The confidence that he had shown mere moments ago was gone and she felt guilty. She moved her hands to rest on his pauldrons again and gave him a few minutes to compose himself.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m just… not ready for—”
“You don’t have to be,” she interjected. “We’ll take this as slow as you need to. I just forgot myself for a second.”
He looked away and sighed. “This pace is probably frustrating for you.”
She reached up to touch his cheek and turned his head back to face her. “This pace is perfectly fine for me.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently, hoping to ease some of his anxieties. She internally breathed a sigh of relief when he visibly relaxed. “Why don’t we focus on getting some sleep?” She couldn’t see his face clearly but she knewthere were dark circles under his eyes and that he probably hadn’t been sleeping very well, based on past visits.
He nodded and then sheepishly admitted that he rarely took off all of his armor when he slept.
“That’s okay,” she told him.
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” he protested, as he moved to sit in a chair so he could remove what armor he was comfortable taking off.
Omera followed him and giggled. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve cuddled while you were wearing your armor.” It was a pretty common occurance, actually. He always protested about her being uncomfortable and she always countered that by snuggling even closer to him.
He paused his movements. “I guess that’s true.” He finished removing the thigh guards and toed off his boots.
She stepped in between his legs and touched a pauldron. “Can I help?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and stretched up to give her a gentle kiss. She leaned down to make it easier for him. “Is that a yes?” she asked.
He nodded.
Omera started with the cloak—watching his face carefully for nonverbal cues. He let her unwind the cloak from around his neck and she set it aside on the table. She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against his neck. “Is this okay?”
Din nodded again and she moved her hands to his pauldrons. He showed no outward sign of discomfort and she took that as a good sign.
Next, her hands drifted to his cuirass—making no move to remove it. He tensed up and she immediately moved her hands to his shoulders and kissed his cheek. He let out a sigh of relief and pulled her closer to him, resting his cheek on her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she soothed, with another kiss. “Let’s get some sleep.”
Yep.
I knew it.
It’s awesome.
Honestly, this addresses my absolute favorite thing about the #mandomera ship. Omera being so…Omera. Like, the women in The Mandalorian are either warriors, spit-fires, or raving homicidal psychos (sometimes all three, LOL) and Omera being affable and soft is, IMO, what appeals so to Din. She’s genuine. Honest. A breath of fresh air. The relationship between them is so different from every other Din + female relationship in the show. It’s not venomous. It’s not two people trying to “one-up” the other. It’s certainly not camaraderie between pals. It’s understanding. It’s giving. It’s paying attention to the other’s needs.
This is perfect.
Thank you so much!!! This is seriously such a huge compliment and I’m screaming!!
“Do you really want to know?” says a concerned voice, from the back of my mind.
“Yes. Why shouldn’t I know?” comes a reply, not from me.
“Maybe,” comes another.
“I guess not,” I finally say. I shouldn’t have bothered asking this question.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“No,” says a small voice to me.
“Why do you think that?” I ask it.
There’s no answer. Only crying.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Yes,” states someone matter-of-factly.
“How do you know for sure?”
“You’re literally talking to an alter, right now,” they point out.
Ugh! How is that supposed to answer my question?!
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Fuck off with these questions! It’s ridiculous!” growls something from deep inside, bubbling with rage. “Do you think this is fun? Do you think this is a game?”
I don’t.
Oh God, I don’t.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
Screams.
Ripping.
Spiraling.
Falling apart.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Why does it matter?” replies someone in the back.
“I don’t know,” I confess.
“Does it matter to you?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Does it matter to someone else?”
They already know the answer. They’re sitting in the back of my thoughts with it.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Do you feel like you’re not hurt enough?” Someone asks this.
The background is wracked with voices mirroring my own. Some shout yes, others shout no. I don’t know if they’re my own thoughts or something else.
“I’m not sure,” I finally say, confused.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Why are you asking this so much?” a voice asks.
“Well, sometimes I just wonder if I was hurt enough to have DID,” I explain.
“You have it. Doesn’t that already answer your question?”
“No,” I reply, a bit angrily. “I don’t feel like what I went through justifies me having DID like this. Wouldn’t my childhood have to be extremely unnatural? I mean, sure, I was suffering, but was that enough?”
“You do realize that sufferingisn’t natural, right?”
I don’t know how to reply.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
A child is asking me this. I hold them close. I cradle them in my arms and rock them.
“I wish you didn’t,” I sigh.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“You went through toomuch,” says someone else.
“Yeah. You did, too,” is all I can utter.
Acceptance fills out the space between us.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
A sad voice whispers through the frosty darkness. “I don’t wish anymore pain onto you.”
