#(but that’s. literally two more months. and how long can I avoid knowing the plot?

[heylinfanclub]

Every day I don’t spend rent money on baldurs gate is a monument to SELF RESTRAINT 🥺 (I have adhd this is anguish).

[marchsfreakshow]

Red Nail Polish [Stan Bowes]

Smut / tiny bit of angst

Your boss never really spoke to you that much. Not really. So, you weren't particularly expecting a call from him at 12am asking you to come over.

This request is from AGESSS ago but I finally found some inspiration. Anon who requested it, if you're still here this is for you<3

Fair warning I haven't seen Pose for a bit so it might sound a bit ooc sorry.

Warnings: once again too much plot for a smut fic lol, brief 'sir' kink, Stan being kinda pathetic, oral (m), reader is a little mean occasionally.

18+! MINORS DNI READ MY SFW WORKS

No one's perspective

⊹˚.⋆ ₊꒷ᘏᘏ︶ଓ︶꒷꒦⊹˚ᗢ₊꒷︶ଓ︶꒷

Stan never spoke to you. Tell a lie, he did. Occasionally. Brief hellos while he walked to a meeting maybe. Small talk maybe going over whatever he asked you to do.

There was never more than that. No lingering glances in your direction, no knowing smiles. Seemed like nothing. That's all your relationship was.

You worked like this for a few months.

Never speaking much together. Maybe you gave him lunch if he asked. You always found him cute though. The way his hair just sat the same every day, the way his eyes always gave you the same soft look when he walked past you. It was, slightly perfect. Too perfect.

Men have their secrets, you assumed he probably had his. That's probably why you liked his eyes. Too much of a past to stare at, too much to get into with your own boss who you barely spoke more than... 4 words to. You couldn't really casually go up to Stan and ask him, "Hey sir how's your home life? It's going good? Yea, your eyes say otherwise." You weren't insane!

The hours were long.

The weeks were tedious.

Eventually getting a few more words into Stan. Small conversations over lunch that didn't amount to much. The man found himself enjoying your company. "You do anything over the weekend?" He asked, adjusting himself in his chair a bit. Did he look uncomfortable? Probably.

The silence was nice, so you were slightly taken aback by his out of nowhere question. "Uh, went to see a production of Two Gentlemen Of Verona. That was nice."

"Oh, nice. On your own?"

On my own? What was that meant to mean?

"Yeah."

"Right."

The rest of lunch continued. Stan seemed off. On the edge of his seat, literally. He was uncomfortably perched on his chair, attempting to attain something just out of grasp. You noticed his fidgeting; flicking of his nails, slight playing with his food, eyes flickering around to avoid your own eyes. You wanted to pry but also figured you didn't talk enough to ask if he was okay. Stan would probably say that he's fine and you'd get right back to the slightest bit of uncomfortable silence.

Back to work.

Back to small smiles, little questions, and writing notes to yourself. For the next couple of hours. Boring and repetitive until 5:30pm. Everyone caught themselves up and left immediately. You found yourself a face in the crowd, heading towards your car before Stan got a moment to say 'Have a good evening' to you.

It was a lonely evening. He was used to hearing the TV play some children's shows for a while, hearing the little ones talk excitedly about what they did at school. Just being excited for no reason. But, no, he was greeted with silence this night. It was deafening. He had to be alone with his thoughts. It was another quick meal in the microwave. He had to face the rare few dishes still lingering in the sink. Mouldy food starting to stick to the porcelain. Only served as a reminder of the reality Stan currently lived in.

A lonely movie, lying on the couch in whatever clothes he could find. Staring up at the ceiling, blank-minded, thinking nothing. The movie waved past his ears. "Can I talk to you?"

Stan's phone call at 12am wasn't what you were expecting. You were half lying in bed, reading still. Very close to finishing the book, and that was what you were focused on. "Sir... Stan, it's 12am."

"sir...hey, call me that again," he murmured under his breath, closing his eyes. Lost in his thoughts of your voice. Maybe you shouldn't've been giving in to his desires. Stan had mentioned his wife, and his kids multiple times. He told you plenty of stories, but he seemed slightly out of it tonight.

Despite your lingering thoughts, you said 'fuck it' and responded quietly, your book closed on your lap. "Why sir? Something happened?"

"Yeah, actually. I, um, I was wondering if you could... come over."

A chuckle. "Stan.. it's midnight."

"I know. I know...just, please. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." Stan eventually told you his address, and you made a quick mental note. Agreeing eventually, and you hung up. Maybe you should pack an overnight bag. Yeah, maybe you should.

The drive took more time than you expected. You didn't properly change out of your home clothes either, just slipping on some underwear and trousers that weren't so... messy. Knocking quickly with the overnight bag still in the backseat of your car. "Ah, hi." Stan looked a mess, more than you felt right now and it almost broke your heart.

"Hey...why did you want me to come over?"

Stan took your hand, led you inside, and closed the door once you stood in the living room. It was certainly more messy than you would have expected. A bit of trash, a messed up couch, a random movie still playing dully on the TV. This... certainly wasn't what you were expecting. "Stan?" You asked, peeking out to the hallway.

"Sorry...sorry." The man sniffled. He quickly ran a hand over his face then took a few steps back into the living room. "Uh, come sit down. I'll, get you a drink." The words, the steps and his look only added to your confusion. Sure he was certainly...alone now, but the mess, and his clothes.

You took a few steps towards Stan and immediately held onto his arms. "Stan. What's going on?" Cutting him off of any words he was about to say. Stan looked at you, then at your hands on his arms. Then back into your eyes.

"She's gone."

Eyes wide. "Oh." How do you comfort people again? More specifically, how do you comfort your suddenly divorced boss who definitely hasn't been invading your thoughts recently? His eyes found the floor, like it was the most interesting thing in the room and said nothing for a moment.

People like hugs right? That should work. Enveloping Stan in a hug, your arms around his neck. Holding him close for a moment as he reluctantly wrapped his arms around your back. Awkward, but somehow comforting. It went on for a little bit too long, and once you pulled yourself away, his eyes found the floor again.

He wasn't really thinking much. You blinked and he kissed you. Wait what? His hands on your cheeks. This was not happening. Before he continued to kiss you, you took a step away. "Stan-"

"Fuck. Sorry." The man uttered, sitting on the couch instead. He looked quite sorry for himself. A bit of a pathetic sight really. It tugged at whatever empathetic heartstrings you had left. Stan clearly did something, and you probably should've left right then and there. I mean, were you really thinking about this? There are multiple reasons for his wife leaving, presumably with the two little kiddies. "Look, I just.." He trailed off once he saw you settle between his legs.

"um.."

"You're obviously feeling upset, and I know you did something but I don't really know any other way to comfort you." You muttered, taking a loop in the sweatpants and pulling it so the waistband became looser. Stan brought his hips up for a moment so you could pull the fabric from his hips and let it settle around his ankles.

"you really don't have to.." He protested. Stan's protests were weak. He clearly hadn't been touched for a while. Or he was incredibly attracted to you. While yes technically, you didn't have to, you felt some semblance of upset for Stan and his situation. And you figured this would be the best way to temporarily help him out. Fuck it, you might get a raise out of this tomorrow once the man came to his senses, you didn't know.

Stan's lack of pleasure for a while was obvious. He was achingly hard already, and you had barely slipped your hand into his boxers. Bit sad really. But you digressed. Slowly touching him under the fabric for a few moments, hearing his breathing get heavier, and occasional little moans escaping him. Eventually, though, Stan pulled your hand away just to tug his boxers down his legs to join his sweats.

Ah, you knew what to do now. You muttered nothing to yourself, as you rested your fingers around Stan's cock again. Taking a breath, leaning in. Your tongue resting on the underside for a moment. "Ha.."

"You okay?" You asked, pulling yourself away for a moment, looking up at Stan.

"It's uh, it's been a while.."

"Figured." Ouch. That stung in Stan's heart for a moment. The feeling immediately replaced once your lips were wrapped around his dick once again. He couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to watch you or let his head fall back against the couch. So, he eventually decided to let his head fall against the couch as you started to take more of him down your throat. One hand resting next to him on the couch and the other hesitant to rest on your head. He didn't know what type of person you were, so he could've tried to push you down and you would've hated that.

But, you just continued without a care in the world. Eyes screwed shut as your cheeks hollowed with every movement. You pulled away from time to time to breathe, revelling in the sound of Stan's small groans, whimpers and gasps. They were the sweet sounds and made it all the better. The sounds of a lonely boss who you honestly, were still decently interested in.

Yea. You were definitely going to get a raise out of this.

Stan let out another groan, keeping his fingers taut against your hair. As soon as you felt the telltale sign in your mouth, you pulled yourself away, heavily breathing still. Starting instead to jerk Stan off quickly, keeping the same pace for another few moments, until he came in your hand. Dripping down his cock and your fingers as Stan bucked up to ride himself through his orgasm since you didn't seem to help him.

"a-ah shit. I'm sorry.." He muttered once he realised he made a mess of your hand. Coincidentally, a tissue box was by the TV stand, so you stood up, cum over your hand and grabbed the box, bringing it over to Stan. Not as satisfying as Stan had hoped, but it was something and it made him feel a little better.

Silently, you cleaned your hand up, throwing the stained tissues in the bin quickly. Stan followed, slowly cleaning himself up and dressing himself back up. Cue awkward silence for a few moments. "Thanks."

"Yeah. Course."

Another few moments of silence between the two of you, ads playing in the background on the TV. Looking around the living room as you just sat there for a moment. Stan finally said something, just your name. Looking over to you with a hopeful look. "Can we...can I..take you somewh-"

"No." Stan blinked and then looked over at the wall, feeling slight whiplash at you saying no immediately. "Whatever the fuck happened... whatever the fuck you did... It clearly only just happened. And I don't think that's a good idea."

"You just-"

"Yeah, I'm fully aware of what I just did Stan."

A beat of silence. Both of you felt like at least one of you said something wrong. You figured it was Stan. Who goes and suggests a date to their secretary right after their wife left them? "...a few weeks?"

"Try a few months sir." You knew exactly what you were doing with that word. Stan knew too. There was no need for you to call him that right now. Glancing at each other.

But you got up silently and walked out to your car, leaving Stan in confusion for a couple of minutes. Once you came back in, overnight bag in hand, Stan got the idea. Well, he hoped it was the right idea. Being led through the house until you were in his room.

You were sure this was going to result in way more than a raise by this point.

⊹˚.⋆ ₊꒷ᘏᘏ︶ଓ︶꒷꒦⊹˚ᗢ₊꒷︶ଓ︶꒷

Tags: @babygorewhore / @taintandviolent / @oceanblvd111 / @nahoyasboyfriend / @slutforgarlogan / @briaroftheroses @american-horror-whore /. @evanpeterspeter / @feefymo / @fear-is-truth / @lacucarachapisser / @saintlucretia / @jazz-berry / @t8-ak47 / @lemoniiiiiii / @xrag-dollx

[historybunnny]

𝙈𝙮 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 & 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜

A while back I received this question asking if I'd mind explaining what my creative process is like and some wanted further explanation about what goes into planning multiple generations & arcs. I do apologize that this is so overdue, and it's literally taken me months to get to. My process is always changing, and I'm constantly adding in pieces that help make the process easier. Because of this, the way I answered the question back then is also quite outdated, at least in terms of how I plan each shoot/post, and I'll hopefully provide further clarification below the cut.

However, first and foremost, I want to say I am by no means an expert and different processes work for different people. Your creative process might look totally different than mine, and that's okay! Whatever keeps you coming back and sharing your work is always going to be the best & most efficient way of doing things.

But I do think it's helpful to get insight into what works for others when you have no clue how to plan things like this, or where to even begin. So, without further ado, here is my process.

Mainly, I use a website called Milanote. It's super helpful for organization purposes, and it's mostly free. They have free templates you can use, or you can make your own. The only downside to it is you're limited on the number of "cards" that are available to you. They do have a promo that you can use where if you get someone else to sign up, you get more cards, which is what I did.

My main folder basically looks like this:

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃

The research folder is an unorganized, organized mess and basically just looks like this:

This is where I keep all my resources, and all of the things I've researched for my story. As you can see, this includes various sources like YouTube videos, various articles, quotes, photos and even some music as well. I like having this all in one place so it's easily accessible for me, but you could just easily keep all of this in a Google or Word doc if you're low on 'cards'.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙎

Next we have these two sections. Obviously, I had to cover them up to avoid spoilers but I did label them to hopefully provide insight. Essentially, for this decade in particular, there are going to be various arcs happening at once, especially since the children will be growing into adults and laying their foundation is going to become crucial to the story. However, I'm trying to limit myself from having too much going on at once, which is why I try to limit myself to only four arcs playing out at once.

I will also say that Plot's A through C are interconnected, or at least they will be eventually, while Plot D concerns one of the children and will impact things later down the line. This is super important for really tying different ideas together, and making sure random plots don't seem to just pop up out of the blue.

The table for myself helps a lot with this, so that I can easily see what arcs have been started, and how many 'scenes' each one has. I find this to be useful because then I know that none of the arcs are stretching too long, which ones might need more fine tuning and which ones have yet to flourish or even begin.

Each arc basically has something like this going from beginning to end, essentially following the classic three act structure. Not all of them have five components, some more or less, but generally it ends up being five. Now, this doesn't mean every plot is only five posts or anything like that. Most of the time, the timeline of events needs to be broken off into bite sized pieces and that's okay.

The resolution doesn't always mean a happy ending, and can also serve as a way for me to introduce any new arcs for a specific character, which would then start the process over. You can kind of think about this when watching a lot of television shows. We watch all this build up starting on episode one, and things get more and more intense until we finally reach the season finale. And then woah, with two minutes left of the episode, we see that the character they just thought was dead is actually alive?! Which then leads us into season two.

I do think planning this way could feel really tedious for some, but I like to map things out before I start introducing any arcs so I at least know it isn't a quick "one shot" plot, something without actual purpose or an arc that doesn't really seem to have any sort of end goal that makes logical sense. It also just helps me remember what everyone's up to, especially when there are so many characters to keep track of.

𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙀

Before I go into the game, I basically write out a "rough draft" of sorts. This includes dialogue, any background noises (things like a clock ticking or the tapping of a pencil), a brief description of each shot/photo (including any post-editing things like adding blur effect), and a summary of what's happening in each panel.

Because I only use one document for this, and clear it out once I complete a scene, I do not have any examples to show from The Baudelaire Legacy, so I created a mock-up scenario in which Ozzy flunks a difficult test at school, as seen below.

Once I have that written, I plug it into my 'scene planning' board. However, I only include the shot/photos, and the short summary. On Milanote, I also plug in the location, time of day, attire and any pose accessories I might need (so that I remember to create an extra outfit for it). This ends up looking like the example below.

I typically will only have this open on my second monitor while I'm shooting the scene, and I just tick the boxes as I go along. This is really nice if you have to stop mid-shoot, and helps me pick up where I left off without getting confused.

I do also edit each panel in-between shooting to make sure I'm getting the shots I want, however, I don't encourage everyone to have Photoshop and Sims 4 open at the same time.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙎

Then we have the character sheets for each of our characters. Right now, I'm only focusing on Lawrence & Winifred (though, the children's arcs are in a 'idea dump' document).

For me, this is the most important piece of the story. One of the reasons shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are considered some of the best writing in television history, is mostly due to the fact that, in my opinion, they prioritize this as well. It's always good to have a strong character in mind before you begin, and this is because you don't want them to step outside themselves.

Of course, your character can change and bend within their environment or plots happening around them, and they certainly should, but you also need to ask yourself if it's being done logically. Asking yourself, 'Why did they end up this way?', 'How did we get here?' and 'How would this character specifically react to an intense situation, stress or hardship?' is crucial when writing a character that feels alive.

Having something like this helps me build their "character arc" and map it out so no one ends up being left in the dust and makes sure that everyone is important in some way. Each of the children will have a sheet created for them once they reach the teen life state as well.

I also use this page as a way to record any quirks, or habits they have. These don't have to be major or super important either. So for example, on Lawrence's character sheet, I have it written down that he wears glasses to read; a very small thing casual readers probably wouldn't even pay attention to, so it feels like an important detail to me.

𝙈𝙔 𝙎𝙋𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙀𝙏𝙎

In addition to Milanote, I also Google Sheets/Docs. This is where I keep my spreadsheet and write / keep a hard copy of my story.

My spreadsheet is basically broken up into four different tabs - one for the main sims information (the Baudelaire's), side household information, my story posts and my ageing table.

My information tables look something like this:

For story posts, I use @aheathen-conceivably's method of tracking, which you can read about here. The only thing I have added in addition to what she has is a "notes" section, and this where I include any sort of post that doesn't specifically fit into any arc but is still important - things like birthdays, marriages, holidays, etc.

𝙈𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙉𝙀𝙊𝙐𝙎 𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

In addition to all of these things, I also use Pinterest to create moodboards for each decade, as well as each character. I like to include all sorts of things like any inspiration I'm drawing from (so, things like Greta Gerwig's Little Women or HBO's Gilded Age), photos, quotes, etc.

Annnnd that's basically it! I'm hoping this provides some good insight, and is helpful in some way. I know it seems like a lot, but the more you do it, and the more you plan, the more natural it will start to feel. Again, I am not an expert in any way, and it's always difficult to explain your process in this way (and probably why I put off trying to do so for such a long time). So, please feel free to ask for clarification in regards to any part of the above.

