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treysimp · 2 years

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I don't know how else to say this, do you want to make out on my couch? (Explicit Remix)

BOTH AFAB! and AMAB!Reader/Rook Hunt

First section has no pronouns or body description for reader, second sections still have no pronouns but do describe readers secondary sexual characteristics (breasts of unspecified size and a vagina for AFAB, and pecs and a penis for AMAB).

Trying a different format! We are doing a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style fic with a smutty GN!Reader beginning that splits into AFAB and AMAB paths after the first section.

Let me know if you like this or the fully different pieces better!

The beginning of the fic is included immediately below if you want to read the whole thing, or skip to the second picture of (Groovy!) Rook to jump right to the steam. Tags: Explicit sexual content, oral sex (giving and receiving), slight snowballing, enthusiastic consent, praise-kink adjacent descriptions, incredibly bad French, porn with feelings, self-indulgent thirst from yours truly, ask to tag for more.

Want more TWST? Here's my Masterlist!

Thank you lovely readers, enjoy!

“Oh? Mon trésor, do repeat that request?”

You suddenly realized that you shouldn’t have turned your back to Rook when you felt one hand snake across your waist and the other brush behind your arm to grasp your chin. Startled but also more than a little excited at the close contact, you very much could hear each beat of your heart in your eardrums.

Hot breath fanned over your ear as you felt the skim of perfect teeth against your sensitive skin. Shivering excitedly, you stood perfectly still. Feeling as if you moved even slightly, took the smallest breath, or uttered the shortest syllable, the spell would be broken and he would disappear just as fast as he came into your life.

“You know, if you wanted to be caught by me, all you had to do was ask,” he murmured, each word tickling the baby hairs behind your ear.

The heat that crept up your neck was made of more than just embarrassment as you suddenly wondered if you did fall into a trap by asking this beautiful man inside of your house. The hand on your chin slowly turned your head to the side, and your eyes met with a sparkling crescent emerald green.

Feeling very much like every breath he took against your skin took away yours in turn, you closed your eyes for a moment. Feeling the thrill of him being so close and success being so close you could almost taste it. Building up your courage, you square your shoulders as you try to speak again.

“Is that a yes, Rook?” You ask. Your voice shook slightly more than you would have liked, but it certainly wasn’t from fear.

“Ah, ma belle amie, I think you already know the answer.” He said, a soft kiss descending to the cheek you had tilted nearest to him.

The beats of your heart go into overdrive at the simple and relatively innocent act of affection, and this forceful kickstart to your brain finally enticed you to turn your head to him.

Your eyes meet with one of the smuggest expressions you have ever seen in your life. You wanted to wipe it off of him.

“I suppose you’re right.” You say, taking the opportunity to surprise him for once by planting a passionate kiss onto the lips of the stupid, dumb, frustrating, incredibly hot, hunter.

With a soft hum, he reciprocates your kiss. A single strand falls loose from his ponytail and brushes past your cheek in a ticklish wave. The kisses are slow, soft, and so very tender. The romance that everyone wishes for when they dream of kissing the object of their affection for the first time.

Separating with a sigh, Rook’s cheeks are alight with a scarlet splash. “Oh! Mon amour! You do truly know how to stir the fondest fantasies of my heart.” He said, squeezing you ever closer. The embrace made you wonder if mice were this happy with the cheese they found before the trap clapped shut.

“… Rook.”

“Yes, my darling?”

“Can we go inside?”

Without a hint of embarrassment at being asked to let go, Rook loosens his arms to allow you to open the door you had been holding onto for the past couple of minutes.

Without skipping a beat, Rook places his hand at the small of your waist and ushers you inside, closing the door softly behind you both. You are escorted forward through the living room until you sit on the couch. However, rather than sit beside you, Rook kneels on the ground.

“Ma lune, mes étoiles-!” He begins, holding your hands in between one of his, the other elegantly removing his baseball cap with a flourish and holding it to his chest.

“Do you dare grant my fondest wish?”

You breathed in deeply, preparing yourself for what he may have cooked up in his french-speaking, romance-novel-infested brain.

“And what would that be, Rook?”

“For me to make a mess of you, my dear.”

You inhaled sharply, looking for any hint of a lie or facade in his glimmering emerald eyes.

Maybe you were just naive, but no matter how hard you searched each curve of his elegant face, you could never find anything that ever so much as hinted at deceit.

Well, you were down too bad to stop at this point anyway.

“I’m not convinced you’ve ever made a mess in your life, Rook.”

“Ohoho, well then ma cherie! Allow me the pleasure of surprising you.” throwing his hat into the air with an unnecessarily complex hand motion, Rook rises from his knees and uses his arms to box you in.

As he descends onto you with the promise of more, you can’t feel even a trace of regret at letting this hunter into your den. For better, or for worse.

Looking up at Rook from inside his embrace felt like a dream come true. His smile was infectious, bright eyes searing a hole into your mind with their intensity. His kisses were fleeting, always forcing you to follow him as he pulled away over and over, like a fleeting memory you couldn’t quite catch.

Each peck was punctuated with a soft chuckle, a compliment, a hair grab here, a caress across your shoulders there, he knew exactly how to leave you wanting more without ever making it seem like he wasn’t giving you enough in turn.

Your clothes left your body slowly and meticulously, it felt almost like he timed each button coming undone to certain breaths, each inch of skin exposed to the cold air being freed by the careful ritual of his perfected touches and pulls. You realized once all of your garments had made a perfect pile on the floor that the only thing that had been done to ruffle Rook’s perfect appearance was that the first few buttons of his shirt were undone. That wouldn’t do.

“Rook,” You admonished, holding him back from another flurry of kisses by the shoulders. “I expect you to start taking your clothes off too, you know.”

Rook swallowed audibly and for the first time in a while, he looked pleasantly surprised. His eyes crinkled at the edges as he nodded, getting to work on unbuttoning, unzipping, and rolling fabric off of his body.

And… Oh damn. He was way more built than you expected.

You could have guessed as much from the prominent veins on his forearms that you could sneak a peek at when he rolled up his sleeves during gym, but this was on a whole other level. Slim yet sleek muscles with every dip and curve defined, you thought of the professional runners of your world. Rook hid his form very well under all of his layers, but seeing the rippling definition that went from the top of his shoulders to his back, and oh my God, is that a v-line? Do people even have those in real life?

Your mouth was dry. Clearly beauty for Pomefiore was more than just the soft boyish beauties that defined most of the dorm populace.

Rook’s eyebrow rose as he watched the way that you hungrily examined his body. The power of his smile could light a whole city, you thought.

“Tu as perdu ta langue, mon couer?” He asked playfully, slipping his thumbs under the waistband of his boxer briefs to give you a single tantalizing inch more of his form. Oh my god, please, please take those off.

You wished you had elected to take more French classes when you had the chance. Something about a tongue? Well, you could work with that, you guessed.

Tracing your fingers from his waist to meet where his fingers had been pulling at the soft fabric of his final piece of clothing, you held his hands in yours as you eased down the garment to finally get an entire look at him.

Apparently, that thin underwear had been stronger than it looked. He sprung to attention right in front of your eyes and you couldn’t hold back your quiet squeak of surprise.

Okay, you understood where his weird amount of confidence came from.

He was big. The veins on his cock were pronounced, making you again think of how gorgeous those forearms were going to look strained and clenching with pleasure once you were finally able to have your way with him. His tip was a beautiful rose flush, the same color that his kiss-enflamed lips were. Said lips were being bitten rather harshly at this moment, the soft blush enveloping Rook’s face only serving to make his eyes look all the greener and emphasize just how poreless and smooth his skin was from head to toe.

More of his hair had fallen sloppily out of his ponytail, some strands lightly curling in a way that made you wonder if his hair was naturally that straight. You were incredibly jealous of how thick his it was and his lovely honey-blonde color, that was for sure. Seeing that the windows matched the drapes in his case, soft curls of flax surrounding the base of his generous cock, you were pretty confident that he didn’t dye it.

While examining the beauty of his body, you were stricken by how much genuine emotion Rook had on his face at this moment. You were so used to his perfectly calculated smile, that you were unsure how many other expressions he had.

Chest heaving ever so slightly, nails digging into his palms as he carefully watched every slight movement of your eyes scanning his body, you felt like his moment had turned him on far more than any previous.

Getting back to the fact that the one word you understood in his gratuitous French speech was ‘mouth’, you decided it was time to get to work.

Gently covering his velvet skin with your slightly chilly hands, Rook lightly hissed an inhale as he screwed his eyes shut from your first hesitant touches.

“Is this okay?” You asked, worried that said sound was from pain.

“Yes… yes, please keep going.” He murmured, breath labored as you slowly increased the strength of your grip and the speed of your pumps.

Swallowing audibly, you slowly leaned closer to him, gently rubbing his length against your cheek, nuzzling him softly as you began giving him fleeing kisses from base to tip.

He was all out groaning at this point, even though you hadn’t felt like you had done much. You moved your palm to the head of his cock and began grasping his head in swirling circles while your mouth moved up and down to softly drag your tongue against his sides.

Rook’s palm was slapped over his gaping mouth, spilling out a garble of compliments, your name, and French that you did not understand one bit. At some point, you thought you heard ‘mon chou’, which you vaguely remembered as translating to ‘my cabbage’? Filing that thought away for later, maybe it was context-dependent.

Rook had slowly begun bucking his hips into your grasp, which you took as your cue to intensify your motions. You moved your hand to the base of his cock, trailing your tongue from the underside of his twitching balls to envelop his head in your mouth. You began moving your head to a slow bobbing rhythm, pulling your mouth off with a pop every so often like you were enjoying a particularly good sucker. The wet noises of your movement would have been embarrassing if Rook hadn’t moved his hand to the back of your head to gently pull at your scalp at that very moment. Fuck.

You tried different paces, strokes, bobbing without disconnecting from him, mouthing at him from the sides, below, it seemed to be working as his breath was becoming more labored, his eyes screwed shut and he couldn’t even will himself to speak any longer.

It looked like he was close, and as much as you were enjoying this, your neck and your hands had begun cramping just a little (not to mention the guaranteed bruising on your knees from kneeling on your crappy hardwood floor).

You sped up and intensified everything you had been doing, gripping harder with your hands, sucking more aggressively with your mouth, moving faster to a sloppy arhythmic beat. You were both shaking, and Rook began desperately pushing himself into your face in earnest, face screwed up in unabashed pleasure.

Quickly separating himself from you at the last possible second, you felt a warm splatter on your face as you opened your eyes to see the end of Rook’s impressive climax. Wrinkling your nose slightly, you wished that he had asked before electing to cum on your face, but you really couldn’t deny how fucking hot that all was.

Gasping, shaking, Rook holds his slowly drooping cock in hand, gaze fixated on the strands of his release on your face.

Slowly kneeling to your level, Rook places a hand to cup your cheek as the other rubs a single drop of his cum off of your skin with a swipe of his thumb. He carefully laved the digit with his tongue, licking it clean while his eyes smoldered at yours.

Rook drags his tongue down the trails that moisten your face, cleaning every bit of himself off of you. Once he has finished this painstaking process of clearing your face of him, he gives you a passionate open-mouthed kiss, gifting you the taste of him that you had missed from his choice of release. Musky, but surprisingly palatable, you wondered just what in the world he ate to keep his taste so light and unassuming.

Separating from your kiss at a deliberately slow pace, Rook’s eyes bore into you yet again. You feel even more naked than you already were.

“Mon trésor… please allow me to return the favor.”

(END OF Gender Neutral Section):

For AFAB!Reader, go to the second banner, for AMAB!Reader, continue reading below.

(AMAB!Reader, start!)

Your gaze followed Rook’s as he unabashedly stared at your hard cock straining against your boxers, a wet patch of pre-cum creating a small splotch that indicated your overwhelming arousal.

“Please.” You asked, cheeks burning, chest heaving.

After Rook made quite the show of cleaning you up after his climax you weren’t sure how long you were going to last, but you also might pass out from blood loss if you didn’t have his beautiful man touching you as soon as possible.

Rook reaches towards your waist and eases your underwear down, smile slightly intensifying as you lift your hips to allow him to take them off, legs slightly shaking from kneeling so long while you serviced him. Your erection jumped up from its cloth prison much like Rook’s did at the start of this encounter. You felt like you were getting impossibly even harder due to the way his gaze looked upon you so hungrily.

Rook did not take the time to tease that you did, immediately gripping you firmly in his hand and beginning even strokes in earnest, eyes twinkling at the way you crinkled your nose in a combination of surprise and arousal from the sudden action.

“I simply must see what your lovely face looks like when you cum, my dear.” Rook said with a dreamy sigh, “Will you grant me that foolish wish of mine?”

You nod dumbly, entranced with the ways the muscles of his arms flex while he pumps your length. It was impossible to tell just exactly what it was, but you could tell that every time you got yourself off from here on out was going to pale in comparison. You very much didn’t want to blow your load immediately, but Rook was making it difficult.

Taking your length at the base, Rook started dragging his tongue up and around your balls in earnest, softly pumping with his hand as his mouth made effort to explore every visible inch of you.

Your cock was visibly twitching, your legs spasming at each tiny variation of touch that he was giving you. How unfair was this? You felt like he was unraveling you thread by thread, knotting and unknotting the pressure just below your belly.

“R-Rook…” You gasped. God, you wanted to last longer but…

Rook’s smile stretched wide as he took that moment to pull all of you in his mouth, bobbing his head, soft hair bouncing up and down like an angel’s halo.

All of your restraint snapping in one instant, you grabbed Rook by the base of his perfect ponytail and began face-fucking him in earnest, nails digging into his scalp, unabashed moans spilling from your lips.

Rook’s gaze met yours, strained breaths coming from his nose. He looked perfect like this, mouth around you, hair a mess, you wished you could take a picture to keep forever, but this memory would have to do.

With a final strangled moan, you came into his mouth. A hurried and sputtering release coated the inside of his mouth.

Gasping, groaning, you bit your lip as you saw Rook swallow thickly, taking all of your finish with it.

You briefly considered if it was worth trying to get hard again, but the ache in your balls said no dice.

Rook slowly stood to full height, eyes beaming and a smile splitting his face in twain.

“Give me just a moment, mon coeur.” He whispered, stealing his way down the hall and towards your room, returning momentarily with two pairs of your sleepwear, one for you and one for him.

Slowly, carefully, he pulled the shirt over your head and coaxed you into your sweats before putting on his garments with a flourish.

Kissing you on the forehead as you stifled a yawn, Rook braced his arm behind the crook of your knees, pulling you into a bridal carry as you grabbed his neck in surprise.

Taking you to your bedroom, Rook took his time to lay you down, oh so carefully on your well-worn mattress. He smoothed the sweaty hair from your forehead, beaming all the while. Seemingly satisfied with your comfort, Rook climbed in beside you, pulling your head to the crook of his neck as you heard his breathing slow.

“...Hey, Rook?” you mumbled sleepily, pushing your head even further against his skin to smell the sweet fragrance of his cologne.

“Yes, my dear?”

“Why did you call me a cabbage earlier?”

(AFAB!Reader, start!)

You come to the sudden realization of just how sticky and constricting your panties were on your frame as Rook idly traces his finger down the hem that sits on the crook of where your hips and legs meet.

“I… would love that.” You reply shakily, eyes glued to the way Rook’s fingers teased along the sensitive skin that was just millimeters from where you wanted him most.

Rook’s smile grew impossibly wider as he moved his hand to hook the edges of your bottoms and slide them off of your hips, slyly tucking them in his back pocket while you were distracted by the way his eyes examined every pore of your now visible skin.

It was embarrassing, of course, being bare to him as he looked at you so intensely. You idly thought of how perfect and blemishless his complexion was and how very much not perfect your skin was in comparison.

Rook didn’t seem to have those same thoughts though, as he was fluttering his touch around the edges of your labia, relishing in the different textures of your body.

“...Tu es superbe… quelle belle femme.” He mumbles, which in this single case you can context clue your way to the fact it was a compliment due to how breathlessly Rook said the phrase.

Rook moved closer to your core with a deep inhale, lashes fluttering and warm breath causing you to lightly writhe at the stimulation.

“Please touch me, Rook.” You shamelessly beg, eyes slightly teary at the intensity you feel from even the barest of touches.

Snapping his eyes to yours, you feel like if his eyes could suddenly turn ablaze they would.

Rook dives into you with fervor, teeth nibbling at your soft lower lips and fingers lightly tracing your hereto-ignored hole. The sensation is overwhelming, so warm, so wet, his tongue expertly seeking out every erogenous zone that it could find.

You had to restrain the instinct to buck your hips into his face, not wanting to lose contact with his body for even the barest second it would take you to twitch under his touch.