“I don’t wish it onto you, either,” a voice whispers back.
I touch their hands. We are connected.
—
Did I go through enough to cause DID?
“Yes, and the proof is in our existence. Our existence is proof of our survival,” a familiar voice answers me.
We survived?
“You did. I did. All of us survived.“
I feel the others shift inside. Warmth blossoms in my chest.
The system that is me, suffered. The system that is me, also survived.
Finally a chance to sit down and feel things instead of shoving it all down to face crisis after crisis, haha. Able now to look back at what happened to them with full understanding! Poor Sans in particular needed this - he’s never really owned or acknowledged any of the suffering he personally went through. He’s always put Papyrus first and he still does to this day, even when it hurts him. He blames himself for when Papyrus got hurtbackin the lab, even though the only one responsible for that pain was Gaster, and as a result he never focuses on anything that happened to him, only to Papyrus. On some level he feels like he deserved itwhilePapyrus didn’t, or at least he deserved it more. So hearing someone acknowledge that HE also suffered and his pain is legitimate and deserving of sadness is a bit overwhelming for him. Although they’re both kind of overwhelmed right now, haha.
This kind of thing can be so complicated! Thus Sans’s conflicted feelings and confusion about how to deal with them. There isn’t really any way to prepare for dealing with something like this… much less any kind of guide.
I killed Steve and Bucky many times, let’s not even talk about Sam and Dean Winchester (a day at the office…) but I never killed Tony in my art so…These new suits that you can see in the Endgame trailer were a nightmare to draw. I even prefer the Iron Man suit. ^^;;
New Star Trek headcanon just dropped: Geordi and data regularly hang out in the dark and Geordi sometimes forgets that people need light to see
This is so incredibly important how dare you hide this in the tags /lh
Pov you walk into a pitch black room and you see two creepy glowing android eyes, two flashing red lights, and the fucked up thing cats’ eyes do in the dark
Further hc that Data can’t actually see in the dark either.
He’s just never thought to mention this because he has a photographic memory and direct neural access to all of the Enterprise’s schematics, and therefore doesn’t actually need sight to know where everything is.
okay no cause like i love this.
YES
Ok but imagine the Enterprise goes to help people on this planet where everyone lives underground in the dark because of radiation or something. Like it’s bad enough that hundreds of generations have lived underground and, over the course of time, have adapted to the darkness so well that light sources actually hurt them. So Picard has to figure out how to help them without sending people in with lights.
And the obvious answer is to send Geordi down, but the settlements are so far down the communicators cut out and Picard isn’t sending anyone into that alone.
“Data and I should be able to handle it,” Geordi says. “Neither of us need light to see and Engineering can manage fine without us for a few hours.”
Picard nods and is on the verge of sanctioning the mission with his trademark, “Make it so,” when Data speaks up.
“Actually, my visual sensors are designed to be as much like the human eye as possible,” he says. “They only process information transmitted by the reflection of light off physical surfaces. My ability to function onboard Enterprise in unlit spaces is due to my memorization of both the ship’s schematics and the design preferences of those whose quarters I visit regularly.”
Behind his visor, unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Geordi blinks as he tries to process this new information. He’s almost about to apologize to Picard and Data for the assumption when Data continues.
“However, I would be able to integrate the information from our tricorder scans to navigate without much difficulty. I could accompany Geordi to the settlement and provide some level of assistance.”
Picard looks a bit confused at the correction, but nods. “Make it so.”
Later, when they’ve beamed down into the caverns, Geordi asks why Data never mentioned that he couldn’t actually see in the dark. He would’ve turned the lights on if he’d known.
“I did not need it,” Data answers simply, as if that was explanation enough.
“Data, most people like the lights to be on, even if they don’t need it,” Geordi points out. “It’s a comfort thing. And polite, too, I guess.”
Data pauses, processing. “I was not uncomfortable, nor did I find the lack of light to be rude. I enjoy our conversations in the dark.”
“Huh.” Geordi stops, watching as Data continues down the tunnel a bit further. “But you keep your quarters dark sometimes, too.”
“Spot is nocturnal,” Data explains. “I have read that it is important for cats to maintain a sense of routine, including a regular day and night cycle.”
I’m in actual tears even though I’ve seen the leaks already. Shouto is the most soulful character of this manga and this chapter was an ode to everything I love about him:
his wisdom
his earnestness
his kindness
his endearing awkwardness
his appreciation of his friends
his constant soul-searching
his humility and gratitude
And it’s so satisfying to see him finally finding not only his own way, but his own drive. He knows who he wants to be and why and it gives him an incredible sense of serenity.
