surf’s up ;)

[xnomnomx]

[but-a-humble-goon]

Imagine being the kind of gamer chud who thinks Kait's design in Gears 5 was too much. Like, the designers sat down and were like okay it's not 2006 anymore, maybe we shouldn't make all the female characters actual barbie dolls with flawless skin, perfect hair & makeup, pencil thin proportions and vacuum sealed pants and just maybe make a woman who is only very traditionally attractive as opposed to a straight up Victoria's Secret model in a sexy Gears of War halloween costume. She still looks like absolutely comical standing next to any male character, like a stickbug next to a shaved gorilla but divorced from the rest of the game's art style she at least looks like she could throw a half decent punch. And this bare minimum compromise was going too far for Gears of War's audience apparently.

[bigmouthgenius]

The people saying that about Kait aren't even big fans of the game. They play it once and never touch it again until a new game gets announced and they decide to do a tribute run through the series. They don't read the books, they don't know the lore of the game, they don't play versus even private ones with friends. They don't think about the message or wonder how things would need to transpire for a different outcome. They don't even think about the implications of humanity's discovery and use of imulsion being the cause of their finding and using imulsion to the point of self extinction. They don't ponder over the way Marcus is the embodiment of repressed male sadness, a symbol of strength that doesn't show emotions because it's not allowed. They don't see Baird as the over compensation for feeling fear doubt and self loathing presented as flippant sarcasm and self assured intelligence. They don't see Dom and recognize heart break and determination to keep going, as loyalty and love. They don't see Cole as gentleness hope and optimism through loss and tragedy. They don't care to think beyond aim and shoot. They don't want to use their brains. They just want to shoot shoot kill shoot boom boom boom. So when they see Kait as a main character with a whole story that plays out on screen, they are forced to use their brains to wonder why she's there and how she belongs in the game and that makes them mad.

[xnomnomx]

preach!!!

but in all seriousness I love your approach to the symbolism of the individual characters values...it gets lost how much their stories and approaches to the war represents their hidden strengths because they're 'big and strong and shoot stuff'. Complex characters make these games so beautiful and enjoyable (for both trilogies.)

It will be interesting when E-day releases and we see a younger, less experienced version of Marcus and Dom and if there will be uproar about them not being the absolute beasts they are when we first meet them in the first game--because they are relatively inexperienced and young when Emergence occurs.

Excellent analysis on all fronts!

[xnomnomx]

little wip of Gamma from my fav webtoon ITBMW

one day this fandom shall grow

[xnomnomx]

Was flipping through the art book for gears 5 and...

There are full on statues of Anya Stroud (and of course paintings like the one we see in the cutscenes in Jinn's office) in the main government building which makes sense because she was the founder of the new gov't.

But that's gotta be weird for Marcus and JD...and probably played a role in Marcus not wanting to ever be in the cities as he'd literally have to look at reminders of his wife all the time. And JD looking at his dead mom.

And now they have to be in that building all the time because its now the main military base. and a reminder of how far the new rulers fell from what Anya was trying to do.

(Not to mention the rest of old Delta seeing their dead friend)

[xnomnomx]

Chapters: 1/1 Characters: Delmont "Del" Walker, James "JD" Fenix, Fahz Chutani, Kait Diaz, Garron Paduk, Damon Baird, Marcus Fenix Series: Part 2/4 of From the Ashes Summary:

Set during the gap between returning from Vasgar and before the siege on New Ephyra

⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

The prospect of building a rocket had been incredibly exciting for Del. Emphasis on had. But the arrival of the giant monster at the rocket platform and nearly being cooked alive by the thrusters had sapped him of his enthusiasm.

One silver lining on their abrupt brush with death had been all the beacons the nomads had safely stored in the back of the Raven. Del still felt put off by Paduk and the hardened nature of his people, but they kept to their word. And now all the beacons were huddled and gleaming in the rear of the aircraft. He beckoned Jack to follow him into the cramped space, easily setting up to run scans on their precious cargo while Del got the taxing job of pulling each beacon upright and spacing them out. The intensive workout it was to move about the hefty equipment helped him direct his focus, and when he was done he didn't feel quite so jumpy.

When Jack completed his scans he made a garbled series of beeps and pings, pointing to the screen strapped to Del’s forearm where the information was being relayed. Del skimmed over the various data for each beacon, his brows piqued in surprise. All of their beacons had been somehow undamaged. He'd take more good news where he could get it. Del pressed his radio piece so he could relay the info to Baird, also filling him in on the arrival of the creature at the platform. Finished with his task, Del smoothed off clumps of sand and dust from his pants and armor. He could feel where it sifted and fell inside his gear and in his clothes, and hoped he'd get an opportunity at a shower when they got back to the city.

But for now, he could at least sit down. Jack wandered ahead of him, to where JD and Fahz were already in the cabin, trying their best to stretch and roll out their injuries without having to stand up again. At the sight of it Del felt his own sore muscles and achy joints protest, falling again and again from the breaking platform or being grabbed and released from the odd tongues of the monster had been rough on his body. He gladly dropped onto the worn cushions in the Raven's cabin. Kait had chosen to sit up front with Paduk, the only person in their group he made an effort not to scowl at, and was chatting with the soldier in short mildly animated bursts. Del was just happy it left a seat open in the cabin.

“Perfect!” Del swept a hand out to the last vacant seat. “Jack, buddy, do you wanna have a seat?” Jack approached the spot carefully, before gliding down so he could rest on the seat. Well sorta, he kinda hovered.

“Oh, Del come on, mate,” Fahz tossed his hands up. “That was gonna be my foot rest!”

“He gets to rest too! He's part of the team.”

“Bloody bot got us into that rocket mess.” Fahz muttered grumpily, before returning back to stretching his legs.

Jack focused on Fahz as he moved his prosthetic leg. Del thought maybe he was a bit sore at first, but he did spot where the foot was broken from getting pinned by the giant tentacle in their mad dash away from the launching rocket. Jack looked at Del expectantly and guessing his intentions, Del just shrugged. “It's his leg.”

Jack beeped, gliding over to other side of the cabin to hover in front of Fahz's leg. Fahz paused, blinking down at the robot in dumbfoundment. The blue robot immediately seized hold of the prosthetic, so suddenly that Fahz jolted, nearly falling from his seat.

“Oi!” Fahz kicked at Jack with his good leg. Forcing him to zip sideways to avoid his visor getting flattened. “Del, tell the bot to back off!”

“Wait wait!I think he’s trying to fix it.”

The chaos halted long enough for Jack to coast back down by Fahz’s metal foot. Though he frowned, Fahz did reluctantly stretch out his leg, still keeping his good leg poised to kick out again. Jack was unaffected by the threat, spinning his clawed hands as he scanned the foot. A pop up jumped onto the screen on Del’s forearm, highlighting the error Jack had spotted. Del leaned over to show Fahz the smaller diagram, pointing to what was broken. Fahz dropped his other leg to the floor and stared curiously down at Jack, the robot contemplating his next move.

The group of men watched as he then protracted the part of his arm that he used to cut metal, Jack carefully lifting a broken piece of metal up that hung awkwardly off the limb. There was a spark as he carefully lowered his arm and followed a tiny path with the laser, making him, JD, and Fahz temporarily slam their eyes shut and look away.

The hiss ended quickly after, followed by a clank as Jack released Fahz’s foot. A glowing line was left behind where Jack had fused the piece back in place, now cooling quickly back to grey. 

When the threat of touching scalding metal was gone Fahz reach down and gently pushed on the spot. Jack shimmied in success, retreating back up to hover on his seat. Del looked over to the stunned Vasgari man, and gave Fahz an expectant look.

“What do we say?” JD asked.

“Uh,” Fahz wiggled the metal foot a bit. Perfectly intact once again. “Thanks, little man.”

Smug glee filled Del for a moment. “Ha!” he twisted to shoot a look at Kait in the cockpit. “Glad to know he's finally getting some appreciation.” Kait didn't react to the statement, likely unable to hear Del unless he shouted. Or more likely just ignoring him. He shrugged at Jack. “Maybe save the next miracle for when she can see it?” But the little robot did a theatrical display of puttering out on the seat anyways.

Del leaned across the way to give him a pat. “It’s okay.”

There was sudden thump and clank in the cabin, melting Del’s humor and making him look around the cabin for what could be causing the commotion. He worried that a beacon had fallen over and rolled out from the back.

His eyes halted on Fahz, who was aggressively stomping his foot into the floor. The man paused, partially stooping forward to inspect his foot.  “He actually fixed it.” Fahz must have quickly keyed in that they were paying attention, and looked up to see him and JD grinning at him. “Bugger off. I s’pose he’s pretty useful.” He returned to stomping his foot again.

“Will you knock that off?” JD looked annoyed. “You’re gonna break it again.”

“Just makin’ sure it's fully functional, mate.” Was Fahz’s only reply, and Del and JD both shook their heads.

“I’m not gonna lie,” Del admitted, looking over at the other two with a small smile. “This is weird.”

Fahz huffed a laugh, the topic drawing him away from stomping his foot as he nodded with Del in agreement. “Tell me ‘bout it.”

“Okay.” Del said. “I mean, yesterday, I thought you were a complete asshole. And today, you saved my life and were actually, like, fun to be around.” He frowned at his own words. “Oh, man, that hurt to admit.”

“On second thought.” Fahz held up a hand. “Don’t tell me ‘bout it.”