The finger that had been tracing your entrance slowly started pushing inside you, and you had to bite your lip to silence the embarrassing moan that threatened to spill out of you. Rook removed his face from you and tutted, shaking his head back and forth vigorously.

“That will not do, ma belle!” he admonishes, “If you do not wish for me to stop you must not temper your voice! Let me hear you!”

Nodding dizzily from the sudden revoking of his sensations, you agreed. Satisfied with your response, Rook returns to his salacious movements with even more fervor, clearly intending to undo you at the soonest opportunity.

“Oh… Rook…” You gasped.

How in the world was he so good at this? To your knowledge, there wasn’t a ‘Pussy 101’ class at Night Raven (though on second thought, maybe there should be).

Rook was desperately pumping you with his fingers, he had added a second digit to stretch you, and shortly after, a third. His eyes were glued to your face, committing every blink and moan to memory. He was going to make you cum if it killed him, a gentleman would do no less.

Desperately massaging your clit, Rook timed his thrusts with captivating twirls of his tongue.

You felt so hot, so overwhelmingly hot, your legs were clenching, your fists balled up on the couch as they scrambled for purchase and found none. You saw sparks begin to pop up behind your closed eyelids and you knew it was only a matter of time.

“Rook… Rook, please!” You almost screamed.

Rook increased in intensity, pumping you faster, sucking harder, his again half-hard dick grinding uselessly into the leg of the couch.

Gasping, shaking, a desperate clench and then the deepest relaxation you had ever felt washed over you.

Still panting, you slowly lowered your legs from the vice-grip that they had subjected Rook’s head to.

Rook himself was beaming, carelessly wiping the taste of you onto his arm before taking a moment to suck the essence off of the fingers that he had buried in you just seconds prior.

“Oh, my love, we simply must make a habit of this.” Rook declared, eyes again sparkling dangerously from between your legs, “but for now, let me clean you up, dearest.”

Heaving your naked form over his shoulder like you weighed nothing, Rook carried you to the bathroom, wiping you clean with a wet washcloth.

He spent his time looking intensely at every drop of water as it caressed itself down your body, tracing his eyes to mentally make a map of where he still had yet to touch himself.

“…Rook?” You whispered, enchanted by the way he gently cleaned your body before gracefully swiping the same cloth over his own.

“Yes?” He replied, face again alight as the sound of your voice.

“Why did you call me a cabbage earlier?”

-----

And here is the conclusion for the most frequently requested character, Rook! Y'all surprised me with your thirst for this one, but I 100% agree with you that this man is a whole-ass meal.

Let me know what you thought, send me prompts, or tell me who I (we) should do next.

(Should I do a poll? Do people even like polls?)

Love you, reader!

Requested Tags: @readinganas, @yandere-kou, @daeda21, @buckketboy, @stygianoir, @kxhyuns, @aikochan4859, @naniky, @kashasenpai, @the-mermaid-of-the-stars @destinationdesignation, @ninjas-are-the-shit, @prince-zukohere,

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saneabandoned · 18 days

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Diving into Star Wars: The Clone Wars

“Good soldiers follow orders.”

This seems to encapsulate the whole seven seasons of the series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. If you haven’t seen it, haven’t heard of it – in short, it’s an animated series set between Episode II and III of the prequel saga. However, the aim of this is not to be a guide – you can go to Wookiepedia for that; this is supposed to be an essay – analysis, some kind of a deeper-ish dive into the philosophy and meaning of the series, that frankly is one of the best things to happen to this film universe, perhaps ever. I have, time and again, tried to explain for myself the meaning it carries and just why it has me in such a strong chokehold, but I have failed, or at least haven’t reached a conclusion. Maybe it’s not possible, maybe it’s just the magic of being a fan – you see and feel things not everyone would understand, because it speaks to you on some personal level, that even some (more chill than me, at least) fans won’t be able to entirely relate to. I have yet to meet a person as obsessive as I am over all kinds of different media – don’t get me wrong, even though Star Wars is without a doubt my favourite universe, there are many more I have indulged in, wrote about, watched, listened, theorized and all that good stuff throughout many years. But as I have recently come to realize, I have spent the last ten-ish years of my (not that long, to be fair) conscious life thinking about this universe, this whole galaxy (pun absolutely intended) of characters, morals, and plots.

Speaking about morals, that’s where some of the importance of The Clone Wars comes for me personally. Ever since I can remember, Star Wars has been a huge deal in my life – I watched the movies at a very young age (thanks, mom!), but started reading more and more into the whole world as I got older. I thought I’d reached the peak somewhere in high school when I would literally rewatch the prequels every single weekend, and the OG movies about once a month too. I just found it mesmerising, I always have – being a person with a huge imagination, that never quite stops working (and that’s caused me some trouble as well), I found a haven in this world, a place where nothing is too weird, everything is just so brilliantly imagined and thought of, written and painted so vividly, that it feels like someone has taken the insides of my brain, turned them into a whole painting, adding stories, characters and just overall putting into words and pictures the things that I can’t really understand and explain for myself. I found a mirror in this world, a sanctuary for all my thoughts. I used to listen to the soundtracks whenever I felt anxious, and it would transport me directly into the universe I felt so safe in. It was an escape from reality; still is – not that reality was or is particularly scary or unbearable for me; but sometimes I wish I was elsewhere; somewhere where there is courage, bravery, adventure, love, all the things I longed for while being quite honestly, mostly a bored teenager at school.

I have always loved writing, loved expressing my thoughts, putting them into words (as is becoming obvious by this text) and have always greatly appreciated when films, books or other media would reciprocate that – when the words on the screen or the page would feel like I wrote them myself, so true, so real, so incredibly close to me, that I would get literal shivers and wonder if telepathy is actually possible. But hey, that’s The Force for you!

As of now, I have just finished completely rewatching the whole Clone Wars series and as always, I have many thoughts on it. The first time I watched it was right after the final season came out because at that time, and especially during the pandemic, I was going deeper than ever into my interests, rewatching all my favourite things, while also searching for new ones to keep me from going absolutely insane (I think I maybe have succeeded in the opposite though). So, stumbling across this series, I thought I’d give it a try. The rest is history – after absolutely and hungrily devouring it, I continued to Rebels, and every other possible piece of media under the sun. Fabulous times.

Now, one thing I’d like to make clear – I’m not a pro. I am not in any way a certified critic, a writer, or any other sort of person authorised to make such an analysis. I am but a fan, a fan for whom this universe means more than I could ever hope to be able to put into words; a fan who after years of contemplation, has reached a point where I can’t keep it inside any longer. I’d love if this piece of writing makes it out in the universe, reaches as many people who enjoy Star Wars as much as I do, but even if not, I am writing it for myself, I am trying to step out of my comfort zone, reach deep into myself, and in a life of struggling with the loudness of my thoughts, trying to put something down, manifesting my emotions and creating something physical from them; these characters that mean so much to me will never be real, I can never hope to speak to them, touch them, or see them in real life. They have although shaped me as a person and largely formed my psyche and morals, view of the world, inner monologue, even some of my characteristics.

So nevertheless, for me they are more real than a lot of people I know are.

***

To begin, I don’t intend to focus on the Jedi’s role in the war – it is of course vital, but I think the discourse about that is to be found more detailed in relation to the movies, namely the prequels, as CW is very much about the clones themselves. When I first started watching it, I will be honest, I didn’t think I’d find what I ended up finding – and that is such depth that I couldn’t imagine finding again, after being a fan of the movies, both OG and prequels, for so long. But was I wrong!

But let’s start with Ahsoka, since I started by mentioning the Jedi and she is one of the first new characters to appear (besides Rex and many others, of course). First, I wasn’t convinced that I liked her much – she was a bit of an annoying youngling for the first few seasons, after all. I wanted Anakin and that’s about it. Well, I got what I wanted, I think, as I am firm in my opinion that Anakin’s arc is so widely explored that you get a whole another view of his character, something I didn’t think was possible, after all – isn’t the entire saga about him? It is, but still – what I saw in CW, through characters such as Ahsoka and Rex, contributed so much to Anakin’s development as a character and leading force in the saga as I don’t think anything else ever did in the movies, any of them. So, yes, I got what I wanted, but also, I got so much more – Anakin is not my main point of discussion here, I think as main of a character he might be in this series, he is not THE main one, at least not for me. And as Dave Filoni is quoted saying – The Clone Wars is about Ahsoka and Rex.

Who are they? That was my main wonder when I first started watching – why would I care about a random clone captain and a youngling? They are both not present in the movies, and the clones themselves have very little personality there, they are just side characters, until they end up executing Order 66, which is of course devastating. But after watching CW, I completely changed my outlook on it, but more on that later. So, Ahsoka and Rex – admittedly, in the beginning, I didn’t find that much since it’s just mainly classic Star Wars battles and a loose plot that is not absolutely VITAL to the end result but brings so much deeper insight into the clones’ personalities, and ultimately through that to the whole feel.

What I really find devastating about this series is the nagging feeling of doom you inevitably carry with you – you spend so many episodes and seasons watching your favourite characters win numerous battles, you root for them, you cry and laugh with them, you grow so attached to them; but you know how the story ends, you’ve seen Anakin become Vader, again you know about Order 66, you know the Empire rises after all and Palpatine’s plan works – and every time you hear someone say “you’re going to lose this war”, you hope for the opposite, but you know they’re right and there’s nothing to be done – evil wins in the end of this. And as I read somewhere – this is a story that happened a long time ago – it’s over, it has already happened, there is no hope, at least in this series, which I find frankly terrifying. Amazingly done, but still heartbreaking.

Clones, war, and choices

The point about choices and what it means to be a soldier gradually becomes more and more pronounced as the show goes on – one amazing example of this is the Umbara arc where the 501st is led not as usual by Anakin, but by Pong Krell (who later turns out to be a traitor of course). This is one of the darkest moments in the show, as clones are made to kill one another, to sacrifice themselves without reason, and for the first time to face an incompetent, and frankly evil general, and to choose to disobey. This is for me a crucial moment, as the clones have never before chosen to disobey direct orders – they were, after all, made to comply and to follow what their generals tell them to.

"I used to believe that being a good soldier meant doing everything they told you. That's how they engineered us. But we're not droids. We're not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions."

But here, we can see the conflict – especially in Rex, as he is the captain and has to face the general and answer for his deeds. He looks him directly in the eye and tells him they are not willing to go on a suicide mission, that they will not follow his orders, after he’s made them fight and kill their brothers unknowingly, and even ordered Fives and Jesse to be executed. However, Rex struggles with killing Krell, when he decides to; he orders him to kneel and points the blaster at his back but is unable to fire the shot. Once again, Star Wars proves that its plot has much deeper nuances and philosophies; for the first time here, we are faced with the harsh truth – the clones are people. We know that, but it somehow gets lost in the movies, as the focus there is on the Jedi’s end, which is just as tragic, of course. But before now, no one has considered what it really means to be a clone. They were made for war, they were made to die, their lives and their deaths were planned. Are the Jedi and the Republic, in that case, really the “good” side? That’s what I, at least, started to reflect on when I reached this point in the series, and it changed my whole outlook on the saga, on everything I have seen thus far. Yes, I still think the Jedi are cool and whatnot – but did they not deserve what happened to them for so blindly exploiting their soldiers? They didn’t know about Order 66 of course, and Palpatine is in no way right – but how come the Jedi are innocent in this? I don’t think they are, at least not fully. They could’ve stopped so much suffering and helped so many more clones, if not for their narrow views, which are all the reason for the clones’ suffering, Ahsoka’s leaving and consequently, Anakin’s betrayal.

"Sometimes in war, it's hard to be the one that survives."

Oh, Cody, Co-dy! The friendship the clones and in this case – Rex and Cody – share is truly precious and very accentuated in this arc especially (here the first arc of the last season) – it is Cody who Rex confides in about not wanting to lose any more brothers, as he knows he is one of the few ones who will understand him fully, what it means to be a soldier, to have to live with the morals of war, to have never known anything but loss. This is what makes Rex dive and slightly recklessly (thank God) search for Echo, proving that he’s alive, saving him from the tortures. They are brothers, and they never leave their own behind. But he is not possessive or jealous, and when he senses Echo’s pull towards Clone Force 99, he is ready to give him the push he needs to join them. He knows his brothers, as I said, and he knows the trials of war, so if Echo will feel even an ounce happier with this squad, he deserves it, after all he’s endured – “If that’s where you feel your place is, then that's where you belong."

Therefore, I love the Skako Minor arc and Echo’s retrieval, not only because it sets up the ground for The Bad Batch (I’m not even going to begin trying to explain what it means to me, as it deserves to have another huge debate on its own), but because it shows Rex’s devotion to his brothers – all of them. Even though he tries to be just a soldier, to live through the deaths, he still cares immensely, and that’s what makes him a good captain. His bravery is unmatched, he is always the one leading his men, and looking out for them, because he knows his men, he stands and fights side by side with them, and he’s ready to die on the battlefield, thus setting the example for everyone.

The philosophy of war is extremely complicated – this is what I enjoyed so much about the series (and the movies of course, politics and war is the main theme), among all other things; the fact that we see war as destroying, as a necessary evil, as a tragedy by itself – but war also created life in this case and its ending brought much more death than any of the battles ever did.

"The mission... the nightmares. They're finally... over."

I’m sorry, but I think I have never witnessed anything as remotely tragic as Fives’ arc – Palpatine told only him the whole truth, fully knowing no one would believe the clone hasn’t lost his mind; but the sacrifice the trooper made ultimately saved so many lives, mostly Rex’s, one of his closest friends. Fives never got to reunite with Echo but losing him made Rex realise how important every brother is to him, and in consequence, he never gave up on any of them (not that he was inclined to do so before of course). In his last sane moment, Rex begged Ahsoka to “find Fives”, and she understood. She knew the clones better than anyone and knew exactly what that meant and never doubted it for a second. Fives saved her life, too.

Fives’ arc is the first time the show begins to become darker and more sombre – it is also the point when we as spectators begin to realize what Order 66 actually means, having seen before only its results; but this time we see its execution, through the eyes of the clones themselves. They are forced to kill all Jedi, after being their most loyal soldiers, and honestly – incredibly loyal friends as well. They can’t control it and it’s not their choice – but that doesn’t mean they don’t realize what they’re doing – Rex said he couldn’t help it; Wrecker said he tried to fight it (The Bad Batch); Bly shot Aayla so many times, so she wouldn’t suffer and her death would be quick; Cody didn’t even check if Obi-Wan was dead; Wolffe didn’t kill Plo Koon. They were people, they were made to do inhumane things, but they found a way, they made a choice, so that they could somehow live with it after.

We get all of this through the clones’ perspective, rather than the Jedi, and it’s just as painful, if not more – we are used to hearing “the army betrayed its generals”, but what happens when we realise, they couldn’t do anything about it? What happens when we see the struggle, when we can almost feel the pain of having to betray? The clones, the most loyal creatures ever created, made for loyalty, have to turn on their generals, on their comrades, on their closest friends.

So, I come back to Ahsoka and Rex. We see them in the very first moment of the show, and they have already formed a bond, which is unlike anything else. They fight side by side the whole war – from the battle of Christophsis to the Siege of Mandalore – and Dave Filoni is truly right when he says this show is about them; but I think also in a broader sense. It is about two creatures who were destined to fight all their lives, who no matter their completely opposite backgrounds, turned out to be the same things – soldiers. Through and through, in their own ways. Their friendship transcends beyond all of this, they have a unique connection, that’s never shaken, even in the direst of moments; even years later, when they meet (in Rebels), you can feel their love for one another, the purest friendship there ever was, somehow ironically created by the ugliness of war and constant fight. Both Rex and Ahsoka suffered losses we cannot imagine – Rex says he tries not to hold on to any of his brothers, and Ahsoka is a Jedi, so it is forbidden for her to form such attachments; but we know. We see it in their eyes, we can hear it when they speak. Rex can never forget Fives’ death and the fact that he died thinking no one believed him; he ran to Skako Minor in an instant even though it might have been a trap, but the chance to save Echo was not one he was going to miss out on this time. And he saved his brother, against all odds. And he saved Ahsoka, as she saved him, time and again. Because that's what brothers do.

“I’m no Jedi” – an interesting phrase for Ahsoka and Rex to have in common, given how different both their roles and backgrounds seem to be, but it is indeed the one they unexpectedly share. Spoken first by Rex here, and then a lot later by Ahsoka in Rebels, it is highly unprovable that it’s on purpose. However, I don’t think anything in Star Wars is done without a reason, so I choose to believe there is some thread connecting them – after all it is Rex and Ahsoka, and that will always matter. What it means for both of them is simultaneously the same, yet different – Rex is the clone closest to the Jedi, there is no doubt about this; he’s used to their ways, he has as equally as strong a moral code, so it is somehow thinly implied that he acts similar to them, despite (or thanks to) being one of the strongest and most respected clone leaders. His closeness to both his general and commander is widely known, so no one seems to pay attention to the fact that he is actually a clone, as he makes his own decisions, and often chooses to fight where a Jedi would opt to step back.

