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samkerrworshipper · 2 months

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wet dream | sam kerr x kristie mewis

kristie can’t sleep.. sam has a wet dream.. smutty fluff ensues

Jet lag is not a choice.

As much as Kristie tries to tell her that it is, that jet lag is some kind of false mentality that people use as an excuse for travel exhaustion, when really it’s just a mixture of sleep deprivation and being in an airtight container for hours on end.

It’s her first time doing the Australia -> Dubai -> London trip and she’s never felt more awake yet dead asleep in her entire life.

Sam is the exception to jetlag, something that Kristie is still struggling to come to terms with, the 8 hour time difference is messing with her and even though it’s technically 2am in the morning, to her it feels like she should be waking up.

She’s come to terms with the fact that she isn’t sleeping any time soon, waiting for Sam to be deep in sleep until she reaches over to turn on the reading light on her side of Sam’s bed and pull out her book. Kristie’s eyes may be drooping and her body is aching but she figures if the reading doesn’t tire her out then nothing else really will.

It’s when she’s made it a few pages into the first chapter that the woman sleeping next to her starts to make little huffs and mewling noises, Kristie finds it cute. Sam and her have been dating for only a couple of months, most of it has been long distance due to covid so to have somebody she’s been desperate for, sleeping peacefully next to her, it makes her feel so much happier.

She stays focused on her book, her eyes slowly scanning over each words, paying far more attention to each syllable then she probably should. Sam’s adorable noises continue, little breathy, croaky noises leaving her lover's mouth as she moves alongside Kristie.

It goes on like that for a little bit, whilst Kristie works through pages upon pages, Sam’s noises slowly starting to get louder and her body jostling with the sheets as he dreams continue to consume her.

Kristie’s brain somewhere along the way must simply sync whatever noises Sam is generating out, her mind solely focused on the chapters that she’s working her way through, she doesn’t really notice when Sam’s little noises turn into moans, or when her tossing and turning turns into a sort of grinding motion, all she knows is that she’s gotten to the point where she’s suddenly feeling somewhat tired and if she’s going to try and go to sleep at some stage tonight now is probably the time.

She’s folded the corner of her book and put it down on her bedside table, about to flick out the light when she hears Sam beside her. Kristie does a double take, unsure if the sleep deprivation has actually gotten the best of her or if she’s just heard what she thinks she did. She freezes, waiting, and when she hears the same noise again, she flips straight over, untrusting of what her ears are picking up.

Her throat is dry, looking at Sam and watching as her hips thrust upwards, her mouth agape as little pants and occasionally a moan slips from behind her teeth.

Kristie can’t believe what she’s seeing, its truly baffling to her.

Sam and her have been together for just a couple of months, sleeping with somebody beside her after finally getting used to being alone in her bed has been an.. adjustment, to say the least. This feels like an invasion of Sam’s privacy in some way, like Kristie is seeing something she most certainly shouldn’t.

At first, it doesn’t even cross her mind that Sam would be dreaming about her, all Kristie can think about is how bad of a situation she’s suddenly in.

Her own thighs are slowly getting sticky as she sits frozen, a spectator in whatever it is that Sam’s dreaming of.

It’s not until her name is murmured out amongst a particularly loud moan and thrust of Sam’s hips that it all clicks for her.

Sam’s having a sex dream about Kristie, in bed with Kristie. A good one by the looks of it.

They’ve been apart for months, Kristie can’t really think of a time in their relationship where they’ve been together for more than two weeks, beside the time they quarantined together. Australia had been great, but they were in a house with Sam’s parents, it was hardly a place where Kristie felt comfortable to be fucking around with Sam, as much as Sam had tried her hardest.

It made sense that there would be pent up sexual energy, had they both not been so exhausted when they’d gotten home from the airport it probably would have been the first order of business, but both were too exhausted to eat, let alone try and reunite with each other's bodies.

So they’d settled for cuddles and a movie in bed, although Sam didn’t even make it ten minutes before she was dead weight on top of Kristie. That had been around 10 o’clock, It’s nearing 4 now and Kristie is desperate to succumb to her exhaustion but also aware that with Sam feeling whatever it is she is, she’s not getting to sleep until either Sam’s dream drifts away or she wakes up.

Kristie finds her own solution, when a particularly dirty moan of her name, tainted with the chestiness from Sam’s half asleep voice makes the stickiness between her legs transition to a desire so deep in her that she’d be stupid to ignore it.

Sam is the initiator out of the two of them, it’s always been that way and Kristie’s been happy to adhere to however Sam wants her in the bedroom, right now though, she’s got all the power and there are a million things going through her head. It makes her grateful that Sam normally takes the reins, because Kristie is fairly certain that if this level of thinking was needed every single time she wanted to have sex with her girlfriend then their sex lives would be far more boring.

Kristie leans over, pressing her lips to Sam’s neck, hoping that somehow it’ll wake her up, it doesn’t.

When her lips don’t seem to suffice, Kristie brings her hand up to Sam’s waist, her fingers dragging across her hip bones and slowly migrating up to the space between her ribs and breasts.

Kristie’s fingers are feather light, trying to coax Sam out of whatever deep sleep she’s in, it only seems to spur on the state she’s in though, her body leaning into Kristie’s touch and her pants getting louder.

Kristie’s running out of ideas, her wet lips are dragging up and down the column of Sam’s neck and her fingers are pressing in slightly harder along her hips bones and the underside of her breasts, yet Sam is still completely unconscious.

Kristie’s brain short circuits, her desperation for Sam to wake up so that she can finally have a moment with her before getting some good, quality sleep.

Suddenly, her pointer and thumb are pinching down on Sam’s nipple, twisting it in her fingers until Sam's whole body jerks, her eyes snapping open.

It’s uncharacteristically sadistic for Kristie. She doesn’t normally like to inflict pain on anybody, especially her loved ones, but she can’t help but love the way that Sam’s body reacts.

Sam takes quite a few seconds to realise exactly what’s happening, Kristie buries her lips and face in Sam’s neck sucking little marks into her neck.

Sam’s body tenses for a couple of seconds, probably whilst she’s trying to figure out what’s happening, but as soon as everything begins to put itself into place, Sam’s body relaxes, her hands raising from beneath the covers to shift Kristie’s hips onto her own, helping Kristie to swing her legs over Sam’s hips and straddle her. Kristie’s lips never leave her neck, her hands however, move up and down, dragging along the skin along Sam’s torso.

“Kris.”

Kristie continues suckling at Sam’s tanned neck, specifically focusing on her pulse point.

Kristie’s determined, she knows Sam is already worked up, she’s determined to somehow work her up even more, get her as hot and bothered as possible.

“Kristie, babe.”

Sam’s hands tighten on her hips, when Kristie’s lips don’t let up, Sam reaches her hands up, gently pushing Kristie’s head out of her neck, getting a proper look at her.

“Babe, no teasing.”

Sam’s words have a clear undertone, Kristie is not in charge.

She’s temporarily been handed control due to her jumping Sam, she is not the one calling the shots though.

“Good dream, huh?”

Sam’s blushing, it’s a sight that Kristie’s seen very little of, her very confident and cocky partner all of a sudden looking subdued.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

There is the cockiness, back in full swing.

“Kristie, oh, Kristie.”

Kristie’s mimic of Sam’s noises are pretty accurate in her own opinion, Sam seems less than impressed.

“Is it a crime for me to dream about my girl?”

The possessiveness has Kristie keening, Sam’s always made it clear that Kristie is hers, she’s not one for sharing, Kristie belongs to her and vice versa.

“Mm, so what exactly were you dreaming about me?”

Kristie’s hands haunt Sam’s skin, dancing in small circles all over her, purposely avoiding the spots that she knows will give Sam any form of pleasure.

“Kristie.”

Sam’s whining, it’s something Kristie doesn’t see very often.

“Tell me and I’ll touch you, tell me what’s got you so worked up.”

Kristie brushes her fingers over Sam’s nipples, just long enough to feel them harden underneath her tips before moving them away and back down to Sam’s stomach.

“You can’t be serious?”

Sam’s displeased, but she’s also desperate for Kristie’s hand to do something other than draw little patterns up and along her skin, she wants them touching her, touching her where she needs her the most.

“Babe, you got me so worked up with all those little noises, those little thrusts? All whilst you were asleep, now I want you to tell me what was it about that little dream of yours that made you moan louder than I’ve ever heard, or maybe I won’t touch you at all.”

Sam is a quiet lover, she expresses her feelings and thoughts on her face, she doesn’t need to vocalise. That’s why Kristie had been so shocked to hear her so unusually loud.

“Kristie, don’t forget your place.”

Kristie figures that if she’s ever going to try and one up Sam, her time is now. She’s got the advantage, she’s on top, Sam’s anchored to the bed underneath her, hips pinned underneath Kristie’s.

“I think I’m remembering my place just fine, now, what was it that you were dreaming about?”

Sam and Kristie are both stubborn by nature, neither of them like to lose, give up or give in. Sam looks so desperate though, Kristie’s convinced that she might just win this time around.

“Was dreaming about you.”

Kristie rewards the admission with a squeeze of Sam’s right breast, but that’s it, she needs more if Sam wants more from her.

“C’mon love, you can do better than that.”

Kristie brings her fingers back up to the nipple she’d previously abused, tugging at it gently, licking her lips when Sam’s back arches up from underneath her.

“Fuck Kris, seriously?”

Kristie nods her head, her lip caught between her teeth as she subtly grinds her hip against Sam’s and continues to toy with the nipple between her fingers.

“Dreamt about Paris.”

Kristie smirks, a big knowing smirk.

Her hands trail down, under the waistband of Sam’s cotton sleep shorts, cupping her, feeling the warmth and wetness that has spread itself all over Sam’s shorts and thighs.

“Mm, what about Paris baby, you can do it, tell me.”

Sam looks like she might just kill Kristie, her dream had put her on edge, but Kristie teasing her, it’s putting her on a different level of arousal.

“F-fuck Kris, the balcony, the kitchen, the beach, the bed, all of it.”

Paris was the last time her and Sam had the opportunity to properly share a bed for less than 24 hours, after the Olympics, it had possibly been the best sex Kristie had in her entire life. Four days, of just her and Sam. It had been the first true introduction they’d had to each other, the first time that they got to properly appreciate and worship every part of each other's bodies.

Kristie lets her finger dip down, connecting with Sam’s clit. Sam rolls her hips into Kristie’s fingers, vying for more pressure, more movement, more anything.

“Mm? What about it, you can tell me.”

Kristie keeps her thumb on Sam’s clit, whilst her middle finger and ring finger trail down through Sam’s wetness to her cunt.

Sam’s completely soaked, her arousal is all over Kristie’s hand, her pussy is attempting to suck Kristie’s fingers in, Kristie is too tempted, but she’s relishing in the power she holds and she’s not quite ready to give it up yet.

“You want my fingers? Tell me what you were dreaming about.”

Kristie put her two fingers right at Sam’s entrance, dipping in and out with the very tips of her fingers.

“F-fuck me, Kris.”

Kristie shakes her head.

“I’ll fuck you when you tell me what you were dreaming about.”

Sam’s so desperate, more desperate than she thinks she's ever been before.

“Fuck, Kris, all of it, night two after dinner in the shower.”

Kristie smiles, it’s a favourite memory of hers.

Something about showers, alcohol and first time anal was pretty hard to forget.

Kristie pushes her fingers slowly into Sam, there isn’t any reluctance but she wants to draw out Sam’s pleasure for as long as possible, to do that she has to be slower, hard and fast too early is probably going to result in Sam orgasming in ten seconds.

Kristie starts off with a slow pace, trying to find the spot inside Sam which she knows will make her legs shake.

It doesn’t take too long, Sam helps her, jutting her hips up into Kristie’s hand until she finally brushes up against Sam’s sweet spot.

Kristie’s desperate to draw out one of those moans that she heard whilst Sam was in her unconscious state, it’s a sound that she’ll never be able to get out of her head and she’s so desperate to hear more of it.

Kristie pushes her palm down against Sam’s clit, roughening her approach and fastening her strokes.

“Getting close babe? Making you feel good am I?”

The scrunch between Sam’s brows tells Kristie all she needs to know, but she wants to hear it from her.

“F-fuck Kris, so good.”

Kristie smirks, this is definitely not the way she would have imagined spending tonight and even if it’s panned out in a weird way, she definitely isn’t mad about it. These moments with Sam are what makes being together so perfect, there is always some surprise or something new that’s introduced with every new step they take together.

“Mm, gonna cum for me babe?”

Sam nods her head, her lip caught between her teeth, her back arched up and her bed hair spread out across the pillow as if it were a halo of brown locks.

“F-fuck Kris, gonna cum for you babe.”

Kristie smirks, leaning down to press her lips to Sam’s.

The kiss is rushed and desperate but Kristie loves it, she loves every second of it.

“Be loud for me baby, I know you can do it, c’mon, cum all over my hand.”

Sam’s hips suddenly freeze and she lets out a deep groan into Kristie’s mouth, her walls spasming around Kristie’s fingers.

She grinds out the aftershocks on Kristie’s hands, Sam’s hips nudging up against Kristie in random movements as she comes down from her high.

Sam pushes Kristie’s hand away when it becomes too much, Kristie gently removes her fingers from Sam’s pussy, bringing them up to her mouth and licking Sam’s taste off of her fingers. Once she’s done, she leans down, bringing Sam into a dirty kiss and sharing the flavour that she’s grown to love so much.

When Sam’s hand makes its way down to the band of Kristie’s sleep shorts, she shakes her head, pulling Sam’s hand from her skin and bringing it up to rest on her arm. Kristie wants some sleep, and she knows that if Sam and her get started she’s not getting some any time soon.

Sam’s brow raises in questioning, neither of them are one to turn each other down, and it’s taking every part of Kristie’s will to deny her.

“Sleep baby, sex tomorrow.”

Kristie rests her forehead against Sam’s, pressing a kiss to the bridge of her nose.

“You, my love, are magical and I’ll prove that to you in the morning.”

Kristie presses more kisses to Sam’s skin, enjoying the praise from her girlfriend.

“Was I equally as magical in your dream, huh?”

Kristie giggles as Sam’s hands begin to assault her sides, digging into her ribs and sending Kristie into a fit. She is vulnerable enough for Sam to be able to flip her over so she’s no longer the one on top, Sam is.

“You are magical all the time, in my dreams, on the pitch, in my bed, across the world, you are perfect.”

Sam’s the one now who begins to press kisses all over Kristie’s face, her lips attach themselves to every single part of her scalp, nose and cheeks.

“Alright, I get it, you love me.”

Sam hits Kristie’s chest, rolling her eyes as she tumbles off of her body to lie down next to her.

Kristie keeps waiting for the day where this all ends, where the honeymoon phase suddenly stops and all of the love sick obsession finally passes and yet it hasn’t, not a bit of the puppy love that started on their first date has faded and it honestly terrifies Kristie because she doesn’t want the day to come, she’s petrified that it will come and that her love for Sam will suddenly, rapidly diminish.

“I love you too Sam, you’re just as perfect.”

Sam smiles at Kristie, the both of them flipped on their sides and looking at each other with the same amount of admiration as each other.

“Mm, well there will be lots of loving in the morning, but you my love look exhausted and in need of some hugs.”

Sam makes grabby hands and Kristie leans into her touch with such ease that it’s practically no effort whatsoever.

Sam leans over to turn Kristie’s reading lamp off, switching it off before gathering Kristie in her arms and relaxing back into the pillows.

Sleep comes to Kristie a lot easier, the mixture of Sam’s touch and her exhaustion helps her to drift off, in possibly her favourite place on earth.

#woso #woso community #sam kerr #i love sam kerr #samantha may #sam kerr smutttt #on my knees for sammy k #sam kerr is daddy #sam kerr imagine #sam kerr x kristie mewis #kewis #sam kerr appreciation post #kerrmewis #kerrmew #woso imagine #woso smut #woso fanfics #woso one shot

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thatanimeramenchick · 3 months

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Headcanons for Vox and Alastor both falling in love with an extremely powerful Overlord known as the Pink Death, she is called that because she's thought of as an incurable plague that consumes and annihilates everything she comes into contact with and she's a Pink Bunny demon and she's so powerful all the other Overlords, even Zestial are terrified of her, since when she arrived in Hell, she killed every Overlord that existed in that time and took their powers?

Incredibly Powerful Reader

Since this is a yandere blog, this will be done with that in perspective.

