton monster collapsed! Fortunately, the Magnificent Sans was there to spring into action!
Sans hefted the taller skeleton easily into his arms, but the scary newcomer was easily as tall as Papy. Red sneakers dragged twin furrows through the snow as Sans jogged along the path to Snowdin, searching for his brother. As usual, Papy was snoozing the work day away at one of the Snowdin sentry stations, but he woke up pretty quickly when Sans shouted for him. It probably helped that Sans shouted for him from about an inch away from his skull.
“Papy! Look what I found while I was recalibrating my puzzles!” Papyrus thought his jaw would drop right off of his face. Sans had just plopped a very dangerous looking skeleton monster onto the ledge of the sentry station- a skeleton monster that looked suspiciously familiar. He checked his unconscious double’s stats. Sure enough, this newcomer’s name was Papyrus. The presence of a similar-yet-different skeleton that shared his name confirmed a theory he’d explored long ago in the Lab.
“Sans, do you remember when I worked as a lab assistant, and I had that theory about alternate universes?” Sans nodded, but his starry eyelights never left the other Papyrus. The Magnificent Sans had overcome his fear and come to the conclusion that this new Papy was extremely cool. He must have so many friends! “Well, I think you may have found an alternate version of me.”
Sans’ eyes somehow managed to light up even more. “So I have two brothers now?” Papy actually felt put out by his little brother’s excitement. Wasn’t one brother enough?
“Maybe, but only if we get him back to town. Poor guy is frozen solid. I wonder what happened to him?”
“The Magnificent Sans is on the case!”
“Uh, maybe you should let me carry him, bro.”
“Our new brother has already been a good influence on you! Now that you’re taking on more responsibilities, you can finally pick up that sock!”
“Nah.”
“PAPYRUS!”
Mutt regained his awareness in stages. Something weighed him down, and his instincts had recovered enough to tell him that he was trapped.He surged forward, out from under the heavy blanket that covered him, off of the plush sofa, and onto the floor, smacking his cheekbone on a coffee table in the process. The pain didn’t even register. He had to be prepared, ready to fight, ready to defend his Lord. His Lord… Recent events started to resurface in his mind. He was too late to defend Sans. He’d already failed.
Mutt curled in on himself, gasping from the crushing pain of loss. The empty feeling of loneliness yawned widely in his chest. Why bother trying to escape? Maybe whoever had brought him here would kill him…
“Look, Papy, he’s awake!”
That voice… more memories emerged from the fog of his thoughts. That cherubic clone of his brother had saved him, had brought him here, but why? As much as the voice and appearance reminded him of his own brother, that Sans was not his Lord. When the unintentional imposter entered the room , he experienced a breathtaking punch of disappointment and a more subtle, more soothing sense of comfort. That slight comfort filled him with guilt. How could he ever feel relief again after what had happened? How could he be so disloyal to his Lord’s memory?
A tall, lanky skeleton followed the not-brother into the room. The new guy regarded Mutt with narrowed sockets and exuded a strong sense of mistrust. Mutt glared right back, but the sensation of seeing a monster so similar to himself unnerved him.
“The Magnificent Sans is also an excellent healer!” proclaimed the monster who shared a name and face with his own lost sibling. Mutt couldn’t meet the small skeleton’s eyes; he refused to be drawn to this Sans. His averted gaze left him unprepared for the light touch on his shoulder. He flinched. He couldn’t allow this other Sans to touch him. “You were holding onto this when you fell.” A small, delicate hand pressed something into his own palm. Mutt didn’t even need to see the item to know what it was. His Lord’s scarf.
The other-him stayed standing, leaning against a doorway that led to a kitchen, but Sans seated himself on the floor next to Mutt. Mutt couldn’t move away. He craved that nearness, even if this Sans was not quite his brother. He couldn’t help basking in a magical aura comparable to his Lord’s. It paled in comparison to something he could never have again, yet somehow it gave him a small measure of hope.
“Do you know how you got here?” asked the tall skeleton in a voice disconcertingly indiscernible from his own. Mutt shrugged. He didn’t know or care. Imperceptibly, he scooted closer to Sans. Papyrus was observant enough not to miss the movement.
