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strang3lov3 · 5 months

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Pharmacy

Summary: (mall rats 6) Surrounded by medical supplies is a convenient time to slice your hand open. Joel wrestles your stubborn ass to treat your wound, then fucks you how you like.

Tags: Jar Jar Binks, Star Wars opinions, manhandling, descriptions of injuries (I tried to keep it as short and sweet as I could, bc I myself am a squeamish girl!! I was squirming the whole time writing this!!!) blowjobs, f masturbation, kinda rough unprotected PIV, creampie, dirty talk, reader and Joel have googly eyes for each other

A/N: as always thank you so much @papipascalispunk for editing. Thank you all for your continued patience with my writing, I am a busy busy lady and you may not get another fic from me for two weeks or more with the whole finals thing, but I do have lots of shit planned! One thing at a time bug one thing at a time. I wish I could write smut for my history of Indiana final essay but I don’t think that would fly with my nun-obsessed professor. Also, thank you @noxturnalpascal and @speckledemerald for hyping me up ❤️❤️

Joel is standing in front of a map of the mall, studying it intently. It’s been a while since you’ve been at the mall with Joel, actually. With the weather getting worse with more and more snow, Tommy is trying to keep travel limited to patrol. Supply runs for necessities only, and Jackson is in need of medical supplies. Rubbing alcohol, gauze, bandages, first aid supplies. There’s actually a medical building not far from Jackson, but it’s pretty well picked over at this point.

“Mall has a pharmacy. A CVS or Walgreens, somethin’ like that. I’ll go,” Joel had volunteered in Tommy’s office.

“I’ll come too,” you added as you were helping Tommy fill out patrol logs.

Joel sighed, “No.”

“Why not?”

“Supposed to be a quick trip. In and out. Don’t need you gettin’ distracted by lotions and perfumes again.”

“Those are necessities,” you argue, “Besides, buddy system. It’s important for us to stick together.”

“We are not buddies,” Joel scoffed. Tommy raised his eyebrows in amusement.

“No? What are we, then?”

Joel opened his mouth as if to answer with something sharp and argumentative, but no words came out. His cheeks turned rosy as you both shared an odd look, with Joel’s hands frozen on the buttons of his coat. The pencil you wrote with felt heavy in your hand, held awkwardly on the paper as you stared at Joel. You didn’t mean for that question to come out the way it did. What was the answer to the question, anyway?

Tommy filled the silence with his own answer. “I know what y’all are,” he smirked.

Joel shot Tommy a warning look, then took your jacket from behind your chair and held it open for you. “Let’s go, then,” he said. You put your arms through the sleeves, zipped yourself up and left. You could hear Tommy chuckling to himself as you walked out with Joel.

You rode horseback to the mall. Still feeling awkward from the interaction at Tommy’s, you both stayed silent, but the ride wasn’t uncomfortable. You hugged Joel tightly, and Joel savored the warmth of your cheek on his back.

“Found it,” Joel taps the map, “I remember now. It’s downstairs.”

“Ha!” you brag, “I told you. I knew it was downstairs. I was right.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll throw a party when we get home,” Joel replied, taking off towards the dilapidated staircase. You follow close behind, dragging your fingers against the railing, letting your hand tap each of the thin rods that support it. One breaks off and falls with a clatter. Joel doesn’t bother turning around to see what it was. “You break these stairs, you find us a new way out of here,” he warns. Dramatic. You pick up the thin rail and twirl it as you walk behind Joel, then poke his ass with the piece of metal. Already exhausted by you, he sighs, “What’d you find now, trouble?”

“Lightsaber,” you answer.

“What?” Joel tilts his head and turns around to finally see what all the noise and clattering was. You’re holding one of the thin rods from the railing, still twirling it. “No, put that down,” he tells you, “You’re gonna give yourself tetanus. Put it down, sweetheart.”

“Ellie lent me this DVD. Did you ever see this old movie, Star Wars?”

“Quit while you’re ahead,” Joel grumbles, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, “Ain’t that old, smartass. And of course I’ve watched Star Wars, who do you think introduced it to her?”

“Oh,” you reply, “Well, there was this character, Jar Jar–”

“Nope,” Joel cuts you off, “You’re done. Lost your talkin’ privileges. Drop your lightsaber and zip it.”

Still twirling the rod you ask, “You don’t like Star Wars?”

“I like Star Wars. What you watched is not Star Wars.”

“Yes it is, Joel. It was on the DVD.”

Joel turns back around and keeps walking, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah I do. Mesa–”

Joel interrupts, “Do not finish that sentence,” he warns, “God, that movie was so stupid. Took Sarah to see it when it came out, we ended up leavin’ halfway through and gettin’ ice cream instead.” You watch Joel smile at the memory as you approach the pharmacy and he holds the door open for you. You smile with him. Joel doesn’t talk about Sarah much with you, but he mentions her now and then, at least more than he used to.

You and Joel find the first aid aisle of the pharmacy. He knows what to look for, so he peruses the aisles and stuffs his bag full of supplies. Watching him bend over, you can’t help but poke his ass again. “Knock it off, space cadet,” he says, annoyed.

You giggle to yourself and toss the rod aside. You hadn’t realized the end that you were holding was damaged when you broke it off the railing. Fuck. It’s sharp, jagged, and slices your palm all the way across. The rod clangs on the ground and startles Joel.

Joel turns around to see the rod on the ground, and you clutching your fist tightly. “What’s in your hand?”

“Nothing,” you answer, feeling your hand become warm and wet.

Joel connects the dots. He bends over and checks the rod for rust and there’s none, thank god. But the end is very jagged, almost serrated like a knife. “Open your hand.”

“No,” pressing your lips together, you lower your gaze and open your fist slightly to check your hand, then quickly shut it. Joel watches your eyes go wide and the color draining from your face. “It’s n–mmm,” you hum, your voice shaky, “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Joel reaches for your hand, “You’re hurt. Need to see how deep that cut is, clean it and–”

You shove Joel backward with your free hand, and he looks momentarily taken aback. There was a lot more strength behind that shove than he would have anticipated. You’re not playing, not teasing like usual. “Do you wanna try that again?” he asks, his voice firm.

“Don’t touch me.”

Joel takes in your expression. You’re not trying to start a fight with him, you look worried, anxious, and defensive with pale lips and trembling hands. You had mentioned not handling blood or pain well before, but he didn’t know you were this squeamish, you poor thing. “I have to, hon.”

“Joel…”

Joel raises a hand in your direction, “Don’t argue with me on this. You need to sit down, I can tell you’re gettin’ freaked.”

“Joel,” you say his name again in a warning tone, much sharper than before.

“I know,” he says softly, as he steps closer to you, and you step back, your feet hitting the wall behind you. You’re feeling more amped up now. “Just let me look,” as he reaches for your wrist and pulls you closer, his grip tightening when you struggle against him and try to pull your arm away. “Quit squrimin’,” he grits his teeth as he fights against your strength. Minding his own strength, and with one hand gripping your wrist, he moves the other to your shoulder and forces you to the ground as gently as he can. A sliced hand is bad enough, he doesn’t need you fainting and cracking your skull open. You kick your legs and punch against him, but he pins his body on top of yours, your free hand between your body and his leg.

“Get the fuck off me, Joel,” you spit, “Get off, get off, get–”

“Hey. Hey,” he says, his voice firm yet gentle, “Breathe, sweetheart. I know you’re nervous.”

You stare at Joel with fiery eyes, breathing heavily through your nose. Shallow breaths, probably not getting enough oxygen to your brain, but at least you’re breathing. Joel gives you a moment to settle down.

“I need you to listen to me,” he tells you, “I don’t know how deep your cut is. I need you to let me look.”

“Please,” you beg, “Please don’t.”

“I’m gonna be gentle,” Joel promises as he flips your wrist up, gently beginning to pry your fingers open, “You look at me. Don’t look at your hand. Just look at me. Will you trust me?”

Nodding apprehensively, you keep your focus on Joel. He nods in response, then examines your palm. He bites his cheek and frowns.

“Is it bad?” you ask shakily.

“Uhh,” he hums, “It’s not good,” he answers you honestly. You’re cut in multiple areas and by the looks of it, the gashes go pretty deep. “You might need stitches.”

Fuck that. You squirm under Joel with all of your might to force him off of you.

“Stop thrashin’. Stop it,” he says, holding your jaw firmly and looking into your eyes, “I’m not gonna stitch ya. We can cross that bridge when we get to Jackson. But you are risking infection. So I’m going to stop the bleeding, wash it, disinfect, then wrap your hand. That’s all.”

He has a tendency to get frustrated with you, and you’re sure he’s beyond frustrated with you right now, but he’s not showing it. He looks sincere, but you’re still on edge and lacking assurance. “Promise?” you whisper.

“I swear,” he assures softly, rubbing your jaw gently with his thumb. When you nod in response, Joel takes his coat off and folds it, then slides it under your head. He needs you as comfortable as you can be.

“We are gonna have to amputate, though,” he jokes as he pulls out a rag from his bag and presses it into your hand. You give him a dirty look. “Kidding,” he says.

Joel removes the rag to see if your hand is still bleeding. You catch a glimpse of the cut and the blood in your palm, running down your wrist, “Oh god, my hand, Joel–”

“Don’t look,” he repeats, “Just keep lookin’ at me, sweetheart.”

But you don’t. You can’t seem to peel your eyes away, and you feel lightheaded. Joel notices.

“Tell me somethin’ new,” he says, distracting you from the pain.

“Joel, please,” you whine.

“Somethin’ new,” he reminds you.

“I saw a cat yesterday.”

Joel nods in response. “What color?” he asks.

“Uh, calico,” you reply. He’s reaching into his bag, pulling out his canteen and rinsing your hand out with his water. The cool water feels soothing on your palm.

“What’s calico?”

“It’s when a cat has three colors, Joel,” you answer impatiently, as if the answer should be glaringly obvious to him. “Fuck,” you hiss, as he pats the wound dry. The fabric feels irritating and painful against you.