“Told ya’ Fahz ain’t so bad.” JD reminded him. “He’s mostly house-trained by now, too.” At the comment, Fahz flipped JD the bird. Kait returned from the Raven’s cabin, done with her conversation with Paduk.

“Shoo,” She gently flagged a hand at Jack, forcing him to scoot over so she could sit down. She dropped onto the seat, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

“You missed it, Jack was helpful and nice.” Del announced, smug. “Without being told to.”

Kait dropped her hands and rolled her eyes at him. “Jack is programmed to be ‘helpful.’”

Del sighed. Yep, she still wasn't budging on that sentiment. He let his mind drift again to the group around him, still somewhat surprised at everything that had occurred since his breakfast that morning. “Man, what a day,” Del looked at JD and Kait in particular, a small smile on his face, “We got the team back together…”

Kait let her fingers begin a tally, relaxing back into her seat. “Built a giant rocket.”

“Skiffed through a windflare." JD offered.

“Launched the Hammer of Dawn,” Del said. “Again.”

“Annnd fought a Kraken being controlled by the Swarm.” Kait finished, all five fingers in the air. She wiggled them briefly.

JD shrugged. “So, what, a normal day for us?”

Kait nodded, “Yup.”

Their quick bout was followed by gentle silence. Del was happy at how easily he, JD, and Kait could pick it up again. Not that he hadn’t had fun with Jack as honorary number three for a few months, but he could agree with Kait on one thing: he was just a robot.

He still planned to actually have a conversation with JD when they got the free time, but aside from his initial anger, Del was really grateful to have him there. He couldn't imagine trudging through some of the fights they had that day as just he, Kait, and Jack. It certainly saved a lot of time.

“What the bloody hell is a Kraken?” Fahz muttered suddenly, he took a pause from inspecting his prosthetic leg to turn and look at Kait.

She shrugged, “The thing we just fought? It's called a Kraken. It's native to the Vasgari deserts,” she waved her hand through the air a bit, “ just got mind-jacked by the Swarm. Paduk says they have a different name for it, though.” Fahz continued to look confused, so she added, “It's like the Riftworm or the Leviathans. It's natural to our planet.”

Fahz shook his head, holding up a singular finger, “One day with you lot…”

“I told you,” JD grinned. Then his best friend looked thoughtful for a moment, before he looked over at Del, “I bet Cole is gonna love to hear about the–” JD quickly stumbled to a halt “–the?”

“Kraken.” Kait supplied, blinking. “It's called a Kraken.”

“Yeah, that. He’s gonna love it.” JD finished.

“Oh yeah. He might feel a little left out though.” Del said. “Or a lot. Probably a lot left out.”

⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚ ⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

The rest of their flight was smooth sailing, apart from Paduk nearly crash-landing the aircraft, effectively ending his nap. Del didn’t feel right about leaving the beacons in the Raven, he thought about waiting among the giant green canisters like a protective mother bird. And with the way Paduk landed, many had fallen over as a result. He had set about picking them up when Kait steered him to the door, muttering that they’d be fine, and forced him into the rain pelting New Ephyra.

Paduk trailed behind them with a massive frown on his face. Following them into the giant foyer of the building. He openly scoffed at the plethora of other Gears walking around, but especially at the grandiose nature of the COG Government Building. Del leaned towards JD, keeping his voice low so the older man wouldn’t hear him. “I’d like to see him and Marcus have a glaring contest.”

JD looked over at him with surprise. Then he relaxed, glancing back to the storm cloud attached to Delta’s group. “How are we gonna convince ‘em?”

“Probably won't,” Del admitted.

Making a face like he was in thought, JD went quiet for a moment. “Could Rock, Paper, Scissors for who has to ask?” He offered.

Del laughed, “Nice try, man.”

They filed into an elevator, which would take them to the armory and showers. Kait and Paduk quietly chatted about what Del could gather was the skiff where they stood opposite the others in the elevator. Del almost made a comment on how quiet he, JD, and Fahz were being, given the three men were relatively chatty people. But talking would defeat the purpose of the statement.

Naturally, Fahz was allergic to silence.

“Oi, Diaz,” Fahz looked over at Kait, “got a question for ya. This ‘Kraken’, how’d’ya know it's called that, from you’re little…” he gestured towards his head.

“No..." Kait said slowly. "I read about it in a book.” She frowned a bit at his reference to her previous attachment to the Swarm, making Fahz hold up his hands at the cautious look on her face.

“Look, no judgement, I only found out ‘bout you being a Swarm princess a couple of hours ago, so I'm still confused ‘bout it all.”

“Huh.” Del remarked. He felt a little dumb at Fahz’s comment–which was never going to be admitted out loud. But of the others, he knew about Kait's lineage a lot longer, and hadn’t thought of her connection like that. He looked at his friend, scratching his head, “I guess you technically are a princess. If Myrrah was the Queen.”

After the comment, he immediately received a stormy look and rushed to throw his hands up in defense. “Beforeyougetmad–”

“I’m not mad, and I'm not a-a” her face scrunched a bit as she waved a hand in the air, “--a ‘princess!’”

“Look,” He smoothed the air in front of him, “All I'm saying is you kinda are.”

She folded her arms, her glare remaining.“I will strip Jack for parts.”

Del only held his arms a little higher, trying to convey complete surrender. In his peripheral vision he caught JD making a concentrated face, as though he was trying not to smile. Which made Del smile by accident, and earned an eyeroll from Kait. “Idiots.”

The elevator chimed, the doors opened gently to allow them their exit towards the armory. At the sight of more blue and white and gold trimming on things, Paduk scowled. Another couple of Gears passed them as they headed further in, slowing their stride to give Delta strange looks. 

Not that Del could blame them. He struggled not to feel overall pretty gross as they walked. Their group collectively left muddy bootprints clumped with red sand, giving the illusion they'd tracked blood through the halls.

In the main room of the armory they began to unpiece from their armor, preparing to take it to get cleaned and sterilized after the day's events. It was generally assumed that every Gear was in charge of keeping their armor clean, and there were plenty of workbenches to do so. But the quick rinse would for sure get the bulk of blood and sand off of their gear until they found times to deep clean all the grooves.

Paduk, however, was unused to the process, frowning at the machines with a glare. Del was too exhausted to deal with his suspicious behavior.

“It’s not gonna steal your armor, man. Just shower and come back it’ll be clean. I swear!”

Paduk shook his head. “You children fought all day, I am not as dirty as you are, I will wait for it to complete. And then we go find Baird.” The old man posted himself directly in front of the machine, hands clasped behind his back as he began to wait.

Del threw up his hands, stepping back from the stubborn man and giving Kait room to take his place with her own armor. “Okay, man. Suit yourself.” He retrieved fresh clothes from his locker and headed towards the showers. Relief washed over him at being clean, but Del did almost spook himself, when the sight of red sand ran down the drain, looking like blood.

After dressing in clean, not sweaty or sandy clothes, he found JD back in the main room of the armory, staring at his armor with a frown. Fahz was retrieving his own, chucking his towel into a duffel near his gear. While Kait was already completely ready, chatting again with Paduk in the hall.

“Ah shit, I forgot we have to put it back on.” Del realized, stopping next to JD and making an exasperated sigh. It was standard to always wear armor on duty, but his body hurt badly, despite his careful and calculated attempts to exert caution in the field that day.

“Yeah, it’s not gonna feel great that's for sure.” JD echoed his sigh, picking up his chest piece and pulling it on with reluctance. For a minute they quietly pulled their armor on and prepared for a meeting with Baird. With the beacons in possession and the satellites launched all that was left to do was hit ‘Go’.

Del gave JD a pat on his shoulder. “Glad you’re back man.”

“Certainly forgot how busy it is to run around with you two.” JD clicked his shoulder plates into place. “And it seems you and Fahz are friends now, who knew.”

Del playfully shoved JD forward. “Yeah yeah, still gonna kick your ass at some point man.” He chuckled. “Can’t believe you’re actually back.”

“Yeah…” JD’s smile dropped for a bit. “Or that you two didn’t send me packing.”

“Oh-ho so close.” Del held up his hand, his fingers barely a centimeter apart. “Don’t worry, I’m only kidding.”

“You’re kinda kidding. I saw your face when I hopped off the Raven.” JD shook his head.

“Ok, true, I kinda wanted to. Buuut I had a feeling this morning. When I was sipping my coffee, listening to Baird bicker with Kait about the ethics of the Hammer of Dawn. Maybe, just maybe, Marcus was gonna talk to you.”

“Really?” JD gave Del an incredulous look. “You’re psychic now?”

Del deflated. “Nah. He told me he would. Looked scary about it too--like worse than when he tried to convince us not to join the military.”

JD confirmed the sentiment with a nod. “Believe me, he was. Fahz nearly pissed himself.”

“Oi!”

Del snorted. “Well, it worked.”

Fahz disappeared into the hall, headed for the lockers, and JD took the moment to change the topic.

“Is she actually okay?” JD spoke a bit more quietly. “I didn’t get the best read of what dad showed me earlier but it was…”

“Bad? Like badbad?” Del filled in. “Yeah.” He shook his head. “Dude, you should’ve seen that lab. Fucking nightmare fuel.”

JD's expression was curious. “What did the others have to say about it?”

Del shrugged, dropping onto a bench, starting the process of attaching his greaves. “I mean they kinda just took it in stride. Can’t be the craziest thing they’ve gone through, right? Baird helped her go through it all. Cole was surprised. Marcus of course wasn’t... Has anything ever surprised him?” Sidetracked, he tried to rack his brain for an obvious answer to his own question.

