#i exported way too many times to do it again

[sincerelyhannibal]

#inspired by a tiktok edit i saw and cant find anymore #the edit has been found its in comments! #d20 #dimension 20 #brennan lee mulligan #d20 fantasy high #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy #everyone pretend the pixelation is an artistic choice #i exported way too many times to do it again

[radiant-reid]

pov: your instagram but you're married to Spencer Reid

Liked by ash.s, davidrossiofficial and 279 others

y/n.reid: Spence sends me a text with this photo and the message do you wanna spoon?

view all 34 comments

d.morgan: he knows how to use the camera on his 20-year-old flip phone? -> mommyjareau: his 20-year-old flip phone has a camera?

doctorreid: i didn't receive an answer? -> y/n.reid: the answer is yes, obviously

Liked badass_em, d.morgan and 312 others

y/n.reid: the biggest gossiper out

view all 31 comments

babygirlpg: is that the mickey mouse mug I got him? -> doctorreid: yes, and thank you again! -> y/n.reid: it's all too cute for me

Liked by aarhotch, davidrossiofficial and 358 others

y/n.reid: BAU family Christmas at the Reids

view all 43 comments

mommyjareau: thank you for having us -> y/n.reid: love you <3

babygirl.pg: how do your lives look like they're out of a movie? -> y/n.reid: Spencer -> doctorreid: Y/n

Liked by mommyjareau, aarhotch and 309 others

y/n.reid: long day bud?

view all 24 comments

d.morgan: why am i not surprised he sleeps like a corpse? -> doctorreid: i do not -> y/n.reid: sorry babe but you do

babygirlpg: shoes? on my couch?? -> doctorreid: sorry... -> babygirlpg: you're forgiven

Liked by badass_em, davidrossiofficial and 294 others

y/n.reid: best wood joke, go

view all 38 comments

a.blake: Talking trees love to die-a-log -> doctorreid: When logs are exported to another country they are called depor-trees -> babygirlpg: The best way to get trees online is just to log in -> y/n.reid: i said best, these are terrible -> aarhotch: yeah, wood you cut it out?

Liked by aarhotch, mommyjareau and 342 others

y/n.reid: the only time Spencer is willing to wear matching socks

view all 22 comments

d.morgan: and jeans, what? -> doctorreid: i can do casual -> d.morgan: @/aarhotch we need casual Fridays so we can verify this

Liked by thecallahanclan, davidrossiofficial and 337 others

y/n.reid: the age-old question: what is Doctor Spencer Reid in deep concentration over?

view all 36 comments

babygirlpg: new cardigans? -> mommyjareau: new converse? -> davidrossiofficial: coffee? -> thecallahanclan: how many people own boats? -> doctorreid: the answer is Y/n

Liked by aarhotch, d.morgan and 325 others

y/n.reid: (S)uper (S)exy (A)gents

view all 31 comments

babygirlpg: very true -> y/n.reid: for the whole BAU

thecallahanclan: Y/n's Angels

Liked by davidrossiofficial, doctorreid and 341 others

y/n.reid: the cool kids

view all 39 comments

badass_em: miss you all!! -> y/n.reid: the coolest cool kid of them all ^^

babygirlpg: smoldering Chocolate Thunder, confused Rossi, badass JJ, and adorable Spencer

#spencer reid #criminal minds #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fandom #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid au

[genericpuff]

On today's episode of "Rachel exaggerates things to make herself sound cooler-"

Soooo this is a lie.

No seriously, this has to be a lie. I don't make these kinds of accusations willy-nilly. This has to be a lie.

First of all, if her file sizes are truly 11GB for each episode, that would mean her file resolutions would have to be stupid high, and I just ain't buying that when so much of her art comes out looking like fried chicken.

But again, look at the backgrounds. Crystal clear. Which supports my theory that Rachel has her assistants draw the characters flat and exports them as PNG's so that she (or another one of her assistants) can slap the backgrounds in afterwards which is why when they pinch and zoom, the backgrounds look fine (as they're added in afterwards) and the characters look like they've been drawn with chalk. The shading itself isn't deep fried though, which is, again, because Rachel adds in the shading in post after her assistants have sent her all the flats.

Anyways, moving on from that, if her file sizes are actually 11GB per episode, that would mean her resolution would have to be STUPID high and that would mean there's no excuse for panels to look like this. This is not a Webtoons compression problem, Webtoons does compress images for you if you don't do it yourself but they don't result in specifically deep fried textures like this, that's ALL happening on Rachel's side. If it were a Webtoons' problem, the entire comic would look like that, not just select panels.

This is also what the panels tend to look like in book form. The book art is clearly very compressed and blurred from being too low of a resolution for print, which means either the editor is not being provided the root files, or the root files weren't ever that crisp to begin with. Either one is plausible and either one isn't good.

But of course, I'm not going to make these claims without my own proof. So here's the file sizes for Episode 12 of Rekindled, the longest episode in the series so far by panel count and page length, clocking in at 42 panels and an average of 25 layers per page (and that's including the text layers which adds a good chunk on its own, the actual art layers are like, half of that).

Also, here's what a pinch and zoom panel in Rekindled comes out looking like:

You can still pick up on some fuzziness, but the lineart doesn't look straight up chunky like it does in LO.

Meanwhile, one of my longest episodes of TIME GATE: [AFTERBIRTH] has a file size that honestly shocked me with how small it was.

Guess how many panels that episode had?

Go on, guess. Take a second. Compare it to the file size of Episode 12 of Rekindled, take your best educated guess. Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] is also a full color webtoon with full shading and rendering that I used to upload once a week. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Ninety-seven.

Ninety. Seven.

Not only is that more panels than what LO dishes out on a weekly basis, but its overall file size doesn't even come out to be 10% of what Rachel is claiming LO's file sizes to be.

This is what Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] looks like, by the way:

(don't mind the blurriness that's working against my point, that's Tumblr, not me LMAO)

But, let's face it, I didn't want to just use my own examples as a comparison, because that seems unfair. I'm not an Originals creator, I just put myself under similar pressures as one because I'm an idiot who tries too hard.

So I asked one of my Originals pals. I will not disclose their name, but they are someone who works for Webtoons Originals and has similar panel requirements and deadlines. They also work with a similar flatting + shade workflow as LO, they have cel-shaded colors and bold flat coloring.

When I asked them how big their file sizes were, they said that at 2500px width - similar to what I draw at, 2400px width - and 200-300k pixel length (again, they're drawing an entire episode on one canvas) their episode file sizes come out to roughly one gigabyte, very rarely much bigger than that.

Rachel is full of shit. This is some Tommy Tallarico level shit, exaggerating stupid things that don't matter to try and make herself seem impressive. It isn't impressive. It makes her look like an unorganized dunderhead at best, and at worst, makes her look like a flat out liar who needs to prop herself up on the dumbest shit to make herself look good. File gigabyte size isn't impressive or indicative of anything, you can achieve high quality art without your file size amounting to 11 GB, and let's face it, Lore Olympus is not high quality art. You're telling me art like this:

amounts to 11 GB?

Now the only way I can see this happening is if maybe, maybe she had like, a bajillion layers full of garbage-

Oh. Oh no. Lore Olympus. Is a sprite comic.*

(*edit for clarification: I've had people confused over what I mean by sprite comic because LO clearly isn't made with 16/8 bit sprites. Sprite comic was a term universally used back in the day for comics that reused the same body parts, heads, expressions, etc. much like how sprites are designed, often keeping an entire file full of different layers made up of these assets to make for easier development. This technique was utilized in comics like CTRL + ALT + DEL. LO is definitely not literally a sprite comic but the way its layers are designed feel very much like something that's being cobbled together like 'sprite' comics were. I'm old.)

Even with these pics for proof, with 600+ layers on one canvas, if there's barely anything on those layers, then it still wouldn't make up that 11GB file size because the amount of layers doesn't necessarily add to file size on its own, at least not by that much, unless they're actually filled with stuff. And again, Rachel's art in LO doesn't scream "highly detailed with many layers". It only had many layers because for some reason she insists on working that way even to its own detriment.

From the looks of it, Rachel's importing all of her assistants' PNG's as separate layers and adding all the shading and the extra details on their own separate layers and basically dividing everything up into tiny bite sized pieces. That's the only clear explanation I can come up with. But if so, that means she's being INCREDIBLY inefficient with her workflow that it's amounting to SIX HUNDRED+ LAYERS AT 11 GB PER EPISODE. THAT IS ABSURD. THIS COMIC IS WAY TOO LOW QUALITY TO JUSTIFY THESE FILE SIZES AND LAYER COUNTS. RACHEL DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK SHE'S DOING-

She's also very clearly using the cloud as a way to backup her work and work with her assistants. God knows how much she's spending on cloud space because of her own incompetency.

Honestly, at this point, as I sit here playing the Photoshop equivalent of Cookie Clicker, clicking the 'new layer' button over and over and over again with my mouse to truly understand what it would feel like to operate at 600+ layers per episode of a webtoon, I'm more inclined to believe she's just lying. Capping. Pulling shit out of her ass. Straight up making shit up. It wouldn't be the first time she's done that. But also because the alternative is a lot more grim - the #1 best selling webtoon on the platform is being operated like the world's worst group project and still coming out on the other side looking like deep fried garbage despite its stupid high file size.

#hoo boy i wasn't expecting to write an essay today #but i got tagged in this discussion in ULO #my 10+ years of being a deadbeat washed up webcomic creator with zero street cred finally pay off #lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus

[rileyclaw]

Hii! First off i just want to I'm such a big fan of your art and animatics! Your art is just so expressive and unique its addicting to look at 💞💞

I was wondering if you could go over how your process or tutorial in making an animatic? Whenever I try to start to make one, I get jumbled up and end up ditching it lol

I'm sorry if you get this question a lot 😭

So sorry it took me so long to answer this- I was in a Busy time (diseaseridden with covid and being punched by finals) when I got the ask and wanted to answer it with some stuff Im using for my next TOH animatic!!

I'll say one thing first: I get jumbled up and ditch so many animatics. For every one animatic I release, there are three to five more I have that have NEVER seen the light of day (yet). And that's okay!! It's fun just to make them for me, and I hope it is for you too!! Animatics are scary because if you're working on it alone, it can be really hard to be your own cheerleader to keep up the mojo to keep going. So that makes it really special when there is that project that makes it to the finish line- cuz you can look at it and go "holy crap I made this. holy crap i MADE that look how SICK that is dude!! all that work and look at the turnout!!"

The following stuffh is just my personal process and is by no means representative of a professional animation pipeline, but this works for me as a Lonely Artist! It all begins with the idea - whether it's a song, or just a story you wanna tell. In the case of the one I'm gonna demo here with , I wanted to animate Hunter's first day as Del's apprentice!

The first thing I did was write a script. Not fancy or AO3-quality, but enough that I understand the pacing and the visuals of each shot. I usually just put this in a doc or put it in a script format, if I feel fancy.

Then, I take that script and find music that I think would fit for it- and remix it (if needed) to fit the pacing/mood/etc! This is what this new animatic looked like before I began ANY artwork- this is a me thing because I'm super inspired by audio as opposed to visuals first. But you might be different- this is just how I like working personally!

Then begins the research! I find references for characters, background layouts, and create a style guide for the animatic that tells me how thick lines will be for characters, backgrounds, if there'll be tons of value or no. I make a turnaround for each character so I can refer to them because Im gonna be drawing them over and over a LOT and want to be consistent! Luckily TOH has no shortage of references, so I based my work off them.

THEN, I can begin drawing. I'm a little,,, (a lot) ADHD and may not always do this process, but if you're new to animatics or daunted by the task at hand, make beat boards of the entire project.

This is just a page of rough thumbnails that get your visual idea down - look how rough and quick these are!! I try not to spend over a minute on each beat board if I dont have to, unless it's a particularly complex shot.

When it gets to the stage where you're ready to begin the actual scenes, I personally tend to do backgrounds first because I like to set characters into backgrounds - and for every animatic, I have the Awkward Blue Sketch Stage which is basically my beat boards timed out as an animatic.

I used Storyboard Pro for this (Toonboom, not free ): icky), but the process can be replicated across most art platforms in whichever way you feel most comfy with! This is so I can time the drawings before I devote time cleaning them up-- which can make for some Pretty Funny looking little guys but theyre important!! trust!!

Once a big sequence of shots is cleaned up (I usually do 40-60 second chunks at a time), I export the .mov and send it to my editing program (which in this case is still Premiere Pro) - and then repeat this process again and again until.. it's done??

Here's like a TL;DR list of basically everything I said summed up:

• Make a loose script or bulletin of the idea! Do your research!

• Depending on what kind of animatic you're making, time it to music!

• Make a beat board of very loose gestures for your shots, and time them - then move on to refinement & cleanup!

• Combine all shots, refine music cues and timings, add any last needed VFX, and export!

There's no secret recipe or anything, it's just learning a pipeline that best suits you, whether it is for something professional or something you want to make for fun because you just love to make!!

#riley talks #long post #SORRY ITS LONG but i couldnt just put a bulletin list like “this is the ONLY method that works” bc thats not true!!! #everyone works diferently especially artists #and this is just my specific method of working #im very fortunate to have programs that make animatic-making a little easier #so i hope whoever wishes to make one in the future finds something that works well for them!! i have a blast making storyboards/animatics!! #text post #ask #tutorial #idk how to tag this lol

[nicosraf]

Hi Rafa!

Back again in your inbox and I have what’s probably a silly question but I am nothing but silly and goofy so I’ll ask anyway

I was thinking about yk the verious depictions of lucifer (as every sane and normal person does) and it got me wondering onwhat made you decide to characterise Lucifer the way you did, mainly because usually in modern media he’s very much seen as a anti-hero and mostly he’s seen as a good (-ish) guy that didn’t do too much wrong, the rebellion is usually very much written off as something akin to teenage rebellion and God is just seen as a disappointed parent that had no other choice but teach a lesson to his kids (and well that is of course because gods forbid someone sees God as anything less than the perfect father but I digress), for example the Lucifer series does this and in part too hazbin hotel.

And idk it was refreshing to see your read of Lucifer, he starts good and very much kidlike and then his wonder and love become corrupt I’d say, I struggle to call him evil because well for one I have what could be considered too much sympathy for him and I understand him, he was set up to fail in a lot of ways. So I guess I just wonder what made you say “no I’m going to keep the “bad” and “evil” that is in him”

(I am aware that the answer is probably just well he’s like that in most classical depictions but idk I want to hear you ramble about Luci and his development because that’s always interesting and I love it ajdhsh)

Sorry for the confused ramble anyway lots of love from Italy <3

-J :)

Hello! This is a dangerous question!! I have many many essays I'd love to write about the depiction of Lucifer in media and about what eventually led me to making Lucifer like that. It's also fresh in my mind right now because I saw that Lucifer Hazbin Hotel episode recently. (I actually don't have a ton of thoughts on Hazbin Lucifer. He is very cute, but Hazbin isn't trying to be theological I think; it's just having fun with the mythology.)

