#don't worry :) i love starship more than words

[starpirateee]

hey no clue if you've watched starkid's Starship, but if you have, could i pretty please request a drabble of Bug struggling to live in his human body (sensory issues, dealing with his changed reflection, not knowing how facial expressions work, etc) :3

Starship is one of my favourite shows, and I am more than happy to oblige this beautiful and very real request!

It was all the promise of being a Starship Ranger. Bug had looked to those videos for his entire life, admiring every little detail until there was nothing left to admire, and then admiring them all over again. He knew the recruitment video off by heart, and had the exact tone of the Captain's voice nailed in his head.

All he'd wanted for as long as he could remember was to find a working starship with a crew, and became a Ranger in his own right. Now he'd gotten that.

Frankly, it was everything he could've imagined. Not only because the working starship was way bigger and way cooler than he'd ever thought, but because he had been given the chance to just be like the other humans on board. In appearance, he looked just like them. When his consciousness was transferred into that human body that Pincer had collected, he had first gotten excited about how exhilarating it felt to be so tall. That was a new one, and had given him a whole other perspective on his world.

At the least, he was twice as tall as he used to be, which meant that he could see everything from a much better angle, and he loved it. It felt absolutely incredible, and he was ecstatic at first.

That was about where the excitement stopped. Once he'd saved the other rangers from his planet, and once their commander formally invited him on board, things started to get a little worse, and then a little worse than that.

He could hear everything. He hadn't even realised that some things were supposed to make a sound in the first place, but the moment he boarded the starship, everything began to hit. Most notably, the various buzzes and beeps from the numerous working consoles, all creating a harmony that was barely in check. So many things were working at once that he became genuinely surprised when nobody else seemed to notice what was going on.

Before he could fully think about it, he'd started filling the empty space on his home planet with various re-imaginings of what the world would sound like if everything had a sound to it. Maybe the footsteps were this loud there, too. Maybe there were some bugs that could just… Hear the others coming from really far away, and that was a perfectly normal thing to hear…

Even when he was sitting alone in the spare bunk that Up had found for him, everything was a little too much. The bed was soft enough that even pushing down on it caused it to delve, it was way too warm in the air, and there was so much going on beyond his door that he couldn't even try and start to identify any singular thing.

That's how he ended up simply sitting on the ground in the middle of the room, away from everything. It was cooler down here, and he needed the chance to get used to everything. One step at a time, he told himself, but that was hard to do when everything had to be perceived so differently from everything else. All of it was so vastly different, too. There wasn't a single thing that felt the same as anything else. So, until he could figure out what was the easiest to get used to, this space on the ground seemed good enough.

The idea of clothes… Now that was a fun one. He liked the way his gilet sat against his shoulders, light enough that he barely noticed it, but weighted enough that he knew it was there. That was a combination he found he liked. The current uniform looked heavy- a total waste of energy, really- and he was glad his was eighteen years outdated, in a way. Sure, it made him stand out among the other crewmates, but he didn't mind that. He stood out anyway, none of them were bodyswapped insects with a dream bigger than themselves and a passion that outlived them five times over.

He was. He knew that passion and those dreams well. They were old friends of his. That's why he didn't mind standing out a little. Not just because the uniform felt better, but because he was always meant to stand out. Besides, they'd managed to convince themselves that he was a survivor of the last wreckage, which explained why his uniform was out of date. That worked for him, in any case. It did mean he got to keep this soft shirt and these trousers that didn't fit him properly but felt great all the same.

Eventually, he found the strength to get up off the floor. Once he'd decided that he was a little more comfortable in himself and the body he was going to be inhabiting for the forseeable, he saw it a good enough time to try and get used to something else. His boots creaked as he stood. He didn't even know people's shoes made sounds…

As he rose to his full height, he started to catch bits of himself in the mirror tacked to the back of the door. That was a whole other thing, wasn't it? It didn't really matter if he couldn't get used to the way things felt if he could barely get used to how he looked now… He didn't get a great look at the body in the cryo chamber before he made the decision to switch, and when it was all over, there hadn't been a chance to see what had changed. What he now looked like.

Beyond the spore of the brain leech, there was a shock of dark hair that stuck up at all angles. He'd tried to get it into some sort of order, but he didn't really have the first idea how people were supposed to do that. The mess was fine after a while; he'd figured that he could get some semblance of order from just running his hands through it until something happened. It was a little better after that, so he moved on.