I also want to do this with the mindset that it is impossible to technically permanently kill other demons without angelic weapons. It is true that Alastor has made other demon overlords “disappear,” but I feel like it’s implied that he has somehow destroyed them in a way that is much worse than death, perhaps in a horrific existence in between realities? I don’t know. Anyway, I feel like the killing people with diseases temporarily and being a major threat is still an interesting view though. The complete toll you could have on demon and sinner society by wiping them out in waves whenever you felt like it would give you a lot of power in hell.

Anyway, when it comes to the guys, I see them actually sharing quite a few things at first.

Both of them would hope that their experience and ability to play manipulation games would allow for them to outsmart you, even if you are significantly more powerful than they are. Whether they actually do or not depends on you and your personality, but I could see them getting the upper hand if you’re not careful, especially Alastor.

Both of them also would hope to win you into a contract that allows them to have you under the thumb, but they would present it as giving you a power boost to help you clinch full power over hell. The details of this contract and their way of going about it will differ, but ultimately that is the goal each of them would have.

Vox

Media thrives on disaster. You’ve created a gold mine of content for this man. His interest in you would simply start out as using your story to promote his own company, and it would later turn into an obsession. Considering how the Vees are able to stay safe during extermination day through extreme isolation, I don’t think he would be too worried about the infection for similar reasons, simply being annoyed that it’s hurting the company as it’s messing with staff and therefore production.

If you decide to reject him, he can paint your powers to his advantage, threatening to use the media to paint you as a monster that hell needs to rally against at any cost. On the other hand, he could offer you a sweet deal if you want to get along nicely with him. He could make sure that everyone knows you’re the most powerful overlord in hell and that you should be respected and admired as well as feared. This is when the contract comes in, where he gets to portray you how you’d like as well as provide comfy living arrangements as long as you are willing to work alongside his company and only his company. He’ll make sure you’re on a higher position in the company than the underlings, considering how much power you have. Oh, and he’ll add a little clause that you’re not to turn your nasty tricks on him either.

Alastor

Alastor is more cautious than Vox is. While I see Vox as going the direct approach with you and a clear plan of aggression, Alastor would take his time, watching you from the shadows. He would want to get a clear idea of your personality and all its strengths and weaknesses before approaching you. Last thing he would want to do is simply irritate you.

I feel like his approach to you would be somewhat similar to how I think he is approaching Charlie. You are young and so perfectly easy to influence. Your potential is overflowing, surely you don’t want to waste it? If are just willing to submit to his ideals, he could make you the greatest overlord of all time, as well as gain total control of hell. The contract would be along similar lines. He would not rush the business like Vox would. He doesn’t want you to think he simply wants to use your powers after all. You have to feel like you’re giving in willingly because it benefits the both of you.

He would be subtle in his affection. He would make it seem like a business contract, but as you got entangled deeper and deeper in a mess you would come to see that he has a much more possessive and controlling relationship with you than you first thought. The details of the contract that at first seemed to exist to gain you some extra experience and security now seem like chains keeping you attached to a master has no intention of ever letting you become independent in your own right.

#yandere x reader #hazbin hotel #alastor #vox #yandere alastor #yandere vox

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 months

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the shroud family curse and its implications for intimacy

I was thinking about what the Shroud parents must look like under their helmets and then I started wondering how they met and fell in love 🤔 While wondering about that, I came to the realization that Mr. and Mrs. Shroud's romance must have been a complicated one.

***Spoilers for books 6 and 7 of the main story below the cut!!***

Idia’s grandmother, Aidne, was the previous director of STYX. She was succeeded by her son (Idia’s father), which implies that the Shroud blood and the curse that comes with it are from the paternal side of the family. Idia’s mom, then, is the one who married into the family. (It’s not clear at this point if those that marry into the Shroud family are also magically afflicted with the same condition, but for the purposes of this post whether it is or not isn’t relevant as my point will still stand either way.)

The Shroud curse quickly burns away any blot the individual has in their body without the typical means of recovery (ie rest and self-care). If there is no blot to incinerate then the curse will turn to consuming the magical energy of the individual themselves, which could pose a threat to their wellbeing and even their life. Because of this condition, ancestors to the Shroud family threw themselves into research on blot in STYX. This would ensure that Shroud members were always around blot that could be burned in the place of their own energy, and provided a sense of false hope for them. They believed that if they worked hard enough, they may be able to find a cure for their curse--but over time, that belief waned, and instead it seems they are all now resigned to their fate and don't try to defy it. We see this is true of the latest generation of Shrouds, as Idia was groomed to become the next director of STYX from a young age even when he disliked the idea and how his responsibilities restricted his freedom. In fact, the Shrouds in general are described as being gloomy people, and this is possibly the result of the hopeless feelings they have about their curse.

A secondary consequence of the curse is that it socially isolates members of the Shroud family from society. Idia is somewhat of a special case since we also have to consider the mental and emotional anguish he experienced following his involvement in Ortho's death. However, even disregarding this horrific tragedy, it can be inferred that the Shrouds are forced into positions which make them more alone than others. For one, their jobs seem to be very demanding and literally physically keeps them away from others (besides colleagues) since the headquarters are located in bottom of the sea. In Idia's post-OB flashback, we get dialogue which implies that he is not allowed outside very often--something which we can attribute to his being the heir to STYX. This may imply that previous Shrouds experienced similar childhoods, and this is just a continuation of the cycle. (I do want to point out here that Idia says his family used to go out to various places together when Ortho was still alive, so it's not a strict requirement that the Shrouds have zero outside interaction. They obviously do go outside the lab, but we cannot say for sure how frequently.)

More importantly, there is also an emotional and psychological component to isolation. You do not need to actually be alone in a room to be considered "isolated" from others. You could, in fact, be in a room full of people and still feel "isolated" because you haven't made any meaningful connection with them. This is what I think it must feel like to be a Shroud out in the world. You may technically be considered a part of the population, but you still don't quite fit in. For example, Idia has previously expressed worries that people will stare at his hair and recognize him as a Shroud, then ridicule his appearance and attitude. Indeed, the gloomy presence that the Shrouds give off seems to be a major deterrent for others to interact with THEM. All that time spent in physical isolation must have also had an impact on the Shrouds' ability to socialize. Idia is a strong example of this; he is an avid gamer and feels comfortable with taunting people via a screen. His face-to-face manner of speaking, meanwhile, can be incendiary and often rubs his classmates the wrong way. His father is not the exact same as him, but Mr. Shroud seems to have his own issues communicating affection and tends to describe things in a serious manner or in terms of work. Thinking about the way the curse is constructed too, there is a built-in fear that the Shrouds can never truly form long-lasting relationships with others, nor completely reveal their true selves to friends. Idia exposits as much in book 6. When Ortho tries to get his big brother to be friends with the OB boys, Idia dismisses the idea and says it won't matter in the end because they will be "sent down the river" and have their memories of those fun times completely purged. This illustrates a defeatist mindset which may be pervasive in all or most of the Shroud family: if this is going to be the fate of my loved ones, why bother getting close to anyone at all? It will just be more painful for us in the end.

SO LIKE. What was Mr. Shroud probably going through when he was seeing his then-girlfriend????? ??? ??? ??? ? ? ??? ? ?? He was probably so frustrated that he couldn't tell her anything about who he really was, and probably even more frightened that if he did ever tell the truth, he might lose her forever (via River Lethe memory wipe). And even if she still accepts him for it, then what??? Then she has to join the Shroud family, and that's basically damning her to the same mopey life he has, researching blot in the middle of nowhere until they're nothing but bones. Imagine how intense that guilt must be, knowing that you (yes, YOU) are responsible for "dragging down" your beloved into the same miserable circumstances that you're in. Not only that, but surely then you'd also have to tell your S/O that any children you conceive together will have the exact same destiny in STYX. It's not just Mr. Shroud either, it must be generations of Shrouds going through this same thing.

But, but, but!! In spite of his fear, Mrs. Shroud must have said yes because she truly loves him with all her heart… Their relationship must be built on such a strong foundation of trust and loyalty 😭 (From here, this is all speculation/headcanon/me rotting about the Hades-and-Persephone-esque romance I picture Idia's parents having. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.) I don't think that Mr. Shroud would be the one to initiate or to be affectionate. At most, maybe he had a shy sort of crush on her. More likely it was Mrs. Shroud that first expressed a romantic interest and passionately pursued him. And then maybe over time his feelings blossomed but he was still too afraid to put this massive burden on her shoulders, knowing the responsibility he bears as the future director of STYX... BUT HE HAS ALSO BECOME TOO ATTACHED TO HER TO CUT HER OUT OF HIS LIFE COMEPLETELY... Her very presence is screwing with his usual sense of cool, calculated logic 💀

AND WHAT ABOUT "THE TALK" THEY'D HAVE TO HAVE TO FULLY DISCLOSE EVERYTHING???? HOW MUCH MR. SHROUD MUST'VE BEEN SWEATING WAITING FOR HER ANSWER????? ?? ?? ? ? ? Oh, Sevens. Now I've done it. Here comes the moment where he gets dumped and his mom sends in a whole squadron of men to kidnap his girlfriend and clean her brain up. But NO 😭 Instead Mrs. Shroud just clasps his hands and insists that they should get married so he'll never have to wallow in those miserable thoughts all alone... He's confused and keeps begging her to reconsider, because this decision will inevitably throw her entire life off course.

"Are you sure about this? If you say yes to me, your fate will be sealed. You can never turn back. Your life will be sworn to the Isle of Woe." "Yup, I've never been more sure of anything in my whole life! Let's burn in the Underworld together, darling <3"

She provides a response that’s so easy and devil-may-care that he doesn’t know what to say back, so he just quietly laughs… and slowly those quiet laughs morph into quiet sobs… (like how flashback!Idia transitioned from laughing to crying when he was bragging about how indestructible the “new” Ortho is 😈 LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON—)

Idia drops this line during his extended post-OB flashback: "So it's romantic when a hero rescues his ladylove from the Underworld, but when I do the same for my brother it's wrong?" WHAT IF THAT WAS TRUE, BUT WITH THE GENDER ROLES REVERSED, FOR HIS PARENTS???? ?? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? Mrs. Shroud willing to literally throw herself into the Underworld to "save" Mr. Shroud... like how Persephone was willing to stay there with Hades... 🙃 I'LL EAT THAT SHIT UP, JUST DROP THE "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER" UPDATE OF TWST, DEVS..... . . . .. ..... . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. .... . . .. . . .... . . .. . . . .

Okay, I'm done screaming and sobbing at the wall for now--.

#twst #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory #twisted wonderland #Idia Shroud #Ortho Shroud #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #Hades #Persephone #spoilers #notes from the writing raven #angst #twst theory #twst theories #yes I can and I WILL make everything sad/j

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soraka-in-warhammer40k · 9 months

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I'm always fascinated when someone at the club rants about "how they just invented T'au to cash on them anime weebs", completly oblivious to the time and culture of their creation. So T'au came out first in 2001, and were obviously conceptualized some years prior, which puts them into the late 90s in their original design. This is slowly hitting "the majority of the populance has no relevant internet access whatsoever" levels of "barbaric analog ages".

So imagine where GW sits in the late 90s - its a small studio somewhere in England barely coming to touch with the first elements of the internet, with the most dominant medium being television which... is not really about "exotic" shows from the other end of the world? Those get ported over when they have proven to be a hit in their own country mostly.

And without the internet as we know it today, the anime community just... did not exist. You have to understand that the whole concept of online anime culture centred around piracy, fansubs, fanart, and the creation of the term "weeabo" was a mid-to-late 00s thing, and it took almost another decade before "weeb" was somewhat reclaimed and no longer an online-slur.

There was a whole generation that grew up with (often horribly localized) japanese shows on TV (Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon) which came over with some delay to their release in Japan. By the time this generation came to congregate into online spaces and form any sort of fan-identity and culture, the T'au and their battlesuits had already been a design over a decade old.

"But wait isn't Gundam from the 70s"? Yes, that is totally correct. However, this is the one glaring mistake people make: you cannot compare modern day media content circulation around the globe to the analog ages. Those of us who remember these barbaric analog times know how it was: you just did not know stuff existed. If it was not in the newspaper or on the telly, it might as well not exist unless you knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy.

Sure, the Internet was slowly becoming a thing that found widespread use, but it would still take a while - not to mention the technical limitations. No streaming episodes. You start the download (if you can find someone who hosted the file of a series you had to know even existed first) somewhere around lunch, to hopefully get something to watch in the afternoon. Oh and also that blocked the household's phone-line and if the download cancelled for whatever reason then it was back to square one. Under such conditions, the online community we know today could simply not exist, as the alternative was importing stuff from the other end of the world for quite the money, or hoping a really shoddy localized VCR-tape ended up at your Blockbuster-equivalent.

Of course there was anime before that time, even those regarded absolute classics in the west, but those mostly achieved that rank over here in retrospective. When in the late 00s people wanted to watch stuff and had the ability to do so they shared what was considered "the classics" first (shared to the best of their ability with one episode cut into 5 parts on youtube with sometimes very questionable subtitles).

So even if we assume there was someone at GW in the 90s who was a total "proto-weeb" and Gudam-fan, there was literally no reason to "make knock-off Gundams" because the miniscule western wargaming audience SIMPLY DID NOT KNOW THE STUFF.

You can't make a marketing ploy to reference something your average consumers have never heard off. If anything, the creation of the T'au as a robotic-centred faction was inevitable: they needed a design that could hold their own in the setting, but Necrons hogged the full-robot niche, Imperials were weird cyborgs, Orks the "madman-scrap-tech", and Nids the "biotech". The only thing left here was "not full robot but also very clean and efficient" - and just like that, the Battlesuits and Drones were born.

It was only in later years when the Internet had come into full swing where they decided to go full-suit with releases such as the Riptide, but if we talk about the OG design of T'au and the first decade? Nothing to do with anime or "fishing for weebs". The fish would not be coming to that spot for almost a decade, and it would take a bit more before their numbers were plentyful enough to make it worth casting a line out.

#random rant #wh40k #T'au #tau empire #warhammer 40k

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drawnfamiliarfaces · 7 months

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I didnt watch rc9gn (sorry), but that question anon asked got me thinking:dont we already have amnesiac boy? *points at rex*?

Anon dont ever apologize for not having watched something, we all consume media/content at our own preference and pace!!! (I speak as a person who as of yet have not watched at least 5 major cartoons/shows of last decades lol) So its totally cool, always!

But YES you are totally right, Rex is another resident amnesiac in accordance to his canon show. It's actually one of the big bonding moments for him and Randy in HoM AU! ;D

However, the major difference between them is that Rex - started his 'hero' career after he lost his memory (the second time) and Randy - will canonically loose his memory at the end of his 'hero' career (or more like it ends his hero career). So you see their similar problems are also wildly different lol.

(um i went on a bit of a random rant about mostly Rex below, so you can read it of u want because im too lazy to delete it, but like, the point of the answer is above, so ye)

Technically Rex's amnesia is supposed to be a sort of 'chronic' debilitation that happens when he 'overloads'/ enters Titan mechabot state lol. But the show itself kind fibbled greatly with it (which annoys me to no end), because it seems that after the Nanite Event he periodically lost his memories so often, he kept a journal (when he was in the 'gang' with his friends) to keep track and later on Holiday and Five kept a close eye on him (i think it was implied he lost his memories at least once more at the care of Providence but i might be remembering wrong) in case his amnesia happened again. So, it seemed that his amnesia incidents got better with time, since we don't touch on the subject of him having another amnesiac episode almost throughout the whole show (and he even recovers several small memories!), until that damn finale.

At the end after the big fight, there was this sort of 'scare' of "Oh no! Rex saved the world but he forgot his family and friends!' but SYKE NO HE DIDN'T! And like... it wasn't completely explained, but i think it was implied that in that brief moment Rex was the Nanite Jesus Deity he somehow cured himself of amnesia i guess?? I was literally so mad about it, we were kind of building up to Rex making an ultimate sacrifice of his 'self' and it would have been such a great idea if he did loose his memory and have been allowed to (at least temporary) retire to his family home (of ex-werewolves) where he wouldn't be viewed as a weapon anymore, but... we get an ambigous 'some major villains escaped and are now at large' and thus Rex is still needed on the job and since he isn't amnesiac we dont even need to coerce him to fight! yay!