“Tell me more. Tell me good things.”

Following his instructions, you begin rambling. It’s not hard once you start. “I saw a cat and I kicked Tommy’s ass in a board game and his baby is so cute, by the way. Almost as cute as the cat.”

“You think cats are cuter than babies?”

“Obviously. Babies are gross and they’re noisy and I finished the sweater I was crocheting for Maria and the snow looks pretty and I love you and I…”

Joel pauses his work on your hand momentarily. He doesn't hear anything else you say after those three words. I love you. It’s a fuzzy sort of quiet, he’s in disbelief. I love you. When your hand twitches, he pulls his focus back to you.

“...And I watched Star Wars.”

“Yeah,” he replies quietly, “You said that already, you said–”

“I did? Oh yeah. I guess I did.”

You’re clearly delirious, in panic mode, and not thinking straight. You don’t remember talking about Star Wars an hour ago, you don’t even realize what just slipped your lips a second ago. Joel smiles to himself. He’s suspected it for a while. He loves you too. But that’s a conversation for later. There’s a more pressing issue at hand, quite literally.

Joel clears his throat and blinks a couple of times. “Uhm,” he hums, thinking of something to say, “And you said you got that movie from Ellie? The Phantom Menace?”

“Star Wars.”

“Yeah, Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace,” he corrects you. You shrug. “Unbelievable,” Joel says, “Thought I taught that girl better.” He reaches for a bottle of rubbing alcohol and keeps your hand open in his. “Alright, deep breath in and out. This is the worst part, then we’re done.”

Before you have time to breathe in and out as instructed, before you have time to argue, Joel dumps the alcohol in your palm. You yelp and tug your hand away, but he holds it still.

“I know, I know, I know, baby,” he coos, “Almost done.”

“Joel,” you cry.

“Look, all done,” he whispers as tears off a piece of gauze and lays it over your gash. “See? All done. Just need to wrap it,” Joel prepares more gauze, “Makes sense you’ve identified with Jar Jar, of all characters.”

“What do you mean?”

Joel begins to wrap the bandage tightly around your hand. “Clumsy,” he murmurs, “Troublemakin’... accident prone.”

“I don’t think you like Star Wars,” you tell him.

“Not the prequels,” Joel replies, “Only good thing about the outbreak is that they couldn’t finish that godforsaken mess of a trilogy.”

“What do you mean, ‘prequels’?”

“There was an original trilogy that came out before that movie you watched. Ellie didn’t show you them?”, and you shake your head no, “So you don’t know Han Solo or Princess Leia. That means nothin’ to ya?”

“Nope.”

“Jesus Christ. What about C-3PO? R2-D2?”

“Oh, yeah. I know them. They were in that movie.”

“No,” Joel disagrees, then looking baffled for a second before nodding his head as he remembers the hour he spent watching that movie with Sarah years and years ago. “Mm, yeah, you’re right. Guess they were,” Joel concedes, “We’ll have to rectify this, you know. Have a movie night sometime.”

“Yeah,” you agree, “You can make me popcorn.”

“I’ll make you popcorn,” Joel says, watching a smile form on your lips. “There it is,” he praises, “Missed that smile. Don’t like seein’ you upset like that,” he murmurs, finishing your bandage wrap and securing it in place. “What am I gonna do with you?” he asks as he presses a kiss to your palm before he lets your hand go. You can still feel the warmth of his touch on your skin as he watches you and your cheeks begin to warm.

“I know what you’re gonna do with me,” you whisper.

I’m gonna kiss you, and I’ll tell you that I love you too. That’s what I’m gonna do with you, Joel thinks, his heart beginning to race.

“Tell me, sweetheart.”

“You’re gonna listen to my Jar Jar impression.”

Joel sighs. He watches you with adoration, and he wants nothing more than to express that adoration for you. It’ll happen when it happens. He decides to let it go for now and play along with you instead, however you want to. You deserve it, after all. He’ll put up a facade like you drive him crazy and he’ll let you believe you’re really getting under his skin, just to watch you smile and hear you laugh like you really got him this time. And he’ll tease you back, at least once more.

“Please spare me until I lose my hearing in my other ear.”

You oblige, smiling and rolling your eyes. Still holding eye contact with Joel, you become acutely aware of the position you’re in, that all too familiar position. Faces close, bodies closer and staring into his sparkly, warm brown eyes with his weight pressing into you. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, the way he took care of you, who knows. Out of the blue, you’re turned on and Joel knows. Joel cocks an eyebrow when your breath hitches, when you bite your lip and begin to squirm underneath him, seemingly now uncomfortable, aroused no doubt. “Time and place, hon,” he smirks smugly.

Heat rises up your neck and your cheeks at his accusation, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, you do. I know how you operate,” he asserts. “What’s got ya all worked up all of a sudden?” Joel asks, his hand caressing your cheek, your jaw.

“Nothing,” you lie. Your skin burns where his fingers trace.

“I think you’re lyin’. I know you like when I get rough with ya, just wasn’t expectin’ ya to like it now of all times, when I had to wrestle you down to fix that gash in your hand,” Joel taunts, “You’re very stubborn sometimes, you know that?”

“Challenging,” you counter his claim, “And I wasn’t being stubborn. I could have taken care of my hand myself. I didn’t really need your help.”

Joel knows that’s a lie. You did, in fact, need his help. Badly.

“That right there is stubborn.”

“No,” you argue, “And I’m not worked up right now, either.” Joel makes an amused face at you, and you wince internally.

Shit. You fucked that up. Overcompensated.

“Right. Course not.”

Against your better judgment, you open your mouth to argue further but Joel hushes you. “What do I get if you’re wet right now, sweetheart?” he whispers, unbuttoning your jeans. Your tummy flutters with desire as his fingertips skate across your skin. “You’re more than welcome to stop me right now,” he purrs. He’s giving you an out, a moment to make a choice, but you don’t dare stop him. And Joel grins. He snakes his hand down your pants, underneath your thin cotton panties. The anticipation builds with the tickle of his fingers lightly dragging over your mound, his middle and ring fingers tracing over your lips. You gasp quietly when he dips his fingers at your core, his fingertips collecting your arousal. You stifle a whine as he pulls his hand away from your body, showing you his two fingers glistening with your slick. Joel clicks his tongue, “Can’t be comfortable,” he murmurs, his tone sarcastic and sympathetic all at the same time. “This all for me?”

“No,” you breathe shakily. Yes.

“You’re lyin’ to me,” he mumbles, bringing his two fingers to his lips. His mouth makes obscene noises as he sucks them clean of your arousal, humming at the sweet taste. Before you can think, he’s pulling your pants and underwear down in one fell swoop, his fingers finding their place back at your pussy. “You could tell me the truth and I’d go easy on ya,” he offers, his thumb pressing against your clit.

You love the thrill, that feeling in your stomach. Joel gives you a moment to answer, but you don’t. “No?” he asks before situating himself on the ground with you, backing himself against a wall and pulling you into his lap. “Gonna make it worse for yourself,” he says, spreading your legs apart and hiking up your shirt, one hand playing with your pussy and the other kneading your breasts, teasing your nipples, “Why don’t you tell me how much ya needed this, hm? How you want me to make it all better.”

You sigh, a soft Joel falling from your lips as you become wetter, more sensitive as Joel’s fingers dance through your slick folds. He pushes two fingers inside you, fingers curling into that spot that he so loves. His thumb rubs tight, steady circles around your clit and he flicks the thumb of his other hand across your sensitive nipples, the combination of actions filling you with a deep, hot pleasure. You rest your head on his shoulder, the scratchy hairs on his cheek pressing against your forehead. You reach behind yourself to touch him, tangling your fingers in his curls.

“We’ll do this the hard way, then,” Joel shoves you forward, careful not to use too much of his strength but enough to let you know that he’s in charge. He’s always in charge. He takes his folded coat from the ground and positions it in front of himself. He stands up tall, knees popping as he rises. “Since you have nothin’ better to do with your mouth than tellin’ lies…” Joel snaps and points to his coat, “Might as well keep you quiet instead. Down,” he instructs, “On your knees. Do it now.”

“Yes, Joel,” as you assume the position.

“Ah, now she speaks,” he taunts, the quiet metallic clang of him undoing his belt buckle sending excitement shooting through you. “Open,” is his next command, “Nice n’ wide, hon, you know how,” he instructs as he pulls out his cock, hard and with a pearly bead of precum glistening on his head. You open your mouth for Joel, eyes wide and Joel taps his member on your tongue. “Keep ya from doin’ that stupid fuckin’ impression, too.”

Your eyes light up as you think of something quippy to say, but Joel slides his cock into your mouth to keep you from doing so. “Ah-ah,” he tuts, “Quiet.” He’s delicious, masculine, heady, and intense. He fills your mouth entirely and you swirl your tongue around him, tracing thick veins and salty skin. “Attagirl,” Joel praises you, gripping the back of your head and pushing himself further into your mouth. You nearly gag, pulling back slightly but he holds you right where he wants you, “Right there.”

He pushes you further than you’re used to, but not to the point of discomfort. His tummy nudges your forehead as your nose presses against dark curls at the base of his dick and you use your hand to cup his balls. As you hum against him, you wonder if Joel intends for this to be a punishment. His tone and the way he conducts himself is commanding, but the way he fucks your mouth is gentle.

“Still not worked up, right? Don’t need me?”, he asks, staring down at you with raised eyebrows. You shake your head no, lying again. “Okay,” he says, “I wanna watch you fuck yourself on your fingers. But don’t come. Not until you tell me what I wanna hear.”

Your eyes flutter shut as you bring your fingers to your core, feeling your arousal. You push two fingers into your dripping pussy, pumping them in and out and trying to mimic the way it feels when Joel does it.

As you fuck yourself, you hollow your cheeks around his thick cock, letting him feel every inch of your soft and wet mouth. He’s domineering above you, but his hand on your cheek is gentle, caressing your skin softly. He looks down at you through hooded lids and as your eyes flutter shut, you wonder what he’s thinking.