Happy Simming ‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃

[alieinthemorning]

An Addition to Change [Gojo Satoru]

Content: Major Character Death, Angst, AU: No Curses, Blood and Injury, JJK 237 Spoilers

Pronouns: None

Previous: Tears of The Strongest | Next: Fleeting Adolescence

Header: @/nikki101pistar on Twitter

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don't forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

This work's concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries.

Change is something that Satoru did a lot. He changed his clothes, furniture, cars and even house at a whim. Often times, he'd have at least five outfit changes in a day, there would be movers in and out of the house replacing furniture, he'd come home with a new car and about every one-two years you'd be moving to a new place.

And you'd just gone along with it all.

But this?

This was a bit much.

You eyed the child sitting across from you on the large gray couch, brand new, not even a dent in the cushions yet. He had black hair that was sticking up in every direction, violet eyes that bore into your own, unimpressed with...everything it seemed, and a frown that was too old and tired for a child his age.

Your gaze turned to Satoru, who was sitting beside you. He was pointedly looking at his phone, scrolling through social media to avoid both you and the child's stare.

"We can't avoid this, Satoru." You began, "Can you please tell me what happened? But be for real this time."

Because "I just found him, and it seemed like he needed a home!" is not an explanation at all. Sounds like he kidnapped a child off the streets, and you really didn't want to get tied up into something like that.

Satoru sighed in that dramatic way that he does, lolling his head away from you. "I told you—"

The child cut him off. "I've been living alone for a while now. He's been bothering me ever since he found out, and now I'm here, I guess." Satoru glared at him, but nodded along.

"Okay...and what about your guardians?"

"Dead." He replied flatly.

Your heart tightened. That poor baby, to have to navigate the world all by himself and for only he knows how long.

"What's your name?" You asked softly.

"...Megumi."

"Okay, Megumi, what would you like to do? Would you like to go back to where you were, or would you rather stay here with us?"

He was quiet for a moment, playing with the sleeves of his jacket before finally answering you. "...I wanna stay here."

You smiled, "Okay, then." then it dropped, "We literally don't have anything for you."

Satoru laughed loudly, snorting while your head swiveled toward him. "What are we gonna do?"

He stood, wiping a tear from his eye. "We're gonna go shopping, of course."

And after that shopping trip, you and Megumi vowed to never go shopping with Satoru again.

Mornings were always hard for you. It would either be a rough sleep of tossing and turning or a nightmare that disturbed your sleep to the point of waking up just as tired, if not more, than when you went to sleep. So often times you'd lay in bed, fighting between succumbing to sleep or proceeding with living.

But then a small, warm hand landed on your cheek.

"I'm hungry. I would have fed myself, but I don't know where anything is..."

You blinked.

Oh right, Megumi.

You were not ready for a change as massive as this one, but you had to get up regardless because now there was a child in your care. So you pulled yourself up and smiled.

"Good morning, Megumi."

Change was something Megumi also did a lot. However, it made sense with him because he was a child and children were always changing.

His favorite food changed weekly, which kept you on your toes and kept you from fretting on what to make anymore.

He was a growing, which meant new clothes needed to be bought ever few months (which prompted you to convince Satoru to stop buying him such expensive clothing).

His favorite shows and interests were also ever-changing. New toys were bought every week, and it was beginning to get harder to hold a conversation with Megumi since he would always be talking about something new (it was worth it though to see that sparkle in his eye when he talked about the things that he enjoyed).

There were a few things that didn't change, though.

He still loved frogs. He loved going out in the rain to hunt for them, despite usually coming back in empty-handed (you had to stop Satoru from having frogs on standby for rainy days).

He also loved dogs, which prompted Satoru into getting him two dire wolf dogs (how the hell he got them is beyond you).

He still only tolerated Satoru (that's what he said, but he really was opening up to him).

And he still favored you (you don't think that that will ever change, though).

"Thanks for not turning me away..." Megumi told you, as his face was just about buried in Shiro's white fur.

Satoru was still changing, but not as materialistically.

Now he was making more of an effort to be home with you and Megumi (his days were now nine-five, no exceptions and no more bring work home).

More of an effort to bond with Megumi, who was thankfully warming up to him (he was even able to take him out on their own outings without the day going horribly wrong).

More of an effort to understand your words from before.

He is not the strongest, and that's okay (he did cry a bit when Megumi got sick, however. It was something new and scary for him, so you wouldn't tease him about it...much).

"Thank you for taking such good care of Megumi." His arms wrapped around your waist as his lips brushed against your neck, leaving a trail of kisses. "And thank you for staying by my side all this time."

You also were changing.

You think it's a good thing.

"I love you two so much." Your smile was shy, but your words were genuine. "Thank you so much for being a part of my life and turning this house into a home."

You'll never forget the smiles they gave you. Bright, wide, full of teeth and as warm as a sun beam.

Hopefully, you'll continue to change alongside your boys.

There was a lot of present/past tense errors in here lol. A small bit of grammatical errors. And I changed a few things.

Reminder that this was a response to JJK236 lmao

Ko-Fi | Commission | Masterlist

[spideywhites]

Hello! I just wanted to start this off by saying I love TCOS and TMNGTCR (even the abbreviation is long as heck lol). You’re honestly an amazing writer and I aspire to write like you someday. I always come up with good plots that interest me but find a hard time building up to them like you do. Your characters, side plots, themes, grammar, and everything else that goes into your stories are paid attention to with such care. It enhances the reading experience tenfold.

My original question was about fanart. I’m reread TCOS and I remember seeing fanart linked in the story before but I’m not able to find it.

1. Did you delete it or are my eyes just failing on me?

2.Also, I was going through some of your Q&A’s and noticed how you said Natsume was a reincarnated Naruto character. Has he had multiple incarnations since he knows things about the real world?

3. I know love interests haven’t been finalized so feel free to ignore this part but how do you feel about Nastume and Karin? He thinks of her like family so it’s hard to tell if that’s in a cousin way or something that could possibly lead to more. I like the idea of them in a relationship since it’ll give more of the spotlight to Karin (a criminally underrated character considering she’s literally related to the MC in canon) and because I think they have an interesting dynamic that I can see becoming romantic. Natsume’s also looking for a wife so it also kind of works out lol.

4. Will there be any Uzumaki (OCs) introduced? Besides nagato there’s no canon Uzumaki currently alive right now. Does that mean you’ll write some in the story?

Sorry for all the questions and rambling!

Hello! Thank you so much! I’m really glad to hear that, since a lot of my stuff I’ve really just come up with on the fly. It’s more recently that I’ve been trying to do some basic outlines for fics to help me finish them. And no need for apologies! I love answering questions and hearing thoughts on my fics, it’s great for motivation. I’d rather apologize for how long it usually takes me to GET to questions, lol. Just been a busy few months!

To answer some of your questions:

1) I don’t recall removing fanart from the fic itself, but I’ll go back and check links in case anything is broken. I’ve received a LOT of amazing fanart for this fic and try my best to repost it here on tumblr (tagged w/ Natsume’s name) and also in my discord server. The fic itself probably isn’t up to date with any links.

2) As of now, there’s just the two reincarnations I want to explore and I don’t have any current plans to change that. I am writing most of this with a basic outline, however, so things could change as I go!

3) I’m going to avoid this question just because I don’t want to confirm or deny anything, lol

4) I have a lot of Uzumaki / Uzushio plans! Hopefully they’ll all come to fruition. I don’t find it believable that every single Uzumaki was murdered, and we never got a definite answer to the question of what really happened, so as fans we’re able to play around with details like it’s our personal sandbox - and that’s exactly what I’m going to do! i don’t want to be too specific because of spoilers, but I hope this answers your question enough.

[wordsgood]

CURRENT ORIGINAL FICTION PROJECTS that i am actually trying to work on

the one about jack frost being a war criminal (brainstorming stages after i tried to start it with no outline last year or 2023 time is fake. some of my oldest characters. this one's got jack frost, it's got hermes, it's got an 3000-year-old lesbian who's immortal and invincible because she made the philosopher's stone, it's got a pansexual poly short king who's in love with like everyone on the expedition he started, it's got Noelle. Noelle is great.

i think it'd be cool to structure this story as like, 22-ish long short stories/novelettes so it's like an old-fashioned tv series. room for the over-story and for some more self-contained, narrowly focused, character based, even filler-ish "episodes." i've wanted to try that for a while and this story seems a good one to start with.

the one about the fairy in an al-andalus-inspired world who fucked up so bad she gave herself amnesia to avoid suffering the consequences of her actions (i started writing the 3rd/4th draft of bitter magic last year, again without an outline, and stalled out, but i'm really invested in getting it written soon-ish. i need to properly outline it, other than not knowing exactly how i want the plot to go i don't really have any obstacles to getting it written)

the one about the devil and the hellgirl and the scholar of angels and the holy-man godkiller trying to solve a murder mystery (this idea is SO new. i love it a lot and i want to write it but it is just. so so so new. which isn't necessarily a deterrent, i started writing hunter and poet like six months after coming up with the idea, but STILL. i don't even know what the world is like. firmly in the brainstorming phase)

the one about the frankenstein's monster but if he had to take care of two girls with magical radiation poisoning (sequel to hunter and poet, currently doesn't even have a working title, literally just came up with the story goal a few weeks ago. brainstorming)

the one with a tortured vampire elf lady in an urban fantasy world who rescues a frankenstein’s monster girl (another of my oldest ideas, and yet we are STILL in the brainstorming phase after trying to write it for a camp nano last year i think maybe time is still fake. absolutely love this one so much and i’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. i just need a direction to take after judah and dara meet. judah wants to kill her maker and get revenge for the deaths of her friends centuries ago and dara wants to find HER maker to just ask hey dude, uhhh Why Me, but aside from that I don’t really have. like. a PLOT)

the one with the four girls who get yoinked to a fantasy world to solve a depressed man’s adopted family crisis (sequel to we did not fulfill the prophecy. this one i’m kind of just. winging, tbh. it doesn’t get brainstormed so much as it gets daydreamed about. I’ve written this book before so i have a rough structure but a lot of it is changed since the last draft so it’s presenting. challenges. but that’s okay because it’s my literal oldest story and if it can wait 20 years to get a good first draft, it can wait a few more for a 2nd draft)

the one about the five people in an amnesiac time loop version of “the masque of the red death” (THEE new idea and the one i’m currently a little obsessed with. it’s a little bit poe, it’s a little bit the good place, it’s a little bit the tempest, it’s a little bit severance, it’s a lot of shit i havent found out yet! all i know is that there’s a spirit in an automaton body who wants to be called Ariel and I won’t let them be, and every time a loop starts they all forget everything all over again and one of them is dead every time!)

the curse of my current writing life is that every single damn idea is in the brainstorming/outlining phase except for the oldest one I have, which is still fine and fun and I love it an untold amount, but it doesn’t have the vibes of the story I WANT to write right now. I want something a little more funky fresh. and yet here i am in brainstorm world. let me OUT

[butterflydm]

fic updates & WoT time skips

Next week, I'm going to be posting my post-canon story where Mat pulls his Seanchan long con (so, when I say 'post-canon', I mean... a ways into the future).

My current plans re: Voice is to probably start posting the next fic about a month after S2 has finished airing but that's pretty flexible. If S2 gives me a bunch of fic ideas, I might want to strike while the iron is hot.

But right now, I'm currently working out the detailed outline for the next fic in Voice series, and one of the things that I really had to pay attention to in the next section is the Seanchan because this fic runs through... it looks like A Crown of Swords, but the history of this AU changes the timing on the Seanchan quite a bit. And another thing I needed to think about was forkroot tea.

Spoilers through Crossroads of Twilight below

So. Forkroot tea. In the books, it was the discovery of a single person in the middle of a small village in Amadicia (Ronde Macura). Theoretically, Nynaeve & co might have run across her town on their way to Salidar, but they had no reason to stop into the shop to check in on the Yellow's eyes and ears, because they already know where they're going (due to Perrin's TAR communications with Egwene). It was Elayne and Nynaeve's encounter with Ronde that led to her sending the information about forkroot to the White Tower. Elaida then treats her horribly and she ends up despising the Aes Sedai and hooking up with the Seanchan, giving that secret away to them as well. None of those events have happened in Voice and Ronde is just... you know, chilling in her village.

Should I try to come up with a different narrative justification for knowledge of forkroot tea spreading or just let it remain one woman's secret, off in a tiny village in Amadicia? Hmm.

The other outstanding question that I am working on answering is how far the Seanchan will have progressed in their invasion by the end of the next fic. Obviously pretty important for future fics in the series!

In my AU, Rhuidean and Falme happened at the same time, which has essentially meant that the Seanchan are running two books behind where they are in canon, at least in relation to Rand's story (or, I guess more accurately, Rand is running two books ahead). But while I was looking into how I would need to take that into account in the next story in my series, I noticed an... interesting narrative pattern.

Jordan sometimes just basically puts some of our main characters in a holding pattern so that other world events can happen, but as I was breaking down the plotting, I really noticed how often that happens to give the Seanchan a better foothold into whatever their new territory is or to make the timing better for the Seanchan specifically.

Three examples:

In The Great Hunt, Rand & co flicker-flicker-flicker and lose several months, giving the Seanchan plenty of time to invade Falme and really settle into their new digs there, making them a much bigger threat for Rand to deal with.

In A Crown of Swords, Elayne and Nynaeve do their best to avoid Mat for an entire month, which means that by the time they're ready to actually find the Bowl of the Winds, it's just about time for the Seanchan to invade Ebou Dar.

Rand literally just hangs out in a manor in Tear for a month in Crossroads of Twilight, waiting for the Seanchan to reply to his message and doing absolutely none of the other plot-related things that he could have been doing during that time. This gives Tuon and Mat a chance to have their 'courtship' plot.

Now the first example isn't a choice on Rand's part -- the magic is wonky. But the other two examples feel like instances where Jordan was prioritizing his timeline events over his characterization. He wants the group to still be in Ebou Dar when the Seanchan invade, but he also knows how long it will take the army to get there, logistically, so he throws Elayne and Nynaeve's logic and common sense under the bus so that they'll be stubborn enough to uselessly do the same thing over and over for a month before finally being willing to let Mat help.

(This specific problem mostly happens, imo, because of Traveling -- Egwene takes them instantly to a place near Ebou Dar but then the story isn't ready for them, so they have to do nothing for a month waiting for the timelines to match up again to the Seanchan invasion -- if they'd needed to ride there, then they could have gotten to work right away once they arrived.)

The Crossroads of Twilight example is even worse, because everyone else gets put on hold in order for Jordan to try to make it semi-believable that Mat is doing all the bizarre things he does in CoT & then in KoD (all of which is related to Jordan once again bending over backwards to help out the Seanchan). I know this has been talked about before but it's honestly ridiculous how little actually happens in CoT. Nynaeve shows up in one scene to ogle Lan while he's training and that's it. That's all she does in the whole book! No one does anything, all so that Mat can have weeks to brood over how much he hates the 'fate' that he is actively forcing himself to chase after (just like Min does in books TSR-ACoS but at least it makes sense that Min does that, even if it makes me dislike her as a character, because Min has conditioned herself to 'help along' her viewings even while claiming to believe that they're inevitable).

Ugh, I don't think I'll ever stop being annoyed by CoT & KoD. Okay, pushing past that for now.

...

Actually, while I'm here, I think I might go over every timeskip in the Jordan books just to track this issue and see if it's as related to the Seanchan as it feels like it is (using the massive timeline here for reference: stevenac[dot]net/wot/tl0998.htm). I am including the stretches of time here where main characters just sit around and do nothing; not travel-related time. This is only covering the Jordan books, though there are a couple in the last three books as well.

TGH: First we have everyone hanging out at Fal Dara for a month. This is Moiraine's choice and is primarily about waiting for Siuan to arrive. It does give Rand time to do sword-training with Lan.

TGH: Then we have Rand's accident with the Portal Stones. This gives the Seanchan time to dig their claws into Falme but, on the plus side, it also gives Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne the longest uninterrupted time training in the White Tower that they ever get: almost three months pass before Liandrin's betrayal of the girls, and then Egwene spends almost two months in captivity with the Seanchan.

TDR: After the Battle of Falme, Rand chills in the rough area of Falme for the winter, roughly four months. This gives the girls (and Mat) time to make the journey back to the White Tower and lets the Seanchan begin to regroup. In-book, this is justified by Rand spending four months arguing with Moiraine.

side note: it takes girls (and Mat) over five months to travel from Falme back to Tar Valon. They leave in "November" of 998 and arrive in "April" of 999. I'm guessing this travel time is a large part of why Jordan has Rand just hang out for a winter instead of acting sooner.

TFoH: Roughly a month passes between TSR and TFoH, which gives Rand some time to train with Asmodean but he's actively doing Something there and not just hanging out.

ACoS: A month into their stay in Ebou Dar, Elayne and Nynaeve finally get around to mentioning the Bowl of the Winds to Mat. There is a lot of plot stuff that happens to the other characters here, so it's not just about letting the Seanchan further progress their invasion, but it really is a nonsense plot beat for Elayne and Nynaeve's storyline that Jordan gets away with by having it happen off the page between books.

ACoS-WH: A wall falls on Mat, injuring him badly enough that he will be stuck in Ebou Dar until the second wave of the invasion arrives. Other characters do progress their own storylines while this is happening, which kinda makes it feel like taking Mat out of the action here directly results in everyone else getting put on hold later so that Mat can catch back up to them.