“Oh, I don't know, probably that I actually listened to him for the first time in my life today.” JD joked.

“Yeah.” Del agreed. “Can’t believe he knew. Probably started piecing shit together when Reyna got kidnapped and then he got put in.” He double checked the laces on his boots with a firm tug.

“Dad told me that when you were under the mountain, she talked Niles into putting her through some painful process to cut off her connection…” He trailed off, looking to Del to finish his thought.

Del shuddered at the reminder, the gross feelings returning. “I think it nearly killed her man. She was in a lot of pain. And then we still had to kill the Matriarch to actually end it all. And…” Del scratched his head, glancing around the room again. Debating his next words. “I haven’t told anyone else, because I was the only one there when it happened. But Kait kinda… lost it under Kadar–when she found out.” Del went very quiet for a moment, resulting in JD giving him a confused look. “She-” His voice broke a little, his hands fidgeting in his lap. “Uh, well, kinda put a gun to her head for a minute there.”

The comment was effective in reducing both of them to silence. Staring at the floor in mutual horror. However Del felt some semblance of relief to finally tell someone. The only other person that might've known would be Baird, if he pulled the footage from Jack after Kadar. 

Kait had apologized to Del a number of times for scaring him like that, but Del had felt more guilt for not having something better to say. Kait had comforted him by threatening to pull Jack into pieces if he kept it up, reminding him a little bit of Reyna.

“Holy shit.” JD muttered finally.

“Holy shit. “Del agreed, strapping Jack's companion screen onto his forearm. “You coming back really helped, man. I’m serious. She’s glad you’re here.”

JD nodded. “Good to be back.” They glanced up when Fahz appeared in the doorway.

“Moment’s over, move it!” He called, and Del and JD rolled their eyes.

It took a level of effort to stand that made Del anxious to be on his feet again, and the added weight of weapons on his back didn't help either. When they joined everyone else in the hallway Paduk frowned at him, JD, and Fahz. Del didn't think it was necessarily judgement (well it definitely was), but that he should get used to this being how Paduk greeted people.

Kait, despite carrying a  conversation with him, seemed relatively happy. “Paduk says they’ll try and retrieve the skiff when he makes it back to Vasgar.” She told them. “Hopefully the Kraken didn’t crush it.”

“Or a windflare.” JD added.

“Yes. My people can achieve this, but Baird will need to send some sort of ‘pay’ to encourage their behavior.” Paduk grumbled. “Now, enough chit-chat, we need to go.” The older soldier immediately began to walk the way they’d come in, and Delta spurred quickly into action after him.

“Does he even know where he’s goin’?” Fahz muttered, rubbing his back in discomfort. Jack zipped forward to keep up with Paduk, silently playing leader so their grumpy tag-along wouldn't wander off in the wrong direction.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Kait challenged, raising an eyebrow at Fahz.

“Well, obviously if I did I'd be leadin’ our merry band of miscreants, princess.” He replied cheerily, making Kait roll her eyes.

JD leaned towards Del while the other two began to bicker back and forth. “What are the odds Kait calls it a 'Kraken' a dozen more times today?”

“She’s using the correct term.” Del reminded him. “But, pretty high.”

“This rocket thingy better work.” Fahz cleaned his glasses on his shirt as they turned into a hall that beelined to the doors of their destination.

“It will, and if it doesn’t, then I'm sure we'll be right back in the field to fix it.” JD shrugged.

“Whateva’ you say, Dark JD.” Fahz said mockingly.

“Dang it, I was trying to work that in somewhere," Del grumbled. "I totally missed my opportunity.”

“See, told ya’ it would catch on,” Fahz pointed his sunglasses at JD in emphasis before ceremoniously pushing them onto his face. “My genius is a sight to behold, innit?”

JD and Del swapped a look, before playfully shoving Fahz ahead of them. The result was Fahz stumbling viciously forward, his armor clanking against Jack, and making the robot bump off to the side briefly.

“There’s three of you now,” Kait rolled her eyes, while JD and Del grinned at Fahz. The doors to Baird’s lab slid open. “Wonderful.”

⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

[xnomnomx]

Chapters: 1/1 Characters: James "JD" Fenix, Fahz Chutani, Marcus Fenix, Kait Diaz, Delmont "Del" Walker Series: Part 1/4 of From the Ashes Summary:   

Set before the mission of Vasgar

⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚ ⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

“What d'ya’ reckon Jinn’ll say about the spiffy new tech the Swarm ‘ave got?”

They’d just gotten back from a mission outside Settlement Three, where a band of Swarm had made it past the ten mile marker surrounding the forest dwelling Settlement. Fahz’s question was directed to the graze wound the Gear had on his arm, the bandage hiding where he'd nearly gotten shot by a crystal encrusted Swarm gun in the firefight.

JD was curious about as much as well; it was a fairly new occurrence, and he’d read similar things in the reports he’d received in the last week from other missions–the monster's yellow crystals being embedded into guns and even the rare occurrence of bombs. The shrapnel of crystal shards survived the blasts and cut through the thick armor. Thankfully, there’d been no casualties, the thick metal plates stopping the bulk amount of damage for the Gears who’d been hit, but JD was still unnerved that the Swarm seemed to have gotten some sort of tactical edge.

He imagined Jinn would want an in depth analysis from both of them, but as usual, the excitement of brainstorming was lost when he remembered it wasn’t Del or Kait he was talking too. Part of him also knew Fahz mentally couldn’t produce much that wouldn’t result in JD losing brainpower in the process, either. He pushed that sinking feeling in his chest at the reminder they weren’t there, his interest in the discussion done with.

“Not up for us to decide. We write the report and let the people who actually need to worry about it do that.” His voice took on a colder edge as he spoke, finality heavy in his words.

“Ugh. You’re no fun.” Fahz muttered, unfazed, scraping the sides of the container of whatever fruit he’d snagged from the mess hall, and gave JD a false pout.

“We also need to finalize a report about the new recruits.”

“Ah–right.” Fahz’s snarky tone crept in–he stuck his spoon in his mouth so he could free up a hand to pull up a rolled up paper in his back pants pocket, handing it to JD– “Forgot –Dark JD’s not programmed to think ‘bout anything other than paperwork and brooding. Reckon you need to run and charge up your batteries as well?” The other man polished off his fruit, turning to toss it in a nearby trash can. Then Fahz held up his spoon like he was gesturing for someone to wait, “And we need to see about the recruits from Riftworm.”

JD tried to mask his flinch with a frown, giving Fahz a brief nod that he’d heard him. Truth was, he dreading having to deal with anything regarding their evac mission to Riftworm, but Fahz picked up on it anyway.

"Fenix, keep your head on straight.” He spoke tonelessly, losing all of his earlier humor. “We had a job and we did it--anything else that happ'nd outside of that is up to Jinn." The words were to the point and reasonable–but not cruel. 

It was a far shot better than a few months ago when JD had woken up from his coma. Fahz's attitude and snide commentary from before had almost ended with JD hauling off and punching him on more than one occasion. He'd still been angered about Fahz's ill-timed revelation in the Settlement 2 evac and the arrogant manner which he carried himself after--with a twisted belief he'd done JD a favor. Something about how his family was COG through and through and JD needed to own it.

Their reluctant friendship had emerged despite that, given Jinn always assigned them together on missions. And though Fahz was still his ever-irritating self, he seemed to have lost some of his nastier edges with rare moments of alien-like civility.

JD just nodded again, turning down another hallway. It spit out on the second level balcony that overlooked the main lobby of the building. Several Gears milled about downstairs, and even though his mind told him to look away some part of him held its breath, scanning to see if his friends were there. They weren’t.

He distracted himself from the immediate emotions following that thought, unrolling the papers. It was a typed up and detailed list of the new recruits they’d taken with them to Settlement Three for their mission; Fahz’s handwriting was barely legible scribbles about each in the margins.

He squinted at some of the words. “We need to get you markers, so I finally understand half of what you write.” JD muttered humorlessly, turning the paper so Fahz could see where he’d gotten stuck. The other man scoffed, stabbing his spoon into the bright red scrawl.

“Mate, that clearly sa–”

“James! ”

Marcus Fenix's sharp tone cut through the air, making JD suddenly get alert. The other normally bold Gear shuddered, looking like he wanted to crawl out of his skin, and tried to play it off by turning to toss his spoon into the trash. Even a nearby civilian jumped, paling as he looked past JD–half in awe, half in terror–before quickly finding the nearest exit.

When he turned, he saw his father striding towards him. One hand was fisted, the other holding a file, his face pulled into a severe glare.

“Welp–'' The Vasagri went to spin on his heel, “Imma take that as my cue–” JD shot him a look, equally as dark as his father's, snagging the other Gear's arm to halt him, then looked back to address the approaching older Fenix. He hadn’t seen his father since the Raven ride back from Riftworm, his father taking off–presumably–in the direction of Baird’s lab as soon as they landed.

“Dad?” He said casually, trying to keep his voice even. He didn’t understand what was prompting this visit, but he had that unnerving feeling of dread telling him he was about to find out. Marcus stopped in front of him, shooting Fahz a glare. The other Gear went unnaturally still, stalling his efforts to slowly edge away from the two Fenix men, it didn’t even look like he was breathing. Then Marcus leveled the same look on his son.

“Kait and Del landed a week and half ago.”

JD narrowed his eyes. “I'm aware.”