“I think you might be from an alternate universe, a slightly more violent one if your appearance is anything to go by.” Mutt listened indifferently while Papyrus explained timeline theories and weak spots in the space-time continuum. Anxiety flooded Mutt’s soul. He wanted so desperately to be near this Sans, to feel the security of having someone resembling his Lord at his side again, but his Lord’s scarf sat in his lap like a bright red accusation. You let me die, and now you’re replacing me? Mutt shifted away from the other Sans.
“You can’t both be Papyrus! So what are we going to call you?” Sans’ carefree tones intruded on Mutt’s private dialogue. He answered automatically.
“M’Lord calls me Mutt.”
The other two skeletons exchanged uncomfortable glances but said nothing. They’d noticed the collar, and now a nickname like Mutt? What kind of universe had this poor monster escaped from?
“Are you hungry? The Magnificent Sans is also an amazing chef!” Sans shouted into the awkward silence. Mutt just shook his head. Sans’ face fell and fresh loathing washed over Mutt. Now he’d hurt this gentle Sans’ feelings. He couldn’t eat someone else’s cooking though. That was one of his Lord’s rules.
“Maybe he wants to be left alone?” his own twin suggested. “You can sleep on our couch if you want, buddy pal friendo.” Mutt nodded absently. Sans and Papyrus excused themselves and went upstairs, and Mutt pulled the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around himself. He carefully tucked his brother’s scarf into the neck of his shirt and settled in to wait for morning. He didn’t want to sleep; he was afraid to dream.
It made no difference. Scenes replayed over and over in his mind- the gleam of crimson eyes, the flash of the knife, his brother falling to his knees in the snow. He clutched his skull, trying to make the images stop. His sanity slipped. His brother’s skull, sliding free of his neck. Why wouldn’t it stop. The human’s eerie smile. He couldn’t stand it anymore! Dust... so much dust, caking everything, choking him.
Panicked, Mutt scrambled up the stairs on all fours, aiming unerringly for Sans’ room. He knocked frantically on the door, whimpering, and it opened to reveal a very tired Sans in baby blue pajamas. He swiped at his socket with one hand. Mutt shuffled nervously. He had a sudden urge to run away, but Sans waved him inside.
“Do you need something?” he asked politely. Once again, he noted that Mutt wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“My brother...” Mutt gulped air, trying to form words, and Sans waited patiently for him to continue. “A human... a human killed him. I couldn’t... stop them...” Sans opened his arms, welcoming Mutt to him, but the parody of his brother’s dying pose twisted his soul further.
“I don’t know how to be without him...”
Papyrus heard the skeleton called Mutt knocking on his little brother’s door. No way would he let an unknown monster be alone with Sans; his bro was way too trusting. He slipped into Sans’ room only to find Mutt on top of Sans, pinning him to the bed. He heard muffled noises, and magic flared to life in his left eye.
PING!
“Get the fuck off of my brother!” Papyrus snarled, slamming Mutt into the wall.
“Wait!” protested Sans, but Papyrus ignored him. Mutt had covered his face, and Papyrus savagely ripped his hands away so he could look the filthy brother fucker in the socket when he dusted him.
Papyrus’ rage dissipated immediately. Mutt sobbed brokenly, his weakness exposed to both of them. The raw pain on the mirror image of his face filled Papyrus with regret. Sans pushed him out of the way and wrapped his arms around the distraught monster.
“It’s ok-” Sans paused. He couldn’t bring himself to refer to this grief-stricken skeleton as Mutt. -”Pup.” Much better.
“Mutt.” insisted Mutt. His Lord would have expected it of him.
Falling | Hitting the Ground (you are here) | Rise | History Repeats
INDEX
#vexy writes#swapfell#underswap#swapfell x underswap#a wound too deep#eventual puppyberry#eventual bbqtacos#angst fic#sf!papyrus#us!sans#us!papyrus
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Agilenano - News: Why the 'Doom Eternal’ Marauder Sucks So Bad
When Doom 2016 released, it was with a fire and energy unlike anything we’d ever seen before. Oh, sure, games have been violent, and that’s nothing new, but Doom 2016 brought personality to the fray. While the characters droned on about lore nobody cared about, Doomguy understood what we were here to do: rip and tear. Together, we did just that. With the release of Doom Eternal, things have changed, and not necessarily for the better, and nowhere is this illustrated better than with an enemy known as the Marauder.