(can you tell im a little bit bitter about the end lol)

I mean I know the show was left in this sort of 'nothing changed' ambiguity for (im guessing) future possible continuation and/or for the GenRex brand, but its like my biggest annoyance from this show, which otherwise had such great storytelling! (in comparison to Ben10 AF&UA run lol)

That aside, what's up with Randy is different in a manner that his amnesia is something canonically inevitable and really scary if one thinks about it. 4 years of very life-changing experiences, of being a hero, just taken away would certainly reflect somewhat on him afterwards? I mean Im not sure how exactly mind-wipe work, (i dont remember all the details rn) but assuming it literally leaves you with gaps in your memories, without replacing them or something similar. So one of possible outcomes would be of post- mind wipe Randy feeling that he misses something from his life so keenly that it hurts him. Or perhaps human mind would work wonders of sort of 'filling' the gaps with vague false memories to not go insane, and after Randy would be constantly questioning that part of his life?

Many possiblities, but man I dunno, like, since rc9gn didnt have much in form of continuation so there is no extra info to explore.

But it does give me so much freedom to go completely bonkers in hom au (which i did man i went a really weird route ngl), because who's gonna stop me?? canon?????

...sorry this came out of nowhere, apparently i had a lot of feelings about Rex and his amnesia.

#que?#hom au #hom au q&a #uuuuuhh sorry for the rant

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pixellangel · 6 months

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new epithet erased/anime campaign oc based on the epithet "consumption!!" info on them under the cut <3

Mori Terabye (they/he) is an Epithet user whose Epithet is "Consumption." They've been somewhat sickly since they were a child, but it's gotten worse for them over time. They had their Epiphany after learning that they could create mysterious voids that "consume" objects - the realization that they'd been coughing up blood all their life help them mentally connect consuming things and "The Consumption", also known as Tuberculosis.

He doesn't have TB, technically; it's a weird Epithet magic situation. His Epithet happens to affect the inside of his body in a way that presents itself like the notorious infection. When making his little voids, he also has the ability to "eat" them before they disappear entirely. It helps him feel significantly better, but he doesn't exactly know how that works. Epithet magic is weird, man.

They enjoy fencing and do it on the professional level. Their lithe body makes it easy to dodge the swipes and slashes typical of swordfights, even if they do need a minute to catch their breath after a match.

so that's it!! my little guy!!!! i started making a character sheet for them but i don't have anyone that i know could gm a session of anime campaign so i have to refrain from finishing it. i don't know how to properly balance a ttrpg moveset :(

i gotta get more people into epithet tbh. ive been assigning them to some of my friends and im super attached to this idea of a campaign with my besties but its kinda unachievable without a gm </3

anyway. hope you enjoyed the art and loredump :D

#pixell.art #pixell.txt #GAHHH i need a gm #i know several people interested in playing a campaign but nobody who wants to/can fill the role of game master #anyway please admire my silly little guy i love him very much #while creating this design i realized #its kinda impossible to make a character with victorian era vibes and blood dripping from their mouth not look like a vampire #so yknow. oopsies lmao #epithet erased #epithet erased oc #anime campaign #anime campaign oc #anime campaign ttrpg #art #oc #oc art #oc illustration #oc lore #mori terabye

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fanartbyherd · 10 months

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Here are some of the earliest drawings I made for this Au. Even before it was really made into an au.

Speaking of old here are some notes I made to myself about the au… some of these things have changed but I think it’s still somewhat accurate to the current AU rules:

So there’s people who are only slightly touched, there’s people who are aligned, there a people who have a dedication and then finally there are people with names powers and then there are those who have a title

Those with a title are technically canidets to become demigods

Though I made a note in my writing that there has not been any demigods since antiquity.

The last demigod for the power of the knowing was the last orical of Delphi kind of old

And those with titles are rare to, I made a note that no siren, the title for the power of agape , has been seen since ww1

Anyways each individual aspect of a pantheon can also be broken down to smaller sections that demonstrate what they can do Though I’m not very certain what each one is

I do know that the power of beholdin is broken down into three talents, the ability to convince others to give you the information you want, the ability to learn things you are not meant to know and the ability to identify things around them

Meanwhile the smaller talents of its closely related power of the knowing is the ability to understand what you are looking for, having a gut feeling about what is the right or wrong awnser, and the ability to understand what they should not understand

(Understanding something is different from simply knowing something)

There are also several powers that have links or strong overlaps

The slaughter and strategy are based off the two aspects of war, think the relationship between the goddess Athena and her brother Aries, one is carnage one is tactics. Just in the same way are the powers. And neither the slaughter or strategy are tied solely to war.

The twisted maze, the navigator and loneliness are all essentially able to teleport, The twisting can do so by accessing a void called the backspace, (the maze, the in between, the reflection etc.) and the loneliness makes use of a foggy void called Limbo (the near shores, the here neither, purgatory, etc.) The navigator uses a bit of both and carves out tunnels through these void spaces and uses them to travel

The majority of navigators are not able to move more than a few people at a time and sometimes only themselves and they seem to have a personal limit on how far away they can move between these places

The twisted maze is also called the spiral and thier teleportation occurs by moving through the backspace that they can access, but the backspace is exceptionally dangerous as you are likely to get lost or eaten by some monster that lives there.

You can also fall down into the deep place, which is tied closer with the Dreams and the End…

The loneliness of the limbo is dangerous because of its draining quality, the more time that is spent in limbo the more it drains out your color, your emotions, filling you with a deep void in the chest, a loneliness that is oppressive and all consuming

Eventually those who travel limbo fade into a disembodied voice and finally to nothingness Other powers are connected for storage reasons, things like end (death) and dreams Title for the end is phycopomps and for dreams is sandmen

Some powers are each others opposites, things like light and dark, the endless vast and the buried

There’s also things that can be used to strengthen or weaken powers, things like evil eyes or dream catchers are objects that use power to keep other powers at bay Evil eyes are also used to strengthen the ability of the knowing and beholder

But also weaken them at the same time.

#fanart #the magnus archives #gerrymichael #mundane horror #tma au #doorkeay

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mwolf0epsilon · 11 months

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The Frog Trooper - (4/4)

Summary: After contracting a bad case of strep throat, Dogma ends up feeling a little less like himself and begins to withdraw from his brothers. An outside force decides to teach him about self-value and to trust in one's brothers, no matter how annoying they may be.

[And we finally get to a resolution to this froggy conundrum!

It takes a lot of effort to work out misunderstandings caused by miscommunication. You may even flail and stumble along the way, but eventually everything works itself out if you just sit down and are openly honest with the people you want to make up with. Dogma certainly needed to see it with his own eyes to finally understand what he had been missing this entire time.]

[Part 3 can be found here or on AO3]

---

It took an exact four hours and a half for everyone to retire to their bunks. Four hours and a half of sitting around in the terrarium the others had built to contain him. Pressing himself against a bed of mud that didn't feel offensive to his skin (despite his usual aversion to getting himself dirty), and even going for an occasional dip whenever he felt antsy about standing still for too long (he wasn't much of a swimmer either, but he couldn't help but feel amazement at how graceful this body could actually be when in its rightful element).

The first two hours were the scheduled (and technically mandatory) mealtime. With most of the vode having left to join up in the mess hall to eat, while a few of the more solitary sort returned to the barracks with treys in hand to have their late meal in peace. Not the best of times for him to try anything particularly bold or risky.

Dogma watched them quietly, listened to their idle chatter to pass the time, and even accepted offerings of more mealworms, crickets and even mushed up pellet food that Twitch had been thoughtful enough to fill his little dish with. He'd need the calories and energy in the coming hours. The trip he was planning would take him a substantial amount of time and effort in this clumsy little body of his.

With each squirmy, crunchy or mushy treat he consumed, the less opposed he was to his potential future as a somewhat pampered frog. His mind no doubt slipping more and more from his grasp as the instincts began to fully set in and overwrite his personality.

There was no telling how long he had left as himself. He needed to be quick once he got out.

The following two hours after late meal were a mixture of recreational time before curfew, with most troopers going to the training rooms and shooting range, hitting the showers, or simply coming to the barracks to play sabbacc, read, or watch a holofilm on their datapads.

The idle chatter became that familiar droning background noise that he was accustomed to. Noise that he'd undoubtedly miss until his brain finally gave up the ghost and fully converted into that of a mindless little animal.

So Dogma watched from the confines of his glass prison.

Watched in contemplative silence as everyone else went about their business, completely unaware of his attentive gaze. He noted with great interest that each vod had their own routine (their own quirky nightly rituals) that they needed to do before they settled in for the night proper. And, now that he had the time to consider it, Dogma realized he had never stopped to think about any of that before.

How, despite their vast differences in personality, every single trooper of the 501st battalion shared a need for the tiniest of crumbs of stability in the form of practiced patterns. Something he assumed only he required, and that they found reason to scorn him for because he was usually so meticulous about it.

It was his attention to detail that helped him recognize each and every little thing they did as a source of personal solace. Dogma could very easily associate those actions to the vod performing them. The fluffing of pillows, the tucking of blankets in specific manners, and what position they preferred to lay in until slumber took them.

Even the quieting of their voices as they drifted off into restful sleep...

He noticed that Jesse's voice always took on this very distinct timber when he was about to fall asleep, making it soft in a way Dogma never heard when he was fully awake. Because Jesse had never been anything but harsh towards him when he'd realized something was unmistakably defective about him. And yet here in the safety of the barracks, beneath scratchy blankets and head set atop a plumped up pillow, the lieutenant sounded very serene as he whispered in a half-awake state.

Hardcase was always extra giggly when he was beginning to conk out, the exhaustion further muddling his already chaotic thought process. He spoke of nothing and yet everything at the same time. Ideas for absurd sounding strategies (that with some fine tweaking could actually be feasible in a discordantly brilliant sort of way), activities he and his brothers could partake in come morning, or just random facts he'd learned that day that seemed worth sharing to him.

Out of his batch, Kix was always the last one to fall asleep. Making sure to pull the covers over his two batchers, before climbing into his own bunk and sighing contently as he rolled onto his side. He had trouble sleeping most nights, likely haunted by the many terrible things he bore witness to as a medic. But he never put up much of a fuss. Always quiet and collected, respectful of everyone else's need for the quiet.

Echo and Fives were no different from their usual selves. Chatty, giggly, restless while trying to make themselves comfortable in separate bunks, before one gave in and climbed under the other's covers for a cuddle. They slept best in pairs. Much like he and Tup once did (no matter how much he halfheartedly muttered that they weren't cadets anymore). It felt alien to think of one without the other, so naturally that they slotted together. Had Dogma not known better he would have assumed they were literally attached at the hip.

Tup... Dogma's little heart ached as he looked towards his twin's bunk only to find him curled up under the covers. Even now his back was turned away from the terrarium. He hadn't looked at Dogma once in between coming back from late meal and then going to bed. Refusing to look at the ugly and useless little creature he'd become.

It hurt that his twin didn't want anything to do with him anymore. But it did help to solidify Dogma's final decision. His resolve.

It was strangely comforting to know that he had nothing to return to, no reason to stay whatsoever. And accepting that there was no going back to how things were certainly made the whole 'being a frog for the rest of his life' thing easier...

Counting each steadying breath helped keep track of who was or wasn't asleep. They all had a certain breathing pattern when they slept that helped another clone identify whether or not their kin were deep enough under, that moving in and out of the barracks wouldn't disturb them. Dogma knew that pattern by heart.

Deep whistle of a breath in, slight stuttering snort out.

He'd listened to it often enough when he was laying on his own bunk, mind racing with too many thoughts and little to no answers as to what he was doing right or wrong as a brother and soldier. That soft sound the only indicator of them ever being openly vulnerable around him. It had always soothed him to sleep.

Twitch and Sponge were still too awake for him to risk climbing out just yet. That much he could tell from how unusually quiet they were while laying in their bunks. It was actually very rare that Sponge slept in the barracks with the rest of them, but he supposed the current circumstances had tired them out enough that they'd just given up and gone to sleep among vode for once.

Their resistance to fully relaxing was a bother however, and it seemed to be keeping Twitch awake.

"Sponge... You're shaking the bunk..." The younger medic whispered from up above. Head just barely peeking over the edge.

"Hm... Sorry Twitch..." The older medic responded in a hushed tone. They seemed a little embarrassed over being called out like a rowdy cadet caught after lights-out. "Too wired to sleep... Just can't get comfortable..."

"It's been a long day..." Twitch agreed with a weary sigh. "I can't stop thinking about it..."

"Yeah... I might just... I might just go back to the medbay. Let Beau out of her kennel a bit and... Just spend some time with her. She's been cooped up a while now..." The infamously cantankerous medic ran a hand over their face as they slowly sat up. "Better than keeping you up..."

"You're not. I mean... The shaking isn't helping but, but it's not your fault really..." Twitch also sat up, much to Dogma's annoyance. If they kept this up, they might wake someone else and then there went his plan. "If it's of no bother to you, can I come along? I could use some Beau kissy time..."

Yes! Yes go away! Go somewhere else!

"I don't see why not..." Sponge shrugged. "Take your sweater, it's chilly out at this hour."

"Only if you take your coat." Twitch smiled.

"I already was planning on doing that, baar'ur'ika..." The older medic snorted. "Thank you for the reminder anyway... Now lets go before we wake the twins. They're absolute grouches when you disturb their beauty sleep, and we can't have Fives looking any uglier than he already is..."

Twitch suppressed a giggle as he climbed down to the floor to join Sponge in going through their trunks to get warmer clothing articles. Dogma kept a keen eye on them, hoping that once these two were gone that he'd be able to finally put everything into motion.

While Sponge carefully put their fluffy coat on, Twitch looked towards the terrarium. Dogma quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, hoping the little medic wouldn't catch on to his idea. With how perceptive he was, the frog trooper wouldn't put it past him.

He kept his eyes firmly closed when he heard the pitter-patter of semi-bare feet against the tiled flooring, hoping against all odds that he wouldn't be caught. Instead of an accusatory hiss however, he felt gentle and slightly slender fingers run up and down his spine in a petting motion.

Similar to how Sponge had been caressing him before, Twitch was apparently offering him the same kindness. This time he wasn't against it. In fact, he couldn't help but sigh in contentment and lay flatter against the mud he was pretending to sleep on.

He was sure his kih'vod was smiling at the sight. Another thing he'd miss. Twitch's easy-going friendly smile. Oh who was he kidding? He'd miss all of them.

But this was for the best. He couldn't stay. Not anymore...

"Sleep well Dogma... Tomorrow's going to be a good day." The younger medic whispered encouragingly. "I can feel it in my bones."

Yes, it would indeed be a spectacularly good day for the 501st. They would no longer have to deal with a painfully punctilious pest like him.

Dogma waited for the opening and closure of the barrack doors before he dared to open his eyes again. With the two medics gone, he focused once more on the sound of his sleeping vode's deep breaths. He was in the clear. It was time to get climbing.

And climb he did.

With some difficulty at first since he wasn't exactly built to climb anymore. But a combination of stubborn determination and a bit of mud did get him up and over the glass. He mentally thanked Hardcase for his accidental contribution to his escape plan. Without the sticky mud to provide him with some grip, he'd most definitely be unable to get out.

Now came the issue of climbing down... He really hoped these frogs were more resilient than they looked, because making the trek with broken bones wouldn't be easy. Or pleasant.

Lucky for him, he landed relatively well. His body could apparently take a nasty fall like a champ. Must be the extra squishiness providing some much needed padding that softened the blow...

Whatever it was, it saved him a miserable journey. And the ventilation system saved him a potential trampling on the way out. He just needed to avoid the mouse droids.

He doubted they'd be happy to find a trespasser in their territory.

"This is absurd Oln..." A white and blue colored BD unit hissed disparagingly, as it watched from up above how the little frog trooper sprinted from one hidden corner of the streets of Coruscant onto the next.

Dogma was being cautious. That much both higher beings in disguise could tell, as they observed his daring escape in progress. Not a bad idea, really. While the vehicular traffic floated well above his little head, the foot-traffic was a different story. And still very much a danger to his diminutive body.

Not to mention the myriad of stray beasts that wouldn't mind making a quick snack out of him...

"Your plan did not work at all, and now that poor trooper is allocating himself to live at the zoo!" The BD's lens focused on the red loth-cat sitting lazily besides it. A righteous fury radiating off of the droid as it regarded its companion with burning judgement of their impulsive actions.

"I wouldn't say it failed either..." The cat responded calmly. "I provided a fresh perspective through the eyes of something he and his brothers seemed to consider repulsive and lesser."

"You caused him needless misery, is what you did! And it did not solve whatever turmoil he was already going through..." Arbiter stamped their foot in disagreement. "While the others had his best interest at heart, they did not communicate with him appropriately... And he continued to misunderstand what their feelings towards him truly were..."