The way you’re touching your pussy hardly counts as fucking yourself, it’s teasing at best, and excruciating at that. You rub circles around your clit steadily, subtly, needing more than what he’s told you to give yourself. With your fingers working your clit and your mouth working Joel, the familiar pleasure of your climax is just within reach. Feeling yourself reaching your peak, you look up at Joel, “What are you doin’?”, he asks, like he’s caught you doing something you shouldn’t be.

You pull your mouth off of his cock to whisper, “Please, Joel,” which garners an irritated look from him. Joel bends lower to grab you by your bicep and force you to your feet, spinning you around and bending you over an empty shelf of an end cap. He parts your legs and drags his cock through your folds with one hand, the other gripping your hip.

“Need those magic words, sweetheart. Say it, ‘I need you, Joel’. Go on, now. You got it.”

With the leftover feeling of your ruined orgasm and Joel’s cock teasing your pussy, you fold immediately. “I need you, Joel,” you breathe, “I need you.”

“Tell me more. How do you need me?” as he continues to tease.

“Need you to fuck me,” you gasp, “Please.”

“Need me to fuck ya,” he repeats, amused. Joel notches the tip of his cock at your entrance, “How ‘bout that. Tell me somethin’ I didn’t know.”

It’s a rhetorical question. He doesn’t give you time to answer before he buries himself inside of you. You groan at the sudden intrusion, how deeply he enters you and how full you feel.

He doesn’t need to experiment with you, doesn’t need to vary how he fucks you. You grip the edge of the end cap with both hands as he finds his pace immediately. His cock hits you right where you need him.

“Hey, hey,” he whispers, reaching for your bandaged hand, “Don’t hold that. S’gonna hurt your hand. Hold mine instead,” as he wraps his palm around yours. “Better?”

“Better.”

You’re lost in it all, his hand holding yours tightly and his thighs hitting your ass, his balls slapping against your clit. His face is right next to yours, his nose buried in your hair as he nips at your ear.

“Fuck,” he grunts as he fucks you. He moans softly, his breath feels warm. Each thrust feels deep and intentional. “Good girl. Takin’ my cock so good.”

“Yes, Joel,” you moan.

He makes stuttering, strangled sort of noises. His breathing is sharp and unsteady through his gritted teeth, and you wish you could see him like this. You can just about picture him perfectly, his messy salt and pepper curls and that deep set line between his brows.

He fucks you hard and rough, both of you panting and moaning. Soon enough, his rhythm becomes frenetic and stuttering. “Squ– fuck, squeezin’ me too good, I’m not gonna last, sweetheart.”

“Let me come, Joel,” you plead, “Please.”

“I know, I know. Don’t need to beg me, darlin’,” Joel coos. He snakes his hand between your thighs and quickly finds your clit, his thrusts still steady and deep. He expertly paints circles around your clit as he becomes sloppier and frenzied.

“Oh god, oh fuck, Joel,” you’re gasping, feeling your walls begin to clench and squeeze him, “Right there, right there, fuck.”

“Yeah, s’it, let go for me,” he pants.

With a few more circles tracing your clit, you fall apart on him. You come with a loud gasp, gripping his hand hard. Even after he helps you ride out your orgasm, he doesn’t yet stop fucking you, and the sensation is becoming all too much. You bite your lip to stifle yourself as he chases his own orgasm, and he spills into you with shuddering breaths and grunts, painting your insides with his seed.

You catch your breath with Joel as he begins to go soft inside you. You feel empty when he pulls out of you, craving the weight of his hand on yours after he lets go. As your breathing slows, turn around to face Joel. His dominant, taunting demeanor is gone and he helps you back into your clothes, then examines the bandage on your hand. He frowns when he sees he’s crumpled it and dampened it with his sweat. “Hang on,” he murmurs, quickly reaching for more gauze to rewrap it.

You touch his shoulder, “Just– let’s wrap it again at home. It’s just gonna get ruined again.”

“No, I promise I’m not gonna clean it again, I just wanna–” Joel stops talking when you reach for his hand. He looks at where his hand connects with yours, then looks at you. “Okay,” he says. He stares at you intently, as if waiting for you to say more. You look like you want to.

Hand in Joel’s, you walk together out of the mall. The horseback ride home is quiet. You hug Joel tightly, and Joel savors the warmth of your cheek on his back again.

“Joel?” you ask.

“Yeah, hon.”

“You’re sure you don’t wanna hear my impression?”

“I’m sure,” Joel says, but you can hear the smile in his voice.

as always, i appreciate all of my readers. please please please leave a comment/reblog/send an ask if you enjoyed, your comments really do mean the world and keep me going <3

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#strang3lov3 #joel miller x reader #joel miller smut #joel miller x you #the last of us #joel miller #pedro pascal #the last of us hbo #mall rats #mall rats!joel #mall rats joel #pedro pascal the last of us #pedro pascal joel miller #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal smut

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hedgehog-moss · 5 months

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I meant to go admire a frozen waterfall yesterday, but I'm scared of driving on slippery roads so I ended up abandoning my car and my dreams and just wandering about by foot, following random roads.

(These first two photos are a little bit blurry because I took them while walking, but it does give them a certain je ne sais quoi... They look like childhood memories)

The soles of my boots had zero grip and were therefore great for sliding, so I ended up taking two sticks and using them like cross-country skiing poles to propel myself forward on the iciest portions of the road. It was fun! Pandolf thought I was insane. He was being extremely prudent on the icy patches, testing each step:

At the beginning of our walk he was prancing as usual but then at one point his front paws slipped forward without warning, turning him into a very long slinky dog. It was pretty funny. I laughed. I admit. He wasn't hurt but definitely a bit vexed.

We did leave the icy road on numerous occasions, to slip under fences and cross promising pastures (promising = lots of footprints; potential friends.) We met several creatures! Like this adorable shetland pony—I tried to take a photo from afar, with Pandolf nearby for scale, to show how scandalously tiny he was, but that turned out to be impossible because he was too friendly. Every time I took a step back he took two steps forward. Clearly he thought he was even better-looking from up close.

We also ran into the darling goat I mentioned yesterday, and I was told by several people on here that she looked more like a ewe.

Sorry for the mistake! But also I tried to look further into this and became more and more confused, as every source that mentioned a foolproof way to tell goats from sheep was disproven by another source—I found one that said sheep had a split upper lip while goats didn't (and my mystery friend didn't), but then another website contradicted it. I ended up with 32 tabs open with photos of goats and sheep of all kinds, some of which looked downright bizarre (what's with the Jar Jar Binks ears), and I began losing my grasp on the concept of animal species altogether. I understood how Darwin must have felt when he tried to figure out the differences between species of barnacles and asked people to send him various specimens and ended up with giant teetering piles of wet smelly boxes full of barnacles in his study that threatened to collapse and bury him alive. Then I closed my 32 tabs.

Honestly ever since learning that some sheep have horns and some goats don't, I've been lost. Not to mention, our mystery girl had a sheep-like tail but a goat-like beard. Are there sheep out there with beards and if yes, how do we make sense of the world? We should be able to point at a mammal with a goatee and say "goat" without doubting ourselves. That's my manifesto.

Whatever she was, the goat-ewe was very sweet, and she baa-ed a lot—at first I thought she was making conversation and I politely baa-ed back, before realising she was calling her horse bodyguards, just in case. Two horses soon showed up from behind a tree, very "What seems to be the problem ma'am?"

I offered nose scritches to the friendliest of the two and she went to report to the goat like "We've neutralised the threat."

Let me insert another (blurry) photo of a travelling Pandolf to symbolise the passing of time before moving on to our last encounter:

... I also had trouble taking photos of this one at first, because she kept coming closer to inspect my scarf—I thought she wanted to explore my pockets for potential treats like Pirlouit often does but no, she was very interested in the smell (texture?) of my scarf specifically.

The sky had cleared as we went down from 1300 to 1100m, as if we'd slipped under the clouds, so I tried to take a photo of this nice late-afternoon sky, and the horse finally stopped focusing on my scarf and instead started insistently positioning herself between me and my beautiful landscape.

Look at this lovely golden light in the snow over there which I was almost able to capture!

Meanwhile her pasture mate was eating a whole broom plant, slowly and thoughtfully, which makes me jealous because my llamas are supposed to eat brooms and they mostly don't, they think they're too good for brooms. They eat the very young ones but not adult brooms, so I have to do the work of three llamas and cut them myself. I wish I could send the Pampses as interns in this pasture, to learn the art of brush-clearing from this wise old horse.

I tried to take one last landscape photo and gave up when the aspiring model came to pose again.

Where was Pandolf, you might ask? Pandolf doesn't trust horses, especially large farm horses, and was quietly and insistently trying to convince me to leave. When Model Horse tried to greet him (it looks like she's chasing him but no, she was just stretching her neck to sniff him) he beat a hasty retreat toward the icy road, his former enemy. Some guard dog.

It may sound like Pandolf didn't have a very fun time on this walk, slipping on ice and running from horses, but don't worry, he found plenty of suitable empty pastures to practise his favourite hobby! Though I think at this point he has moved beyond a hobbyist and is ready to play in professional leagues. He does this thing now where he jumps up a bit to gain momentum; I don't remember him doing this last winter. He's an entirely self-taught dog (in the art of snow diving) and I'm proud of him.

#crawling along #(* edit because the first sentence said 'today' but this was yesterday)#(i got distracted by my goat vs sheep studies last night and didn't have time to finish this post!)

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badly-drawn-doflamingo · 2 months

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The Brutality (and some censoring) Of The Rumbar Deaths.

Similar to my piece on Yorki and his lil sickness, this is again just something that haunts me constantly and is honestly something I don’t see anyone else talking about. Maybe this is because I have Rumbar Pirates autism. The deaths of the Rumbar Pirates are often thought to just be the snippet we see during their final moments, however Oda paints a much darker picture, with such dark hues the anime had to censor some of this. To begin, I am going to introduce you all to a certain Rumbar Pirate. Pirates.