If Tuon had been in the first wave and Mat had been not so badly injured, then Mat's storyline could have happened at the same time as everyone else's (during TPoD), and Rand wouldn't have needed to hang out and do nothing for a whole month in CoT. It also would have fixed the awful Winter's Heart plot hole of everyone's vow of silence about telling Rand that his best friend was left to rot behind enemy lines (because Mat would have escaped by the time that Nynaeve and Rand saw each other, so she could have been honest with him but the color swirls would have reassured him that Mat was already out of Ebou Dar).

CoT: Speaking of! Post-cleansing, Rand spends an entire month doing fuck-all, and so does pretty much everyone else, all so that Mat can get stuck in his second abusive relationship, this time with marriage vows included (maybe his third, if you count Melindhra).

So, yeah, three separate timeskips happen in the books ACoS-CoT that seem primarily about trapping Mat into the Seanchan.

[toxicanonymity]

Do you ever struggle with feelings of discouragement or inadequacy if your fics don’t do as well as you had hoped?

I’m struggling with that myself. I try not to get so hung up on it but it’s very hard, especially when something I’m so proud of doesn’t do as well as my other works.

I don’t even feel motivated to write bc I don’t wanna set myself up for disappointment

Discouragement, sure, I think that's natural sometimes. But I really don't feel like stats have anything to do with adequacy. Baring my soul, yuck. But fuck it we ball. Sorry it's a long answer.

I don't think I've ever answered a serious ask aside from the time i created Dr. rock which hardly counts but I've seen a lot of people struggling with this lately and hope this might be idk comforting to a person or two without leading to debate/discourse.

You mentioned something you're proud of isn't doing as well as your other works, and I can see how that would be disappointing. For laughs, I'll compare 2 of mine. These fics are impossible to compare (as are most, I think) but I def understand the urge to measure yourself against what you see as the potential. Aches: <1k popular trope I banged out in no time, wasn't sure about it, literally thought "people don't have to like it" before I hit post. >4 notes per word. Left in Lincoln: >22k posted so far, challenging, writing it for months. Has possibly driven me crazy bc I had this passing thought the other day and not about TLOU. (I didn't feel like re-reading it all): "I should just rewatch the movie. . .wait." 🤡 The whole Lincoln series combined has fewer notes than Aches lmao. But it's far more rewarding in getting to see it come to life, quality of engagement, and stretching myself 😏. It's not for everyone, for various reasons. Surely would have better stats without the twist I went with. But at what cost??

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Often, if people don't read or like something, it's a reflection of their own interests, limitations, and assumptions. And the right "fit."

I don't rly read much in general, but specifically, I rarely read long stuff (if I do I prob scan a lot tbh). I normally only want, if any, just enough plot/premise to build sexual tension. I don't read fluff or angst. I don't have the attention span / commitment to get invested in original characters. I tend to avoid stuff similar to what I'm working on. I make assumptions - If there's no word count, maybe it's too long. I know a lot of the fics I skip for these reasons must be fantastic. Assumptions I experience - I've seen very popular fics in the wild that strike me as dark, creepy, or pervy but aren't tagged that way. So some things that are tagged dark, etc., including plenty of mine, might not be dark in the way people assume based on their own ideas, or based on what others do tag. Also some people think I only write dark when sometimes it's just horny (see master list).

I've sometimes found myself thinking "It sucks more people don't read this bc i bet they would enjoy it" (not just my own fics). It might sound egotistical but I think it's often true.

------

Of course I want engagement because that means more people reading something which can mean more interaction, discussion, learning what you liked, what you think, etc. that's what I love.

But notes aren't rly near the top of what I care about, even though it does feel great to get them and I truly appreciate every single one.

Night walks doesn't get nearly as many notes as some of my other stuff, especially these days, but it's fun to write and I like to feed his feral fans who only get more into him with time. Same with raider: among those who do read and engage, I sense rising enthusiasm, thirst, and rate of falling in love with him (my bad). That's all worth more than 1000 likes to me. I have a good time writing these guys, so I write them more than other ones that get way more notes 🤷. I'm not saying notes don't matter at all, I know they affect exposure and engagement. But if just did what gets notes, I don't think I'd have such high quality engagement bc I'd just bang out more stuff with the most popular tropes instead of our fave Joels and those destined to become our faves bc they offer something special.

My outlook was the same before I had so many followers btw. Rock Bottom (22k) was what I felt like writing, still more ambitious than anything I've done in the Halloween fandom. I was disappointed it got way less attention than my one shots, but I know it's a banger, just certainly not for everyone lol.

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I'm sorry for what you're experiencing and feeling, but I think it's very common and hope you can reframe it to not feel inadequate. I especially hope it doesn't discourage you from writing. ❤️

[nomsfaultau]

ask being weird again

wlwdwtys asked: (Potentially) Daily ask №7 Locations edition!

How well do you envision the locations when you write? How much do you think them through? Does every location has a geographical position?

What's your favourite location to write? Maybe it's pretty or has symbolical significance or you just like the idea?

Do you tend to make your charactes interact with the environment a lot? During fights as well, cause it can be quite an interesting thing to take into consideration while strategising?

What are the fault crew comfort places if they have any? Besides Wilbur, I know he's a damn immigrant to wherever he goes /j

Where do you tend to write? Like, in your bed/at work/a desk?

Bonus question not relating to the theme: You mentioned that Wilbur can speak all languages?? Including mole language somehow? How- why? Also it's just so funny to me for some reason cause I imagine cursing him out in russian, polish, french, Ukrainian and English at the same time and him just getting it. (I speak all those languages partially just wanted to show off. Still. Ты крутой, чел ♡)

Oh hoho ho. Boy do I! The Foundation site in modeling Fault off of is site 81, which is a subterranean location partially beneath a lake near Bloomsville, Indiana. Hence why the Ranboo incident takes place in the Marengo Caverns, because the only thing you can do in Indiana is a cave I guess. So the fact it was a hewwo Obama joke was not my fault! I’ve also come up with a general floor plan for the Foundation:

For the upper floor where actual human stuff happens. Then below with a few flights to map out plot events. They get darker lower down.

I also have a general idea where Rosalind’s house is in Bloomsville, and where her family is living near Chicago, which the guys head to eventually. Chicago was chosen bc at their pace it would take approximately a month to get there (time necessary for plot point) and I picked the area based on demographic distribution statistics. I plotted out their on foot route including partial driving time, diversions, getting loss, how frequently they need to steal supplies, following rivers, calculating hiking and resting speed, etc to the point where google maps stopped letting me plot more stops. All this for….uh. Occasionally referencing a town name and knowing how long the travel takes. Also useful for knowing what they can potentially forage tho!

Some places are far less pinpointed on a map, like Tubbos’ childhood home, though it’s also pretty vivid to me. Other places that are brief settings tend to have less detail unless it’s important tho.

2. I love describing literally anything in nature, which really shines through with Tommy’s obsession with the stars, Tubbos’ flower stuff/Hive tree, The Blade in WHiT Cliffs. Which sucks because I only realized how much I like writing nature stuff after like a year and a half of the entire setting being in grey halls and white rooms. But it becomes a really nice symbol of freedom from the Foundation, so I think it’s worth it.

3. In part 2, the environment very much comes into play. Not that it doesn’t have significance in the first part with things like Tommy’s door, or the corridors of the Foundation being a huge influence in the amnestic arc culmination, but there’s a lot more variety once they’re out. The outside offers them freedom, and certain types of protection, but it also offers its own threats and vulnerabilities. Like, surviving in the arcadia is a big part of part two, how to get food, how to avoid infections, how to hide. Plus fight scene stuff like you mentioned. If Wilbur has shade or not can shape his strategy, or like Philza having a harder time flying in trees than Tubbo does, if there’s a place to shelter Tommy and Tubbo in or not, etc. And The Blade’s powers are nearly tailor made for environmental based fighting. Random trees/ceilings falling and unfortunate lightning strikes in a storm are his bread and butter. Plus just yeeting trees at people. (…not full trees he’s not THAT strong but still)

4. Tubbos’ is the Hive tree hands down. That’s very much explored in chp 5/WHiT Croplands, but it’s like where all their hives were, massive oak tree, over flowering year round. Very warm and happy place for them. Tommy yearns for his room. To just flounce on his bed and sink in. I also imagine he really liked school since that’s where his friends were. The rest it’s more difficult because they’re all pretty nomadic. The Blade’s would be crashing at one of his college friends’ houses. Like make no mistake it’s a hovel, but it’s still comfortable to him to chill on a stained carpet and eat a slice of pizza with Averil while chatting about video games. It’s the closest thing to a real home he’s ever had. Wilbur…I don’t know. Everything feels temporary to it. He’s never considered a place his. And on the flip side, Philza’s had so many loved places over the years, and his favorite spot of all is right beside his Collected.

Funny how they all seem to be yearning for home.

5. In bed for the vast majority, though sometimes at work. Last summer the answer was literally anywhere since I had no phone access and would pour everything into a small notebook. Alas my current job is far more hands on.

6. There is no reason for the void to speak English, and due to the variety of creatures in there it made sense to me that they had an infinite number of usually evil languages, which Wilbur would need to know how to speak to communicate. So Wilbur can speak all languages especially the dark forbidden ones. Actually it’s its main source of education beyond Phil and eldritch secrets, since Wil instantly knows the definitions of all words…if not necessarily the context or how it’s applicable. Leads to some very strange conclusions. Also most void languages aren’t usually possible with a human tongue, so Wil’s biology actually can stretch to accommodate in some. Well unfortunate ways usually, but hey! Bonus language to talk to Tubbo and Philza with! If cursed out in all those impressively known languages…he wouldn’t register it as different from a normal tongue lashing. Wilbur doesn’t understand that humans experience language barriers because “what do you mean? Isn’t it just a different accent of Human?” This was not helped by the number of languages, many dead or severely out of date, that Phil speaks.

bonus: The Blade learned to speak English from the voices. Now why do they speak English? Uhhh well The Blood God picked California and was like ‘hey I’ll make it easier for my vessel by localizing the language of the voices.’ And then picked. A pig. Which are notorious for only speaking pig Latin.

I suppose I’ll sign off in the only other language I speak: y’all best take care now, yah hear!?

[hexenmond]

my Witch Door fanfiction (long form, wip, looking for alpha/beta readers)

Time to shout from the rooftops again! I finally found a fitting name for the whole series, so now I know how to tag my wip stuff. If you like The Witch Door, and especially if you maybe feel like doing some alpha/beta reading (mostly I need a sounding board), please read on!

Let me bring you (and myself) up to speed: this opus magnum originally started out as a quick oneshot, a little scene that happened following the side comic "Afterparty". Just a tiny little continuation, another meeting in a dream. 2.5k, one-and-done. (This bit is up on AO3, see below.)

And then it grew some fluff. And then it grew some background story. And then all of a sudden there was plot. All the characters from the comic got roped in (except the bird people cause I avoided the main canon plotline). And finally it sprouted original characters as a supporting cast. And uh, I'm still not entirely done…

So, what have we got so far?

This has turned into a five part series which I have decided to name Vem Kan Segla. I'd say about 70% of it are written, and fun to read in my own humble opinion.

(Please note: whenever I say "relationship" that totally includes friend- and other ships!)

Part 1: Exactly as you are 10 chapters, all of them written and theoretically postable (chapter 1 being said "oneshot"). Mostly fluff and developing relationship stuff with a little bit of spicyness, tiny smidgen of – hurt? angst? I'm actually not sure. But mostly Jousia and Jesse figuring out what they are to each other, with only one chapter from another person's point of view (Tzofiya my beloved!).

Part 2: The choices we make Picks up just after the end of part 1. Starts out angsty and gets progressively worse. The first ten chapters all end with cliffhangers, and after a brief respite there's a chapter or three of hurt no comfort before we get a happy ending. (It does leave a lot of plot lines unresolved though.) Nilsa and Katariina play a major part in this as well. This is mostly written except for some bits that need filling out, maybe 2k of missing words all in all.

Part 3: Family found Picks up right after the end of part 2. More plot! Some drama! More relationship developments! Honest talking about difficult things! The spicyness gets weird! There are even more characters! And the ending is done, and it's the happiest ending I could possibly have written. There's one character literally rolling on the floor bed laughing.

This part is where things start to get so complex that I really would love to be able to bounce ideas around with somebody, help me get all these flighty ducks in a row.

(Katariina is meeeee staring at my disjointed wip snippets for parts 3 and 4!)

Part 4: (no title yet) This will be full of beautiful domestic happiness, more relationships developing, slice of life stuff. Even a little bit of romance, if you will. And then three people die and it gets very sad. The remaining loose threads get wrapped up, and there's a peaceful ending.

This is the wobbliest bit… it might even turn into two parts, I really can't say yet. I'd love a sounding board person or three.

Part 5: Epilogue This will be only one chapter, but a long one. Haven't written a single word down but it's perfectly finished in my head. Picks up six months after the end of part 4, has a happy fairly ending (considering that nobody gets resurrected).

Intrigued?

If you don't want to dive in yet because you can't deal with the cliffhangers while waiting for updates, I have a progress tracker online on AO3 where you can see each chapter's degree of completion. This is also where I will post in-depth content warnings that contain spoilers once part 2 starts going up.

If you're curious but new to The Witch Door or otherwise taking a backseat for now, I shall post snippets and bits of what I've written over the next weeks under the tag #vem kan segla, so feel free to follow that and see if you like it!

And finally for those who have already read the comic and side comic, the first five chapters are online on AO3 if you want to check that out.

Thank you, and enjoy Ulriikka's fluffiness!

[kakushigotofanclub]

Can I ask you about your wips? I'm curious

Oh boy you're so going to regret asking me this but THANK YOU SO MUCH I have been DYING to babble about all my wips

Enjoy this weirdly organized and non-exhaustive "list"

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The big one is Burning Bridges, which I have a whopping 25,000+ words written for already. Here's the summary:

After Muzan is defeated, Inosuke doesn’t know what to do with himself, feeling unable to either adapt to his new life or return to his old one. Restless and frustrated, when he comes across a chance to go back to demon slaying, he can’t refuse. But getting stuck in an alternate timeline in which Tanjiro became the Demon King was not exactly what Inosuke had in mind.

But, uh. I really don't know if I'm ever going to finish and post it, and tbh the main reason is kind of petty lol...like, a couple years ago I used to get tons of comments on ao3 and lately I just barely get any feedback anymore. I kinda don't want to post anything I've worked really hard on to avoid getting my feelings hurt. I'd be happy to talk about it, though, if anyone's interested.

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Another multi-chapter fic I will never post but would love to ramble about is A Couple of Bad Ideas and a Shot in the Dark, which is a KnY rewrite that takes place in the MHA universe. Although, this one is abandoned because I got too invested in a side-plot and literally forgot what I was actually going to do with the story.

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I've also got one called Smother, which I do fully intend on finishing and posting someday! I don't have an official summary for it but it's about Obanai living with the Rengokus right after he was rescued. Here's a piece from the scene where Kyojuro and Obanai meet for the first time:

“Hi! Why are your eyes two different colors? Where did you get your pet snake? Are snakes your favorite animal? My favorite animal is a cat. Or maybe a dog. Or an owl. I don't know, I can't pick! How old are you? I'm eleven years and five months and two weeks and six days old, which means I’m almost eleven and a half. What's your snake's name? Oh, and what's your name? My name is Rengoku Kyojuro. Do you have any-" "Kyojuro." The man who saved Obanai glared at a person that looked exactly like him except smaller and way more annoying. “Give it a rest. I don’t think he’s in the mood for making friends right now. Just shut up.”

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I have another fic about Obanai and the Rengokus—modern au, no summary but I think the plot can be summed up in this excerpt and the fact that I headcanon Obanai with ARFID:

“No! I said I was going to take her to her favorite restaurant,” Obanai exhaled sharply. “So I’m going to take her to her favorite restaurant.” He hesitated, gaze cast downwards. “That’s why I’m here. I wanted your…help.” “Of course!” Kyojuro exclaimed enthusiastically. “With what, exactly?” Obanai crossed his arms, refusing to meet eyes with Kyojuro. His face was red and he mumbled his next words: “I have to be able to eat food from there without gagging or freaking out by next week.”

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Then my reincarnation AU called Da Capo Al Fine, which I've posted a few excerpts from before—basically, everyone reincarnates a hundred years later and Tanjiro and Giyuu are the only ones who remember their past lives. Honestly this one I feel like would just be a pain to actually write the whole fic the way I have it in my head lol. I might write one-shots for it, though, idk.

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That's. Not everything but I think I've probably talked for long enough now 😅

[halofcrged]

RULES.

            going to try and keep this pretty simple & straightforward.

I.  You must be 18+ to interact with me. I am 42 years old.

            There will be not safe for work content on this blog of the sexual and potentially of the graphic violence nature.  I do tag everything that might be triggering and am happy to tag whatever you ask me to so long as I remember!

                            I ask that you tag any visuals containing spiders with spider tw* spiders tw* arachnophobia tw* etc etc and yes, I know it’s a weird one but anything about the taste of soap or eating soap is a trigger so just tag it with soap tw* or penny don’t look* as I have that blacklisted too.  I don’t have any triggering fcs or what not.

II. This blog is multi-ship, multi-verse, crossover & au friendly.  

          Every ship is in its’ own verse unless previously discussed with all parties.  Every thread or set of threads takes place in its own universe unless previously discussed with all parties.

III.  I write anything from one-liners to novellas, it really just depends on life, my headspace, how much sleep I’ve been getting, how much else I have going on in real life, etc.