Ahsoka and Anakin

For me Ahsoka became the best character in the whole saga, no ounce of doubt, sorry. She is the embodiment of the Force, she is fierce, loyal, but also incredibly wise for someone her age, and someone who is still learning. On many an occasion, she proves to be more experienced than Anakin (and in my book, experience outranks everything) and I feel like he’s learned as much from her as she did from him – if not more. She is the one keeping him sane and grounded, and I’m a firm believer that had she not left the order, he wouldn’t turn. Ahsoka’s presence brings so many new layers to Anakin’s character, that have not been explored before that and had she stood by him, he wouldn’t be able to become what he became. So, yes – ultimately, I blame the Jedi order for Anakin’s betrayal, I always have, but after watching this series, and seeing it from another point of view, I simply cannot be shaken. They took everything from him and left him alone, which has always been his weakest – he has always been this little child, terrified by the dark, later consumed by it, now unable to fight it anymore. The Jedi made him, and they unmade him too. In my opinion, he shouldn’t have ever been a Jedi in the first place – he is not like Obi-Wan, not like Yoda, not even like Ahsoka (who is not the traditional Jedi either, being trained by him) – he is so powerful and so weak at the same time, and that’s where his dilemma lays – who am I? Which side am I on? He doesn’t know, but no one is there to help him – Ahsoka included, as she (rightfully so!) leaves the order when she sees the truth about it. But she carries that guilt ever since.

She blames herself for leaving Anakin, she blames herself for not fighting alongside him when he needed it; for leaving her friend, her brother. If I were Ahsoka, I would have done the same – she was betrayed by the Jedi, not by Anakin, not ever, but still. He stood with the Order when she needed him by her side. And that is what destroys him too. The loss of his padawan, his most loyal friend is unlike anything else, and for her, leaving this life that’s all she’s ever known, transforms her view on everything. And when she inevitably returns, because that’s where she is supposed to be in order for the prophecy to happen – she must be there, but not by Anakin’s side; she doesn’t fit anywhere else, but she doesn’t fit there anymore either; and she can’t follow him, so she’s sent to Mandalore, again alongside the clones, her brothers, she goes down fighting with Rex. She’s always been his sister more than a Jedi; she didn’t ever belong anywhere else but on a battlefield. She may not be a clone, and she wasn’t meant to be a soldier either; but just like the clones, the war is all she’s ever known, and even though she was meant to be a peacekeeper, peace was something she never knew, especially after Anakin’s turn to the Dark side – even though there is no longer a war, she is forever tormented by the voices she heard in his last moments as her beloved master and the pain she felt when he left.

She knew it was over in that moment – Order 66 is by far the most heartbreaking arc of them all and I can never watch it without then spending weeks thinking about it – it’s genius, really, how Palpatine had this evil plan, dictated the whole war without anyone noticing; and it worked. It worked and changed the whole entire galaxy, and nothing could have prevented it – except maybe Anakin turning; and that is what Ahsoka can’t get over; she feels it is somehow partially her fault that the dark won; if only she hadn’t left, it haunts her forever. She doesn’t know Anakin is Vader, not until she meets him after, so she thinks he’s dead like the rest of the Jedi – and when she finds out what truly happened to him, she passes out (in Rebels; another terrific moment) because the pain is just too strong – the mixture of his known presence in the Force, and his new persona, that is torn from pain and suffering, feelings so intense and unknown to her she can’t understand them. It’s not her master, but it is undeniably Anakin. And he feels abandoned, he feels alone, he is guilty and sad and in constant pain, he is no longer there, not really, but then – he is. And the memory of what he once was, what he promised, everything he taught his padawan brings such pain for Ahsoka.

She may not think she is truly a Jedi, yet she is for me the only one of them I came to respect – she is never hypocritical, doesn’t leave anyone behind, not ever, and she fights for good, always for what she deems right, never feeling like she has to change for others, but in the end always blaming herself for their fate. She could never forgive herself for what happened to Anakin, and she can never forget her brothers, the clones, she suffers and grieves for every one of them, she knows their names, they were her whole world. And the only thing she had left, because they never judged and never tried to change her, they simply stood by her. Even when they had orders to kill her.

Rex and Order 66

Ahsoka’s master was gone from that moment on, and all she had left was Rex. The other main character, and I accept no objections to that statement. Rex is... the best one ever. He is, without any doubt, my favourite from this series. Putting aside my Ahsoka obsession, I didn’t expect to grow as attached to him as I did. Then again, I can’t separate them – for me, they are a team, the best one, and I don’t think I would have liked them as much had they not been the amazing pair they are. The connection between Rex and Ahsoka is what makes this series so different and so much better than the movies for me. It shows a level of true depth and caring that we haven’t really seen before – the type of platonic trust that few people find in their real lives. If I get to have just one friend that is as loyal, I don’t think I’d need anything more. Their story is so real, so touching and beautiful and sad – I think it is not only the best one in the series, but in the whole saga, and in any storyworld, really, for me personally. They meet a kid and a soldier, but they leave the war (or maybe the war leaves them) as equals, friends bound by experiences so unique and traumatic that they can never forget them, their bond can never be destroyed. They are soulmates, and they are forever. I don’t make the rules, sorry.

"Well, I've known no other way. Gives us clones all a mixed feeling about the war. Many people wish it had never happened, but without it, we wouldn't exist.”

Rex says this to Ahsoka moments before he is forced to execute Order 66 and it makes me shudder every time I hear it. Knowing what follows, knowing that the clones that have been created for war, are humans with so much more nuanced feelings that they let themselves express, that they fear the war ending as much as others might feel a war beginning is incredibly twisted. They are not machines, they are much more than that, they have feelings, and they have morals, and they are afraid. Rex has never doubted his loyalty to his commanders, and never gave any reason to be doubted – never hesitated, never showed anything less than immense courage and skill. But now he stands before the only person he’s never been able to deceive, and he voices for the first time what probably has been torturing him for a while – the knowledge that he is expendable, that his life might be over, and that this might be what he’s always fought for – the end of himself and his brothers. Victory and death, indeed.

Viewers have witnessed many a clone death, and these last episodes are the culmination of it all – from that point on, every favourite character is in danger. Of themselves. One thing that the series does marvellously is bring personality to so many seemingly identical characters – in the movies we never get any detail about their lives, their characteristics, even their looks – but now I could recognize Fives from Echo in a second; they might have the same features and the same voice, but they are not the same. They are brothers, forged by the same essence, they share the same blood and the same heart, but they are individuals with thoughts and passions so diverse it’s impossible not to notice, not to adore.

Rex is Ahsoka’s best friend, as she reassures him moments before everything went to hell. He is the man who stood and fought by her side, and who watched her grow up. Who, when faced with the order to kill her, removes and drops his helmet in a desperate try to fight Order 66 (perhaps unconsciously, as he is being mind-controlled), and so she could see his eyes, see his tears, his struggle, his shaking, and know that he had no choice, know that on some level, he is asking for help for the first time ever, the soldier he is – he removes his helmet so he could look her in the eyes, his best friend, his sister, his commander; and she knows.

She’d ran to him, when sensing there was something wrong – of course, Ahsoka would run to Rex, because he’s Rex, he’ll know exactly what to say and what to do, and maybe he could contact somebody who can fix this; this can’t be real, the war is almost over; she’s still a child after all, she can’t face this now, not alone, not without Rex. She’s never had to face anything without Rex, it’s just unimaginable – but she runs to him and in his eyes she sees someone who is not Rex at all, and suddenly all the men she trusted with her life more times than she can count, are not the men she knows, and they want to hurt her, and Rex wants to hurt her, even though it makes him suffer. She sees his tears; she feels in him what she never believed she would.

The parallels in their relationship are just amazing – one of their first interactions is when Rex says to her “good luck, kid” on their first ever mission together – and it shows just how much he already cares for her, how he understands that beneath all her witty remarks and wish to prove herself to her new master (and his soldiers!), she is still a kid thrown on a battlefield – an unnatural atmosphere for anyone, but especially for a young child with no experience whatsoever. From then on, they just keep getting closer and their friendship grows stronger until it reaches a point where they can understand each other without even speaking.

“Yeah, kid, I’m okay”, Rex says, moments after Ahsoka has removed his inhibitor chip and essentially saved both their lives, all while putting herself at a great risk, just because she cares and she can’t do this on her own. In this moment, in his eyes, she is again the kid he first saw, scared about her friend, trying to prove that she can do it all on her own – this parallel is so important to me; she has never been in such a situation alone before, because she’s always had Rex, and now she’d almost lost him, after just reuniting with him; when for a split second there was something in his eyes that she’d never seen before, the only thing that saved her was Anakin and Rex’s training (shown in Tales of the Jedi). Anakin taught her how to fight enemies much stronger than herself, her brothers taught her how to defend herself, not knowing that she’d ever have to, especially not against them. It’s truly heartbreaking.

“Ahsoka, it’s all of us” – just seconds after she has saved him, Rex looks her in the eyes and apologizes for almost doing the undoable, for almost killing her, for being okay when she almost wasn’t. How would he ever live with himself, knowing that he betrayed his best friend? The animation has developed so much by this point, that in this last episode, it’s almost like watching real people acting, at least that’s how I’ve always felt; it feels real, the emotion is just so intense and so palpable – especially with this being the first time Rex says her name. She is his friend, she is the only one who cared enough to save him, thus saving herself, proving again and again her loyalty, the thing they have most in common. They understand each other like no one else can, they have been through everything together, and now, in these crucial moments, they have both proven it – she never gave up on him, she trusted him enough to save him, and in return, he is ready to follow her anywhere and die protecting her. From his own men. Barely awake, he’d reached for his blasters, shooting his own brothers to protect her, not even fully conscious yet. They are equal, they have become one through the Force, and if it wasn’t clear before, it is now – they are sticking together to the very end, no matter what they must do, no matter how. They are forever. Loyalty means everything to the clones.

This and what follows on the bridge of the ship as it’s coming down, are my favourite scenes from the series.

“I hate to tell you this, but they don’t care! This ship is going down, and those soldiers, my brothers are willing to die and take you and me along with them!”

Even though it’s animated, even though you can’t see his face, and the only thing is his desperate voice, you can feel the devastation when Rex utters these words, touching his chest, as he says “brothers” – he has always cared for them, his family, and has mourned every single loss, but now, when there is no other choice, he knows protecting Ahsoka is the most important thing there is – the mind-controlled clones can’t tell apart their own from a traitor, so what’s the point?

There is always a right choice – and Ahsoka proves it, when she gently removes his helmet, only to show what everyone but also no one suspected – Rex is crying, he is afraid and in pain, and she is the only thing he cares about. He’s lost so much; he can’t lose her too. But she always has a plan, and she is probably the only one who cares about the clones as much as him; they don’t need to explain themselves; she doesn’t want to be the one who is responsible for so much death; there’s been too much already. They have lived a life of war, facing death and loss every single day, and enough is enough. She wants to live, but not at the cost of murder. There is no doubt in her voice when she says that.

Burying brothers

What follows is truly devastating to watch – Rex facing his brothers, as a traitor in their eyes, as some of them stand before him, still wearing their helmets with Ahsoka’s Togruta design on them, the colours of the 501st closely resembling her lekku. They’d painted their armour as soon as they knew Ahsoka was coming back to them and they were getting their commander, and little sister back, their best friend, the only one who cares enough to remember all their names, who never turned her back on them, even now, when they are against her, she still tries to save as many of them as possible; she’s been the one whose hand they’ve reached to when dying, their last memory on this world her face, her bright eyes, full of life and care, her presence calming them in the face of the inevitable, as she will have to do now as fell, at the very end.

How must it feel to lose everything you’ve fought and hoped for, in a span of hours? Palpatine’s plan is truly ingenious. The war might have ended, but only on the outside; a much larger, much more painful fight has begun, inside, for Rex and Ahsoka, who now have to navigate a life they haven’t ever considered; they may have wondered what life after the war might be like, but not like this, never like this; not as heroes, not even as fighters – as traitors in the eyes of their most beloved brothers and the new control of the Empire. But they choose to fight until the end, crashing down, falling with the cruiser together, hand in hand; the parallel of them hanging on to each other in the hanger is precisely mirroring the moment of Anakin and Obi-Wan trying to push each other away during their legendary fight on Mustafar, which is happening at the exact same time. But these two don’t let go, they simply cannot face losing each other, not now, not after all of this. They’ve fought for years, so many battles, losing track of what the fights are about – but this last one is clear; they are fighting for each other. And when they are the only survivors, they take to bury their brothers, and grieve the colossal loss side by side, silently watching, because there aren’t words to describe what they feel, and it’s not necessary, so they don’t speak. They know.

"I don’t want to bury any more of our brothers."

The devastation and sheer exasperation we hear in Rex’s voice when he says this much later, in The Bad Batch, when talking about the inhibitor chips nonetheless, is all we’ll ever need to know about him. Laying low after the end of the war, separating from Ahsoka, believed to be dead; in fact – being dead to the world in every sense, this is the choice he makes. He’s witnessed almost all his closest friends dying, he’s lost his general, he doesn’t have a purpose and a goal anymore; he has to deal with the realization that the war is over, but it ended at way too high a price, and he’s a soldier – he will fight every day, until the end, because it’s all he knows. He’s the most loyal soldier, survived Order 66 at the highest price there could ever be, and he can’t lose more. He wants to keep fighting, and he will, but not to lose. Rex doesn’t want to feel this awful feeling of loss, not ever again.

The same goes for Ahsoka – even though she quits the order and never officially finishes her training, the Jedi life is the only one she’s ever known, so her path even after leaving, after the war ends, and after she separates from Rex, is one lead by the code to a large extent, even if done so unconsciously. She claims to not be a Jedi when she faces her master as Vader in Rebels, wanting to avenge him; but she doesn’t end up doing it, she can’t possibly kill Anakin. So, she goes on, living in this middle ground – she is not truly a Jedi, but what else could she be? She has led her troops in many battles, fought by their side; even when they didn’t have to, they still called her commander, as loyal to her as ever; recognizing that she stood by them, even held them as they died.

When The Resolute crashes after Order 66, we are aware that her and Rex took every single one of their fallen brothers, buried them, and displayed their helmets, putting Jesse at the very front, the one who’d wanted to kill them the most at the end. But they know better, it was not him, not after literal moments before that he almost went insane from Maul’s questioning because he didn’t want to betray Ahsoka; he deserved a recognition, even in death. Every single one of them did, and Rex and Ahsoka gave it to them. She lets go now of her lightsaber, the Jedi weapon that bears her identity, and lays it to rest next to the fallen soldiers, because she doesn’t want to have any more connections to this war, there’s been enough fighting. She dies here too – for what it’s worth, she fell with the clones. I can’t imagine how traumatising and terrible it felt, pulling body after body out of the debris. For both of them.

Brother after brother.

***

No matter what I say, or how much I write, I don’t think I will ever be able to express properly what this world and this series in particular mean to me. Of course I love all things Star Wars, but The Clone Wars will always hold a very special and exceptional place among them. It is a unique feeling, one I cannot put a word on, it feels too big for me, as if there is some kind of a boundary that is at the verge of explosion, it’s holding so much emotion, and there isn’t enough space for it inside. Perhaps it’s the depth and the exploration of the clones, their relationships, the empathy their lives evoke – creatures bred for war, individuals barely recognized in life. But still human, as Rex and Ahsoka remind us of the entire time – especially when we see them watching the arranged helmets of their dead brothers – the clones have not been just pawns, they are people; people who died for a cause they couldn’t have any say in. Their lives were not their own; but Ahsoka’s life wasn’t her own either. This is the tragedy of The Clone Wars, but there’s also an ironic beauty about it – Ahsoka wouldn’t have had her master or her best friend, if it wasn’t for the war. It’s a story about the philosophy of choice, hope, good and evil of course, friendship and loyalty. Victory and its highest cost, death; the consequences after a life spent fighting, which no one usually thinks about.

When the final shot rolls and we see Vader’s ominous figure step on to the same place where Ahsoka and Rex were last, as he digs his apprentice’s lightsaber and holds it, we realize what the moral of the story is. We see Anakin’s eyes behind Vader’s mask, and we feel the cold he feels – he ended up alone after all, after all his trying, he had an army, he led troopers, he cared for an apprentice, but he lost them all. He won the war, but he would rather have died with his friends – who he doesn’t know are still alive, and they don’t know what happened to him either; instead of being their enemy. But the time for choosing is over, and there is no going back for him now.