He was more than aware, after they’d secured the remnants of the villagers from Oscar’s old village, he’d avoided sleep until he got word they had made it back to New Ephyra.  He did it often these last few months, making efforts to keep tabs on when they deployed and if they made it back. Everything else other than a confirmation his friends still had a pulse was kept under tight wraps, and JD hadn’t heard a word else since they landed.

“This.” Marcus held the beige file, “Is everything on what they found about Kait’s origins in New Hope and the lab in Mount Kadar.” JD’s brows rose at the sheer size of the file, loaded with papers. He didn’t know what he was expecting when his father had sent his friends off into the North, but he wasn’t expecting it to be something on this scale. Nor did he know about the labs. Marcus gestured again with the folder, “It took something drastic to flip your switch, I imagine this will help you get your emotions in check.”

He ignored how the words stung, making him wince slightly at boldness in his father’s tone, trying his best to give the older Fenix what he hoped was an unrattled look. He reminded himself his changes were needed, the weight of his brash choices only months earlier left him with a heavily wounded body and he was lucky to have even survived. 

But knowing that he survived when Lizzie and several other civilians had died was a heavy thought, and he couldn’t get through a week without hearing someone screaming his name in his dreams, or seeing the white hot beam of the Hammer of Dawn plowing towards him. He had physically recovered, minus the stim sleeve on his arm, but mentally he chose otherwise–for the sake of sparing others another gruesome fate.

JD glanced once more at file, that ever-torn feeling swelling inside his chest. He weighed each choice, but the consequences of doing what his father was implying he should were too high, so he fell back on the practiced words–what was expected of him.

“Doesn’t matter.” JD missed what the front said, but he knew what words bright red ink usually signaled. “That’s above my clearance. A lot of rules get broken if I read that. Laws, actually. Besides,” He gestured with the papers already in his hand–what he was actually supposed to be reading– tone full of dismissal, “Hands are full.”

Marcus took a step closer, the file inches from JD’s face. “You really wanna keep up this pretense you actually give a shit or do you want to know?” He snarled.

Of course he did. He wanted to know Kait was ok–that whatever had been haunting her had a solution or at least an answer. JD had no doubts about that as he stared at the back of the folder, hands fisted. Then he glared at his father–trying to keep his thoughts level. “I did what I needed to at Riftworm; Jinn can sort out the rest.”

“Jinn could’ve programmed a bot to do what you did there– given you certainly handled it like one.” Marcus snapped, his words cutting deep, and  JD knew his father wasn’t talking about the evacuees. This time he couldn’t quite mask the flinch at the mention of his error.

He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, giving himself a second to get his emotions in check, unnerved on how easily Marcus knew to get to him. When he opened his eyes again he felt a little more on top of it and dropped his hand down, giving his father a dark look.

“Yeah well–your opinion of my decision-making abilities never exactly changes, and is never exactly necessary.” JD went to turn away, handing the papers back to Fahz as he bit out his last words. “Hasn’t been for a while.”

He didn’t get a step in before Marcus put a hand on JD’s shoulder and spun him back to face him. The older Fenix’s voice was closer to a growl JD heard from Swarm Drones as he leveled his gaze on his son. “James, listen to me.”

JD shoved the hand on his shoulder roughly away, his temper flaring up. This was the usual buildup to their arguments, the verbal push and shove until one of them flew off the handle. For once, JD welcomed the thought of it–to finally lose some control, to put a toe out of line.

It was exhausting, being torn between doing what he wanted and what was needed, with guilt making him always choose the latter. He followed orders to a T, never tugging against the strange leash the First Minister seemed to have on him and people stopped dying because of it– the “happy medium”-- pushing him to make choices that made him the ideal Gear, which Jinn wanted; no one was risking death as often, which should’ve kept Marcus off his back–and it had. Not because JD thought it meant he and his father were on the same page, but more because Marcus had just kept his opinions to himself–until now.

“Finally, some goddamn personality.” Marcus shoved the file into JD’s chest, hard enough it rocked him back on his heels. “Now read it.”

JD grabbed it from his father with his gloved hand, ready to shove it right back, but the movement stalled when he got a closer look at the file. The front was stamped in AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, but a tab stuck out of the folder, with Kait’s name printed clearly. He felt his brows draw down in confusion, his quick burst of anger fading. He shot his irritated father a questioning glance before opening it.

Whatever qualms JD had about any lawbreaking he was doing vanished in that same moment, something akin to horror twisting in his gut.  He’d known a vague idea of where Marcus had sent Kait to look for answers to her nightmares and headaches, and that it would have to relate back to the Locust in some way–but the history behind it all was eerie. He skimmed over document after document, detailing what New Hope had been covering up, a disgusted feeling creeping in at the mention of experiments on children and the creation of the Sires.

” … The hell?” He murmured, and looked up to his father again.

Marcus just stood with his arms crossed and met JD’s gaze with a fierce stare. “Keep going.”

Images from Jack's scans showed broken down rooms and deformed gray monsters held afloat in glass tanks. One of the bot’s scans showed something from a horror film, with a room covered in children’s drawing of monsters and flowers. There was a similar readout of Mount Kadar, again with the Sires, and the first Locusts, and their queen. Though this seemed far more advanced than New Hope, it was all under the careful creation of the same scientist–someone named Dr. Niles Samson. Who had apparently made himself an AI, before killing himself in the same lab.

“Wait…” JD closed the file for a moment, a gloved finger bookmarking his progress. He understood he was looking at the origins of the Locust, about what Niles was doing, but he wasn’t connecting it back to Kait. “What does any of this have to do with Kait?” JD tried to put it together but he felt like he wasn’t understanding what all the pieces meant–let alone how they fit together.  He knew the COG had its fair share of messed-up history, hell he’d played a part in that, but what Niles had managed to keep under wraps was a new depth altogether.

“Her necklace, James.” Marcus furrowed his brow, somehow managing to look more pissed off. “That Locust symbol?”

“Yeah it was her grandmothers.” Some part of his brain had a feeling about what his father was going to say next, but he didn’t have time to process what his best guess would be before the older man spoke.

“Her grandmother?'' Marcus's voice was even. “Was Queen Myrrah .”

For a moment, the sound seemed to be sucked from the world–like it had when the Hammer of Dawn had made its way towards him, unable to stop its rampage. Then his heart started working, pounding in his ears like a drum.

“What the bloody fuck?” Fahz uttered, bewildered, apparently recovering a lot faster than JD. Marcus glanced over at Fahz, JD saw his father’s jaw twitch as he assessed the other man–likely to see if the loyal-to-a fault soldier would bolt to tell someone. Despite the obvious shell-shock, Fahz stayed rooted in place, even taking a hesitant step closer.

“If you don’t believe me there should be a genetics analysis in there.” Marcus pointed again to the file JD was still holding. He flipped it back open, browsing through the documents he’d paused at until he found it. It wasn’t because he didn’t believe his father–he knew Marcus wouldn’t lie about something like that–but more because some part of him needed to see it printed out; how it connected. He read the page, the blood analysis and percentages, seeing Kait’s name, then Reyna’s, then… Myrrah’s.

He stared at the words reading them again and again, that familiar weight on his shoulders–that guilt and shame and anger– all of the sudden too encumbering, rooting his feet to the floor.

All the words he’d said to Kait–and Del–before their mission flooded back to him and he felt his stomach twist for how poorly he’d handled it. Treating it like any other Gear would, instead of their friend. How he’d been so wary of Kait–or at least how misplaced he’d been with it–like she was a potential threat. He should’ve been there. He could only imagine how Kait felt learning about her origins, or Del, and that worry for them unfurled.

Especially for Kait, and her cryptic warning about her nightmares and visions back at Riftworm–which he’d dismissed, handling the situation so horribly. Partially because he’d stuck unwaveringly to Jinn’s orders, and partially because, he knew, somehow if he really listened–let himself use his own brain–he wouldn’t have had to find this out from a couple of papers.

That “happy medium” he believed he’d found was in reality a double edged sword, one that led him to make choices that drove everyone away for the sake of being a better soldier. The same thing Kait had warned him about when he’d first joined back to the COG.

His eyes were still closed, which was a mercy, because the emotions were enough to build a pressure in them–tears working their way up. He swallowed, and sighed through his nose, trying to get the sensation to go away. It took several moments, but he was finally able to work the clamped feeling out of his throat and dropped his hand away.

Marcus pointed to the file again, though his voice was still an order, it was a lot calmer than before, an understanding glint in his eyes. “Keep going, there’s more.” JD flipped the paper he’d just read over, further in disbelief that there could be even more on top of what he’d just found out. His father continued. “In those labs, Niles created something other than Sires and Drones. Myrrah learned to control the Locusts through some type of mind link with it–It was hereditary, passing through Reyna, to Kait.”

“Her visions.” JD said softly, mostly to himself. “Wait, her headaches–” Worry gnawed at him at the near crippling headaches he’d seen her have, even before his accident. “Are you saying…?”

Marcus nodded. “In Kadar,” His father sighed and gave him a heavy look, “She made Niles ‘fix’ it.”

JD frowned. Niles was the man responsible for what happened in both labs– for the experiments on children and creation of the Locust Horde–all of which was already unpleasant. JD knew he’d only read a small part of what was actually going on, but the thought of the same person doing some sort of experiment on Kait made the concern in his chest turn rapidly to anger. “How?”

“Can’t remember what Del and Baird actually described it as,” Marcus scratched his beard with a gloved hand, “but it was some type of machine, right under this things tank.'' He jabbed a finger into the papers, halting JD’s progress through the file. 