Doom Eternal is a departure from Doom 2016; if you go into it expecting a sequel to the game you’ve waited four years for, you’ll be disappointed, because while it is a sequel narratively, it makes so many changes from its predecessor that it ends up becoming an entirely different kind of game. Where Doom 2016 let you embody Doomguy, Eternal has you putting on a Doomguy costume and exploring a Doomguy theme park. Here’s a fleshy level! Here’s a weird alien level! Why are there rotating flaming chains here? Uh… because Eternal owes more to Super Mario Bros 3. than Doom 2016.
It’s weird, sure, but it’s still fun, just in a very different way. Once you get past the extremely high expectations set by 2016, you’ll find a delightfully potent mix of mechanics, movement abilities, weapons, and enemies that creates one of shooting’s best sandboxes. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as dashing past a Tyrant’s fire, leaping into the air in slow-mo, firing a grenade at an arachnotron’s turret to force him into close range combat, then landing on top of an unfortunate imp and chainsawing him in half for more ammo. It’s great! It really is… until the Marauder shows up.
In theory, the Marauder is supposed to be the Anti-Doomguy; fighting him should feel like a duel. He has a shield you can’t break, summons adds constantly to fight you, reacts incredibly fast to your actions, and has a hitscan weapon with a minimal tell. He isn’t hard to beat—I’ve killed him in a matter of seconds—but he breaks every single one of Eternal’s rules. He sucks all the fun out of the room. He goes against the flow of Doom’s combat, and he’s the reason I have zero interest in playing more Doom Eternal.
Let’s take a step back and talk about what makes Doom, as a series, so interesting.
In the Beginning..
In 1993, id released Doom, and a whole lot of game developers started making first person shooters so similar that people took to calling the genre “ Doom clones.” But, as with anything that’s remotely successful, most of the clones didn’t quite nail what made the original as good as it was, either due to a lack of understanding or for a desire to experiment with something new.
Doom was a game all about movement, first and foremost. If an imp throws a fireball at you, you step to the side to avoid damage; because the imp’s fireball has a visible travel time, it’s easy to understand and try to avoid. The rocket launcher’s splash damage does self-damage, so it’s important to keep as much distance between you and your enemies as possible when using it.
On the surface, this sounds pretty simple; we’ve taken a lot of these elements for granted, and in some cases, they’ve changed over the years, sometimes for the worst. Take shotguns; in Doom, spread determined power, so distance directly correlated with damage. In more recent shooters, some designers use tools like damage falloff, meaning that even if every one of your pellets hit, your shotgun might as well be shooting confetti outside of its effective range.
Doom’s elegance is the way that each component of its design, in terms of both weapon utility and enemy ability has a distinct, understandable purpose, and all of those components work together in a way that encourages players to move, but it wasn’t just the monsters or the weapons, it was the level design as well.
'Doom' screenshot courtesy of id
In a level like E1M3, as you progress, one pickup causes all the lights to go off and imps burst out of a previously secret door behind you! It’s a great practical joke of the level design, and super memorable, not because it’s a surprise, but because it exists in direct contrast to the rest of the game’s encounters without breaking the level design.
You see, there are two kinds of first person shooters, proactive and reactive. A proactive shooter is one where you can see the enemy, often before an encounter begins, and you start to plan how to deal with them. It often involves scouting out the level space, considering routes and cover, which enemies to use which weapons against, and so on. Halo 3’s a great example of a proactive shooter; you’ll often find yourself wading into fights from the high ground, like rescuing Johnson from imprisonment in the level Sierra 117. In shorter term play, planning is about area control; moment to moment, you’re thinking about the space you’re in and how your movement and shooting lets you control that space.
Planning is a huge part of what makes a game engaging; if you can get players thinking about what to do next, you can keep them excited. Thomas Grip, best known for his work on games like Amnesia and Soma, has written about it at length here.