His eyes were bright, but darker than he thought eyes could be. They were the colour of the soil, if a little darker. He was a particular fan of the way the light reflected in them, bringing out the colours and making them sparkle like fresh dew on a flower. He was quite sure this wasn't what Roach meant when he said everything was beautiful, but it was new and exciting, and in it's own way… It was beautiful.

Still, the new appearance was a whole lot too, and took a little more getting used to than what he knew for a fact he looked like. Staring into pools had given him enough of an impression his whole life, but now he was entirely different.

All this change wasn't good for him, he'd figured. For a while, staring somewhere between the mirror and the back of the door, he thought about February. She'd never seen him in any other way, even though he'd not come to her aid in this form. To her, this was him. This had always been him. And she'd considered that like he was just like her… Like they'd come from the same place…

He suddenly had an idea. To take his mind off how weird everything was and how much he had to get used to (he was almost guaranteeing that he was going to sleep on the floor tonight), he was going to show February around his home, so he could stand on familiar ground one last time and seeing everything he knew and appreciated while he still could.

#starkid #starship #bug starship #void offering #star mail #nova's tags → #hi :) hello starship fan :) #this ask is very autism coded and honestly. yeah #he is isnt he #also i love that you came in here with a banger request with no idea as to whether i've seen starship or not #don't worry :) i love starship more than words #also i need the court to know i named this fic 'the autism bug (literal)' in my notebook #thank you that is all

[darkladylumiya]

My thoughts on Tales of the Empire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[crying-fantasies]

Welcome aboard

Masterlist

It was nerve-wracking when the cryo pods with humans entered the ship, Inferno had to calm down Red Alert more than once and Magnus had to physically stop Rodimus from going to see the humans.

"It's a test", the red haired human femme, by the name of Anna Summers, was clear to state, "ten years in open space, we are going to see the effects to prolonged space radiation in the human body".

Megatron wasn't in the reunion back then, some things never change with humans, and Rodimus was busy trying to get a raise out of Thunderclash, and failing miserably, so it all landed in Minimus using his Ultra Magnus armor to get things clear with the cunning human femme before it got worse.

"You already had such test done back when your first astronauts were exposed to months and even years in orbit", it's clear what they want, how longer can a human really be next to them, maybe it isn't stated on the documents in front of him (what is it with humans and their necessity to make paper when trees are in the verge of extinction just to show their luxury products?).

"It's true but open, really far space is new for us".

"The quantum jump could kill the humans"

"Don't worry, as we're talking they're being put in cryostasis to survive the first jump", she had a strange energy around her, almost as pushing something to him but not saying it herself, "they all accepted the danger and are aware of their actions".

"I'm sorry if it's hard to believe when most of your selected crew barely reached the human accepted age of maturity", this seems strange no matter how you see it, most of the humans are barely 18 years old, some he is sure are younger but had their ages changed for some reason", Anna's smile doesn't waver.

"Believe me when I tell you that there is a better future aboard your starship that in earth for these people", she now seems moved, still putting a business smile on her, "just you know, I tried my best to get good people".

There was some desperation on her eyes, on her whole demeanor, but Minimus didn't ask her about it, he can only look at what humanity did to their own world and see that the cybertronian settlements on the planet are, probably, where the most fauna and flora are still alive and thriving.

So now here they are, humans waking up after the quantum jump and getting out of the pods, some empty their tanks and look sick overall, some that are specialized medics help their comrades while they wake up, Minimus looks around, some humans are hugging one another and he doesn't need to look at the group that is getting away from most cybertronians, he wasn't part in the war on Earth but it isn't that hard to decipher what Anna meant when she said that she tried her best when one human of that group looked at Toxin like he killed someone loved even when the mech had never put a ped on Earth.

It was obvious that hate would come one way or another.

But his attention was easily diverted to a strange sound and human words, some humans start to talk, no, sing: "There is so much on my mind".

Someone laughed after recognizing the song, "Oh my god, Eddie, that song is old as the cough!"

Many other also laughed while fighting back the nausea and overall cryo side effects, the song was bouncing around with their sing and Magnus could see Blaster almost dancing to the tune, "it's a nice song, Mags", used as his excuse to continue while many other humans, not the obviously hostile, tried to dance with him in strange euphoria, the one that put on the song stretched an open palm to him, a smile on his young face while most humans started to sing: "Just levitate, just levitate"

"Edgard Larsen, at your service, sir", Minimus took the hand of the human on his own.