Another one of Jack’s pictures showed a huge spherical stasis tank in the center of a lab. And there in the middle, suspended in the liquid was what had been dubbed ‘The Matriarch.’

He looked at the next picture of this Matriarch, with a human outline near it to show its scale. It was massive. A hulking thing similar to the diagrams he’d seen of Locust Berserkers back in OCS, yet somehow even larger with wicked spikes on its back. Fahz stepped up next to him to see what it was, something akin to surprise and disgust behind his glasses.

“Kait linked into the Hivemind through that thing.” Marcus continued, breezing past both Gears’ look of horror. “To sever her connection–It cost her though. Del told me that whatever the machine did to connect them, put her in a lot of pain.” Something in his gut twisted at the thought, he’d seen what the headaches alone did to her, and the scale of whatever else his father was saying she went through made him feel nauseous.

“I’ll give it to the Corporal,” Fahz muttered solemnly, shaking his head as he stepped back. “She's determined.”

“She was desperate.” JD corrected, almost angrily. Then, more gently, “Because she…she was suffering.” His hands had started shaking, and he had to curl them into fists to hide it. JD shook his head, taking a step back, feeling something in his chest hurt at the thought. “Tell me she’s okay.” He whispered suddenly. Marcus scratched his beard again, giving JD an evaluating look.

“In her words? ‘I’ll live’.” Surprisingly, JD laughed a bit at that.

Of course she did, she was one of the few people he knew who could handle anything she went through like that. Some things hadn’t changed at least–but he felt the weight of guilt resting heavily on him, knowing it was never his friends who had strayed from who they were. His father continued on,  “But you should know, despite that–when I was in the Raven, when she was connected in that thing’s mind, she saw something…it terrified her, James. Took her a few days to recover enough to tell us.”

He’s seen her scared–when Reyna had been kidnapped or when she’d tumbled out of a dead Snatcher to go see if her uncle was alive–but Kait had this uncanny way to push on, or as Fahz had put it, a determination. Which JD knew she’d gotten from her mother. 

She’d always handled herself well, and it was part of the reason that while JD worried for her when she’d first lost everyone and started getting the headaches and lack of sleep, he’d decided not to push it.

 She’d always taken care of herself, whatever survival skills she’d had as an Outsider making her virtually adaptable to anything, and he trusted that.

But the thought of there being something she couldn’t shake off…It made him worried, and angry, and protective. The fact even Marcus seemed to harbor similar feelings only amplified them for JD. And for once, they outweighed the shame, guilt, and grief he felt throughout everyday.

He couldn’t go back and change any of the things he’d done, the choices he’d made at Riftworm, or before that, but he had cause enough to try. There’d been so much regret in this life recently, especially for his coldness towards Del and Kait, brushing off Kait’s problems and the grief of her uncle’s death in favor of following orders. And with Settlement 2, and Lizzie’s death, but he hadn’t even tried to repair that, he’d just shut down.

JD let that creep in, rather than avoid it or push it down. He’d let things get to this point and now the people closest to him were getting hurt and he’d been so caught up in keeping himself in line that he hadn’t even known that they had been in those situations.

JD closed the file in his hands, staring down at the folder for a moment, before handing it back to his father. “Is she…Is she here?” JD winced at the hesitation in his voice, though he was expecting as much. It had been so strange for him, to often be in the same building as Delta but still feel a world apart. That if he really needed to find them all he’d have to do was walk a few minutes. It was the perk, of constantly being out of missions–to lessen those odds, and he felt ashamed of himself. Frustrated he was being cowardly to the people who were still hoping on him.

Marcus shook his head, and JD felt what hope he had plummet. “They flew out a few hours ago with Baird. But if you want a place to start and help –” JD’s eyes snapped back up to his father’s, the hope rushing back “--they went to Vasgar, Baird has a contact there that’s gonna help them launch satellites for the Hammer of Dawn.” JD nodded slowly, he wasn’t exactly eager to have to do anything related to the weapon that had given him his injuries, but his father was giving him a direction to go in and that was the best he could hope for.

Fahz closed his eyes, jaw hinging in annoyance along with a muttered “Goddammit”, knowing where JD’s thoughts were going and not happy about it.

“What exactly did Kait see?” He wasn’t sure what would warrant such a huge effort on Delta’s part but he was curious, given he assumed it was related to what had scared her so much in the Hivemind.

“Something that freaked her out enough she believes the only way we stand a chance is the Hammer. I’ll let you go and figure the rest out on your own.” Marcus said, voice gruff, neatly tucking all the papers back into the folder so they were all straight. He caught JD’s look and held it up. “I get to go personally deliver this to Jinn.”

JD felt uncomfortable with the First Minister knowing any of that about Kait, or given the type of choices Jinn made, what she’d do with that information. Before he could say anything Marcus held up a hand. “I know. I’m going to go make sure she takes this in the right direction the best I can. But there’s no guarantees, Kait’s relation to Myrrah will make shit hit the fan regardless. So see what you can do to make sure Baird’s plan goes smoothly.”

He nodded, watching his dad turn and start making his way to Jinn’s office, feeling like he was racing a clock now that he was about to leave. But it fueled his determination.

“Oh and James?” Marcus’s deep voice made his words sound more like he was about to make a threat than voice a question. JD glanced up as his father turned back, scowling. “Glad you have your personality back.”

“Thanks–”JD coughed to cover up the slight wince. “--Dad.” His father nodded at him, then walked away.

“Ya’know,” Fahz piped up, hand clutching his heart. “as touchin’ as that all was–may I remind you what all you’ve done separate from Delta? If ya’ ask me–Dark JD would cut his losses and move on.”

“Yeah well “Dark JD” isn’t exactly solving any problems for anyone at the moment,” He muttered under his breath, turning back on his heel to aim for the armory.

“Where ya’ goin’?”

“Dad talking to Jinn gives me a small window to fly out. I’m gonna make use of that.”

“Bloody hell, Fenix.” Fahz said to himself, and started to pace after him. “You're really up for this?”

JD ignored him, turning into the hall that led towards the armory. They’d taken off their gear when they’d gotten back from Settlement Three, and he racked his brain for all the things he’d need heading into a desert before he put the armor back on. He stretched his injured arm outward feeling the faint tingle right before the nerves lit up. It hit a second later, and he pressed his lips into a tight line as he pressed the button.

“‘Nother thought.” Fahz fell in stride next to him.

“Wow. Didn’t realize you could form more than one a day.”

“Piss off.” Fahz said casually before continuing. “Not really looking forward to going to the place ma' dad wanted to escape, mate. Plus, Jinn’s never gonna approve of this little mission of ours.” The Gear scratched his cheek, then made a show of inspecting his nails.

JD lifted a brow at him, surprised at his choice of wording. “Ours?”

“Did I say that? Must’ve misspoke.” Fahz tailed JD into the armory, the neatly racked armor hanging along the wall, and frowned up at his hanging gear.

“Or you didn’t.” JD offered, pulling his down. He looped his arm through the shoulder straps, pulling open one of the racks with his utility belt and personal weapons. “And you actually have a soul.”

Fahz scoffed. “Nah–I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Listen, I don’t really care whether or not you come along, hell, run to Jinn now if you want to stop me,” He gestured back the way they’d come, “But I need to fix this.”

“And let you and your band of misfits get all the glory?–nah, mate.” Fahz shook his head, finally taking his armor down. “Besides, might learn how Delta keeps up with you and your nauseatingly noble bullshit all the time.”

“I wouldn’t count on them putting up with me for very long once we show up.” JD knew that the choices he’d made and the words he’d said couldn’t be taken back or erased, and he wasn’t naive enough to believe all would be swept aside.But he knew his friends and how they thought, and that he could build up that trust again–that he would actually try this time.

Despite his earlier attempts to dissuade JD, Fahz mentioned nothing more as the two changed into new clothes and their armor, properly outfitting themselves for the desert. Both of them making their way to the landing pad outside of the building.

“You sure this isn’t an elaborate plan to bring them back for Jinn? Because that’s evil–even to me.” Fahz asked, eyeing the Raven. JD felt his stomach drop at the thought that he would stoop that low. But Fahz spoke again before he could answer, voice full of humor. “Ya’ know–you could always try and “direct order” them into letting us help. Seems to work well–’specially with the Corporal.”

JD winced, vividly recalling how well it didn’t , but he managed to let the joke land. He stared at the Raven, feeling hope spread through him.

“Yeah I–I don't think that will be necessary.”

⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚ ⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

[xnomnomx]

Stories, Secrets,& Sorrows

Masterlist

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

this behemoth was a joy and pain to write, but i am so happy it's completed and now i can retire my zombie status!

and i'm so excited with the third dlc releasing soon and even happier I got this written, if you have a like or kudos to spare please do,

they feed me

Series: Part 2 of A New Frontier

[xnomnomx]

PT.2

[xnomnomx]

knocking the cobwebs off the digital art things again...

a little backstory sketch of my MC's scar ( bc I love a backstory) and how she meet prof. fig. adding color to this was a chore so please imagine the pink hair I gave her ;)

PT. 1

[xnomnomx]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

꧁ ༺ 𓆝   Arrival   𓆞 ༻ ꧂

Fandom: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Rating: Teen And Up Audience

Relationships: So'lek te Elusa Kiro'itan/The Sarentu | Player 

Characters: Alma Cortez, John Mercer (Avatar - Cameron), Angela Harding, Teylan (Avatar - Cameron), So'lek te Elusa Kiro'itan, Priya Chen, Alexander Tremayne, Ri'nela (Avatar - Cameron), Nor (Avatar - Cameron), Original Female Character(s)

Series: Part 1 of A New Frontier

Notes:

i really love this game and how much it draws you in, characters and world alike. my aim with writing in this world is simply just to explore it and have fun. I'm mostly compelled by the characters and dynamics.this intro will jump through the few years before the Sarentu make it out into Pandora. I also choose to see the Sarentu as in their early twenties when the game takes place.