"It is not an easy lesson to learn." Oln conceded. Well aware that a lot had not gone according to their plan, but still seeming optimistic about the current odds. "Matters of the heart rarely are, which is what makes Humans so stubbornly impossible at times... But I do believe this will spur his brothers into actually putting themselves in his shoes."

"How? He's run off and left no idea of where he is headed..." Arbiter sat back down, watching the frog turn towards another corner that would lead him into a maintenance shaft. One that lead towards the level he needed to climb to, to get to the zoo.

"That's where the beauty of bonds lay, my dearest friend..." Oln smirked in that cat-like way they often did. "His closest brothers will know. At the very least, his twin will know... And that's exactly who he needs right now."

"I hope you're right... For the poor guy's sake at least."

"When have I ever given you reason to doubt any of my plans?"

"Oh, I can list a few instances..."

"Just trust in me, Arb..."

Coric was, unequivocally, a bit of a restless mess.

It's not like he could really help it (not when circumstances were as they were). And he knew he wasn't the only one in this kind of state. Otherwise all of the other medics wouldn't have slowly sneaked out of their bunks in the middle of the night, and gone to the medbay to ponder on that day's mind-boggling events.

The on duty CMO was sure that he was slowly wearing a hole in the floor as he paced. Looking quite the sight of anxious energy, with one arm behind his back while the other remained raised up so that he could tap away at his chin in time with his incessant pacing.

Were he the one sitting on the floor enjoying Beau time, he might have snapped at whomever might have been in his current position. But if his pacing bothered anyone, no one seemed to have it in them to say it out loud. Not that either Twitch or Sponge were currently focusing on anything but the rotund barghest who was valiantly attempting to drown them in her slobber...

"We're going to have to tell Rex, aren't we?" Pitch called up from the examination table where he was laying with his hands over his chest. It was his best imitation of a dead body laid out by a natborn mortician for display (a rather strange mourning ritual that disturbed him to no end, once he'd learned about it).

"We told the others." Kix pointed out, seeing no reason to stall any further in terms of bringing this up to their CO. "If we keep it from him for too long, he might not take kindly... As medics it's our job to be the responsible ones and report any kind of trouble..."

"Not to mention we also told Ahsoka, general Nu and general Che..." Twitch added, never once looking up from where he was focused on giving Beau the best scratches of her life. "The captain will definitely be a little sore if we don't tell him that one of his troopers has turned into an exotic frog..."

"Yes, because approaching the captain with this topic without sounding absolutely insane is going to be oh so easy..." Sponge's muffled response was full of bitter sarcasm as usual.

"Usually, yes we'd sound like we're on Spice. But we do have proof vod'ika." Coric pointed out, giving his legs a break by sitting right next to Pitch on the examination table. "I doubt Rex would think we went to the extent to tattoo a frog just for the sake of a practical joke..."

"Doubt even Hardcase would go that far." Pitch agreed. "And he's done some pretty outlandish things to get back at Jesse and Fives..."

"And we also have eyewitness accounts." Twitch added, recalling everyone that had seen Dogma growing sick in the mess hall, and then the group that had seen him transforming. "Oh, and probably security footage from the medbay..."

Coric felt bad for the poor sod who'd have to go through that footage during inspection day. They were, without a doubt, in for a shockingly gross surprise once their shift began.

As it stood, they were all pretty much at a standstill. Basically just sitting idle while waiting for something to happen (new developments perhaps? Some miracle solution to come down from the heavens? A request for them to somehow be able to extend their leave so that Dogma wasn't left alone in his current condition?).

Ask and the Force shall provide. Or however that saying went...

The door to the medbay opened up and in walked the captain himself and their padawan commander. The former looking somewhat bewildered by something currently unknown to them, while the latter had a wide grin upon her jovial face for reasons also unknown. Whenever Ahsoka Tano was in this good a mood, the medics had learned to either be alarmed by whatever may follow, or to look forward to something quite grand.

"Good news boys! Master Nu might have found something in the Archives!" The togruta proclaimed, causing all medics to perk up and turn to face her (or, in Sponge's case, lightly readjust Beau's position so that they could see past her chest fluff).

"The general found a way to cure Dogma?!" eyes wide with both hope and excitement, Twitch practically ran over to meet with the two new arrivals. A light bounce in his step.

"About that..." Rex frowned, sending the medical staff a stern glare as he crossed his arms in typical 'I'm not angry I'm just disappointed' fashion. He was clearly not too pleased with not having been in the know. "What's this about Dogma turning into a frog...?"

Kix and Coric both winced audibly, while Pitch quickly looked away so as to not face Rex when he was displeased with them all. Twitch was the only one who didn't seem deterred, even when Sponge fidgeted uncomfortably at getting caught being sneaky. Usually they weren't too bothered with incurring the captain's wrath.

Tonight was proving to be very astounding indeed.

"We were going to tell you sir. We just hoped we wouldn't have to so soon while we didn't have definitive answers..." The younger medic explained. "And it's a good thing too. If there's a potential cure, then you really didn't need to worry about it in the end!"

"....Any of the men I'm responsible for turning into frogs under my nose, is still something I should DEFINITELY worry about. Even if there is a cure..."

"Hold your fathiers, I didn't say it was a cure!" Ahsoka interjected while holding her hands up in the universal show of getting everyone to back up a bit. "But it might lead us to one, since it is something the Force itself might be able to do after all..."

"Still better than nothing!" Pitch pointed out optimistically, an easy smile on his face. "Information is information... Oh, and if we're going to the general about this, we should go get Dogma. I'm sure he'll want to hear about this. It might do him some good since he's been a bundle of nerves all day..."

The others seemed to agree. Coric himself also agreed.

With how much their kih'vod had been reacting to stressors, it really might ease his mind if he saw that they were on the right track to getting him fixed up.

The warning they'd been given by the Master Archivist and Healer still rang fresh in their mind. And, knowing that something so small like a frog could easily die from complications due to stress, keeping Dogma's anxiety to a minimum was a must.

The Jedi knowing something, even if it was just some kind of a anecdotal tale, might get him to ease up a little.

And thus their trek back towards the barracks was a little noisier than they intended it to be. In spite of that, no one would fault them for their sudden boisterousness. After Dogma, the medics had all been just as tense about this whole ordeal as the transformed trooper himself was. If not more so, due to the enormous responsibility that fell upon their shoulders.

Waking up a few brothers in the process of retrieving the little frog trooper from his safe spot in the terrarium, would not be too bad in the grand scheme of things.

Only, there was just one itty bitty little problem with this. Dogma was nowhere to be seen. The terrarium they'd built for him with so much love and care, was noticeably uninhabited.

"Ok very funny, who took him?!" Sponge whipped around and glared accusingly towards the bunks, while Kix went to turn on the lights before dashing over to the terrarium they'd all helped construct to keep Dogma safe and happy.

All around them resting vode began to rouse from their fitful slumber with loud complaints and angry grumbles. Some either sat up to glare back at the cantankerous medic, or simply turned away and hid their head beneath their pillows and blankets to shield themselves from the assault of light and noise.

No one answered the question. Which only aggravated Sponge even further.

"Quit moaning about getting your beauty sleep interrupted! Which of you di'kuts took Dogma?!" Sponge barked back. Impatient and clearly displeased with what they assumed was a prank in bad taste.

"What are you talking about...? No one took Dogma..." Fives rubbed at his eyes as he sat up sleepily. Echo sitting up slowly beside him and looking somewhat dazed from being woken up so rudely.

"Oh really?" Sponge growled, flashing their teeth at the ARC trooper with the goatee and numeral tattoo. "Then why the hell is his tank empty?!"

At this, the others began to shake off the drowsiness to look towards the terrarium for confirmation of their statement.

Coric and Kix were both pulling a few of the decorations aside to see if maybe the aforementioned frog hadn't just hidden under them to rest somewhere quieter. When they still ended up empty handed, their concern only doubled.

Pinched expressions and tense body language evidence enough that Sponge wasn't just picking a fight out of general crabbiness. Not that they were prone to just randomly start things in the middle of the night. The others just couldn't be too sure of how stable their mood was when they were so clearly stressed out with worry.

Jesse and Hardcase both hopped out of their own bunks and moved over to help. They seemed just as confused and worried as the senior medics. And not without reason.

"That's... He was right there when we went to sleep..." The usually hyperactive heavy-gunner commented aloud while looking at the tank. He seemed utterly perplexed by this unexpected situation. "I remember giving him a little cricket and everything just before calling it a night..."

"He can't just have vanished!" Sponge huffed and puffed as they watched other clones begin to join the frantic search.

They were all looking under bunks and behind trunks, upturning anything that may hide a small critter. All trying to figure out where their now-amphibious brother had gone to while they'd been sound asleep.

Tup (who had yet to say anything) slowly crept out of his bunk to join the group surrounding the terrarium, but paused when his bare foot touched something slightly moist that sent a cold jolt up his leg and spine.

Looking down, the long haired trooper noticed a small trail of mud leading from the base of the table where the terrarium sat, to a vent that had wide enough bars that something small like a rat or a frog might be able to pass through.

Putting 2 and 2 together, he quickly realized what this meant.

"Dogma!" At his cry of alarm, every other trooper in the barracks (and Ahsoka) turned to look at Tup. Seeing how he ran over towards the wall and crouched in front of the vent in an attempt to peer inside into the vast darkness within its confines.

Exchanging knowing glances, no one had to say anything more on the matter. The captain held up his comm and began barking out orders to whomever had been assigned the night shifts. The base would be on indefinite lock-down until they could locate and safely retrieve their wayward vod.

Starting with figuring out where that vent might lead to, which might require some extra help from someone who could give them that kind of information...

Fox was not having a good night.

An understatement, as it was rare that he ever got a good night at all. But this particular one was certainly one among many that left him feeling surlier than usual. Mostly because it had been too quiet, and that often heralded trouble for him and his Guard.

And then, of course, he'd gotten cosmic confirmation that his paranoia was not uncalled for, in the form of a call from a certain someone who only ever remembered he existed whenever he needed a favour or two.

Rarely did he ever get to have normal social calls that didn't involve some kind of shenanigans orchestrated by his blond kih'vod'ika...

"Slow down Rex." Pinching the bridge of his nose, the marshal commander of the Guard took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice level.

As much as he hated the recent indifference his batch had shown him in terms of staying up to date on communications, he didn't need to take it out on his vod'ika who did stop to ask him how he was doing whenever he had to drag one of his men out of the Drunk Tank by the ear.

Fox knew better than to push away one of the few GAR boys that still cared enough to make polite idle chatter with him. Even if the little sheb'ika came to him with some of the weirdest requests he'd ever heard in his entire service record. And little gods only knew how many weird requests Rex had come up with, since he'd become Skywalker's second in command.

Not even a a promotion in sight and the kid was somehow doing better in terms of reputation than the actual clone commander of the 501st...

It did mean Fox interacted less with his general however, which was a pro in all of his books rather than a con, no matter how demeaning he thought it might be for his vod to be reduced to an errand boy or pet fool. Skywalker was nothing short of insufferable (and a liability) after all, and Fox preferred to avoid him like the plague.

"What's this about ventilation blueprints?" Fox ran a hand over his cropper hair, having only just had the time to shave and bleach it prior to preparing to get it dyed. He was thinking a nice teal to contrast all the blood red he had to see on the daily. Be it his paint or a suspicious amount of actual blood on his person, that he couldn't quite (nor wanted to) account for. "Hm... A frog...? Uh, depends... Some of the vents on this planet are older than the actual levels themselves and have their own very rudimentary self-maintenance systems... If your boys lost a pet in there, it's probably already been turned into minced meat..."

He winced slightly as his ears got bombarded.

"I said probably, not definitely. I don't know if your boys or the natborn officers that should be manning the GAR, actually set the vents to clean up regularly enough that.... Oh... Yeah uh, you should look into that then. You really do not want anything hazardous to actually climb out of tho-- Alright, alright! Just take a deep breath vod'ika, you sound like you're going to have an aneurysm over the comm..." Fox began to pace around his office as he continued to listen to his younger brother prattle on about a missing pet frog or whatever this was.

He sounded far too distressed over something so trivial like that.

Sometimes people (and many a clueless rookies) just lost their pets on Coruscant (it was far too common an issue with Senators even, which wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact some of them had very exotic and dangerous preferences).

Heck, Fox himself had lost a tooka he'd taken in a while back. Then again, for all he knew it had just moved on to the next sod who'd fed it more consistently. Touché Mr Socks...

"Look, maybe it wandered into the vents and got out before hopping off or whatever it is frogs do..." The commander sat down on the chair his men had gifted him. It was an armchair, rather than an office chair, soiled by years of use and weeks of being out in the curb. But the Guard had made due with what little they could salvage and, despite it's hideously stained appearance, it was actually quite comfortable and clean. "This entire planet's infrastructure has vents inside of vents inside of vents. Even if I gave you blueprints for the GAR headquarters's ventilation system and all its maintenance shafts, you would still never find-- What do you mean hang on?! Vod'ika I'm bus--Oh don't give me that attitude! Fine I'll hold on..."

Tapping his fingers impatiently against his desk, Fox waited for Rex to return. Being put on hold over a frog seemed incredibly silly (not to mention downright insulting). It was still better than attending to one of Orn Free Taa's long-winded speech practice sessions. Taking the call had at least gotten him a way to weasel out of THAT indignity...

He stopped tapping once he heard Rex's voice again. This time he couldn't keep the irritation out of his own voice.

"What do you mean you're coming to pick me up?!" Hand running down his face, Fox groaned. "Why do I even put up with you...?"

He stared blankly as he got a reply to his question.

"....'Because I love you' is NOT an answer, you absolute miserable pain in the shebs!" He hissed into the comm as he hung up, wasting no time to collect his bucket and march out of his office. Much to the confusion of everyone else he passed by. He might as well go outside before the damned gremlin showed up to drag him into whatever misadventure he'd conjured up this time.

Cody would rue the day he ever took pity on the little CT that he'd found out in the rain, looking like a pathetic sopping wet womp rat.

Fox would make sure of it, one way or another...

It turned out to be a good decision to leave ahead of time because his vod'ika was not alone. And (taking stock of who was with him) Fox doubted the group he was with would be greeted with open arms by any of the veterans of the Guard.

Everyone who'd ever worked the detainment shift had a list with photos of repeat offenders, and there were at least three faces in the crowd that were usuals at the Drunk Tank.

It almost made him turn around, march up back into the Guard headquarters, and lock the door behind him. Almost.

Sadly he doubted that whatever Rex (and the rest of his ragtag team of rabble-rousers) was up to, could go unsupervised. It was common knowledge at this point that whenever that particular shade of blue shell was anywhere outside of the GAR's facilities, that it usually ended in quite a few calls from grouchy civilians that weren't particularly grateful for the clone army's services.

It fell upon him and his commanders to make sure the 501st didn't make every single clone a target of hatred due to their carelessness while on leave.

Which is what kept Fox from fleeing for his sanity.

"What is this?" He cut to the chase, leveling the captain with a stern glare beneath his bucket. One he knew for sure Rex could guess was being cast his way, from being raised alongside Fox's batch. "It's well past GAR curfew."

"I'm well aware commander." Rex responded calmly. He'd managed to compose himself on the way. Good. He didn't much feel like dealing with his fellow bottle blond while he was a bundle of nerves. "But I do have a good reason."

"Ah." The marshal commander crossed his arms behind his back, regarding the 501st captain with some disdain. He wouldn't call whatever this was a good reason. At least not from what little he knew of what actually was going on. "Do clarify why requesting documents that are not entirely free to the public, specifically to rescue a pet frog, would be considered a good reason? Or a reasonable waste of my time? I was in the middle of Senate duty."

He wasn't about to admit he'd been dying to find a reason to ditch Senator Taa. He couldn't give all his cards away or express gratitude. Rex, sneaky bastard that he was, would try to cash in on that favour later if he knew. His vod'ika had learned from the best after all...

"That's the thing... He's not a pet frog. Or a frog... A real frog I mean." Rex tried to explain, only for one of his men (a medic, if the symbol on his pauldron was anything to go by) to step in and interject.

"What the captain means, commander Fox sir, is that there was an incident this morning concerning one of the 501st's newest sergeants." The bald medic (there were a lot of medics in the group now that he was looking at them) with the faint scar over his left eye, stated calmly. "We are not entirely sure how this happened, and we are assuming that it has to do with the Force itself experiencing some kind of a 'glitch'... But, to put things simply, our man was transformed into a frog."