Edgard had a nice and firm handshake, and a playlist full of rock and pop from hundreds of years ago.

#reader insert #transformers #tf mtmte #transformers x reader #transformers idw #terraformer au!

[artdecosupernova-writing]

Small Stories Hour: Darkspace Portent

Meet The Cougars or A Perfect Timeline in Practically Every Way

↳ "How am I more anxious about this than you?"

Warren and Thrive had borrowed a silhou dweller from gracious C'o—a smooth and sleek starship to not startle any human who sees it despite it being in stealth and the mirror shields raised once in Earth's orbit. It felt comfortable, the dweller, like the standard of intergalactic living since it was the first vessel Warren had ever set foot within, and the more comfortable he felt about this trip, the better.

Thrive tipped his face in Warren's direction though he couldn't peel his eyes from the navigation portion of the viewscreen telling him their estimated arrival date. "It's the anxiety," he said flatly.

Warren pushed a breath through tight lips and smoothed his palms up his forehead in an effort to soothe himself as he paced the bridge. "I'm only concerned that by going back, we're putting them in danger somehow."

"It's a valid concern. I've considered that possibility myself." Thrive did turn to him then, watching him outlet his nerves with interest. "I wouldn't let danger befall them so carelessly."

"I know." Warren slowed to a stop by Thrive's chair. "It's just…I've had close calls with them before and if I had my way I wouldn't want to ever know what it'd be like to lose them."

Thrive nodded. "They deserve to see you. It's been months."

Taking a seat beside him, Warren exhaled some more anxiety from his body. It didn't work as well as he'd hoped, however. "I am excited to surprise them. Mom's gonna freak and I don't even know how Dad's gonna react. I hope I don't send them into some sort of paralysis."

"The last time they saw you was when you departed from Earth with myself and Sussa, so I definitely suspect your sudden appearance will be a shock at the very least. A pleasant one nonetheless."

"Should I record the reunion somehow?" Warren started to smile at the thought of having footage of his parents uproariously celebrating his unexpected visit. "Do we have a tablet or something I can take with me?"

Thrive opened a small drawer in the console beside him, revealing a stack of handheld devices that looked like small panes of glass with metal caging surrounding the individual units. "One of these should suffice. I'll capture the footage, if you'd prefer."

Warren could hardly sleep that night, his heightened emotions winning out over his exhaustion, which he knew would put a slight damper on his mood later. Even Thrive sending placating feelings through the hand stroking his forehead and hair as they rested wasn't enough.

They made it to Earth's orbit and into the capsule, prepared to make their planetside landing when Warren gripped Thrive's shoulder hard enough to bruise were he anyone else.

"I can't do this," he exclaimed.

"Are you afraid of what they'll think of me?" Thrive asked, turning from the capsule controls to aim a patient expression at Warren. He quirked an eyebrow and gestured to his clothes—jeans and oversized gray hoodie, a major departure from the norm but the only clothes Warren had in his bag that could fit him at all. "Wearing whatever you call this, I'm afraid of what you'll think of me."

Warren blinked at the outfit as if he'd only just realized what it was. "I…I can't formulate the words necessary to describe how I feel about you wearing a hoodie. But, no…" He closed the top of the capsule over their heads. "I know they'll love you. They've been so supportive about my coming out, and they were fine with Brayden…"

"You're not sure what they'll think about you being involved with an alien to the degree that you are."

Warren's face scrunched in worry. "They've had to deal with people making fun of me and saying things like I would be the kid that would enjoy an ass-probing from an alien, and here I am coming home with an alien I enjoy getting an ass-probing from. If they put two and two together—"

The bewildered look from Thrive was only overshadowed by his need to shut him up. "Point made. The solution to that would be to refrain from casually discussing with your parents what you and I do in complete privacy."

"You're right. You're right! It's not their business. They're not even gonna mention it. Why would they? It would be weird and icky and I'd wanna leave immediately."

Thrive flew the capsule into Alaska, farther then into Somerwilde, taking directional cues from Warren pressing his face into the glass to determine where they were in relation to his childhood home. After a half hour of careful yet somewhat discombobulated navigation, Warren pointed ahead.