I would say that societal depictions of Lucifer always mirror a lot of the way that society has come to understand not the devil, but God, parent-child relationships, authority, tradition, and so on. Some people think Paradise Lost was the first to make Lucifer a hero, but it's actually very clear that Milton wanted his flaws to outweigh the good things, to make Satan ultimately a bad person, and to justify God's actions to us.

Like 200 years later, William Blake started saying that Paradise Lost was pro-Lucifer, though by accident: "Milton was of the Devil's party without knowing it." But Blake lives in a very different time, during the French and American revolutions and the industrial revolution. Old traditions and empire are getting shaken up, the story of Lucifer looks a lot more heroic.

I won't get too much into how Satanic panic affected things (or even the rise of anti-theist communist regimes!), though I think the Satanic panic of the 90s really exacerbated Lucifer's connection to teenage rebellion. (Also, I'm focusing on the US because of how much their media is exported and influences other countries).

But so then we got the modern Lucifer I used to see quite a bit — suave, night club owning, slutty, probably referenced bisexual, manipulator of women. I always thought this development was kind of strange. It's almost like what Blake did to Milton's Lucifer; we didn't change how the people before us thought of him, we just decided that the Lucifer we're supposed to hate is actually super cool.

But I was not super compelled by this Lucifer. And I reference these lines a lot, but the idea of Satan in Western Christianity came from several passages from the Bible, one of which is Ezekiel 28, and I was really struck with line 14: “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you," as well as the multiple times the chapter stresses that the cherub of Eden fell because of his corrupting beauty above all.

I realized I never really saw "blameless" Lucifer, innocent Lucifer. In a lot of interpretations, he's just sort of born wrong or always a little Evil. But the lines say that he was innocent once, and I got really caught up in that. I thought of God watching Lucifer be beautiful and innocent in all that time (like a voyeur).

It felt like the next step in Lucifer's development to take the child-parent relationship between him and God and make it ugly. (Though sticking with the dichotomy of good vs evil didn't really work for me. Lucifer isn't good but he's not evil either, and the weird love and hate mixture is what brings him closer to how God is, too (to me)).

We live in a day and age where all authority is being critiqued, where we don't laugh at teenage rebellion as much. I mean, if you watch any recent Disney movie, you'll see parents learning from their children to stop the cycle of generational abuse. And, of course, with Lucifer becoming so associated with queerness (Lil Nas' MONTERO for example), the framing that he's just a metaphor for a teen rebel who will one day realize his dad was right... falls apart. Lots of teens kicked out of their house for being gay are grown up now and making shows/movies/etc.,. And I think it's always better not to shy away from trauma victims being imperfect and, occasionally, cruel.

So. yeah! I've always been surprised that Lucifer as an imperfect victim of parental abuse, running away, taking some of his sibling with him, isn't more common in general.

#i may not be making sense rn #mine #ask

[sasukimimochi]

. . .

.✦ Chapter 30 "Lessons in Patience"

Lan Xichen slid his hand down the window sill, listening to the pittering sound against the stones outside. Usually, he loved the sound of the rain. But all he could think of was walking side by side with his comrade on the battlefield, listening to the fierce storm and enjoying their smaller victories. Now that there was a chance Nie Mingjue would never walk again, or worse… he wished he had spent more time with him. That’s how it always was though, when you were afraid to lose someone. You always wish for just a little more time.

I had to go with something simpler today because the chapter was under crunch time, but i don't think i did too badly! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, I'm glad to finally be able to post something! excuse the odd brush choices, I also got a new computer during my away time, and i haven't transferred everything over yet! i need to export the brushes i was using on my other computer, I just keep forgetting and i didn't have time to transfer them before i worked on the piece today.

As always, check out more of my MDZS projects or more GOM in my masterpost ❤ Check out more under the read line.

As a reminder, we had an anniversary last month for GOM and i streamed it! You can see the finished art as well as get the link to my twitch from here.

I'll post it here too though, in case it will help more people see it!

Happy Anniversary! it's been a year since the 15th of January, 2023, when i posted the first chapter of Ghost of Mine! It means a lot to me that i have so many readers and I'm trying my best to stay strong through the writing process so i can give you guys a good experience- and of course me too! My personal goal is to be able to finish Ghost of Mine and do it well, I think i will feel accomplished and have succeeded in making a lot of readers happy!

Either way, this experience has been a ride so far- this fic is a record length for me, surpassing my own writing (a rewrite of an original of mine; a work in progress) and past attempts at fanfiction. I'm very proud of how far I've come, and I'm glad you guys have been with me through it all.

#Ghost of Mine #Chapter 30 #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mdzs au #mdzs fanfic #mdzs fanfiction #mdzs art #mdzs fanart #mo dao zu shi fanfiction #wangxian #mo dao zu shi fanart #digital illustration #digital art #sketch #lwj #wwx #lsz #lxc #lan xichen #ghost wei wuxian #wei wuxian #ghost wei ying #wei ying #wei ying fanart #lan xichen fanart #lxc fanart

[the-ars99-mc-empire]

"You're a tourist in the mushroom kingdom when as the final destination of your tour around the country, you decide to visit the castle, where the country's princess "peach" lives and works. As you go to the castle peach greets you and a couple of other tourist like you, you're lucky that you've arrived in the castle's short time period where it's open for the general public(it's useally for 4 hours in the afternoon) You guys see many parts of the castle, just wondering in awe by the infrastructure, but as you do this you accidentally go away from the tour group, now you try finding your way back when one of the doors you open leads to the enclosed backyard which functions as a garden. For a minute you forgot that you just got lost and look around, many type's of wonderful plants are here, although it's mostly flowers and fruit bush's, as you look around you see a pink rose-like which has a crown on the top of it, you can't believe that flower has a crown on the top of it so you lean closer, but as you do the rose suddenly brusts out pollen, and that makes you cough and barely take in oxygen, but after that inital shock, you begin to feel differently, sweet aroma's take over your sense's and your vision becomes blurry and colorful, and then your mind completely blanks out…

5 Hours Later

Peach strolls into the garden to water some plants and to calm herself down for a bit and forget the international relations conflic about fruit export with the mobius country,and as she does that she hears moaning sounds. "Wh-who is it" - says as she handles the watering can into an attacking position, looks around and sees a fellow human completely delirous, just knocked out on the gravel "Oh your poor thing" - says as she runs to you "What happened over here?" - says again as she looks to the plant you where sleeping by. "Dang it, it's those peach flowers again that e.gadd gave me for my birthday, i mean i appricate his efforts to create some flowers based on human liknesses with science, but they are causing me way too much trouble in the spring time when these emit pollen daily. I mean the amount of guys i needed to have sex with just cause the flowers makes them extremely horny for me and the only way to counteract it is to fuck them are way too high for someone like me", she then sighs. "And you're gonna be one of these lucky bastards don't you?", you proceed to respond nothing but with more moaning "Gimme your leg, time to get peachy hihi" says in a kinda cute voice as she grabs your leg and drags you across the garden into the castle."

Doing an actual pov story, and not just a scp/found media ripoff??? IMPOSSIBLE Anyways, the 2024 list is officially in use now and remember Stay safe and obey :)

#brain drain #hypnosub #brain washing #hypno fantasy #mind corruption #hypnok1nk #hypnotic #mindfuck #mindless #mind control #mind conditioning #brainempty #brainwash #brainwashing #hypnofetish #hypnosis #hypnotized #hypno gif #flashing warning #flashing gif #flash warning #spiral #subliminal #princess peach

[dballzposting]

CHICHI IS INSANE

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT VIDEL SAYS THAT ??!! She doesn't say anything that explicit in regular DBZ (This is Kai). Even in the subbed version of Kai she doesn't say that.

Interesting verb of choice. There are many ways to communicate what she did, but using the verb "jump" as a transitive verb is honestly one of the nicest ways to put it, obviously it's vulgar but you don't rope in other expletives to make it so, and it's a nice and common verb in its regular usage.

To be honest the only noteworthy (perhaps just the only?) time that I've heard it used that way was in Smokey And The Bandit (1977). Videl has definitely seen that movie and she definitely has thoughts on it. Her father definitely has it on DVD and then also Blue-ray

Chichi changes her tune as soon as she finds out that Videl has money. VERY TYPICAL CHICHI BEHAVIOR.

Gohan is sitting there trying to eat very politely because they have company and he wants to look normal. He does not do anything about the drama of his mother because she is the matriarch and he cannot tell her to mind her manners in any way shape or form or else he'll get the spoon

Gohan Spits Rice All Over Goten's Face and Goten barely even blinks about it. Doesn't even wipe his face. Completely unperturbed. The most he does is that he arrests all activity while it's happening but then as soon as it's over he jumps in with what he's excited to say, much more concerned with the emotional impact of what he's heard rather than the physical impact of what just happened to him.

ALREADY-WROTE-THE-POST EDIT: I raised the audio and exported the video again and I just noticed THE COUGH AND GIGGLE. This is arguably worse. He's not even startled enough to momentarily freeze. He spits and laughs through it. There is nothing that can unsettle this kid

We've repeatedly seen in Goten both an innate sense of justice and a healthy aggression in regards to defending that (off the top of my head: when he demanded that Gohan stop making fun of him that he couldn't fly, when he gets mad at Trunks for breaking the rules during their tournament battle, when he YELLS AT VEGETA when Vegeta knocks Trunks out), but this rice thing is fine. It doesn't at all register as a breach of his boundaries. Sensory wise he is totally okay with it. There was a scene earlier on where he was laughing while a dinosaur licks his face. He's totally cool with this sort of stuff

Honestly he probably gets it, he's done it before. I'm sure that there have been times where he was eating too fast (every time) and then he slips up and starts choking and he has to slam his hand on the table like a grown man and turn to the side and hack onto the floor. And then maybe he offers an "excuse me" to be polite if his mother gives him a chastising look, but otherwise he just goes right back to wolfing shit down. So honestly Gohan spitting rice all over and across the table is nothing new at all. Like Goten has definitely done that.

Again he doesn't even wipe his face before talking. Doesn't even put his bowl down or anything

#dballz posting #dballz vids #chichi #gohan #goten #videl

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

Ben 10 Fanfic Sneak Peek

Sneak peak of a fic I'm writing for a Ben 10 AU where Greymatter's DNA donor was Azmuth's deceased son. Not the final version.

When Azmuth hears the door to his lab open, he doesn’t bother to look up. He doesn’t need to, not when there’s only two people with free access to the lab and he’s one of them. Besides, he’s got a pretty fair idea of what this is all about anyway.

“I’m leaving now.”

There it is. Azmuth’s hands do not pause, he doesn’t even look up from what he’s doing. “Is that so?”

Silence, as Meridian expects Azmuth to continue, but as the seconds stack on top of each other he finally decides to speak up.

“I came to say goodbye. It- It didn’t feel right to leave without doing that.” There’s a pause, the sound of movement, of something being placed on one of Azmuth’s many work benches. “I’m leaving you with a two-way direct communicator. The other one is with me so we can keep in contact.”

Azmuth frowns, feels like making a biting comment, but instead waves his hand dismissively. “Unnecessary. I will not need it.”

“You don’t know that,” Meridian argues. “Something unexpected could happen and you know you can always call me in case you need-”

“You appear to misunderstand,” Azmuth interrupts. “Let me phrase that differently; I won’t use it. Therefore, it’s useless to leave it here. It will just clutter the lab.”

He hears Merridan inhale sharply. “You’re impossible!” he exclaims and Azmuth can so clearly picture it in his head, the way he’s throwing his hands up in the air in agitation. He’s always been a hothead, too easy to rile up with just a few choice words. “Why can’t you even try? Or even just pretend to try? I get that you’re disappointed but I’m really doing my best to-”

Meridian stops himself and takes a deep breath, then sighs. He sounds tired. Has he been having as hard of a time sleeping as Azmuth?

“I will be going to Hathor first,” he continued after a few seconds of silence, as if Azmuth had inquired about it. “I’ve read that the southern hemisphere is beautiful this time of the year and there’s a lot of people gathering for the local festivals.”

Azmuth quickly recollects everything he knows about the planet. Hathor, homeplanet of the Splixsons. Third planet from its sun, 12 continents, covered by 67% water, axial tilt of 25.7 degrees, no natural satellites. Main export; agriculture, art and entertainment. Remarkably low criminal activity in comparison to other planets. There’s a particular dessert popular with the locals, called Sunset Wildberry Cake. A real delicacy and a must have for anyone visiting the planet.

Instead of saying any of this, Azmuth just grunts. “I see.” Even with his back turned, he can feel how Merridan is staring at him. Waiting for him to turn around. But Azmuth won’t give him what he wants.

Meridian sighs again. He does that a lot these days, as if Azmuth is the one who’s being difficult.

“I won’t be back for some time, you know?” He pauses and Azmuth has to bite his tongue to stop himself from asking when exactly he thinks he’s going to be back. “If there’s something you want to say… Well, I’m here. And I’m listening.”

For a brief moment, Azmuth considers what would happen if he turned around and actually looked at his son. Surely he would cave in then.

There’s a thousand different things he would tell Merridan. He would urge him to be careful, to take care of himself and avoid suspicious places and people. Then he would ask him if he’s packed enough supplies, if he’s brought everything he’ll need for the journey. Does he have his tool set? Has he packed those algae biscuits that he likes? There’s a hidden jar of them in the lab if he hasn’t. And is he sure he doesn’t need more credits? Azmuth would give him whatever sum he needed.

And finally, once left with no more questions, Azmuth would tell Merredin how proud he is of him. That despite their recent arguments, despite not always seeing eye to eye, that there’s not a day going by that he does not feel blessed to have him as his son. Tell him everything he’s always wanted to say but never actually told him, be it because of pride or just his inability to vocalize his emotions.

It would be easy. All he has to do is turn around.

“There’s nothing to say,” Azmuth grits out, shoulders hunched.

There’s a moment of silence, where neither of them says anything. Every second passing feels like a needle jabbing into Azmuth’s heart. Then, a quiet sigh.

“Goodbye, dad.”

Azmuth refuses to say anything, refuses to even look up. Even when the door closes behind Meridian and Azmuth’s left alone in his lab, he simply just stands there, frozen in place. He stares at his work, eyes unfocused, at his hands that have at some point stopped moving.

For some reason, he can’t find it in himself to will them into action.

The silence is deafening. It feels… strange. Uncomfortable. Whenever Merridan worked by his side, it was never this quiet. He had a habit of talking to himself, muttering under his breath when he felt stuck or exclaiming his sudden solutions out loud. Sometimes he would hum a tune, a made up little ditty as he performed some more menial tasks.

It was a silly, harmless habit that Azmuth had allowed. He had never quite realized how integral it had become to his life until now.

Finally, the silence breaks him. Azmuth tears his eyes away from his work, now forgotten on the table in front of him. He twists his head to look behind himself, as if somehow he will find Merridan still standing there, waiting, when he turns around.

Of course, there’s no one there.

His eyes focus on one of his many work benches. It’s cluttered, filled with spare parts and schematics yet he can instantly spot the communicator Merridan had left behind. He had almost expected him to take it back, the way Azmuth had rejected it. But when had Merridan ever really listened to him?