IV. My activity is NOT consistent.  I am infamous for blog hopping.  I have literally replied to some starters / replies two years+ after they were originally written.  I am not fast.  If I am fast, it’s by some small miracle and perfect storm of brain, muse and free time.  It will not last.

V.  I have kids, cats and dogs; I am in college, I have a household to take care of and I have many physical and mental handicaps that can affect my ability to function and write, including but not limited to rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, ganglion cysts, torn meniscus, migraines, hypothyroidism, PMDD, nerve damage, herniated disc, ADHD, depression, anxiety, C-PTSD and severe insomnia.  

                          Roleplay is something I do for fun.  

                                  If it isn’t fun, I don’t do it.  

                                         If it’s stressing me out, I’ll avoid it.  

VI. I do graphic commissions.  

          I run @tuppencetrinkets where I post the millions of screencaps and 200x100 icons that I make.  The resources are free but donations are always appreciated as I pay about $40 in hosting / program fees a month.   My commissions are always pay what you can.  I hate setting prices because I want everyone to have pretties if they want them and I don’t know what anyone can afford at any given time.  I do everything from base icons to edited icons, backgrounds, headers, dividers, promos, videos, you name it.  I try to be quick with turnaround but again – sometimes I just can’t be.

VII.  I am fine with plotting things out in advance or winging it.  I really don’t care, whatever you are more comfortable with is fine with me.

               I like all kinds of plots.  I like fluffy things, slice of life, broships, frenemies, enemies, familial, found family, long arcing, one shot throwaway, dark and twisted, you name it plots.  I will not write n*ncon or anything nsfw themed /even hinted at with minor characters and I won’t write any explicit child death etc. but most everything else is fair game.

VIII.  You can throw a million memes at me any time you want to.

IX.  You can throw any and all starters at me any time you want to.

                I’m not necessarily mutual exclusive but I don’t guarantee I’ll respond to memes or starters from non-mutual blogs.

X. I use icons, headers, promos etc. that I make myself 99% of the time.  Please do not use any of my edited graphics.  All base icons I use are free and available on my resource blog.  

XI. I use small text and my icons are 200x100 with empty space to make them 540x130 so that they don’t stretch out on mobile.  I prefer not heavily edited replies in terms of font variance and colors but really don’t care that much.

XII.  I’ve probably forgotten relevant things but, who knows.

XIII.  No drama.  Period.  I’m not interested.  

XIV.  I’m here for fun.  I’m really pretty easy going.  If you have any questions feel free to toss them into my inbox!

[dnpvtw]

[ID: Three photos of a magazine. Image one: the front cover of Your Ex magazine, featuring Dan and Phil posing side by side.

Image two: a page spread with four photos that feature Dan and Phil posing side by side, where they have a neutral expression, smiles, are flipping the camera off, and are pointing and laughing at the camera respectively. In the middle of the photos, a caption reads: "Dan & Phil: A Wholesome Influence".

Image three: A magazine article with a byline that reads: "The UK YouTube stars sit down with YOUR ex to discuss instant chemistry, their relationship status and surviving a homophobic online gaming world."

The content of the article reads: "Their last tour was the biggest world tour a duo of YouTubers had ever embarked on. After a content-creating hiatus, Dan and Phil returned to YouTube for more heartwarming gay chemistry and gags, plus an even more ambitious world tour that brings them to Auckland this December! Talking to Oliver Hall, they reflect on where it all began.

Hall: When you met in 2009, how quickly did you know you wanted to collaborate, and was your chemistry instant?

P: We kind of met with the intent to collaborate!

D: Which was a huge risk. I was literally a stranger from the internet. I could have axe-murdered him - or worse, just been a flop person to collab with.

P: I think the chemistry was pretty instant, as our first ever video together was the iconic 'Phil is not on fire' cat whisker Q&A.

D: Your faves could never.

Hall: You both came out as gay in respective YouTube videos in June 2019. How long had you been planning that for, and what inspired it in June of that year?

D: I literally only decided it was finally time to confront my sexuality in 2018. I felt like I couldn't function any more in my life until I dealt with it, as the inauthenticity was holding back every part of me. It took me literally months of writing a script to work through my own feelings regarding that sexuality, and June was my deadline!

P: I don't yap as much as Dan, so I didn't take that long - but it was amazing to finally be open about that part of my life with pride, and I instantly felt I could be myself, and we know it meant so much to people online too.

Hall: Do you feel your followers have treated you any differently since coming out?

D: It hit different.

P: It definitely did, but the support was amazing! I'm sure for some people it might have been an unexpected plot twist... but if they had a problem with it, oh well, bye!

D: We have created an incredibly inclusive community where people of all identities feel welcome, and it makes me shed a single tear from my cold, dead heart - as it's the kind of vibe I wish I had when I was younger.

Hall: DanAndPhilGAMES has been one of your most popular YouTube channels with over 3 million subscribers at its peak, suggesting there was a gap in the market for LGBTQ+ gaming content. Do you feel 'gaymers' are catered for now?

P: Sometimes we try to think who the other biggest queer YouTubers, or more specifically gamers are, and suddenly we realise, in the club of biggest ever internet personalities, it's disturbingly uncommon!

D: We love gaming and reluctantly identify as gamers, but they gotta be one of the mustiest demographics of humans if we're stereotyping. To be able to make content around one of our favorite pastimes - and do it with our unhinged, inherently gay humour - is honestly an act of defiance we're proud to continue.

Hall: Do you think the gaming community has become less homophobic in the years since you started that channel?

D: It has. It's not exactly perfect yet - but we have to be honest about how much worse it used to be.

P: Social media lets people find their own communities, so rather than being chucked in a CoD (Call of Duty) lobby to fight for your life, people can join queer gaming discord communities or make friends on Twitter (X), and that's amazing!

Hall: The two of you have lived together since 2011. How do you avoid getting on each other's nerves when you create so much content together as well?

D: We avoid getting on each other's nerves?

P: We spend way too much time together. It's not normal.

D: If we had more friends and liked going outside, we could have some healthier separation, but damn, RIP us.

Hall: You have been creating content together for well over a decade, how do you keep that content fresh?

P: The gay awakening certainly helped. It was like flipping a brown rug over and seeing a rainbow underneath.

D: It's a new era of 'Dan and Phil' on YouTube where we're all older, most of us are some kind of gayer and we don't really GAF (give a f**k) - we're enjoying it a lot, and we can tell for our audience it's been an amazing reunion where we're loving it more than ever before.

Hall: Why did you want to return to creating YouTube content in 2023 after your hiatus?

D: Phil convinced me that everyone was less feral and it would be fun.

P: I was like, why not! He can always disappear to get milk again if he hates it - but it turned out people loved it, and here we are.

Hall: Your previous two world tours were some of the biggest ever to be put on by YouTube creators. What can we expect from 'Terrible Influence'?

D: We said we wouldn't do a tour that huge again, and it's almost the biggest one we've ever done.

P: Thoughts and prayers, please, I'm a fragile boy.

D: It's gonna be healing. It's us audaciously stepping into this new era and ripping a bunch of plasters off that will leave people hopefully crying in laughter and the occasional shocked gasp.

P: You know we're going to bring the theatricality as well! There's lots of 'surprises' as well as the audience involvement and a healthy roast of the internet.

Hall: Aside from your YouTube videos, you have had groundbreaking success as authors, radio hosts and on comedy tours. Has that been a shock, and how do you process that success without it going to your respective heads?

D: Internet comment sections will always do a good job of bringing you down a peg - thankfully, I'm also very talented at doing that to myself.

P: Very wholesome, Dan, thanks. We're extremely grateful that so many people get joy from laughing along with us and find our community a hilarious and accepting place to be. As long as we love doing it and there's an audience that asks for more, we will be here!

Hall: You have previously suggested that the two of you were once romantically involved but not confirmed if you still are. Would you like to give us an update on your respective dating statuses?

D: No. Mind your business.

P: Dan means we have a right to personal life privacy in every way - we're here to entertain, not be reality stars! Thanks." /end ID]

Dan and Phil interview in Your Ex Magazine (new zealand)

credit @/dayaswifts on twitter

[jelloshifts]

Jelloverse - Who Will I Be?

(introducing my drs, kinda)

Alright besties. I’ve never blatantly talked about my drs in detail so consider this a quick little intro to the various drs I intend to spend my time in.

Forgive me for how long this post’s about to be…

I have yet to shift to a dr, but alas the grind never stops. My current main drs include:

Hogwarts Band

Criminal Minds

DC Titans

The Nightmare Before Kissmas (book)

The Inheritance Games (book)

My main main dr is one where I date Spencer Reid but he’s also my uni Professor— I have no explanation for this one okay it heals something in me.

Anyways, let me break these down for ya real simple.

Hogwarts Band

It’s more of a modern day Hogwarts uni type vibe. I’m a fifth year transfer and somehow miraculously start a band with Ginny, George, and Fred. It’s called Mischief Managed. I scripted out the war— just claimed Voldy kicked it when he tried to kill Harry and doesn’t come back because I simply do not want to deal with that. I just want to go to my silly wizard classes and make music with my silly little band.

There is also a two year slow burn with none other than (drum roll please) ✨Theodore Nott✨. Though there was a time it was Fred, but… we learn and we grow, or something.

I have my band’s entire discography sorted from fifth till after seventh year/graduation. Album covers and deluxe editions and all that jazz. I found way too much joy in curating it all specifically. Many of the songs come from the two year slow burn I must endure. I could yap about our discography forever.

Criminal Minds

I am Penelope Garcia’s little sister and am just joining the BAU after spending time undercover— my lore is absolutely horrific. I usually try and avoid unnecessary trauma. However, have you seen the show? I gotta catch up at this point. Anyways, love interest? Spencer Reid, obviously. He consumes my very soul. I have like— four seperate drs for this man, like my own little AUs. I scripted a lot of precautions and made sure we actually do more consulting than field shit because, again, I just wanna vibe.

It’s in the season 4 era, so 2008. My first case will be the Angel Maker case which is episode 2 of season 4, I believe. I can’t watch that episode now without absolutely losing my marbles.

I won’t go into my lore or how it comes to bite me in the ass, but know I made as non-traumatic as possible.

College Romance

Now hear me out, okay? I still have my Creative Writing & Publishing degree, but I go back to school for some goofy little Criminal Behavior certificate thing. It’s just a summer semester, so I’m only there from May to mid August.

And Spencer Reid happens to teach half of my classes.

Why did I do this to myself? Look. We all have issues, okay? And in my Criminal Minds dr it’s like season 4 type vibes— this one is like, season 13. And not FBI related. And in some ways… it’s literally just me, with the same life I have here just now I’m back in uni. And I’ll get to have Spencer Reid love me, as the person I am right here right now. And that… will make me cry, thanks.

It’s only four months of devastating yearning and then we’ll live happily ever after. This is one of the only drs I can see myself living an entire life in. Like marriage and kids and growing old and all that shit. I’ve literally picked names out for our three potential children.

I have my own little friend group and it’s the summer so we get to do all sorts of fun things. I get to lounge around campus and read under the sun, or do my homework under a tree— I will finally romanticize studying, for real.

It’s one of my more chill drs, which is also a bonus. Sometimes a girl just wants a regular-ish life.

DC Titans

I love Dick Grayson. I love him. I want him. I need him. Anyways, I have elemental powers in this one which is fun and whimsical. Another one where I’ve said fuck the plot I just wanna be silly— picture DC Titans as a sitcom and that’s basically my dr. Just patrolling and the occasional baddie. I can’t wait to train with Grayson you have no idea I’m literally screaming just thinking about it. Also Gar my beloved I miss my bestie. I think I’m in college in this one too? Which is how I meet Gar and join the squad— I age peeps up, obviously. Dick Grayson love interest, in case you missed it.

Oh, and I have a music career. Gar, Jericho (yes he is well), and I start our own little record label (because Bruce Wayne loves me and funds my silly endeavors) and I’ve got like five albums/eps planned out. Including album covers and everything. I love sorting a Discography.

The Nightmare Before Kissmas

Not to be confused with the Nightmare Before Christmas, which is entirely different. This one is my pride and joy, honestly. I am so proud of all the little things in this dr. I read the book in December and immediately made a dr because it just utterly devastated and healed bits of my soul. So, you know, the obvious route.

In this one I’m the sister of Coal and Kris Claus, so I’m the Christmas Princess. But I’m also the youngest, so no one gives a fuck about what I do. In most of my drs I still have my Creative Writing & Publishing degree— this one is no exception.

It takes place a year after the book, and Coal & Hex are getting married. On December 13th, which is a Friday. Friday the 13th, in December— it’s literally the most perfect date ever for their Christmas Halloween asses. I get all giddy just thinking about the date yall. We, being me and my brothers and Iris the Easter Princess and best friend of us Christmas hooligans, travel to Halloween for the wedding. Mostly because I want to see that bitch. We get all Christmas in the book, I wanna see what Hex’s home is all about.

My love interest isn’t canon to the books. I’ve made him childhood friends with Hex who has returned from his studies to attend the wedding. His name is Moon. (and his faceclaim is s1 Spencer Reid/MGG I am just a girl okay?)

I’ve also been having dreams about Moon for over a year, ever since I returned to Christmas to help my brothers with their dismantling of the heirarchy bullshit (basically the end of the first book). Because I want a strange weirdly prophetic dream moment, okay? And Moon’s been having the same shit. So when we meet upon our arrival to Halloween— shit ensues.

It’s actually more enemies to lovers but in the sense that we’re enemies because we feel so very much and it’s all very confusing and after a year of being haunted and tormented by these constant dreams— I don’t know man I just need some angst first.

The Inheritance Games

Another baby of mine. I love shifting to books because I feel like there’s so much more to discover than with a show or movie or something. You have no concrete actor or anything you associate with the characters, and everything is almost up to interpretation. It’s fun.

I replace Avery in this dr, obviously. Why shift to not be the main character? Again, less plot more shenanigans. Everyone is aged up, again. I enjoy being my age in all of my drs.

This one isn’t as planned out as I’d like it to be. But Grayson Hawthorne is the love interest. Enemies to lovers, of course. I’m not quite sure what else to yap about for this one. I focus a lot more on my writing career in this one, since being a random billionaire will definitely help with that. And who am I if not a writer?

So that’s those bad boys…

I have a handful of other drs I could talk about… I’m gonna list them all for your perusal.

Fully Scripted:

Hogwarts Academia

Outer Banks

Twilight

The Flash

Sam & Colby

Small town dr (based off the show Ghost Whisperer)

Twitch Streamer (entirely separate from any existing streamer group don’t go getting any ideas)

Summer Lovin’ (I’m rich and live by the beach it’s pretty great)

Sorta Scripted:

Red White & Royal Blue

Stardew Valley

Death Note

Teen Wolf

MCU

Fame dr (but it’s the novel I’m currently writing here being turned into a movie)

Skyrim x The Witcher (this one is so complicated I fear I may never fully capture all my thoughts & ideas)

Batfam (I know little about canon shit but I’m trying)

Unscripted:

Bridgerton

Mystic Messenger

Love & Deepspace

Sky High

Bratz

So that’s me, as a shifter. Just a girl with a long list of places she intends to cause absolute chaos in. I’m always down to talk about any of my drs. Sometimes I get so into them I start making my own outfit collages because of course my style changes in every dr and I need to capture that. I am so very specific it might be my detriment… but oh well at least it’s fun.

This was long asf. If you took the time to read all that… thank you (I’ll cry about it). Consider this a little forehead smooch just for you 💋

Jello💖

[geminiamethyst]

Skyline Gang: Fears (Dude)

1shot stories list: click HERE

Fears Summary: click HERE

Sorry this one took a while. I had a small burnout so most of this story might not be that great.

This is the final segment for “Fears” and one of the preferences originally requested by one of my followers on Wattpad.

This is technically a sequel to Sprout’s fear as there is some continuity here. I just literally didn’t know how else to start this short story off.

“Why are we doing this again?” Misty asked bitterly, dust falling on her hair.

“Just need to clear some space.” Dude said with an eye roll. He had explained this more than once already. He’s convinced that she was doing this just to wind him up. Well he’s not taking the bait. Not after her most recent stunt. “Not to mention, you’re still grounded, Misty.”

“Misty, I get. But why me?” Sprout asked, his head popping out from behind a pile of boxes that he was behind.

“Because you were lazing around. Not to mention you were the only other person that I could grab in the house.” Dude sighed, also convinced that Sprout was trying to lure him into a separate windup. Wanting to avoid it, he picked up a hefty box after inspecting the contents. “Now shake a leg, you two. The faster we get this done, the sooner you can both get back to whatever it was that you were doing.”

The two complainers actually (and rather creepily) sighed in unison as they felt defeated. This wasn’t what they had planned this morning. After doing their morning routine in the Skyline, they were going to do what they originally planned: Misty was going to plot her revenge on Dude for her punishment for scaring Sprout, and meanwhile Sprout had planned to just laze around like Dude had accused him of doing. That was until Dude seemingly came out of nowhere and dragged them up to the attic. It was cluttered and needed a desperate clearing out. After all, the first and last time they attempted to clear it, was the day that Misty was accidentally created by Candi. That was several months ago. Better make a start while they had the time.

Honestly, Dude didn’t want Sprout near Misty this soon, but he didn’t feel like he had much choice. So long as he was keeping an eye on the pair, he hoped that nothing serious would happen. The least that could happen was them having an arguement that he could break up before it gets worse. They both thankfully kept their distance with Sprout on one side, Misty on the other and Dude right in the middle of this space. Keeping that in mind, Dude opened up another box to inspect the contents. Keep, donate or throw away? It all depends on the contents.