"Curious," Thrive said, noting the location of the single-level house as he passed over it to stay within cloud cover and to find a secluded place nearby to land. "Farther away from the cabin than I expected."

"Not by choice. If it had been up to Mom and Dad they would've lived as close to Grandma and Grandpa Cougar as they could."

The capsule nestled snugly within a snowy underbrush in the woods about a quarter of a mile away from the house. Warren braced himself for the cold before letting Thrive help him out, and the second his boot crunched against virgin snow, he took a final deep breath to ease his nerves.

Thrive squeezed his hand before pulling away to initiate their trek in the direction of the house. "I have a confession to make."

Warren ducked a tree branch. "You're not really an alien, just a guy impressively skilled in the art of illusion."

"No." Thrive paused, twigs snapping beneath his footfalls. "Your responses are cause for mild alarm today, but that's for later. My confession is that I, too, am anxious about this meeting."

"Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out."

"You're an adult, and you have agency over your life…though hearing about the close relationship you have with your parents is daunting. There may be a part of me that fears what would happen if they do decide that I'm not…"

They emerged from the woods onto the sidewalk of a suburban street very familiar to Warren. Other than a couple of cars going in opposite directions, traffic didn't exist. A few kids played in the snow in front of their houses, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other to raucous laughter.

Warren lifted his gaze to Thrive. "I love my parents, and I respect them. But their opinion of you couldn't sway me. I've seen more of your heart and soul than I've ever seen of anyone else. If anything, they'll probably discover at the end of all this that I'm not worthy of you."

Thrive's brow furrowed but he remained silent for the rest of the walk.

—

They stood in front of the 70s-built house and Warren felt an odd wash of peace. Thrive held the silhou device in a hand, awkwardly peering at the front door while Warren glanced up and down the street to determine if any of his mother's neighbor friends had decided to peek out to see what was going on.

Stillness. He almost wished the neighbors were out gossiping.

"Here goes nothing," he sighed. He tapped the silhou device. "I guess you can get this going now."

Thrive raised it, pointing the subtle lens at Warren and pressing a finger to the screen. "Anything you'd like to say for posterity before we face uncertainty?"

Warren sniffed. "It's really not a big deal. It's not like they don't know I went off to live my life with an obhelian. They watched me go."

"I brought an extra comm device for them so you can talk whenever and wherever you are in the galaxy."

Warren's jaw dropped. "I…really?"

"Yes." Thrive met his eyes over the top of the device. "The frequency and connection number are listed on the dweller. All they would have to do is set it somewhere with a good vantage."

The wild thought briefly crossed Warren's mind to delay the visit in order to properly thank Thrive under the tarp of a neighbor's boat parked in a driveway. He looked away and cleared his throat. "That's…awesome. I'm so glad you did that."

"Perhaps it's time," Thrive said gently.

A final nod and a confident stride to the door. Warren knocked on it five times. A stretch of nothing accompanied shortly after by a shuffling within the house until…

A pair of eyes identical to Warren's widened as soon as the door opened. A huge smile, a jovial shout, and large arms clamping around him in a hug so strong it lifted him off of his feet.

"My favorite son!" Argus boomed into the side of Warren's head. "I can't believe it—Hawk! Warren's home!"

"My Bear?!" Hawk shuffled into view, draping a gorgeous hand-woven shawl around her shoulders. She'd been interrupted while brushing her hair, and it hung loose, silver wisps highlighting the rich brown tresses. She stood at the door, dwarfed by both husband and son, yet she drew Warren into a tight embrace as soon as Argus released him. "I didn't think you'd come home! And it's your birthday soon, my boy!"

"C'mon, Mom," Warren said, already home within the scent of his mother's hair. "I'd never leave without coming back. Ever. I promised. Mom, Dad really cannot keep calling me his favorite son. We've been over this."

"I don't know what you're talking about. He didn't say anything like that."

"Mom."

"No, no. It's okay, Baby Bear. My beautiful, quiet Bear."

Argus noticed Thrive at that moment, and he cast a cautiously optimistic smile in his direction. "Hello, welcome," he said. His eyes crinkled at the corners and he beckoned with a hand. "Please, come inside."

Thrive lowered the silhou device and looked at Warren, and a strange emotion passed over his face that Warren found he couldn't decipher. It felt…melancholic. Surprised. Unsure.