Azmuth doesn’t feel in control of his body as he moves across the lab. It feels like he’s a passenger in his own head, observing someone else move his limbs as he picks up the communicator.

It’s a flat, circular disk with a simple interface and a holoscreen projector. Turning it around in his hands, it gleams in the light of the lab. It’s been polished and Azmuth’s tired face stares back at him.

Tilting the communicator slightly, he notices an engraving on its side. Neat galvan letters, written with a laser pen.

-Till we meet again.-

With a snarl, Azmuth opens a cabinet and throws the communicator inside, slamming the door harder than necessary when he closes it. He plants both his hands on the bench and glares at the flat surface like he’s trying to set it on fire with his mind. Azmuth wishes he had claws so he could carve thick groves into it, rend it into unrecognizable pieces.

The desk remains compact.

#ben 10 #imagine #AU #azmuth #angst

[the-silentium]

What if - Alternate Ending

Masterlist

Pairing: Wrecker x OC.

Words: 12.5k words

Warnings: Angst, fluff, Gore, swearing, halo canon violence, RvB characters, major character death.

A/N: And I am finally back with the promised alternate ending. I've been gone a while, a lot happened since I last posted a chapter here. Mainly, I got a spine surgery and struggled with writer block. Fortunately, I had this chapter 90% done already so I forced myself to finish it, so at least I could share what would have happened if Layla went back to the Halo universe. Please enjoy ~

____________________

Echo had seen some bad missions in his time under General Skywalker's command. A couple of times, the thought that he wouldn't make it out had crossed his mind and urged him to do more; run faster, shoot more droids, watch more closely his and Fives' backs. It had worked fine until the Citadel where he lost everything. Then he was found again and the Batch showed him that there were crazier plans out there that he had yet to experience. He was certain he had felt the caress of death twice as often as he did in his first battalion. Surviving this many times had been a feat he dared not dwell on too much. 

He didn't want to dare the odds to get back at them for winning so often. All the time, even. Then again, faith always had a cheap trick up its sleeve. Be it a surprise battalion of droids blocking their escape route or a particularly complex encryption, the Batch was no stranger to those last-second complications. 

They pulled through no matter what. 

They had to.

Sweat ran down Echo's spine when he hit an unbreakable firewall. He had taken way too long to get to this point and he wasn't even close to accessing the files needed. Who knew hacking into old Republic databases would be so hard for him, a former soldier who dedicated his life to the Jedis and their war. It shouldn't have taken this much time. Every other Republican file he had previously hacked had been rather easy since he knew the configurations and standard structure of the files and encryption. 

This one was particularly hard to crack. Impossible even. His concentration wasn't optimal with his brothers fighting the enemy a few feet away, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. Cid had been quite vague about the information she was after, she only told them where to hack and requested a whole unencrypted file. 

Sure, he had tried to export the data onto an external drive to work on the encryption later, however, the security system interlaced with the requested code made sure that everything would be deleted as soon as he moved, copied, or even open a single file. 

"Better be worth the credits." He mumbled under his breath. Infiltrating a top-secret Republic base that was coincidentally deep within Empire control was nothing to take lightly. She better pay them well on this one. 

He forced his way through another trail in hope of finding something that would satisfy their employer. Bits and pieces of research passed through his fingers like sand. He saw the information passing through his mind but could never get a hold of it. That device had been an extremely important asset for the Jedis to put so much effort into hiding every drop of information about it. 

Spatial manipulation. The words disappeared out of his reach before he could focus on them. Frustrated, he pushed again, opened doors, and forced his way in by destroying firewall after firewall. 

Teleportation. He nearly got a grasp of this one, but the file erased itself before he could disable the security protecting the data. 

Echo groaned. He felt like a pawn being pushed around. Played and mocked. That is until he found a back door. A breach in the security system. He smirked. Finally, he had found it. 

//Activation? 

The question floated through his brain and the clone felt a new wave of adrenaline rush through his veins. 

//No. 

He couldn't know for sure what he would be activating.

His curiosity on the matter was crushed when a door behind him closed abruptly and all members of the Bad Batch formed a barrier between him and the sealed-off door. 

"Disconnect yourself." Hunter turned to face him momentarily. Echo could hear the strain in his voice. He had taken too long to fulfill his goal. "We're leaving." 

Echo hesitated. He was torn between obeying orders and letting go of the only progress he had made. It wasn't only their bounty that they were abandoning, but important Jedi research. Those findings could perhaps help the fighters who dared face the Empire. The soldier deep within his genes wanted to fight that oppressing enemy, even when they clearly couldn't in their actual situation, not with Omega amongst them who could get hurt at every corner. 

With a heavy sigh, Echo disconnected from the system and joined his brothers. 

"We have to shoot our way out." 

He could hear Hunter's inner conflict. They had all agreed that Omega should remain with Cid, but she had another idea in mind. How the kid avoided Hunter's detection was still a mystery. One thing was certain, the sergeant was beating himself over it and they were all worrying for their younger sibling's wellbeing. 

Echo moved behind Omega whose sheepish expression had long ago morphed into a focused one. She was ready to follow orders. If only she had done the same hours ago. 

"Perhaps we won't have to." Tech frowned when he analyzed the security feed displayed on his datapad. "They are retreating." 

"They are?" 

Dread filled Echo at the possibilities a strategic retreat could mean. None of them were good. 

"It would seem that they used our defensive position to their advantage. While we were here, another squad trapped the power supply room with explosives." 

"We have to lea-"

"I'm afraid we don't have time." He showed them the live feed of the generator room, the detonator showing a meager six seconds. 

Frenetically, Echo jumped and connected himself back to the systems to force his way back to the only thing that his mind could think of. 

//Activation? 

Spatial manipulation. The typed words flashed behind his eyelids. Teleportation. 

Echo swallowed the lump blocking his throat. Please take us back to the ship.

//Activation?

//Yes. 

_______________

Echo groaned when fingers poked him in the face. He felt sick. Not that sickness he got when he ate something bad, but the kind when Tech was piloting like a madman on spice. Motion sickness.

His ears were slightly ringing. He could hear Omega's voice over the noise. She called out to him in such worry that his eyes shot open in alarm. He looked at her upside-down figure, noted the tears gathering in her eyes, and immediately forgot the stiffness in his muscles to pull her into a reassuring hug.

"What did you do?" Crosshair walked up to them. He nearly sounded accusing, which didn't sit well with Echo. 

“I activated the program.” He explained with his eyes still closed in the hope to chase away the ache growing in his skull. “I don't know what it was, but the files mentioned a teleportation device. I thought it could get us out of there.” And if Crosshair was still there to jab at him, then it must have worked, right?

A short sense of relief washed over him at the thought that he managed to save his siblings from their imminent death. Slowly, the clone opened his eyes and took in Omega’s state. She still clung to him, her own eyes shut tightly and a hand pinching her nose. He thought he felt her shake, but that could also have been Crosshair nudging him. 

"So you activate anything you can touch? Guess we're stuck in the middle of nowhere because of your amazing plan, Echo." The sniper remarked with a sneer. 

"Better that than being dead." He shot back, annoyed. This was another obstacle, nothing they didn't usually deal with. Sure, with the Empire lurking around everything was one thousand times more difficult, but not impossible. 

“Cut it off.” Hunter’s voice lacked any real command. It sounded like he was entranced, focussing on something else. Curious, Echo looked over Omega’s head. 

His stomach fell. 

Skeletons lingered on the ground in sickening puddles of what Echo assumed once was their flesh and organs. It soaked up the fabric of torned clothes and broken armor. The armor was a simplistic design and offered way less cover than the clone's armor. It reminded him of the armor worn by the Kota's militia. He also could recognize a human skull under the sideways helmet. His heart jumped in his chest at the thought that a Jedi General could have been here, or could still be around. 

The overall atmosphere was heavy. Heavier than what they were used to on the battlefield or on Kamino. Whatever device the Jedis were working on was either dysfunctional or came into use too late. Surely, they had entered specific coordinates into their programming with a purpose, one that the clone was certain was good. 

"I would say that the battle occurred years ago," Tech informed them, still leaning over the closest dead body. He tapped away at his vambrace, analyzing the data he recorded. "The threat is long gone." 

"What's that?" Omega whispered under her breath, catching everyone’s attention. 

Echo’s stomach rose to his throat. 

Unknown aliens lay on the floor in dry, blue puddles, their mummified bodies surrounded by small cylindrical objects and what looked to be an unknown type of blaster. Never before had he seen species looking like those. 

One of them was tall, bipedal, and had blueish armor covering its lizard-like body. Four mandibles formed its mouth, their sharp teeth in full display. Four digits were closed around a purple item that looked very much like a weapon of some sort.

Others were smaller, more or less reptilian-like. One of the species had a thicker build, its skin a dark purple shade. Some of them had masks over the bottom half of their faces while others didn’t, showing a series of sharp, pointed teeth. Their arms seemed oversized compared to the rest of their bodies, and full of small barbs that Echo was certain were sharp enough to cut flesh. 

The last specie he noticed was lean and muscular, their bodies covered by scales and feathers. Their avian-looking mouth was full of sharp teeth and ended on a hooked beak. 

Tech approached the tallest alien, scanning it over. Instinctively, Echo waited for Tech’s imminent info dump of the unknown species. He remained silent.

Echo frowned. It was unusual for his brother to keep quiet on unfamiliar knowledge. He was always keeping them as informed of their enemies or environment as possible to keep the drawbacks as low as possible. This was a first. Was it possible that his know-it-all brother was at a loss?

With a quick look around, Echo noticed that the room was filled with bodies. Way above a hundred of them, humans and aliens alike. What looked like ships were stationed not too far from them, their class foreign to him. 

"Karking hell…" Crosshair's whisper gave him goosebumps. Something was seriously wrong if Crosshair of all people was taken aback. 

Added to Tech’s unusual behavior…

"I…” Echo’s head snapped in Tech’s direction as soon as he heard the hesitation in his voice. A cold sweat ran down his spine. “Don’t think we are in the right universe anymore." 

His heart skipped a beat. What could Tech even mean? Did he mean systems? The silence following the statement was deafening. Echo didn't understand why no one was correcting Tech or even asking for clarifications. What he said literally made no sense.

"Those are Covenants." Echo frowned at Tech’s words. He couldn't recall ever hearing this term before. 

"Covenants?" He asked, at a total loss.

Tech hesitated and looked at Hunter. Echo didn’t know if it was for guidance or confirmation, but he received none from the sergeant who remained fixed on the alien laying at his feet.

"Aliens from another dimension. Layla's dimension." Tech briefly looked at him before returning to look over the body of the imposing alien. 

Even though his brother had said it like it was the most logical thing in the universe, Echo knew that Tech often overlooked that not everyone was well-versed in random details and specifics. This fact was accurate the majority of the time. This time around though, Echo couldn't stop but notice that only he and Omega were confused about the whole another dimension thing. 

Also, the name was familiar. He knew he had heard it before. Was it during one of their many nights at 79s? Or from the GAR? Deep within himself, he knew the name belonged to someone powerful. The word impressive also came to mind. He heard Fives calling that name in his head, his voice full of amusement. I've never seen the General as close to a heart attack as when you've slashed that spider droid down, Layla! 

"Wait. Layla, the freelancer with a light sword?" He hadn't thought of her in forever. She had left their battalion and soon after he got caught at the Citadel. 

"Yes." Hunter snapped out of it and scratched the back of his neck. "A space-traveling device sent her to our universe and the Jedi repaired it to send her back. Must have been the same program that you activated." To Echo's relief, there was no anger in his voice, only worry which was not much better. 

He would have believed that his brothers were playing an elaborate plan on him if only there weren't litteral bodies and unknown aliens scattered around him at this very moment. Space-travel was a crazy concept, but he also couldn't explain how the Force worked. 

"So, those Covenants, what are they?" 

"Aggressive species that are at war with mankind,” Tech explained. “I, unfortunately, don't have much information on them other than the very basics." He grabbed a device from a nearby alien body and stood up. It looked awfully like a droid-popper. 

"The basics?" 

Tech glanced momentarily at Omega. A flash of worry quickly disappeared behind the glare of his glasses and he moved his attention back to the purple sphere in his possession. 

"We should avoid them as much as possible in order to remain… whole. And alive." That he had figured out by himself. "Our best chances of survival would involve finding Layla." 

Hunter hummed. "I agree, but eh last I heard, her coming back here meant a near-death sentence." His sergeant approached Tech and reached out to the round device. Right before he managed to take the item from Tech's hands, the engineer pushed a button on the side of it. The device was instantly engulfed in blue fumes and a high-pitched noise filled the room.

“Tech!” Hunter’s yell covered Echo’s sharp breath intake. He might not know what this device was but a word rang in his head. Explosive.

In a heartbeat, Tech threw the device as far as he could while Wrecker grabbed Omega to hide her behind his body. In a crouch, Echo looked as the device bounced on top of a crate, stuck to the side of a ship, and exploded in a flash of blue-white light, charring the metal and the bodies within its detonation zone.

“This was unexpected.” Tech matter-of-factly broke the stunned silence that fell onto their squad. 

“Was it? This is a battlefield!” Hunter yelled, his arms open to his sides to show his surroundings. 

“I meant that the grenade stuck to the ship, but not to the crate. Or even to my hand.” He further explained after sparing a quick glance at his hand. “But back to Layla. Your assumption is accurate, although she did mention that this universe was desperate to win after more than two decades of war. I am almost positive they would not dispose of a capable soldier like her. She might have been reconditioned– in the literal sense of the word, not the Kaminoan way. Or even sent to another hopeless mission." 

With a groan, Hunter dropped it. 

"Let's assume that she theoretically is still alive, how do you plan on contacting her?" Crosshair asked from his spot at the back of the group, his eyes trained on the upper levels of the hangar.

"Our comms are void of any outside signals, so we cannot reach her through her GAR-issued channel." While using his scanner, Tech ventured farther away from them and away from the ships. 

“Could we try to reach her through their comms?" Wrecker wondered.

With a move of his head, Hunter ordered them to follow Tech’s lead. Wrecker moved Omega into the crook of his elbow to keep her as free of the gore as possible. There was no way she could escape the smell even if she had closed her eyes to keep from seeing more remains and pressed her face to Wrecker's neck. The least they could do was to make sure she wouldn't come in contact with any of it. 

Echo walked behind the two of them, his blaster at the ready. He managed to calm down his mind when he noticed that their feet were the only marks left on the sticky, gory crust caked on the floor. It reassured him to think that the enemy was long gone. 

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to send a comm-wide message in the hope to get to her. Many things could go wrong. She mentioned that she had to learn Basic, which means that the only thing others would understand would be her name, drawing attention to her. Additionally, we could be perceived as a threat for having infiltrated their comms or even-” 

“We got it Tech.” Hunter cut him off. “You sound like you have a plan.”

With a nod, Tech stepped over a skeleton. “This is because I do have one.” 

“What is it?” Crosshair pushed.

“I might be mistaken, but if my theory is correct, we should find the remains of Layla’s squad in this complex. Squads share a closed line, which would be a safer way to attempt communicating with her.” 

“Oh.” Wrecker’s step faltered. Echo frowned in worry. 