"I know it sounds strange, and insane, but when you work with the Jetii you grow used to strange nonsense involving the Force." Rex continued after nodding gratefully at the medic. "Either way, I wouldn't have bothered you over a lost pet. But, as this isn't a pet..."

"Maker give me patience..." Fox shook his head in disbelief. Ok, a trooper had been turned into a frog by 'Force Osik'. That made a little more sense as to why he'd be called in to help. He supposed. "And you think he's still in the vents?"

"Well... We're not sure?" One of the other medics, this one looking younger than the rest of the group (with some rather garishly decorated armour to boot), admitted. "I mean... He couldn't have gone far, but then we have no idea why or when he left..."

"Yeah, I mean, we even built him a terrarium that was absolutely frog heaven. And we gave him lots of food, and whatever a frog might need to thrive like the generals told us to!" Another trooper, Jesse (one of the Drunk Tank usuals), pointed out. "If I was a frog, I wouldn't have wanted to leave all of that to go into some dirty vent..."

"Yeah same! Seems kind of like a downgrade to me..." Fives (another Drunk Tank usual), agreed with a nod. "Makes no sense..."

Fox stared at the two with an incredulous look that they couldn't see, but the way he slowly turned his head should be more than indicative of the mood. That said, he doubted they could sense the amount of disgust he felt at their obliviousness. What truly bothered him about this situation, is that the rest of the group didn't seem to be seeing the same glaring issue that he had no trouble zeroing in on.

"You're kidding right...?" Dropping the decorum, Fox stared (really stared) at them all with nothing short of barely contained anger. Foot tapping away on duracreet, as he tried to keep himself from shaking any of them until they heard their own idiotic words rattle inside their thick skulls.

"Uh?" Fives blinked, surprised at his curt response.

"A downgrade? Makes no sense?" Fox shook his head. "Look, if what you said is true and your sergeant turned into a frog, then I'm pretty sure he ran into the vents because he felt belittled."

"Belittled...?" The bald medic's brows furrowed slightly. He exchanged a look with the others, some of which seemed to slowly grasp what it was Fox was getting at. Good, there was hope for some of these men yet...

"If you woke up one day as a frog and you were put on display and fed like a pet for everyone to see, would you not feel demeaned in any way?" He carried on, putting as much resentment and disapproval into his words as possible.

In reality he (and the rest of his men) could relate with this situation far too easily. It disturbed him that the 501st had grown far too comfortable in the presence of natborn officers and Jetii alike, that filled their heads with empty promises. Grown so comfortable with people that didn't care for clones other than how they could be useful to them, that they'd forgotten what it was like to be regarded as anything but what they were:

Owned property.

Clones with no rights and no legal representative in the Senate, or public acknowledgement of their obvious sentience. Holding the same sort of value as a well trained massiff or (if you were unlucky enough to catch someone's eye) a very fancy show bantha to be displayed.

The idea of suddenly having your form changed into something that could be easily lorded over by others, and have no means of communicating your distress to anyone but yourself? Fox knew that feeling all to well as well... Sans the transformation part, of course. He was no stranger to having the rights he did not legally have, so terribly violated by someone much more powerful and so heedlessly loved by hundreds of millions.

That was his life as marshal commander. Suffering so that no one else he cared for had to.

"We were just trying to look after him..." Interposed the medic with the intricate lightning bolt buzz and fade "When we couldn't figure out what to make of Dogma's situation, we sought help from the Jedi Temple and were told to be mindful of his needs as a frog. We even researched what to do to fulfill those needs."

"Yes, and while it's admirable that you took charge and went to someone more qualified to deal with the issue, it doesn't erase the fact you might have gotten a little carried away in your care." Fox pointed out, watching the medic's face fall slightly. "Even with good intentions, it would feel fairly dehumanizing to be put into a situation like this. Having all your agency taken from you by people you should be able to trust in."

One by one, each of the 501st vode seemed to at last fully understand what he was telling them. Their expressions slowly changing into concerned frowns as they likely began assessing their last few interactions with the aforementioned sergeant. And, like a light suddenly cast in shadow, their previous missteps finally became painfully clear to them.

In all their worrying over trying to keep Dogma from stressing himself to death, they'd indeed gotten too caught up in treating him like you'd treat one of the frogs he had become.

They never even considered what he might feel about that.

"It's like with what happened at the zoo..." The second ARC trooper, the one with the hand print on his chest plate, muttered to no one in particular. "When Fives said that the frog in the tank reminded him of Dogma because it looked so grouchy..."

"It was a harmless joke to the rest of us, but he didn't see it as that." The younger medic nodded, seeming to know what the ARC was talking about. "And he took it to heart because every time someone makes a joke about him, it's not usually lighthearted..."

"No, usually people just make fun of him because they think it's funny to get a rise out of him..." Jesse looked away in shame, no doubt having been one of those people as well. From how his shoulders fell, Fox could at least tell he was genuinely regretful of that.

"We made a dumb joke, we laughed, and he overthought it to the point he skipped out on late meal and blocked out everyone who came check up on him..." Hardcase slowly curled his arms around himself and fidgeted uneasily as the guilt settled in. "Kriff, I think we've been looking at all his reactions wrong... He was upset because we kept talking about him like he wasn't there, and instead of paying him mind we just ran about thinking we knew what was best for him..."

"You weren't thinking about what was best for Dogma." Rex shook his head, clearly a little mad at his troopers. Fox didn't fault him. He'd be just as furious if this had happened to his men instead. "You should have come to me and general Skywalker the moment all of this happened. I know you were doing what you thought was right, but if you'd have just come to either of us, we could have avoided this entire misunderstanding..."

They all fell into silence. Inwardly processing all of this to the best of their abilities. Then, the trooper with the tear drop decals and messy topknot gasped loudly.

"That's it!" He exclaimed, startling everyone else in the process. "I know where Dogma went!"

Rex turned to face the trooper, both surprised at his sudden exclamation, and curious as to what he might have in mind.

"Are you sure, Tup?" he asked.

"I know Dogma like the back of my hand, and that's exactly the problem. Because he wasn't acting like Dogma, I didn't pay enough attention because all of this just wasn't typical of him... Of my idea of him." Tup continued, wringing his hands together as he looked at the captain. "He gets stuck in his own head sometimes, withdraws and hides when he doesn't know what else to do. And it got worse after Umbara... But... Even in one of his stupors he would have gone where he thought he'd be needed. And since he's been turned into a frog..."

"The zoo!" The medic with little to no paint on them smacked their on face in frustration. "Haar'chak... That self-deprecating clever little sheb'ika..."

"Yeah..." Tup smiled sadly "We treated him like a frog, so he'll accept that's what he is now and go where you'd find that type of frog. Since he can't exactly pilot a ship to wherever these ones come from, the zoo is the next best option."

"Right." Fox carried on, crossing his arms once more behind his back as he watched the group. "Does this mean I get to go back to what I was doing?"

They all stared at him impassively. Wishful thinking on his part. He knew in truth that (considering the zoo was closed at this hour) he wouldn't just be able to go on with his night.

It was still worth a try to get the hell away from this gang of misfits.

"Very well... Lets go then. But you owe me big for this one, Rex..." The marshal commander of the Guard growled lowly, making sure to glare at his vod'ika who seemed entirely unfazed by his rising frustration. Brat.

"I always pay my debts ori'vod."

It takes them a few lift trips to get to their destination. Then only a few swift clicks and turns of the lock-picks Fox legally does not own on record. He has them for many very good reasons, but that is Guard business and not something to be discussed openly where the wrong person could hear.

If it bothers any of the 501st boys currently trailing him (his vod'ika included), they don't dare say it to his face. It's his particular set of skills and street smarts that are getting them this far anyway, and their silence and gratitude are expected as much as they are well deserved.

All savoir faire aside, he does make a note of how easy it is to break into the zoo's security system. It's a fairly rudimentary thing. Consisting of mostly manual locks and just a few cameras and ray-shields. Tubie grade toys that anyone can crack into, and that is clearly just there for show.

He supposes things might be different in the more exclusive areas that require a fair bit more credits to get to experience, but it is no less annoying to know someone could just waltz in and steal something like an exotic and highly venomous creature...

He already has enough issues controlling the feral runaway pet population on Coruscant. He doesn't need this as another potential problem to the ever expanding roster.

"There. Go in quickly and don't stall." He motioned for the group to carry on with their business. The quicker they found what they were looking for, the better. Best they not linger around for long.

"Thanks Fox... I really do owe you." Rex gave him a courteous nod as he let the others run on ahead.

"Yes you do, you little shit." A flick to the nose was the best he could do for now, but Fox was definitely going to cash in on that favour later. There were certain things the GAR could provide him after all, and the captain was in no position to deny him any requests of his own. Especially not after dragging him on this clown show. "Just don't let them make a mess in there. I'd rather not have to be called back here in the morning because your lot trashed the place..."

Dogma found it infinitely ironic how incredibly easy it had actually been to get as far as he did.

Coruscant (which was more of a maze planet than a city planet in his oh so humble opinion) was often fairly difficult for him to navigate on a good day, due to all of the constant foot and hover-transport traffic. No matter how much planning he did ahead of time, or how much attention he paid to street signs, he had always managed to get turned around and it had frustrated him to no end.

As a frog no bigger than a nerf patty, it should have been trice as difficult to get to his destination. And yet, somehow (perhaps by sheer will and determination), he'd managed to sneak out of the GAR headquarters, traverse the dank and dark Coruscanti streets, and then gotten into a locked up entertainment/educational facility.

Oh, and he had also climbed into an already occupied frog exhibit without distressing his new roommates too much. That had also been bewilderingly easy, and also indicative of very lazy security measures that he was fairly certain weren't up to standards.

Although, to be fair, he doubted any of the city levels were OSHA compliant with just how much more infrastructure had been added on over the years, rather than the governing forces opting to reclaim the sub-levels. Very few sentient beings alive right now had likely ever seen the absolute basement level of the planet itself. The Jedi likely included.

All thoughts of needlessly complicated architecture and standards of building aside, maybe the underwhelming nature of his trek was just how life as an animal generally went. Overly simplified with little to no nuances or stressful aggravation (aka the human condition), or obstacles of their own making.

Maybe Dogma just had to get used to going unchallenged, now that he was an insignificant little frog. An amphibious creature with little to no value, other than being something curious to gawk at from behind a glassy barrier. A mere tidbit of knowledge shared at a party as a random trivia fact.

His new "friends" seemed to live with that just fine.

That said, he yearned for something more fulfilling in his every day life than just to sit around looking as unsightly as he did right now. Like a game of high stakes dejarik (playing for shift swaps and favours was exhilarating, even if he knew he shouldn't encourage dishonest behaviors while on duty); a meaningful conversation about things he'd learned from the few holobooks he'd managed to read in the last couple of months (mostly encyclopedias with all kinds of useful knowledge, for a future he wished for but couldn't hope to ever have); or maybe even the closeness he no longer had with any of the vode he'd left behind (he yearned for a vodpile like a starving man lusted after a Braised Shaak Roast)...

He wondered if the other frogs ever felt that sort of itchy longing in their limited thinking span. Hard to tell when those beady little eyes of theirs glanced out at nothing with a sort of vague vacancy that inspired little to no level of intellect at all.

Honestly they were just regarding him as if he were another flat surface or other such fixture of their tank. New but familiar in a way that told them this was a normal addition to their little world, and nothing to really concern themselves with. Perhaps if he willed it enough, his consciousness would leave him faster and he'd be just as dense and carefree as them.

The frog instincts that had arisen in him through out the day and caused him so much trouble, had yet to fully set in and take his ability to think from him. As a result, the overwhelming fear he'd felt at that possibility was suddenly gone from his mind.

In fact, he felt somewhat impatient now. Left to wonder when exactly Dogma would seize to be, and the geometrically marked frog would finally take over.

Settling down upon a decorative piece of driftwood and watching the other inhabitants of the tank with a minimal degree of sadness, Dogma sighed to himself and lay as flat as he could on his pudgy little belly. The one that he'd filled up with way too much food prior to his departure from the familiarity of home base. Silently he pondered on the past few days he'd experienced before finding himself where he was now.

He was maybe even considering the sleep he'd denied himself for the sake of escaping, when a noise in the building startled him into the full alertness he was trained to rely on out in the field. The other frogs quickly took offense to the sound and dove into the water to find better hiding spots away from view. Their instincts telling them that a sharp noise not made by themselves, was often indicative of danger to be avoided.

Only Dogma stood his ground to investigate further. He was still thinking too much like a soldier, something he'd need to change soon if he wanted to fit in with the rest of his new kin. But that could wait a few more minutes.

The once proud clone trooper sat still, listening in on whatever was making such a racket in the middle of the night. Fully aware that no one would be inside the facility at this hour. No one that should be there at least...

The idea of a thief breaking into the zoo to steal some of the animals did cross his mind (although he doubted they'd be so bold as to try to take something like an oggdo).

The noises were steadily growing closer, becoming progressively louder as a result of proximity. Dogma could make out a lot of footfall, so it was most definitely a group rather than a singular individual. He couldn't, however, tell if they were speaking. Their running a bit too frantic to catch any potential voices.

And then the door on the far side of the room opened up, and he saw a flash of familiar white and blue. Wasting no time, he dove into the water himself and joined the other frogs in hiding. Unwilling to be seen by the very same people he'd been running away from.

What could they possibly be doing here at this time of night? More importantly, what could they possibly want from the zoo?

"Fives, do you see him in there?" Hardcase called out as he made his way towards the budgett's frog enclosure at a slower pace than the aforementioned ARC. Fives practically had his face pressed to the tank's glassy surface after bounding over to inspect it. But (from what Dogma could tell at least), he didn't seem to be able to see him in his hiding spot among the other frogs.

It didn't really surprise him. Hiding in groups was a classical tactic to avoid scrutiny from trainers, Kaminoans and upset superior officers alike. Employing the same strategy as a frog proved to be just as effective, since the color and size variations between them weren't too drastic.

That said, his mind began to fill with questions anew. They'd come out here to look for him? Why? Last he checked they didn't particularly care for him.

That said they had seemed fond enough of the idea to keep him as some kind of mascot, which was a thought that filled him with a modicum of bitterness. To think he was more likeable to them as this...

But how could they have known to come here to look for him? Was he that obvious, or was it something else? It had to be something else.

Maybe he'd left some kind of a trail without meaning to...

"All of the frogs are in the back hiding under stuff... I can't tell if he's in there with them..." Fives replied after squinting in silence for a few seconds. "I don't fancy my chances of poking them without getting bit..."

"It's not like they're venomous." Hardcase joined his side, and Dogma pressed himself further back, eyes focusing on the two troopers that were covering his view of whom else might be coming to check the tank. He squeaked in apology as he bumped into one of the other frogs, causing it to puff up slightly and stare menacingly at him. "Just lift that off and have a better look. A bite or two won't kill you!"

"If I mess with the exhibit, I'm pretty sure commander Fox will kill me." Fives winced. "I'll be on my knees getting executed Mafia style faster than you can say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'..."

"...What the hell does that even mean?" Hardcase raised an eyebrow at the bizarre and rather long word. Funny, Dogma didn't peg Fives for the musical sort.

"It's just a fancy way of saying wonderful." Fives shrugged "Either way, I am not karking around with the exhibit. I value my life, thank you very much..."

"Yeah?" Tup huffed as he pushed past the two of them to look into the exhibit himself. "Well I value my twin's safety!"

"And Fox isn't going to execute you 'Mafia style', stop being dramatic..." The captain joined the trio. Looking all kinds of put-off by this situation. "Now help me pull that up to have a look. If he made it out here on his own, he's probably tired and we shouldn't overstay our welcome anyway..."

From his hiding spot, Dogma stood frozen in shock.

Tup was worried about him? Worried enough to come looking for him at all? It didn't make sense. Not with how distant he'd been lately... And he'd also been very unwilling to believe Dogma was still Dogma because he'd been acting like a frog (which, fair, if Tup had also eaten a live grub he might have thought his twin was possessed by some kind of bizarre insect-eating spirit).

Honestly he'd half expected to never see his batchmate ever again after tonight. He'd also assumed it would probably be good for the long haired trooper to not have a defective batcher holding him back anymore...

Well, not that he was doing that prior to being transformed into a frog. They hadn't been as close as they'd once been, especially after Umbara had happened. A little before that they had already begun to cross towards very different paths. Drifting apart ever so slightly as they tried to get accustomed to being a part of their new battalion (their new family, as Tup had put it).