As for the relationship tag I will probably take a while to get to implying it. In my mind I ship them (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

My Sarentu's name is Sev'iri! and I imagine her actually having a Na'vi accent like the rest of them!!

Without further adieu!

 ꧁ ༺ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞  ༻ ꧂

The air burned.

Before her, Sev’iri’s hands were blurry where they groped across the wall for a release hatch–for anything.

She felt the bottom of the door with her searching hands and tried to slip her fingers under it, but it was no use. The massive door was meant for AMP suits, and her weakened state would prove useless for getting it to budge.

Finally she sagged to the cold floor below, wheezing, and closing her eyes. She could endure this. It never lasted much longer than this.

There was a crackle over the radio then Mercer’s voice, amused, cut through. “That’s enough Harding.”

A loud beep sequence followed and the lights switched to green. Soft hissing filled the room, drawing out her pounding heart as stable air filled the space, replacing the human air Harding had subjected her to.

“Damn, Mercer.” Harding’s voice loomed over her, and Sev’iri’s eyes opened to shiny boots a few feet from her face. “Ruining my fun. Get up!”

With a harsh cough she pushed her hands and knees, then to a squat. Aware if she didn’t move any faster, regardless of her dizzy state, Harding would likely get physical.

She hacked and stood up shakily, feeling herself sway and shiver, finally focusing on the woman before her.

“Come on–back to the bunks.” Sev’iri turned, watching as the door she crawled to hissed and rose upwards. She rubbed her throat as she walked, wincing at each breath she drew in of proper air. Her lungs felt raw as though rocks had been rubbed throughout them. It would hard to rest tonight, and even harder to eat in the morning. If she even was permitted breakfast.

Harding ditched her in the hallway that led to the sleeping quarters for all the Na’vi children. She entered her room, alone and completely in the dark.

There were no more shared bunks after Aha’ri died.She was accustomed to not going to bed at the proper curfew due to Harding's short temper and Mercer’s sick punishments and did not even need to feel her way to her bed. Simply took five steps forward and fell to her side.

 ꧁ ༺ ༻ ꧂

Sev’iri watched Alma’s long blue tail swish. Back and forth. Twitch as she processed a question from Teylan, then continued in a rhythmic pattern. Alma paced up and down between the desks, hands moving in the air as she gestured again to the bright screen at the front of their classroom. 

“Sev’iri?... Sev’iri?” She blinked, focusing on Alma’s concerned face. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes. I am just..tired today.” Sev’iri answered softly, waiting for Alma to return back to their lesson. She could see in the pained, pinched look on Alma’s face–and the way the others shifted uncomfortably in their seats– that Alma knew why she was tired. But she couldn’t say anything about it.

She was in deep trouble with Mercer. The day before, in their weapons handling class, Harding had broken Nor’s hand during her demonstration of how to hold a gun. Sev’iri hadn’t meant to get angry, normally she could swallow back her emotions and wait like Ri’nela or Teylan. Shoulders slumped and eyes averted. But she’d felt so fiercely about Nor’s crying that she’d pointed her own gun at Harding, hissing and growling.

Harding hadn’t seemed bothered, Sev’iri thought about the look on her face. Harding looked as if she’d just confirmed something that pleased her. Class had been dismissed, and she’d spent most of the night deep cleaning all the guns Harding could find.

Mercer had shown up during their evening lecture though, and Alma had practically begged him to stop.

“Merc–John, please!” Alma had pleaded. “Just let me work one on one with her–it was a mistake! ”

“That's enough, Alma!” Mercer’s voice was sharp and Sev’iri flinched, eyes closing to block out the harsh lights of the classroom. His cruel eyes had bore into hers. “You know what happens when you break contact.”

She shook her head, dispelling the memory, and focused again on Alma's swishing tail, now more angry and jerky in its movements. She even stopped talking for more than a minute and ignored Teylan’s questions about economics…huh?

Nor sat next to her, his injured hand hidden beneath the table, occasionally he’d give her an unbothered smile, which helped her relax a little. His hand would heal, it had too.

“Anyways,” Alma straightened, then pointed her hand at the display screen which now filled the entire front wall of the room. “Why don’t we switch to more fun topics.”

In front of their desk Teylan whined while Ri’nela perked up, staring at the loading icon of the RDA insignia. Sev’iri sat up a bit more, too. Alma wasn’t really allowed to show them much outside of Mercer’s curriculum–which was mostly combat or anything that furthered his own interests on Pandora. But sometimes Alma would show them pictures of the planet, or its animals, or clips of songs.

In a quick burst of light the screen loaded a brilliant picture of greens and blues and purples and pinks. Sev’iri stared at the image with open mouthed wonder. The tall trees, the hanging plants and darting insects.The sky was several hues of blue and orange–a sunset is what Alma called it– and so vast. The image slid to the next, showing thick forest, with lush trees and plants and a darting group of–

“Viperwolves!” Teylan shouted. Clearly over his pouting as he muttered the names for everything he could remember.

The viperwolves were moving in the photo and she realized it was because they were watching a camera recording of the forest, perhaps even at this minute.

“I cannot wait to go out there.” Sev’iri murmured and Ri’nela turned to smile at her in agreement.

“It will be such an amazing experience to see our home.” The other girl murmured. “To meet others like us.”

Alma looked nervous at the statement, her eyes darted to the doors like she half expected Mercer to break through. “J-just remember, you're here on behalf of the RDA to help us connect with other clans.”

They all just sighed contentedly, and with a soft smile Alma relaxed. The screen shifted again and Sev’iri’s mouth dropped open in shock. The picture had been taken from quite a distance away but the entire center of the image was cut through by a brilliant series of arches, bone looking rock that curved up out of the earth like a dome. Small specks dotted near the top, large enough that from the distance she knew they were the banshees the soldiers complained about all the time. She stared at the image as long as she could, committing it to memory and to heart.

Ahari remembered more of Pandora, after all, Sev’iri was so small when Mercer took them in. But her sister could gush for hours about what all she could remember from her years before the RDA. Her favorite thing had been the sky.

“It is the colors that never end!” Ahari’s voice creeps up from memory. Only three years before had she said that, and now she could only exist in their minds. She stared at a new image of the sunset ahead and tried to remember the words in their native language again. But since Ahari’s death they'd been too afraid to speak it with fear that Mercer was constantly listening in.

But hopefully, one day, they’d be permitted to learn Na’vi again and to finally see the never ending colors Ahari had promised.

 ꧁ ༺ ༻ ꧂

Sev’iri  watched as the soldiers stepped into the room. Slow, almost at ease movements, but behind their masks their eyes focused on all the Na’vi standing before them. Nor hissed, stepping before Ri’nela and Teylan, with a pivot the guns trained on her where she stood apart from them.

Then the doors opened again, and Alma tore into the room, her long legs covering the ground between her and the soldiers before they could turn fully and then Sev’iri saw the gun in her hands, then Alma aimed at the soldiers.

And shot them.

Sev’iri watched the blood seep from the fallen humans, too confused and nervous to understand what Alma was doing–or that in that moment she’d saved their lives.

“Come on! We have to go!” Alma screamed. Nor pushed the others ahead of him, and then tugged at Sev’iri–clearly he was the only one who could function at this moment.

She didn’t even know Alma knew how to use a gun. She’d always just been their kind, almost-Na’vi, instructor.

“Sev’iri!” This time Nor grabbed her and pulled. “We must run .”

The base seemed so foreign. The hallways were dark, save for disturbing red light that flared and spun, illuminating the hallway in disorienting flashes. They ran, following Alma through parts of the base she didn't know existed.

Until finally, then doors slid behind them, cutting off the sounds of the alarms and the lights flickered on to reveal… a room full of tanks?

Alma raised her hands, shushing Teylan’s panicked questions.

“But Mercer–” Teylan began, voice weak..

“Mercer tried to have us killed!” Nor shouted.

“But!”

“ Teylan!” Ri'nela and Sev’iri said in unison.

Alma waved her hands in the air. “Hey! I need you guys to listen–please! It’s the only way you make it through this.”

Nor challenged Alma back but Sev’iri couldn’t hear much; she focused on the clear chambers, whose doors were now sliding back–big enough inside to hold them.

Alma took her arm a few moments later and encouraged her to sit, and with one glance at the others she folded herself down into the tank. But her panic rose as the lid sealed and her breath fogged against the glass, meeting Alma’s teary eyes one last time.

She wished she could be with the others, because inside this machine she could only feel how far they’d been torn from their own planet–from each other.

Her vision began to cloud, easing the fear a bit, and finally she watched Alma mouth an apology before her five fingers trailed off of the clear pod door and Sev’iri fell into sleep.

꧁ ༺ ༻ ꧂

Waking from the eternal sleep had felt like rising through a warm ocean. A gradual rise and bump from her heartbeat. She'd dreamed of something while she's been sealed away, but now it eluded her, sinking back down into the depths as light began to pulse into her world again.

Now felt nothing like that.