“And if your theory is wrong?” Crosshair asked. 

“Then we’ll have to go comm-wide and hope for the best. But do not worry, I am fairly certain that this battlefield is the result of Operation: LEVIATHAN.”

“How do you know?” 

“Kai told me more about it.” 

Tech took them into a hallway, his steps careful, but definite. How he managed to look over the scene without faltering made Echo wonder if he had not already seen this very place.

"Alright. I don't sense anyone around here but let's stay alert, boys." Hunter cut to the front line and with a shake of his head to clear his mind of all this carnage, he walked deeper into the compound. 

They soon reached a junction and followed Tech's directions through the left corridor, toward the nearest power source he could detect. The battle must have been heavier here. Sections of the walls were missing, pink shards covered the floor and creaked under their boots, dark stains covered the standing walls and they had to step over an alarming quantity of bodies. The more they progressed, the more Omega had to press her hand to her mouth and nose to keep the smell away. 

Echo looked into the nearest hole in the white wall. His eyes recognized more human remains and transparisteel covering the floor. Some skeletons, Echo noticed, didn’t have any armor or blaster, leading him to the conclusion that those victims were civilians. The clone could count at least a dozen in the hallway. 

They looked for what felt like hours, up a few floors then down again, until Hunter brought them outside through a hole in a wall. Green grass greeted them. The field wasn't level, a clear clue that a battle once raged. The multiple craters in the dirt were akin to heavy artillery damage, the buildings they just exited seemed like they had subsided some damage with their burned spots marked into their cream-colored exteriors. A majority of the broken windows and vehicle wrecks were beginning to be claimed by the environment. 

Echo heard wiggling before he saw Omega jump off Wrecker’s arms. 

"Stay close." He warned, still unable to trust this place even though Hunter didn't detect anyone around. 

She nodded and latched onto Wrecker's hand who was busy looking at the scenery around him. The sun was shining high in a clear blue sky. The soft waves of the nearby ocean lapped at the beach, offering some calm to the carnage site. Omega grabbed a handful of golden sand before letting the grains fall between her fingers with wide, amazed eyes. 

A sudden sound drew the clones' immediate attention. Every blaster turned to the source, a column of water that leaped from the ocean fell back into it. Following the water jet, a set of gray-blue tails breached the water, sweeped into the air and returned to the depths. 

"What was that?" Omega asked, her eyes even bigger than before.

"An aquatic creature of some sort." He answered as best he could. Judging by the size of the tails, the beast must be humongous. 

"Wrecker, Echo!" Hunter's voice sliced through the comms. "Stay closer." 

Sure enough, the other half of their group had ventured farther ahead and were now standing before four floating objects. In a jog, Echo joined his brothers with Wrecker and Omega in tow. Now closer, he noticed that the objects were in fact helmets held on top of weapons shoved into the ground. Graves.

Tech already had one helmet in hands and plugged into his datapad. The engineer typed away in concentration while Echo analyzed the rest of the scene. He didn't want to touch any of the helmets, feeling like this would be disrespectful to the fallen. The grass had already grown back over the graves, however the length did not match his surroundings, letting him know that bodies were now resting beneath their feet. 

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed Omega holding one of the helmets. He was tempted to ask her to put it back, but the softness of her fingers as she lightly traced the heavy damage fracturing the visor and metal as well as the deep sadness in her eyes pulled him to a stop. She knew what she was doing and did not take any of it lightly. He then remembered that despite being stuck in a lab on Kamino, she knew war too. Only, her angle was different than theirs. 

Omega turned the bucket and grabbed a colorful flimsi from within. She wowed and showed them a picture of five humans in weird blacks. A black-haired woman stood behind three men and a woman. She had them all in a hug from behind while they all smiled. The red-headed woman showed her fingers in a V motion, a blond man hit his fist to the palm of his other hand while the two remaining men sat relaxed, one holding a knife while the other held a box with a big, red cross on it. 

"It's not holographic." Omega pointed out while rotating the picture in all angles. "The colors are nice." 

Without a word, Wrecker slowly took the item from her hands and turned it over to analyze it further. 

How his brother handled the picture caught Echo’s attention. There has been only a handful of times when his brother has been that cautious about anything. Even more curious, he was not looking the whole picture over, he was focussed on a single spot. 

"Wrecker? Are you okay?"

His brother blinked like he just woke up from a dream and looked at him. "Eh.. yeah. I mean… not really. But I'll be fine." 

"Are you sure, big guy?"

"Yeah…" The way he trailed off was so uncharacteristic of his usual cheery attitude that Echo had a sudden urge to touch him in hope to convey his support. He was still pondering about the significance of the picture for his brother when Wrecker carefully folded the flimsi on the existent fold line and safely tucked it in his own helmet, leaving Echo dumbfounded.

________________

Tech examined the side of the helmet and sure enough, the cards with the triangle in the middle were painted in white over the deep blue shade of the armor. 

They were Layla's teammates. She had been here and had buried them herself. A quick look around confirmed that no other graves were dug and it couldn't be a coincidence that these were all members of the same team. Her team. He remembered her breakdown and wondered if being thrown back where it all happened, seeing their bodies and burying them had broken her all over again. 

Tech remembered the carnage they saw earlier and wondered if that was why she had kept them at bay so long. He had noticed her effort into keeping walls around herself, walls that they ultimately tore down because solving impossible tasks was what they did best. They were witnessing the outcome of the worst day of her life and some small part of him understood where she came from. 

He got to work on the electronic panels of the helmet, connecting it to his vambrace to access the comms system. It was harder than he remembered without Kai translating the unknown language for him. He hoped that the communication channels were coded the same as back then, he remembered the way to gain access to the correct network and which channel he had to connect their own to in order for Layla to hear and talk with them.  

"I'm in," Tech informed the team. He couldn't help but glance at Wrecker in wonder at what would happen next. 

________________

It had been a while since she last saw this planet. Last time was when she had used the cube to flee the despair ever growing in her chest. She couldn't say that she missed it one bit. Not after everything that happened there and everything that followed. 

That planet was tainted with blood and haunted by painful memories. 

"Did you fucking hear what I said?" The accusatory voice next to her was way too loud for her to possibly ignore. 

She looked at Gates without a word. 

"Of course not, since when do you listen to me?" Gates scoffed in offense. "Do you fucking know how often the spaghetti meatballs is on the menu in that damn army? Once in a blue moon, that's how often! I'd almost forgotten how that damn sauce tasted like and lemme tell you, it wasn't as good as my mom's cooking but compared to the other shits they give us to eat, it was like a fucking filet mignon." His finger pointed at her accusingly and Layla briefly wondered if he was able to shoot with his left hand. "Only had one bite when you fucking showed up and ordered us after you. Whatever we're doing here Regan, it better be good. Like killing-those-Covenant-fucks-for-good good."

At this point Layla couldn't tell if the fire in her blood was originating from Gates' tirade, her first trip back to Bounty after her cowardly escape from her heartbreak or the fact that Kai intercepted a weak incoming signal from the Deltas channel. 

She couldn't even believe she had once appreciated that soldier. Now, all she could think about was different ways to shut him up. 

War changes everyone, she soberly thought. 

It has never been said explicitly, but Layla knew he was part of ONI's plan to keep a close eye on her. He wasn't the one reporting abnormal behaviors to the higher ups, Ortez was, being the silent observant and extremely by-the-book soldier that he was. It only turned out that those two survived a crazy amount of crazy missions together and for this reason were never separated. She had tried to have them transferred to another squad, but they were now a trio until death did them apart. 

So far Ortez had had an easy job. She never did anything out of UNSC's standards. She killed Covenants, ate and slept when needed and attended briefings. She had destroyed the cube as soon as she had regained consciousness on Bounty and became aware of her surroundings, and never talked about it again. In order to protect the Galaxy that offered them shelter, Kai had gone ahead and wiped every bit of information about the last two years. The knowledge of another conquerable universe was safely hidden within Layla's mind, where ONI could never access it. As far as ONI knew, she had survived two desolate years on Bounty, living off the meager rations of the compound until her AI managed to fix a comm channel strong enough to reach Command and request an evac. 

The pelican wasn't fully grounded, yet Layla pushed the button to lower the ramp. Her body stiffened in anticipation of a worrying hand that would reach out and stop her from jumping the last meters separating her from the surface, but it never came. She ignored the pain pinching her heart and jumped. 

She forced her body into a false sense of clear determination and made her way through the street separating her from the complex. Memories tried to destabilize her with their vivid screams and scarlet tints. She could faintly hear the Marines following her steps, plasma bolts raining all around them. She reached the back corner of the building and stopped. 

Red. So much red. 

"Take your time." Layla's breath deepened as she acknowledged Kai's words. The Spartans weren't with her yet, she had time to settle. The DMR in her hands stopped shaking, her jaw ached when she released the tension, the tingles in her feet faded away and her mind cleared of all the fog keeping it hostage. There was nothing she could do now to change the scenery on the beach.

With a final grounding breath, she turned the corner. Four graves stood out from the peaceful nature, every helmet in place like the day she left them. Cautiously, Layla made her way to them, fully expecting to find an elaborate trap set up by a Zealot with the help of a Huragok, their favorite engineers. There was nothing but untouched helmets and guns. 

She kneeled before them while keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The grass around the graves had been crushed recently. Someone had been here and sent out a signal using one of the helmets. Why, she had no idea. The only thing she knew for sure was that it involved her personally, the comm line that was used was closed to anyone that was not a Delta. 

Her finger tensed on the trigger. Three yellow spots entered the radar's field, followed by two red signatures. Allies with enemies. 

Yellow spots didn't make any sense with Gates and Ortez still behind, but she did expect enemies. 

"Could those three use the Delta's signature to alter their own?" She wondered under her breath. 

"Negative. I looked deeper into their signatures and the allies are identified as 99-1, 99-2 and 99-4, not Deltas." Kai informed her. 

Layla's heart stopped. Was she dreaming?

She glanced up and ghosts looked right back at her. She didn't dare blink, in fear that they would fade or not, she was not sure which. 

Multiple things happened when the Bad Batch came into view. Layla's eyes widened in surprise, a weak, fluttery feeling bubbling in her chest. Her joy was quickly crushed by a more gripping feeling that left her nauseous. Guilt gripped at her stomach and threatened to topple her over at the sheer intensity of it. 

That was, until Gates and Ortez who had jogged after her the whole way lifted their weapons towards the clones. 

Out of pure reflex, Layla's arms shot up to lift both guns towards the sky, her own clattering to the earth. Gunshots exploded into her ears, along with the soldiers' surprised gasps, a high-pitched yelp and Gates' colorful language when both guns slipped from their grasp due to the speed of her intervention. Out of fear she did put more strength into her move than necessary, she had to give them that. 

"What the hell are you doing Regan? That's fucking Insurrectionists!" Gates hissed.

She grabbed his wrist when he reached for his pistol. This time she put some effort into controlling her strength. 

"Lower your weapons." Her snarl surprised even herself. "They're not Insurrectionists." 

"And how would you know that? Civillians don't walk around in fucking armor." He fought to pull his arm out of her grip. She momentarily tightened her grip in warning before releasing him. 

"I fought with them before. They're on our side." 

She looked back at the clones, took in their defensive stances, their weapons pointing at the ground but ready to aim at them at any moment and sighed. She could already feel the heartache creeping in, burning her as fiercely as the tears streaming down her cheeks.  

The urge to turn on her heels and walk away was also becoming more prominent with every passing second. Like the coward that you are. Her teeth sank through the tender flesh of her lip and drew blood. Man up and face the consequences of your actions.

"Stay here." She ordered her men before crossing the space between her and her old team. She could not flee this time. She still remembered the reasons behind her departure and the Spartan still suffered every time she thought about them. A borderline painful heartbeat squeezed her chest when her eyes landed on a particular clone. 

She forced her gaze away and noticed a new soldier amongst them, one of the two that her armor detected as enemies. She took in the kama and the cybernetic arm. No clone she had met before had those attributes. Was he a new defective clone? A sad kind of joy spread through her, he was in the right team, she personally knew it. 

And they overcame your departure. Because you are expendable. She swallowed hard. 

Despite the thick layer of titanium covering her body, their gazes burned holes into her like she was bare before them. All the feelings she had felt that night when she held the cube in her hands for countless hours came back in a swing. Uselessness. Shame. Despair. Disapointment. Now, she had to add nervousness to the list. How had they taken her betrayal? Despite asking herself that question every day for a majority of a year, she never got an answer. Right at the moment, she found that she might have been better without knowing at all. 

But fleeing wasn't an option anymore, was it? She couldn't run. Not again. Not this time. Maybe if she had forgotten all about them she wouldn't have thought more about shooting them down as Insurrectionists, but she knew who they were. They once shared a bond and Layla had let herself care for them. Deeply. She might be as nervous and scared as the day the Covenant invaded her home planet, but she wasn't about to let another of her friends die. Instead she pushed down the lump in her throat and stopped at a more than reasonable distance. 

"What are you doing here?" 

She mentally winced at her own words. She hadn't intended to sound so harsh. Or bothered. Her choice of words was even worse. All her brain could think of was are you all okay or I'm so glad to see you all again, because she was relieved to know that the Clone War hadn't claimed their lives even though it still could. 

She had been worried. She had also been fighting every second she had been back, be it against the Covenants or ONI– not that this was the Batch's fault, the final choice had been hers after all– but she was exhausted and their presence here meant complications that she would have to deal with. 

"It's good to see you again, Layla." Sergeant Hunter moved his gaze from Ortez who didn't need to be told twice to lower his weapon and settled on her, his own trigger finger relaxing slightly. 

Her mind stopped for a second. A blissful second where her worries faded away and she could almost see herself back at the Marauder's entrance, marching up the stairs after another successful mission. Oh how she missed that ship. If she was honest, the crate in the Marauder's hangar was way better than sharing a bunk room with Isaac Gates. 

Her fist closed on thin air. She couldn't get distracted. Not during a crucial moment like this one. 

Although…

"Likewise." She replied, her eyes darting on the Sergeant's right to find a familiar helmet staring right back at her. "I take it that the Jedis lied then? They were supposed to destroy the cube's data." 

It was a blessing that the Spartans beside her couldn't understand Basic. An even bigger one was that she hadn't forgotten how to speak the otherworldly language after not using it for a year. 

"They had it stored in a securised archive room. Nearly killed us to get the info." Sergeant Hunter explained. 

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You stole from the Jedis?" 

"That's a long and complicated story. The Jedis are dead." 

Time stopped completely around them. This couldn't be possible. It didn't make sense. She thought back to the Council who welcomed her into their world, to the alien Jedis who patiently tried to coax her into being comfortable around them, their mind tricks and their knowledge and their wisdom and everything! General Kenobi and Tano and Koon and all of those cute apprentices and for God's sake, even Skywalker! Were they really dead? She deeply hoped that they were not. 

And Crosshair? Where was he?

"The Clone War is over then." Was all she managed to say. She could not acknowledge more loss. Not right now. At least she could rejoice that the clones' lives were not put at risk anymore, soldiers without war and droids to hunt them. 