His reflection hits the clone helmet, and we see the image of Anakin, walking away from Ahsoka and Rex.

It doesn’t end with the war; it begins with it.

28 notes · View notes

tarjapearce · 9 months

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Hey, I wanna say i really really like the way you write fics. It feels??? Natural?? To read it?? Always an adventure everytime I read a fic of yours.

How do you write so good?? I'm a writer as well and I'd love to hear your tips and tricks ^^

First of all, I wanna thank you for liking the crap stuff I write. (Cause I'm genuinely amazed some times that people just like it and I'm not saying this because.)

⚠️⚠️LONG AND POSSIBLE CONTROVERSIAL ANSWER AHEAD ⚠️⚠️

It's kinda funny, ngl. Lemme tell you something, I don't know if you guys struggle with Impostor Syndrome a lot like me, but everytime someone gives a compliment like this my brain just goes into self sabotaging mode.

In the outside its :

But in the inside, my brain immediately goes:

Cause I'm aware that I can do better. (And we will ~) it's weird. I'm always striving to do better.

As for the tips and tricks, I'm surely not the right person to ask advice from 😅, but Imma just tell you this from what I experience and from my perspective (Hopefully won't get backlash from this, if not, R. I. P. me jsksj) Be warned though, it's kinda contradictory cause writing is hard yo!

1. You gotta read. Either books or whatever your favorite genre is, but you gotta read. I consume fan fics and non fanfics cause you learn from other people too. I read fanfics mostly to know new words, how the character develops and the like.

I read more spanish stuff than anything. Which I try to transfer to what I write.

2. I try to keep it as simple as possible. With that I mean to not over embellish words cause it gets boring and weird. Sure, everyone wants to make their fanfics pretty (nothing wrong in that) but sometimes I feel that less is more. Like, nothing wrong if you wanna poet the f- out of your fic. (THIS IS A DOUBLE EDGED ONE SO BE CAREFUL!!)

I mean there is a huge difference in reading:

"The anger and frustration on her way of living was taking a toll on her mind"

and:

"Her nemesism had muddled her mind into an endless spiral of what ifs and what not, and frankly if her mind could speak, it'd beg for a break."

It's hard to pick one style, but as long as you keep it consistent, I guess it's all good (?) (Funny cause I always aim for the second one and end up in the first jsksj and I dont even know myself if I'm keeping it consistent)

3. Get yourself a beta reader that doesn't coddle you. It helps alot!!!! Cause again, compliments sure are nice, but they don't tell you where you could get better. ✨( Unless the reader provides puntual feedback on what they liked and what not. Those are my favorites and a rare gem ❤️)

4. I know this one is hard because everyone at some point have done this. But IF YOU COMPARE yourself to other writers? You'll lose yourself. Not only you'll lose motivation cause you seem unable to write like them, but you will fall into this... vicious circle of self deprecating and burnout. And the self doubt sky rockets nonstop.

Everyone is different. Everyone learns in a different pace. Trust me, I wanted to make great stories with a good looking writing when I had the slightest idea of what I was doing (Still do!) 😂. Writing fanfics is not a competition to who writes more beautiful/good/professional than others. Or who has more notes or the most canon-stuck character, or the cause let's face it, none will get a character's personality to a 100%!!! (And that's ok cause it's fanfiction and we all have a different approach to the character either emotional or mental) .

Personally for me, the cockyest thing someone can do is to claim to know a character more than the creators themselves. Kinda rude for me, if you ask . Like, sure feeling a deep connection with a character doesn't mean it'll grant us instant access to their whole self. Characters just like us evolve. Either for the good or the bad, but they don't remain the same, so knowing them completely is a big fat lie. Unless stated by the creator. (But we're delusional in this site, so~)

I mean, sure characterization is something we all struggle since we guide ourselves by some of the character's most prominent traits and make them their default personality. (I've sinned in this jsksj so don't worry)

5. HAVE FUN AND TAKE BREAKS. I mean it. The favorite things I've written is where Im genuinely having fun writing it. But also after a well deserved rest. Cause if something doesn't feel right, it won't be right. And burnout is easier to get at than we actually think.

6. I recently started to follow writing advice blogs, one of my favorite @heywriters.

@she-who-fights-and-writes. (They have amazing writing resources, so does Pinterest and YouTube. Seize them!!!)

But yeah, I'm still an amateur on this, I make emphasis in the 5th one tho.

Hope this helps you? ;w;.

Love you❤️✨

Thanks for stopping by. ❤️

#talking with t✨#personal takes #thoughts on my writing

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ordinaryschmuck · 8 months

Text

What I Love About Fionna and Cake (Vaugish spoilers ahead)

For those who follow me, this isn't going to be an EXTENSIVE review, but it's not going to be a "Quick Thoughts" either. It's more like an in-between option because, gosh dang it, I NEED to talk about Fionna and Cake.

When it was announced there was going to be a Fionna and Cake spin-off series, my stomach immediately filled with dread, and for two reasons. First of all, I just wanted Adventure Time to be done. Not because I hated the series. Far from it, in fact. It's because with the show's finale being this big conclusion that left me feeling empty inside and with "Together Again" feeling like a better, satisfying end to the franchise AND Finn and Jake, the last thing I wanted was MORE Adventure Time. I know the show's tagline is "The fun will never end," but the fun HAS to end at some point.

Also...I wasn't really into Fionna and Cake, both as a kid and as an adult. As a kid, I found it weird that Adventure Time just had this random episode where all the characters had swapped genders for some reason and my dumb young boy brain went "Ew, girly nonsense!" I matured past that now and actually learned to appreciate how it's actually a playful jab at the fanfic community and their occasional cringiness. That being said, I still wasn't into...how weird things got with Fionna and Cake, and I was NOT ready for a whole series based on them. I mean, why would I want a series of a genderswapped Finn and Jake when I could have...Finn and Jake?

But then the show came out...and I was NOT expecting the ten-episode long emotional roller coaster that had no right being as good as it was. NOR was I expecting it to be for adults this time.

I heard about...two weeks? Yeah, two weeks before hand, I heard that Fionna and Cake would have a TV-14 rating, and that's primarily the reason why I got more interested in the show. And a part of me kind of wish I didn't know that beforehand because I kind of wanted the surprise of characters going "God dammit" and Finn stabbing a monster in it's snout, leaving a gaping bloody hole in it. Like...could you IMAGINE?

But before you say anything, Fionna and Cake, thankfully, isn't rated TV-14 JUST BECAUSE it has swears, violence, and its main character topless for...more than half the series, to be honest. In actuality, the show's rated TV-14 more or less for the themes and messages that appeal more towards adults than it would have for kids. This show is more or less for the fans who grew up with Adventure Time, whether they're the kids now in their early twenties like Fionna, or the adults that watched the show for some reason and feel the same existential dread as Simon. The show is about the two of them and their growth to learn the lesson every body and their grandma needs to learn: Just cope.

Some of us yearn for a magical world with adventures that saves us from our boring, mundane lives. Others, even as adults, feel like they don't belong in certain spaces and wish to have back their loved ones who made them feel like they DO belong. So Fionna and Cake is there to just give the harsh truth, but instead of making the show feel like a downer, it gives a beautiful yet tragic experience that says you shouldn't yearn for what you WANT and appreciate what you NEED. Fionna wanted a magical world, but she didn't NEED it. Simon wanted Betty back or to return to his madness, but he didn't NEED to. The journey these characters go on leads to Fionna needing to learn that her life is fine just the way it is and that Simon needing to learn that his life HAS purpose even if it's without his true love. As for how they go through it and what conclusions they come to...I'm not going to spoil it because it's all brilliantly done and best left for you to see for yourself. Trust me when I say there is so much about their journeys that's best left to see for yourself if you haven't. But the bottomline is that it teaches audiences that your life is just fine the way it is. You just need to see the beauty through the dread and/or tragedy.

And despite this overlaying maturity, the show is still very much Adventure Time. It's filled with characters saying goofy things and acting silly, it's just now the show can go FARTHER with its mature messages, no longer having the kiddie gloves on for the sake of the children. They can go ALL IN on the existential dread much more than they did in the past, is unafraid to explicitly kill characters, and can make the gay characters kiss and date...Okay, they probably COULD have made that last part for kids with Steven Universe and The Owl House popularizing LGBTQA+ representation in children's media, but they definitely couldn't with those first two options! And I'm so glad that despite being mature, Fionna and Cake stuck with Adventure Time's brand of charm, heart, and fun times. It's just that those fun times can be interrupted by your favorite characters dying...But don't worry. They're not the REAL characters you grow up with.

Fionna and Cake is a multiverse story, meaning the show jumps between world after world. Not only does it provide peeks into new, interesting worlds based on these "what ifs" I didn't know I wanted to see, but it also allows the writers to basically kill off every character you loved as a kid. Sometimes it's explicit by showing viewers unmoving, withered, and sometimes even BURNT corpses, and other times it's implicit with nothing viewer interpretation guiding what MIGHT be true. Adventure Time HAS gotten dark like that in the past, but this is a time when the writers really go all out without holding back an inch, and I respect that.

And as for this being a multiverse story, I know we're all starting to get sick of those, but Fionna and Cake does it in a way that takes advantage of its premise. Each universe provides a dark and twisted version of Ooo, to the benefit of teaching Simon and Fionna to find what they NEED, not give them what they WANT. Again, I won't give away HOW, but it all works really well and it's why multiverse stories like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and The Flash tend to fail. I talked about this last night with a buddy of mine, but a multiverse story works better when it's used to help the characters grow and provide interesting views of things that COULD HAVE happened if things went differently. Not to spit out cameos for specific fans or make jokes about how pizza is in balls or how Aquaman's dad didn't marry the queen of Atlantis. Fionna and Cake has cameos, but they're again to show how different each universe is, teach Fionna and Simon, and even reveal the tragedy that they present at times. It just happens to be done in a way that's a fun cameo for fans.

Speaking of which, it's hard to recommend Fionna and Cake because this is a spin-off that's clearly for the fans of Adventure Time. The ones who watched the show from the beginning and get all the little in-jokes, references, and call-backs that were frequent of the series. If you HAVEN'T seen the show...I'm willing to say you'd enjoy it ENOUGH, but you'd still be left confused. You COULD watch the show beforehand, and I definitely recommend you do that, but that means watching ten seasons and four specials of television just to watch ONE spin-off. Not everyone is going to have the patience to do that, and I can understand why. Just know that if you're fan, you'll definitely enjoy this.

If there's anything to complain about, the only real nitpick I have is Cake. Despite being the OTHER titular character, she...doesn't really do much or have a journey to go on. Her character is just being there for Fionna and wanting to be the magical cat she wanted to be. Only instead of coping with what she has, Cake...doesn't do that. She gets what she wants and she's fine with it, which is kind of disappointing. And as a character, she's kind of selfish, not really caring what happens to Simon just as long as SHE gets exactly what she wants. Now, she still has some great one-liners and still has an engaging purpose as a counter-argument to what Fionna needs to learn, but that doesn't change how she's pretty much the weakest part of the show, at least to me.

Fionna and Cake is definitely a show that has more strengths and weaknesses, completely shattering expectations and making a show I didn't know I needed. Would I want another season? Eh, not really. I'm fine with how things end here. But I'm glad I watched it and I'll likely rewatch it over and over again.

If you're not a fan of Adventure Time, this probably won't be your cup of tea. But if you are, then this is a solid A series for you. Check it out and see that just because the fun will never end, that doesn't make it a bad thing.

#adventure time #fionna and cake #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna campbell #simon petrikov #cake the cat #what i thought about #what i love about #quick thoughts #what i quickly thought about

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rachell-redacted · 7 months

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Here's my review of The Talos Principle 2. It's not a flattering one, but it felt like some things needed to be said.

First of all, let’s get all of ad hominems out the way. This is not a review in bad faith, nor is in written out of malice. I’m not politically opposed to democracy, liberalism, individualism, humanism and women’s rights. I’m somewhat a nihilist, yeah, but a rather practical one. Meanings can be constructed for ease of living and efficiency and all that jazz. I’m also not a puzzle genre hater. I’ve 100%ed Portal 2, and the only reason I do not have 100% at TTP1 is because I could never bring myself to kill Milton off. Who I am though is a huge fan of the first game. This is clearly affecting my perception of this one, so this is relevant, I think.

I’m a huge fan of TTP1 and I hugely disliked TTP2. Is this game a sequel, does it continue the story? Yes. Is it a spiritual successor, does it continue the _narrative_? No, not at all. It feels different, hits different, and for me it wasn’t in a good kind of way.

First of all, TTP2 is overwhelmingly naïve. I do see that this is a deliberate creative choice, but I strongly believe it does not fit the series. It was a bad idea to take a thought-provoking piece of art and continue it as a message rather than as a discussion. TTP1 had space within itself to engage with its ideas and to form individual conclusions. TTP2 clearly wants to tell you something specific, but to truly listen you need to suspend your disbelief a lot more than before. Where the first game would have tackled a question with some degree of nuance, this one tends to postulate an answer. Would like to explore space for some other reasons than our moral duty to light up the Universe with cognition and life? Do not believe in such things? Good luck. Do not think that beauty exists / is inherently good / matters? Good luck once again, now with a chance to disappoint your companions. The list goes on, and while I’m all for humanism, technocracy and progress, I still felt trapped in reasonings game offered me for it all.

There’s also a huge problem with the narrative as a whole – there is no whole. Plot seems strangely fragmented, with Somnodrome arc being a bitter mix of an afterthought and a cut plotline. What was it for? Same goes for the secret society plot. And the main story, including Miranda, is just flat. Writers want us to care for their characters, but with characters being mouthpieces for ideas this is rather hard.

Also, there’s a Theory of Everything is this game. It just is. With it, the Universe is _postulated_ as being fundamentally knowable and understandable, which is unsettling for such a huge philosophical debate. (Put your ad hominem down, I do believe that the world is cognizable, I just don’t think making this a knowable fact is a good choice for this particular game). Moreover, with the Theory of Everything the science is solved. By one person, who consciously excluded their peers out of scientific progress. One person solved science and nowhere in the game is anyone upset about it. Why? Because writers needed a magical solve-all-problems device, and without it nothing would work plot wise. But with it the plot just seems plastic and cheap.

This story has no room for me to challenge it from the inside, it forces me to go and start a one-sided conversation with its authors, which I do not like. In short, it feels rushed, naïve and incomplete. But this is a puzzle game, not a text adventure. So, are the puzzles any good?

Well, I did not like them. I’m not sure if it means that they are bad, but in my opinion, they are somewhat boring. Most of the time solving them feels mechanical, not that much of ah-a! moments for me. More of the “finally, get this, stupid new puzzle element” and “after 500 hours in portal my brain solves this without thinking”. The other category is “to convoluted to be interesting”. But there’s non zero chance this is me and not the game.

Really bad stuff happens between the puzzles, in those huge open spaces. They get old very fast, and fast travel option isn’t helping much. Some regions are almost impossible to navigate even with the compass, and solving for stars just becomes a chore.

Well, most of the game felt like a chore to me. There are other things I’m upset about, like making Athena, seemingly our main character from TTP1, a chosen-one with a God complex (she IS that even without the myth around her) or not including Milton, but otherwise good plot could have made it work. This one did not. It disregards a very personal thing for a fan of the first game – their unique experience. Maybe the new audience will find this alluring. I certainly did not.

#the talos principle spoilers #the talos principle #the talos principle 2

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dailyadventureprompts · 2 years

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Evening, Dapper. I'm a big fan of your work; I'm actually using a few of your NPCs in a campaign I'm running! As you've made a few 're-imagined' entries for demon lords already- how would you play Zuggtmoy in a way that's not just 'evil, but also brain-destroying and fungal'? What would she need to be like to motivate people to actually sign a pact with or worship her?

Monsters Reimagined: Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Rot and Regret

D&D has a problem with one note villains, blank slates that dungeonmaters are SUPPOSED to fill with their own ideas but end up coming off as pathetically shallow after their Captain Planet level concepts become increasingly rigid over successive generations. Occasionaly a great writer comes along and fills these concepts with interesting context, but they're few in far between.

Zuggtmoy is a great example of this, existing as what I like to call a "Fill in the blank baddie", as they adhere to a very simple formula that looks a little like this: X is an evil ____ who cares about ____, they want the whole world to be nothing but ____, they use ____ as minions and have a personality and ethos that one could describe as ____ like. For Zuggtmoy you could fill that blank in with "fungus" and you'd get her ENTIRE concept, indistinguishable from Jubilex the slime demon, Nerull the death god, and just about 90% of a high level party's rogue's gallery.