This is Madaisuki! He has a twin brother named Madawadasuki Mizuta!

These Mizuta boys are named this because they are the japanese pun of “I love DOTS!” and “Dots ain’t half bad!” We know they were young, and that they wanted to be just like Brook. (I will go over these statements a bit later.) They wore matching clothing, mirroring one another as some twins do, having a tight bond. We already know their candles were snuffed out too short, but do you know how this happened to each? Madawadasuki is shown in the Bink’s Sake flashback, blood pooling on his temple and matting some of his hair. He looks tired, but with a smile, plays on with the other remaining crew. That is the key word here, remaining. There were hundreds of men on this ship yet THIS is what we see surrounding Brook on the deck? Where are the rest. THAT is where Madaisuki comes in.

Madaisuki does not die on screen, but his body, just the body, is gruesome enough that the anime had to censor it. When we find the young man, he is in one of the off rooms, looks to be the dining area, thrown onto the floor with his arms outstretched, with his hair still attached to the skull.

This is not the reason behind the censoring, no, the reason is the cause of death.

Plunged into his skull and back, pinning his body to the floor with his jaw still open, are his own weapons. His own swords pin his body to the floor, so even if he somehow survived the attack, he could not get up, however with your own blade through your brain case and into the blood spattered floor below you, that is not much of an option.

This leaves a few things open for the reader to take in. Why is he tucked away in an off room like this? Well, it means the battle either continued into these rooms, not just on deck, which is more than likely shown by the shattered mirrors and doors in the bedrooms and hallways we see, or poor Madaisuki was cornered, and slain.

In any case, this means his brother either also saw this and continued to smile and sing for Laboon, or held a hope that somehow, his twin was just somewhere else, tucked away to die in peace.

This is just one body, one upon hundreds, we know this because of a line Franky states so casually I am unsure if the anime added it; “We could not carry them all, we buried them here. The weight was too much for the Sunny to take.”

The weight was too much for the Sunny to take.

How many men died, because those multiple upon multiple coffins were not filled with bodies, but skulls. Only skulls.

If the ship cannot carry it, how do we expect BROOK?? He must hold grief for he was acting Captian, these things on his head alone, and knowing he failed his partner, my god, that must ache. To know you created widows, fatherless children, families who will never know if their little boys or men or partners or fathers would come home. No closure, only Brook, and the poison that caused the remaining light-hearted musicians to bleed out in their little heap.

When Brook picks up the skull of Madaisuki, a memory comes to mind. Perhaps not a recent one, for he knew them for many years, but one that stood out to him. One Oda chose for us to see as a representation of Brook’s thoughts;

“You’re awesome, Brook! Can you teach me to swordfight like you?”

We see the body, with his own weapons used against him, holding his corpse in place with a hole blasted through his brain. His polka dots he adored are spattered as well, torn where his ribcage was cut open. Brook failed him. He failed them all, in his eyes, not the viewer or actuality. And this breaks my heart.

#these men had no idea the brutality of pirates #there was no one piece #we are the Rumbar pirates #here to put a smile on every child’s face #they were just sweethearts #and they were GUTTED #one piece #rumbar pirates #brook #calico Yorki #mizuta twins #character analysis #the Rumbar pirates #anime #their Motto was LITERALLY #character death

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halcyone-of-the-sea · 7 months

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Congrats on passing 5k followers, you really deserve every one of them!! I'd love to see a little blurb about reader finding out former bf/husband Graves didn't actually die. Whether she was 141, shadows or just a civilian doesn't really matter too much to me, whatever strikes you with the most ideas haha! Thank you! 😁

—Sleeping On The Porch

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 5k Drabble Masterlist ࿐ྂ

╰┈➤ ❝ [As it turns out, your husband never really died. It's safe to say you're not overjoyed.] ❞

You stare at him from the entrance of the door, eye twitching at the bouquet of flowers as the night air settles in.

Phillip’s face is tight with tension.

“C’mon, Sweetheart,” he chuffs a fake laugh through his accent. “Surprise.”

Your lips don’t utter a peep.

The man is worse for wear—his face patched with bandages and his clothes showing the bulk of wrappings underneath. He’d been gone for months; gone from you, your home, your bed. You had thought he had died.

Seeing him here now didn’t have the same effect you thought it would. Your eyes spark with pure rage.

“Hey, now,” Phillip tries to move forward but stops himself when your face contorts into a snarl, blinking quickly and holding up his free hand—your wedding band still wrapped around his finger. No word or calls…does he think you’re just going to forgive him for this? “Don't…don’t be like that, now, Doll. I’m home! How about you let me in and we can talk it all out over some dinner, alright? I’ll do all the cooking, you don’t even worry about it.”

Your body is utterly stone, and his silver tongue won’t work on you this time.

Without a kiss or a word to him, you slam the door right in his face. Locking it deftly, you wash your hands of it and turn on your heel as the pounding on the wood starts up, the delicate calls of your name before the handle is tried and found immobile.

“Sweetheart?!” His voice is muffled as you walk up the stairs to your bedroom—because it was your bedroom now, and it would be until that man knew how to grovel properly. He’s lucky he’s sleeping on the porch and not the street. “I…It’s cold out here, y’know!” A pause before the man hears the echo of a shutting door from far inside. The shadow of his boots shifts. “...I brought you flowers…”

In the early morning, you sneak down, still in pajamas, and your feet bare to the hardwood below you. Padding over, you quietly unlock the door with the intent to peek out to see if your husband is still there.

Peeling the door back just a smidge, you blink at the absence of anyone. For a moment you wonder if it was just a dream, but then you step outside and spot the sleeping figure on the porch swing.

On his back, Phillip rests, your flowers atop his chest like a child as the bend of his elbow covers the man’s eyes to allow him a longer sleep. You bink, sighing long and low as your head shakes.

Walking over, you look down at him as his chest slowly rises and falls—the slight shiver from the early morning chill. You don’t feel back about this; about making sleep outside like a dog. By your accounts it was the least he deserved and, in fact, a very merciful fate.

Looking at his broken body, you shift your gaze away before the pain in your chest comes back. Damn him.

But it’s only when you look back that you notice that his arm has shifted farther up his head—resting now on his hairline as he looks up at you softly.

“M’sorry,” he breathes, face open and lips being bitten for a moment before he looks away from you. Your hands wrap your waist.

There will be no warmth from you—not now.

“You’re going to have to do more than just say that, Phillip Graves.” His blue eyes are heavy with guilt, but he nods nonetheless.

There was a long road to go.

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mysticallystilinski · 2 months

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𝐩𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞

(𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐜!𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 - anakin was distant from you, but he had a surprise up his sleeve to cheer you up.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 - 0.5k

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 - pure fluff (that’s it).

『 masterlist + nav + taglist 』 𝜗𝜚

the last few days have been rough for you. losing yourself was a main reason for these predicaments. anakin had been with padme, protecting her from the surrounding dangers. in reality, he hadn’t spent time with you in a few weeks. of course he didn’t know about these thoughts, but he could sense that something was off about you.

“y/n, where are you?”, anakin called out. you had been weeping in your bed, distraught from the heartbreak of missing him. anakin heard your cries coming from across the room, he slowly paced himself towards your bed and sat down. “what’s wrong?”, he asked sentimentally. it was hard to act like nothing was wrong around anakin. he brought the feelings out of you, and you never knew how.

you pushed yourself up from your position to be face to face with him. “ani – i just don’t know anymore”, you cried out. “i’ve been feeling so distant from you.” truthfully, you had been feeling that way. romantically, you needed more from him. “baby, what’s wrong, i’m always here for you”, he cooed. his hand was placed upon your face. he slightly lifted your chin up to maintain eye contact.

“it’s just – with padme, i feel that you’re leaving me for her”. you spoke slowly, tears filling your eyes. anakin shook his head immediately, “no y/n – please don’t think that”. “i love you princess, i always will”, he smiled. you couldn’t help but feel better at his soft words. it wasn’t hard for anakin to immediately make you feel better.

“here – take my hand”, anakin spoke through the silence. questioningly, you put out your hand in reply to his words. he softly grasped your hand, and pulled you off the bed. “dance with me y/n”. nevertheless, you went closer to him in a tight position. waves of happiness went throughout your body as anakin slowly moved his body to the rhythm.

yes, there was no music, but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t dance. “here, step along with me”. anakin began to lead the way into a slow waltz as you giggled at his demeanor. in response to his movements, you began to sway with him. the dance was slow, but passionate.

anakin slowly dipped you, and twirled you around. you were his princess, and he was your prince. something chirped from across the room. you tilted your head in confusion, “ani – what’s that noise?”. a sly smirk fell across his face. “jar-jar, you can come in now”.

in his hands held a handsome puppy. he was black, with a pink bow upon his head. “ani – you did not!”. anakin smiled at your remark. “y/n, i did too”, he cooed. in the heat of the moment, you kissed anakin upon his soft lips. “thank you, thank you, thank you”, you giggled. jar-jar headed over to you two lovebirds. he placed the puppy in your hands, and gave him a small pat on his head.

“i love me doggy”, jar-jar spoke. “binks – it’s our puppy”, anakin grinned. “i cannot believe you did this anakin”, you realized. you held the puppy with such soft hands, and gave him a slight kiss. “what should we name him?”, ani questioned. “i think i’d like to name him.. – prince”, you decided. anakin huddled up to you and the puppy, “prince it is”.

he placed a small kiss upon his head. it was a special moment, one you wouldn’t forget. of course, this would be the first of your many children.

𝐥𝐚𝐯 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 i just really wanted to write a cute fluff for aotc ani!! everyone, send in requests + any comments. or if you just wanna talk my asks are always open!