"So Regan, what's happening?" Gates called from his spot 12 meters away. "Not everyone speaks whatever language you're all babbling. Seriously. I've never heard that kind of shit before." 

Layla ignored Gates' questions, he could use his equipment to listen in and speculate all he wanted. Although she had to admit that his intervention was exactly what she needed to get her head back in the game. 

"So the cube's data sent you here? Do you know how to get back?" She sure hoped they knew although she was also aware that should they have a plan to go back, they would have done it by now. It seemed that they needed her to do it. 

"We were hoping you could get us back." Sergeant Hunter breached the tight formation with a single step forward. 

She swallowed hard. "I destroyed the cube. There's no way out of–" Layla frowned at the sight of a young girl peeking behind Wrecker's form. "Here." 

Why they had a kid with them was a mystery, one that she wasn't certain she wanted uncovered. Maybe the clones were in the middle of a rescue mission when it all happened. That must be it. A weird rescue mission that also involved stealing data from an archive room. 

She forced herself to drop it. This was not important. 

"We got here without it. Could Kai use the program Echo activated to send us back?" Tech wondered. 

Her eyes widened. It had been so long since she had heard that name. She remembered the kind clone who offered her an opening for her escape of 79s; she had once considered him something close to a friend. What she didn't remember was the cybernetic arm. She bit her cheek in an effort to keep herself from asking what happened. 

"It could be possible depending on the program, the tools required to make it work and whether or not Echo remembers the coding." She told them. Tech sorted through his pouches to find the AI connector he developed back then.

"I got my name, but nothing else." Kai popped up into her HUD. "Did I know them?" He wondered, curiosity written all over his face. 

"You did." She confirmed.

"What did I do exactly?" Tech asked, frowning in confusion. 

"Sorry, I was talking to Kai. He had to wipe his memory to keep your world off the radar, so he's a lil' lost." She explained to the clone as she pulled the AI chip from her helmet and Kai appeared in her palm. "Override command: Plan 99." 

Kai's holographic body pixelated for a few seconds, the wave of locked information now crashing over him. He stilled with a hand on his head and a frown. His eyes moved from the ground to the men before him and a smile stretched his lips. 

"Tech! Hunter! You're all alright! Wrecker! Hi!" He beamed and Layla felt a weight she was not aware was there lift from her shoulders. "Oh. Is Crosshair ok?" He worriedly looked around their ranks to find the grumpy clone. 

"He is fine." Tech reassured him. "Although I can't say he is pleased by our current situation." 

"That's understandable." The small AI grinned when she handed over the chip. 

It was curious how she hadn't hesitated to surrender the AI to the clones when she had once felt betrayed by those very same men and yet she would never pass him to Gates or Ortez, not even for a second. 

"Hey! Regan! The hell are those guns and what the hell is he doing?" Gates nearly shouted as Tech plugged the other end of the connector in Echo's helmet. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance and curiosity. 

"None of your business, First Lieutenant." She called back. 

He pursed his lips, a glare burning in his eyes. Ortez grabbed his partner's shoulder when his mouth opened, a clear warning to watch his words. He didn't listen and shook him off. "Is that what weird shit ONI warned us of? Maybe we should just shoot you down for sympathizing with the Insurrectionists." 

Layla gnashed. This was a bad situation as it was, she did not need Gates to throw gasoline on the fire. The clones were out in the open and had nowhere to get to cover while she dealt with the threat that was her chaperones if need be. One wrong movement and Crosshair would open fire, starting a shooting mess that she was right in the middle of. 

"The Pelican detected three Phantoms entering the atmosphere." Layla cursed at Kai's warning. Why did everything have to go South? 

"Three Phantoms incoming." She relayed to her men. Gates cursed loudly. 

"We might have triggered some sensors." Ortez pulled Gates back a few steps and put himself between the two. "What are your orders Captain?" 

“We’ll take cover in the peripheral buildings to-”

“Her orders? I’m not-”

"First off, they're not Insurrectionists." She advanced towards the daring, orange trimmed Scout who took the tiniest step back. "Second, if you think you can manage three troop drops on your own, then be my guest and shoot me down.” She challenged. 

She knew he was aching to do as she said and probably would have if it wasn’t for the fact that three drops were too much for two men and Ortez who grabbed his partner before pulling him towards the nearest exit, groaning and cursing. 

With a sigh to let out some frustration, Layla turned towards the GAR soldiers who looked positively on edge. 

"Enemies are incoming. I highly recommend that you stay back and let us clear the area. And please, take care of Kai." 

"You know us. You know we won't let you fight alone." Hunter crossed the distance separating them, his team in tow. 

"I do know you. And, no offense, but I also know that you're outclassed by the Covies. They're not droids, Hunter." She turned her back to them. "And I'm not alone." 

A heavy hand fell into her shoulder, preventing her from walking away. 

"Let us help." 

She gulped, her gaze straight ahead. "What about the kid? You'd put her in danger." 

"She's sturdier than she looks." The grip did not waver, nor did it tighten. 

With a sigh, Layla relented and motioned them to follow her with a move of her head. "Guess you'll need a small briefing then." 

She heard Hunter call for Crosshair on their comms and inform him of the situation. He also ordered his brother to join them as fast as he could, no need to put him at risk of getting jumped by Covenants while alone. 

"Your blaster bolts can kill them, however it might require more than one bolt. Keep your stun mode off," She glanced at Hunter out of the corner of her eye. He looked right back at her, a memory of a conversation passing between them. "They won't hesitate to kill you, so you shouldn't either. If you see a small, flashing, purple ball, duck or jump away. That’s a grenade. Don’t try to catch it or kick it, it will stick and blow you to bits.” 

Tech hummed. "We encountered this particular explosive. It is interesting that it does not stick to the thrower or certain objects, like it has a mind of its own."

Bewildered, Layla's steps slowed momentarily. "You threw one of those?"

"Yes." 

"Were you… attacked?" Kai hadn't found any sign of Covenant activity in the area prior to their landing and she knew that the UNSC had abandoned Bounty for the time being. 

"No, I simply desired to test a theory." He pushed his glasses up his nose. 

She resumed her pace, following the beacon that was Gates’ rant. "Okay. Well. Eh… a venting coolant keeps it from sticking to the thrower so the person to prime it is safe, but after that, anything made of flesh or metal that gets in contact with it will be stuck. Also, it might not happen, but some troops have a camouflage device like mine. So if the air starts moving, shoot it."

"If they really have the same technology as you, then we'll be fine." Hunter assured her and only then did she remember the effect the camouflage had on him. 

They arrived at a crossroad, where the ground was in the process of being trapped by Ortez’s expert hands and a bunch of charges. Gates was occupied scanning the sky. 

At that, she showed them the street opposed to Gates’ position. The clones slowly positioned themselves before looking up to get a better look at the Covenant forces gathering in the horizon. 

"And why would we listen to you?" Crosshair spat as soon as he joined their ranks, inches away from her face. The venom and disdain in his voice were welcomed by the Spartan. 

"All I'm trying to do is keep you alive. I've lost my whole team here once. It won't happen again if I can help it."

"We're not your team, now, are we?" He shot back and despite his face being covered, she knew he was shooting her down with his eyes.

"No you're not." Facing the consequences of rash decisions was always a pain. "Doesn't change that I don't want any of you to die." 

She turned around, DMR in hand. Footsteps followed her on her way to the facility's hangar. 

"I'm sorry." 

She flinched at Wrecker’s tone, so soft and pained. She would take Crosshair’s verbal abuse anytime and would even accept physical retribution with open arms for the pain she put his brothers’ through, but this tone was beyond what she could take.

From experience, she knew it hurt worse than an energy sword stab wound. 

"It was my fault, right?" He looked at the ground, his voice wavering slightly. 

"It was not." She refuted quickly. "I left because my place is here." Or that’s what I thought.

He groaned. "That's not true, your place was with us. We were a squad and a squad stays together." 

Her throat closed. How many times had she hoped to hear those words before she decided to use the cube?

"Now, that's not true either, Wrecker. I remember a time when all of you avoided me whenever we were off duty. I didn't really belong and I thought I'd save the time of asking for a transfe-" 

"That's what you thought?" He cut her off, dumbfounded. "It wasn't- we were not avoiding you! We were protecting you! From diseases! We were told to be careful." He walked up to her to the point where her weapon almost touched his chest plate. To the point where she saw her fingerprint on the side of his helmet. 

"I got vaccinated." She sighed and forced herself to step back and reach the closest Warthog. "I was protected." 

"But Tech said vaccines were not always effective. They helped, but you could still get sick." 

She looked back at him and noticed his heterochromic eyes filled with guilt. His helmet was now up on his head, holding perfectly still and Layla had an unconscious thought to pull it down to keep him as protected as possible. 

She knew her decision had been rushed and despite the long hours she spent with the cube in her hands, her decision had been half-thinked through. She had acted on emotions. She was a true Regan, her Mama once told her. As impulsive as they came, she had said. One would have thought that she would make good impulsive decisions since it was literally her last name, but as it turned out, it was a warning. Impulsive decisions would be her downfall.

"I-" 

The ground shook under the impact of an energy mortar, cutting her off. Layla ducked into the Warthog and tried the ignition. The vehicle roared to life on the third try. 

"Jump in!" She pointed at the passenger seat and he promptly joined her. With haste, she reversed out of the hangar and turned them around to regroup with their comrades. Wrecker wowed at the sight of the battlefield awaiting them. 

Together, the Phantoms managed to bring a little less than a regiment in addition to three Wraiths. She swallowed hard. Could they defeat 400 Covenants? A Spartan team would be fine, but they were clones from another universe. They were trained soldiers, but they were not trained to kill Covenants. She swallowed hard. They will have to do. They must. 

“So, what’s your genius plan, Captain?” Gates asked through the comms with the highest level of sarcasm he ever used with her. Not that she cared. She was more bothered by the quick English-Basic language transitions. 

She stopped near their position and got out, Wrecker following her lead. 

“Those guys will cover our backs." She pointed at the Bad Batch with her thumb. "We take the Warthog and you drop me as close to those tanks as you can and I'll take care of them before they collapse the buildings on our heads.”

"Wh- a- That's three enemy tanks!" His voice raised in disbelief. 

"I can see that." 

"Three! We are a recon and infiltration team! Not first liners!"

"Gates-" Ortez tried to calm the man but as expected, it didn’t help much. 

"You're batshit crazy, you know that?" Gates cut him off and moved slightly aside to keep eye contact with her. "I mean, Spartans have always been fucking crazy, but you-! Something's very wrong with you! It's like you're actively trying to die and fuck if I'm going to let you take me down with you. I have a fucking family Regan, one that I want to see again and if I fucking die because of you, mark my word I'll haunt your ass 'til you blow your brain out." He ranted, his face going more red with every second. 

She looked at him, unamused. Irritation itched at her fingertips. "You're done?" 

"No. I fucking hate you." He slammed his helmet back into place. 

"The feeling's mutual." 

_____________________________

It was pure chaos. He was used to chaos, but this was new. Despite Wrecker being the tallest out of the Batch, a lot of the enemy were towering over him. It was scary. Although it was way scarier to look at Layla fight the aliens head on while he was ordered to fight from the cover of the buildings line.

His feet were tingling in an urge to vault the window and run where she fought mercilessly to protect them. He had a need to join her side and help, and each time he felt the pull getting too strong he had to remind himself of Hunter's warning. 

You'll hinder her if you go. It could get her killed.

He knew it was true, that he severely lacked knowledge of this world and in the event that he did join her side, she would be focused on protecting him and not herself. 

It wasn’t that she was doing a bad job a protecting herself, she was tearing through the enemy lines like a hot knife through butter, but after a year passed staring down at her fingerprint staining the side of his helmet and hearing her laugh in his dreams, he desperately wanted to fix what his inaction broke. 

“Sniper deployment in the left building. The blue-gray one. Fifth floor.” Kai warned them, allowing Crosshair to take down the aliens before they got time to aim at the clones. 

Kai had linked the Batch's comms to Layla's so the AI could keep her updated on the aerial space traffic while working on the cube's code along with Echo, amongst other things. 

From the comms Wrecker could hear Layla dispatch what sounded like orders to her comrades and unlike earlier, it didn't sound like an argument.

It might have helped appease his mind to know that she was not alone on the front line if only he believed that her teammates would help her in case she needed it. It didn't look like they worked well together when all the orange armored guy did was to constantly snap at her. Even though they fought side by side flawlessly to take down two of the three tanks trying to shoot them down, Wrecker couldn't help but not trust them. 

All he could do to offer his support was kill aliens before they could get to her. 

He shot down a frenzied alien running towards them with two round devices in hands. An explosion resonated through the air, taking a few aliens down with it. Along with his brothers, they made quick work of the Covenants trying to flank the Spartans. 

"Two banshees will be on the battlefield in forty-seven seconds." Kai reported in both languages. 

"What's a banshee?" Crosshair and Hunter asked in sync.

"Enemy air support." He explained while Layla was already commanding her troops into what Wrecker thought was a new plan. He heard some resistance over comms which made him hyper aware of the scene before him. 

Layla grabbed a weapon off an alien's corpse and ran towards 'Gates'. As warned, two ships flew towards the battlefield, firing at the Spartans as best they could. The weapon in Layla's hand glowed green before she swiftly aimed behind herself and shot the incoming ship. Wrecker's stomach churned as Layla jumped on a shield generated by Gates' armor and using her momentum, he propelled her into the air towards the falling aircraft. 

His knees nearly buckled underneath him when she somehow opened the aircraft, pulled an alien out of it and took its place at the commands. 

"Wrecker! Focus on the fight." He should have been embarrassed at the fifth reminder to keep focus, but he truly wasn't. His focus, despite his best effort, was constantly drawned klicks away. 

In her stolen aircraft, Layla shot some troops until the other ship took chase and managed to land a few hits despite her maneuvers. 

“Crosshair.” Wrecker turned to his brother, his heart tight in his chest. 

“Already on it.” Came his reply and a few bolts precisely hit the back of the enemy ship. The fourth bolt caused an explosion of the left reactor which allowed Layla to loop around and finish the banshee. 

“Thanks, Helljumper.” 

“Anytime.” 

“Your rear is fuming.” Hunter warned. 

“I know.” Wrecker could hear the grin in her voice and found himself grinning back. “Watch this.”

The purple ship sped forward until she reached the active battlefield and it plunged down towards the remaining tank. Wrecker’s grin faded. A last bolt was shot towards the tank, right before Layla’s form jumped out of the vehicle in a free fall. Wrecker heard the tank and aircraft explode, however he couldn’t find any joy in them yet. 

“Are you okay?” He asked with worry. That fall was pretty high. 

“I jumped from higher, remember?” She reassured him and just then he spotted her running to cover. “I’m fine. Kai, how’s that code going?”  

“We’re progressing. I estimate the code to be completed in twenty minutes or so.” 

“Great job bud’. Tell me when you’re done.”

“Will do, Captain.” He nodded. "Just to let you know, in order to activate the coding to send them back, we will require a powerful energy source.” 

“Any ideas of a suitable power source?” She grunted as she punched an alien that got too close. 

“One that will not please Gates and Ortez.” 

She scoffed. “Let me deal with them.”