Below the cut I'm going to go into a complete lore revision for the dame of decay along with a bunch of adventure hooks, but for the TLDR: Default Zuggtmoy is weird because d&d assumes that fungus and decay are evil because they are gross, an odd stance to take because not only is rot a vitally necessary part of life, but fungus has brought us wonderful things like penicillin and mushroom risotto. My version of the demon queen is one that revolves around the idea of things “spoiling” when held on past their time, be they feelings, memories, relationships, or empires. Zuggtmoy herself is the mouldered and hollowed out remnants of a once queenly dryad, who’s influence appears in others unable to let go as a creeping blight that spreads through their mind, bodies, and surroundings.

When it comes to concepts Zuggtmoy is as about as “fill in the blank” as it gets, with her single notable character design concept and personality both being “She’s a lady made out of fungus”. This would be fine I suppose but she’s also specifically a demon lord, and that doesn’t tack at all for a whole bunch of reasons:

Do mushrooms have souls? Can they commit sin? Most of the creatures Zuggtmoy is described as being worshipped by don’t have traditional consciousness, if they have an intelligence score at all. Yeah, it sucks to be covered in slime and/or rotted from the inside out but those creatures aren't EVIL, so why is she a demon other than the fact that gross/ugly = evil in d&d world? She’d be perfectly fine if she was just the goddess of fungus, but she needs a reason to be considered one of the Pit’s big bads.

One could theoretically talk about how the grossness of Zuggtmoy is meant as a torment to those people who fear filth/corruption who might be damned to her realm, but d&d cosmology increasingly does not work like that. If Zuggtmoy is queen of a layer of hell, there needs to be a specificly demonic reason that her domain is one of rot and fungus.

Why is Zuggtmoy a lady? A giant mushroom or that happened to use feminine pronouns would have served but she is very specifically described as a humanoid made out of fungus, frequently depicted with signifies of being an attractive and elegant. The answer is obviousuly that sex sells, even when you’re trying to sell a list of demon gods, so while the male coded demons get to be grotesque blobs of muscle and bestial features the female ones need to be coded as traditionally attractive even if they have a few monsterbits stapled on. When redesigning her I could have gone with a purely fungal angle, but I wanted to play with the “lady made out of fungus” iconography

Taking all this into account, here’s my pitch for Zuggtomy: There was once an archfey, a queen among dryads who found herself undone by heartbreak. None can say what tragedy or manipulation of the great courts laid her low, only that she knew a sorrow so profound that she simply could not be anymore, leaving her body as nothing more than a grief-hollowed statue of wood. Left exposed to the elements, the echo of that grief took root, and eventually bloomed into a being that knew only regret, only loss, only Zuggtmoy.

If sorrow is left to fester it can sour any happy memory, and thus is the case for the Dame of Decay, unable and unwilling to let go of the things that gave her joy and now cause her pain, even if her continued grief eats away at them until there is nothing left. So little is known about the story of the original dryad queen because Zuggtmoy’s influence ate away at anyone and anything involved in the events, leaving behind nothing but a spore choked barrens and hollowed out husks who mine out the events again and again without detail or reason.

When rot and regret had exhausted the dryad’s story it began to spread out across the multiverse looking for new places to take root, more tales of woe, more souls stagnant in their nostalga or sorrow where the queen’s essence might bloom anew.

Within a grand estate the revels of an indolent count are said to never end, as psychedelic indulgence rages every day and night while the lands around them decay. Folk say that the count had tried for years to drown the sorrows of his long dead brother, but he now appears to have succeeded with wild abandon. Rumors spread of the count’s riders gallivanting about the countryside decked in worn parade motley, snatching up performers and carrying them back to the estate. The party comes face to face with one of these agents looking to pressgang their local minstrel into service, only to lay the rider out flat in a brawl and have his body burst open with fungal rot for all to see.

The kingdom’s wilds contain the remnants of an ancient realm, once goverend by a queen who suffered a rotting sickness that the peasants still tell folk tales of to this day. Many of the fey of these reaches are sick, and seem intent on inflicting stories of this queen on any who pass by. Only after multiple ruins with these bestricken faeries do the party realize the truth: the story is the sickness and the sickness is the queen and all three are a curse that now spreads through the land with them as a vector.

After an encounter with a particularly fungal villain does the party realize that they’ve only defeated one bud of a deeply rooted threat, with multiple copies of their foe having sprouted off from some deeply rooted evil. More than simply bashing in mushroom caps, the party must exorcise the essence of Zuggtmoy’s influence, an act that will require them to call up the spirit infected by the demon queen and work through its particular issues to resolve its grief and deny the dame of decay her seedbed.

Art

#demon #fiend #dm tip #writing advice #rescue mission #random encounter #bard #Curse #Cultists #villain #Village #dungeon #mid level #high level #Cursebreaking #zuggtmoy #monsters reimagined

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meimi-haneoka · 6 months

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Do you really think Clamp left too many “loose ends” in Clear Card? I mean, it's true that we don't know where Momo is, but I don't think there are as many unsolved mysteries as a lot of people say. What do you think?

No, that's true, anon! For the most part, all the main mysteries were solved. If people perceive there are still unsolved mysteries it's either:

because they haven't re-read the story and the answer is already in the story itself, it's just that in full CLAMP-style, it isn't spoon-fed to the readers (CLAMP want us to use our brain a lot, in Clear Card)

it is meant to stay a secret, to make things interesting and stimulate the fan's imagination, like what Yukito gave as a price when he made the pact with the Tsukimine Shrine. But at the end of the day, does it change anything, to know what he paid with? If it was anything relevant to the plot, we would know. The important thing is that thanks to this pact, he was able to help in a very critical situation. Or like Momo's true name. While the revelation of Akiho and Kaito's true names is used inside the story as a way to convey other things (feelings, most of all), Momo didn't really need to reveal her true name to us, as an ethereal and ageless being. It is a mystery on the level of "Yuuko Ichihara"'s mystery.

My opinion is that there were parts that deserved to be explored better, especially about the new characters since we learn to know them in this arc, to reconnect things better.

The first thing I really wish they reconnected better was the whole synchronization between Sakura and Akiho. We're completely left on our own to tie the threads on how that worked. Who started it? We have to assume it's part of Kaito's plan, since he's not surprised when it first happens. Though he doesn't really say clearly that it was his (or Momo's book's) job. Akiho seems to be tuning into Sakura's dreams sometimes. But not all of them might be because of the synchronization. That one time Akiho says that she dreamt of being in a high place, wishing for something someone had, might have been a normal dream, and CLAMP framed it in a way that made it seem like she was dreaming of being the Mysterious Cloaked Figure. What was the purpose of the synchro? To "prepare" them for their life as twins in the future? They do say that twins have such a connection that they end up thinking the same things.... Why Akiho needed to read about Sakura's adventures in the Alice in Clockland book? There are some elements we can use to give ourselves some answers, but they're very vague. Admittedly, this is the ONE part I really wish CLAMP executed better.

Then, we have a sort of "gap" in the period when Kaito decided to accompany Akiho in her journey. It is completely left up to us to imagine what went through his mind when he raised his hand and said "I'll go", that day. (Truth to be told, we have few elements we can work with, and I'd say that his journey started for a reason, and turned quickly into something else the more he spent time with Akiho). Like, he was always wearing that "dead" expression before meeting Akiho, what made him think to learn to smile in light of their first meeting? Was Momo the one teaching him? We only have a couple of lines between him and Momo thrown around in the Drama CD to go by: "And laugh more properly, even if it's a fake laugh!" "Hm, I'm trying my best though...". We could infer that Kaito still had a hard time learning how to express his emotions. Thankfully, all the smiles he gave Akiho were portrayed as absolutely genuine. But knowing "how it started" I think would've outlined Kaito's character and motivations better. Or the whole "how Akiho parents died" matter that I've already mentioned somewhere else (and at this point the non-mention makes me think it was a reason too harsh to mention in Nakayoshi).

It's also to be noted that some things were portrayed in a certain way to give us a sense of danger and make us fall into the trap of prejudice towards newcomers (another theme of this arc), for example in Sakura's dreams there's a scene of the Dragon (Kaito) that opens its mouth and "shoots an attack" at her. That scene never happened in reality. It was definitely meant to "scare us", but now that we know that the Dragon was absolutely inoffensive, we must elaborate that as a byproduct of Sakura's anxiety. After all, it is a foretelling dream, but still a dream influenced by subconscious.

Yeah, stuff like that. However, when I talk about "open ending", I'm not talking about those "issues", I can make peace with those...after all, it's a story that lasted 80 chapters and 7 years and half, one of the longest in CLAMP's catalogue. It's difficult to hold the reins tight on a story so full of foreshadowings and complex matters. Moreover, the series has been criticized both in Japan and abroad for "not being Sakura's story" (that's not true at all), because fans couldn't stand how in this arc Sakura shared the storyline and spotlight with other characters. People wanted the mysteries connected to Akiho and Kaito to be revealed, but at the same time didn't want CLAMP to talk about them, to focus a chapter on them. Like??? How does that make sense?? So it makes me think that what we got is already a lot, in the situation we were in.

When I say "open ending" I'm actually talking about all the new stuff they added in the last chapter, that really is giving everyone the feeling of "there's going to be more, right?" Cause it's weird that you end a story like that. While you finish explaining the last details of what happened to the Clear Cards and Sakura Cards, and the aftermath of Sakura's huge spell, you introduce the travel of two characters, you give a very detailed explanation of what they're going to do, you leave up in the air the "will they actually find a way to heal Kaito and make his time start again?", and you don't make one of the most important characters appear?? Momo?? The one who was basically a backbone of this arc, without her intervention in the finale Sakura would've never known that her world was rewritten? That also seemed to me like such an out-of-character move, for how caring and maternal they portrayed Momo to be. Leaving her kids like that. I can't imagine that we'll be left forever out there without knowing what happened to Momo. Even if her choice was to move on, they should've mentioned it clearly. And needless to say, Kaito offering to teach Syaoran about time magic (surely as a way to thank him) was another seemingly "additional" plot thread one could grasp onto, in case they wanted to resume this one day.

That's why I feel CLAMP have left so many opportunities to talk about these characters again, in any possible way (another arc, a spin off, a cameo in another manga), and created an "open ending", as opposed to how "closed" felt the original ending.

#reply #cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #anonymous

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inlocusmads · 11 months

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this week in "mads's utter madness":

I absolutely loathe the Mary Sue-ificiation of the Crimes of Passion MC. Now, I did have high hopes for Crimes because it was one of those books where you had a strong hook, a compelling but flawed main character who is obviously trying to process well, everything.

Trystan from Book 1 is so different compared to Trystan in Book 2, besides the obvious surface-level personas. And besides that, the prologue/the inciting action that courses us to the main storyline was so different between the books.

Now I do think this is going to be a closed-door mystery as per usual, because the killer is one of Trystan’s siblings but I can’t shake the underlying royalty plotline influence.

The Royal Romance left a sour taste in my mouth, as I’ve always said because I’m just not a fan of the Cinderella-esque stories. It is good when it is done right and between PB’s either overly specific storylines or vague plots, no definitive “ending” and chippy dialogue and constant sidelining, I just feel like they should give this trope a much-needed break. Give it a couple of years off. Shut the fuck up with the monarch plotlines.

The whole “Trystan is reinstated as heir” is an interesting dilemma to delve into. PB, don’t fuck it up, you have an AMAZING character development arc in your hand. You’ve set it up perfectly.. On one hand, Trystan is proud of Drakovia. Yes. They talk about it all the time. They tell MC all sorts of things about their home country.

It is not typical for an exiled person who talks about their country and family all the time; especially when that someone has been villanised to the point of no return.

On the other hand, Trystan probably knows this. They’ve got this Stockholm Syndrome with their family where they cannot turn away, but at the same time, turning away is the only option. They have a toxic family, but the very few people - between the likes of Mags and Trystan’s dad (I’m assuming Maksim is as kind and oblivious to Viktoria’s “shammy” schemes and goes with anything Trystan wants) makes them stay.

On the other hand, having gotten a taste of what it is like to actively seek out the truth by MC, Trystan wants this life too. They want to be able to control things, have a say in what they put inside their brains, to really experience adventure while actively seeking out answers, to nurture their curiosity that Drakovia has repressed for so long.

I talked about how the constant snake imagery throughout the Book and in the book cover stands for themes of transformation. You can read it here (and I really hope you do, because that shit is so conspiratorial, it is almost a character essay at this point) and I talk about how you have themes of “rebirth” associated with the snake and how Trystan would have to carve such a life for themselves.

Personally I would like for them to reject the throne, since it has been the root of all sorrow and pain; especially when Trystan is themselves, averse to the idea of monarchy and usually just offers a voice of support, never a proper stance.

They’re like Juliana’s Yes-Man at this point. I’d like for Trystan to have an opportunity to stand up for themselves and have their own words to say, because half the time it is just “You go MC!” or “I totally agree with <person>”. Maybe it is the inner writer in me wanting to give everyone a really cool character arc or maybe it is Nora talking lmfao.

Coming back to MC for a hot second - I hate what they’ve done to them. Period. I’m sorry lol. It’s literally the Mary Sue-ification because MC is not qualified in law or international relations or international law.

Albeit being a quick learner, there is zero exposition as to whether Mags filled them in on how the Drakovian court works, because they just walk in, steal a bunch of evidence and go give it??

Like I’m pretty sure Ruby and Luke are going to be sidelined as hell too - with Ruby being confined to the “Wardrobe Best Friend” trope with giving MC new clothes to wear and Luke being the “expert hacker” - they’re the deux ex machina, the “saved by the plot convenience” character archetypes. I’m sorry, Crimes, you can do so much better, honey.

Back to the whole court procedures thing and the MC’s slow Iron Man-ification:

(even Iron Man dies at the end but they won’t, nope. PB out here overpowering every single main character, like dude, why. Make me interested!

GIVE THEM KNOWLEDGE GAPS. MAKE THEM GROUNDED TO REALITY. I know fiction isn’t real, but like I do need to be able to empathise and support a character and they’re possible with the introduction of flaws or gaps in their knowledge. It makes the fight even more bitter and “to the end” as opposed to a one-and-done situation)

Let’s just play through the whole court procedures over again, to kind of like see either the lapses in PB's writing or maybe they're deliberate ???? in which case, PB i'm so sorry I've been bashing you, you guys are wonderful :

Trystan gets summoned back to Drakovia because they believe they’ve got new evidence that supports the theory that Trystan actually did it. They killed Juliana.

But they go through the whole witness testimony over again? Like all the Thorne kids come up and give their character witnesses; talk about how they were close to Juliana and how Trystan would’ve done it - it just seems redundant. Like I’m pretty sure there would’ve been a trial eight years ago which led to the whole exile.

Like did PB forget the reason why Trystan was exiled?? and didn't T CONFESS to it like a million years ago? and only now have they ruled it off as "an accident"??

Viktoria was the one who approved it. She sent her child away - perhaps as a punishment or maybe to evade the Press. Trystan spends their years in New York and then suddenly Viktoria calls them back?

Trystan admits to it. They say something like - “Orchestrating a sham lawsuit just to get me back in the country wouldn’t be out of character for her” about their mother. It is clear Viktoria wanted her child; her eldest child and the immediate heir to the throne far away for a while to maybe cover something up? I don’t know. She brings them back, gives Trystan a lawyer (i’m pretty sure it is a court-appointed lawyer). They do a lot of sabotaging and that’s where MC comes in.

So what was the primary goal of the trial anyway?? Viktoria wants their child back, but gave them a faulty lawyer who cannot make a defensive case and -- is it all just a catalyst for MC to get involved? It seems so out-of-character for a mother to do that. If I hypothetically was a parent who sent my child away and is begging them to come back, I wouldn’t give them a shitty lawyer and somehow also help them win the case? Like what was Viktoria trying to do even?? Her moves are so random, so sloppy for the queen of a country that's super uninviting to foreigners and cold and calculative. Even Olivia says so in Book 1. She says how Drakovia plays their cards close to their chest.

I’m pretty sure this was just an excuse for MC to play lawyer and I did cover that topic in this disappointing post here. Yes I am disappointed. My day is ruined. Of course I’ll be writing a Fix-it fic. PB, fucking hire me man. JK jk jk but like, they totally should hire fanfic writers who do the Chekhov’s Gun principle so well; meanwhile PB’s just using that gun to shoot themselves in the leg.

I HAD HIGH HOPES FOR CRIMES.

Okay back to MC’s -- weird courtly procedures?