Up until then, neither Misty nor Sprout had been paying attention to what he was doing. Sprout was more focused on staying as far away from her as possible, whether she had a surprise spider on her or not. In all honesty, he considered it to a be a miracle that he hadn’t found a real life one yet. And Misty was far too wrapped up in her revenge planning, that she’s pretty much stopped working at this point and just braced herself for when Dude noticed her lack of work. They were brought back to earth when they heard Dude let out an exclamation of shock as he leaped back from the offending box.

That’s new. Dude doesn’t get scared that much.

“You okay Dude? You suddenly got jumpy like a kangaroo.” Sprout asked as he and Misty both approached the boy in question.

“Masks.“ Dude sighed, reaching into the box. He grabbed ahold of one of the said objects and pulled out a ferocious werewolf mask. “They made me jump a little.” Sprout and Misty looked inside the box too. So many masks! Animals, monsters, masks to slip on a face, masks to pull onto the head and even masquerade masks. Looking at a couple of them, especially the monster masks, it made sense for Dude to jump out of his skin.

“Do we even need all of these?” Misty asked, cautiously picking up a mask of a tiger.

“Maybe. But it’s worth checking their conditions, just in case any need to be thrown away.” Dude said, scratching his head. He placed the werewolf mask back in the box along with Misty tossing the tiger mask back into the box carelessly. Dude picked up the box without saying a word and took it away. Then an idea sparked inside Misty’s head. She had already planned her revenge. Now all she needs is an accomplice to pull it off.

And she had a feeling that she had the perfect one standing right next to her.

“You think he’s scared of masks?” Misty dropped her voice into a whisper. If Sprout is much of a slacker as she can be, then she had an inkling that he might want to pull a small revenge prank too.

“I don’t think so.” Sprout responded, unsure if he should answer any differently. He didn’t trust Misty as far as he could throw her after the spider incident. However, Dude was up here with him, so if Misty tried to pull another stunt, he’ll have some help.

“He did say that they’d made him jump.” Misty smirked. Come on. Take the bait. Take the hint.

“And he did say that we should check the condition of them.” Added Sprout, a childish glint shining in his eyes. Got him!

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Misty continued to smirk.

“I hate to say it, but yes.” Sprout grinned a little before he faltered a little. “I hope.” His doubts didn’t matter. He’s in this now whether he liked it or not.

“Hey, you two.” Dude suddenly announced, approaching the pair. Sprout and Misty stood up straight, their mischievous looks were wiped away. “I’m glad that you’re suddenly getting along, but you need to keep working.”

“We will!” Sprout and Misty declared, splitting up to their original spots in the attic. Dude watched them back and forth for a second. That was…strange. One minute neither of them wanted to speak to each other. Then all of a sudden they were whispering something to each other. Maybe they were reconciling or agreeing on something? For once. Dude shook his head. So long as they don’t do anything stupid, everything should be fine.

Misty looked back at Dude quickly. He went back to looking at something else, not asking her nor Sprout anything else. She turned back to looking at a box in front of her, pretending to look inside it as she grinned devilishly.

The blue idiot didn’t suspect a thing! This revenge is going to be perfect!

She just needs to get hold of Sprout again when Sports Boy wasn’t hanging around to keep an eye on her. Will this extend her grounding? Probably. Will Dude keep hold of her spiders longer than he planned? Most likely. However, this revenge will be worth it.

———————————————————————————

“Dude?”

Dude suddenly got wide awake. His body sprung up in shock for the sudden contact on his shoulder. He almost fell back in the chair that he was sitting. It would’ve happened if someone didn’t hold him still.

“What? What’s going on?” He asked automatically, looking around feverishly. Mimi was standing beside him, holding his chair still. She was the one who woke him up.

“Are you okay?” Mimi asked, taking everything in. She went looking for Dude, and found him slumped over his desk. Papers were in front of him, and a pen had slipped away from his hand from when he fell asleep. Was he doing some paperwork or something?

“Yeah. I must have dozed off.” Dude muttered, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. When did he fall asleep? And what was the time? He quickly checked the time on his phone. 3:36. He started looking at the paperwork at near 3pm. He probably slept halfway through. When he looked back up at Mimi, she looked concerned. Oh no. Did something happen? “What?”

“You’re shaking, Dude.” Mimi observed. Dude raised an eyebrow before putting down his phone. He laid out his hands flat and noticed a small tremor in them with a bit of surprise. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve been overworking yourself again.”

“No, I’ve been taking it easy. Well as easy as I can.” Dude sighed, giving a small shrug. He tried to think of something that could cause this sudden tiredness other than overworking. However, he couldn’t only think of one thing. “I just didn’t get a good sleep last night.”

“How come?” Mimi asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Just couldn’t settle. It happens.” Dude shrugged, pushing his chair back from the desk. He groaned as he stood up, a strain being felt in his back. “And now I’m paying the price with my back.” She didn’t know if it was meant to be humorous or not, but Mimi let out a small chuckle as Dude stretched his back. “Did you need me for something?”

“Just for you to socialise a bit.” Mimi smiled kindly. “Why don’t you take a break.” That wasn’t really an offer. More like an order, an instruction. To be honest, even if it was an offer, Dude wouldn’t argue against it.

“A break does sound good. Thanks, Mi.” He smiled a little, his back now feeling less sore. Should he really even call it a break? Technically he’s already taken one. Oh well, that didn’t matter, he can have a proper one. Mimi happened to spy on the desk as he loosened up his muscles. Only a couple of documents that he needed to read over before signing. Guess he was telling the truth about not overworking. So long as it doesn’t pile up, he should be fine. Everything seemed alright. At least Dude can stop for a few minutes. He’s been such a workaholic all day that it was a miracle that he’s stopped to eat lunch earlier today.

As Dude entered the den with Mimi behind him, he spotted almost everyone being there. The first person he spotted was Misty on the two person sofa. She had her feet up, blocking anyone else from sitting down next to her. Dude didn’t want to, but he still felt the need to keep an eye on her.

“Misty, put your feet down, please.” He calmly ordered. Misty rolled her eyes but complied with it. Mimi took her spot with Pip and Candi. All three girls continued to have their gossip from before Mimi left to look for Dude. Bud was sitting by the coffee table as he upgraded his tablet. Rainbow was lying down beside him, his head being absentmindedly stroked. Sprout was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’s taking a nap? Again. At least everything seemed peaceful right now.

“By the way, Dude, what are you most afraid of?” Misty suddenly asked.

“Why?” Dude asked back. He had a bad feeling about this. He honestly suspected that Misty might be planning something. It wouldn’t surprise him if she wanted to scare him as some kind of revenge for making her working in the attic today.

“Just curious.” Misty smirked.

“There’s very little that scares me.” Dude sighed. Don’t fall into the trap. Stall her. Maybe trick her into thinking that something else scares him.

“Other than witch doctors?” Misty continued to smirk, faking a surprised reaction. Dude rolled his eyes a little. He’s not afraid of witch doctors. He just gets a bit jumpy around them. “Like what?”

“Like-” Dude was ready to give a quick quip. Just anything to get Misty to back off.

“CAW! CAW!”

Dude turned around at the noise, and was met with what looked like a beak and feathers. At that instant, he suddenly flew into a panic. He let out an uncharacteristically loud, high pitched scream and his body sprung off the sofa. His actions and voice were so sudden that everyone but Misty jumped. He even scared Rainbow, causing the poor dog to leap out of the room. As everyone started looking at the source of the panic, Misty started cackling in delight. And much to everyone’s shock, so was Sprout. It turned out that it was him that scared Dude. He was wearing a mask of what appeared to be a black coloured bird, like a crow or a raven. He had collected it from the box that Dude had uncovered in the attic. He could’ve gone with a monster, but he wasn’t that mean. He’s not that much like Misty in this instance. So he thought that an animal one shouldn’t cause too much trouble. Still though, he wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction.

“You screamed like a little girl!” Sprout wheezed out between his laughter, holding his stomach.

“That’s not funny Sprout!” Candi scolded, appalled by her brother’s behaviour. She wasn’t the only one disappointed by him. Aside from Misty, nobody found the whole jump-scare funny.

“I recorded it! That was brilliant!” Misty cackled, holding up her phone. How was she able to hide that with Dude sitting next to her?

“They actually worked together?” Bud asked, desperately shaking off the shock.

“Uh oh! Lethal combination!” Pip muttered, unimpressed herself by this sudden development. She was even a little bit scared. Mimi rolled her eyes. She had a feeling that both Misty and Sprout would get a scolding from Dude about this prank. However, just as she thought that, she gazed over at where Dude had leapt to. And her heart stopped.

“Dude?” She gasped, standing up in an instant. The laughter froze as she spoke. All eyes fell on Dude. He was quite literally almost completely frozen in fright. He had curled up into a ball as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible. His eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing in particular. Sweat dripped from his unreadable face as his body trembled. His breathing was irregular, short bursts of breath so fast that his vision started to blur. His face was a ghostly pale shade, his blood running cold. Nearly everyone became scared themselves. Pip and Candi stood up as Bud stumbled to his feet thanks to the pins and needles in them. Sprout fidgeted nervously. He expected to give Dude a fright. But just something to make him jump, him screaming was a small bonus. However, he didn’t want this. Misty was indifferent. She just had her arms crossed and even rolled her eyes a little. Dude was just playing around. Any second now, he’ll be laughing and saying something like “gotcha”.

“Rainbow, here boy!” Bud called out, seemingly to be the only one with a cool head. Rainbow had scampered off thanks to Sprout and Misty’s prank, but hopefully he’ll come back. And he had better. Bud didn’t see another way to help calm the situation. If Dude doesn’t start calming down and getting his breathing steady, there’s a possibility that he’ll put himself in more trouble. Rainbow hesitantly poked his head in. He perked up immediately when he saw the problem. Carefully and as quietly as he could, he walked up to Dude. He let out a quiet whine. He had a feeling that if Dude didn’t notice him approaching, he might get scared if the large dog suddenly touched him without a warning. No reaction. If anything, Dude’s breathing became worse, as if he was suffocating.

“He’s not calming down…” Candi whimpered, taking a step forward.

“Give him a minute.” Pip spoke up, gently pulling the pink girl back. The last thing Dude needed was suddenly touching him while he was having a panic attack. Rainbow remained as patient as always. He let out another whine. This time the noise seemed to have caught Dude’s attention. His body flinched from the sound, his head snapping up as if it was jerked upwards by a string. His eyes were still glossy. Is he trying to remember where he is? And who is with him?

A shaky hand rose, reaching out. Rainbow brought himself forward, making contact with the limb that stretched out for him. The air was wracked with tension, but now it appeared to start calming down. Once Dude made contact with Rainbow’s fur, his heart started slowing down, no longer thumping in his ears. His stomach became more settled, no longer having the urge to throw up. Almost like a child, he carefully latched onto Rainbow, almost burying his face into the orange fur.

“Dude, it’s okay.” Mimi whispered, taking careful steps towards Dude. No one stopped her; Dude appeared to be in a safer position to have someone approach him. When she sat down next to him, he didn’t push her away. Same thing for when she placed a hand on his back. A small but noticeable flinch, nothing more. Pip and Candi exchanged a look before splitting off to different parts of the house. One to the kitchen, the other to an airing cupboard. That left Bud in charge. He monitored Dude’s heart rate through an app on his smartwatch. It was still racing, but thankfully started to show signs of slowing down. Hugging Rainbow appeared to have significant effects. The canine in question carefully laid down, allowing Dude to almost drape over him as he was being hugged. Pip came back, holding a cool glass of water. At the same time Candi also returned, carrying a blue blanket.

“Misty, delete the video.” Bud said sternly.

“Seriously? Dude’s just being a big baby. He’s fine.” Misty rolled her eyes. She briefly wondered how many hits she’ll get on social media for this video. It would certainly make Dude a laughing stock.

“Now! Misty!” Bud shouted, reaching a rare point for him to lose his temper. Is this what it feels like when telling Misty off? How can Dude stand it? Well it was more than enough to get Misty to comply. She wasn’t happy about it, but she had a feeling that she’d be in more trouble if she didn’t. Sprout kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to make this any worse by saying his excuses. For a long time, no one moved too much nor spoke. It was like time had slowed down completely from how quiet the room was. The only obvious sound was Dude breathing heavily. The air felt hot and cold at the same time from the anticipation. Hearts were beating together in unison, with Dude’s being the only one that was slightly offbeat.

Finally, Dude shifted from his awkward lying position. His moments were slow as he pushed himself off of Rainbow. Candi resisted the urge to rush forward. With small ballerina like steps, she tip toed to Dude. She held out the blanket, which Mimi carefully took. Once she wrapped it around his shoulders like a cloak, he looked dazed again. He watched her for a moment before recognition dawned over him. Memories of where he is and what had happened slowly came back to him.

“I’m alright…” he spoke up, his voice so quiet that everyone barely picked up on it.

“Are you sure?” Bud asked, his voice as level headed as possible. He watched his smartwatch for a few more seconds. Heart rate has returned to normal. In terms of the heart, Dude was out of the danger zone.

“Just…” Dude muttered, holding the blanket around him. He couldn’t bring himself to say more. He just felt too tired. As Mimi rubbed his tense back, he couldn’t help but lean into the soothing touch. When Pip offered out the glass of water, he took slow sips from it. Just stay calm. Get it together. Just anything to not get into another panic like that. The last time he was like that was when he was a kid.

“I didn’t think that I would frighten him that much…it’s just a mask…” Sprout said, apologetically. Guilt ate away at his insides as he gazed down at the mask. It wasn’t like it was a monster themed mask; in theory, it shouldn’t have terrified Dude that much.

“Sprout, it’s not masks that I’m afraid of.” Dude confessed, his voice still quiet. He took another deep breath, more shame washing over him as he could no longer look at anyone in the room. “It’s birds.”

———————————————————————————

Once he had calmed down more, Dude took himself off to the basketball court. He didn’t tell anyone, but he had a feeling that if they wanted him, they’d know where to find him. If it’s not the basketball court, it’s the beach and vice versa. It wasn’t really much of a surprise to those that knew him well enough. Just somewhere to clear his mind and distract him from his previous fright. In all honesty, he was surprised that he wanted to go outside. Then again, he believed that he can be a little more calm in the fresh air. Just so long as a bird doesn’t go near him, he should be fine. Some of the others weren’t sure if he’ll be okay outside, but he was able to convince them to leave him be for ten minutes or so. Plus Rainbow pretty much forced himself to go along with Dude just to keep an eye on him.  Dude didn’t have a problem with that. He was grateful that his friends cared, but a part of him felt like they shouldn’t have to worry that much about him.

In regard to Misty and Sprout, once he was in a stable enough state, Dude did want them to face some consequences. Misty was very non apologetic. She even had the audacity to ask Bud if he could recover the video that he made her delete. She didn’t think that Dude would make her grounding any worse; having her spiders taken away from her was bad enough. However, he did make it worse for her. He assigned her to help cleaning the toilets in the Skyline, both public and private, for a week. It took everything that everyone had to not burst out laughing at the face that Misty pulled. Sprout got off a little more lightly. He was the only one of the pair that was genuinely sorry and wanted to make things right. He even offered to donate or throw away the bird mask just to give Dude some peace of mind. Dude can honestly say that he’s not angry at Sprout. He had a feeling that Misty coerced Sprout into this prank, and he didn’t even know about Dude’s fear of birds in the first place. However he was still grounded a little; two days of cleaning the garden after Rainbow. He accepted that, he believed that he deserved it after all.

Bounce, bounce, throw!

Dude had aimed. To him it was perfect. Normally, the ball would’ve fallen into the basket. From where he was standing, in any normal game, he would’ve gotten three points. However, instead of getting the points, the ball bounced off the edge of the hoop. Okay, no problem. It happens sometimes. Can’t get it right all the time. Just try to calm down.

Bounce. Bounce. Throw!

Missed again. This time the ball hit the backboard. What’s wrong with him?! Boy he was glad that things have quietened down around the Skyline. The last thing he needed was a random guest to see him mess up this badly. At least Rainbow wasn’t criticising his bad throws.

Deep breath. Stay calm.

Stuff like this happens every now and then. Just get it together.

Try again!

Bounce! Bounce! THROW!

The ball again hit the hoop. The metal rattled harshly, the sound reverberating from the impact. With the angle that it was hit and with how much power Dude put in the throw, the ball ricocheted right back at him. Dude let out a small gasp before he ducked to avoid the projectile. He felt a breeze rush over his head and heard the ball bounce along the ground.

Deep breath. Just calm down.

Okay, maybe there was something wrong…

How much strength did he put into that throw this time?!

It was rare for him to get that frustrated, especially when playing his favourite sport. Maybe he should’ve gone to the beach after all. He can still go. It wasn’t like anything needed his immediate detention other than that paperwork. He can work on that tonight or tomorrow morning. Taking another deep breath, Dude turned around, intending to find the basketball. Instead, he was met with Mimi standing a fair distance from him. She was standing next to Rainbow as if the canine had escorted her to the court, and had the basketball in her hands. Did she see his “temper tantrum”? Great…

Just keep calm. Play it off as if everything is still okay.

“How are you doing?” Mimi asked, staying where she was.

“I’m fine now.” Dude didn’t hesitate in answering. Just stay cool. Play it off as if everything is okay.

“Are you sure?” Mimi asked, completely unconvinced. Yep, she knows. She knows that something is wrong. If she saw that last throw then that was all the proof that she needed.