“Then our pelican will do just fine.” 

She chuckled over the comms and the hair on Wrecker’s arms rose. How he missed the sound. He realized that the laugh that resonated through his dreams was less endearing than the one he could hear while awake. 

As it happened many times that day, Wrecker’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of Layla ducking under the swipe of an energy sword before being tackled and sent flying a few meters back. He heard her breath cutting under the impact and a groan leave her lips when a tall, blue-armored alien materialized out of thin air and kneeled onto her abdomen, snarling at her face. 

Wrecker jumped out of the building before he knew it. He ran while shooting at the beast, his mind solely focused on keeping her safe. All he could hear was the blood pumping in his ears, all he could see was the sword shining high into the air, ready to strike down. And then all he saw was blue. Blue blood coated his visor, the sticky substance spurting from where his vibroblade connected to the alien’s neck. He removed the blade and his arm became warm. 

He had never been so glad to see blue in his life.  

“Are you okay?” He dropped to his knees to assess her condition. 

Her hand grabbed his outstretched one and he quickly pulled her up. For a short moment all he could think of was her hand in his, how right it felt. Then a bullet flew past his head and he let go to duck under cover with the Scout. 

“Yeah. Thanks for that.” She was already shooting back at the enemy, prompting him to copy her movements. “You should go back to the others.” 

“I should. But eh I’ll stay here.” He hoped she wouldn’t order him back. 

“I’m sure your Sergeant wants you back, Wreck.”

A long silence stretched the comms line. 

“All things considered I think he’s better with you.” Hunter replied. A relieved breath escaped his mouth. He could stay. 

“If you say so.” She reluctantly let go and ushered him after her. 

Together they cleared a section of the battlefield while the two other Spartans worked half a klick away. Wrecker’s attention was fully captured by the fight, he wouldn’t let anything go wrong, not if he could help it. 

It was easy to go back to old habits. He was made for war, to fight on the front lines, not search around for bounties. He was in his element and to add to it, he fought by her side again, the place where he felt he truly belonged. 

Less and less enemies shot at them, a majority of their numbers covering the ground, unmoving. 

Until a yell came over the comms.

“Hunters!” A gruff voice warned. “Two of them incoming from the North-West.” 

Layla groaned. 

“You guys take one down, we’ll manage the other.” She ordered. “Wreck, follow me. We got a big guy to settle.” 

“A’right!” He dutifully followed her, his blaster at the ready. 

“Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll draw its attention while you shoot it in the back. Aim for the tender part, not the armor. They are resistant, so shoot like there’s not tomorrow. And if it turns to you, you take cover.” Her last words were hard. “I mean it. You run and you hide. That cannon will kill you in one hit. I’ll get its attention again and then and only then you come back out to shoot.” 

He wasn’t a fan of her being the bait out of the two of them. He would prefer it to be the other way around, but knew better than to voice his concerns. A scene on an explosive field could quickly mean death. “Got it.” 

“Let’s go!”

Farther up the street, two beasts marched towards them, their heavy armor gleaming under the sun. Two green spots suddenly glowed from their arms and Wrecker got ready to duck behind a nearby vehicle. One of the two beasts got distracted, multiple shots bouncing off its body. Its attention turned to engage the two Spartans who did a similar tactic as Layla’s. One bait and one shooter. 

Wrecker ducked behind the abandoned vehicle, safely avoiding the green plasma bolt flying his way. With small peaks over the metal carcass he waited until the Covenant followed your movements and turned its back on him, exposing the soft part of its body. 

Instantly, Wrecker opened fire like instructed. Blue bolts rained on the soft flesh of the alien causing it to stumble slightly and misfire the charging cannon bolt, missing Layla by far. Content with the result, Wrecker rained hell on the beast until it turned around to face him and fired a bolt. The metal body pressed against his back jerked under the impact, sending the clone to his knees. He hurried a look behind and found that Layla had already baited the alien to shoot at her instead. 

As he did before, Wrecker jumped back in position and fired. It took several repetitions until the creature fell to its knees and clattered to the ground, unmoving. He couldn’t rejoice in the small win as the enemy troops still crawled around, shooting at Layla like she was the Plague. He gladly returned the shots. 

“The code is complete with a coordinate modification.” Kai informed them over the line. “All I need to send them back is a connection to the power core of the pelican.”

“Then lead them there. We’ll join you soon.” Layla ordered as she pulled him after her right as a grenade flew past their heads. The explosion muffled Kai’s answer and caused Wrecker to stumble lightly. He kept as close to her side as he could. 

Their earlier conversation kept repeating in the back of his head, how crestfallen she had sounded. She truly believed that she wasn’t one of them and it hurt him more than any wound he subsided during the Clone War. She was important to him and he drove her away without even noticing. He hated his weakness that allowed her to leave them that night. He should have talked to her like he had planned to. Instead he had chickened out and she left. 

He swore to never shy away from talking to her. He swore to bare his honest feelings and not hold back ever again. Too much time had already been lost and he doubted he could survive another heartbreak. 

So he listened to the small voice that kept telling him that it was now or never. 

“You’re coming with us, right?” 

She spared him a glance, her weapon still raining shots onto the enemy. 

“To the Pelican?” 

“Home.” 

She paused, frozen for a second. He took over the cover fire. 

“Wrecker. My home is-” 

“With us.” He assured her. “Always was.”

He saw her hesitate in her movements. His heart leaped in his throat when plasma beams missed her by a hair, and a bolt crashed into her armor’s shield. He pulled her behind some cover. 

“I should have told you that before. I wanted to! Really badly! I just- it was- I- I got scared that I would screw up and destroy what we already had and well, it happened anyway. But I realized that you needed me and I let you down and I won’t ever let you down again.” He scrambled to explain.

“We should have this conversation later.” She whispered and moved away from him, causing his heart to leap in fear to lose her again. 

“I thought that too a year ago and then the next day you were gone. I need to say that I loved you then and I still do now. I missed you every day and the Marauder hasn’t felt like home in so long because home is you.” 

He almost felt out of breath. His heart was beating wildly, his thoughts were scattered everywhere and nowhere at the same time, all he could really think of was whether he had said enough or not, had said the right things or not, of she would leave or not- 

“She’s right, Wrecker.” Hunter grunted. “You should have this conversation later.” 

“R-right.” Heat flared up his face at the thought that the whole team heard his rant. 

“For what it's worth Layla, the Marauder definitely hasn’t felt the same without you sleeping in the cargo hold.” Hunter’s smile could be heard in his voice.

That jolted her out of her trance. She snorted in amusement and her shoulders shook lightly in what Wrecker was sure was silent giggles. Tension eased out of his muscles in response. 

“I also missed having someone who truly listens to my informative chatter and who doesn’t cut me off mid-way.” Tech chirped in. 

A low grunt filled the line. “Wrecker started pushing us around again.” Crosshair supplied in annoyance. 

“Okay, okay, I got the point.” Layla looked around at anything but him, her feet shuffling a little. 

Despite his initial embarrassment, Wrecker was glad he blurted everything over the squad comms. He knew his brothers also felt grief over her sudden departure and despite Crosshair’s gruff behavior, he knew for a fact that his brother rumminated on what went wrong. They all did. And now they all followed his lead and offered reminders that she was a part of Clone Force 99 and her presence amongst them was wanted and appreciated. 

“The enemy forces are fairly low. We better join the others now before the guys get suspicious of the others lurking around our transport.” 

He nodded and followed her lead to join his brothers and sister. Oh. Now that he thought about it, Layla never met Omega. He will love presenting her to his little sibling. 

He could now see his squad, Omega safely tucked away in the belly of the ship alongside Crosshair. Tech and Echo worked on the underside, their hands lost within the metal beast. Hunter kept guard, his eyes trained on the horizon. 

Layla cursed. “A sensor was tripped. That’s probably Ortez keeping track of me. They’ll be rallying here any second now. Kai, what’s the status?” 

“Another minute and I can activate the protocol.” He assured her. 

“Good j-” “Cover!” 

Wrecker only had a second after Crosshair’s warning to duck. A sniper shot grazed his arm. 

“Wrecker!” 

An explosion hurt his ears, way too close to his comfort. The blast disturbed his running momentum and sent him tumbling on his hands and knees. He recovered quickly, his blaster aiming to the orange blur exchanging blows with Layla. Both dodged and retaliated in quick succession, staying way too close to one another for Hunter or Wrecker to offer support fire. 

If blasters were useless then his fists would do fine. 

With a war cry, he charged the duo, fully intending to neutralize her aggressive teammate. Layla ducked under a right hook, leaving a perfect opening to him for a left hit. His knuckles hit a solid light shield instead of a helmet. With a grunt, Wrecker pushed through and hit the shield with powerful blows after powerful blows. Gates spat curses, his feet digging into the dirt in an attempt to keep his ground. He pushed him back, keeping him occupied on him instead of Layla. 

He saw her creeping around to attack Gates from the side. Before she could attack, a sniper shot hit her in the leg, earning a cry of pain. Her leg buckled slightly. Gates used her pain-induced hesitation to reach for her and stick a device on her chestplate. She recoiled until her movements stopped completely, her arms stuck mid-air and legs ready to pounce. 

“Fuck! Wreck! My armor is locked. I can’t move!” He heard the light panic loud and clear. 

“Don’t worry. I got this.” He reassured her. 

“I’ll get her.” Hunter added, already running to their position. 

Swiftly, Wrecker delivered a kick to the shield, sending the soldier tumbling on his ass. He followed with a punch to the face which connected and broke the black visor. A kick to the abdomen pushed him back from the UNSC soldier who rolled to his feet, a knife in hand. 

The blade flew around and Wrecker did his best to avoid it. He grabbed Gates’ wrist in a firm grip, pulled him closer and delivered a left hook. The scout stumbled to the ground, his body going limp for a second. He was about to get back up when a stun shot hit him and he fell back down. 

“Time to go.” Hunter pushed him towards the ship, Layla in tow. 

Wrecker followed right next to her, close enough to feel slight hits of her elbows as they ran. They came to an abrupt stop before Crosshair who kept looking out for more trouble.  

“Ready to go back?” Kai asked loudly, but his eyes were on Layla. 

Wrecker held his breath. 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She sounded confident, her own visor trained on his. He knew there was a smile hidden under helmet, one he was eager to see again. 

“Alright. Please remain calm, keep your head and arms close to your body and enjoy the ride.” The AI clapped his hands and the same feeling of free-falling took over his senses, making him panic instantly. Through the daze of it all, a hand grabbed his and squeezed tightly. He squeezed back, the small movement offering him tremendous comfort. Everything would be alright as long as they stayed together. 

The free-falling feeling stopped and he found himself on his knees. His eyes moved to her hand still encompassed in his, moved up her arm to find her face. As soon as she met his visor, he pushed his helmet over his head and slowly reached to do the same to hers. Her eyes had turned shy, looking at their hands instead of his eyes. 

“I loved you too. And well, I still do.” He could only hear her words because he was so close. Their breaths almost mixed. 

“Welcome back.” He lowered his forehead to touch hers. Her eyes fluttered close, mirroring his. 

“I’m home.” She whispered and his smile hurt his cheeks. 

20 YEARS LATER

“You know, I don’t think I ever thanked you for not giving up on me when I kept making mistakes. I did some really bad ones and you never turned from me. It's crazy to think that it took you to travel universes for me to understand that my place was truly with you. I know it was by accident, but don’t you think it sounds romantic nonetheless? If not by your own doing then even the universe wanted to reunite us.” She chuckled. “That's so cheesy. But I’m grateful it happened. So thank you for pulling me back to you and for staying at my side no matter what. 

“You’ve always been the strongest out of the two of us and I’m really trying to take a page out of your book here. I know you hated how your body aged so much more quickly than mine, and I hate it too because that karking gene took you from me too early, but I also try to see it from another angle, you know? I think it helps me cope. And its damn impressive when said like that, so here: you fought for a good part of your life, against droids, the Empire, you fought to ensure that we had a future together and then it all stopped. Well, more or so. Then came the small problems of life; finding our home, keeping it upright, dealing with my mind playing tricks on me, all those time you helped the village despite your aging body– I was always happy to give you those massages and you know it– and so many more that we overcame. 

“What was I saying again? Oh. Yeah. What I meant is that all your life you fought in one way or another and you came back every time. Maybe injured, but alive. You were so strong that the only thing that managed to stop you was time itself, the only thing you had no power against. You were so strong, my love. I’m sure that if time was a droid, you would have trashed it in minutes. 

“Now, am I as strong as you? I know I’m not. But I promised you that I’d do my best to be happy and that’s what I’ll do. After all, I have Aedan to lure me out of bed each day with that carefree smile of yours. I’m also grateful that he looks so much like you, but I told you that so many times already. He helps me heal a lot and I think that it's also a reason why you were so relieved when I told you I was expecting. You didn’t want to leave me alone, didn’t you? My strong and smart man. You’ve always known me more than I know myself. 

“I miss you every day.” Her throat tightened. “My life became so much better because of you and I cannot thank you enough for it. I wish we had had more time, but I guess that will come later, when I find you again. Aedan and I will care for each other like you cared for us, with so much patience and love. Were you aware that our boy now has high standards in love? He’s only 13 and already talks of soulmates. That's all on you. You did that, you amazing man. 

“Okay. I’ll let you rest for now. Take care of yourself wherever you are. I love you with all my heart and soul.”

A smile stretched her lips despite the salty tears falling down her cheeks. The tip of her fingers carefully stroked the plastoid of the helmet before her, her touch lingering on a familiar fingerprint. She had always been bad at goodbyes although she knew that this time, she would see him again. She had no doubt about that, after all he traveled universes to find her again. He would find her anywhere. It might not be tomorrow, she still had things to do, but when the time was right Wrecker would reunite them. He was the strongest after all.

#clone force 99 #wrecker x oc #star wars #clone wars #bad batch x oc #bad batch #sergeant hunter #tech #crosshair #the bad batch crosshair #clone trooper crosshair #wrecker #crossover #halo #operation:leviathan

[the-hinky-panda]

I Love you but Jesus Christ can you just behave yourself for once

This is what happens when you message your friend and say "I think I want to write for Chibs but I don't know what to write." Bam. Multiple prompts and this mess is created! Thank you @bullet-prooflove

Chibs remembers how he first met you. The club needed some extra help in getting the latest shipment of guns out of Ireland and their alternate routes were being closed off one by one. Horses had always been a rich man’s sport and one of Ireland’s recent exports have been their eventing horses. It didn’t take much research to locate a local rider and trainer that had a couple trips to Ireland under her belt. 

It was the Northern Winter Classic Grand Prix where he was supposed to meet you and discuss the terms of the agreement: they use false bottom tack boxes to stash the guns, and you get two free horses out of it. It was a sweet deal. However when we located your stable, High Flyers Farm, he found your exasperated barn manager with a fully tacked up horse that was taller than Chibs. 

“I’m looking for-” 

The manager interrupts him. “Yeah, me too. Our rider fell off in the warm up, dislocated her shoulder and can’t ride. We’re on deck right now in the third round of the Grand Prix and no rider.” The manager looks at him. “You don’t ride do you?” 