Sev’iri’s heart was in her throat for a long while after she narrowly escaped Harding and Mercer’s wrath. Fingers in her hair, breathing heavy, muscles both tensed and fatigued at her frantic running. She had been so strong before Alma had sealed them away, but her body had changed in her sleep. She crouched for a moment on the pipes, sucking in a shaky breath.

So’lek had not answered when she’d radioed him, when he’d saved her from Harding and Mercer just moments before. Without Alma or the others she felt restless and afraid, and So’lek had been the only connection to them. To her survival.

Carefully she raised up a bit, still needing to fold into herself in the maintenance tunnel, and moved into the room outside. It was quiet here, in the ruins of what TAP had once been and gunfire sounded no more than faint little ticks in the distance. Sev’iri rose, finding her legs a bit more shaky than before.

Eventually a hole in the concrete revealed a fallen ceiling and a path into a tunnel, full of shafts of metal and flickering lights and to her shock, plants.

She quickened her pace. She could get out.

Sometimes, water puddles shifted and glowed. And strange colors and glimmers dotted the wreckage of TAP. She stopped her sprint at the sight of a gash in the ceiling, revealing a warm light that beamed down and illuminated the space.

The sun. She was seeing the sun.

When she was certain she was near her exit from the place she made a leap onto twisted tree roots, submerged in dark water. It squished between her toes, the moss on the bark soft and gentle, unlike the metal grating of the building she’d spent her life in. Barefoot, and forced to endure the cold sting and the sharp dig of vents. She trembled, not from exertion, but from some emotion she could not name, and could not swallow back down.

The tunnel beyond yawned on for a many dozen yards, and she could no longer hear the sounds of fighting from behind her. Ahead, a large hole had been ripped open in the hull of the TAP building, the jagged metal covered by foliage and the opening glowing with the light of the outdoors.

Sev’iri slowed, her ears collecting sounds she’d never been allowed to get accustomed to. She’d once memorized the sounds of different AMP's moving, different types of breathing, the whir that machines made. Things that drove the Na'vi children mad, but did not affect the humans. Unlike any of that, these sounds were gentle and kind to her.

Warmth radiated from outside, and her eyes did not yet adjust to the brightness. In that moment, she forgot she was escaping. She forgot about So’lek and Alma and the others. She craved to reach out and touch the plants near her, but the fear Mercer drove into them about how savage Pandora was restrained her. She halted at the opening, scarcely breathing. Waiting for him to snatch her back into the cold dark that was their home for so long. But Mercer did not.

Without looking back, Sev’iri jumped from the ruined place landed in cool water and on smooth rocks. Her tail twitched. Lungs filling with real air. She slid her feet forward step after step, refusing to let them leave the water and followed the stream on for some time. Shimmying her way through the water like a wonderstruck child.

She lifted her eyes, warmed by tears, to the world. She was home.

 ꧁ ༺ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ༻ ꧂

[xnomnomx]

✨gears 5 rambles✨

There’s some things I’ve seen online about Gears 5 that somewhat confuse me. It’s mostly in regards to the writing for the characters. And as you can imagine, the complaining is mostly about Kait from a demographic of what I'm assuming is gamer-chad’s still obsessed with the way the franchise was in 2006.

It felt like people didn't pay real attention to the meaning or the nuances of the game. Not everything is going to be said outright. I rarely see anyone say different and since I've recently replayed the fifth game some stuff has been on my mind.

A few of the things I reference comes from the Gears novels. I'll try and point it out as I go. I'll break it up into “chapters” of each weird opinion I've seen and my thoughts on it.

Disclaimer: Strap in, I wrote this ✨caffeinated✨ (it's long)

First Thing: "The new group is annoying"

    The whole point of Gears 4 is that Kait, JD, and Del grew up in a time of peace, not war. They don’t know what it's like to see the news about people dying or the loss of another city or live in constant fear of monsters killing them. Aside from Kait, JD and Del only saw the progress and peace that people fought hard for and were enjoying. All they would have is stories from the survivors. 

    Marcus grew up at the end of the Pendulum Wars and through the Locust invasion. And we start off his storyline with him in his thirties, well into the conflict with the Locust. He’s hardened and tough. Whereas the new Gears got to see a world that was stable and safe. JD and Del grew up in an almost utopia. After Anya dies, JD grows up with a hard relationship with Marcus and that seems to drive both his resentment and his desire to be seen and respected by Marcus. Where Marcus just sees someone making the exact same mistakes he did. I don't think he’d have gone the path he did if it weren't for growing up in war time, and he deeply resents the new COG because it's not rooted in anything meaningful. He doesn't want JD to willingly make the choice to be a soldier.

     I don't know how many people played the Hivebusters. But Cole’s daughter Hana was raised almost opposite. Cole wanted her to have nothing to do with the military and interfered heavily that she’d go another path. Even Baird and Sam were ready to hang up the armor (in the book they live quite lavishly). The world is different! The perspective these new characters will have will be different. You're going to see in real time how overnight they are forced to adapt and I think they do it quite well.

     Kait, even though the Outsiders are reliant on survival skills, still has a peaceful life, and rounds out the other two with her perspective of growing up without the luxuries of a city or protective walls.

I'm excited for E-day because now we're going to see a version of Marcus and Dom before they were these grizzled badasses that we started off with in 2006. They're young, probably the same age that the new cast is in Gears 4 and going to make mistakes. And people are probably going to complain for those exact reasons.

Second Thing: Kait is ‘whiny’, ‘bitchy’, ‘selfish’, or ‘aggressive’

This is probably the most common rant I've seen. And I think people are missing some key things about her in gears 5. 

 Her. ENTIRE. village. dies! Everyone she’s ever known or grown up with or cared for is gone in a matter of hours. It's not something we really see aside from her relationship with her mother, or her hugging the kid in the 4, or the books with Mackenzie and Eli, but this is the extent of her world up until five: her village in the mountains. And it's heavily implied she had deep love for her home and people. Her community is literally murdered in one night. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. 

She's forced to mercy-kill her mother. Spends the last 24 hours fighting through hordes of monsters only to find it was too late. (And she also thinks her uncle is dead at this point. )

Her home was completely destroyed and unsafe to return to. So she's somewhat forced to join the COG, an organization she's spent her life despising.

This is more minor, but when she decides to go find the twins and her uncle in the book, Oscar is a dick to her about choosing to join the COG. He says something along the lines of “what would your mother think of you?” and it was pretty fucked up. 

Also minor but in one of the books she finds out about her fathers involvement with Ukkon in the war and suspects that her memory might have been tampered with on behalf of her parents because of it. Not an outright thing to add to the list but it weirded me out.

(Beginning of Gears 5. I think its one month or so after the end of 4 )

Starts getting near debilitating headaches constantly.

Very horrific nightmares every time she sleeps, to the point where admits to Marcus she’s getting minutes of sleep at night. (this is before the time skip to Riftworm too)

Finds out JD lies to everyone about Settlement 2 and then he almost dies and is put into a coma. In the book, Kait spends a lot of time in the hospital with him waiting for him to wake up. Just sitting there for hours, but when he eventually wakes up, he’s different and she ends up almost crying and leaving. (This is about a month into the time skip and the beginning of his really big rift with everyone) It’s also implied she relies a lot on him (and Del too) for comfort and I guess stability after everything and him pushing her and Del away probably really took away a part of her support with everything else.

To go back to the nightmares. In an attempt to avoid sleeping she pushes her body to the max. Sparring, training, running endlessly until she’s too exhausted and is forced to sleep. But even when she tries she’s unable to actually rest. This leads into her hallucinating constantly and by the time we get to Riftworm and her connection to the Hivemind deepens the hallucinations are fueled by dark, often scary visions. They don't touch on the health ramifications of this but I imagine she's pretty messed up after five months of it.

Forced to kill Oscar. An action she ultimately takes responsibility for. And now she’s completely lost all of her family. 

Granddaughter of Queen Myrrah (need I say more?)

Pretty much manipulated through the link by Myrrah to find Kadar and connect with Niles and the matriarch, a process that should have allowed her assume control of Kait's body.

Dead mother reanimated by her psycho grandmother. That would haunt me for life.

    Okay. A lot of people think Kait is bitchy and whiny and out of line in Gears 5. That it makes no sense for her to lead delta. When has Delta new or old ever done anything by the norm? Of the new group Kait is the most levelheaded and patient. She rarely gets defensive unless it defends her stance on something (like her argument with Marcus in 4 about saving her mom) and only puts people in their place when they need it. Like her comment to Fahz in Act 1 or Act 2 with JD.

    Moving on, I think a lot of it is directed to her response to JD in Riftworm when they're trying to move the residents of Riftworm to the security of the cities.

    I dont know about ya’ll, but if i get even slightly crappy sleep for a day or two I'm a different kind of person. I'm ruder, a bit more clipped. But if I'd been going through all of that ⬆️ for months and just killed someone I loved,  I'd FLIP TF OUT. But Kait doesn’t, yeah she gets mad, but I don’t feel at any point Kait is ‘bitchy’ or ‘bratty’ or ‘whiny’. (I see similar shit said about Ellie from TLOU and I think it's pretty evident people don't pay attention to the character at all.)

       Despite everything she’s gone through. If anything, she’s got a reason to be that way. Of the Gears characters there are very few that have had to go through more shit than she did, but with the luxury of having it be spaced out over years or decades. Kait went through it in months and she’s the only character that had it amplified by hallucinations and visions. It's why Marcus has a guiding hand for Kait, because he understands the enormous scale of what she's going through. He’s lived through it himself. She has a strong rapport and trust with him because of it, and it's more shown in the books and Gears 4. 