୭ ✧

taglist - - @spencerreidxx @bellereadstories @rafescokenostril @ena-enola @grandmasterswife @zoomerkins @ribbonprincess @tenaciousathleteoperatorgarden @ggabivs @dwntwn-strnlo @starlitblair @worldsgreatestarcher @chiaraanatra @wrongframeofmind23 @sarahmichelle1624 @jediavengers @rafeinterlude @ilovebookmen @mwdhwtter @nin356 @sarahirmiz @rafesbabygirll @idek1214 @st4rkeysw1f3y @sully101 @midnight--raine

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gffa · 2 years

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I am TWENTY MINUTES into The Phantom Menace and I am in absolute tears, Qui-Gon Jinn is the funniest person in this entire franchise, he basically doesn’t sense shit about anything hinky on this mission and doesn’t care, he calls the Federation types all a bunch of cowards, he calls Jar Jar Binks brainless and says the ability to speak doesn’t make you intelligent, that man cannot stand that Gungan from the word go, and he is the one who starts bullying Jar Jar to get him to reveal where the Gungan city is, Obi-Wan joining in with the shit your pants level terrifying things that are coming for them that they do to this Gungan, like they are seamless, they have clearly done this before, Qui-Gon has very obviously bullied people and gotten his Padawan to tag-team them with him, then they go to Otoh Gunga and Qui-Gon busts out the Jedi Mind Trick which is reasonable the first time, but then he pauses for a moment, clearly considering, and then is like, well, how about a transport, too? and his delivery on the line had me weeping with laughter because his voice goes up at the end like, oh, well, as long as we’re here....? because he just realized oh he absolutely can fleece these idiots blind, this man has no morals so far, he only brings Jar Jar along with them instead of leaving him to be executed because Jar Jar will be useful, then there’s the trip through the core of the planet where he sits in the back because hell no he’s not sitting next to Jar Jar and he deadass does not engage in any of the conversation in asking more about what happened with Jar Jar, he leaves that entirely up to Obi-Wan, and then Qui-Gon Jinn does not give a single solitary fuck when the Goober fish is eaten, he’s just like, yeah, same shit different day, meanwhile Obi-Wan is in the driver’s seat staring into the middle distance for like a solid five seconds that feels like ten goddamned minutes while he’s questioning every single life choice he has ever made, then Jar Jar keeps freaking out and Qui-Gon uses the Force to calm him and he borderline passes out because that man wanted that Gungan to shut the fuck up and even Obi-Wan is like, “You overdid it”, and I AM ONLY TWENTY MINUTES INTO THIS MOVIE, I AM CRYING, QUI-GON JINN IS THE FUNNIEST PERSON IN THE MOVIES.

#obi wan kenobi #jar jar binks #qui gon jinn #meta #i make myself laugh and that's all that's important

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shankss-magnificent-ass · 8 months

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Imagine the red haired pirates coerce you into singing for them

Shanks: *leading the crew in singing Bink's Sake*

Uta: *on a table trying to sing over everyone*

Yassop: *playful nudges you when he notices when you're just sitting there*

You: *shoots him an awkward smile as you shake your head*

The crew: *cheers as they finish the song*

Benn: whew boy, look at the time, it's nearly midnight, I think it's time to call it a night.

Lucky Roux: Careful there, your age is showing there, bud.

Yassop: we're not going yet, one more song.

Benn: but it's past my bedtime

Yassop: not yet, we always finish off the night with the crew singing a song together, and unfortunately someone wasn't singing along with us during the last one. *ruffles your hair*

You: I can't carry a tune.

Hongo: *grins* I bet you could do it if there was a gun to your head.

You: I'd have to tell you to pull the trigger piglet.

Shanks: Now you have to sing us a song to make up breaking one of our party traditions.

You: can't I owe you one? It's late, and I'm tired

Shanks: Haha. No

The crew: Sing, sing, sing sing.

Yassop: *picks you up and plops you on a table* you have the stage.

You: Ugh, y'all are really gonna make me do this, aren't you.

Uta: yes now sing!

You: *sings the only song that comes to mind*

The crew: *applaud and sing along*

When you're done

You: there happy

Shanks: I didn't know you have such a pretty voice.

You: You're just saying that to be nice.

Uta: He is being nice

Shanks: *gives her the disapproving dad warning side eye *

Uta: And honest! We should totally sing together sometime.

Benn: *gives her a subtle thumbs up*

Yassop: can we go home now?

Benn: fuck yes, I'm tired.

List of Up-and-coming works

Support me on Kofi and Patreon

#one piece #one piece x reader #one piece imagine #akagami no shanks #red haired shanks #red hair shanks #red hair pirates #red haired pirates #benn beckman #shanks x reader #yassop #lucky roux #lucky roo #hongo #Uta #from the depths of the dragon's hoard #tma original #9/26/23 #no beta we die like men

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david-talks-sw · 10 months

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An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

#jedi order #star wars #sw meta #long post #meta #lucasfilm #star wars prequels #prequel trilogy #sw prequels #high republic #the high republic #dark times #imperial era #the clone wars #tcw #sw negativity

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salty-says · 2 months

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Omg I’m alive

Here you go @221bloggergirl221

Take Care

Sanji woke up with excruciating pain, everywhere. The sun blared down at him and he grimaced. Rolling onto his side he cracked his eyes open, trying to get his barrings.

He tried to remember the last thing that had happened before he blacked out. He looked up and saw the rest of his crew lying down, passed out. Everyone except— “Zoro.”

Sanji shot up and ignored the pain screaming at him. He scanned the battle field full of rubble and bodies. With no luck finding the ball of moss he started running. He needed to find him, that bastard couldn’t have died.

The pressure in his lungs stung as he ran, but he ignored it. Jumping over fallen rocks. his legs shook. He kept running until he saw Zoro’s peculiar green hair.

He paused and stared at him. His arms were crossed, body standing tall, clothes torn and ripped, blood all around him.

Sanji gasped quietly and approached him. Kuma didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight, “What happened?”

Zoro didn’t move, he just kept standing firm and tall, “Nothing happened.”

Sanji was about to respond with an angry retort but before he could he saw it. The break in Zoro’s demeanor. The slight tremble of his legs.

He quickly ran over to him and caught his bloody body before it hit the ground. Zoro’s face looked pained, even more than after his fight with Mihawk.

“You dumb idiot.” Sanji whispered before scooping him up in his arms bridal style.

He walked over to his other crew mates. They seemed to be coming to. They sat up grimacing in the light just as Sanji did before. All were rubbing their bodies, trying to soothe the aches that were there.

Except for Luffy, he was jumping up and down yelling about how he didn’t have any pain. Sanji’s eyes narrowed as he thought about how much pain Zoro must be in and how their idiot captain is shoving his painlessness in their faces.

Sanji held Zoro closer to his body so he could here the small breaths Zoro was taking. He trekked towards the castle. One of the rooms seemed to still be intact and Sanji thought it would be a good place for Zoro to rest and get treatment. Sunny was too far away and Zoro needed care now.

“Chopper!” Sanji yelled as he passed the little reindeer who was already starting to patch up Usopp.

Chopper looked up and wailed, “Sanji! Is Zoro okay? Is he alive?! What happened!”

“I don’t know, but he is breathing. Please take him inside and treat him.”

Chopper switched to his human form and grabbed Zoro from Sanji, “Right! Can you go to Sunny and get extra supplies for me? I have enough to treat Zoro but not enough for this battlefield.”

Sanji nodded and Chopper ran off inside the building with Zoro in his arms. He sighed and lit a cigarette, the sweet smoke filling his lungs. He went over to his crew first, making sure his ladies were okay. Robin was helping Nami stand up. They seemed to have minor injuries.

“Are you ladies alright? Need anything from Sunny?” Sanji asked them sweetly.

Nami and Robin turned to him, eyes widening at his injured state. “Sanji-kun…you need to see Chopper.”

Sanji smiled, “I appreciate your worry mademoiselle, but I can assure you that Chopper has some great priorities right now. And you two must be treated before me. I am actually on a mission from our dear doctor getting more supplies.”

Nami and Robin turned to each other before looking back towards Sanji, “Maybe some clothes would be nice, cook-san.”

“As you wish, my loves!” Sanji bowed before making his way to the Sunny.

. . .

Everyone was treated and the post battle glory emanated throughout the room. Brook riled up the crowd as he shared Bink’s Sake with everyone.

Sanji smiled and looked back to the meal he was making. Most everything had already gone out to everyone but he had one last one to make. With some seafood Sanji finished the plate and brought it over to the one he made it for.

Zoro was lying on a makeshift bed at the back of the room. He was covered in bandages like a mummy. Sanji placed the plate on the table next to Zoro before kneeling down next to his bed.

“Marimo,” He whispered.

Zoro stirred a bit but didn’t open his eyes.

Sanji looked behind him to make sure no one was watching them. He gently ran a hand through Zoro’s hair, trying to coarse him to wake, “Marimooo.”

Zoro’s face contorted and he cracked his left eye open slightly. He blinked his eyes before looking up at Sanji, “Cook?”

“How are you feeling?” Sanji asked as he pulled up a chair next to him.

Zoro grumbled and tried to sit up, hissing in pain. Sanji grabbed his arm softly and helped him. Zoro looked at Sanji angrily but didn’t pull away.

Now upright against the pillows, Zoro looked down at himself, “Shit.”

“Yeah you got your ass beat, hard.” Sanji smirked.

“Shove it, shit cook! It was so I could save your lousy ass!” Zoro growled at him.

Sanji rolled his eyes, “And look where that got you. Now, shut up and eat the onigiri I made you.”

Zoro looked at the plate Sanji grabbed and sighed. Sanji picked up one of the onigiri’s and brought it to Zoro’s mouth. However, Zoro grimaced and turned away.

“That’s humiliating.” He said.

Sanji’s brow furrowed in anger as he slammed the plate back onto the side table, “You know what you selfish bastard?! You can suffer here by your-fucking-self. I’m trying to help you and all you want to do is continue being a fucking jerk!”

Sanji turned away and was about to break for the other side of the room before something caught his arm.

Weakly he heard, “Wait, please…”

Sanji paused and turned. Zoro’s weakly gripped his sleeve with his face down in defeat.

Zoro looked up to him with pleading eyes, “Please help me.”