He has ridden a horse in the past, a handful of times. He knows little of grand prix competitions, just that the goal is to jump as high and as fast as possible without nicking any of the fences. “How big are the jumps?” 

“1.6 meters. Some are about 2 meters across.” 

“Fuck that.” Chibs looks around the stable area. “What car does she drive?” 

“That Tahoe over there, with the tinted windows.” 

Chibs makes his way over there and peers into the driver’s side. There’s no one in the front seat but he sees a healthy collection of vodka bottles on the passenger side floorboards. There’s a slight movement in the backseat so he opens the back door and finds you, curled up in the back bench seat, passed out drunk. 

“Found her,” he calls to the manager, who looks on from the front of the stable. 

“Fuck. Can she stand?” 

“Stand?” Chibs asks. “She’s not even fucking conscious!” 

“She’s the only one who can ride this horse! We have a chance to win a $65,000 pot!” 

This is not how he saw the negotiation going at all. He reaches into the backseat and grabs fistfuls of your clothes and hauls you out of the backseat. You land in a heap on the ground and groan at the sudden onslaught of sunlight. 

“Mornin, lass.” 

“The fuck are you?” 

He grabs your arms and hauls you up to your feet and leans you against the side of the SUV. “Someone who’s seriously doubting his plan.” 

Your bleary eyes roam over his face and down to the patches on his kutte. You poke a shaky finger against the “A” and laugh. “Anarchy. How fucking adorable.” 

Chibs turns to the manager who just shrugs. “The horse’s name is Anarchy.” 

You take in a deep breath and release it slowly. “Let me guess, Mara fell off again and hurt herself?” 

“Yeah,” the manager answers. 

“How many away are we?” 

“We’re on deck.” 

You nod and stand up straight. “Send Alex up to the gate, tell them we have an injured rider and need to be moved down two spaces. If they give him a hard time, slip them $200.” 

“And where are you going?” Chibs asked. 

“I have to get dressed so I can ride the fucking thing.” 

The manager moves off, calling to a teenager who takes off running towards the ring. Chibs turns to you as you start pulling out boots and a show jacket. “And just how are you going to ride that monster? You’re falling down drunk!” 

You laugh slightly as you shrug the jacket over your wrinkled blouse. “Because, I’m a fucking professional.” 

And you were right. Once you were on top of that horse, you were steady as they came. You flew around that ring, sailing over the fences. After the clouds of dust had settled, the clock had shown that you had the top time. An hour later, after the last horse went, your time was still the one to beat. You were back to being passed out in the tack room and it was your barn manager that collected the $65,000 cash prize. But by that point, you had agreed to the deal and signed off on it. 

When the time to travel to Ireland rolls around, he’s gotten to know you a little more. You are, hands down, a functional alcoholic. You’re an adrenaline junkie with a wild streak and not much of a filter. So when you both get on the plane and you’re already ordering drinks while the plane still sits on the tarmac, he just laughs and shakes his head. 

“Ya know, I love ya, lass. But Jesus Christ, can you just behave yourself for once?” 

You give him that wild look and wink at him. “We’ve got a long flight ahead of us. Where’s the fun in that?” 

#chibs x reader #chibs x you #chibs telford #chibs telford fic #chibs sons of anarchy #chibs imagine

[thevikingwoman]

Tansui is looking for some peace to think on the letters Meryta sends him from the First, but is interrupted by Rasho who offers friendly companionship and asks too many questions. Companion to Letters and Longing, but can be read alone

Fandom: FFXIV | Words: 1651 | Read on Ao3

Rasho & Tansui | mid-Shadowbringers | friendship Rating: Teen. Pining, unresolved feelings, friendship, alcohol, drunkenness

Sake and Truths

Tansui climbs his way up the stairs to the outpost, abandoned as it is, they do not post guards here at most times. But the view is nice, and the grass is soft and no one tends to come here unless sent by the Captain. It’s a good place to think.

He drops himself into the grass, round bottle beside him, and takes out the letters from where he’s tucked them in his hakama. He did not bother with a cup. He reads. Meryta is impossibly far away, facing horrors he cannot imagine. Something aches in his chest with it. A familiar feeling, along with others he’d rather not think about.

He drinks, the rich taste coating his tongue, a burn down his throat. Takes out pen and parchment, but he does not write, electing to pick up her letters again. Only a few, but the latest one is longer, the writing more fluid. Perhaps she has never written much before, but she does now.

The bottle of sake goes to his lips again, rich and too fine to be drunk like this, dripping down his chin to wipe off, but he does not know what to do with his latest realization, the feelings that only grow when he thinks of her. He drinks, wipes, closes his eyes, turning his face towards the setting sun.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Rasho. The roegadyn sits next to him, fabric shuffling against skin and grass. It’s quiet up here.

“Did it occur to you I came here to be alone?”

“Yes.”

Tansui opens his eyes and turns to his friend. Rasho has brought another bottle of sake and two cups. He’s pouring sake into one, the other left in grass. Tansui had not bothered with a cup himself after all, and Rasho is not one to insist.

“It’s a nice one,” Rasho says. “Export bound for Ishgard, by my understanding. Good thing the captain needed to lighten his ballast.”

“How fortunate indeed.”

Tansui lifts his own flask, and takes a deep drink. Rasho lifts his cup and drinks with him. They sit, and drink, in silence for some time, the sun slipping lower towards the ocean and their shadows growing long.

“So,” his friend says. “Writing letters?”

It’s a question, and fair enough. He has no family to correspond with, and any letters related to their newfound diplomatic relations with Doma must go through the Captain.

He nods, unwilling to break the silence just yet. It’s not like he’s started writing yet. He doesn’t have much to say, other than perhaps wax poetic about the quality of the sake, and implore her to stay safe. To come visit, again, but it feels like refrain. He knows she may not be able to, but – how many times can he ask?

“Meryta, is it?”

He nods again, squinting at Rasho. He wonders if he can let him carry the conversation all on his own. Rasho drinks for his cup, almost comically tiny in his large hands. Just for the taste of it, Tansui knows.

“It has been a while since she has visited.” Rasho looks at the folded papers still in his hands. “You care for her, do you not?”

“I do.”

What does his friend want him to say? That he misses her, and that every time the aetheryte hums with incoming travelers, his heart leaps in his chest like he is some kind of lovesick youngster?

“And yet you wait for her here, while she’s off doing what she does, without you.”

“What would you have me do? I –” He feels hot and angry, his voice raised, “she is – somewhere, outside this world, and I’m – I belong here Rasho, never mistake that.”

“Peace, friend. I know. That wasn’t my point.”

He’s ashamed, immediately. He knows Rasho does not doubt his loyalty, same as he doesn’t doubt Rasho. Doma freed and all, the Captain stays here. As does he.

“I’m sorry.”  Tansui takes another drink and flings himself backwards on the grass, his head a bit heavy from the sake now. “She’s out there, in danger, doing Kami knows what with her friends.”

Rasho waves his apology away.

“It bothers you.”

Trust Rasho to say the obvious, so he doesn’t deign a reply. There’s something else that bothers him besides the danger she’s in, an uncertainty in waiting which he barely wants to name.  

“Have you at least told her, how much you care?”

“No.”  He grabs his bottle and drinks the last of it, while still laying down, the rich liquid filling his mouth and burning its way down to his belly. The grass is soft and pleasant. He has written of his wish to see her again, and she likewise, but nothing certain. No promises, and it grates him more than it should.

“I don’t know if she feels the same,” he admits. It sounds sullen to his own ears.

“Have you asked?” Rasho pours himself another cup from his own bottle, only the third. “Mayhap you’d be less bothered if you did.”

“Or mayhap I should care less.”

“You should make up your mind. And talk to her.” Rasho lifts his cup and drinks. “What do you want, my friend?”

“I – I want… Well, it’s not like I need –”

Rasho doesn’t say anything when he falters.

I would be simpler if he didn’t care, but he’s not sure not caring is what he wants. It would be easier if it was. To let go of these feelings he can barely admit to anyway. To simply have her come or not come, no use for worrying. No use in trying to determine if she’s with someone else, if someone else is touching her.

Perhaps he should just find someone else to fuck, someone to have a good time with. He finds he has no taste for it, the idea wholly unappealing. And the idea of her being touched by someone else sets a fire burning inside of him. He wants to keep her for himself. Selfish and frustrating, she isn’t here, not even on this world, and he should be content to wait and not expect her to adhere to promises not made. And yet her letters make it seem like she – he wishes he didn’t care, that she didn’t occupy his thoughts like this.

But she does.

A silence settles over them, and Rasho says nothing when he sits up again and grabs Rasho’s bottle and drinks and drinks again.

He’ll write letters and see what happens. She’s – just trouble anyways, and he’s never been one to pursue a permanent relationship anyways. It’s fine to keep it casual. Fine.

“I shouldn’t – I should just – ’s fine really. It’s just casual, you know. I don’t need to – care that much.”

“If you say so.”

“It’s late,” he says, and stands slowly. He’ll write another day, it’s too dark and he’s not even sure where the pen went.

Rasho stands with him.

His head is fuzzy by now, swimming. The stars are out. Rasho picks up the letters gently, with a care he’s grateful for. He’s unsteady as he gets up, but it’s fine.

“I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.”

Rasho gently catches him, when he stumbles on something – who put that there – a stupid rock.

“You’ll break your neck on the stairs.”

“Will not.”

He may not be making his case well, as he’s still holding on to the other man. Rasho sighs, and turns his eyes towards the starry sky.

“Look, Tansui. Either I’ll pick you up and carry you like petulant child –”

“’m older than you –”

“You certainly are. Either I’ll pick you up, or you can ride on my back.”

Tansui lets go of Rasho and sways. The sake was rather strong, or there was a lot of it. He sighs, and lets himself be hoisted on his friends back.

Rasho walks carefully down the stairs, and continues across the sand towards Onokoro proper. Tansui’s head is swimming. He’s not been in such a state – he’s propelled back in time, to when they were both younger and foolisher, but Rasho never had a taste for excess. Rasho would carry him back from Isari, just like this, when Tansui had overin– had drunk too much. He’s too old for this, now, and all over a pretty girl with pretty purple eyes and green hair and so fierce and so soft and the world’s not fair to her –

The world swims when Rasho makes it up the stairs. He should protest, he should walk, in front of the men, but the Rasho doesn’t care, and he’s lost in thought again, the last time she was here, in his arms –

“— she’s just so nice.”

“So you’ve mentioned, friend.”

“But it’s not –”

The torches are awfully bright and he pauses and squints. Rasho says nothing.

His thoughts wander again, and he feels he needs to let Rasho know, he’s decided that he won’t need to care. Did he already say so? Her eyes would be luminous in the dark here, brilliant band of purple like nothing else. Right. Casual things, casual visits.

“Is not going to be…. I’ll just enjoy her visiting, you see. Enjoy a lot.”

“I see.”

He is quite certain from Rasho’s tone that he doesn’t. They’re by his door now, and the other man pushes it open, and carry him all the way to his bed. Undignified. He tries to stand, but fails, and puts his head on his pillow instead. It doesn’t smell like her.

“It’s nothing really. She’s just very – I think I love her.”

“Ah. There it is.”

“You knew,” he accuses.

“I’ve known you a long time.”

“You’re a good friend.”

Tansui awkwardly pats Rasho’s knee, the tall man looming over him.

“Sleep, and it’s good thing I am, or I’d not let you shirk your duties tomorrow.”

Tansui is asleep, snoring, before Rasho leaves.

#ffxiv #ffxiv fanfic #final fantasy 14 #ff14 fanfic #rasho & tansui #ffxiv tansui #ffxiv rasho #tansui #meryta x tansui #tansuiwol #ahh I just wanted to explore their friendship a bit #and tansui's struggle #heh #viking writes #published 3/11/2024

[ohmeadows]

very interested to hear your fu xuan thoughts now that she’s out !

first of all love her second of all i'll just do this in bullet points because my brain is soggy cereal today:

starting with her character stories, so spoilers under the cut:

she hails from the xianzhou yuque, famed for their divinations and jade abaci export, and it mentions that "centuries passed" so. she's at least, at the barest minimum, two centuries old, probably older. she ran away from the yuque to attempt and avoid a foretold destiny, namely that she would kill her teacher. indeed her teacher even says it was part of the reason why he took her on as a student.

this is interesting because it ties into her teacher's prediction that she becomes master diviner of the yuque, a destiny she defies by running away. but...

xianzhou fleet follows star calendar dating, and in 8072, third abundance war happened, a decisive year for many on the luofu. (caiyi dies in this war, as well as dan shu's love.) fu xuan, annoyed that the divination commission can't do much to help in the battle, devises a plan to use the cloudpeer telescope, putting it on the battlefield and calling down lan's arrow to raze it, winning the fight. jing yuan agrees to her plan, but takes responsibility for it. as a way to protect her.

she is willing to go down and be the one to call on lan. but no. the person who goes down with the cloudpeer telescope... is her mentor. he dies. as does many. but the battle is won.

this battle happens roughly 30 years before current timeline in-game, where while it's not confirmed 100%, we can guesstimate that we are around 8098 or 8100 SC (xianzhou reckoning, we know it's 2158 Amber Era, IPC calendar) which, sidebar, jingliu was ""killed"" by jing yuan in 7380. that's almost 700 years of the high cloud quintet survivors being tormented in various ways.

not sure of the timing of this report, but lan is on the move again.

the third war is very interesting because it left part of the hexafleet struggling to recover; luofu only recovered because of widening trade, something we see reflected in tingyun, yukong opting to work in the skyfaring commission, and aurum alley. and it was won because of fu xuan's choices.

in the time since, she seems to have come to terms with destiny being impossible to change. she writes in this letter (emphasis mine):

Let me be more straightforward here — the way the Matrix of Prescience Ultima operates is like a black box. We know that we can derive a frighteningly accurate prediction from the Chaos system by "observing our observation," but no one knows how it works nor can anyone explain it. Many, including my colleagues from the Divination Commission, consider this to be an example of how humans can change or select the future with their own power. But for me... I will interpret this from another perspective... The past, present, and future are not diachronic, but synchronic. (This statement denies the existence of time, so the use of "diachronic" and "synchronic" might be slightly inappropriate.) Every moment in the universe has been predetermined since the genesis. That is to say, it is impossible to change the future.

i find this very fascinating because we can thus also trace what that war did to her mindset and point of view; she doesn't think the future can be changed and that the universe is a deterministic one. (note that i don't think it's proof it is, as we saw with kafka and our choices in her quest, she also grapples with the question of if everything is predetermined or not. these are their point of views.)

now, some other observations and picking at her voicelines:

so, the omniscia/third eye she has is a gift from nous the erudition, also known as the wisdomwalker on the xianzhou. she writes in glimpses into the beyond that she has had at least one audience with nous, and regards them highly. (i also wrote more in-depth about that book here already, so i won't dig too deep right now.) she's had it most of her adult life, even before the third abundance war, before leaving the yuque.

despite being harsh sometimes, she's not mean. this comes across very well in march 7th's quest, i think: she does care what people think about her, but she's not about to go simpering or sucking up to get liked. i really respect that in a character, especially female? i've seen men write her off as a walking red flag of a personality, which is hilarious to me. she's a delight! just not your soft uwu waifu.

she loves her boba and milk tea. she claims it eases her constant pain from the third eye, which kind of tracks for me, i usually need to have caffeine in some form to help alleviate migraines. she likes them far too sweet for my liking, however, but she's big on teas. (it's suspected she is the one arguing that startaro tea is amazing and everyone else is just a loser and hater.)

and the pain. so, xianzhou natives, because of the abundance's blessing, are constantly healing. nous implanted a third eye into her that if it had been made by mortals, would have just been rejected. her body is constantly fighting this third eye, pushing it out, but it does not budge because of nous' powers. hence, unending pain until the day she dies. she even refers to it as an eternal punishment.

also worth noting how she's a follower of nous, while being on qlipoth's path.

her trigram talk sounds a lot like the i ching to me, and she's constantly consulting it, sometimes several times even before breakfast. implication? that she does not like surprises, perhaps. that knowing the future is her greatest security.

in march 7th's quest, i feel like we get to see a very protective side of her. she does not take lightly at having her work interfered with, even by fuli's followers, and you can see a glimmer of why she follows both qlipoth and nous here: intense desire to protect, and intense desire to know the truth at the bottom of it all, even if it makes her unhappy.

i also think her desire to be general stems from her preservation path, beyond just ambition. sure, she wants power, but to me she seems to want power to ultimately protect and guide.

ignorance is not bliss to fu xuan, to put it lightly.

she notes that the trailblazer doesn't have a trace of future destinies around them, and calls it strange. gestures.