"Yeah," Warren said, heart rising into his throat. "I…I've got something to explain to you guys. This is…really gonna rock your shit, I think."

"Please, call me Hawk," she told Thrive as soon as he approached the house. "My husband is Argus. I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

Warren squeezed into the house along with his father, and Thrive pocketed the device to give Hawk his attention.

"Orthrive'poliea."

"Orthrive'poliea," she echoed slowly, making sure to enunciate every syllable as best she could. "That is beautiful." She ushered him into the living room, where Argus had already settled his massive frame on the couch. "Argus, his name is Orthrive'poliea."

They passed the name back and forth until Argus got it right, and Hawk took a seat next to him, resting a hand on his knee and beaming up at Warren. Warren, on the other hand, turned to Thrive with his hands jammed into the pockets of his coat.

Thrive, previously stuck in an uncharacteristic daze, snapped completely out of it to take control of the situation. "Would you prefer I tell them," he asked.

Warren shook his head. "It's…gotta come from me. I should just say it. I'm just gonna say it." He whirled back around to his parents. "Hey, so. I'm in love with Thrive. I'm way in love with him. We've been in a serious relationship since we left. He's an alien, and I know that's weird to you, probably, but…I don't know. It's happening. This is reality. I'm sorry."

The following silence didn't last as long as Warren thought it would. Argus looked at Hawk, Hawk looked at Argus. They looked at Thrive, then Warren.

"You're…in love with someone from another planet," Hawk asked.

"I appreciate the tact," Thrive said sincerely.

Warren's shoulders sagged as if finally revealing it dropped a physical weight. "I don't think I've ever loved someone more."

Argus draped an arm over the back of the couch behind Hawk. "Right. Are you still gay, then?"

"Considering Thrive's the one who made me realize I'm gay, yeah, I'd say I'm still pretty fucking gay, Dad."

"You had me fooled with the way you'd go on about your colleague…what was his name? Freddy?"

"I'm gonna actually pass away right here on your living room floor," Warren exclaimed.

"I'm almost done with dinner," Hawk said suddenly, springing from the couch. "There's enough to feed the both of you as well! Your father brought home a really nice goose—"

"Mom," Warren interrupted. "Can you address this, please?"

Hawk stopped in front of the doorway into the kitchen. She hesitated, her hand on the wall. "I'd like to discuss this in private for a moment, Bear."

Warren followed her into the kitchen, uneasy within the heat emanating from the oven. He watched her take a sponge from the sink and wipe down the counters, busywork intended to absorb her own emotions until she could verbalize them.

"You know I love and support you no matter what. You're my son, and I can't lose you along with your brother and sister. I support you. I accept you happily." She looked into Warren's eyes. "I just want to know if you feel that you're strong enough for this. I want to know from you that you're not second-guessing yourself."

Warren felt a surge of emotion sting his chest and he set his jaw. When he spoke, his voice wavered. "Thrive makes me strong."

"You are strong." Hawk threw the sponge back into the sink, but the gesture didn't carry anger or even disappointment with it. Frustration, possibly. Long-suffering and loving. "Damn it, Warren Levi. You are the strongest man I've ever known. Act like it. Own yourself."

That command punched Warren in the sternum and he found he'd gripped the edge of the counter in a knuckle-breaking grip. "I wanna spend the rest of my life with him."

"Mean it."

Conviction seized Warren's throat. "I wanna spend the rest of my life with him, Mom."

Hawk took his face in her hands, breaking into a wide, teary smile. Her sepia eyes sparkled with mirth. "There he is. There's my Bear." She wrapped her arms around him again. "I love you so much."

Warren let her hold him until the oven timer went off, after which they parted to wipe their eyes and finish making dinner. Argus joined Hawk in the kitchen out of sight and Thrive sent Warren a questioning tilt of the head as soon as he caught his reddened eyes.

"Nothing," Warren said, grinning. "She was threatening to show you my embarrassing childhood pictures."

Thrive observed his face as he moved closer. "I don't think that's entirely true, but I won't push for now."

"It's alright." Warren pressed his fingers into the back of Thrive's neck. "It's good. I'm okay."

Thrive felt the relief and happiness Warren broadcasted through their touch and allowed the subject to rest.

