Indie and selective Commander Cody, of the 212th Attack Battalion and right hand to Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars. NSFW likely, mun and muse 18+. Est. September 2015 Sideblog to nieithryn
Alright, so I may have just disappeared off the face of the planet for the last several months. And that's been...only sort of intentional. Life has been really busy, chaotic, and full of ups and downs.
That all said, I am trying to slowly - probably very slowly - make my way back to RP so I can utilize one of my best coping methods now that my mental health has started to sort of stabilize again!
With that, there's some changes:
Cody, Jango, and Boba are all going to get moved to my multimuse here, because I can't keep up with 4 blogs at the moment. I'm going to try and keep up with their drafts, but I may contact some folks to talk about dropping certain threads.
Additionally, I'm going to be going through and pruning my inbox and drafts down to what I think I can manage for now, and go from there.
I'm making some google docs for my muses' extended information. Detailed history, weapon information, species abilities, etc will all be kept there, while core information will be kept on the main muse page.
Since Tumblr seems to have forgotten all my tags, I might be rehauling my tagging system given how many muses I now have. Depending on how extensive a project this is, it may or may not happen.
With any luck these changes will help me get everything settled and get back into RPing here as quickly as possible!
everyone needs something from you right now. i know it is frustrating. i know it feels like you aren't in control, that you're shouting and no one hears you make a noise at all. there are people that are worth fighting for. there are people that will give back what you give them. there are places and things and ideas worth sticking around for - worth giving it every inch of every speck of yourself. and it can be difficult to know what is worth it and what is false gold. go with your heart. follow no cold star; collect your own. i know you have always been the type who finds their own way, and it is tiring. take stock of what you have, what you want, and what you will carry with you. go outside. you like it better out there, anyway. think of the people you want to keep, and think of the people you want to be. all that rage burning in you can lead you home to them; all that fire that never silences. we need heat to survive the winter. you can lighthouse the right ones to you. oh my star-crossed firebird. you cannot suffer fools and you cannot suffer a drought of love. you have to let yourself collect before you can move on. take the space you need. when you're ready, you'll come back strong.
tagged by: stole it from @kyberled
tagging: You see it? You’re it!
This was terrible. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know what was going on. Everything hurt.
And that voice.
Long ago, he might have sought comfort in it. In fact, he did seek comfort in it. This one, specifically. People on the outside of the ‘know’ would have said that they all sounded the same; They would be wrong. This one had been spoken at his side for years. For so long that the glaring absence of that voice and its owner had left a weeping void in the Force. But there was a reason for that, wasn’t there? A reason for why he was gone. A reason for why everyone, why everything was gone.
He wanted to stand up, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. Of course, he still tried, but he didn’t get very far before he gave up and collapsed back onto the couch.
“…Cody?” Despite the inflection of his voice, it wasn’t said like a question. He knew who this was. Cody looked older, sure, much older than he should, but he still looked just like Cody. Even the Empire couldn’t take that away. They tried, of course, how they tried, but they couldn’t really erase Cody entirely. And the events of the past are the only reason he’s not reaching for a weapon right now.
He remembered Order 66.
He would never forget Order 66.
But he would never forget Cody, either. Face covered in blood and warped by more emotions than Braig could process as he screamed at him to run. Fighting against something that Braig would know nothing about until years later. Fighting to keep him safe, just like always.
That was Cody.
And, this…? … He wasn’t sure.
“… Is it really you?”
Calloused hands rubbed together forcefully as the clone dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. In all honesty, he hadn’t considered this part yet. Hadn’t dared. It had been all he could do to worry about the medical side of things, to take care of the younger man. It had been so long since he’d tended another’s wounds, after all. And a non-clone’s....even longer.
Dark eyes shut for a moment as the mechanic drew a deep breath, steadying himself as best he could. The haze in his skull was numbing. It helped. Gods though, it wasn’t enough. His left hand still trembled if he stopped rubbing for even a second. If his concentration lapsed even a single iota.