The truth was that Dogma was entirely at fault for this. And he knew he was.

As a cadet he had always been bad at endearing himself to others. An issue that did not resolve itself as he grew older, no matter how hard he tried to follow his twin's advice on dealing with his awkwardness. Tup, on the other hand, was absolutely excellent with this particular subject matter. The social butterfly of the squad they'd been adopted into (because Acronym had also been somewhat shy, and both Bully and Jawbreaker stuck to each other more often than not).

Tup was just the kih'vod that everyone smiled at whenever they both walked into a room. In contrast, no one was ever excited to see Dogma. But they always lit up at the sight of their Tup'ika.

And that had undoubtedly both frightened him, and filled him with a tremendous jealousy that just would not go away, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that his feelings were irrational.

Deep down, he had always known that it was just a matter of time before his twin turned his back on him, and began hanging out with literally anyone else.

Hang out with vode that didn't dig their heels into the sand at the thought of being anything but compliant to the standards; who had better more interesting hobbies than keeping up to date on topics that bored others to near death; who weren't opposed to breaking the rules whenever they had little else to do; and who knew how to be absolutely comfortable in their own skins. Who were confident in their own senses of self.

Vode that were nothing at all like stiff killjoy boring Dogma...

The idea hurt more than any jeer or punch anyone ever threw at him, when he was still small enough that his control over his tantrums and crying fits was little to none. And it had also made him a little clingy and overprotective of his twin. Selfishly trying to insert himself into Tup's space, and hold up both his time and attention because he was too scared of losing his only friend.

Sithhells, he'd dragged him along on Umbara too. Nearly setting him on the same destructive path that had made Dogma so much of a detestable sight to the rest of their battalion. Fives's hateful glare and Jesse's snide remarks still oh so clear in his memory. But of course Tup had been smarter than him in the end. He'd made the right choice while Dogma had allowed himself to be played for a fool. He'd dug his own grave and made himself dar'vod.

If anyone had a reason to leave him to this froggy fate of his, and not look back, it was certainly Tup who'd suffered through years of Dogma's self-centered nonsense. Because Dogma was a limpet stuck to his side all their relatively short lives, and wouldn't it be better to just not have a blood-sucking parasite leeching off of him for a change?

Knowing all this, his tube-twin's presence and obvious concern really made little to no sense at all. It was frustrating how other people rarely made sense.

"We can't just... Look these things get stressed easy! And if they die on our watch we're all screwed big time." Fives continued. "I really don't want to be on the marshal commander's shit list... I hear he kicks harder than even commander Cody... And commander Cody can kick the head off of a B2 like it's nothing!"

"I'm not gonna break anything, and I'm not gonna mess with the frogs." Tup settled Fives with a stern glare. "If it was Echo in his place, would you hesitate to do look for him if he'd run off because everyone else acted like shabuirs without noticing?"

"I... Of course not." At that the ARC backed off, seeming taken aback. He'd likely not thought about it from that angle. "Fine... Here let me just..."

Dogma pressed himself flat against the tank wall and turned away so he wouldn't be facing the other troopers. As much as Tup being here (any of them being here actually) made his little heart flutter with something akin to hope that maybe (just maybe), someone did tolerate him enough to want him back, he couldn't go back on his decision now. This is where he belonged.

They had to understand that! He was no good to them like this!

He closed his eyes tightly as he heard something move above his head, and promptly ignored the angry startled shrieks of the other frogs who were now pushing into him as they puffed up and screamed at the intruders.

His tattoo would make him easily identifiable among the riled up crowd. If they couldn't see it, they wouldn't know it was him. And then maybe they'd just give up and leave before they actually broke something and got into trouble for it. He didn't want them getting into trouble because of him.

"You know...All the grumpiness and dying loth-cat noises aside, they're not as ugly as I thought they were..." He heard Fives comment as he probably stared at all the upset frogs currently screaming their heads off at them. "They're like... It's like Echo said. They're ugly cute. Like naked voorpaks."

"He's gonna be all smug that you agree with him as soon as he finds out that you changed your mind~" Hardcase purred in that pleased sing-song kind of way that always got everyone else groaning with exasperation. His 'up-to-no-good' voice as Dogma liked to call it, because he usually was up to shenanigans whenever he employed it.

"That's why Echo isn't going to find out." Fives retorted.

"Too late, I could hear you from way over there with how much your voice carries in this place." Dogma assumed that was Echo and, even though he was turned away from them, he could tell the ARC was likely smirking smugly as Hardcase had suggested.

Everyone had probably surrounded the tank by now with just how loud the other frogs were getting. He laid down flatter in an attempt to both better hide from their gaze, and to try to drown out the unbearable cacophony that was making his inner-ears ring.

Please, if there really was some kind of a merciful god or entity out there, let it have some kind of sympathy for him. Let it make his brothers give up and just leave him be, so that he could get on with this new life of his.

But of course, if there really was such a higher being out there, it did not grace him at all with anything but disdain.

"Dogma... Dogma I see you." Tup sounded relieved. "You're in the back playing possum."

"Uh, you sure it's him?" He wasn't sure who was asking and he didn't dare turn around to confirm Tup's guess.

"Well, from what Coric, Kix, Pitch, Twitch and Sponge read up on, these frogs are incredibly aggressive and are responding to us as they would in the wild." Dogma cursed himself as he listened in on Tup's logic. He hadn't thought that him playing it cool might be a little suspicious. Now that he thought about it, it made sense that he was never very good at playing games like hide and seek. He was bad at concealing himself in general. "Dogma only freaked out whenever anyone said something he didn't like, or when anyone tried to grab him unexpectedly..."

"Like when Pitch suggested making a terrarium to put him in, or when Sponge grabbed him from behind where he couldn't see their hands." Twitch, because it could only be Twitch with how incredibly chipper he seemed about this, added to confirm Tup's suspicions.

"Dogma wouldn't want to bring attention to himself, so he'd just stay still and try to hide in plain sight." Tup carried on. "Which, because he's not acting like everyone else, only brings attention to him."

He couldn't help but let out a low hiss as he looked up at the group with what he hoped was an angry glare. Annoyed at his predictability, his obvious mistake, and the fact that somehow his twin had still been able to get a read on him and his finicky nature even as a frog.

Tup's eyes only lit up the moment he caught sight of his tattoo.

"I knew it." He smiled a clearly pleased smile, which only elicited another low hiss from Dogma. "Sorry vod'ika, but I just know you too well."

He shrieked in protest, flashing the few sharp teeth he had to show just how peeved he was. Yes, Tup had gotten it right, but that didn't mean he'd go with them willingly. For as much as he claimed he knew him well, Tup seemed to not understand that Dogma didn't want to be some kind of battalion mascot.

At that Tup's smile fell.

"I mean that in a good way Dogma... If I didn't know you as well as I do, we might have never found you." the teardrop tattooed trooper's tone became less affable and a little more saddened in response to his negative reaction.

"He's right you know... We wouldn't have thought to look for you here." Echo stepped a little closer to the tank, stopping only when Dogma turned to hiss at him as well. The ARC seemed to understand he didn't want them to come any closer than they already had, so he backed away once more to appease him. "I guess we deserve that... We've been causing you a lot of grief recently..."

Fives, Jesse and Hardcase nodded in agreement, a look of regret on their faces as they fidgeted and fiddled uncomfortably in place. Seeming unsure of what to do with themselves at the moment, while the medics looked down at their own feet in shame.

It made Dogma pause in his aggressive display, regarding them with slight curiosity.

"We haven't been very good brothers to you..." Rex spoke up, eyes sad as he carefully held the hollow log he'd removed from the enclosure. It felt like a long time since he'd actually spoken to his captain. How long had it been? Since he'd gotten sick, maybe? "I haven't been a very good older brother at least. I let something like this slip under my nose, and I can't tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't there to give you a hand."

"We're all very sorry." Coric added. "We were so afraid of causing you any distress that we went a little overboard with generals Nu and Che's advice. We knew you weren't really a frog, and we shouldn't have assumed that treating you like one was the better thing to do."

No, it hadn't. If anything, it had made him feel downright awful. Especially when they ignored his desperate cries of disapproval. And assumed they knew how he'd been feeling, when they'd gotten it completely wrong...

Dogma let out a softer croak and turned away slightly. Even if they were sorry, he was still angry at them. He'd likely be angry for a long time too.

Tup sighed and then took a deep breath. Presumably to collect his thoughts before speaking up again. He seemed determined.

"I'm not sorry about the frog thing..."

At that, Dogma turned back around sharply to stare at his twin in surprise. The others seemed just as startled by his affirmation, staring at him in question.

"Tup...?" Fives gawked.

"I'm not sorry that Dogma got screwed over by the Force." Tup continued defiantly. "It sucks yeah. But..."

He sighed again, running a hand over his hair and tugging on the hair-tie that was barely holding the sloppily pulled up top-knot. His locks falling over onto his shoulder in a messy tangle of knots.

Usually Tup looked well put together appearance wise. He'd always been rather vain, which meant he put a lot of work into being presentable for any occasion. Seeing him like this was a bit of a shock, and indicated to Dogma that his twin had a lot on his mind. Enough so that he'd neglected his hair-care routine.

"Things happen for a reason, right...? At least that's what the Jedi say whenever something goes wrong..." The more sensitive of the group carried on in his explanation. Seeming a little unsure of his own words at first, before shaking away his doubts and continuing strong once he managed to make sense of things. "Maybe the Force saw that we weren't doing good by Dogma and thought we needed to try harder."

Dogma blinked slowly as he watched his twin. Tup stared back at him with clear sadness.

"We still messed it all up, anyway..." Tup's frown deepened. His eyes were a little shiny from unshed tears. "I messed up and now you don't want to come back home, do you...?"

Dogma's eyes widened. How had Tup messed up? If anything, Dogma had been the one ruining everything since day one! From Kamino to Umbara to this very zoo.

None of this was Tup's fault in the slightest!

"I promised I'd still protect you once we left Kamino, and then I let you down..." Tup gulped noisily as he tried to fight back tears. His ori'vod had always been a crier. Even now as a capable soldier he couldn't control how emotional he got. "I should have included you more whenever I wanted to do something new, now that we didn't have to worry about bullies and trainers and all those assholes that kept tormenting us growing up. I should have seen you were struggling with integrating into the 501st, because everything was so different from what we were used to and you didn't feel safe. I sh-should have known K-Krell was using your loyalty against you from the mo-moment he kept assigning you tasks a-away from the rest of us... I sh-should have t-t-tried to reach out to you w-when you were st-struggling to figure out who to t-trust... I sh-sh-should have n-n-never pointed my bl-blaster at you w-when you were co-confused and af-afraid... I..."

Dogma squeaked in distress as Tup began to openly cry while he recounted his perceived missteps.

No, no no no no! None of that had been his fault!

He moved away from the other frogs, shoving past them rudely to get closer to the glass. Closer to Tup. To his crying batchmate. His only batchmate.

"I... I'm so sorry M'ika..." Tup sniffled, reaching into the tank to pick him up. Dogma didn't hesitate to climb into his hands, croaking softly in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "I shouldn't have j-just left you on your o-own after Umbara! I wanted to talk to you b-but I was so ashamed! I b-broke my promise and m-made a mess of everything! Bully and Jawbreaker are g-gonna be so disappointed! A-Acronym would be s-so disappointment!"

Croaking softly up at Tup, Dogma felt his own eyes begin to sting.

It was odd, because frogs couldn't really cry in the same way as people did. But he still felt the burning itch of tear ducts reacting to his emotional distress. And seeing Tup so wracked with misplaced guilt was definitely making him want to cry as well.

It was awful that he couldn't reassure him. Couldn't tell him that, no, he hadn't done anything wrong.

Umbara had been rough on all of them, and Dogma had deserved to be left to his own devices away from the brothers he'd hurt. Deserved to be tasked with the herculean chore of earning back trust and forgiveness, that everyone else was free to choose whether or not to give him.

Tup had done well not associating with the likes of him, even if it had hurt deeply that he'd done so wrong that even his twin shunned him. He hadn't broken his promise. At least not in Dogma's eyes.

Carefully placing one clumsy hand on Tup's left wrist, Dogma croaked up at his twin again as he tried to reach with his free hand. Maybe if he braced himself he could stand up and try to wipe some of the stray tears running down his brother's face?

He grunted in slight irritation as his attempt ended with him flopping uselessly onto his back, rotund belly up and useless limbs kicking about as he flipped himself back onto his stomach.

The stuffy gross snort that followed his clumsiness made him stare back up at Tup, slightly insulted.

"S-sorry... That was kinda funny." At least he had the decency to apologize for laughing. The others were trying to cover up their amusement and failing badly at it, which only elicited more angry hisses from him. "S-some things never change... Even when you're the one who should be upset with me, you still go out of your way to try to make me feel better instead."

Dogma huffed, vocal sack inflating slightly in the same way his chest would puff up at hearing something so obviously absurd. Of course he'd try to make his twin feel better! What else would he have done?

Since he couldn't wipe his brother's tears from his face, he opted with trying to pat his wrist. The awkward little wet slapping noises were a little aggravating, but not the worst sound he'd made so far. And it seemed to do the trick.

Tup smiled softly and raised him up slightly closer to his face.

"What would I do without you? Maker only knows you're the expert crybaby wrangler around here..."

There was a lot Tup could do without him honestly. But... Maybe he didn't have to?

Looking around at the present group, it occurred to Dogma that everyone had gone out of their way to look for him in the middle of the night past standard GAR curfew. And to apologize for hurting his feelings no less.

Even Fives, Jesse and Hardcase who'd openly mocked him before, all seemed incredibly relieved that he was safe and sound and not lost to them at all. Had he perhaps misconstrued what they thought of him this entire time?

It did seem like the likely conclusion.

He'd mistakenly believed Tup's avoidant behaviour to be something it had not been, so maybe the other day at the zoo was a misunderstanding as well...? And then Fives had been trying to apologize during early meal, hadn't he? Before Dogma had thrown up all over him, that is?

He felt a little dumb now that he thought about this with a much clearer head. He croaked up at them in embarrassment.

"As touching as this is, we should really get going." Rex pointed out as he glanced towards his comm unit. Probably looking at the current time on the chrono feature. "Fox is trusting us to not mess anything up, and I'd rather not disappoint him. Otherwise Fives's dramatics might actually become a reality, and he'll hunt us down one by one for giving him more problems to deal with in the morning..."

"Right, we should uh, put these back in." Fives agreed, moving over to help put the decorations he and Rex had pulled out of the exhibit. Placing them back into their rightful and proper place. Much to the relief of the frogs they'd upset.

As they did so, Tup brought Dogma closer so that he could bump their foreheads in a slightly disproportionate kedalbe. Leaning into the touch, the frog trooper sighed contentedly and closed his eyes to relish in the warmth and love he could feel radiating off his closest brother. His best friend...

Only to suddenly find himself and his twin sprawled out on the floor in a tangle of flailing limbs and startled yelps.

"AUGHCK!!!" Tup gasped as he was pinned under the full weight of a very human Dogma, who was left coughing and spluttering from the sudden shock of finding himself transformed back in a quick flash.

No horrifying flesh-melting and nightmare-inducing sequence required.

"Holy shit! He changed back!" Hardcase gasped in amazement, watching his two kih'vode struggling on the ground with wide eyes.

"Aaaaaand he's naked." Jesse covered his mouth. Both to try to hide his shock, and to stop himself from saying anything else that might make things any more awkward than they already were.

"I mean..." Twitch winced, looking at the others with a bewildered expression. "We weren't really uh, expecting him to change back and grow a set of brand-new clothes... Right...?"

"That'd be creepy... But I am more concerned as to how and why he just changed back." Sponge shrugged, accepting that Twitch was right and they shouldn't have expected anything else. "We never even went to the generals to see what they'd found out..."

Dogma shook the disorientation off and slowly took stock of himself before fully sitting up. He was practically on Tup's lap, having suddenly changed back while still in his brother's cupped up hands. Thankfully neither of them were injured from the experience.

He also noted the odd chill he felt, which gave him goose flesh that made him shudder ever so slightly. Glancing down and finally registering his brothers's words, his eyes widened and he immediately tried to hide his shame by crossing his legs and placing his arms in front of his modesty.

"Why me...?" he whined pitifully as he tried to desperately ignore the heat overtaking his face and ears. His own voice felt almost foreign to his ears. It had, after all, been a while since he'd last been able to speak at all.

"Oh, hey don't cover up on our account little brother! We've all seen what you're packing in the mirror!" Hardcase grinned, attempting to lighten the mood with good humor.