“Mi, I’m fine. I promise.” Dude sighed, gently taking the basketball back from her hands. Just keep it together. Just don’t have another powerful throw like that. He started walking back to the basket, bouncing the ball in time with his steps. His movements were slow, no longer filled with the enthusiasm that he always displayed with his favourite sport. Not to mention, if Mimi looked carefully enough, she could see that he was still shaking. He’s lying. And the worst thing is that Mimi had an inkling that he knew that she knew about it. Mimi looked down at Rainbow. Rainbow was shaking his head, disappointment practically radiating off of him. Even the dog has picked up on the situation. Mimi took a deep breath.

Just gently edge away at it, get to the bottom of this thing.

“How did it happen? This fear of birds.” Mimi asked. Okay, maybe it wasn’t as gentle as she originally intended. However, if she didn’t start nipping this in the bud, Dude will continue to keep growing weeds in order for her to not reach the truth.

“Does it matter?” Dude asked back, stopping in his tracks.

“Just trying to help.” Mimi reasoned, staying patient. Rainbow let out a desperate whine. Even if Dude can’t see it, he can feel the big eyes that Rainbow was giving him. Silence swept the court now that the ball was no longer bouncing. In all honesty, it was like there was this pressure from opposite sides. One pushing to tell the truth, and the other pushing to keep hiding. Just a battle of will against instincts at this point. It was so fierce that it was ripping Dude to pieces. In the end, one side finally won.

“I was a kid.” Dude started after taking a deep breath. He started walking towards the hoop again, bouncing the ball as an automatic reflex. “Some bullies pushed me over, held me down, covered me in birdseed and then the next thing I knew I was mobbed by pigeons. Had to go to the hospital to get checked out. Been scared ever since. End of story.”

“So every time a bird goes near you, that’s why you try to avoid it or freeze up.” Mimi mused over. She expected this phobia to be from childhood, just not like this. When Dude stopped walking, she started to calmly stride over to him. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Didn’t seem important until now.” Dude said, his tone becoming harsh. Not towards Mimi, but to himself. He clenched the basketball so hard in his hands that it was threatening to burst. “Besides, I’m the one that is supposed to protect all of you! I can’t do that if I’m scared of something so stupid!”

Without aiming or any form of warning, Dude threw the ball at the hoop one last time. It hit the backboard a second time. Again, the force was so strong that the board shook from it and the ball was launched back. Thankfully, Dude didn’t need to duck down this time. However, Mimi barely had enough time to catch it. The moment she had it in her hands, she stumbled back a little. Luckily she didn’t fall backwards.

Dude couldn’t believe it. He was honestly horrified upon seeing that. If Mimi hadn’t caught that, she could’ve been hit in the head or worse. He needs to control that throw of his otherwise it could land him in trouble one day. He rushed over to Mimi, ready to apologise and ask if she was alright. However, before he could open his mouth, Mimi placed a finger on his lips. Rainbow watched intently, curiosity peaking inside of him. This could go either way for the two. He only hoped for a very positive outcome. Dude blinked a few times as his eyes shifted back and forth between Mimi’s hand and the fashionista herself. Either she was going to shout at him for being reckless, or she was going to continue to be patient with him. Mimi took a deep breath, as if to compose herself.

“Dude, it’s okay.” She finally said, retracting her finger away from Dude. “We’ve told you before that you don’t have to worry about us so much.”

“Can’t help it. It’s my job to worry.” Dude sighed hopelessly. His eyes landed on the basketball in Mimi’s hands. He reached over to take it back, when Mimi suddenly pulled it away from him. He was a little surprised, feet feeling like they were glued to the ground. Mimi looked between him and the ball before a small, playful smile tugged at his lips.

“Then you’re fired from that position.” She teased, stepping backwards with a small bounce in her steps. Dude wants to play around like that, then two can play at this game.

“Okay, first of all, that’s travelling. That’s an illegal move in basketball.” Dude curtsied but Mimi could hear the change of tone in his voice. The evidence before her shined brighter when she saw a small smile on his face as he launched toward her. “And second, I object!”

“Double fired.” Mimi grinned, sidestepping out of the way as Dude tried to make a grab for the ball.

“I object to infinity and beyond and back.” Dude grinned back, once again lunging at her with the intent on align the ball back. Mimi dodged again. All that dancing on stage for the shows really helped her out.

“And I take that and times my firing of you by a hundred.” She smirked, refusing to back down from this game.

“Let’s stop otherwise we’ll be here all day.” Dude spoke up a little seriously. However, he was still smiling.

“So you give up?” Mimi teased, finally standing still. Dude walked up to her, trying to fight back the smile as best he could. Mimi hoped that he would say yes and let his defences down for a little bit. She hoped that he will allow the help to make him feel better. He got close to her face, causing her cheeks to turn pink.

What’s he doing? Is he going to kiss me?! It would be nice but…what if I’m not ready?!

Mimi was cruelly snapped out of her thoughts when the basketball was plucked away from her hands.

“Nope.” He said bluntly, while carrying a little bit of smugness in his voice. Mimi couldn’t stop herself from pouting. How dare he?! He made her flustered on purpose! Dude slyly grinned as he walked backwards. He felt a little better after that little game of cat and mouse. Maybe he’ll be able to shoot a hoop this time. He spun on his heels, only to nearly crash into something orange.

“Rainbow!” He exclaimed, flinching back from the orange dog. “Geez, warn me next time. I nearly tripped over you.”

“Bird!” Rainbow suddenly whined.

“What?” Dude whimpered. He could feel his blood draining from his face. He looked around Rainbow and his body started to shake again. A pigeon must have taken advantage of the games being away from the basket and decided to scour the ground. Dude wanted to walk away but again his feet had this feeling of being glued to the ground. His voice came out as a whimper, just barely getting the words out. “Rainbow, scare it off, please.”

Request granted! No one, human or animal, scares Rainbow’s humans and gets away with it!

A small growl as a warning. However, the bird didn’t seem to listen. Must have turned its ears off. So Rainbow took the offensive. He let out a huge bark and charged. That did the trick. For the most part. The bird flew away alright, scaring some feathers off of it. However, it was like the animal started to play the blame game, in a way. It changed course and flew right at Dude. He let out a small scream, the basketball being dropped from his hands. He ducked down, avoiding pigeon as it came towards him. Thankfully it changed courses and went the other way as it flew off. It disappeared in the direction it travelled in. Mimi watched it for a moment before turning her attention back to Dude. The poor guy was trembling all over again, just barely able to watch the offending animal himself. Carefully, she stood in front of him in a futile attempt to block his view of where the bird went. His eyes focused on her, his shaking slowly becoming less prominent. Carefully, Mimi got a little closer and wrapped her arms around him to give a hug. Dude, albeit surprised, returned the kind gesture, feeling safer already.

“Thanks, Mimi.” He sighed in content. Mimi gave a small squeeze in response, her cheeks flashing a light shade of pink. Dude’s ears suddenly picked up a sound and he flinched violently. Mimi broke away from the hug and turned around. A flock of pigeons were perched along the fence of the basketball court. The stupid bird actually brought back reinforcements. Birds really must have it out for Dude.

“Okay, let’s get you inside before you have another panic attack.” Mimi hurriedly said, picking up the basketball with one hand and grabbed Dude’s hand with the other. She marched him as fast as she could towards the house, with Dude all too eagerly staying close alongside her. Rainbow barked a warning to the birds to not follow, almost daring them too before he followed his human friends. Hopefully everything will calm down later on.

Ornithophobia - fear of birds

Artwork was done by me.

WHY WAS THE ENDING SO HARD TO WWWWRRRRIIIIITTTTEEEEE?!

And that is it for the “Fears” mini series. Hope you all enjoyed it. These stories were requests from two of my followers on Wattpad. Remember if anyone would like to submit another request, please feel free to do so. I look forward to hearing any ideas that you might have.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

WOWZERS, THIS WAS FUN!

This felt like a full on multi-episode adventure arc. I could so clearly visualize every detail that you included, the stakes felt high and climbing higher by the minute, the dialogue was all so spot on for these characters, I mean it was just incredible! And to know that this is going to have a part two?? I'm beyond excited!

I love the plot of this so much. First of all I love Carson Teva, so anytime he's involved I'm pumped. (You nailed his casual sass when Reader asked how long it would take for Din to show up and Teva just nodded to the door and was like "not long" like that man goes with the flow better than any other Star Wars character.) I love that he has so much trust and confidence in Reader to get this mission done, and I love how he just knows that Reader and Din will be the perfect pair to get this accomplished. He's right, obviously, because he always is.

You also nailed Din's sass. Telling Reader to keep up as he's already taking off - that is so Dinjamin Djarin. I can hear Grogu giggling away. I loved how tolerant he was to Reader's aversion to working with him at first. It probably made him trust them more to know that they were hesitant to trust him.

The mission itself was so much fun to read, even if it didn't go as perfectly as it could have gone. Reader channeling Monty Python's Black Knight and being like "I'm fine it's not that bad" while their leg is literally in tatters under their pants is so me, I felt so fucking seen right there. (I finished a marathon with a stress fracture in my knee and refused to believe it was a problem for like three months.) Din using his cape to shield Reader's leg while he tries to heat and bend the metal struck me as such a great detail! He's so resourceful and great in a pinch. Good thing Grogu was there for the assist, though.

The scene back at the inn, where he takes care of Reader and they both open up about their past and Reader asks about what went down on that New Republic prison ship was all so well done! Earlier that day these two were complete strangers and now they're being vulnerable with each other. That's always going to make me happy to see. I loved how appalled he was by Reader's story of the last mercenary she trusted, and my heart frickin aches for Din saying he keeps his distance to avoid breaking his own heart. GOSH how I want him to have love now.

This was FANTASTIC and I cannot wait to see where you take it next! Thank you so much for writing and sharing, and please add me to the tags for this!!

Crash and Burn

summary: Things don’t go as expected when Captain Teva sets you up on a solo mission with his newly recruited Mandalorian mercenary, for better or for worse.

pairing: din djarin (the mandalorian) x reader

contains: canon-typical violence, injuries & blood, angst, hurt/comfort

rating: T

word count: 9.279k

main masterlist • din djarin masterlist

You blinked a few times in shock at Captain Teva. You were still struggling to find your voice, no matter how loud the words you wanted to say were inside your own head. Questions and frustrations threatened to surface, but instead, all you could do was echo what he’d just said. “You want me to work with a Mandalorian on this?”

Captain Teva took a nervous glance around and held his hand up, a warning to stay quiet. He set his hand on your shoulder and urged the two of you to a more private corner of the outpost’s cantina. “I’m asking you because I trust you the most out of anyone here.” You set your shoulders with a deep breath and crossed your arms. Captain Teva nodded before he went on. “This isn’t just any Mandalorian. He’s the one who killed Moff Gideon.”

You raised your brow. “You mean, the one who was complicit in the death of Lieutenant Davan and sprung a prisoner from that same ship?”

Captain Teva exhaled a tight sigh. “You saw that footage. You know he was the only one who tried to save the lieutenant.” He gave you a knowing look. “Last I checked, your record isn’t crystal clear, either.”

Your gaze fell at that. His words were stern, but not harsh. It was the slap of reality you needed. Each mission you got recruited with was a gift, not an expectation, no matter how damn good you were at flying. “Fair enough.” You loosened your jaw and lifted your brow. “But why so secretive?”

Captain Teva shifted his weight. “Coruscant doesn’t know about the Mandalorian helping us.” He set both his hands on your shoulders. “And they won’t know.”

“Because you’ve recruited a mercenary into our ranks, and you’re asking me to work directly with him?”

Captain Teva’s lips started to curl up in a teasing smile. “It shouldn’t be a problem unless you’ve got a bounty on you.” He patted your shoulder and started to walk off towards the bar. “I’ll brief you when Mando gets here.”

You followed him and set your hands on your hips, the upper half of your orange jumpsuit still hanging at your waist. “How long is that gonna take?”

The door slid open as if on cue, revealing the silhouette of the Mandalorian with one of the smallest creatures you’d ever seen at his side. Captain Teva gestured to them with his head and accepted the drink he was handed by the bartender. “Not long.”

He sipped his drink while you held back yet another sigh. You rested your elbow upon the bar and kept your other hand propped up on your hip, your expression hardened as the Mandalorian joined the two of you where you stood. His small accomplice took the liberty of hopping onto the bar all on his own and made himself comfortable in front of a bowl of tip-yip.

“I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.” The black void of the Mandalorian’s T-shaped visor was facing Captain Teva, and his position at the bar mirrored your own.

“It’s important.” Captain Teva nodded as he drew a sip from his drink. “I need my strongest people on it.” He turned and gestured to you. “That’s why I’m sending you with my best pilot.”

You raised your brow at him, unimpressed. Flattery wasn’t going to make you any more optimistic about this mission. Your gaze shifted to the Mandalorian’s visor as you continued to remain silent. He tilted his helmet at you, and you had to ignore the way it made you want to shift your position.

“This is the part where you introduce yourself, Lieutenant.” Captain Teva let his voice go low in warning.

You stood up straight from the bar and fell in line without much effort applied. You introduced yourself to the Mandalorian, who then reached out his gloved hand for a handshake and returned the favor. “Din Djarin.”

You shook his hand and pasted on a fake smile. “A pleasure, Djarin. Truly.”

Captain Teva watched you with careful eyes as you returned your hand to your side. “As I said before, the lieutenant is one of my very finest,” he paused and raised his glass to you, “and will have no problem assisting you in any way you need on this mission.”

Your jaw dropped at his words. To be placed under the Mandalorian’s command on this mission felt like a stab in the back. “Captain…”

“I know you’re eager to get going, but this briefing won’t take long.” Captain Teva gave you a sharp look. You crossed your arms in a vain effort to suppress your growing frustration. “There’ve been sightings of a squadron of TIE fighters near Agreon.” Captain Teva pulled up a map of the surrounding area on his holoprojector. “We’ve gotten some intel that the planet may be housing one of our most sought-out warlords yet.”

Din shifted his weight to one hip, setting a gloved hand on his belt near one of his two blaster pistols. “What’s the name?”

Captain Teva glanced around the room and reached into a pocket on his belt, handing off the datacard to Din. “Everything you need to know is in here.” Din nodded and secured the datacard on his person. “If we get this warlord, we could finally get Agreon, a planetary asset we haven’t had since before the Clone Wars.”

“If their people will let us.” You scoffed, earning both Captain’s and Din’s attention. “They haven’t exactly been keen on the idea of the Republic.”

“The Empire didn’t give them a choice.” Captain Teva’s brow rose. “It’s likely the Imperial influence changed things for them.”

“Regardless, we’ll make the job quick.” Din stood up straighter and reached for his tiny accomplice. “Wouldn’t want them to cycle the charts if they find out you’re getting suspicious.”

“Good call.” Captain Teva nodded before accepting the hand that Din had reached out to him to shake. “Thank you.”

Din returned the nod. “We’ll be in touch.” The Mandalorian, satisfied with Captain’s short briefing, turned and walked off without once looking to see if you followed.

You scoffed and faced Captain Teva, who spoke before you had the chance to. “Take it easy on him, Lieutenant.” Captain Teva’s words were a plea. “You have no idea how important of an ally he is.”

You offered him a tight-lipped smile. “Sure.”

With that, you followed Din’s path, entering the daylight of Adelphi with a heavy sigh. The Mandalorian’s ship was already close to your own and, despite your feelings about the bounty hunter, you were impressed with his vessel. It was an N-1 starfighter from Naboo’s Royal Fleet, dating back to the years before the Clone Wars. Its silver finish was sleek, and several customizations made themselves known on its exterior hull.

“So,” you began loud enough for Din to hear, approaching him as he set his tiny accomplice within his ship, “what’s the plan?”

Din didn’t turn around to face you as he responded. “We destroy the fleet, take the warlord, and get the hell out of there.”

You huffed and crossed your arms. “And how do you plan on doing that?” Din turned to face you as you shook your head at him. “As soon as they see my X-wing, they’re gonna know what’s going on.”

Din tilted his helmet at you. “That’s why you’ll pretend you’re pursuing me before I lead you into the firefight.” His visor returned to the little one as he spoke with slight amusement. “It wouldn’t be my first time getting chased down by an X-wing.”

“Were you planning on sharing that with me, partner, or was I supposed to read your mind?”

Din remained unshaken, his visor finding your gaze again. “Captain Teva said you’re the finest he has.” He nodded at you. “I figured you’d catch on.”

You forced yourself to take a deep breath and directed your attention elsewhere for a moment. The little one in the Mandalorian’s ship served as the perfect distraction. “What is that?” You pointed at the cockpit.

Din looked between you and the cooing little one. “This is my apprentice.”

Your brow furrowed in confusion. “That thing is a Mandalorian?”

The hand at Din’s side pulled into a tight fist. “He’s also my son.” His voice was a warning. “And his name is Grogu.”

You raised both hands in surrender. “Apologies.”

Din began to climb his way into his ship. “I’ll transmit the information to you.” He lowered himself into the cockpit, Grogu soon appearing on his lap. “Try to keep up.”

The revving of his ship made you jump back as Din started it up. You cursed under your breath and jogged to where your X-wing was docked, already crafting your list of complaints about the Mandalorian for Captain Teva to listen to upon your return. The list was almost too long to remember by the time you secured your jumpsuit over your shoulders and climbed inside the cockpit.