“I- please. I’m not Cad. I’m not sure I- I don’t know if I can restitch anything.”
It had been hard enough the first time.
He drew a deep breath, forcing the more personal considerations to the side. The man currently laid out on his couch needed help. Cody wasn’t a medic - not by a long shot - but he could help. If he just...kept thinking like that, this would be fine.
It had to be fine.
Force, please, let it be fine.
“The locals just call me ‘the mechanic’ mostly. I haven’t-” He hadn’t really used his name in a long time, either. He cleared his throat, and shrugged slightly, hands squeezing together to still the incessant trembling of his left. “No one really uses my name anymore.” Not even himself. Some days, if he didn’t push it all away properly...some days, all he could call himself was his number.
Maori were sex-positive people who openly accepted gender fluidity - scholar.
For Maori who don’t fit neatly into carefully constructed moulds of gender and sexuality the term takatāpui can be a relief.
Scholar Elizabeth Kerekere argues that pre-colonial Maori were sexually experimental people who openly accepted gender and sexual fluidity.
Anyone who didn’t fit into heterosexuality was considered “takatāpui”.
Kerekere, who identifies as lesbian, has spent five years writing her PhD and discovering new evidence takatāpui existed in pre-colonial society. It was released recently at Victoria University.
Now she’s on a mission to normalise the term and create acceptance for LGBTQ Maori.
“Takatāpui were part of the whanau, we were not separate, we were not put down, we were not vilified for just being who we are,” Kerekere says.
Other Polynesian cultures have similar concepts for non-binary people like the fa'afafine of Samoa, the māhū of Hawaii, and the fakaleiti of Tonga.
Kerekere, 51, says the story of takatāpui can be seen in chief Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke’s telling of the famous Maori love story between Hinemoa and Tūtānekai. In Te Rangikāheke’s version when Tūtānekai falls in love and marries Hinemoa, he laments the loss of his intimate relationship with a man named Tiki, his hoa takatāpui.
Kerekere says the fact they were sexually intimate was pretty obvious.
“Some people say that’s not sexual but then what do you think ‘intimate’ means?”
Maori were sex positive before colonisation. This can be seen in stories and songs, Kerekere tells the Herald, like the waiata about an elder woman singing about how her vagina used to travel the country.
“Sex was a normal part of life. There was a lot of pride in skill. If you wanted to have sex you should be good at it.”
Kerekere’s thesis cites the story of missionary William Yates being sent home to England for engaging in mutual masturbation and fellatio with more than 100 young Maori men. What was interesting was that in the court news it said “the Maori weren’t ashamed and did not believe anything to be wrong”, Kerekere says.
“He was just a massive embarrassment to the Church because everywhere he went he kept doing it.
“The key thing was that it was accepted by Maori.”
As English culture spread to Maori, sexual freedom was stamped out, Kerekere says. Women and children were seen as the chattel of men and subservient.
“Colonisation changed everything - our expression of sexuality, women having control of their own body, female leadership.
“We lost all of that, having fluidity, being polyamorous … our sexuality was stolen.”
Kerekere analysed 150 proverbs on gender, relationships and sex for her thesis. She drew and painted them to find patterns in their imagery. Fire and “talking in the night” were common metaphors for sex, she says.
It was when she found the whakatauki (proverb) “Nga korero ahiahi o Hinewha” which literally translates as “the night-time talks between women”. After looking at other metaphors Kerekere believes it actually means sex between two or more women.
“'Talking in the evening’ often was an allusion to sex. When you see all these other examples and in each one it means sex, that means this one also means sex.
“You couldn’t have sex during the day, that means you’re lazy. There’s lots of whakatauki about sex at night.
“It’s the first new proof of takatāpui in decades. When I found it I was crazy excited.”
Kerekere believed she had found two other whakatauki, one alluding to polyamorous male relationships and another a female polyamorous one.