MC starts playing attorney even though Trystan appoints Mags as their representative - like what the fuck. I know you have your police training MC, yes, I get it, but you can’t just Jake Peralta’s “cool cool cool cool cool” your way out of this. No. Get a proper fucking attorney for God’s sake.

Drakovia is chaos, fine. Great. We’ll just call it Gotham City instead, but they can’t do courts right? Technically you can fire your lawyer in the middle of court proceedings, but it isn’t going to do you any good and might leave an “unfavourable impression” according to Bentlymore.com. It is also going to further delay the process. Now can a non-attorney play attorney? Under some special circumstances and under the discretion of the court. Viktoria is the court, so fine. Queen Mom allows it. MC can play lawyer.

But at the same time, I know Viktoria’s words are final, but MC is literally everything that Drakovia isn’t a fan of. They’re a foreigner and fine, you can call it xenophobia but let’s just walk in Drakovia’s shoes for a minute and see this: MC walks in, MC says they know shit about everything, when they are superiorly underqualified, MC sides with Trystan and they’ve got a love thing going on as well - how is this not against the interests of the court? (Here’s an article that articulates it well)

Coming to the evidence we have: The letter submitted by Juliana’s mothers has no proof that the letter was addressed to Trystan and Trystan specifically. It’s all a massive ?? because everyone starts to think about the contents, when we have no concrete proof it was written to Trystan and also nobody stops to think why letters? And especially, how did they get this evidence anyway? Was it an unsent letter? They have emails and phones and shit, like why this? And Chapter 2 ends with the confession they got on tape.

Okay, like. This is absolute bullshit. We’re back to square one. In Book 1, it is known that Trystan confessed. They “coached” a confession out of them because Drakovia didn’t want answers, they wanted a culprit and it was easy to pin it on Trystan because of course it is. Viktoria approves. The punishment is exile and ostracisation. Which stemmed out because of the press thing and Viktoria wanted their child far away and now this letter pops up which literally does NOTHING. The tape doesn’t matter either, like - the case was done eight years ago when they chucked him out.

The question we need to be asking is, what took them eight years to realise this? Where did Juliana’s mothers find the evidence? Because if it was in some closet or something, or between the pages of a book, all of this stuff could’ve been done way more sooner. Why eight years? Why so long? And did Viktoria intend it to be permanent?

I believe Trystan’s words when they said it was all a sham. I doubt in their grief, Juliana’s mothers will still want and continue this stuff and it is very clear they’re being controlled because in a way, this trial affects Trystan the most. It is clear Trystan is the intended target because Viktoria’s whole purpose of their child coming back is to reinstate them as heir.

This is literally the most Swiss-cheesy convoluted plot ever. PB what the fuck. Respectfully, give this royalty shit a break. Trystan Thorne deserves a better plot.

MC and their ragtag team save the day yayyyy! Of-fucking-course. They hack into some servers and get the real footage required, which is like-- w h a t. And Luke goes, “yo Drakovia has a weak security system” (once again, armoured by the plot convenience) which is so unlike a country that literally guards a fucking martial arts technique and when Trystan teaches MC Labrintha, it is this huge deal like “omg look drakovian kiddo teaches american kiddo this super secret thing” and their SERVERS AREN’T SECURE???

I’m not saying Luke should be dumbed down. No. He’s an awesome dude. The problem is, PB hates giving anyone a real challenge and wants to rush up the plot.

Anyway, and also I’m no legal expert, but in order to have a trial, wouldn’t the plaintiff and the defendants submit all evidence to the court? Like even the forged secret tape? Like if the footage was hidden so “carefully” that a smalltime computer guy from New York can get into it from a fuckin work LAPTOP mind you, isn’t it supposed to be submitted to the court like wayyyy back in time too?

It’s one of the first things they’ll ask you to do. The Royal Guard ended up deleting it and fiddling around with the tape and submitting that instead, which is also like-- so weird and nobody questioned it too? It would be obvious to know if a tape is edited or not. The jump-cuts, the changes in the background - I’m pretty sure no Royal Guard can get away with this, realistically but we threw that out of the window a long time ago.

I hate the MC saves the day plotlines. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine. I just-- fuckin. No. PB. shut up. Please.

And also fabricating evidence is illegal, so good that the Royal Guard gets fired, arrested and persecuted for this. It is clear whoever the guard was talking to is the real dude to watch out for and I highly doubt it is Viktoria, rather I think it could be Eveline? I’m still very much involved in this schism plot. Viktoria probably saw this, brought her kid back and initiated the “heir” protocol before Eveline’s team can initiate the “persona non grata” on Trystan, use Juliana’s death as fuel and initiate her policies on making all of her children heir to the throne; thus beating Viktoria’s side by a landslide.

That would be like a really god-tier plot, imo. PB do that challenge. That’s the only kind of royalty, political “thriller” plot I’ll accept, with murder solving in between for MC to get occupied. And also MC, leave the law to the people who are trained. You’re part of the law enforcement. Please. Just. ughhh

Ok that's all.

As for who killed the lawyer/murderer, my bet is on Astrid. She reminds me of Ivy from AME; someone who plays the air-head character but is easily manipulated into doing the dirty work. She’s also like super self-obsessed to the point where it is literally impossible for a person to be this horrible. At least Bas had an iota of sympathy for Juliana. Vasili is the voice of reason. Mags is the glue in the family. Lydea’s amazing, please marry me and they don’t deserve this. Kasper and Emika are like “wtf’s happening” and “fuck you MC” and Patryk isn’t even here.

some incriminating screenshots here from the latest chappie

I love Astrid honestly, she's rocking that hat, but also I have the faintest feeling she's got a whole dark past and is being influenced by both sides of the schism.

#choices book club #crimes of passion meta #mads pls get back to this later

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kitchfit · 6 months

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Year in Review: Games pt 2

Back to Bildeo Bames! After finishing my big Kingdom Hearts binge, I told myself to cut back on gaming for a while until Tears of the Kingdom came out. That was a huge lie! I love deception and falsehoods :D

Psychonauts

The idea of going inside someone's head to discover an entire universe created from their thoughts and memories has always been a fascinating one for me. I spent a lot of time as a kid imagining what my own or my friends' brain-world would look like and how you might navigate it. So imagine my surprise when I found an entire 3D platformer based around that concept. And for $5 on sale, no less! This had been a cult classic for a long time, but the recent sequel I still need to play elevated it to a higher place in the social conscience.

You play as Raz, a young kid who crashed a training camp in order to become a Psychonaut, people who covertly enter other's minds to extract secrets for the government. At least that's the idea, Raz ends up using his training to help his mind-victims work through their insecurities and psychoses in order to improve their mental health, first focusing on people in his camp, and then on clients in the nearby insane asylum. This isn't just out of a heroic desire to help others, but the easiest way Raz has to save his new camp friends, whose brains have all been cartoonishly sucked out of their ears and placed into jars. This world is so goofy and fun and the premise allows for endless creativity with settings and like. You can write a whole essay on any one of these levels. Damn I need to play the sequel.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

I like Sonic quite a bit. The characters are so expressive and fun and the world is similarly wacky and cool. The lore is an odd mix of typical video-game nonsense and genuinely fascinating tragic backstories. I loved the Sonic X show and Sonic Underground but like. The games... Okay the games are fun, but there's always one thing that ends up giving me a huge headache. Usually the Chaos emeralds. Eventually I'll go back and play through the Origin games and meet the games on their terms, but in the meantime this is the perfect Sonic game for me.

It's just a three hour visual novel written in the style of a murder mystery! It's so cute! Sonic is dead! You spend most of the game as Barry the Quokka, who's name is actually Kitch, a dorky dude in charge of catering on the murder mystery train, thrust suddenly into Amy Rose's birthday party on a quest to figure out the culprit who fake murdered our best blue boy. The game is full of so many adorable designs, fun characterization, and goofy plot tangents that its clear Sega just gave a group of Sonic fans free reign to go crazy over an official project. If you get bored of the visual novel part, its interspersed with random isometric Sonic levels you can plow through pretty quickly. I had a pretty good time with all of it.

Sonic Adventure: DX

In fact I had such a good time with The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog that I jumped immediately into an actual Sonic game. This was Sonic's first real jump into 3D, and I was always led to believe that jump missed the platform and tumbled into badly rendered, inanimate water. This isn't true! The voice acting is pretty bad at times and the animation gets wonky in places, but like. I am a Kingdom Hearts fan. These are not negatives. It also splits a singular story into multiple perspectives, so you discover more context for what's happening the more characters you play as. That doesn't mean the story is amazing or anything, but the effort is commendable and I love when stories do this.

Each character sits in a different genre of game as well. Sonic himself translates his 2D gameplay pretty well into a 3D setting, which is what most people reference when talking about this game. Tails is more of a direct racing game where you can basically skip most of any level due to the fact he can fly. Knuckles is a treasure hunting game focused on exploration. Amy is a survival horror game where you beat the shit out of robotic pyramid head at the end, and Big the Cat is a fishing game that's pretty fun after you tear all of your hair out. The last story, Gamma, is a rail shooter about one of Eggman's robots developing a conscience after learning it is being powered by a small tormented bird, before going on a rampage against its robotic brethren and self-destructing, freeing them all from Eggman's control. It's surprisingly... pointiate? powniant? *checks watch* poignant dammit. I have an English degree. Anyways robot stories like this always get to me for some reason.

Pokemon Infinite Fusion

There are a few communities where the amount of effort that can go into amateur fan content astounds me. The Pokemon fanbase is one of those communities. Romhacks have been popular in this community for a long time, many of them matching or exceeding some of the professionally made mainline titles, in my opinion, at least. Pokemon Infinite Fusion approaches that line with just the shear volume of fan content present in this game.

Any Pokemon of any stage can be "fused" with another to create a new design. Their typing and stats depend on a fairly simple algorithm, but the designs themselves are created by hundreds of incredibly talented independent artists you can find credited in the Pokedex. You can even import your own design if you wish! Obviously, with the amount of possible combinations, not all of them are artist-created, most procedurally generated, but there are just so many that it boggles my mind. Here are a few of my favorites

[Image I.D. Fusion of Mawile and Electavire created by Sadfrog, it has jumper cables in place of its giant mouths]

[Image I.D. fusion of Cofagrigus and Weavile that resembles Midna from the Zelda series created by King Peggy]

[Image I.D. fusion of Charizard and Aerodactyl created by artist Beespoon]

The game itself is a decent remake of Firered and Leafgreen with a significant post game. I have a couple issues, such as the credits being kind of vague and buried, and the gameplay being glitchy in certain areas, but this game is still being updated, so I'm excited to see what else it will offer in the future.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Ocarina of Time is the quintessential Zelda game, Breath of the Wild reinvented the franchise, but this is my first and favorite Zelda game. When I think of Zelda I think of this Hyrule's landscape, this Link's journey. I can talk at length about the perfect structure of this game, the dungeon layouts, the visuals' mix of quirky and grimdark, the fun boss designs, but I can't deny its all washed in nostalgia.

The story is about two people with the rest of their life apparent ahead of them, both cursed and disfigured beyond their imagination and forced into a role they could have never predicted. People say Midna is the greatest "helper" in the franchise, but really she's the hero right alongside our main boy. This isn't Link's story, its both of theirs. And at the end, neither of them can truly return to what they used to be; the curse is dispelled, but the change remains. For Midna this means sacrificing her closest relationship for the good of her kingdom, and for Link this means leaving the town he knew as home. Maybe he's looking for a way to find Midna, maybe he's off on a new, dangerous adventure, maybe he wants to do motion-controlled sharpshooting on Nintendo's cool new console. Regardless of his goal, his adventure changed him in a way that he can no longer live comfortably in the life he grew up in. So he leaves.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

When this game came out, the biggest complaint about it were the broken motion-controls. Personally, they always worked fine for me, but I'm glad the switch remake added a new control scheme to make the experience more accessible. Now more people can complain about the actual game rather than the controls! Honestly never really understood why this game was so polarizing, the only big problem I had with the original was Fi's constant interruptions (which were toned down in this version), but Navi did that shit way more frequently and no one marked that as an abject flaw. It's a damn good 3D Zelda with excellent dungeons and a really compelling conflict.

This version of Link and Zelda are one of the only overtly romantic iterations of these characters. A classic childhood friends to lovers dynamic. Zelda is on her quest to restore the power of the goddess and Link is set on supporting her, no matter how painful it might be for him. A cool detail I love in this game is after Zelda seals herself up in the Orange Sap of Eternal Agony or whatever, the lines on Link's face notably lengthen and darken.

[Image I.D. Link at the beginning of Skyward Sword. The lines under his eyes are visible, but indistinct]

[Image I.D. Link towards the end of Skyward Sword, the lines under his eyes are deeper and more apparent.]

It's as if the trauma of his journey has physically aged him. Idk maybe its just a lighting thing I'm reading too far into. I'm glad this Link and Zelda get a happy ending. My only complaint nowadays is learning Nintendo almost made a "hero mode" style extra game where you play through Zelda's adventure! And they took it out! Cowards! You get glimpses of what it would be like in the end credits, like they're taunting you.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Breath of the Wild might be my favorite game to just exist in. Every inch of Hyrule is so thoroughly laid out; the environments are gorgeous, the movement is fun, there's always something in the distance worth checking out, and the towns are so heavily detailed. You can spend hours even after completing the game 100% just driving around the landscape or studying the textures and wall decor in Kakariko to find some hidden piece of storytelling. In that regard, excited to say the Tears of the Kingdom is the perfect sequel.

I was concerned when it was revealed we were exploring the same Hyrule's map, just a few years later, but they changed things up so thoroughly, exploring the same area doesn't feel like retreading old ground, but seeing how the area evolved. It's familiar, rather than identical. Not only that, but there are now two entirely new maps situated above and below the old one, each with a new, invigorating aesthetic that are so fun and exciting to travel through. Go to the Sky for some awesome Agoraphobia, or travel to the Depths for some cooky Claustrophobia. You will never know how badly I spelled claustrophobia at first.

The story is nowhere near as elegantly written as BotW, and that's fine, it's a sequel, it only needs to add on to the original, and it brought it me Tears (HAH) for entirely different reasons that BotW. The dragon's tears sidequest had genuinely shocked me with the order I collected them, and the endgame boss sequence was just so incredibly peak. On the lore side of things, and how it connects to the larger mythos, this game makes me want to strangle someone, but this is Zelda, I would not have it any other way. Mechanically, I'm never one to push a game to its absolute limit, but this game has so many tools intended for the player to do exactly that, and I'm excited to see what other people come up with.

youtube

Recently, as of writing this, the Youtuber Any Austin put out a video analyzing the woodworking of TotK and BotW, and it might sound goofy, but it got me pumped to return to it in the near future, to just exist in Hyrule for a while longer.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Pt 1

This is the first title I'm granting the "pt 1" moniker. Some games have a definitive ending, and then a post-game epilogue that is an entirely new story that I might finish next year. This is a childhood favorite of mine I'm revisiting. The mystery dungeon games have this insane hold over my psyche and always wrench an emotion out of me like no other Pokemon games can. While that didn't change time around, I realized I had a great deal of nostalgia blindness over its story. It's not bad at all, but it plays into a lot of generic adventure story tropes while I remembered it being more unique. In truth, this game was actually my introduction to a lot of those tropes and archetypes, and it pulls them off very well. It occasionally moves into some insane territory, like your cute Pokemon guys are hunted down by a lynch mob at one point.

This game also established a lot of Pokemon identities in my head, and are the reason Mons like Ninetales and Gardevoir are some of my favorites. Its such a comfortable game to go back to, but it will always be outshined by its successor, in my opinion.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Skies Pt. 1

No, I didn't misspell that. This is a fanmade improvement hack that adds some quality of life adjustments, like shortcuts for all of your moves, and a bunch of new story sidequests. Most of the story elements are relegated to the post game, so my playthrough was more or less identical to the original. That being said, this is one of my favorite games of all time. The reason I remembered Red Rescue team as having a more in-depth story is because of this game. Upon my umpteenth playthrough of this I can confirm that it is not (just) nostalgia blindness, this is still one of the best video game stories I have ever experienced. You can withdraw all of the elements that make it a Pokemon game and you are still left with a really well written, emotionally driven science fiction story. Wigglytuff and Chatot aren't even Pokemon to me. They're just the chaotic gay couple from this game.

The gameplay is mostly unchanged from the first, with the addition of the lovable 4th generation freaks. The change of focus from rescuing Pokemon to exploring new areas and finding treasure always hooked me and spurred on my imagination as a kid, it captures the sense of wonder really well.