'Gears of War' screenshot courtesy of Microsoft
Reactive shooters are very different, games that often turn into literal shooting galleries, where you stand still and shoot targets. Games like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 are proactive shooters, but many of their imitators looked at mechanics like regenerating health systems and cover and decided to make games about staying in cover and moving as little as possible. Gears especially used cover as a way of encouraging a different kind of movement and planning, something its imitators rarely understood.
Doom was a proactive shooter; so many of its encounters were about showing you what you were going to encounter, entering the fray, and managing enemies by controlling the space until you’ve completed the encounter.
Reactivity isn’t bad; character action games like Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden Black are all about reactive play and would be very different as proactive games. These games spawn waves of enemies, and you dodge, counter, and parry your way through combat. You’re making decisions, sure, but you’re reacting to the enemies the game throws at you. It’s not so much about area control as it is about managing the enemies you receive in the order they’re given to you. Reactive play is great for melee-driven action games, but shooters are best for proactive play because ranged combat puts the focus on area control.
Over the years, as shooters became more cinematic games moved away from the pure game design abstractions of Doom and Doom 2 and closer to things that felt real. From 2006 or so until 2014, shooters became overly-restrictive, ‘cinematic’ affairs, more interested in showing impressive, expensive sequences that had more panache than dynamism. Good shooter gameplay seemed to matter a whole lot less than overly-restrictive set pieces. Gameplay took a backseat until a new wave of shooters like Titanfall and Destiny showed up to remind us what we were missing.
Then along came Doom 2016.
Rip And Tear
Doom 2016 felt so vibrant because it wasted no time trying to be a movie. As a shooter, it knew you wanted to shoot, and it was only too happy to oblige. While the levels felt like real, believable spaces—Foundry is exactly what a Doom level should be in 3D and Argent Energy Tower beautifully channels Half-Life’s puzzle-like verticality—the game understood that you are Doomguy, and your goal is to show up and kill as many demons as humanly possible.
'Doom 2016' screenshot courtesy of Bethesda
But… there was one problem.
Most of Doom’s levels center around gore nests, big gobs of flesh that require you to interact with to start the encounter. Go into a room, the doors lock, and you fight everyone in the room until they’re dead. Even levels without gore nests have the same flow. Rather than encouraging proactive play, these levels were better at just encouraging you to run around, reacting to enemies as they spawned, triggering glory kills to get back health and armor, and shooting enemies until they were dead.
While the game was absolutely excellent, and a masterpiece of level design and exploration, fights could get repetitive, which is why the back half of the game can feel so tiring compared to the first. At some point, Doom 2016 just stops adding new surprises and only seems to change the set dressing.
It’s one of my favorite games, but I’d be happy to acknowledge that there was room for improvement.
Instead, we got Doom Eternal.
'Doom 2016' screenshot courtesy of Bethesda
Back in 2014 or so, I started working with some friends on a prototype shooter. That shooter featured double jumping, mantling, wall climbing, ice grenades, damaging enemy weak points to change their attack patterns, and a lot of other things featured in Doom Eternal. We were even working on a shotgun with a grappling hook, enemies who needed to be damaged to drop armor, and an ice grenade that could freeze enemies. We had to stop because we couldn’t afford to make it, but it was, in so many ways, my dream shooter, and it was absolutely thrilling to see one of my favorite game developers channeling so much of the same energy I’d had in Doom Eternal.
For the first several hours, I found myself enthralled. I wasn’t sure how to feel about the Mario-influenced obstacles or the ultra-linear “encounter, hallway, encounter” level design; Eternal relies heavily on arcadey influences that seem at odds with its predecessor. I definitely wasn’t thrilled by the game’s insistence on story and fanservice, where Doom 2016 felt so much more focused and razor sharp.
Still, the combat and arenas were intense and fast paced, though they leaned more towards the reactive side, with enemies constantly warping into battle until I’d killed them all. There are some rough spots—Eternal wants you to use all of its mechanics in every encounter, but sometimes doesn’t provide enough ammo to complete the encounters (you’re supposed to chainsaw fodder enemies to get more ammo, but that falls apart when the game refuses to produce any).