Sanji sighed and closed his eyes. He sat back down in the chair and picked up an onigiri once more bringing it to Zoro’s mouth.

Zoro blushed before opening his mouth and eating it, “It’s really good.”

Sanji smiled and kept feeding him, “I’m glad.”

The background noise seemed to drown out to them as they shared this intimate moment. When Zoro finished all the onigiri he yawned.

“Get some rest, mosshead.”

Zoro paused, “…will you…will you stay here with me?”

Sanji’s eyes widened as he let the request sink in. Zoro flushed, “I-I mean—sorry that was a stupid. Never mind me.”

Cracking a smile, Sanji grabbed Zoro’s bandaged hand and held it gingerly in his, “Of course I’ll stay.”

Zoro smiled and squeezed Sanji’s hand weakly. He did his best to create room on the bed. As Sanji saw what he was doing he blushed, “Oh, in there?”

Zoro nodded. Sanji smiled and let go of his his hand to get in next to him. It was cramped but warm. Zoro lay on his back as Sanji lay on his side wrapping his arms and legs around Zoro.

Sanji’s head rested on Zoro’s shoulder. Zoro smiled as he felt Sanji’s blonde hair ticked his chin.

“Get some rest,” Sanji mumbled.

Zoro maneuvered his face into Sanji’s hair and grunted. Sanji smiled and sleep came over him. Soon enough both of their bodies relaxed and they were peacefully asleep.

#one piece #zosan #roronoa zoro #one piece sanji #vinsmoke sanji #sanji x zoro #sanzo #one piece zoro #thriller bark angst #thriller bark zosan #thriller bark #op

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oxymorayuri · 2 months

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𝐶𝘩𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝟷𝟹

𝐴 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 »

𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑔𝑎𝑟 𝐷. 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝐿𝑎𝑤 ✘ ♀ 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓: Aydana / lababa

Story: The princess of Tanata

(Long Fic)

➽ Click on this link to see all chapters.

Spoiler: nope

Warnings: not really, just some talking about Bepos bro.

slowburn with plot

Wordcount: 3194

Text in italics emphasizes the reader’s thoughts

Bold and italic text emphasizes Law's thoughts *~*

Tagging: @slytherinambitious - @sassyyassi - @norasincubi - @cottoncandyloverrrr - @one-piece-frvr7

After the fight, you hang out on the meadow.

The sun shines through the tree crowns and a gentle breeze blows occasionally. Together you enjoy the peaceful evening and people chat in their little groups. Sanji came with Chopper and Franky and brought dinner for everyone.

The day couldn't be more beautiful.

After dinner, Brook played a song for the group, a song about pirate life. The pirates around you cheered and sang the song with their arms around each other. Although you don't know the lyrics, the cheerful mood makes you swing along and you clap to the beat.

Binks' Sake | Binkusu no Sake ♪♪♪ Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho Going to deliver Binks' sake! We are pirates sailing through the sea! The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost Flying the proud skull on our flags and our sails ♪♪♪

You are amazed at how everyone can actually sing along to the song and the lyrics make you curious. After the performance, you watched the sunset together.

I wonder what it's like to be a pirate?

Your father has always made you so curious and the stories he and his crew told you have awakened a longing in you. It made you want to get to know life out there and sail the seas.

And for the first time in years, you feel this longing again, which you had shut off back then.

Why? Well, because you didn't want to sail into a world where people are both dangerous and cruel.

But with the crew before your eyes you are pretty relieved…

They give you hope that not all humans and even pirates are like that. They are not like the people from back then, as they have proven in the last days.

"Princess, what are you thinking about?" Bepo appears in your field of vision and pulls you out of your thoughts. He takes a seat next to you and looks up into the sky you were looking a moment ago. You get out of your position and lean against the furry mink. Your gaze returns to the sky.

"Tell me, Bepo, do you ever miss home?" - "Miss my home? My home is the Polar Tang!" He says proudly and hums a little laugh. His expression is very soft as he watches the passing clouds. He wraps a paw around you and pulls you closer to him and you snuggle up further.

The way you two snuggle together has already become quite normal. Often you've joined Bepo when you've seen him lying in the sun, in the quiet palace garden and together you've looked for funny pictures in the clouds.

"But if you mean the place where I was born, then I can tell you that yes, I miss my old home, but there was an important reason why I left my home island…" Although he lies calm and relaxed with you, you can hear the sadness in his voice. You gently brush against his paw and pat him. You look caringly into his eyes and he returns your gaze.

"But when I'm at sea with my crew, the Heart Pirates, home is everywhere." He covers up his sadness and gives you a little Eskimo kiss on the nose, which you happily return.

"You said that very beautifully." You can't help but hug the mink tightly with your thin arms.

"But why did you come up with that, Princess?" You look up at him with sparkling eyes.

"I've always wanted to leave this island and discover the wonders of the outside world, but my family and friends are here…" You look to the side a little nervously.

You leave out the detail that your grandfather would never let you sail off anyway. Never. Not even if he wasn't the king. But you are also quite uneasy. Because as mentioned, the world out there also has a dark side.

But you're still sure that your curiosity will outweigh this feeling and you would take the risk… if only you were allowed to…

You laugh to yourself a little longingly.

"Hmm, maybe you just haven't found the right reason, that makes you want to break away from your roots." Bepo speaks thoughtfully. You look up at him, a little confused.

A real reason?

This question is written all over your face and the polar bear giggles again.

"Yes. For example, I wanted to find my brother." - "Did you find him?" You look up at him expectantly, but the mink exhales deeply.

"No…" There it is again. That heartbreaking sadness in his soft voice. This feeling goes straight through your chest.

"Not yet." You add to his sentence as you take both of his paws in your small hands and bring them to your forehead. You close your eyes as you feel Bepo bury his cheek in your hair. You whisper a little prayer to yourself and break away from your pose to look into his beady black eyes.

"Your journey just isn't over yet, I firmly believe you'll see him again." You could literally see it in front of your own eyes. Like a distant memory, you could see Bepo embracing his brother. You felt happiness and relief, but maybe it was just your deepest wish that sparked your imagination… Who knows.

"Even as a child I always wanted to see a Sea King, I'd say that's my reason!" Your voice seems so enchanted that a small laugh escapes from the polar bear.

"Nah, that's a weak reason." Your gaze goes up and there stands Shachi who has just casually butted into your conversation. You look at him with a raised eyebrow as he devours a few cookies with relish and offers you one too. You gratefully accept one as he takes a seat in front of you.

"Uh okay. Weak?" Blushing, you look at him questioningly.

"Hey, don't say it like that…" Penguin stands behind him with his hands on his hips, and as he takes a seat next to the cookie devouring man, he pulls his cap over his face.

"Hey, what are you doing?! I was just telling the truth!" Offended, he frees his face and gives the man next to him a dirty look. Penguin, on the other hand, shakes his head.

"HOW you say something is the point!" He declares with his finger raised. Politely, he turns to you with a hand on his chest.

"The princess's reason is not weak… just too easy!" You furrow your eyebrows, just as confused as before.

"Easy?" you look back and forth between the two men.

Then you look up questioningly at Bepo, who shrugs his shoulders and is just as confused by what the two guys are saying.

For a while you watch the back and forth arguing between the two men. Shachi says that it's the same thing, while Penguin desperately preaches about manners. You can't help but laugh. The two of them are just too entertaining, it would be torture for you not to laugh. If you're honest, you weren't even angry about Shachi's choice of words. You were more curious as to why your reason was weak or rather translated; too easy. Penguin's behavior warms your heart and the two in front of you seem like an old married couple.

"Hey what's up with you guys?" You open your eyes, which you had closed because of your laughing fit, and wipe the tears from the corners of your eyes. You look behind the men, who freeze in the middle of their quarrel, to look up at Law.

"Captain!" Bepo shouts happily. "Penguin and Shachi are just arguing about whether the princess's reason is weak or too easy." The men look back and forth from Law to Bepo in total shock. Bepo's words are so out of the blue. He hums a little skeptically and sits down as well. Law tries to understand the whole thing, but can't quite find the context.

Princess-ya's reasons? Weak or too easy?

He has no idea what the situation was before he came along. He was just curious because he heard from afar, how the two guys were arguing and you were laughing at full force.

Law looked into the Mink's beady eyes and made it quite obvious, that he was expecting a better explanation but the Polar Bear didn't get his signals and just grinned happily at him, now that Law was here. (lol llittle fangirl.)

"We've talked about how everyone has their reasons for leaving home, to sail out into the world… And Penguin and Sachi share the same opinion, that my reason isn't really good?" You're still a bit confused yourself, as you don't really know what they mean by that, but at least you can clear things up for Law.

With a raised eyebrow, he nods as he looks over at the men.

"Okay… and what's the reason?" Even though he's facing the men, his eyes are looking at you.

"Sea Kings" you speak a little quietly. You're nervous about what his answer will be.

"Sea Kings?" he repeats your word, clearly surprised.

"Yea Sea Kings…"

"Yeah okay, I agree with those two. That is indeed too easy."

Now, not only Shachi and Penquin are the two who are open mouthed but you and Bepo join in the shock. Law, on the other hand, crosses his arms and grins with his eyes closed.

You shake your head. Now you really want an explanation of what that means. If Law even thinks that, then he has to explain it to you now.

"What does too easy mean?" - "You'll meet a Sea King pretty quickly."

"Oh, okay." - "Your reason is definitely a tourists reason."

You're caught off guard by Law's direct manner and and your eyes blink with confusion, as your jaw dropped open. Law finds your reaction quite funny and decides to tease you some more.

"What do you do when you meet a Sea King? What do you get out of meeting a Sea King and what comes after?" You close your mouth, as you really don't have an answer for Law, and break the eye contact.

"You have the desire to meet a Sea King, but it's not really a reason to leave everything behind…"

You're confused by the whole reason thing. Law asks you things you don't understand.

"Why do I have to need a reason? Can't I see the journey as a reason?" To your confusion, the black haired man just grins at you and adjusts his hat a little. When his eyes look into yours again, you are slightly startled. His gaze goes right through you.