Link to hack: https://hacks.skytemple.org/h/skies

Pikmin

This is probably my most replayed game ever. It's a pretty short game, if you know what you're doing. There was a point where I had the map so consistently memorized I could do a playthrough in my head, lmao. Take that Miyamoto. I pirated your game through MY MIND. YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A MEMORY.

There's still something magical about the atmosphere in this game that I don't think any of the sequels quite matched. Something about music; the mystery; the sound design; the isolation. It's just one man forced to make friends with these adorable alien freaks to ensure both of their survival. Later entries would focus on the intrigue of exploring what seems to be the ruins of human society from an ants perspective, which has its own appeal, but this game feels most genuinely alien and hostile in the way nature can be, in a beautiful way. I also played this with gamecube controls for the first time in my life man fuck the gamecube controls.

Pikmin 2 pt 1

This game has come under fire in recent years, which I think is goofy as all hell. I heard people call it "the black sheep" of the Pikmin series back when there were only three sheep! And a pygmy goat on the 3DS, I guess. I understand a lot of the criticisms, but this was a dream come true when I first picked it up as a kid. Now you have an endless amount of time to explore the Pikmin Planet to your leisure! You have another dude (he sucks so much I love him)! More little freaks to follow you around! Even more big freaks who want to kill you! I love freaks. I don't know how much time I spent studying through the Piklopedia to understand the wider ecology of this viddy game. It solidified the character of Olimar in my head even moreso than the original.

People hate the caves, (or hated?) but I think that's just because it wasn't like Pikmin 1. There's something to be said about the generic aesthetics dulling down the personality of these dungeons, but it always felt like a suitable expansion of this world. They're bugs! Tons of bugs live underground! Of course that's where they're all hiding. Because of the endless time limit, they did ramp up the difficulty on some of these caves to the bullshit level, which made me want to move on once I paid off the debt. Sorry Louie! I know you like it down there anyways. With the other freaks.

Pikmin 3

I never owned a Wii U, so this game coming out at the peak of my Pikmin hyper fixation was agonizing. I staved off the insanity of not being able to play it by scrolling the fanwiki articles for every new creature it introduced and rewatching the trailer demo over and over again? Huh, I really did that. Finally being able to play it on the switch is fantastic, and I don't have to deal with that stupid gamepad. Sorry, really cool bulky controller with a tiny screen you can't see shit on.

This game is so beautiful. It almost retains the majesty of discovery that the original had. I understand why people often refer to it as the true sequel. It works to strike a balance between the tight survival gameplay of 1 and the explorative aspect of 2 by having your day count tied to the amount of resources you can gather within a day, which also allows the plot to manufacture genuine anxiety when a certain asshole steals all your shit. All that time you spent gathering a buffer against certain starvation for your dudes was worthless unless you can get it back. You can actually lose the game at this point if you aren't on top of things.

I like all the new dudes. They all fit within the pre-established universe very well and contrast nicely against the original trilogy of dudes by being nice and actually liking each other. You just feel bad that Olimar hasn't been living it up with these cool cats all this time, and is instead tormented by his asshole coworkers every waking moment of his life on PNF 404. All three of the coolcats also get original Piklopedia entries from different professional perspectives. All together we get an amateur biologist (Olimar), a cook (Louie), an engineer (Alph), a botanist (Brittany), and a tactician (Charlie). Most of Charlie's are just "can I take this bug in 1v1" and I love him for that.

Cutting this off here for now. Remember how I said I love deceptions? That also went for writing this in a timely fashion. Oh well, one person's Monday night is another's Friday morning. That's how timezones work, I think. Going back to movies next Monday. I don't watch a lot of movies overall, but I have a lot to go through.

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sugarwithtea · 2 years

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okay so there are some people who wonder why we read and write fanfics when we have the choice to read fiction which is not based on a real person or even a fictional character, but still written by 'fans'. (long rant ahead in which i intend to be nothing but kind)

i read books because they give me a sense of comfort, an alternate reality to escape into because my own life is not so amazing and/or is not that well at the moment for me to enjoy it. secondly, i have an imagination. my day to day life isn't adventurous enough for me to see them come to existence. that's why i live vicariously through the books i read. that's on reading.

why fanfiction especially you ask? when you read books there is world building, a whole lot of new characters with traits you might relate to or not. the writers are inclusive no doubt, but it still feels like a piece of work which is a little distant, out of your bubble, sometimes. in the case of fanfiction, the characters are known. they are your highest form of comfort on your hardest days. many a times, the writers write the fic from the readers pov. you feel the things you read because you are, in a way, a part of it. there is little world building which doesnt rack your brains and it's easier for you to visualise the characters and relate to them and/or the happenings in the fic cause sometimes they are inspired from real life happenings in the characters documented life.

the thing in fanfictions is that you have everything varying from short drabbles to 40-50 chap series. ofcourse we have the option of short stories in fiction, but they feel third person, they feel unfamiliar. sometimes, your mind wants the unfamiliarity, to indulge into the life of a character you may never come across just for the thrill of it. but sometimes, your mind craves comfort, from the character you know you'll always return to no matter what.

many people may dub it embarassing and delusional but to be honest, it's just a person trying to find comfort without trying to hurt anyone. reading anonymous stories, written by anonymous authors, on the wide net harms no one. and if it makes you happy, who is anyone else to question the source of your bliss? do whatever your heart wishes for (ps. without hurting anyone or yourselves lol)

i write because i have thoughts, too many, for them to be encased inside my shitty brain. i write because when things feel down, i make up a scenario with my character to forget the reality if only for a minute, if it allows me. whenever i feel my thoughts being worthy of being shared? i do it. sometimes i find for a way to feel joy and when I'm unable to find it, i write it. i, in no way am a pioneer, or the best, but why do i even need to be? i feel good when i see people get happy with my work and i feel giddy when i see we share the same thoughts. I'd even say it's greedy of me. but to be honest, aren't we all greedy for our happiness? i wouldn't like to be judged only because i crave joy :)

lastly, this was not a diss or was written with the intent to offend someone. i love books! i adore mainstream authors! i love fiction. but just sometimes, familiarity makes sense (if I'm making any sense, pls tolerate me 💀)

thankyou thankyou so much for reading this tiring, long ass rant of mine!! this was so sudden and on a whim! if you read it till the end, i love you! if you didn't, i still love you! byeee see y'all lol 🤸🏻‍♀️

ps. i wrote it in first person cause these were mainly my thoughts. i do think some (or even many) may relate to it but i can't, and will never try to speak for everyone.!!

#why did i go on to write so much??😭#i dont think half of it might even make sense lol 💀#but anyways 👩🏻‍🦽#i love yall!!💖💖#freya rants ☕#fanfiction #writers #fiction

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m0e-ru · 2 years

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Throughout writing the GSA SL AU, what has been your favorite part(s) of it to flesh out? Also, what drew you to Izanami as a character, what made you want to expand on them to write your AU? I think I've seen you talk about why in passing, though Bad Memory makes it to remember so sorry if you have explained that before.

I was going through my analysis tag and called myself so smart and maybe I am glad for my dramatic writing to make lore sound so pish poshy . also it's okay !!! if you don't remember . if the social anxiety I am a multilingual mess of a chatterbox who will say the same thing over and over again like a broken record but maybe multiple copies of the same record just warped differently . does that make sense. my english teachers have told me I need to work on my summary writing and I don't think I improved <3 anywho cracks knuckles. also happy 1.3k words

gsaslau........ my favorite was.... everything. the world building, the lore, the characters, mental flowcharts and concept maps. canon divergency has always been my favorite, paired with the fact I love analysing shit in the first place. I took one look at this idiot and saw all the pitiful overlooked potential hiding in their dumb oil scented uniform and tried to rip it out and put it in centrifuges and stretching it out as far as possible. people think I'm out of dough but I'm a little menace with a squirrel living inside my brain who just adds more dough. I will get a Thought and sit in a discord chat and monopolize it while literally everyone else is asleep because of the concept of timezones and I type for three hours and pass out; for an afternoon nap or the fact it became 3am.

iznmi is just sooooooo. barren. an absolute blank slate but also they're not. they're unpolished and deliberately dirtied. maybe theyre so empty and I have to take them to literal puddles and make sure every drop of whatever makes them at least half full in a sense. they're the puddle and I dug out a lake with a toy shovel. under all those layers I know there's nothing. but there's also something. there's a corpse. an actual person. an answer. a question. a migraine that would torment me for a week maybe.

a tiny tiny bit of context, before entering uh. here. the p4 community or if im ever actually considered to be part of it, I came from a humble little community where everyone was friends (ninokuni). I did my fair share of analysis and canon divergency and expressed my fear for bigger communities for mainstream media. so when i got here I decided to stay in this hole. this ditch. quarry mine. reminiscent of patrick star's house. I thought it'd be the same but NO. I fight tooth and nail in my own house and welcome people selectively like I'm a rabid animal sniffing people left and right. anyway

ummmm twirls hair swings legs. gsaslau origin story patreon special. i was obsessed with the dumb voiced npc at the start of the game the jp dub made him sound so fruity and my dad and sister and I joked around how he was a vampire for shits and kept making absurd headcanons throughout playing. the fact they showed up only on rainy days only made them more sketchy. in fact I could've casually liked this moron without the whole 'I'm god actually' bullshit going on.

I watched visualive! it was the end for me. no literally my brain was hardwired so badly I knew from that point on i would never be a normal p4 fan ever. adachis chair car adventure. THE END OF IT ALL.

D'OH I was obsessed. why was adachis clown ass acting like this. he's never like this. why has this been the only guy shown to piss him off ever. DONT get me started with th attendant I was sitting there 'NO WAYYY NO FUCKING WAYYYYYYY SO THIS GUY IS SIGNIFICANT IN ONE (1) OFFICIAL MEDIA.?' i was spiraling

I finished the game and that did Not help my conscience. I entered the fandom at that point and had my darkest days. but I learned a lot from it and I'm grateful for that

I was nitpicking EVERYTHING. I was asking so much questions and I had so much fun answering them. then coming back a year later with so much more answers, or maybe debunk my own views with something more enlightening I had to write my revelations while brushing my teeth after a shower. interpreting was great connecting dots were thrilling. the "what if" questions went too far and started. this (gsaslau) WHICH technically started when I watched vl and it hit me full force once I actually started thinking about it.

to me there was just. so much to do with the god and their humansona you don't understand. the fact they're intertwined with lore so much you had to check every nook and cranny and go mad while at it? then again that was a win win for me since I was basically picking at media analysis too.

I was there.... brute forcing translation as a non native. cracking into the game trying to find SOMETHING. I was buying books i couldn't read for One (1) page of trivia in a small little box with less than a paragraph. I went through spinoffs games and novels and drama cds and stageplays and art books and magazines and interviews and livestreams and blog posts and tweets. I was learning so much as time went by and i had so many new pieces I could tinker with and create completely new machinations I would adore.

I drew art comics wrote fic and analysis and wiki articles I edited pictures videos gifs modded games cracked into them for assets 3d models dialogue secret textures events I manufactured my own merch for pete's sake I gaslit so many people with fake screenshots and convincing formats and i wish i could do that again

okay kinda segued there I'll try and go back. my favorite to flesh out was... world building? dealing with the butterfly affect and figuring out the consequences in this and seeing how the story change would make me so excited. maybe souji wouldn't want to kill namatame on the spot and his vision would stay foggy because he can't accept the truth that some of the people he's friends with are those who started this citywide crisis. maybe adachi does care about people and realizes his feelings and decides to abandon his fake life he started for the sake of his loved ones so they wouldn't get hurt again. maybe namatame was a bit happier after the trauma of someone leaving him and more mentally stable and took care of nanako well that he's earned her trust and does his best not to break that loyalty ever. making parallels like marie and mim being one and the same and so different at the same time. MAYBE god develops humanity within themself after being so convinced they couldn't and has conflicting morals between their duty and their wants as their own person. exploring the possible relationships are also high up there like souji and namatame being friends or nanako scaring a gas station attendant twice her size. adachi and mim's friendship is a given.

iznmi canon or not, they just have....so so much potential and the fact they're lore itself doesn't help. and I think it's fucking hilarious you can finish the game knowing NOTHING about them. at all. what if there was more to this silly npc who only appears during a rainy weather flag..... vl sparked too many ideas. what if god had a bit more screentime in that personality that we could see their thought process some more while they observe the protagonist's journey throughout the entire game. the realization they hey, maybe humans' Shadows won't kill them one day. maybe they'll have the strength to stop denying themselves and accept them to achieve a greater power.

okay maybe this is enough rambling or i show you my two years worth of discord messages and scattered google docs . thank you for asking. hugs and kisses . and remember: gas staion atednat

#assk #cyphere #sulululat #p4 #gsa sl au #⛽️🌫#ゲッー #// this au was just supposed to be 'god makes friends and some things change a bit here and there or whatever'#// and then it became 'what if god actually Lived in the end but still dealt with the consequences of their actions they couldnt avoid in #// the beginning due to the circumstances of their birth and' yeah you get the point #// i could fix them. just made them worse though #// i came into this corner of the community and openly announced i will be projecting on the throwaway supporting cha #// character for the next 3000 years #// i am the only one correct about them which makes me allowed to present them so wrongly when i want to because everyone Should Know #// im goinf to. stop here. my god i cant stop talking good night good day good afternoon #persona 4 spoilers #persona 4

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skinni-girls-eat-books · 7 months

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Thursday November 9th

6am Woke up really well rested! Good!

Got sad when I saw I didn't have any messages overnight. CBT: This is your anxiety plugging emotions into nothing. Nothing has transpired, there's no real reason to feel anxiety, the anxiety is only coming from inside you.

Why hasn't he texted you? He's sleeping and he's a POS you don't need that controlling your energy. You can't control what he does. Reclaim your energy.

What am I thankful for this morning?

- nights rest, stretches, soft blankets, cool fan, and the fact that I have no hw due tonight! Think about that! ❤️

630am I should buy another candle for the bathroom for my showers lol don't know why the last one went so quick

7am tumblr can be a really nice positive space, it's like the only positive social media like that's kinda insane.

8am about to get ready for class, I can't stop thinking about him. I would like to try to not text him today just to see what happens really. I'm afraid he won't notice or not care and just not text me either. Maybe that's what I need. Whatever this is, is clearly not working. Got to leave early enough to get a coffee bc maybe that will distract me. Drink for lunch too, I'm tired of gorging myself and wasting money on food. Just breathe oh yeah I'm going to take a benadryl and maybe that will help with anxiety.

830am I want to text him so bad but I really shouldn't lol. He doesn't care enough to change. I won't say he doesn't care at all, but he doesn't care enough for me to keep doing this. I got an iced coffee and an egg McMuffin :)

11am Daydreaming about traveling over the break. I need to be realistic tho. I know I am able to take off on a flight somewhere but let's be real I probably won't have the time off and money to do something like that. I'll keep it in mind, but I don't want another Disney scenario where I just go completely broke on one adventure, I'd rather do day trips, maybe an overnight if that even sounds like a good idea. I like sleeping in my own bed unless it's for a really good reason tbh. I want to focus on things around here that I don't typically have availability or mental capacity to do. I know I'll have fun regardless. Maybe even do the plasma thing some afternoons or mornings really to fund the adventures I'll have on my true off days. Just thoughts :)

1130am I passed my HIV patient counseling! It says satisfactory in the gradebook! For some reason I can't see my rubric so I started to panic and doubt myself, but now I know I'm not the only one who can't see their rubric, so I'm sure that part is a fluke/ irrelevant :) just breathe and enjoy the passing grades ❤️ if something is wrong, someone will let you know ❤️

12pm lunchtime! I'm getting curry chicken. Journaling is actually helping a lot and made me realize how intrusive and repetitive my thoughts are when I don't write them down. It's like I need a little vent port for these thoughts to fly out of my brain like steam out of a boiling pot of water. Crazy tbh lol.

1pm Ate lunch outside with some friends and it felt great!!

3pm lol I zoned out during the whole Verbal Defense (not mine!) But then he texted me good afternoon so I sent him a picture of my sweet tea, nothing crazy. I won't let him control my evening. I just wonder what is his motive lol. During class I was looking up free and cheap things to do and it's funny how a little googling can come up with a thousand things to do! So much fun to be had in the world :)

4pm he got me looking at my phone for a text back bitch guess what I'm taking a nap just like I planned lmao I'm not waiting around to talk to you wtf. Call me like I asked you to if you wanna talk, I hate this texting shit and he knows that. What am I a high schooler? Texting bs got you into this mess in the first place dumbass. I'm eating a cupcake and taking a nap.