     And her defiance of orders isn't because of some gimmicky "I need to know who I am” (which I think the line delivery could have been better written so surface level gamers could actually understand a bit more) but rather that she knows she needs to stop whatever the hell is going on because the moment she killed Oscar it became a lot more than just headaches and hallucinations. And it makes her dangerous and a liability. And only makes the choice to defy JD when MARCUS tells her to go to Kadar.

    I think that for someone who has gone through ALL of the above things, her response to JD was actually pretty tame. She gets mad at JD, because she’s just murdered her own uncle and now understands her hallucinations are very, very real visions and she's connected to the Swarm. That’s a lot to deal with. And JD, her best friend, and someone that would’ve supported her before, essentially tells her to deal with it on the trip home–which is not something I fault JD for, they were in a tight spot with the Swarm attack. But I think Kait was very panicked about the state of her mind and her agency at the moment (she was forced to kill Oscar), and it doesn't help that Marcus confirms to her face that he sort of knew what was up since the jump.

Her anger seems to be more because of JD. I think any other character she wouldn't have been angry with, but the relationship between him Del and Kait kinda hits its bottom here. And she’s just frustrated he’s treating the situation the way he did.

     Third thing: ‘Kait kept her own secret’

  JD knew the scale of what he did and lied and hid it for months. Whereas Kait had no idea what her headaches and lack of sleep were about, and figured it to probably be a trauma response right up until she is controlled by Myrrah.

     I don't know if people understand that moment in the game is when Kait realizes that something horrible is actually happening to her. Just because we’ve ‘known’ she’s Myrrah’s granddaughter since the end of Gears 4, doesn't mean that she knew. She didn't have anything to piece together about the headaches or hallucinations. Which is why her defying orders was supposed to be the right call, because she's just realized she's connected to the Swarm. And it’s a ticking clock until she loses complete control.

    So I have a ‘???” moment when I see the complaints for Gears 5 are condensed into Kait hate, probably by people who still really want the games to be played by Marcus or don't have any level of deeper understanding of the game based on lack of critical thinking. Maybe both.

    I mean, Baird complains constantly and we love him. Marcus defies orders and does his own thing and no one cares, he's Marcus. JD is cold and rude to the people he cares about and people thought it made him ‘interesting’. FAHZ IS LITERALLY ALL. THE. THINGS. PEOPLE SAY KAIT IS AND PEOPLE LOVE HIM FOR IT. Most people that complain about her don't take the time to actually understand anything they see in the game, or what was being implied.

Fourth Thing: She's not the traditional sexualized video game woman

    I think a part of the Kait stuff is probably the way she looks. I think Sam and Anya come from an era of gaming where there was more of a defined norm that was accepted for female characters. Example: skin tight clothes, no muscle and a defined rack and ass. Though they're still kickass and tough characters they had a very different look from the male gears in the game.

     Kait is still gorgeous, but she's got an nontraditional hair style that fits her cultural upbringing as an Outsider (something the game never really explained but is explained in the books) and not some edgy thing it's been assumed to be. I do understand that her hair is kinda down and I don't claim to understand the physics of her bangs, but comparatively Anya and Sam had  their hair completely down in the older games.

She's  also in actual frickin’ fatigues like the dudes are in the game whereas Sam and Anya were in some tight leather looking pants. The only clothes that are skin-tight are Jinn's dress and some of the capital women's clothing in Gears 5. But overall the styling for 5 made sense.

Kait is also shredded. In the books she’s working out a lot and constantly active and it is reflected in her design. Same with Lani and Hana from Hivebusters, the newer female characters designs look like they could actually truck the fuck outta someone. And I can't imagine how strong her core is to pilot that skiff. 

Fifth thing: Assumption that Kait, Del, and Baird HATE JD for what happened.

     A lot of people take the dialogue between Kait and Del in Act 2 about JD really far. And there's this immediate assumption they hate him, specifically because he was responsible for ordering bots to kill civilians. But from my understanding they were more pissed that JD kept it a secret and lied to them.

ESPECIALLY Del. Who grew up with JD and saw him as a brother. And when Del wanted to leave the COG because of Settlement 2 JD agreed knowing he was part of the cause for Del’s shaken faith in the COG. And now, JD wakes up from a coma and starts getting tight with Fahz, someone who constantly tormented him and Del back in their time before going AWOL, and someone they both actually hated. And Kait defended JD multiple times from Oscar in the first game about their involvement in the massacre.

     Most of their dialogue about JD in Act 2  is them wondering if JD will ever go back to being himself , and wondering if returning to the COG and getting constantly reminded of Anya and Marcus’s legacies really pushed him down the road he was on. Del getting mad that his best friend was ‘palling around with Fahz’ and I think is the only time this Act 2 that he got pissed off.

     In Act 3 when JD shows up I don’t think Del or Kait were in the wrong for being defensive and angry with him being there. The last time they saw him was Riftworm and they were expecting to get shut down with relaunching the HOD, something they needed and knew JD probably wouldn't hear them out on. Kait's angry with him, but the second JD announces he wants to help and acknowledges the shit he's put them through she visibly calms down. Del too. 

    It's Del who is more fired up afterwards, and I think people say they were too harsh to JD even though he wanted to help. But JD really messed up his friendships with them and made himself hard to rely on, so naturally Del and Kait aren't going to immediately sweep it under the rug.

It's not until Fahz admits that Kait and Del bring out the best in JD that they begin to accept it. Del definitely is more angry (rightfully so) and after pushing it, even Kait sort of gets on to Del about it. But I'm glad they included that friction, it shouldn't be a completely seamless thing. And I think once they saw the real JD that they know they collectively moved forward. It's not perfect, but they definitely don't hate him. If they did, I'm sure they would've sent him right back to New Ephyra. They just wanted their friend back.

     I also don't think Baird hates JD. Like, at all. They have a trickier time reconciling because Baird and JD share responsibility for using the Hammer of Dawn on Settlement 2. Lizzie dies and JD, Baird's nephew is put into a coma as a repercussion. I think Baird really blamed himself for what happened, that he listened to JD and it resulted in a weapon on that scale going out of his control. 

And JD blames himself because he knows that his decision backed Baird into a corner and nearly cost him his life, and it did for Lizzie's. And there's this added layer of what would have happened if they hadn’t, since the city was overrun with Brumaks and Swarm. It was the best decision, but still a shitty one. JD also went crazy COG afterwards, something that Baird doesn't stand for, so their attempts at reconciling were strained and awkward. But never hate-fueled.

Sixth Thing: The Hivemind connection

      A big thing people didn't realize is that Myrrah is actively haunting Kait through the bond in an attempt to drive her to Kadar to use her body. The Swarm had Reyna's body, but it was decaying and weak and Myrrah needed a healthy, alive one. Since the Matriarch never died and the Swarm came back, Myrrah essentially ‘wakes up’ but she's without a vessel. 

     When Kait is abducted by the Snatcher in Gears 5, Myrrah forces her to control them and ultimately kill Oscar, finally revealing to Kait that it's more than ‘seeing things’ and begins this crazy manipulation by Myrrah to get Kait to Kadar. We all know Niles had a fascination with Myrrah and the Locust and so his intentions to connect Kait are never to help. He knew that when Kait linked into the Hivemind, getting a one-on-one connection to Myrrah would be able to give Myrrah a vessel. 

       The scene of Kait and the Matriarch circling each other isn't just her seeing the ‘monster’, that's Myrrah. And when she grabs Kait in the link and Kait begins to scream in pain it's because it's an attempt by Myrrah to take over. Del unplugs the machine before anything too damaging can happen but Kait manages to force her grandmother into the semi-preserved body of Reyna, which ultimately gives the Swarm their Queen. Once they kill the Matriarch Kait is free of her visions and from Myrrah/Queen Reyna. This is something I wish got expressed more in dialogue, because it took me a second to realize myself.

–Reyna also had slowed aging like Myrrah and was in her seventies/ eighties when she died in Gears 4. 

I'm sure I can find more to talk about. But overall Gears 5 was a solid game, and the characters were great. I do agree some parts of the game could’ve had a tad cleaner writing (wtf was the choice 😭) or most namely: a better balance with JD's character. I definitely agree that a DLC of him during his time as ‘Dark JD’ would've been really great and would've probably given more insight to people about why Kait and Del were upset with him.

I just don't agree with the surface level pulls people take from the game. I've loved Gears since forever and though the new trilogy is different, it's meant to tell a different story apart from Marcus and the old Delta. So thank you if you read all of this! It was a lot.

[kiss-anon]

I must confess. I want to put on a scuba suit and take a deep dive into Gears of War lore, especially the newer ones, but I don’t want to go alone. I need someone to gush about Gears 5 with, Fahz needs more lore and it’s driving me crazy! I have no one irl to speculate with 😔

[xnomnomx]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ masterlist ੈ✩‧₊˚

gears of war

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ kait & jd *ੈ✩‧₊˚

that won't be necessary

band's back together

the sun still rises

without a hitch

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ hivebusters *ੈ✩‧₊˚

the path to awakening

hogwarts legacy

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

to be published

avatar frontiers of pandora

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

arrival

[xnomnomx]

omg i underestimated how much i would love drawing the little monkey scribbles!!

[xnomnomx]

colored!

[xnomnomx]

[xnomnomx]

recently did a play through and this scene made me laugh—poor kait