"Of course." His agreeing makes you study him closely, you can't figure out his true thoughts.

"Not everyone needs a good reason to sail the world, but you do, since you have a reason to stay." He looks at you as if he has read you like an open book.

Perhaps he already knows you too well, as you have spent a lot of time together in the past few days. But you can't get a single word past your lips. Law is visibly amused by your speechlessness, as you're usually a pretty talkative person.

"You have to understand that people either have a reason to leave, or to stay. You may want to see a Sea King, but that's not reason enough to leave; what's your reason for staying Princess-ya?" Slowly you follow the riddle that Law speaks and see his message.

"My family." you answer him absently.

"See… so "Sea King" isn't exactly a good reason, because it's not enough for you to drop the reason why you're staying." Law raises his arms a little as if presenting the answer that is becoming clearer to you.

"Woah that makes so much sense it hurts." Exhausted, you let yourself fall backwards into Bepo's arm. He gently pats your head.

You do realize that you don't have enough reasons to leave your homeland. You have wishes, but you know that not all of them will come true.

Basically, Law just wanted to show you that it's okay to have a reason to stay. You may not realize that many of the people here have led lives that are far from your imagination and that they had no reason to stay… but he's not sure if you understood it that way. He just doesn't want to go into it any further.

And as Law feared, you didn't take it that way.

As you all make your way back to the castle, you think hard about Law's words.

You want to discover the world, but you're a little scared. If you leave, what will happen to your people? What if they get attacked again? You have a great responsibility in this country and don't have the luxury of living out your desires.

Your duties. That is the reason why you stay.

You are envious that you don't have the privilege of choosing over your own life. Your life has been prophesized, carved into stone and tattooed on your skin.

Your life has been lived thousands of times and you are destined to begin and end your life here.

Your heart is heavy but you are proud to be the priestess of Tanata, if it weren't for the desire.

It's hard not to notice that your thoughts are elsewhere. You sip your tea absently while your grandfather and Delia talk about the current situation.

Grandfather had urged you to have a cup of tea with the family again, as most of your attention has been on the guests over the last few days, but the family shouldn't be neglected. You were a little annoyed.

If family is so important to him, why didn't he come and tell you in person?

[Yesterday]

When you came back to the castle, you went straight to your bedchamber... You just wanted to be alone and think about everything your pirate friends had told you.

You didn't even pay your grandfather a visit in his study, nor did you have your afternoon tea with Delia. These are things that are completely normal for you and your king noticed this unusual behavior immediately. He sent his butler that same evening to deliver "the king's words" to you. He wants to see you at tea tomorrow and you realize, that it's more of an order than a request.

Only ONCE did I not follow my routine and I was immediately addressed… Ughhh how annoying!

You angrily threw your pillows at the door that the butler had closed.

You're tired of doing the same thing every day and if it doesn't go the way you're supposed to, it's immediately pointed out.

Your whole life is planned. You already know what will happen in the future and even your funeral is already planned.

You will be buried next to all the priests, who were once the bearers of the devil's fruit. You have a statue that resembles you and the people of your generation will pray at your grave, when you pass away one day.

It makes you sad. You won't even be buried in the cemetery of the royal family... You won't lie next to your mother and father or get married... You are not your own person. You are just the holy child of the devil's fruit.

Your thoughts are running wild. The reason to stay is your destiny but your reason to leave is freedom…

But you are not sure if you are allowed to be free. You lack nothing here and you have everything one could dream of… You keep telling yourself that.

You pull your legs towards you and bawl your eyes out on your knees. But a twisted smile crosses your depressed face.

"I should be ashamed of myself." You know it's your duty and you're ashamed of your own desires.

[Present]

Absently you look into the distance, your gaze as empty as your heart. Your thoughts dance the tango and the sides inside you argue about which path is the right one.

Your grandfather can't help but notice how you struggle with yourself, but he doesn't speak to you. He knows that if you want to talk, you will come to him. Forcing or pushing you to do something is never a good idea.

What an irony.

Because he is very aware of the weight on your shoulders. The expectation you have to fulfill… in the last week it has become clear that you have different feelings about your life. But he won't let you go, not because you have to stay. He can't let you go.

"Hey my angel, you're not saying a word today. Did something happen?" Delia brushes a strand of hair out of your face while she looks for the color in your eyes.

You feel like a stranger in your heart and exhale a little heavily.

"Not really."

Delia looks over at your grandfather, hoping for support, but he just watches quietly.

The table is filled with the most delicious pastries and food. All your wishes are always fulfilled without you having to do anything. Your life is so full that it makes you incomplete.

Do this, do that. Don't do this and don't do that. Be kind and friendly. Be elegant but smart. Be dignified but cunning. Be the most beautiful but the purest.

Love everyone but let no one alone own your heart. Sacrifice yourself but never die.

You are supposed to be so much and to your surprise you have always listened and obeyed. You fulfilled and even exceeded all expectations. You are holy.

But you are so much that you don't recognize your true face when you look in the mirror. Through your new friends you were able to realize that you are more than the praised child.

You are y/n. You don't want to be a princess or a priestess. You don't want to do the same thing every day. But you also don't want to leave anyone behind, neglect your duties and leave people who still mean the world to you without protection. You don't want to betray the gods, especially not after they've given you a chance. You don't want to disappoint anyone.

So is this the price you have to pay?

You are aware of what your heart longs for but you are stuck in some sort of identity crisis.

You can't have it both ways.

A/N: Hey babes! I wanted to talk to you about something. I'm always happy when you guys want to know when I'm posting the next chapter. Seriously! I feel so honored that I want to shower you with kisses. I would love to post several times a week but unfortunately I'm an adult (silent weeping). Yes I know I'm not the only one of course lol but I'm studying and working 30 hours a week on the side. I'm a tired bitch XD Feel free to keep asking me when I'll post again ♡, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm a bit busy. Normally I try to post once a week but the blockade is messing it up even more >:( Oh no, writer's block? Yupp and I hate it! let me explain; I'm currently near the end of the first arc and even though I have so many ideas, I'm having a hard time letting my imagination run wild. I hate it. There's still some info to wrap up but when I read my drafts I don't feel like writing anymore... I'm dying to get started but the Tanata arc is our prequel and unfortunately it's a bit dry. Dry is fine, but only for wine. How many arcs are planned, you're probably wondering; Well, I don't have a real ending in mind yet, I'm enjoying the process and developing more and more new ideas to keep the story alive. At the moment we are in the "Tanata arc", after that I already have rough ideas for 2 more arcs planned. The second arc is called "Polar Tang arc" and the third "Dress Rosa arc" In fact, I'm sticking to the original storyline of One Piece but creating an alternative version. I know there's always the fear that the author of the story you like, will cancel the story but believe me… I'm just as excited about what's going to happen like u are. lol, like I'm not the author XD I have some pretty dramatic stuff planned and I would love to do a timeskip but unfortunately I have to finish the Tanata arc. We can't look into the future if we don't live the present as my mom would say. Ughhh.

See you next time, kiss kiss ♡

➽ Next chapter

#trafalgar d water law #trafalgar one piece #one piece #law x reader #trafalgar d law x reader #trafalgar d water law x reader #trafalgar law x oc #trafalgar law x reader #trafalgardwaterlaw #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom #one piece fanfiction #one piece fandom #trafalgar law

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gamelpar · 1 year

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Which comes first, milk or cereal?

Ponds: cereal, obviously!

Cody: what kind of sociopath puts the milk in before the cereal.

Wolffe: milk, obviously.

Cody: i'm going to kill wolffe

Hardcase: i eat the cereal straight out the box then drink a bunch of milk and then breakdances so everything gets mixed inside my belly

Stone: i saw representative binks try to make a bowl of cereal once and it was so traumatic i can never eat cereal again

Rex: i have to send in more requests for cereal and milk than anything else including armor and weapons because half the time the boys don't even eat it they use it for pranks. do you have any idea how many shinies have come crying to me because there's no cereal because fives decided to glue cereal to everyone's armor for 'extra crunchy protection'?

Bacara: i pour milk and cereal into one big bowl, i eat it all and then i put the empty boxes back to crush my brothers' dreams problem solved

Kix: as long as you’re eating for the most important meal of the day i'm happy with you

Jesse: kix says i can't eat cereal for every meal because it's not healthy and i say if cereal is what kills me then that's how i go

Wooley: if you don't have a bowl for your cereal and milk your helmet will do just fine!

Gree: i had pepsi for breakfast. does that answer your question?

Boost: the only right way to eat cereal is with juice, and the juice always goes first in

Thire: i was so tired once i took milk then cereal then bowl and then i cried

Echo: i eat little handfuls of cereal at a time, like little snack breaks!

Bly: aayla showed me that cereal first minimize milk splatter she's so smart i love her and she gets new flavors with toys in the box for whole battalion whenever she can she's so wonderful i love her and

Hound: i prepare a bowl of cereal for grizzer every morning and she only likes it when i put the milk first

Sinker: i do cereal shots. alcohol then cereal then i dunk it i think my general's getting worried

Fives: pour milk directly into the box, waste no bowls!

Dogma: but i wanted cereal too

Tup: you can share with me! *pours milk before cereal*

Dogma: *screeches*

Neyo: i haven't eaten anything in years

Boil: cereal before milk. cody has had to reinforce this rule at least five times in the 212th

Waxer: cody first reinforced the 'cereal before milk' rule when he saw me take milk before cereal and he was sure i had a concussion and then he almost had one of his own when he realized that i was physically fine

Thorn: do you know how many times i have to stop fox from adding caf to his cereal instead of milk? Every Time.