"That's not overly helpful..." Dogma shot back, clear annoyance plastered on his flushed face. This time there was no room for misinterpreting his state of mind.

"Or a welcome or appropriate comment..." Sponge hissed in disgust, clearly finding Hardcase's joke to be a little too crass for their taste.

Rex rolled his eyes and approached the younger set of twins, helping them both up onto their feet before tapping his chin in thought. He seemed to be worried about the same glaringly obvious issue, that Dogma was dreading to have to soon face.

"Alright... How are we sneaking a very nude clone into the GAR headquarters, without someone calling CorSec on us for streaking...?" The blond captain asked, only to be met with absolute silence on everyone else's part. "... You know, as much of a privilege as it is to work with the Jedi, I really hate getting caught up in Force Osik..."

A nice steamy hot shower had never been more welcomed in Dogma's fleetingly short life. More so after the absolute roller-coaster of emotions he'd been put through that excruciatingly long day, due to circumstances they all still didn't quite understand (and they had consulted the generals too, which just gave them a brief notion of something about testing bonds and true love's kiss coming in all shapes and sizes, whatever that meant).

Between the stresses of being rendered a diminutive creature that could neither speak or move around in a very coordinated fashion, and also falling prey to instincts that had been very against Dogma's actual nature, he certainly deserve the few extra minutes he'd spent under the warm spray. He wasn't one to overly indulge or hog the hot water privileges, but for once he thought to treat himself since there was really no one else around at this time of night who'd even need to wash up.

After his 15 cheeky minutes (5 more than his usual, he'd been feeling generous) were up, he turned off the shower and quietly padded towards the bench where he'd left his towels and clean body-glove.

One towel was swiftly wrapped around his midsection. The other was put to use vigorously drying his hair. And while Dogma busied himself with that, he couldn't help but to hum in delight at the soft texture of the pristine fabric. The towels he'd picked up from Requesitions were still fairly new, so they hadn't become the unpleasantly rough rags that most clones often had to contend with during shower time.

And he really, really, hated the feeling of those warn out towels. It was like taking sandpaper to his entire body, and it often left him feeling itchy and irritated. Chafed skin was a right pain in the shebs to deal with, especially when you had to wear a full body garment like the body-gloves.

Thoughts of unpleasant textures and damaged skin aside, the clone sergeant sighed contentedly. He felt refreshed and relaxed. It took him very little time to dress himself and even less to give himself a once-over on the mirror.

He was human again. That was a great comfort to him. And to the vode currently waiting for him.

Storing his hygiene kit away in his locker, and putting the used towels in the bins that would be taken to be washed in the morning, Dogma calmly retreated out of the showers and made his way towards the barracks.

The halls were empty of any foot-traffic as was to be expected at this particular time. The only movement really being that of himself, and a few mouse droids that were going about their own business. It was perfectly peaceful and he was grateful for that. He didn't need any more excitement after everything that had happened. At least not for a good long while...

As he crossed the threshold separating the halls from the barracks, he was met with a welcoming sight.

"There you are, Dogma!" Tup greeted him enthusiastically from where he was currently standing, motioning for him to move over. "Come help me sort this blanket out, I can't get it to sit right!"

Dogma rolled his eyes as he approached, passing by other brothers who were currently preoccupied with their own parts of the 'projects' they'd decided to construct.

He stood opposite to Tup and took hold of part of the blanket.

"That's because you're not tucking the corners right." He pointed out as he began to tuck his side of the blanket beneath the mattress of the top bunk. The way he was doing it made it drape over the bunks like a curtain. "Here, like this it won't stick out oddly..."

"You're usually the one who does it..." Tup shrugged, kneeling down so he could begin tossing pillows into the bottom bunk and the mattress laid out in front of it.

"Because I do it right. Honestly, a blanket fortress that's poorly constructed won't offer much comfort or privacy." He huffed, before stepping back to admire his handywork. "Are Echo and Fives back with the pilfered snacks yet?"

"It's not pilfering if you skipped all of four meals!" Tup grinned.

"I technically ate late meal, so it was actually only three..." Dogma pointed out before sitting down on the bunk. With all the extra padding and blankets it felt like laying on a field of cotton.

Or perhaps a fluffy cloud? Whatever the case, it felt nice.

"They're on their way." Jesse sat down next to Dogma, holopad in hand. "And the holo's nearly done downloading."

"Fives said this one's good! Something about a creche master lady that's taking care of a rich senator guy's younglings, and lots of singing and fantastical shenanigans." Hardcase jumped up onto the bunk, knocking into Jesse who subsequently bumped into Dogma.

Both scowled at him but readjusted their positions so they could sit more comfortably.

"Sounds interesting." Tup smiled lazily as he too joined the trio on the bunk. He wrapped an arm around Dogma's shoulder, pulling him closer so that he could rest his head against the crook of his neck.

He found himself leaning into the touch with a pleased sigh.

All around them several vode sorted out their own blanket fortresses and the likes to settle into mini vodpiles. Some already had snacks that they'd been stashing for one such occasion. Others had holos they were being lulled to sleep by. Comfortable, warm and safe at home base. Away from the horrors of the field for another night.

Dogma even caught sight of the medics draped over each other in a corner, having set up a makeshift cot out of mattresses and pillows. They had been so exhausted that they'd just fallen asleep sprawled out. Kix and Coric curled up at the edges to form a protective barrier between the world and their younger siblings.

He could see Sponge snoring away while their barghest lay on their chest. A dark patch of drool steadily forming over where her jaws had contact with the body-glove. Twitch in turn, was pressed up between Sponge and Pitch, one hand tangled in Beautiful's fluff.

Dogma's gaze soon fell away from the resting medics and onto the one piece of evidence of that day's misadventure. He wondered what they'd be doing with the terrarium, since it wasn't like they needed it anymore. Honestly he really hoped they would just give it back to whomever had lent it in the first place, because no one needed any more incentive for Hardcase to beg for an actual battalion mascot.

And Dogma seriously did not want them to get a frog after he'd been one himself, even if it had been for only a singular day.

It would feel a little weird. More so than his lingering craving for insects that he really didn't want to mention to any of his brothers. At least not right now (and it wasn't like this was the worst side effect he could have ended up with after becoming an animal).

"The Snack Cavalry has arrived!" he looked away from the empty terrarium to glance over at Fives, snorting when Echo shoved him for the noisy entrance he'd made.

"There's people trying so sleep, you di'kut!" The more sensible of the Domino Twins hissed, making his way over towards their group's blanket fortress.

Feeling Tup chuckle at his side, and then seeing Jesse and Hardcase trying to hide their grins as they watched Fives make stupid faces behind Echo's back, Dogma couldn't help but feel completely at peace for the first time in ages.

This is where he belonged. Alongside his twin and the rest of the 501st. He wouldn't dare forget that anytime soon.

#Eps Writes #star wars #the clone wars #clone trooper dogma #clone trooper tup #captain rex #commander fox #arc trooper fives #arc trooper echo #arc trooper jesse #clone trooper hardcase #clone medic kix #clone medic coric #clone ocs #clone medic twitch #clone medic pitch #clone medic sponge #twitch belongs to gaeasun #pitch and arbiter belong to lost-on-kamino

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outofangband · 1 year

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Updated and Elaborated Eating Habits of the Valar

So the Ainur don’t have to eat or drink like incarnates do (and how exactly this works for the elves is perhaps up for debate) so here are my thoughts on how eating and drinking work for each of the Valar

I also headcanon that the Ainur can receive nourishment from non food and drink, usually through contact with elements of their domains. It is lack of this that can cause weakness and tiredness.

It's also important to note that not all of the Valar consume food in traditional ways, depending on their physical form at the time.

When I make my second post about the nature of the Maiar (first one here) I’ll go into their eating habits too!

Manwë when taking a physical form will sometimes eat certain fruits or special pastries out of curiosity. He will also always eat what is served to him when elves hold festivals or ceremonies that he attends. He is energized by open air and winds.

Varda doesn’t eat or drink. She rarely holds a purely physical form. Even when she appears vaguely humanoid shaped, her body is made up of mists and vapors rather than flesh and blood. She is energized by stars and by natural sources of light.

Aulë is intrigued by food on a technical level. He has stolen Fëanor’s lunch more than once out of curiosity. He doesn’t enjoy the sensations of it as much as some of the others but he is fascinated by the concept of it and by culinary arts. He is energized by the earth and its materials as well as fire.

Yavanna generally doesn’t although sometimes she will get offerings of fruit based things that she will eat! She receives energy through the natural world and growing things. She has more knowledge of energy and food than most of her kin even if she doesn’t often partake in it

Vána doesn’t usually eat either though she does it somewhat more than Yavanna. She especially likes the sweet nectar drinks of the elves. Like Yavanna, growing things can nourish her as can cycles of life and spring.

Oromë eats with the Maiar and elves he hunts with and at ceremonies.

Nessa and Tulkas both enjoy eating at events and ceremonies but it doesn’t really occur to either of them to eat otherwise.

Nessa, Tulkas and Oromë receive nourishment from open spaces and freedom, physical activity and movement, and even strong emotions.

I mentioned this in my domains of the Valar entry for him but Námo almost never eats or drinks. Occasionally he will have a sip of a ceremonial wine on very special occasions. But in general his head is veiled, surrounded by mists and what parts of it are actually there isn’t always clear

Vairë consumes even less than her husband. She’s never been known to eat or drink anything elves would recognize as food.

Nienna is the same. She does not eat or drink even when her Maiar occasionally will on ceremonial occasions.

The Fëanturi and their spouses receive nourishment and energy from their domains and realms. Their forms tend to be utilitarian for their duties.

Estë drinks nectar and fruit based tonics on occasion but doesn’t eat.

Irmo is similar in this however he will sometimes sample foods at festivals! Of all the Fëanturi he is most able to leave his realm (through physical body or through visions or dreams).

Ulmo loves attending human and elven feasts including occasionally incognito. He’s fascinated too by the food they serve. He is energized by the ocean, water and rain.

Melkor considers eating beneath him and even after becoming locked in a physical form only does so rarely and usually for show, at ‘feasts’ in Angband and such. I headcanon that while he requires more rest and perhaps even sleep during his time trapped in a physical form, he still does not actually require nourishment in the typical sense. I’ve made lots of posts about food in Angband (and I’m planning on more!) but Melkor, while not requiring food himself, is absolutely part, at least occasionally, of the various food related cruelties and taunts. He knows perfectly well the need for nourishment among the incarnates and enjoys using anything that distinguishes them from the Ainur, especially after being trapped in one form

#the silmarillion #valar #lotr #the lord of the rings #ainur #musing and meta

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parieha-aaa · 6 months

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below the cut is a " ( romantic ) shipping guide " for my muse , geto suguru . this involves anything i think is vital when being involved in a romantic relationship with him in any regard .

* this will involve talk of " satosugu / sugusato ' stsg " , so beware , but satoru plays a big part in suguru's life , that is inarguable , his relationships are founded on the relationship he cultivated between him & satoru fundamentally . & the falling out has affected how he views his relationships going forward .

a supportive partner doesn't begin to cover the kind of partner suguru geto is . as someone who born and raised on the protection of others' principal , he's either of some kind of service to his partner or he's not around . when he's doing missions for the tokyo technical college , he's no second rate -- one half of the strongest duo to exist in service to jujutsu tech . often tuned in to the emotions of others , he's going to know something is wrong way before you yourself do , and he takes pride in being capable of being on the same wavelength as his fellow students . duty before dishonor , he's an individualist with great care taken to lift up others . as for the timeline , of course it's easiest to ship with him during his school days , especially if your muse is satoru . more reckless with his other half , he still values himself in accordance with what exactly he can do to be of service to someone . this goes double for his friends , triple for his significant other . girls at the school often crush on him , but to this day , he'd turned them all down gently , in the most polite way possible , so no one leaves upset . justice is a high contributing factor to suguru , something he holds in high regard . again , he's long been raised under the ideal that he must serve others , that he's there to protect others , to act as a barrier between what he values and harm . this is why he continues to find , hunt , and consume curses . now , one of his favorite things is letting his friends hang out with his curses -- satoru , after all , rides on the rainbow dragon all the time . it lays its head on his legs , his curses are merely pets in everyday circumstances , and he values them , saying things like " thank you for your hard work " , when dismissing them . he is , after all , a beast - tamer . again , a lot of these things pertain to satoru , since satoru is his best friend , and someone suguru holds in the highest regard despite their bickering and whining about one another when someone's watching them .

after the loss to toji fushiguro / zen'in , suguru is unstable . he is overall paranoid , half of his curse reserves are dead , and that's what he spends a lot of his time doing now ; hunting new curses to digest and manifest , stronger , more disgusting , more heinous . so it's somewhat easy to catch him during that time dragging himself around , getting to the station or the bus to take it to wherever he needs to go . he won't let anyone come with him , he's uncomfortable , VASTLY uncomfortable with anyone seeing him digest a curse . it's a gross act , on par with eating trash , or vomit . he hates his technique . he hates that he was useless . he hates that his best friend died because he couldn't do a damn thing . a lot of bad emotions manifest here within the year following the mission , rage , disgust , hatred , spite . he hates it . the clapping won't leave his head . he can still hear it . why is he the only one bothered by what happened ?

students die . despite geto's best efforts to help , haibara yu , his kouhai , dies in a gruesome manner he can't even bear to look at . when this happens , he begins to think more and more -- oh god , everyone is at risk , everyone's disposable , and i can't protect anyone . satoru doesn't need me anymore . shoko's busy . i failed nanami & haibara , what am i doing here ? why am i alive ? i don't deserve to be alive .

once he's free of jujutsu technical college , well , his mental health does get eons better . he spends a lot of his time with nanako and mimiko , that includes going to their school events and spending time with them as they do their homework -- dinner , bed , all the more routine things he's long since forgotten about since he was small . he doesn't mind it , it's terribly routine though , and it helps him relax , knowing what to expect every afternoon and evening . if he has a significant other by this point , fully expect to be introduced to his two girls ! he wants to know what they'll think of you , whether or not you interact well with them , and he's keen to also see how you interact with the followers of the cult and the normal people who come in seeking treatment for ' spiritual ailments ' . a partner , in other words , is what suguru is seeking . someone that will help him take good care of the girls as they grow up , someone level headed , that can see he's merely protecting what he finds important to him now . he doesn't hate jujutsu tech , nor anyone involved with it , he simply hates how easily they can stand to sentence people to death ..... especially children , young people who have their whole lives ahead of them . he hates it with everything inside of him . and he can't stop them , so he broke away from them while he still had something left to save .

he's relying on the donations of his followers , somewhat , so he doesn't tend to dabble in the expensive side of dating or living his life . he's a simple ' monk ' , spending his time around the temple as needed , and spending his time with his new family that we see in jjk 0 , who also believe in his ideals and his goals . he's not forcing anyone to believe what they don't want to , and he makes sure everyone understands that he's not forcing anyone into anything they do not wish to be involved in . because of that , there's a silent agreement among his family that they're all there because they believe in suguru geto's vision for jujutsu society , a place where children aren't sacrificed , where people don't have to die needlessly . peaceful , tranquil , livable . that , and ... the ' monkeys ', the non - shaman ... they're a threat to that peace. he's going to save this fucked up , shitty world that they've created . one day , he'll find a way . he will , he swears . he'll help everyone . one day . it's okay if he's hated by everyone as long as ... he's quite open about seeing those from jujutsu tokyo tech & kyoto tech , if need be . he's a haven , he'll listen and talk , offer his view on things as its asked . he truly does love his children and his family, and those he left behind too , if only they could understand that ... he may not go about seeing his significant other too much in public though . just in case the higher ups zero in on them . it's safe to say that in order to get anywhere with suguru , you need to be on par with him , at least , or a sorcerer yourself for a variety of reasons .

#save .#❪ ♥ ❫ ─── ⠀ ⠀‵⠀ out of character ⠀ 〳 ⠀ general ‵#❪ ♥ ❫ ─── ⠀ ⠀‵⠀ out of character ⠀ 〳 ⠀ headcanons ‵

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lowpolynpixelated · 4 months

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Let's talk about handhelds!