Rainbow Youth have recently released their second resource on takatāpui called Growing up Takatāpui: Whānau Journeys to engage families in their child’s journey.
Communications manager Toni Duder said it was key to use the concept as a way to honour Maori culture and their ideas around gender and sexuality.
“Using the word takatāpui says you’re significant, this is a part of your Maoriness, be comfortable with who you are.
“Being Maori and having diverse gender or sexuality, these things aren’t in conflict. They’re actually really compatible.”
How did the clone troopers feel about the Jedi they served with?
Well, here’s a few insights from their own lips…
Did they want them fighting at their side in battle?
Check
Did they consider them helpful on the battlefield rather than a hindrance?
Check
Did they trust them?
Check
Did they respect them as leaders, love them as friends?
Check
Did they think the Jedi helped keep losses and casualties low, know that the Jedi respected the troopers they fought beside in turn?
Check
Did they want them as leaders in the war, formally part of their military chain of command?
Check
I truly, deeply love the complex story of these characters who were trapped together in terrible circumstances, giving their all to make the best choices they could in an environment of horrifically constrained options. The Jedi and the clone troopers fought together to defend the Republic and supported each other as much as they could, all of them equally tragically blind to the malicious forces engineering their downfall even as they tried to save one another day after day.
This next part goes into some thoughts that are critical of Sergeant Slick’s actions and narrative view, so feel free to skip it if you’d rather remain in a positive place.
It felt like ages since Cody had really slept. Hells, at this point? Maybe it had been years. Sometimes it felt that way. Like his life had devolved into a mere struggle to get his Jedi and his brothers and the Republic through the next battle...and the next, and the next, until he could barely think through the mind-numbing monotony.
His Jedi helped. Nothing felt quite so soul-crushing with Obi-Wan around. The other Jedi helped too. Vos, and Skywalker, and Tachi, and...all of them, really. Things were never so repetitive with them around. Sometimes that came with a lot more explosions - particularly where Vos and Tachi were the ones involved - but it still helped.
The commander looked up from the holomap he was leaning against, and flashed a quiet, exhausted smile at the blonde Jedi before turning back to his work.
“Everyone’s exhausted, General. Nothin’ new for any of us by now.”
Happy New Year! You’re an absolute delight to have on my dash (for all your blogs!!); such a wonderful writer, an incredibly creative plotter, and such a great person to know and be friends with. I know things are stressful for you right now, and I hope that they get better soon (and if not, know that I'm here for you). I hope that 2019 is a wonderful one for you, and I look forward to writing with you this year!
I have no words for this, other than thank you. I held onto this for so long because I had no idea what to say, but this...this is something I need to hear sometimes, and you’re a true blessing for it, darling, thank you.
Let’s be honest, the only time Obi-Wan or Cody ever sleeps is when one of them collapses under the weight of their own hypocrisy after trying to convince the other to take care of himself.
Alright guys, here’s the hottakes of the last month or so, and why I’m still on a hiatus….but hopefully will be around more than I have been.
Firstly: as you know, I got a job with the US Postal Service! With that has come long days of training, and while I’m still shiny and new, and inexperienced and slow at the work, I am gonna be working on my own as a substitute for a regular carrier now! That being said, my regular carrier is a union rep who leaves a lot, so I’ll be working a LOT, and the days will be long (especially at present; around 9-11 at least).
But! I’m gettin’ good pay, I’m in a safe-ish position at home for now, and hopefully by the time I get through next week (where I’ll be working Tues-Saturday at least, maybe Sunday), I should be able to appear here more often and actually get to some things.
I’m gonna clear out drafts and inbox of anything I’m not feeling right now, and when I do get some more time to myself, I‘m going to get some starters and memes up and post some starter calls. I have some things in the queue here on nieithryn right now, so that should start some activity rolling. Thank you for bearing with my absence, and hopefully I’ll make some appearances here again real soon!