#ask meadows anything #honkai star rail #fu xuan #i'm also extremely in love with her from a gameplay perspective #but that is a whole nother post #anyway i rambled on for too long

[brawn-gp]

hi 👋🏼 these gifs are amazing! how do you make the doodle text? post/724859032864751616/charles-leclerc-on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous

hi thank you very much !!

there are two ways you could make this, so i'll explain them a bit:

1. DIRECTLY FROM PHOTOSHOP

so you want to start with a photo or gif with the timeline on (if you don't have it in your workspace, you can put it in window > timeline). for this example i'll use one of the iconic vlad seb pics.

after that, you need to add a new layer on top of the picture/gif and select the brush tool. now adjust the brush settings to your liking. in my case i decided to go with the hard round brush size 4 px at 100% hardness. now you can write your text like so:

then you need to lower the opacity of that layer. here i would recommend a 25% opacity:

so it looks like this:

now what you want to do is, in another layer, write the same text on top of the previous text. it doesn't have to be perfect because that is what makes the doodle effect, but i wouldn't change too much of it either

repeat this (each time in another layer) the times you want. i usually do 3 layers but you could do 2 or 4. when you're done, make sure to turn the opacity all the way up again for the first layer, and to make all layers visible.

then we have to change the duration of each layer to around 0.4 - 0.5 seconds, and then put one next to the other like so:

now what i do is i put the layers in a group, then select the 3 layers and duplicate them, then grab those three and put them next to the original 3 layers. do this as many times as necessary (in gifs make sure the text is the same length as the gif)

now we export it and it looks like this:

if you feel like the text moves too fast, i would recommend opening that gif and change the speed, otherwise it's too much of a hassle.

it works the same with gifs, for example i used this method for the outline of this gifset:

2. WITH AN EXTERNAL TABLET

this method is basically the same, but if you want more precision with the doodles, i would recommend using a tablet using a layers based app. i used the app Sketchbook for the charles gifset.

to make this easier for myself i start with a black background and write the words with a white brush. i follow the same steps as with photoshop, making three layers and then exporting each layer without the black background, but rather a transparent one.

and then you follow the same steps as the photoshop version! make sure these exports are all in the same folder in photoshop, so if you need to shrink the doodles, you shrink them all

and thats it, hope this helps !! any questions i’ll be more than happy to answer them <33

#gifs ask #.tutorials #.ask

[rawliverandgoronspice]

This is not me defending Nintendo's shoddy writing when it comes to heavy parts of the Gerudo lore. But I do wonder if some of their really bad missteps are because of their lack of knowledge of Western racial politics. A lot of Japan is still heavily xenophobic, and racial diversity is almost zero, so they might just not actually think about the implications because they just... don't know they exist. It's not an excuse, because Nintendo IS a global company, and there should be some extra research done, since stuff like that is just really fucking iffy. I'm just trying to figure out where that stuff comes from tbh, and why it's still around, instead of being weeded out. So maybe that's a reason, in which case... maybe get some writers who can write depth into their characters.

Hey, thanks for the ask!

So... I feel many things about this, and I completely see where you're coming from, and I think you have hit the nail on the head about why Nintendo do not feel like handling this issue is necessary, or that it doesn't concern them altogether... but I have to be honest, I feel like we give Japan way too much slack on these issues in general, and it's a very common problem (thinking of the controversy on FF16 for just another recent example, or the way queerness is handled in a lot of anime and games). Regardless of, just, the artistic integrity to incorporate the rest of the world as existing alongside you which isn't... mandatory of course, but I believe is important for the sake of honesty: there are japanese people of color, there exists a queer japanese community, and a lot of immigrants living in Japan have to deal with rejection and being considered a second-rate citizen all of the time. Not to mention anything about the new generations of people who were victims of their occupation not so long ago, a subject which is still regularly repressed and ignored by their government (and by the world at large, the US had interests in quieting down some of the worst things they did due to Cold War stuff, and in the West we mostly focused on Germany and collaboration --which makes sense, it's what we knew, but anyway it's complicated and not the topic). This is not a case of mere innocence, it is a case of politically construed ignorance; which is very different, and should not be regarded as equivalent.

But even beyond their own internal socio-political issues, which I am not qualify to speak about beyond what I know from second-hand stories I heard and what I have personally researched, The Legend of Zelda is an IP that is tailored for the West (TM). It is incredibly more popular here than it ever was in Japan. It is a product designed for export. Trying to anticipate what the western market enjoys and fitting right in is part of their responsibilities as a brand if they want to succeed. So, either they did not consider this aspect, which was absolutely something they should be criticized for, as subjects of diversity are hot and trending right now (even without getting into their moral implication) and they did what I consider to be the bare, cynical minimum in this department; or they had an inkling, and considered their choices wouldn't be a dealbreaker. Which... they clearly were not.

Again, I am sorry to be a little cynical here, but while I certainly don't think Nintendo was being consciously malicious here, like making choices to actively play into harmful stereotypes and strict gender roles as some form of active ploy in some sort of culture war, Nintendo is run by conservative japanese men with capitalist interests and a responsibility towards their own government as a major player for japanese soft power. The company will *never* question its own biases, especially if the West just eats up whatever they do and build a human wall of excuses to justify their absence of accountability. This, beyond the game itself which is good and fine and also kind of soulless the more I think about it (in my opinion), is what depresses me and what makes it hard for me to move on: to give them a free pass on these subjects is a choice everyone is collectively making, because it is the Nostalgia and the Childhood and we are desperate for wonder and joy --and it ultimately makes us somewhat toothless as consumers.

And I want to add I am absolutely not immune to this, and it doesn't mean I'm condemning the practice of fandom or the possibility, or even the necessity, of holding several simultaneous truths about a piece of media at the same time and navigating them depending on what is being discussed; but Nintendo is obsessed with controlling its image as a company, curating things as acceptable or unnacceptable as they see fit, approving or disapproving of their consumers' behavior and punishing them accordingly (as well as the rest of the industry *side-eyes the thirty patents on basic gameplay actions*), and it's to say nothing of how employees may be treated beyond the perfectly curated Pikachu yellow walls. This corporate image of being non-controversial is enforced. It doesn't mean I don't admire them for a lot of things, their genuine commitment to game design innovation, their virtuosity when it comes to level design in particular, the way they foster pools of raw talent, their devotion to open up the market to new demographics of gamers, or for the risk they took with the Switch and the wonderful venues it opened for indie devs. I love their games, profoundly, and I owe the company a lot of my joy.

But again, I think it's important to consider several realities simultaneously; and this joy, this goodness, this beauty, while absolutely wonderful and worth preserving, always runs the risk of getting in the way of our discernment in what is getting sidelined.

#asks #totk critical #zelda critical #zelda fandom critical #nintendo critical #gerudos #thoughts #thanks for the ask!! #sorry if I went a little hard there #a little uhhh Too serious #but I am genuinely a little depressed about how we settle for corporate safety as the epitomy of greatness #mechanical perfection as sufficient in itself #and I don't know how we meaningfully fight this #the structures of power comprised of people who are terrified of their own soul and the capitalist safety they will forever cling to

[esoxy]

So let's get into the nitty-gritty technical details behind my latest project, the National Blue Trail round-trip search application available here:

This project has been fun with me learning a lot about plenty of technologies, including QGis, PostGIS, pgRouting, GTFS files, OpenLayers, OpenTripPlanner and Vita.

So let's start!

In most of my previous GIS projects I have always used custom made tools written in ruby or Javascript and never really tried any of the "proper" GIS tools, so it was a good opportunity for me to learn a bit of QGIS. I hoped I could do most of the work there, but soon realized it's not fully up to the job, so I had to extend the bits to other tools at the end. For most purposes I used QGis to import data from various sources, and export the results to PostGIS, then do the calculations in PostGIS, re-import the results from there and save them into GeoJSON. For this workflow QGIS was pretty okay to use. I also managed to use it for some minor editing as well.

I did really hope I could avoid PostGIS, and do all of the calculation inside QGIS, but its routing engine is both slow, and simply not designed for multiple uses. For example after importing the map of Hungary and trying to find a single route between two points it took around 10-15 minutes just to build the routing map, then a couple seconds to calculate the actual route. There is no way to save the routing map (at least I didn't find any that did not involve coding in Python), so if you want to calculate the routes again you had to wait the 10-15 minute of tree building once more. Since I had to calculate around 20.000 of routes at least, I quickly realized this will simply never work out.

I did find the QNEAT3 plugin which did allow one to do a N-M search of routes between two set of points, but it was both too slow and very disk space intense. It also calculated many more routes than needed, as you couldn't add a filter. In the end it took 23 hours for it to calculate the routes AND it created a temporary file of more than 300Gb in the process. After realizing I made a mistake in the input files I quickly realized I won't wait this time again and started looking at PostGIS + pgRouting instead.

Before we move over to them two very important lessons I learned in QGIS:

There is no auto-save. If you forget to save and then 2 hours later QGIS crashes for no reason then you have to restart your work

Any layer that is in editing mode is not getting saved when you press the save button. So even if you don't forget to save by pressing CTRL/CMD+S every 5 seconds like every sane person who used Adobe products ever in their lifetimes does, you will still lose your work two hours later when QGIS finally crashes if you did not exit the editing mode for all of the layers

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So let's move on to PostGIS.

It's been a while since I last used PostGIS - it was around 11 years ago for a web based object tracking project - but it was fairly easy to get it going. Importing data from QGIS (more specifically pushing data from QGIS to PostGIS) was pretty convenient, so I could fill up the tables with the relevant points and lines quite easily. The only hard part was getting pgRouting working, mostly because there aren't any good tutorials on how to import OpenStreetMap data into it. I did find a blog post that used a freeware (not open source) tool to do this, and another project that seems dead (last update was 2 years ago) but at least it was open source, and actually worked well. You can find the scripts I used on the GitHub page's README.

Using pgRouting was okay - documentation is a bit hard to read as it's more of a specification, but I did find the relevant examples useful. It also supports both A* search (which is much quicker than plain Dijsktra on a 2D map) and searching between N*M points with a filter applied, so I hoped it will be quicker than QGIS, but I never expected how quick it was - it only took 5 seconds to calculate the same results it took QGIS 23 hours and 300GB of disk space! Next time I have a GIS project I'm fairly certain I will not shy away from using PostGIS for calculations.

There were a couple of hard parts though, most notably:

ST_Collect will nicely merge multiple lines into one single large line, but the direction of that line looked a bit random, so I had to add some extra code to fix it later.

ST_Split was similarly quite okay to use (although it took me a while to realize I needed to use ST_Snap with proper settings for it to work), but yet again the ordering of the segments were off a slight bit, but I was too lazy to fix it with code - I just updated the wrong values by hand.

----

The next project I had never used in the past was OpenTripPlanner. I did have a public transport project a couple years ago but back then tools like this and the required public databases were very hard to come by, so I opted into using Google's APIs (with a hard limit to make sure this will never be more expensive than the free tier Google gives you each month), but I have again been blown away how good tooling has become since then. GTFS files are readily available for a lot of sources (although not all - MAV, the Hungarian Railways has it for example behind a registration paywall, and although English bus companies are required to publish this by law - and do it nicely, Scottish ones don't always do it, and even if they do finding them is not always easy. Looks to be something I should push within my party of choice as my foray into politics)

There are a couple of caveats with OpenTripPlanner, the main one being it does require a lot of RAM. Getting the Hungarian map, and the timetables from both Volánbusz (the state operated coach company) and BKK (the public transport company of Budapest) required around 13GB of RAM - and by default docker was only given 8, so it did crash at first with me not realizing why.

The interface of OpenTripPlanner is also a bit too simple, and it was fairly hard for me to stop it from giving me trips that only involve walking - I deliberately wanted it to only search between bus stops involving actual bus travel as the walking part I had already done using PostGIS. I did however check if I could have used OpenTripPlanner for that part as well, and while it did work somewhat it didn't really give optimal results for my use case, so I was relieved the time I spend in QGIS - PostGIS was not in vain.

The API of OpenTripPlanner was pretty neat though, it did mimic Google's route searching API as much as possible which I used in the past so parsing the results was quite easy.

----

Once we had all of the data ready, the final bit was converting it to something I can use in JavaScript. For this I used my trusted scripting language I use for such occasion for almost 20 years now: ruby. The only interesting part here was the use of Encoded Polylines (which is Google's standard of sending LineString information over inside JSON files), but yet again I did find enough tools to handle this pretty obscure format.

----

Final part was the display. While I usually used Leaflet in the past I really wanted to try OpenLayers, I had another project I had not yet finished where Leaflet was simply too slow for the data, and I had a very quick look at OpenLayers and saw it could display it with an acceptable performance, so I believed it might be a good opportunity for me to learn it. It was pretty okay, although I do believe transparent layers seem to be pretty slow under it without WebGL rendering, and I could not get WebGL working as it is still only available as a preview with no documentation (and the interface has changed completely in the last 2 months since I last looked at it). In any case OpenLayers was still a good choice - it had built in support for Encoded Polylines, GPX Export, Feature selection by hovering, and a nice styling API. It also required me to use Vita for building the application, which was a nice addition to my pretty lacking knowledge of JavaScript frameworks.

----

All in all this was a fun project, I definitely learned a lot I can use in the future. Seeing how well OpenTripPlanner is, and not just for public transport but also walking and cycling, did give me a couple new ideas I could not envision in the past because I could only do it with Google's Routing API which would have been prohibitively expensive. Now I just need to start lobbying for the Bus Services Act 2017 or something similar to be implemented in Scotland as well