After dinner, during which Argus kept shifting his eyes Thrive's way and asking relentless but inoffensive questions, and Hawk harangued Warren for information about how much he ate on any given day, Thrive presented the Cougars with the small tablet from his pocket.

"Warren can call you from anywhere in the Milky Way," he explained, leaning across the kitchen table to show Argus and Hawk the device. "You don't have to worry about anything. The call will come through, and all you have to do is tap here to establish the connection."

Argus took the tablet, peering at it through the lenses of the glasses he perched on the bridge of his nose as Hawk placed a hand on Thrive's arm.

"Warren is the only child that still talks to me," she said. "Other than my husband, he's all I have left. You must keep him safe."

Thrive rested his hand on top of hers and gathered his thoughts. He grew somber, honest. "I've…lost children. I understand your concern. Warren's safe with me. I've sworn myself to an oath so I could protect him at all costs."

Hawk seemed satisfied with those words. "I will hold you to that."

They arranged to stay the night and Warren stepped outside to get some air before he had to return to help clean up. He watched the sky, the vapor of his breath leaving his lungs and fading into the freezing breeze, and snickered to himself as he heard the door open and close again behind him before Thrive stepped into his periphery.

"This must be wildly uncomfortable for you," Warren said.

"I've gone through much worse." Thrive handed him a wrapped gift, silvery paper reflecting the dying sunlight. "Your parents got this for you. They apparently wanted to hold onto it in case you never returned."

Warren took the rectangular box and tore the paper off, lifted the top to reveal a beautiful baleen and turquoise ring. He removed it from the box, turning it, admiring the blue-green band around the middle.

"Give me your hand," he said. Thrive held out a hand to him, and he sized it against each finger before slipping it onto the ring finger. "If it doesn't feel right, you can take it off. I know you like having your hands free at all times."

Thrive stared at it for a while. Lifted it to his face, inspected every inch of it. The corner of his mouth turned upward. "Is this a proposal?"

Warren laughed. Then he stopped laughing. He faced Thrive, eyebrows creeping toward his hairline. "…Yeah."

Thrive didn't appear to be blown away by that revelation. "Twist my arm," he murmured.

"I don't really think I have to."

With a smile like he knew something Warren didn't, Thrive exhaled and gazed onto the horizon. "No, you don't. You have me wrapped around your little finger, th'saiya, and you take fewer pleasures in life than reminding me of this fact at every waking moment."

"If it makes you feel any better, I can show you those childhood pictures. I think there's a few of my DIY haircut and snipped ear."

They stood in silence. Then, his words buried inside a deep chuckle, Thrive broke the peace.

"Your father showed me when you were in the kitchen."

#small stories hour #Darkspace Portent #pair: Sun & Moon #repost

[super-ion]

Lisa's Story

Backstory for my ttrpg character in Outside Us Nothing

Part 1

Part 2

Lisa settled disconsolately in the service junction that served as her room. The space that had once seemed so cavernous could barely contain her any more. She gathered up her tentacles and closed so of her eyes except for the few she pressed close to her viewport.

It was unambiguously her viewport. The only way Jo was taking this one from her was over her dead body.

She focused on the tiny twinkling lights that drifted among the stars, each one another starship, tiny little worlds like her own home.

The problem was her home felt smaller and smaller every day.

She watched the pattern of life, picking out the local haulers, the fast couriers, the corporate and freehold security patrols. All of them were headed somewhere, either to one of the ice giants in the outer edges of the system or the local freehold or one of the five kerama points somewhere out in the black.

She didn't turn or open any of her eyes as the access hatch swung outward. Even if she didn't instantly recognize her mother's scent, she was the only person who would interrupt Lisa's alone time.

The terre woman settled in next to the viewport and wrapped one of Lisa's tentacles around her, squeezing it tight with her arms.

She didn't speak, just watched the ships with Lisa.

It didn't take long before Lisa couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I mean... Is Jo okay?"

Harper sighed and gave a tiny smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes.

"Jo's fine. No permanent damage. They're more surprised than anything. Must have been some fight though. You wanna talk about it, kiddo?"

"No," Lisa replied sullenly. Then a moment later, she added, "okay yes. Jo's been growing into forward observation. I went to get some star sightings and all of the best view spots were just totally covered and they told me they needed full field of view or something and I should go take sightings elsewhere and... well... I got upset."

"You know Jo takes their job very seriously," her mother said gently. "A pilot does need to be able to see where they're going."