Din didn’t wait a single moment, and his N-1 was in the air before you had even slid your helmet on. You grumbled to yourself as you fumbled with your helmet and strapped yourself in, starting up the X-wing and taking off as soon as it was ready. You applied extra power to the reverse thrusters just to catch up to the N-1 before it left the atmosphere.

“Lieutenant?” Din’s voice spoke through your comms.

You almost failed to hold back your sigh. “At your service.”

Din’s amused huff was audible through the comms. “Good to know.” You raised your brow before he went on. “Transmitting you the coordinates.”

You waited and saw the coordinates uploaded to your navicomputer. “All set over here.”

“Great. Making the jump now.”

You followed suit, watching as Din’s N-1 flew into the stars just as you did. Your X-wing was just behind his ship in the hyperspace lane, the blue flashes of light illuminating the space in a way that had always brought you peace.

Still, even hyperspace couldn’t soothe you. Din had sent the encrypted plans over to you, and in reading them, you realized just how big of a score it would be if you pulled this off. You couldn’t mess it up, and yet Captain Teva had given you a stranger to work with, and no other pilots. It was like he was setting you up to fail.

You took a deep breath and spoke to Din over the comms. “How do you want this to go?”

Din’s response was instantaneous. “You tell me.”

You scoffed. “You’re the one who made the plan, Djarin.”

“All I have to do is run. You’re the one who’s in control of the rest.”

You shook your head in disbelief of his words. The lack of detailed planning would have gotten him kicked out of the fleet, if he was actually a part of it. It was reckless. “So, you make the plan, and then you make me responsible for its success?”

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant. I’ll take full responsibility if something goes sideways.” The honesty in Din’s tone made you even more frustrated. “But it won’t, because you’re Captain Teva’s best.” You rolled your eyes to yourself and crossed your arms. “So, what’s your play?”

You fought the urge to be somewhat rational and spoke on your first thoughts. “I don’t think I should hold back. If I were really pursuing a criminal, I would be close on their tail with the weapons ready.”

“I agree.” Din’s words shocked you more than you thought possible. “Once we enter the atmosphere, you should start firing.”

“You want me to miss on purpose?”

“No.” Your eyes doubled in size. “You said it yourself. You shouldn’t hold back. Fire at me like you would a runner.”

You hated the wave of concern that rushed through you. “How would that work? I’d just shoot you down.”

Din’s tone was confident but not arrogant as he responded. “I wouldn’t be so sure.” Before you could respond with the contrary, he continued. “Look alive, we’re dropping out of hyperspace momentarily.”

You had forgotten how close Agreon was to the outpost. You readied yourself on the joystick for the drop, steadying yourself with a breath before you dared to speak. “Good luck, Djarin.”

You could’ve sworn there was a smile in Din’s voice when he responded. “Likewise, Lieutenant.”

As soon as your two ships dropped out of hyperspace, your chase began. You stayed close on Din’s tail as he wove his N-1 around invisible obstacles, much like criminals on the run would. He would know, after all. You tried to shake the nagging thought from your head as you took a quick glance around, though there weren’t any TIEs that you could spot just yet. “See anything?” you asked Din over the comms.

“Not yet.” Your ships started to enter Agreon’s atmosphere. “I’m gonna fly towards the main city to get a better view.”

Din dove his N-1 down to the surface and you gritted your teeth as you began to fire. He spun and wove through the clouds as if your accurate shots were nonexistent, something that somehow both relieved and frustrated you. Din kept the chase far enough above ground that it wouldn’t alert the unsuspecting citizens within the main city, but could catch the attention of any nearby Imperials.

“Nothing here.” Din’s voice was unfazed, as if you weren’t mere inches from shooting him down every second. “Let’s head to the bay.”

You couldn’t hold back your scoff. “The bay? Why would they be there?”

“It has the same appeal as the city with a lot less security.” Din paused as he dodged a series of shots from your X-wing. “Sounds like the perfect place for an Imperial warlord to be hiding.”

You wanted to disagree with Din, but he was right. Instead, you let out your frustration into your attacks, though the way he dodged them with ease only made the feeling worse.

The high speed of your chase got you to the bay in just a few minutes. The waterside city came into view and immediately, Din was alerting you over the comms. “There, off your port side.”

You glanced to the left and widened your eyes at the array of TIE fighters docked just outside the city. There was also a Lambda shuttle among them, completing what could be considered a small fleet. “This is a lot more than a ‘squadron’ of TIE fighters.”

“Then we should move in while they’re still docked.” Din veered his N-1 to the left, heading straight towards the Imperial docking bay. “Keep aiming at me and follow my lead.”

You gripped your joystick tighter and obeyed his orders. As you aimed for Din, he spun and dodged in strategic ways to make your shots instead hit the docked TIE fighters. One by one, they began to burst into hot flames and thick smoke. “This is really giving us away!”

“It was inevitable.” Din pulled up hard enough to make your series of shots hit three TIEs back-to-back. “We need to cut off their air support first to keep them here, then we can go in on foot.”

The Lambda shuttle was destroyed and only a few more TIEs remained, but they went airborne before you could loop back around to them. The three TIE fighters fell into formation behind you, firing with your X-wing as their sole target. “I’ve got the last three on me!”

“I see them. Split left, I’ll go right.”

The danger was too imminent for you to argue. You pulled your joystick to the left and watched as all three TIE fighters followed you rather than Din’s N-1. Part of you wondered if Din was hoping you’d get shot down so he could take the credit for himself. The thought was fleeting as you soon watched Din maneuver his starfighter behind the trio and shoot down two of them in seconds. The third split off, cycling themselves back around to get a better angle on Din.

“The last one’s all yours.”

You couldn’t help smiling as you turned your ship to gain on the TIE fighter. “I’ve got them.” All it took was one shot to take them down, the TIE screeching as it crashed to the surface. You let out a cheer to yourself; it was the quickest you had ever taken out a fleet of that size, and with less than half the help you had before. You exhaled and shook your head in amazement. “That was some real good work, Djarin.”

“Not too bad yourself, Lieutenant. Your shots were hard to miss.” You beamed to yourself at his words. “But we’re not done yet. We need to land outside—.”

Din’s comms had cut out when the rest of your ship’s power did. One blast from what could have only been an ion cannon on the surface made your X-wing dead in the air. Agreon’s gravity took over the ship as you frantically pressed around the controls. “Djarin?” You tried the comms in a futile effort. “Djarin, can you hear me? I’m dead in the air!”

As the surface came closer and closer to the dead weight of your ship, you gritted your teeth. You tried pulling up, but it was no use. Your last effort was attempting to eject from the cockpit, but it wouldn’t give way in time, and the impact was the last thing you remembered before everything went dark.

You weren’t sure how long you were out, but when you woke, it was with a gasp and a burst of energy. Din had torn open the transparisteel of the cockpit and was knelt just outside of it. His gloved hand tossed the casing of an adrenaline stim to the side as he instead took a hold of your shoulders.

“It’s okay, Lieutenant. You’re all right.” Din’s tone was sincere and urgent. “I’m sorry, I had to wake you up to help you out of here.”

You nodded at him, still numb to the event as well as any pain it might’ve brought you. The motion at least made you aware that he had taken your helmet off for you. “Don’t worry about it.” Your heart was beating a mile a minute as you let Din guide you.

“Can you move at all?”

You had tried to push yourself up, but cried out involuntarily when your leg remained trapped. Din stopped you by taking a firmer grasp on your shoulders. “It’s my leg.”

Din’s visor inspected the area and he nodded. “Okay. I have an idea, but we have to work quickly.” He glanced over his shoulder as he drew his cape from his shoulders. “Imps could be on their way any minute.”

Din took the cape and laid it over as much of your trapped leg as he could manage, though his touch was delicate to avoid hurting you further. You raised your brow at him. “What are you doing?”

Din tilted his helmet. “Burning the metal.” He raised his fist and engaged his flamethrower, causing the metal that trapped your leg to groan as it became more flexible. His cape was flame resistant and kept you from getting burned, as intimidating as it was to see the flames so close to you.

After a few more seconds, Din stopped and gave the heated metal a solid kick. It created a small dent in the metal, but it wasn’t enough to free you. Din cursed and knelt back down to where he was before.

Before Din could even try to burn the metal again, it suddenly began to crush itself back, as if some invisible force was pressing upon it. You looked at Din with a bewildered crease in your brow, but his visor was already fixed on the little one at his side. The apprentice, Grogu, had his eyes closed and his tiny hand extended towards your ship. You watched him with your jaw dropped in awe as he worked until you had more than enough room to move your leg.

You pushed yourself up again and released a tight-lipped groan at the pain in your leg. Din paused for consent to throw your arm over his shoulders and your nod granted him permission. He took a strong grip on you and lifted you onto the ground outside the ship, keeping you propped up alongside him as his visor assessed you for more wounds. “Can you walk?”

“I can manage.” You gave him a reassuring nod, though a quick glance down at your leg revealed just how badly cut-up it was. Your mind was too stuck on something else to care. “What the hell was that?” You gestured with your head to Grogu, who had climbed back into a metal floating pod at Din’s other side.

Din sighed and glanced at his apprentice. “It’s a long story.” His visor found your gaze again as he nodded. “I’ll tell you once we’re safe.” Din raised his free hand to his helmet and spoke through his comms. “R5, can you transmit the coordinates to the N-1?” He paused and looked at his gauntlet as he waited. It chimed and Din lifted his hand back to his helmet again. “Thanks, buddy. We’re on our way.”

For the first few steps, Din kept his visor on you, watching you struggle to put weight on your injured leg. The more you went on, the more you forced yourself to become numb to the pain, and soon you and Din were moving at a much better pace. You weren’t far from the nearby surrounding wood, and thankfully you reached its cover before any Imperials had the chance of finding you.

Din lifted his gauntlet to double-check the coordinates. “We’re almost there.”

You nodded, weary from the effort it had taken you in your injured state to maintain his quick pace. There were at least a dozen questions you wanted to ask him about what would come next, but all you could conceive of doing was putting one foot in front of the other. With each step, the adrenaline faded more and more, causing you to lean further onto Din. He took your extra weight with both ease and grace.

By the time you saw the sleek silver design of the N-1, Din was practically dragging you along with him. Grogu released a worried coo from inside his pod, and the heat of Din’s gaze through his helmet followed. You muscled up all the strength you had left to stand up straighter and nod at him.

“I’m fine.” You swallowed back another pained groan as you lifted your arm from Din’s shoulders and leaned against the wing of his N-1. Balancing on your good leg, you set your hands over the edge of the cool metal and furrowed your brow at the Mandalorian. “What now?”

Din’s visor didn’t look away from you as he swung his helmet towards the N-1’s cockpit. “It’ll be a tight fit, but we can manage.”

You blinked at him, your mouth falling open. “Your plan is to leave?”

Din didn’t move an inch. “Your X-wing’s out of commission, Lieutenant, and your injury needs serious medical attention.” Only then did he set his gloved hands on his hips. “What else are we supposed to do?”

You tightened your grasp on the N-1’s wing and looked to the side as you pondered his words. You gave your head an aimless shake. “Agreon is too high-value to walk away from, especially now that we’ve already moved in and cut off their means of escape.”

Din sighed. “I know that. But I can’t do it alone, and you’re in no shape to help me right now.”

Your focus snapped back to him, your brow shooting up. “I told you, Djarin, I’m fine.” You forced yourself to take a deep breath. “If we can just… lay low for a few standard hours, maybe even for the night, I can heal enough to join you on foot.”

Din tilted his helmet at you. “That gives them too much time to call in reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements?” You scoffed. “Please. This isn’t the all-powerful Empire we’re talking about, Djarin. This is the Remnant. Resources are scarce, and they’re not gonna send more ships and forces over here after what looks like an unfortunate accident.” You nodded at him. “We have at least a full day’s margin to get this done.”

Din exhaled, shifting his weight before turning his head over his shoulder. His visor found the path you had just taken to get back to the ship, and after another moment’s contemplation, he nodded and faced you again. “Fine.” He gestured to where he’d just been looking. “But we’re not staying here. It’ll be easier to hide inside the main city. I’ll fly us to the hangar, and we’ll find an inn there.”

You nodded, your gaze dropping to your bloodied leg as you bit your cheek. “How are we getting there?”

“Like I said before, it’ll be a tight fit, but we can manage.”

You glanced up just in time to catch Din’s gloved hand tapping the canopy that covered the N-1’s cockpit. Your eyes widened when you realized just how small it was. “There’s no way we can all fit in there.”

Din’s hand on the canopy tightened into a fist. “Do we have a choice?”

Your jaw tightened. You wanted to argue, but you had no points to make. He was right.

You winced as you pushed yourself off the wing and limped closer to the cockpit, letting yourself observe the singular seat. There would be only one way for you all to fit, and the thought of it threatened to make your entire face and neck burn the hottest they ever have. “I guess you have to get in first.”

Din nodded, sliding open the canopy and settling himself inside. “It’s not a long trip.” You were distracted for a moment by Grogu directing his pod underneath the starfighter, which somehow led to him popping up with his father inside the cockpit. “It’ll only be a few minutes of discomfort.”

“That’s long enough.” You gritted your teeth and pushed yourself up, a whimper escaping as your injured leg protested at the movement.

“Use your strong leg first.” Din offered a hand for you to steady yourself with. “I’ll support you.”

You nodded, focusing on the logistics rather than the consequences as you sat upon the edge of the raised cockpit and lowered your good leg. Din helped to guide it towards whatever room was left on the floor just below the seat. He waited until you were steady to help you lower yourself to the same seat he was in himself—though you were definitely sitting more on him than you were the actual seat.

Great. As if crashing your X-wing and injuring your leg wasn’t already bad enough.

“Comfortable?” Din’s voice was an annoyingly attractive mixture of amusement and genuine concern. Grogu, who was tucked under one of Din’s arms, also cooed as if he was asking the very same question.

“If that’s what you wanna call it, then sure.”

You kept your focus on the closing canopy above your head rather than the armored chest your back was currently pressed up against. It rose and fell in steady breaths, taking you with each movement. You resorted to humor to deflect the embarrassment that burned hot on the tips of your ears.

“You know, Djarin, if you wanted me to sit on your lap, you could’ve just asked.”

Din huffed. He waited until he had the N-1 in the air to respond. “As if you would’ve ever said yes.”

Your eyes doubled in size, and you were suddenly even more grateful that he could only see the back of your head. “But you’re not denying that it’s what you wanted?”

Din let out a fuller yet lower chuckle this time. You watched as his grasp on the two controls in front of you pulsated. “You must’ve hit your head in the crash, Lieutenant.”

His words drew a genuine yet curt laugh from your lips. You shook your head and watched Agreon’s terrestrial landscape pass you by, focusing on anything except the warmth of Din’s body behind and underneath you. It was distracting, and even worse, it was comforting—intoxicating even.

You’d been there before, and never again would you repeat such a mistake. It wasn’t worth risking everything you had built for yourself over mercenaries like him.

It wasn’t a long trip, just as Din had assured you before, and he was soon making contact with the main city’s hangar to land the N-1 inside its designated bay. You mused upon the next steps in your head, and the first obstacle you ran into was the bright orange of your jumpsuit reflected in the transparisteel of the N-1’s canopy.

Din had just finished landing the N-1 when you unzipped your jumpsuit and began to pull your arms out of it. He took his gloved hands and set them on Grogu’s ears, folding them over. “Sitting on my lap is one thing, Lieutenant.” He tilted his helmet, evidently amused. “But undressing in front of my son is another.”

You rolled your eyes before looking down to make sure your white, sleeveless undershirt was in place. “Would you rather I walk around in my full X-wing getup so we can be swiftly identified?”

Din hummed, an unexpected sound that crackled through his modulator and shivered down your spin. “No, you’re right.” His gloved hands found your waist. “I like this look better, anyway.” Before you could even think of leveling him with your own retort, Din continued. “Push off your uninjured leg.”

Your face grew even hotter as you nodded, realizing he couldn’t get up until you did first. You obeyed his command and pushed off your leg while he used his hands on your waist to help you up. You sat upon the cockpit’s raised edge and spun yourself around, easing yourself down using mostly your uninjured leg. You bit back a whimper when the injured one hit the ground.

Din was right behind you, with Grogu appearing back in his pod at his father’s side. One of Din’s gloved hands found your shoulder as his visor looked pointedly at your bloodied jumpsuit. “Can you make it into the city?”

You repeated his words from before. “Do we have a choice?”

Din gave his helmet a quick tilt. “I can try to find a speeder to rent.”

Though oddly touched by his offer, you shook your head. “I’ll be fine, Djarin. I’m sure they have an inn relatively close to the landing bay, anyway.”

Din nodded, remaining close to your side as your small group began to walk forward. Din broke off to greet the worker and pay the necessary fee. He spoke with the man for a few extra moments before nodding and joining you and Grogu again. You fixed him with a quizzical look. 

“I asked where the nearest inn is.”

You furrowed your brow. “So that he can know exactly where to find us if people come looking?”

Din swung his helmet towards you. “This man’s shift will be over long before anyone manages to find my ship here.” He pointed at your leg. “But if it makes you feel better, we can wander aimlessly around the city for hours looking for somewhere else to stay.”

You tightened your jaw and looked straight ahead. “I’d rather not.”

“I figured as much.”

You huffed and crossed your arms over your chest. Your jumpsuit hung at your waist the way you usually kept it when you were hanging around the outpost, and hopefully that would be enough to keep anyone from getting suspicious. You didn’t see any eyes catching the three of you in particular, and that was all that mattered. Din had been right; the main city was much easier to hide within.