He shows so clearly in so many little and big ways how he’s the opposite of his father still (too many to count), but this time not out of pettiness, but for all the right reasons and the right way. He is not the perfect masterpiece - instead his imperfect and free-running, but also with a deep sense of his roots, accepting all of it - the good and bad and painful.
All of Shouto’s lines were so on point. Loved his little (and very overdue) talk with Izuku. “This is the one fight I cannot run away from”. (The one Endeavor ran away from is left unsaid).
Shouto doesn’t run away. He knows he has to do this, because it is who he is. He knows also that fighting Touya’s fire with fire can only end in tragedy, so he goes back to the drawing board to reinvent himself. He steps away from Endeavor’s way of thinking - he doesn’t turn up the power even more - he turns it down. HK is bringing it all together - Shouto’s power which is just a single power of temperature regulation after all (congrats to the Hero Entropy crowd!), something he can unleash from the core of his heart with infinite MP to show exactly who he is.
“Only I can find out the reason I was born in that house” - this line killed me. Then his smile, so full of gratitude, and a beautiful recall to Midoriya vs Todoroki killed me a second time (Mt Lady was right, this version of Shouto is lethal).
In stark contrast to Shouto’s hard-earned hopefulness stands Touya’s raging fatalism - echoing Stain’s ideology (Stain cameo next with Iida to the rescue?) and the logic of old hero society. Where Shouto sees himself in Touya, Touya still sees Shouto as his opposite as he launches his full-out attack of destruction, turning Kamino into an actual hellscape of bubbling ground and columns of lava to erase everything.
And it’s so beautiful how Shouto find his safe place where he can concentrate from in his friends, in Class A, that accepted him and made him feel belong. His safety net gives him the power to counter the toxicity of their home, the abuse that’s still powering Touya.
Shouto doesn’t make a big speech, he just lets his Ultimate Moves speak for him, which is not about outcompeting each other in destruction like the logic Endeavor created them in, but about putting out Endeavor’s flames of madness still burning in Touya, while embracing his brother, stopping his self-destruction and trying to open his eyes to a different way.
Shouto finally finds his true power to make a stand for his family, for his brother, for the hope that it’s never too late to change the path on, for the friends and allies who gave him a safe place to stand on and reinvent himself as many times as it takes.
He creates this hauntingly beautiful, white empty space, where just for a frozen moment they can exist together in peace. Touya, who went to Sekoto peak to show his power only to feel abandoned and unseen. Shouto, who wanted to play with his brother only to be torn away. The fire that divided them is gone.
Shouto finds a way to calm Touya’s raging inner child, to show him how far he’ll go for him, how he won’t give up, how much he wants to soothe his pain, how much he is not Endeavor’s puppet, but someone who carved his own path. He backs up his words with his entire heart and actions.
“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me–it still sometimes happens–and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous–not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful… The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.” - Ann Druyan
So now, Bruce…tell yourself he’s just a man. Like you. Tell yourself he has flesh which can be ripped, bones that can be shattered. That he needs to breathe, to sleep, to eat. Prove it to yourself. Stare back at him, into those damn eyes. Stare into them until he flinches. Until you see them work like human eyes. Until you see the pupils change.
It happens all of a sudden, just a tiny shift, but there it is. You stare back and you see it. The smallest flicker in the pupils, but still. And you say to yourself, see? Beneath it all he’s just what you thought he was. A man.
And ignore the fact that what you saw those tiny pupils do was expand. Expand for you after you stared back long enough. Ignore the fact that what you saw those black points expand with…
Literally everyone on Team Voltron combined, all activating their bayards at once to amplify their bond and screaming Shiro’s name in unison: Shiro appears briefly, flickers in and out of focus and is scarcely able to communicate a few words, hardly able to materialize at all,,
Keith alone, calling for Shiro and just willing himself into the astral plane by sheer force of will: Shiro completely materializes, is able to interact with Keith and move freely, makes physical contact with him, speaks clearly, is able to pour his quintessence into Keith and share in Black’s power with him
And as Shiro said, he’d tried communicating with the others before, but he failed. This was something only ever possible with Keith–and even then, only because of how close they were. “I tried to warn the others about the imposter on Olkarion, but our connection wasn’t strong enough.” That Keith was able to do what every other paladin together couldn’t, that his connection with Shiro ran that deep–it speaks volumes, and it’s a thread of fate powerful enough even Haggar knew to fear it. There’s a reason she needed Shiro to eliminate Keith. “The Red Paladin’s connection to you runs deep. Deeper than the others.” Together, they’re unstoppable.
Keith’s bond with Shiro is literally deeper and more meaningful to him than everyone else on Team Voltron combined.
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