Lisa didn't respond, she just tried to hunch up even more, wishing she could just shrink the mass of herself down into something smaller.

"And I would probably be remiss in my motherly duties if I didn't point out that you technically started the fight. I admit, I'm a little shocked. You're usually the gentle one."

"I thought Gwen was the gentle one," Lisa replied, instantly regretting bringing up her sibling's name when her mother flinched.

"Gwen is... fragile is the word I think I'd use," Harper replied eventually. "They never could stand up to Jo the way you can."

Harper gave the tentacle another squeeze.

"You know Jo's worried about you, don't you?" her mother said. "We both are, even if they won't admit it."

Lisa finally tore her gaze away from the viewport to stare incredulously.

"What does Jo have to be worried about?"

"If you'll permit your mother to answer a question with another question... Why haven't you started rooting yet? I'm no expert, but a Teuth your age, your size?"

Lisa shifted uncomfortably. Her mother claimed not to be an expert but she had made it her life's mission to learn as much about the Teuth as possible for the sake of her adopted children.

"I... I don't know, I... uh... I guess I feel like I'm not quite ready."

"Wrong time or wrong place?" Harper prodded.

Lisa was grudgingly reminded once again that nobody knew her quite like her mother, as if Jo hadn't teased her constantly for being mommy's girl.

"Oh, my sweet little Lisa," her mother said. "You were born with the stars in your eyes. All three of you were in your own way. You love being out here in the black, but you never loved this ship the way Jo does."

Lisa made a derisive snort, earning a playful swat from her mother.

"You know what I mean," her mother scoffed.

Lisa did, in fact know that her mother was talking about Briar Rose the starship and not the social liaison heuristic that had taken up residence in the ship's mainframe when it joined the crew a few decaperiods prior. Jo had become deeply infatuated with it, earning Lisa's endless teasing.

"My point is you love the people," her mother continued. "We have a good crew here now, but it's not the crew you grew up with. I know it's not the same without Srviin or Zuberi."

"Or Gwen?" Lisa asked softly.

"Or Gwen," her mother added with a tiny quaver in her voice.

Harper sighed and reached into her pocket to produce a bar of chocolate. Lisa made a tiny gasp and started to reach for it greedily, but paused.

"What's that for?" Lisa asked suspiciously. "It's not my birthday."

"No, it's not," her mother said with a slightly sad smile. "It's just... well, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you and Jo about... I've been thinking about leaving too."

"What!? No! You-"

"Hey, shhh," she interrupted. "It's not like I'm going away forever. One of Xatlaasa's clutch mates is a traffic controller on a freeport and has a job offer that I'm considering."

Lisa pondered this.

"This is about Gwen, isn't it?"

Harper nodded slightly defensively.

"That's part of it," she admitted. "It's been almost a decaperiod, and there's only so much I can do from a freetraveler ship. If I take the job, I'll have access to a lot more resources to widen the search."

Lisa didn't want to tell her mother that maybe Gwen didn't want to be found. Her mother always did have certain blind spots with respect to her children.

"You said that was part of it?" Lisa asked instead.

Harper unwrapped the chocolate and broke it in half. She didn't respond until Lisa had taken hers.

"Well..." Harper said, "the truth is you and Jo don't need me looking after you all the time. I guess I'm feeling my age catching up with me and I'm ready to try settling down."

Lisa didn't respond. How could she? The foundation of her universe had just been upended.

"Lisa, my stargazer," her mother crooned. "You want to go out and make your own way, make your own family, but you're afraid of change. Consider this your permission to go."