It had only taken a few blocks to get to the inn, which was indicated by the Aurebesh on its signage. Din continued to lead the way inside and bartered for a last-minute room while you stood with Grogu off to the side. It was all you could do not to focus on the stinging pain in your leg. It was only getting worse the longer you went without treating it.

After using the turbolift to get to your floor, Din stepped ahead and unlocked your door. It slid open to reveal a room that was barely big enough for two people, much less three—even if Din’s tiny apprentice barely took up any room.

In fact, this room wasn’t just made for two ordinary people. It was made for two people who intended on sharing a bed.

The pain in your leg didn’t allow you to dwell on any disapproving thoughts for very long. You trudged inside and practically collapsed onto the bed, gingerly pulling at the material of your jumpsuit to check on your wound. You pressed your lips together in a vain attempt to suppress a groan as the fabric brushed over the sensitive gash.

“We should’ve wrapped that back at the N-1.” You glanced up from the wound to see that Din was already kneeling in front of your leg. “It’s worse than you made it out to be.”

You let out a light scoff. “Are you blaming me for that?”

Din’s visor rose to meet your stare. “No.” He tilted his helmet. “I’m saying you’re strong as hell.”

You looked away from him when warmth began to creep up your neck again. He began rustling around for something, and when you gained the faith to look at him again, you noticed he had already dismantled a medpac from his belt. You shook your head and started to lean forward. “You don’t have to do that. I can take care of it.”

Din continued prepping his materials. “It’s all right, Lieutenant. I’m already down here.” He paused, his visor once again rising to your gaze as he continued. “Unless you’d be more comfortable doing it yourself.”

You hesitated. Letting Din see you so vulnerable wasn’t something you were keen on, but the state of your wound was already threatening to make your head spin. “No, uh… go ahead.” Your lips spread in a small smile. “Thank you.”

Din nodded and went back to what he was doing. “This is the Way.”

Your brow rose at that. You considered his words for a few moments and watched him work until the crimson stains became enough. Your gaze snapped up towards the door across from you as you broke your brief silence. “Where does that saying come from?”

The warmth of Din’s gaze burned over you before he answered. “The Mandalorian Creed.” His tone was coated in newfound reverence. “It’s called the Way of the Mandalore. When we want to acknowledge that something either we ourselves or someone else has said or done is reflective of our Creed, that’s what we respond with.”

You nodded in understanding. “So, helping me patch up my leg is a part of your Creed?”

Din chuckled softly at that. You tightened the grasp you had taken on the bedsheets underneath your palms. “Helping others in general is a core part of the Way. It goes hand-in-hand with saving others.” His modulated voice lowered. “Especially children.”

Your gaze flickered over to Grogu, who was already fast asleep inside his pod. Your cheeks began to hurt from your ever-present yet small smile as you spoke in a much softer voice. “You saved Grogu, didn’t you?”

Din froze for a moment. You glanced down at him, an icy chill of dread prickling inside your chest at the idea of saying the wrong thing. Instead, however, Din considered the bacta container inside his gloved palm and let out an affectionate huff. “I like to think he saved me.”

Your tense expression softened. You wanted to ask for more, but you didn’t have to. Din continued his story as he resumed his work on your injury.

“He was learning to be a Jedi a long time ago.” Your eyes doubled in size at that. “That’s why he has those powers, like the one he used to get your leg free.”

You blinked a few times in surprise. You had heard rumblings of a Jedi, maybe even two or three, within the Alliance itself, but you weren’t sure if those stories were true. “How old is he?”

“Fifty-three.” Your eyes doubled in size. “Apparently, his species ages a lot slower than most.”

You looked at Grogu again and let out a curt chuckle. “Apparently.”

“I found him because… he was a bounty I was after.” The shame in his tone caused sympathy to blossom within your chest, but you kept it suppressed and let him go on. “I didn’t know he was a child until I actually saw him. He used his powers to save me from a mudhorn on that same job.”

You pointed at his right pauldron. “Is that why you have one on your armor?”

Din paused as he looked up at his shoulder and nodded. “Yeah.” He turned back to his work. “It was given to me as a signet when we were officially made a clan of two.”

You smiled at the warmth in his voice. You were so engrossed by his story that you barely felt the stinging pain of his work on your wound. “What did you do after he saved you?”

Din sighed. He shook his helmet, and his tone reflected his self-deprecation. “I turned him in. That’s how I got all this beskar.” He tightened one of his fists as the other stayed busy with your wound. “But I couldn’t handle it for long. I only made it a few standard hours before I went back to where I had left him and took him back.”

Your brow furrowed. “Who was after him?”

“The Empire.” Din practically spit out the words with furious fire as your own blood went hot inside your veins. “Moff Gideon, to be exact. He took the kid’s blood and experimented with it.”

You frowned, sparing another glance at Grogu’s peaceful form. “Hearing about the Empire’s atrocities shouldn’t shock me anymore, yet it still does.”

You relaxed when you remembered what Captain Teva had told you earlier. Din was one of the Mandalorians directly responsible for Moff Gideon’s death on Mandalore, which meant that Grogu was safe. You began to smile again as you turned your head back to face the Mandalorian who was just finishing with your wound’s bandaging.

“I’m glad Grogu had you.” Din’s visor rose to meet your gaze as you corrected yourself. “That he still has you. That fact that you’ve taken him in as your own speaks volumes.”

Din’s helmet lowered back to your freshly-wrapped leg as he checked over his work. “It’s what the Mandalorians did for me when I was a child. And like I said before…” he looked at Grogu over his armored shoulder, “he saved me, too.”

You swallowed hard at what he had insinuated. “The Mandalorians also took you in?”

Din nodded, clearly distracting himself with the task of cleaning up his medical supplies. “I was a child when my world was attacked. The Mandalorians came to help, but they were too late.” His voice lowered so much you could barely hear it as he exhaled a deep breath. “I was the only survivor.”

Your chest tightened so much that it hurt. You set a hand over it as if that would help, watching helplessly as Din nonchalantly packed up his medpac and rose to his full height. Being a part of the Alliance and then the New Republic led to you hearing stories like these before, but that never made them easier to process—nor imagine. “I’m so sorry, Din.”

Din’s helmet straightened before he managed a nod. “This is the Way.” Both his voice and his stature returned to normal as he went on. “Your leg should be good for the night. We can check to see if it needs to be redone in the morning before we set out.”

You nodded, taking his change in subject in stride. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He gestured with a gloved hand to your face. “You still have some more cuts from the crash. I can take a quick look at those, if you want.” Din offered his medpac to you. “But I understand if you prefer to do that yourself.”

You shrugged. “You’re already in the groove. Might as well keep going, right?”

Din huffed with amusement and sat beside you on the edge of the bed. “Sure.”

As he began to get his materials out again, you mulled over a thought that was nagging at the front of your mind. It was something that didn’t seem to fit in with the heartfelt story Din had just told, but given how vulnerable he was being with you, you didn’t want to insult him by asking about it.

Still, knowing yourself, it would come out eventually. It would be best to get it over with.

“So,” you swallowed hard as Din’s visor gave you an attentive glance, “did everything with Grogu happen before or after the prison ship incident?”

You tensed, anticipating Din to harden himself to you once again. Instead, Din let out an amused breath, making your brow shoot up as his visor began to scan your face. “Looks like you did your research.”

You rolled your lips together. “I trained with Lieutenant Davan back when I first joined the Alliance.” You took a deep breath to steady yourself. “So, yeah. I did my research.”

Din sighed, though it was far from a sound of annoyance. “That was when Grogu and I were still on the run from the Empire and their bounty hunters. I was trying to find my footing, and I obviously couldn’t do any bounty hunting work, but we still needed credits for fuel and food.”

Din paused, looking down as he selected something from his pile of supplies and began his work on one of your cuts.

“Someone I used to work for a long time ago reached out, and since I was low on credits, I agreed. I was told before we left that only droids worked on the prison ship.” Din’s voice lowered as he went on. “I’m sorry about Lieutenant Davan.”

You gave him a small nod, your gaze cutting away from the intensity of his visor as he started to clean a cut near your temple. “What did you do with the prisoner you took?”

Din remained unfazed as he provided his answer. “I brought him back to my old contact’s space station with a tracking beacon on him.” His voice was coated in amusement. “Your people got him after that.”

“And you locked up the other people you were with?”

“I did.”

You pressed your lips into a firm line. Din’s patience for fielding your questions was both shocking and admirable, but it would have to run out eventually, and you were certainly testing that boundary. “Why?”

Din paused his work for a moment, his visor finding your gaze. “First of all, they committed a crime. They were complicit in the murder of a New Republic officer who could’ve, and should’ve, been left alive. Second of all…” Din let out a soft breath and continued his work on your face, “they tried to turn against me. Had me locked inside a cell and everything.”

Your eyes widened at that. “What about Grogu?”

“He was in my ship. I have no idea if they knew about him and intended on turning him in, but…” Din shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now.”

You furrowed your brow at him. “If they weren’t betraying you for Grogu, then why were they doing it?”

Din finished with the cut on your temple and focused his visor on his supplies as he reset them. “When I said earlier that Grogu saved me, I meant that he saved me from myself. From the path I was on and had been on for a long time.” Din finally picked something up and began working again. “My path used to include most of this group, and their betrayal was the consequence of my past actions.”

You considered his words for a long moment. It was a lot to process. After hearing about Davan’s murder, you had fostered a lot of bitterness towards those involved. Captain Teva catching up to Din on Maldo Kreis had only rubbed salt in the wound when he returned to Adelphi and told you everything.

But Captain Teva had reassured you that Din had only been complacent in springing the prisoner, and now Din was telling you he hadn’t even let the prisoner get away, either. Not only that, but Din was also taking accountability for his actions.

Maybe he was right. Maybe Grogu really did change him—because he sure as hell wasn’t acting like the other mercenaries you had known.

“That’s… really honorable.” The corners of your mouth tugged up in a small smile as you nodded at him. “Thanks for answering all my questions. I know it was a lot.”

Din shrugged. “I don’t mind.” He pulled away from your second bandaged cut and looked to be preparing for one more. “What happened on that prison ship directly affected you, and you deserve to get some clarity. As for the rest…” Din chuckled, “well, I figured you could use a distraction from all the stinging.”

You laughed and nodded. “Definitely.”

Your stare stayed on Din as he finished his prep for your last cut. You mindlessly adjusted the left strap of your shirt just as Din looked up, causing his visor to catch on the action. You didn’t have to look down to know what he had seen.

The long scar just over your heart had accidentally been exposed to him.

Rather than speaking up about it, Din refocused himself on your cut, remaining silent as he did so. You let out a light exhale and closed your eyes. He had just offered his vulnerability to you in exchange for satisfying your curiosity, and it was time for you to return the favor.

“It’s from a mercenary.”

Din froze. You reopened your eyes, watching his visor lower to your gaze as you spoke. You offered him a reassuring smile and went on.

“During the war, there were a few instances where the Alliance had to rely on mercenaries for help. Supplies, transport… you know how it was.” You looked down as your hand began to pick at the material of your jumpsuit over your thigh. “Captain Teva made me the liaison for one of them, and we were in direct contact for a long time.”

You cleared your throat, fighting the embarrassment that attempted to crawl up through it. Din waited patiently, his silence proving his rapt attention even as he continued with your last cut.

“I… let myself get closer to him than I should’ve.” You huffed and shook your head. “A lot closer. It was against protocol, but I thought I could manage it. At least, I thought I was smart enough to.”

You closed your eyes for a moment and pictured his face. Even all these years later, it still mocked you. No matter how many beds you had shared since, he was ever-present in your troubled memory, like the scarred marking above your heart.

“But he got a better deal from the other side. He tried to kill me in my sleep and take my intel.” You reopened your eyes and noticed that Din had since gone rigid. His visor was focused on your eyes, which gladly sought the empty void of the black slit across his silver helmet in return. “Thankfully, I woke up just in time to fight him off. Only the tip of his knife caught me.” Your fingertips grazed over the scar.

Din was silent for a few more beats, causing you to swallow hard. When he spoke, his voice was low again, though the anger that strained it wasn’t directed towards you. “You’re telling this story like it’s your fault.”

You scoffed. “It was. I broke protocol and tried to have a romantic relationship with him. Captain Teva should’ve dismissed me completely, but he gave me a second chance.”

Din shook his helmet. “No.” His grasp on the supplies in his gloved hands tightened. “You should never have to worry about being betrayed by someone you’re sharing a bed with.” His visor lowered to your scar again. “Especially not in a way that leads to you being physically harmed.”

You shrugged, looking away to avoid the heat of his gaze behind his visor. “Unfortunately, Djarin, that’s not how the galaxy works.” You exhaled a steady breath. “That’s why I’ll never put myself in that position ever again.”

Din finished with your cut and began to put his supplies away. “So, the door’s closed on mercenaries?” His tone was playful, and you were grateful for the change in pace. 

You huffed and lifted your brow. “Are you disappointed by that?”

Din chuckled and shook his helmet. He finished with the medpac and hung it back on his belt. “We’ll want to get moving early in the morning, catch them when they’re sluggish.”

“I agree.”

You emptied your weapons out onto the side table, which were only a blaster and a blade in this case. As you did so, you watched Din in your periphery, your brow furrowing as he stopped by the extra blanket that laid across the end of the bed. You chuckled and swung both legs onto the bed to face him, your arms crossing as you laid against the headboard.

“Got something to ask me, Djarin?”

Din’s gloved hands gently patted the blanket. “Just wanted to know if you’re okay with me taking this.”

You blinked at him. “For what?”

Din tilted his helmet at you. “Sleeping.” The word was almost a question as it crackled through his modulator, one of his gloved hands gesturing to the portion of the floor near Grogu’s sealed pod.

“On the floor?”

Din nodded.

You couldn’t help but laugh. His gloved hands rose to his hips as he let out a sigh. “So,” you chuckled, “I can sit on your lap, but sharing a bed is where you draw the line?”

Din’s helmet straightened. For a moment, you thought him to be panicked, but his tone was solely amused when he spoke again. “If I’m not mistaken, it sounds like you want me to share that bed with you, Lieutenant.”

You rolled your eyes. “All I want is for my partner to not have any back pain when we fight for our lives against a bunch of Imperials tomorrow.”

Din hesitated, tapping his fingers against his hips. “And you’re sure you’re comfortable with that?”

You shrugged. “Unless there’s a reason why I shouldn’t be.”

Din shook his helmet. “No. Just… after your story, I wasn’t sure.”

A small smile stretched across your lips as Din began to make his way to the empty side of the bed. “I appreciate that, but it’s been years. Don’t worry about it.” You cleared your throat and made yourself busy with getting more comfortable as you went on. “I’ve shared beds since then.” You chuckled to yourself and spared a glance at Din. “But I’ll bet this is your first time, isn’t it?”

Din snickered, his back facing you as he sat and removed his boots. His helmet turned over his armored shoulder as he answered. “The helmet doesn’t stop me.” Your brow shot up at that, though he paid attention to what he was doing again as he continued. “At least, it didn’t used to.”

You hummed, your tone still playful as you laid back on your pillow. “Got tired of breaking hearts?”

Din was silent for more than a few heartbeats. You turned your head to look at him, seeing him staring at a small weapon he had just set on his side table. When he spoke, his voice was lower than before. “Got tired of breaking my own.”

You mulled over his words as you let silence sit between you. It was hard to imagine what it must have been like, sharing every vulnerable part of yourself with someone while knowing you couldn’t ever give them all of you—not with a helmet to hide behind. Unless the helmet really wasn’t the problem, and it wasn’t the physical armor he had trouble shedding.

That was something you could relate to all too well.

As Din laid beside you, he made a move to turn off the lights, but paused. You watched him in your periphery, waiting for whatever words he was clearly intending on saying. “Lieutenant?”

“Yeah?”

A pause. “I meant what I said before.” His helmet briefly glanced in your direction. “You should never have to worry about being hurt by the person you’re sharing a bed with.”

That got a smile out of you, a real, genuine one that hurt your cheeks. “Thanks, Din.” You rolled on your side as your face started to burn. “Goodnight.”

The lights flickered off just before Din responded. “Sweet dreams.”

You huffed, shaking your head as you closed your eyes and chased slumber the best you could.

When you woke again, it was because of a very light snoring sound. You blinked a few times into the darkness, huffing when you realized why it was such a delicate noise. Grogu had gone from his pod to his father, and he was tucked into the Mandalorian’s neck with his tiny, three-fingered hands clinging to the fabric around his neck. Din had a hand supporting his son’s back, keeping him pressed upon his chest.

The sight was enough to melt anyone’s heart, even yours. What made that heat in your chest spike into an uncontrollable temperature, however, was the realization that there wasn’t shiny metal concealing Din’s face anymore.

It was hard to see in the darkness, but the outline of his profile was unmistakable. His jaw and upper lip were untrimmed, and his nose was long and curved. His hair was just a bit longer than you thought it would be, and if you weren’t mistaken, there was a slight wave to it, though the dark made it difficult to determine that for sure.

You blinked a few more times. It was only then that you realized you weren’t supposed to be looking at him.

You turned on your side away from him and stared petrified into the darkness as you tried to burn the image of him out of your memory. You had only heard the stories of the Mandalorians who never removed their helmets, and they never included what would happen to those Mandalorians if their faces were actually seen. Would he have to kill you? Would he have to be killed?

Regardless, you had to tell him what you had seen. It was only right, and as hard as the right thing was to do many times, you had spent your entire lifetime fighting—and losing everything—under that same principle.

part two coming soon...

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