Specifically the Steam Deck and what (at least I think) is a decent part of its success as a handheld in today’s rather stagnant landscape as far as competition and innovation goes in the gaming space. For those who don’t know, the Steam Deck is a device first released in February 2022 by game development/publishing company Valve. Valve is mostly known nowadays for being the owners and operators of Steam, the largest and most widely used online marketplace for PC gaming, but rose to fame in the late 90s for their smash hit game Half-Life as well as its sequels and expansions. During the mid-late 2010s Valve had taken a pretty big step back from game development and focussed more on running steam and supporting some of their games (Dota 2, Artifact, Team Fortress 2 just to name a few) though the support varied from game to game. But that aside, let's get into it! PART 1: The Steam Machines

During this time Valve had ALSO begun to dip their proverbial toes into the waters of gaming hardware in the form of both the “Steam Machines” as well as the “Steam Controller”. So what were the Steam Machines? Why are they important to this article about the Steam Deck and other modern handhelds? Well everything has to start somewhere, and I’m of the opinion that the Steam Deck accomplishes the original mission of the Steam Machines better than they ever did, but I’m getting ahead of myself. First announced on September 23rd, 2013, the Steam Machines were touted as a new pillar of console gaming. The aim was to provide a console-like user experience on a device with the horsepower and game variety of your average gaming PC. Runnin on a Linux based operating system called “SteamOS” valve wanted the the consoles to be an open source experience in the living room to compete with the likes of Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. So what went wrong? Well let's start with the big one: variety. I first want to preface this part with: I am looking at these pieces of hardware through the lens of someone with little technical knowledge, the average consumer if you will. I myself have a decent bit of tech know-how, but I wasn't always like that, and I’ve certainly been poor enough my whole life that knowing the biggest and best PC stuff on the market didn’t really mean I could afford it. So, why was variety a bad thing? To your usual console gamer, consistency is key. It's usually assumed by whoever is getting whatever Xbox or PlayStation what-have-you that the box you’re paying money for will play the games you put in it. And to that credit, this is usually the case! Back in the day if you bought a PS2 or a Wii, bought a game for either and slotted it in, your game box would play it no problem. This isn’t always the case for PCs however. PC games vary way more wildly when it comes to the sorts of specifications the game is made to run on, or even what hardware the PC has that can be considered reasonable for said game. The fact of the matter is that PCs are modular, which means optimal configurations and what is considered “a baseline” are changing far more frequently than in the console landscape. The Steam Machines still wanted to offer some of this variety, but in the end it backfired more than anything.

Steam Machine models ranged in price anywhere from $400 to $2000 in 2015 money when they finally released (November 10th, 2015) depending on the parts they used. And the difference between a $400 model and a $2000 model could mean not being able to play a good chunk of games on the market at the time. To your average console fan, this was perhaps too much choice when it came to finding which box to get to play all the shiny PC games they were being told they’d be able to play. Now this isn’t a matter of being disingenuous, more of an oversight. Valve wasn’t specifically trying to just target average consumers, but they did end up somewhat alienating those who didn’t have the technical know-how to figure out what model best suited the games they wanted to play. What reason would I have to buy a Steam Machine for $650 that might play all the games I want when I could just wait until November 15th, 2013 when the PS4 launched for $400 and would play all the games that came out for it? It was a perfect storm of releasing a brand new (and honestly decent) idea into an already pretty stagnant and established market and not being able to sell to people who weren’t already buying gaming computers. Steam Machines were decently popular with the PC gaming crowd. Being able to buy a pre-assembled computer with decent parts is appealing to a pretty decent chunk of people who primarily play on PC. Maybe you don’t know much about building computers and have always bought pre-built, maybe you like the specs of one of the Steam Machines and don’t mind the price tag too much. This big issue with all this though, was that almost no one was buying the Steam Machines to be a Steam Machine. To quote an article by Tyler Wilde for PC Gamer back in 2018, “Nobody was buying it with SteamOS,” Digital Storm marketing manager Rajeev Kuruppu tells me over the phone. The manufacturer had already been building the Eclipse—which is still available with Windows—when Valve pitched SteamOS, and added a Steam Machine build mid-project. That version has since been axed, and Digital Storm no longer has an active relationship with Valve.

“I think over time as the demand from customers wasn’t there we basically had no reason to speak with Valve,” says Kuruppu. Digital Storm is still open to working with Valve, so long as its customers want what Valve is putting out. Right now, they don’t.” - Rajeev Kuruppu in a 2018 phone interview with PC Gamer Executive Editor Tyler Wilde for his article “What happened to Steam Machines?” (link in sources section)

This highlights the issue beautifully. SteamOS just couldn’t make the waves Valve wanted it to with the PC manufacturers they partnered with, leading to people simply not buying the pre-built machines as what they were intended to be. So what happens now? Well, after the failure of both the Steam Machines and the Steam Controller (a topic for a different time), Valve wouldn’t try again in the hardware space until 2019 with their admittedly very impressive VR gear, the Valve Index. With the Index making positive waves in the burgeoning VR space, Valve would then go on to release another successful piece of hardware. The real topic if this article, the Steam Deck.

Part 2: The Steam Deck (part 1: Launch)

Revealed on July 15th, 2021, the Steam Deck was Valve's answer to their failed hardware attempt of the past. A handheld computer with a brand new version of SteamOS capable of playing most of your favourite PC games with a set of specs that only changed depending on internal storage (and eventually small differences in battery life.) So what changed between the times that the Steam Machine and Steam Deck released? Well, the PC and console markets (at least at the time of writing this article, 12/21/2023) are a bit more stable in how new and better parts are being pushed. Make no mistake, the PC community’s search for new and more powerful machines will always be a constant, but it's at the very least a little easier to keep up with right now. On top of that, the Nintendo Switch made MASSIVE waves in the console landscape being a near instant success story of merging handheld and home console markets into one harmonious group. Handhelds were all the rage, with many companies throwing in their lot with the mobile console idea such as the LYRA for playing classic games, and Google’s STADIA (which hilariously imploded shortly after launching to poor reception). Valve’s new device was right at home in the new invigorated market of gaming-on-the-go, a boom of innovative and experimental handhelds to rival the Gameboy’s release all the way back in 1989 (but more on that later.) The Steam Deck launched to a generally positive reception. Lots of PC gamers were more than happy to add the device to their repertoire of ways to play their favourite games, with higher ups in the gaming space like Tim Sweeny of Epic Games and Phil Spencer of Microsoft calling it “An amazing move by Valve!” (- Quoted from a PC Gamer article by Andy Chalk written in 2021 titled “Tim Sweeney: Steam Deck is 'an amazing move by Valve”, link in sources section) The things the Steam Deck was offering on launch were more in line with what some key parts of the overall gaming space wanted at the time, and so the device was more positively received by people already in those spaces. Now let’s talk about what I said before about consoles being able to play their games off the bat and why the Steam Deck stood out despite being essentially a handheld PC. The Steam Deck stripped away the modularity that the Steam Machines boasted by having a set table of Specs to offer across all 3 of its launch models, with the price and model really only determining how much storage you got. At launch the Steam Deck models on offer were the following:

-$400 for 64gb of internal eMMC storage(embedded multi media card, think a thumb drive) (and a bonus carrying case!) -$530 for 256gb of internal SSD storage (SSD or Solid State Drive being a decent bit faster than eMMC but also more pricey) (exclusive steam profile goodies and a bonus carrying case still! wow!)

-$650 for 512gb of internal SSD storage AND a more premium anti-glare etched glass screen (along with the profile goodies, a steam virtual keyboard theme and the bonus carrying case! wowsers!!!)

These models were more on-par with consoles of the time. Maybe not as powerful, but comparatively so in performance and price in such a way that the Steam Deck was a genuinely appealing offer to not only someone who already knew their stuff about PC gaming, but someone who played on PC and maybe didn’t know too much but wanted a good mobile option other than a laptop. Now those are both still parts of the same niche, PC gamers, and we’re here to talk about your average console Jane, as it were. And we will! But first let’s compare Valve’s previous attempt with the Steam Machines to their modern success. One of the most powerful (at the time) Steam Machines on offer was the Alienware Machine. Alienware is a popular manufacturer of gaming PCs and laptops for those not in-the-know. Here’s what anywhere from $550-$900 could get you in 2014:

Alienware Steam Machine basic specifications:

Processor

Haswell Intel Based CPU

RAM

4GB - 8GB

GPU

Nvidia GPUX

HDD

500GB - 2 TB

(specifications sourced from IGN’s “Steam Machine Guide” from 2014, link in sources section) Now at the time these were decently impressive specs, but I would like to point out both the price tag and the fact that some of these parts vary! If you don’t know, the GPU (graphics processing unit) being listed as “Nvidia GPUX” could be any one of SEVERAL parts which would most likely change your price point wildly. In fact, everything on this list is a variable component! Having anywhere between 4gb-8gb of RAM, what size HDD you have, and what CPU you put in, could end up boosting you all the way to that $900 point mentioned above. As stated before, this wasn’t going to win over anyone who was already going to pay $500 less for a PS4 that could just play PS4 games with no research on components needed. Let’s compare these general specs to those of the Steam Deck, which haven’t changed much since its launch in 2022. No matter what model you pick (aside from the storage and screen in the case of the 512gb model) here’s what you get in a Steam Deck:

Steam Deck basic specifications:

APU

6 nm AMD APU

CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)

GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.6GHz (1.6 TFlops FP32)

APU power: 4-15W

RAM

16 GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (6400 MT/s quad 32-bit channels) Storage Steam Deck 64GB eMMC

Steam Deck 256GB NVMe SSD

Steam Deck 512GB NVMe SSD

(specs sourced from the Valve official website for the Steam Deck, link in sources section)

Granted there’s almost 10 years of technology between these specs and those of the Alienware, the point here is consistency. All 3 models of the Steam Deck use the exact same internal components for things like GPU, CPU, RAM, and almost everything else! To someone looking for something with more oomph than the Switch and maybe even wanting to get into PC gaming alongside it, it’s a pretty good deal! And it’s only gotten MORE appealing with more recent developments in the Steam Deck’s models and pricing, but we’ll talk about that after a short jaunt through gaming history.

Part 3: Handheld market factor history and why I think the Steam Deck is a pretty cool example of them (intermission from the Steam Deck)

As I said we’re gonna take a short break to talk about what I would consider the core of this article. You may have noticed me using terms like “handheld boom” and “market”. I’m gonna throw out some more of those so bare with me, but we’re gonna talk about the Gameboy. What’s so special about the Gameboy? Lots of people know it for being the most popular handheld console of the 4th generation beating out the likes of the Atari Lynx and more importantly, the Sega Game Gear. Why is that important? We’ll get there in a second I promise. The bigger question is “why was the gameboy successful?” to which the answer is usually “brand recognition”. Which isn’t incorrect in its own right, but is only one piece of a larger whole. The Gameboy entered a market that was predominantly occupied by two things, home consoles and arcade games. Handheld games DID exist, but not in the cartridge based console form the Gameboy popularized. This “wild west” era of console development was the second resurgence of video games after a market crash from 1983 to 1985. Spearheaded by the 3rd generation consisting of heavy hitters like the NES and Sega Master System, it gave way to an era of constant development and innovation attempts. The Gameboy specifically hit a couple of key factors when it comes to your average person. No remember, this was during a time when large portions of people still didn’t really understand what a video game was, and a lot of them were even marketed as toys to help them sell. The Gameboy’s success lies in a few points that went a long way towards selling it specifically to people without a ton of video game experience. These were: price point, and usability.

Let’s get into it! First off: price point! In 1989 the Gameboy launched with an introductory price of $90 in the US. Compare this to the Sega Game Gear releasing the following year for $150, and the Atari Lynx at $180. Retailing for HALF the price of a (at the time) big name competitor is kind of a big deal! Price point ties directly into something like accessibility for something being sold as a product, and needless to say paying less than $100 for something with Nintendo’s (again at the time) pedigree behind it put the Gameboy in the hands of a LOT of people. Next off: Usability! What does this mean? Well, this one is a bit rocky. To put it bluntly: the Gameboy was incredibly underpowered for its generation. (A Nintendo console underpowered? Never!) Why was this a good thing? From the perspective of someone trying to get the most “bang for their buck” so to speak, the Gameboy’s underwhelming specs gave it a bit of an edge. How you may ask? Battery life and cost! Let’s get the bad out of the way first by directly comparing the Gameboy and the Sega Game Gear. The old SGG was rocking not only a full colour backlit display in 1990, but also had a good bit more horsepower as far as its specifications go. Able to run full colour games at nearly 60fps on a handheld in the 90s is nothing to sneeze at! But the cost of that is 6 whole AA batteries that would die out in anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on the games you play. The Gameboy in comparison, had a simple dot matrix display that only showed in black and white. (or various shades of off-green if you’ve ever seen one in person.)

The Gameboy as well couldn’t handle beefier games, with notable examples like Mario Land 2: The six golden coins having a good amount of slowdown due to its large chunky sprites and level assets. So its battery life must’ve been something special then? Compared to the Game Gear, absolutely. Clocking in at 15+ hours of battery life on just 4 of the same AAs the Game Gear uses, the Gameboy’s game time and price were unbeatable.

This is why I think it's important to look at more than just a piece of hardware’s specifications when it comes to measuring success. And I can hear you. “Clair, why are we talking about the Gameboy and how it sold a bajillion units because it was more affordable and had Tetris on it? How does this relate to the Steam Deck?” Well my dear reader, let’s finally answer that and talk about the new Handheld Boom.

Part 4: The Steam Deck (part 2: OLED and new pricing)

So here we are! The year is 2023, the Nintendo Switch is 6 years old, the Steam Deck has been selling decently well, and I need to wrap this whole thing up. In November 2023, Valve announced the Steam Deck was getting some pricing adjustments, as well as a brand new model that included better battery life and a slightly larger OLED screen for better picture quality. The Introduction of the new OLED model not only introduced 2 new tiers of Steam Decks to choose from (the new OLED 512gb model for $550 and the OLED 1tb model for $650), but also locked in ONE of the previous Steam Deck LCD models as the only LCD model available, for a price cut! If you go back and look at the old pricing, the 256gb LCD model used to cost $530. Due to the OLED models knocking out the lower tier LCD models entirely, the price has now been locked at just $400. Why does this matter? Well, just like with the Gameboy, you’re making some sacrifices for the lower cost. The higher tier OLED models have nicer screens and better batteries, but also cost a good bit more. Just as well, the Steam Deck is in NO way one of the beefiest PC gaming devices on the market.

In recent years more and more PC handhelds have been coming out to try and cash in on what the Steam Deck has set up. My personal favourite example is the ROG Ally, and AMD powered handheld that for all intents and purposes, outpaces the Steam Deck in raw power. So why aren’t people flocking to the Ally? Well the basic model clocks in at around $600, and can be upgraded with a better processor for another $100. Looking at just the basic models for both, the Steam Deck wins out on being just the right amount of a powerhouse it needs to be for just over half the price of the Ally. This matters because that’s going to appeal to different parts of the market and landscape as a whole.

I hold the opinion that the Steam Deck serves as an EXCELLENT initial entry point into PC gaming for someone who has only ever played on console. It offers that console experience the Steam Machines tried so hard to at a price point that most people interested in game consoles are paying nowadays anyway. A PS5 cost $500, and a PS4 (the console the deck is most likely to be on par with) launched for $400. I find it a much easier sell to get someone who wants to get into PC to play with friends, or have a Switch-like experience for games not available on it, than trying to tell them the $700 one gets more FPS and has a better processor. It all comes down to those factors of price point and usability. It's been so interesting to see the Steam Deck rise into popularity in so many corners of the internet that I hang around in. I haven’t even talked about how emulating on the Steam Deck is one of the most seamless and easy to set up processes I’ve ever seen! With arguably the best LCD model option now locked at the introductory price for most modern game consoles, it’s so neat to see what could genuinely be considered a truly NEW game console enter the fray. And a handheld at that! Part 5: I am just one woman (conclusion and thanks)

Hey there! If you read through all this garbled nonsense I’d like to extend a small thank you. I also want to take a second to say that I’m not presenting any of this as objective facts. Yes I have listed facts in this article, but as the title of this section says, I am just one woman. These are my overly excited thoughts on a phenomenon I’ve observed in my own time and wanted to share with anyone who would read it. Thanks a ton for reading! I’ll be back with more ramblings at some point, but for now let's part with this: The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of tech that I feel really shakes up the gaming space. I’m not sponsored by anyone, I’ve only been paid in the satisfaction of writing. If you’re someone who doesn’t dabble much in PC gaming, and are planning to buy a new console, maybe give the Steam Deck a try! I definitely plan on getting one after watching some stuff on the EmuDeck frontend for emulation and being thoroughly impressed. That’s all for now, see ya around! -Clair (FembotY2K) (sources below the cut!)

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