Lisa pulled her mother close and the two of them watched the twinkling points of the distant starships together.

~~~

Bonus: Lisa art that I threw together a little while ago

#outside us nothing #my writing #writeblr #Lisa the Teuth

[uponrightful]

“How did you know?”

“With a bucket… it’s easy to hide how I look.” He responded, pausing when Kenobi gave a nod after watching the digital scenario play out multiple times. “I can see it on your face… how I get around her.”

Anakin gave a nod, rocking his weight from foot to foot as if trying to feel out this newly found confidant Wolffe had provided in himself. “I didn’t know you could- I mean.” The kid struggled to say what Wolffe constantly was being surprised by every time he walked through that door. He didn’t blame Anakin for not knowing, or understanding. The truth being he didn’t understand it himself. Something told him the kid was on the same starship when it came to being around a woman. A mystery to say the least.

“Nothing you can plan for, I guess.” He gave a low sigh, feeling the stress of standing for so long building in his lower back. He wanted to take off his helmet off; Maybe relieve some of the pressure that way. But he could still smell the girl, her scent permeating into the padding. It was the only thing keeping him from taking it off.

“You don’t think I’m doing something wrong?” Finally that edge of advice crept into Anakin’s tone, reminding Wolffe of why he’d even made his way over in the first place.

“Anywhere. Frontlines with that saber of yours… or with her.” Wolffe paused, realizing that what he was about to tell Anakin, held just as much personal meaning as it did to anyone else. “Don’t let anything keep you from trusting your instinct. Do what feels right.”

I don't know how many words this is but I need to know 🤓

Commentary Track for Welcome Company

*send one in here!*

When I started this chapter, I was really in the mindset that Wolffe was essentially alone in the experience of having serious feelings about a romantic partner. And the idea of him meeting/talking to Anakin was something that not only felt right, but looked so good cinematically in my mind that I couldn't help but write it. Actually, I was so into it, that I didn't ever edit it. It's one of the only times I've never went back and changed anything. Personally, I never wanted it any other way.

Firstly, I liked the dynamic of Wolffe being the 'fatherly' figure in a way, simply because Anakin needs that. In a bad way. But Wolffe providing that, was a really easy decision because in many ways Wolffe is as much a father as he is a brother in most cases. It's only natural that Wolffe sees a young man -nat born or not- and feels a sense of responsibility in helping him make it through adversity. That's literally way he's a Commander in the first place; It's in his nature to be that way, he can't help it.

These two -IMHO- are similar in a lot of ways... Both of them hold their responsibilities to an extremely high degree, but they feel emotions just as strongly. Although neither would ever admit to such a thing. This makes for an interesting dynamic; Do they help each other by talking about the unspeakable? Or worry about breaking regulations too much, and let each other deal with it alone? So, when both of them admit to having feelings it's an impressive moment. They're soldiers, who desire love. That's why when Anakin asks "You don't think I'm doing something wrong?" there's this moment of pause, because they've both been battling that question, and actually have the support -in each other- to think about it without feeling isolated.

The poignant part for me in this, isn't Wolffe's advice at the end. It's actually when Anakin says “I didn’t know you could- I mean.” And the reason behind that, is simple but really heartbreaking. I'm upset I didn't play it up more looking back... All things considered, there isn't a lot known about what the clones are programmed with or without. So what Anakin's really saying here is: I didn't think you could love. Not, I didn't think anyone would like you because you're really grumpy. Humanity for clones is really subjective based on your personal experiences with them... at least canonically speaking. So, even though Rex is really close with Anakin, I wanted to really drive home how little the clones are thought of as human. To show that even people who appreciate clones are often misinformed or ignorant of just how normal they are.

But for Wolffe, he's really struggling at this point. Not only is he accepting that his feelings are real, but he's dealing with the fear of repercussions that could follow. I did this by focusing on how his eyes hurt. Wolffe knows exactly what can happen when you make a mistake. It will get you decommissioned. And in this moment, he's trying to fight between the fear of messing up again, and the desire to feel like he's wanted for more than his abilities as a soldier. That's a really hard decision for him, because he's so overly aware of how little his life means to the cause he's fighting for. There's a lot of questions being asked in his mind, and I wanted to give depth to Wolffe in a way most people don't. They always make note of his eye, but never make the connection that Wolffe has a more sinister view of the Republic as a whole because of it.

I love Wolffe, and seeing him interact in this way might look out of character to a lot of people... But for me, I've always seen him as someone who's got more heart than he knows what to do with. It's hard to love fully, when you're afraid of it not lasting -or being taken away. Therefore, a lot of what drives Wolffe in this scene isn't duty, but it's his unique need to care for people. Wolffe takes pride in carrying the heavy burdens of others -it's what makes him so sour- because people don't like doing that alone, and Wolffe has seen so much heartbreak that it's hard to look a life with a good opinion; So he does what he can to help others from feeling like he does personally.

I love this scene so very much. I could go on for hours about it.... But thank you for asking🤍 It means a lot knowing it stuck with you as much as it did with me.

#rightful answers #uponrightful #uponrightfulwrites #taz-107