6pm I have woke up from my nap. No messages lol I guess he just wanted to see if I was alive?? Don't know don't care. Nap was ok, cats kept waking me up or micro waking me up I think but that's ok too :) - There's really only one week left of this bullshit I am so proud of myself ❤️ I actually love the idea of NOT burning myself out the last week so that when I leave school I don't necessarily NEED to do that hibernating thing where I feel like shit for 4-5 days afterwards. I'd like to exit my verbal defense maybe take a nap just like I did today to refresh and then shit take myself out for a nice dinner and get dressed up. Instead of getting drunk and passing out, I can do that most other nights after a closing shift 🤣 I want to start my vacay right away with no need to "recover" in such a drastic manner. Let's see if we can make that happen :) I think that also includes NOT avoiding fun things the next week, bc I always avoid fun stuff when I'm stressed as if I'm going to jinx myself, but I think I'm ready to break that curse of "all work and no play." We shall see ;)

9pm A little tipsy but I'm getting my work done :)

11pm I keep wanting to text him because I'm in a GOOD MOOD but when he doesn't reply it puts me in a bad mood....... So solution is simply DON'T TEXT HIM AND ENJOY YOUR GOOD MOOD QUEEN 😂 he's stupid for leaving and he's missing out on this drunken chill fest tbh and one day, I'll have a fuck ton of friends I've acquired through the years of being myself that I can randomly snap my thoughts to and they'll actually reply and care 😂

12am I know I texted him some dumb shit but idc I still feel good and I love journaling and Tumblr. Getting tacos again for dinner bc JFC I did a LOT of dumb shit work today. He's such a loser he can't do shit by himself not even get a taco 🤣 tbh one day I feel like you'll find someone who's gone through what you've gone through and you'll have so much in common and everything will just be EASY. Yeah I'm fucked but I'm not the only one going through this so I know I have an army of ppl out in the world who would have my back in a heartbeat and THAT'S what matters and what keeps me going fr.

1245am What a weird day. I want to keep journaling so bad I think it'll help me alottttt. I texted him a little but it's like it doesn't matter as much as it did previously lol. It's different now. Let's keep it up :)

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jezabatlovesbats · 9 months

Text

My Summer Camp Island Fan Campers

I’m a fan of this show who’s been one since it first came out on CN.

Tasha García Ramírez is an 11-year-old ocelot. She is an artist who loves drawing things that she sees in nature. She can’t go anywhere without a sketchbook and likes drawing, painting and photographing all the pretty things she sees. She has the quirkiest brain of the camper crew (what I like to call Oscar and Hedgehog’s little group of friends) and likes to use her creativity to help them. She is also sweet, adventurous and tries her best at every new thing she tries. She shows determination in the face of boldness and is resourceful, too. Tasha most likes drawing the things she sees in nature, like flowers, trees and bushes.

Tasha lives in Connecticut and is Colombian-American. She was invited to Summer Camp Island because she was revealed to be a forest sprite. She doesn’t really have a problem with the strange phenomena on the island because she’s spent her whole life witnessing weird things happen (but not in the magical way). She’s always ready to lend a helping hand. She can be seen hanging out with Oscar, Hedgehog and Max the most. Tasha’s cabin flag has a paint pallet with a paintbrush on it.

Jack McCattle is an 11-year-old bovine, and his younger sister Patty is 6. Jack is friendly and honest towards other campers. He’s adventurous and loves all things having to do with the outdoors, nature and animals. Patty is energetic and talkative, and she loves mice and flowers. She’s the type of person who would go outside to play in the rain. If kids ever want to hang out at the siblings’ cabin, he warns them about her and her millions of questions.

Their family lives on a farm in Tennessee, and each member has to do their part. Patty is a magical creature called a chatterbox, which means she’s part of a group of box-like creatures who can magically never run out of things to say. When she got an invitation to Summer Camp Island, her and Jack’s parents agreed to let her go, but on one condition: Jack had to go along with her so that he could look after her. The two of them share a cabin, and their cabin flag has a sprouting plant on it. The siblings are good friends with Tasha, who painted a still life of daisies for their cabin, Oliver, whom Jack helps out on the piano patch, and Katie, who they watch TV with.

Katelynn “Katie” Burrow is a 12-year-old mole and my camper sona. She is an aspiring musician and dancer, but she’s a bit shy, so she’s doing it off the stage as of right now. She’s not comfortable around other people, and without knowing it, she can act a little rude towards them. She doesn’t like hearing people talk negatively about things; she can’t handle criticism very well. Most of the time, you can find Katie chilling out and doing as she pleases. She can dance basic tarantella, as that’s personally her favorite dance, and she hopes she can one day combine it with her top favorite genre of music, which is electronic and techno. Her parents let her learn the synthesizer.

Katie flew all the way to the camp from Louisiana. Although she lives in a populous, busy town near New Orleans, Katie was always a pretty lazy mole. She came to camp because she is a river siren. She would stay inside the house she lived in round the clock with no one to talk to but her big sister Carolina (who is 17). While Carolina was generally a nice person, Katie was very introverted. When Katie’s parents received her invite to Summer Camp Island one fateful day, they suggested Katie go there even though she told them she didn’t want to. They believed one way or another, she had to get out there, but what they didn’t know was that it wasn’t the camp they thought it would be. Jack is the person Katie considers her only “true friend” in the camp. Prior to the events of “Popular Banana Split,” the two even created a comic out of pure boredom. It’s called Spectresail, and it’s about a teen pangolin who lives on a boat and goes on adventures in a ghostly world. (Little do they know that Max reads it.) Jack helped Katie open up more. Her cabin flag has a double eighth note with wings on it.

Skipper “Skippy” Lewis is a 10-year-old arctic fox. He loves anything having to do with chemistry, experiments, robotics, mechanics and inventing. He’s both a young scientist and a social butterfly. He’s the brains of the group and a logical thinker. He takes both science and friendship VERY seriously. Skippy is usually found experimenting or reading in his cabin or observing the aliens, yetis, monsters and other curiosa around the camp. He also enjoys creating gadgets and being with his friends.

Skippy is from Ontario, Canada and lives in a town halfway between Ottawa and Toronto. He had been interested in science experiments and inventions since he was six years old and was glad his parents were there to support him. Unfortunately, he lost his dad in the navy. He was invited to Summer Camp Island because he’s an elf. When he arrived on Summer Camp Island, he couldn’t wait to meet all the other campers and maybe help them out in some way. Because of his helpful motives, he and Tasha easily became good friends. Skippy was considering studying the magical phenomena of the island and taking it home to show the world for science, but the creatures on the island didn’t want him to because they didn’t want the world to know about their plan to save it yet. Eventually, Skippy learned to appreciate magic, and he helps the elves invent new things. He and Hedgehog are friends and self-proclaimed professional lab partners. His cabin flag has a vial with a green liquid inside of it, with a few bubbles over its top.

Brianna Overwood is a 9-year-old sloth. Brianna is a very cheerful and polite friend of Pepper’s, and her motto is that any friend of Pepper’s is a friend of hers. This means that if Pepper rolls with the camper crew, Brianna wants to meet them too. She’s also an athlete, and she’s passionate about sports and health. She likes sports such as swimming, roller skating, gymnastics, tennis and yoga, but she is particularly good at swimming. She likes giving people hugs and coaching them towards happiness, helping them be the best they can be.

Brianna and Pepper live in Napsville, Vermont and have been best friends since they were both six years old. Brianna was invited to the island because she is, in fact, a mermaid. Pepper’s parents were the ones dropping them off at camp, and they’re also pretty good friends with Brianna’s parents. She also helped Pepper get used to all of the strange magical stuff. Brianna only sees Pepper as a best friend, and he sees her as a very good friend. There isn’t anything more to that. She gets along very well with all of Pepper’s friends. Her cabin flag has a cupcake with pink frosting on it.

#Summer Camp Island #SCI #oc #ocs #my ocs #Tasha García Ramírez #Jack McCattle #Patty McCattle #Katie Burrow #Skippy Lewis #Brianna Overwood

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thespit · 11 months

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The horror of CotS

I am an unashamed horror fan- that's words that come from a person who lives their life through fear and has lived it from an incredibly young age. But I hardly resent it as much, I love employing my fear into having a positive role in my life. With a life weirdly colored by fears of all kinds, it has always embedded itself into my thinking. Does it sound weirdly cynical? Nearly every joke I make has to do with some over the top force of destruction, a painful extreme, or tragedy of some kind! I have some love affair with the evil and the darkness. When I was about 8 or 9 I became an avid consumer of short horror stories. There was a book I had that was an anthology of horror from all over the world. From stories about maggots, to one about a snake hiding as a woman, to one about rats destroying a ship and the spirit of a devoured hog coming back to terrorize the living. Not all these stories were the flavor of "man gets chased by scary monster!" which I don't care for so much. But the ones I liked the most were the ones that sat on the brain. There was a story by Horatio Quiroga called "The Feather Pillow", and I won't spoil it, but it scared me so bad I became paranoid for weeks that things were living inside my pillow. That kind of slow, suspenseful horror, or the horror of things that take you by surprise by allowing you the reader to just make those connections have always gripped me the most. When it comes to CotS, it presents itself more like an supernatural fantasy adventure which is what I expect people to see it as. In many ways, it's what I want people to see it as. In fact, the more people get blindsided by the horror of the story to me the better. Well, I don't exactly inform it with as little subtlety as a game like Eversion for instance (just as example, it's a game which disguises the horror in cute and colorful graphics). You know it's there, but you don't know how or how far. That's the story. One thing i'm proud to have helped write is that it continues through and through even past the part where we think we know. I anticipate that up to that point people might assume that's all there is to it, the magic is over, the monsters are lit on all angles so that there is no darkness left. That's where I have to reiterate this story is for horror fans, but specifically people who look to be scared. Because those people like me who have overactive imaginations just seem to enjoy the relentless paranoia that comes with the territory. I believe that's the marker of success for a story- when it gets into people's heads, even if it's just a part of the story and not the whole thing, it gains a taste of life. People like to wonder. I hope that one day we can also get people to wonder about it the same way we have, then I think I could finally call this work a success.

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dem-obscure-imagines · 3 years

Text

Growth Spurt

Jedediah Smith x Reader

Fandom: Night at the Museum

Summary: When a battle breaks out at the Smithsonian, you need all the help you can get. Your magic, however, has a mind of its own.

Note: Takes place during NATM 2. I’m a little out of my comfort zone on this one, so let me know what you think lol. I might be willing to write a part 2...?

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 1.3k

Reader is: Female

This was bad. Very, very bad. At the moment, you were in Washington D.C. Ahk’s brother was crazy, apparently, and he was recruiting all of the powerful villains he could possibly assemble, and he wanted to, basically, use the tablet to rule the world. Add to this the fact that he had captured Jed and stuck him in an hourglass.

Add to THAT the fact that he had snatched your family amulet from around your neck…you figured the man must have a death wish. If only he knew what he was messing with.

And yet, the forces he had assembled were too great for you to comfortably overpower without the rest of your friends present, so you figured it was best to keep your powers a secret, even if only to preserve the element of surprise.

“You got this, partner. I know you do.” Jed put his little hands against the glass, his eyes sad, but hopeful. “I’ll be fine. Go.”

“But—”

“Go!”

“Come on,” Larry gave your arm a tug, and though your eyes lingered on poor little Jed, trapped there in the glass, you followed after Larry.

It was an odd friendship you shared with Jed. He flirted with you, you laughed. It was impossible. He was about an inch and a half tall. And yet, the flirting never stopped and he never hesitated to remind you of your beauty, especially when you doubted yourself the most. You were powerful and he admired you for that, but he also loved your laugh, your smile…he knew it was silly and that there was no chance of something serious between the two of you, but that didn’t seem to prevent him from trying…

Amelia caught up with the two of you easily and you caught her up on the situation at hand.

You checked in with a Theodore Roosevelt without a body, but he didn’t have much to contribute to the situation. Neither did the Thinker. And so, the three of you headed out across the campus in search for answers. If not, Jed’s hour in that hourglass would be his last.

“So, this cowboy friend of yours, are the two of you…?” Amelia asked.

“Are we what? Dating?”

“Yes, that. You care about him, that much is clear.”

“I mean, yeah, but it just wouldn’t work out.”

“And why not?”

“He’s a miniature.” Larry explained. “He’s about two inches tall.”

“Oh!” She laughed. “Well, that would complicate things, now wouldn’t it?”

“You can say that again.” You thought for a moment. “Hey, weren’t there some Einsteins in the Air and Space Museum? I bet they’d be able to help.”

Larry snapped. “Good thinking.”

So, after a brief chat with the Einsteins, the three of you took the Wright Brothers’ plane and crashed it through the window of the building Kahmunrah had set up base in. Amelia ran to get help and you hopped off of the plane and took refuge behind a pillar, watching as Larry argued with Kahmunrah, wracking your brain for something, anything, some spell that would work to get Jed out of that hour glass.

And then it clicked.

It was a longshot, and you knew that, but if it worked…

As soon as Larry got the hourglass, you called out, “Over here!”

“Sparkle Fingers!” Jed lit up.

Larry threw the hourglass to you and you caught it, flipping it so the side Jed was trapped in was on top.

“Seize her!” Kahmunrah shouted.

You booked it as fast as you could down the hall and around a corner, listening as Kah’s guards passed, and once they were a safe distance away, you exhaled a long breath.

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me in there.” Jed smiled softly up at you. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“Well, there’s something my grandmother used to say. She said magic is really very simple; you just have to want something and then let yourself have it.”

“So…?”

“Hold still.” You told him, your power festering around your fingertips. You flicked it down and the purple rays shined through the glass, straight onto Jed.

“Hey, what is that?” Jed asked, somewhat fearful. “What did you do? I feel…weird.”

You bent down and set the hourglass on the floor, taking a few steps back and bracing.

Jed groaned, and then, all at once, the hourglass around him exploded as he grew to human size. He looked down at himself, holding his hands in front of his face as he moved his fingers. He kicked the pieces of the hourglass aside with his foot and looked up at you, his face awash in awe. “Holy smokes, Sparkle Fingers! I didn’t know you had it in you.”

You stared up at him, your eyes wide. You gulped. “Neither did I.”

“Well, I hope you’ve got some more in you. I have a feeling this night is far from over.”

You chuckled, “Me too.”

***

Once the battle was over and the dust had settled, Jed walked straight up to you, a nervous look on his face, his usual confidence dwindled now that he was standing face to face with you after all of this time.

“I…don’t know how much longer your spell is gonna last, so I’ve gotta do this now.” He said, taking off his hat and handing it to Larry, who was, understandably, shocked at the scene unfolding before him. Jed grabbed you by the hips and tugged you into a kiss, his lips exploring yours without hesitation. You kissed him back, your arms winding around the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

The rest of the museum exhibits, who had seen your relationship with Jed grow over the years cheered alongside your new friends, and when the kiss ended, Jed leaned his forehead against yours, smiling softly. His warm breath fanned across your cheeks.

He chuckled, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Believe me, the feeling is mutual.”

“Oh!” He said, suddenly remembering something. He reached into his pocket and held up your amulet. “I believe this is yours.”

Your eyes widened and you stared at it. You were sure it had been lost when Kahmunrah had been pushed into the portal, but here it was, in perfect shape.

“You…how did you get it back?” You asked as Jed fastened the chain around your neck.

“Let’s just say Octavius and I have a few tricks up our sleeves.” He shrugged. “Speaking of…”

Octavius popped over the top of Jedidiah’s chest pocket. “Hello!”

“Hi, Oct.” You chuckled.

“At some point, I hope you feel so inclined to try that spell out on me.” Octavius said, causing you to smile. “If only to broaden my horizons.”

“When we get back to New York? Absolutely.” You promised.

Larry looked to Amelia. “Speaking of, Amelia, can you fly us home?”

“Certainly, Mr. Daley. It would be my honor.” Amelia nodded, grinning at the sight of you standing next to Jed.

He took your hand and pulled it to his lips, his fingers intertwining with yours. The whole flight back to New York, his arm wouldn’t leave your waist, and once you were finally back and inside the museum, Teddy had to do a double-take.

“Jedediah, my boy, is that you?”

“Had a growth spurt.” Jed shrugged, helping Octavius out of his pocket so he could get downstairs with the others. “And I feel like it’s gonna wear off soon…”

“Yeah…” You felt it, too. Your power slowly leaving him and you couldn’t do anything but watch as he shrank about an inch. And then another.

“Think I could get one more kiss for the road?” Jed asked.

You leaned forward and captured his lips with yours, kissing him one last time before the magic wore off, and when you pulled away, he shrank the rest of the way, back down to his normal size.

“Thanks for the adventure, Sparkle Fingers.” He saluted up at you from his spot on the floor.

“See you tomorrow?”

He winked. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

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