Fox: the only acceptable fuel in the morning is 5 cups of caf and many more

#clone troopers #tcw #star wars #commander cody #captain rex #commander wolffe #commander fox #commander ponds #commander bly #wolfpack #501st legion #coruscant guard #212th battalion #commander bacara #commander neyo #commander gree #sw crack

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this-acuteneurosis · 7 months

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So Im all here for the Pretty Ladies who dress nicely doing all the politics, wonderful court intrigue right here, are we gonna talk about in the back ground the majority known Male characters are in War killing dying thing? this story IS about the back room deals and others as main setting, (although we should tease you about dodging the wars in Star Wars sometimes just as a little poke.) curious cause the 4 main Male politco 2 are enemies in Rush and Palps. Kamino had a fem evil Senator! use??

Who wants to talk about ✨🌈Palpatine🌈✨!

There haven't been a lot of opportunities to talk about the structure and the influence of our main villain textually in the story, because Leia is kinda blind to her own bias, and also a lot of stuff that I have as part of his character just...doesn't come up.

So, keep two things in mind as I talk about DLB Chancellor Sheev Palpatine and pull back the curtain just a little.

His character is coming pretty exclusively from the OT and PT movies (with minor exceptions).

I'm taking advantage of a lot of silences and time period circumstances to draw conclusions about his character, so don't be surprised if I say something that isn't said out loud at some point.

Ready? Let's go!!

The OT features an overabundance of male humans in positions of power in Palpatine's government. This may have been balanced out slightly by novels that I haven't read or newer shows that I haven't watched, but the people Palps promoted to his special seats of power (Moffs, military leaders) are overwhelming human men. If we stretch canon to include the two Clone Wars cartoon series, the only women brought into Palpatine's plots are brought in by Dooku or other associates, not Palpatine himself. Of the three apprentices Palpatine has, two are human and one is humanoid.

I don't think I'm breaking anyone's brain to assert that Palpatine is sexist and racist. I know I'm not the first person to suggest or write this sort of character.

What I'm going to assert, beyond those points, is that Palpatine is only really impressed with himself, and assumes that anyone lacking qualities that he has is progressively less useful and important than him. So he's also, for lack of a better word, Force-ist.

(Ugh, nope. I still don't like it, but I don't have anything else.)

Palpatine absolutely has loyalists and panderers that are women. But as far as DLB is concerned, he's not promoting them, searching them out, or impressed by them. So women are going to be antagonists in this story more incidentally. On a small scale. Major antagonists are going to end up frequently being male and human. And I'm not going to try and change that.

Only tangentially related, but a little important because Leia comes into the Senate through Padmé's office, because of the prejudices listed above, I will pretty much die on the hill that Palpatine loathes Padmé. And he really loathes that he loathes her. That he has to have any feelings about her at all.

She's young. She's a girl. She isn't Force sensitive. He plucked her out and carefully curated her early political experience and was probably violently influential in her success in getting elected the first time. He had a tiny, fragile, 14 year old stumbling under the weight of the crown, ready to start his civil war and initiate the end of the Republic. She gets him elected. His plan is flawless.

Until it turns out that she has a spine, and humility. She has the courage to face danger and the grace to bow to another sovereign power. She trusts Jar Jar Binks when he suggests that the gungans have an army. Like this is somehow a viable plan for taking back her people, when Jar Jar isn't even slightly popular or powerful.

And she wins. Palpatine loses Maul, he loses Naboo, and he loses the opportunity to start a war. She sets him back a solid decade, at 14. On a hope and a the thinnest apology.

DLB isn't so much about creating a perfectly equitable Star Wars universe. I'm not equipped for that, and it wasn't the goal. This story is about a bunch of ladies doing politics and kicking Palpatine's plans to the curb because he was always vulnerable to the people he dismissed the most.

Palpatine's plans had the Jedi and the Senate in a steel trap of lose-lose situations. But he loses, over and over, to kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and diplomacy. He's stymied by it. He literally can't plan for it. I've had all sorts of fun having Leia and Padmé do "mother-daughter" politics together, but I love that in RotJ Luke Skywalker looked the Emperor dead in the eyes and said, "No. No you can't make me do this." Like his mother would have. It had to drive Palpatine completely nuts. And it worked.

Anyway, all that to say, there's a lot of story left, and I'm not going to give away all of Palpatine's plans and plots. But part of how Leia got this far without any resistance was that Palpatine saw a short, unconnected woman from the outer rim, had no idea she could use the Force, and went, "Not important."

And he was very, very, very wrong. :D

#Don't Look Back #Sheev Palpatine #Padmé Amidala #Leia Skywalker #Luke Skywalker #politics #bias #I won't say there are no “bad women” in SW #but do a count sometime at how many of them also...stop being “evil”#and get a redemption arc/story #or are just in it for the money #not malice #there are a lot of interesting things to explore on a meta level #about women in the GFFA

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skygemspeaks · 8 months

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opla episode 6 is definitely my favourite so far. here are some thoughts:

the music in this is so good! i'm the kind of person who doesn't often notice the soundtrack unless it's a song i know well (like binks' sake or we are, both of which we've heard snippets of so far), but i did really like the funky beat we got in the luffy vs arlong fight

the character work in this was well done, specifically when it comes to luffy and sanji! one really good way to have emotional impact is to establish a certain aspect of a character's personality, and then subvert it to make a point. like we all know that luffy loves to eat, but then at the beginning of the episode when nami tells him to go to the baratie and he replies that he's not hungry right now? that's really cute. but later on in the episode, when sanji is preparing food for them, and luffy doesn't even notice it, because he needs to properly care for "wada itchy monkey" (ASKDLJASDJK) for zoro, that made my heart melt. he loves his crew SO much

and i really like that sanji was there to see it! it really gives more credence to his decision to leave his father and his whole life behind to sail off with a crew he's known for like two days. he sees luffy struggling with making the tough decisions, he hears luffy say that he would eat both arms and legs to save zoro's life, and he sees potential in him as a captain. he trusts luffy with his dream

also, the relationship between zeff and sanji was subtle but very sweet. sanji says "oregano is for savages" and you kinda laugh, but then you see in the flashback that it's a callback to the very first interaction he ever had with zeff, and it takes on new meaning. you hear them calling each other "shitty old man" and "little eggplant" and at the end of the episode when zeff finally calls sanji by name, it hits you like a punch in the heart. and sanji immediately picks up on that and calls zeff by name too! their love for each other is so obvious, and i really appreciate it.

it was really cool to see nami reading the story of noland to zoro! what a fun little thing, and again, i would love it if we ever got to see the payoff for this!

the live action really benefited from having the context of worldbuilding that's established later on in the series, namely what we learn about fishmen in the sabaody arc. i like that they included those scenes of arlong interacting with the humans, and it was especially cool to see the interplay between him and the fishman that works as the maitre d' for the baratie. it's playing on this whole feeling where when you're a person of colour who takes pride in your heritage, it can feel almost like a betrayal when you see another person from your culture just throwing it all away and adapting to the culture that they live in. there's nothing wrong with either of those choices, but for the person who takes pride in their culture, it feels almost like losing to the racists who want you to "just be normal" (ie assimilate). it's a very complicated and nuanced topic, and i like how they addressed it in the show.

garp's conversation with mihawk was another point of interest for me! i've been joking about it all this time, but i really do think that he's clinging to this idea that if he just manages to apprehend luffy before he reaches the grand line, before any OTHER marines take notice of him, he can still get through to luffy. maybe he can keep his grandson safe. because he knows that luffy already has the odds stacked against him, what with his father being the leader of the revolutionary army, and he doesn't want his grandson to die. then mihawk refuses to bring luffy in, and all garp can do is laugh in despair, and tear his office apart because it feels like everyone in the world is trying to stop him from keeping his grandson safe, and he's running out of TIME as luffy gets embroiled in more and more pirate bullshit and gets closer to the grand line, and he just needs to bring his grandson back. and then koby just pops that bubble by telling garp that luffy would rather die than take orders from anyone else. he'd rather die than be a marine. and garp can't deny it anymore, so he just gives up. and who knows what koby was thinking here. maybe he's still a bit naive. he loves his friend, and he thinks. what. maybe garp will just let luffy go? ignore him because he's not a threat? he's not like OTHER pirates after all. but garp has been a marine for 50 years, and he knows that's not how any of this works. he knows that he did everything he could to stop luffy from being a pirate, and maybe he's feeling a little bitter that luffy never listened to him, maybe he thinks it's what luffy deserves. if luffy wants to be a pirate, then garp will do his fucking damnedest to treat him like a fucking pirate. and later on, you can see koby's despair, because this is not what he wanted, not at all. but what did he want then? this is what i mean when i say i don't know how they're planning on resolving his character arc. because the way things are going now, it would seem to make the most sense for him to become disillusioned with the marines as he realizes they're not what he's been glorifying and idolizing all his life, right? so what happens? maybe it IS a set-up for that kind of story arc, the way it is in the manga. maybe this, plus later during marineford when he stands up to akainu is the setup for the long game. maybe koby's going to become a revolutionary in the endgame of the manga. i think he'd get along well with sabo.

in the aftermath of the arlong fight, when sanji is helping clean up the dining area and he has that conversation with zeff, it becomes obvious that all along, zeff has been trying to push sanji away. zeff demoted him to a waiter because he knows that sanji loves cooking, and zeff wanted him to LEAVE. zeff called his cooking shitty, said it wasn't good enough to serve to guests even though sanji is his sous chef, he was trained by zeff and you know zeff would never accept anything but the best. because zeff is proud of his restaurant, he really is, but he also doesn't want sanji to waste away his life in this little restaurant in the east blue. that's not the future zeff gave up his leg for. and it hurts, but he needs to push sanji out of the nest so that he can fly

the vow that zoro makes to luffy when he wakes up is really nice! i love that zoro seems to have finally accepted that these are his people, these are his family, and he's not trying to hide it anymore. that soft, indulgent little laugh he does when usopp is recounting the fight he totally had with the fishmen is that much sweeter after he's been so aloof and stoic all season. i like seeing him finally loosen up, and it feels so much more deserved now

#opla liveblog #opla spoilers #one piece #opla #spoilers #op spoilers #red leg zeff #sanji #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #usopp #arlong #nami #monkey d garp #dracule mihawk #koby op

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