'Doom Eternal' screenshot courtesy of Bethesda
Eternal wants to keep you on your toes with a great mix of enemies who push you through agility, area denial, or just plain aggression, like my favorite enemy in the series, the Hell Knight. While the game keeps you on your toes, and the way it handles enemy spawns pushes it closer to reactive play, Eternal tries to balance this with a system of counters. Cacodemons are weak to the Ballista, while the plasma rifle makes short work of the game’s shields.
Even though Eternal pushes you to stay on your toes and forces you to fight reactively, there are still ways to make plans, juggling weapons and managing enemies for some semblance of area control. Everything in the game has a counter that works against it. In its most aggressive moments, like the spectacular Slayer Gate encounters, Eternal hits a state of zen few reactive shooters can match, because you’re making plans, but it’s more like “oh no! That’s a Tyrant! Where did he come from? Okay, I’ll use my crucible on him right after I use this ice grenade to get rid of that Whiplash.”
Even though you’re reacting, you’re still making decisions.
When the Marauder shows up, decisions go out the window.
Early on, Doom Eternal establishes rules like “energy shields can be overcharged with plasma fire, causing them to explode, doing damage to nearby enemies.” The Marauder is the only enemy with a shield that takes no damage. Where every other enemy features projectiles and lengthy tells to allow you to dash out of their range, the Marauder’s weapon appears to be a hitscan weapon, meaning it has instant travel time and can only be dodged. He punishes you for getting too close or too far. He can teleport at random. Every rule Eternal sets up, the Marauder breaks… and it kills the flow completely.
He isn’t hard to kill, once you get the hang of him, but he sucks because he doesn’t fit.
Eternal is a very game designer game, like someone sat down with a bunch of spreadsheets and cross-referenced all the guns to make sure every enemy and action has some sort of clear counter and flow. While the combat encounters themselves are beautifully frenetic, they also have a tendency to get monotonous; great shooters allow for creative play, which is why proactive shooters have an edge over reactive ones. Games that look beautiful on spreadsheets, where every component has a distinct place, minimize that creativity even further, because they prescribe the ways you must play in order to succeed.
The Marauder doesn’t even allow that. To beat him, you have to wait until he opens his shield, then stun him, or fire a bunch of explosives behind him to whittle his health down. Neither is really all that fun. There’s no way to bait him into rushing you by, say, blowing up his shield, or taking area control away from me by using weapons to push him into a position you’d find advantageous. He’s immune to the super weapons like the BFG, Crucible, and Unmakyr, for no apparent reason.
Eternal is at its best when you’re playing actively and making plans, which are facilitated by its counter system, and while that restricts creative play, it’s still a valid way to get players in the zone. The Marauder has hard counters for everything you can do. He’s not hard, but he’s annoying. He doesn’t fit. He’s like an underwater level or one of those really fast flying enemies that are irritating to hit. He doesn’t pose a challenge, he just sucks all the fun out of the room because he requires you to play passively.
The Marauder feels like an indulgence that doesn’t really fit, but that’s true of Doom Eternal as a whole. No one loved Doom 2016 because of the story or the boss fights or the memes that didn’t exist yet, they loved it because Doomguy conveyed so much with so little. Doom Eternal isn’t content to do a lot with a little; it wants to indulge in everything. It adds so much without ever really knowing why. What does purple goop add? What do the weird Mario platformers or 1ups bring to the situation? What purpose does the Marauder serve?
Doom 2016 was a vibrant reinvention for the series that was fast enough to maintain the spirit of the game while still allowing for creative and interesting play. Doom Eternal wants to be something different, and that’s okay, because its emphasis on counters can still lead to fun play. But the Marauder just doesn’t fit; he’s antithetical to everything that makes Eternal worth playing. When a game indulges in its least-compelling moments, it loses the things that make it great. The Marauder is Doom Eternal’s biggest indulgence and its greatest failing.
#DoomMarauder #Bethesda #FirstPersonShooters #GamesOpinion #IdSoftware
Agilenano - News
from Agilenano from shopsnetwork (4 sites) https://agilenano.com/blogs/news/why-the-doom-eternal-marauder-sucks-so-bad
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